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Impel Down.
Known as the great deep-sea prison, the unknown sixth level.
Accompanied by the sound of turning gears, several men in Marine uniforms slowly emerged from the mechanical lift...
"Heh heh, damn Marines..."
As these Marines stepped into the sixth level, where countless legends were gathered...
One vicious gaze after another, carrying overwhelming Haki, converged upon those who had entered Level 6...
If it had been an ordinary person, the instant they were stared at by these criminals, they would probably have been scared out of their wits and collapsed on the spot.
After all, anyone imprisoned in Level 6 had a bounty of at least a hundred million! And they were not just ordinary pirates with bounties over a hundred million! Those sissies who had never entered the New World, even the renowned supernovas of the Four Seas and Paradise, were not qualified to be locked up here~
Yes, the prisoners held here were all monsters who had left behind the first half of the Grand Line, known as Paradise, and used every possible means to evade the World Government's blockade—either passing beneath the Red Line through the coating bubbles of the Sabaody Archipelago or relying on sheer determination to climb over the Red Line and reach the New World...
Because the criminals here were far too vicious, even the World Government wanted to erase them completely from the history of its rule over the world. Thus, under the government's interference, ordinary people did not even know the sixth level existed.
At the same time, most of the prisoners on this level had done things that challenged the limits of human morality. Their cruelty was so appalling that ordinary civilians would feel sick just hearing about it, making normal newspaper reporting impossible! Thus, most of the criminals imprisoned here had been forgotten by the world...
Yet within this prison filled with legends.
That man with golden hair was special even among them!
He was not imprisoned with any other inmates. Instead, he was held alone in a spacious cell on the sixth level. Though his hands and feet could no longer move, chains forged from high-purity Seastone still bound his body...
At the same time, prison guards patrolled and watched beside him almost twenty-four hours a day! They feared that even bound up like a twisted rope, this man might still do something...
The man who made everyone in the prison, including the warden, so nervous possessed an incomparably resounding title: Admiral of the Flying Pirates, "Golden Lion" Shiki.
A monster once as famous as Pirate King Roger and Whitebeard Newgate...
Ever since Shiki had charged into Marine Headquarters alone and demanded Pirate King Gol D. Roger's corpse from Hero of the Marines Garp and the tactician Sengoku...
He had been captured by Garp and Sengoku working together, beaten until his head was covered in blood, and imprisoned in this dark cell.
Over the past few days, Shiki had been thinking about why he had failed...
"Shiki, I came to see you..."
Just as Shiki was lost in thought, a loud and noisy voice suddenly rang beside his ear, interrupting his fantasies about the future.
"So it's you! Garp..."
Shiki did not even look at the speaker. Just from that grating voice, he had already recognized him. Even if he searched the entire world, the only bastard who could make his skin crawl merely by opening his mouth was Garp.
"What the hell did you come looking for me for?"
"I don't want to see you. Get lost..."
Shiki closed his eyes, too lazy to look at Garp.
"Shiki, I have some good news and some bad news. Which do you want to hear first?"
Garp looked at Shiki in the cell and asked with a grin.
"Tell me the good news first!"
Shiki slowly opened his eyes and spoke coldly.
"The good news is that you'll be leaving this damn prison soon..."
Garp answered honestly.
"What's the bad news?"
Shiki continued asking.
"The bad news is that the World Government has decided to publicly execute you at Marine Headquarters, Marineford, one week from now..."
Garp looked at Shiki and said with a grin, "You're about to die, old lion! A man like you, who lived so wildly all his life, will ultimately end up being executed. Was this life really worth it?"
"You said the World Government decided to publicly execute me at Marine Headquarters, Marineford, a week from now?! Zehahahaha..."
After hearing Garp's words, Shiki suddenly burst into laughter. His chest rose and fell violently, and his body began twisting along with it. But as Shiki moved, the chains on his body immediately tightened, producing a series of cracking sounds.
"Hey! Shiki, don't try anything..."
As the chains on Shiki's body began to shake, the guards immediately showed panicked expressions. They grabbed the weapons beside them, aimed them at Shiki, and roared.
"Relax! As long as I'm here, nothing will happen."
Garp waved at the guards beside him. Given Shiki's exhausted condition, even if he really escaped, he would not be a match for Garp at full strength...
"Garp, what the hell are you talking about?"
"How is this one piece of good news and one piece of bad news?!"
"These are clearly two pieces of good news!"
"Look, Roger was pushed onto the throne of Pirate King by his supporters..."
"In the end, he could only die in the weakest East Blue!"
"But I get to die at Marine Headquarters! Not bad for a lifetime..."
Shiki's expression was full of openness.
"Sometimes, I wonder!"
"For the first half of my life, I was suppressed by those two old ghosts, Rocks and Whitebeard, in the Rocks Pirates! After the battle at God Valley, that old ghost Rocks was taken down by you and Roger, the Rocks Pirates completely collapsed, and when I went out on my own, I kept losing to Roger for another half of my life..."
"I kept wondering, why the hell had I been losing my entire life? Even at the Battle of Edd War, I held every advantage. I brought hundreds of warships to surround Roger's tiny broken ship. I was just about to sink the Roger Pirates, and then the heavens screwed me over again..."
"Can you imagine it? The weather was perfectly fine, not a cloud in the sky, and then a storm suddenly broke out! That storm was even more outrageous than Newgate's seaquakes! My hundreds of warships were wiped out in the blink of an eye, while that bastard Roger was completely fine..."
At this point, Shiki let out a crazed laugh.
"Zehahahaha..."
"I lost my whole damn life! I finally won once!"
"As a pirate, having my funeral held at Marine Headquarters is the highest possible treatment. No one else gets to enjoy that..."
"Not even that old bastard Rocks got to enjoy it!"
"My life has no regrets left..."
Shiki lay lazily in the cell, smiling with a ruddy complexion, as though he had just reached the peak of pleasure and entered a sage-like state.
"Heh heh..."
Garp merely chuckled, then gestured for the others to open the cell door.
"Click~"
With a soft sound, the cell door opened.
"This is something some brat asked me to deliver to you..."
"He said it was a farewell gift for your legendary life..."
As Garp spoke, he took a Mary Geoise special-grade cigar from the CP0 agent in a white suit beside him, lit it for Shiki, and placed it in his mouth.
"Inhale, exhale~"
With the cigar Garp had handed him between his lips, Shiki narrowed his eyes in enjoyment. After taking a deep drag, he slowly exhaled and said comfortably, "Strong stuff. Hits the spot!"
"For you, old bastard, to come all the way here to tell me about my execution and bring me a cigar of this grade, what kind of identity does that brat have?"
With the cigar in his mouth, Shiki asked Garp.
"A Celestial Dragon..."
Garp answered truthfully.
"Just as I thought..."
Shiki nodded lightly upon hearing that.
"Roger's corpse is in his hands."
After saying that, Garp continued.
"Oh? So that brat wants my corpse too?"
Shiki frowned and took two hard drags from the cigar.
Then Shiki mocked himself. "Using one lousy cigar to trade for the corpse of a legendary pirate—this brat really knows how to do business."
"Whether he knows business or not, let him tell you himself!"
As Garp spoke, he placed a Den Den Mushi in front of Shiki.
"Hm?"
Shiki looked at the small Den Den Mushi before him, which wore a bubble helmet, a miniature Celestial Dragon outfit, and had short red hair. His brow furrowed slightly. He felt as though he had seen this Den Den Mushi's appearance somewhere before, but too much time had passed—or perhaps the ship's wheel embedded in his head was stuck too deeply—and he could not remember it for the moment.
"Den Den Mushi..."
"Click~"
Just as Shiki was puzzled, the Den Den Mushi began ringing on its own, then was answered by Garp outside the cell.
"Hahaha, I assume Lord Shiki has already received the cigar I sent!"
"Speaking of which, not being able to see the legendary Admiral of the Flying Pirates in person before your execution is truly a bit regrettable!"
"If the weather had been on your side during the Battle of Edd War, I imagine things would have turned out very differently..."
Shaya's voice came from the Den Den Mushi. He began with a round of pleasantries.
"Cut the crap, brat! Spit it out..."
Shiki seemed too lazy to waste words with Shaya. He was about to die anyway. He had nothing to fear.
"Hey! Golden Lion Shiki, you're a legendary great pirate, aren't you? Are you really willing to die like this?"
Sitting in Mary Geoise with the Den Den Mushi in hand, Shaya asked Golden Lion.
"What? Are you planning to spare my life?"
After hearing Shaya's words, Shiki asked.
"If you are willing to work for me, then naturally I can spare your life..."
Shaya answered honestly.
"Go dream your damn dream!"
"You think I'm that old bastard Garp?"
"Even if I die, I will never become a Celestial Dragon's dog!"
After hearing Shaya's words, Shiki immediately flew into a rage and roared at the Den Den Mushi.
"Hahahaha, then I'm relieved to hear that!"
Rather than getting angry, Shaya laughed upon hearing Shiki's words.
"What are you going to do?"
Shiki froze for a moment, then asked the Den Den Mushi.
"As for your public execution, I have already used the World Economic Journal to announce the news to the entire world. I made sure to notify your former Flying Pirates subordinates..."
"Do you think your men will come to Marine Headquarters to save you on the day of your execution?! How many pirates do you think will die because of you then? Hahaha..."
Shaya lowered his voice and chuckled at Shiki.
"After Roger died, you deliberately came to Marine Headquarters alone because you wanted to cut ties with the pirates under your command, right? It seems you care deeply about your subordinates. Your men must have lived well with a captain like you, right? They must value you greatly, right? But I have no intention of granting your wish, Shiki! Before you die, enjoy watching your subordinates fall in battle!"
After saying that, Shaya hung up the Den Den Mushi on his own.
Golden Lion Shiki actually said that even if he died, he would not become a Celestial Dragon's dog?
How interesting. Once Shiki was dead, Shaya would definitely have to use Shiki's Lineage Factor to create several more Seraphim! He would chain them at the entrance to the Figarland family's gates in Mary Geoise and make them bark like dogs...
Elsewhere.
"Bastard!"
Inside the prison, Shiki had bitten his cigar in half.
Shaya's words had not only killed people, but stabbed straight into the heart...
They turned the already unstable Shiki's eyes bloodshot and filled with crimson veins.
Then.
As news of Shiki's public execution spread across the world!
The former pirates under the Flying Pirates were all shaken!
Shiki had roamed the seas by relying on the single word "righteousness"!
Now Shiki was about to be publicly executed by the World Government...
If the pirates who had once been protected by Shiki ignored this, they would become disloyal and unrighteous. They would never be able to survive on these seas again.
For a time, the Flying Pirates' crew ran all over the place in order to rescue Shiki.
New World, Whole Cake Island.
"Mama, Mama..."
"You want me to save that idiot Shiki? What a joke?!"
"That old bastard should have died a long time ago..."
Former Rocks Pirates member Charlotte Linlin dismissed the Flying Pirates' request with contempt.
Elsewhere, aboard the Moby Dick.
"You want me to save Shiki? Gurararara..."
"Shiki? Is he my son? Why should I save him?"
"You brats from the Flying Pirates, go back and tell your captain Shiki that if he is willing to become my son, then it's not like I can't rescue him from Marine Headquarters!"
"Gurararara..."
After receiving the request from Shiki's crew, Whitebeard Edward Newgate, known as the World's Strongest Man, laughed loudly.
"Hahaha, Pops is joking around again..."
As Newgate finished speaking, his many sons immediately burst into laughter.
Hachinosu Island.
"Huh? You want me to save Shiki? Are you kidding?"
"Rather than save Shiki, I'd rather spend my time looking for the treasure that bastard John left behind! All right, get lost already! Stop being an eyesore here..."
The great pirate Wang Zhi leaned against his throne and snorted coldly.
Wano Country.
After losing the aid of their captain Shiki, the countless pirate crews under the Flying Pirates could no longer fly through the sky. They could not scale those steep cliffs.
Unfortunately, although the Flying Pirates had already done everything they could...
Not one of the great pirates who, like Golden Lion Shiki, had once belonged to the Rocks Pirates—and who could make Marine Headquarters sweat if they gathered together—intended to lend a hand to the remnants of the Flying Pirates. Golden Lion's reputation was simply too awful...
Thus, time flew by...
In the blink of an eye, the day of Shiki's execution arrived.
A massive four-thousand-word chapter! Brothers, keep asking for more reads~
Before you continue