In the bustling northern town of the Sorbet Kingdom, chaos reigned.
Factions from across the seas clashed in a violent struggle.
Golden Lion Shiki hurled himself at one of the God Knights, striking fiercely to seize a bundle of weathered, ancient parchments clutched tightly in the knight's grasp.
But Vice Admiral Tokikake (Tea Dolphin) and two CP0 agents shielded the God Knight, even counterattacking Shiki with relentless precision.
"Heh-heh-heh! Work with me—kill this useless old cripple, and let the power of the Float-Float Fruit return to the seas once more!"
God Knight Saint Paynes laughed maniacally, his eyes gleaming with greed. He had never imagined that within the Sorbet Kingdom, authentic blueprints of Pluton might truly exist.
For among the parchments he carried, one bore a cover boldly inscribed with the name PLUTO, beneath which lay two lines of ancient script.
It was enough to convince him of their authenticity.
And with Golden Lion Shiki—long thought vanished—resurfacing here, it was the perfect chance. Shiki's power had waned; if they struck him down now, the Float-Float Fruit could be reborn and reclaimed by the World Government for the Celestial Dragons.
Even the God Knights coveted such strength. With the Float-Float Fruit, the Celestial Dragons could transform Mary Geoise itself into a divine kingdom floating high above the world—ruling like gods, gazing down upon the ants below.
On another front, Big Mom, Charlotte Linlin, proved far more formidable than Shiki.
Unlike the Golden Lion, she hadn't come alone. She had brought her daughter Brûlée, whose Mirror-Mirror Fruit created gateways into the Mirror World. Through them, Linlin had transported two of her Sweet Commanders—Smoothie and Snack—along with several powerful children and officers.
Katakuri and Cracker had been left behind to guard Totto Land.
"Mamamamama! Hand over the Pluton blueprints, Celestial Dogs!" Big Mom bellowed, brandishing Napoleon, her emperor's blade, her eyes burning with obsession.
"BIG MOM! Do you want Totto Land destroyed?! You dare raise your sword against me?!"
God Knight Saint Klein's voice dripped with murderous fury. Ordered personally by Lord Im to safeguard the Pluton plans, he fought alongside CP0 to repel the Yonko. Surrender was not an option.
Vice Admiral Gion—Momousagi, the Peach Rabbit—rushed to defend Klein, but she was intercepted by Smoothie.
Two master swordswomen clashed, their blades carving the battlefield apart. Towering arcs of flying slashes reduced buildings to rubble, gouging deep ravines into the earth.
Elsewhere, Snack, the weakest of the Sweet Commanders, was locked in a brutal duel with a CP0 squad leader, their fight equally fierce.
Big Mom's children and officers found themselves swarmed by suicidal CP agents, determined to stall them at any cost.
Meanwhile, Bartholomew Kuma and his allies moved through the chaos, risking everything to evacuate the terrified civilians of the Sorbet Kingdom.
And lurking in the shadows, the sand crocodile Crocodile waited for his chance.
With ruthless precision, he ambushed a lone CP0 agent, draining him to a husk with his Devil Fruit powers before erasing all trace of the body. In the corpse's grip, Crocodile seized several more of the coveted blueprints.
"Damn it..."
Clutching eight fragments of Pluton's design, Crocodile scanned the battlefield. Shiki, Big Mom, the God Knights, the Navy, CP0—too many titans to contend with. He had no clear path to claim the rest.
"Am I truly to be denied Pluton's plans?" he growled bitterly.
He had invested years of time and resources for this moment. How could he simply walk away?
And besides—he held an ace. Nico Robin, the sole surviving scholar of Ohara, was his prisoner. She alone could decipher the ancient text.
Who else could unlock Pluton's true power?
Shiki? Big Mom? Even if they stole the plans, what good were scraps of paper they could not read?
No—Crocodile was the rightful heir to this weapon. Only he could resurrect Pluton.
"There will be another chance," he muttered, forcing his rage down. "There has to be."
But as he bided his time, the situation grew worse. The revolutionary leader Dragon and the Navy's admiral Kuzan—Aokiji—brought their titanic clash crashing into the northern theater.
With their arrival, the chaos spiraled further. Every new contender was stronger than him. The window was closing fast.
At the main battlefield, Souta Kiryuu kept one eye on Issho, the blind warrior known as Fujitora. Even holding back, Issho held his ground against two God Knights, his gravity warping the field itself.
Souta knew why. Issho would not dare mortally wound a Celestial Dragon, or the World Government would hound him forever.
But the God Knights—Saint Foss and Saint Knef—were ruthless. They sought to kill Issho outright, to claim the rebirth of his Gravity Fruit for the Celestial Dragons.
Souta narrowed his eyes. To him, Issho was already caught in his web.
Seeing the admiral wasn't in immediate danger, Souta made a choice. First, secure Golden Lion Shiki's blood.
The Float-Float Fruit user was too elusive, his base of operations a mystery. Miss this chance, and it might take years to track him down again.
He glanced briefly at Gecko Moria, who was being savaged in the melee. Souta had half a mind to intervene, but then he spotted the Revolutionary crow Karasu rejoining the fray.
So be it. Let Moria awaken his fighting spirit—or perish. If he fell, Souta could always create a Seraphim Moria with Vegapunk's preserved genetic material. Perhaps the replica would surpass the original.
Scanning the battlefield again, Souta saw Enel unleashing his fury. The sky crackled with divine lightning, but for now, the self-proclaimed god was holding his ground. No need to interfere.
With that, Souta unfurled his wings and launched himself from the shoreline toward the northern battlefield, his eyes fixed on the towering Lion Ship.
Where the ship was, Shiki would be.
By the time he arrived, Dragon and Aokiji's "performance" had spilled fully into the area, their powers wreaking havoc across the town. Souta ignored them both.
After all, as the son of Garp and his disciple, Aokiji and Dragon had long known one another. Dragon himself had once served in the Navy before founding the Revolutionary Army. Their clash, Souta suspected, was more smoke than fire.
His true target was in sight—Golden Lion Shiki, battered and cornered, lacking even a single capable subordinate at his side.
The so-called Captains' Council of the Flying Pirates were little more than small-time thugs who haunted Paradise. Few even carried bounties over a hundred million. Their loyalty to Shiki was shallow—they followed for his legend, not his leadership.
"Golden Lion!! I'll help you!!" Souta bellowed, his voice shaking the air.
"Tokikake! You Navy dogs stand here, shielding Celestial Dragons, bullying a crippled old man in his seventies... Have you no honor? No justice?"
With righteous fury in his voice, Souta charged into the fray—though the line of his advance seemed aimed less at Shiki's enemies, and more at Shiki himself.
...
Hey everyone! Want to read ahead and unlock up to 100 early-access chapters? 📖Plus, enjoy even more exclusive novels! Join my Patreon now and dive into the adventure!
patreon.com/Rawink00