Eight days later, several hundred nautical miles from Marine Headquarters Marineford.
The flag representing the Whitebeard Pirates fluttered in the wind atop the Moby Dick's mast.
Hundreds of people had gathered on the vast deck.
Whitebeard, broad-built and towering like a mountain, sat in the seat of honor.
Usually calm and stern, the old man now wore a rare hint of a smile on his face.
His gaze shifted to the railing beside him. He tipped back a mouthful of liquor and laughed heartily. "Shiki, I thought you'd hide for the rest of your life and never show your face until you died. Like Roger, you'd lost your ambition to dominate the seas!"
"Twenty years ago, as soon as you got out of Impel Down, you came to tell me that you were going to disappear for a while to secretly research a method capable of shocking and destroying the world."
"Now you've suddenly reappeared and gone mad enough to declare war on Marine Headquarters Marineford. Even I didn't expect that. You're as bold as ever."
His hearty voice echoed across the enormous deck.
The captains stationed around the deck all turned their gazes toward Shiki in unison.
Compared to veteran captains such as Marco, some of the members who had risen to captain later still felt unfamiliar with Shiki, the great pirate who had remained hidden for twenty years.
At the very least, they were eager to know what gave Shiki the confidence to so crazily declare war on Marine Headquarters Marineford.
"Haha, Whitebeard, you're still the same. You possess both strength and dominance, but you lack ambition as well. Otherwise, if you'd worked with me from the beginning, Marine Headquarters would have long since sunk into the sea," Shiki said with a laugh after taking a bowl of