Golden Lion!

The news of the Pirate King's capture spread across the entire world in an instant.

In that moment, the world stirred with upheaval, a storm brewing on the horizon.

And then a world-shaking announcement came from the Marines—the Pirate King, Roger, was to be publicly executed in his hometown of Loguetown in the East Blue!!

One by one, the future heroes and villains who would sail the seas made their way toward that fateful location.

"Hawk Eyes" Mihawk, Doflamingo, Moria—these future Shichibukai, whose names would echo across the ocean, were merely unremarkable figures among the crowd.

Even "Crocodile" abandoned his original plan to challenge Whitebeard, joining this execution that would reshape the era's landscape.

In that moment, the eyes of the entire world converged on that tiny East Blue town of Loguetown.

But among those young sea-faring legends, the one who found this news most unbearable was Golden Lion.

At the edge of a certain island, a fleet lay anchored.

Aboard the most luxurious ship, the throne of power within the hall sat empty, its rightful king nowhere to be seen.

The floor below should have been a debauched, drunken pirate feast, but now everyone stared at Golden Lion standing at the center, their hearts growing more uneasy by the second.

"Roger captured?" Golden Lion's voice dripped with disbelief, his expression dark as if he might explode at any moment.

"It's reliable intel," a subordinate forced himself to say, bracing his nerves.

"Bullshit! How can anyone believe something like that?! You all know what kind of monster that man is!"

But his men couldn't possibly be conspiring to lie to him. Golden Lion's face twisted in incredulous rage.

"Boom!!"

In his fury, Golden Lion fired a random shot to vent his anger, but no one had time to deal with the unlucky bastard caught in the crossfire—because Golden Lion was already striding toward the stairs leading out of the hall.

"Boss, please calm down."

"Don't give me that absurd crap!" Golden Lion took a harsh drag of his cigar as he climbed the steps toward the exit.

"Boss, where are you going?"

Golden Lion gave no answer, and no one knew what he intended to do.

An intruder!!! The enemy is on the plaza at Marineford's coast! The enemy is "Golden Lion" Shiki, alone!!

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom"!!

Countless cannon blasts roared, and the alarm of invasion blared through Marine Headquarters.

The new recruits who heard the news stood bewildered, as if unable to believe anyone in the world would be bold enough to attack Marine Headquarters.

At this moment, in the Marine training grounds, Dawn had been on high alert ever since Roger's capture, constantly bracing for Golden Lion's arrival.

After all, he was still too weak, and the Float-Float Fruit was a mass-destruction ability. If he got caught in the crossfire, or if Golden Lion descended directly onto the training grounds, he'd be dead for sure.

Meanwhile, at Marine Headquarters, a bloody massacre was unfolding.

At the center of the battlefield, Golden Lion wielded the two famed blades "Oto" and "Deadwood," slaughtering every Marine officer who rushed to fight.

Countless elite soldiers from headquarters met their end, becoming part of a mountain of corpses.

Against Golden Lion's combat power, these headquarters elites couldn't even survive a second move before they became broken bodies lying forever in that pile of death.

A river of blood soaked the pristine white plaza of Marineford's coast, a testament to the carnage.

The weather was suffocatingly gloomy. Dark clouds churned and rolled in from all directions, accompanied by a torrential downpour. Standing atop the corpse pile, Golden Lion's solitary presence felt like an army of thousands.

"How could Roger have been caught by you worthless scum? He's a man I acknowledged!"

On the small slope of bodies, Golden Lion chewed on a cigar long extinguished by the rain, his back turned to Sengoku, who had come to face him.

Sengoku, then an Admiral, stepped forward two paces and said gravely, "Roger was the Pirate King. He retreated after winning his battle with you."

"Pirate King?!?!!" Golden Lion whirled around in fury at the word.

"So what?! If he'd only lent me his strength, we'd have ruled the world long ago!"

"We didn't see eye to eye, but I walked through an era with him. If he's still alive, bring him here. If you're going to kill him, I'll do it myself!"

Golden Lion's rage grew fiercer, his presence more terrifying. He was like a true lion whose pride had been insulted, growing ever more savage.

Sengoku gazed at his old adversary, whom he had once pursued, and spoke slowly: "The execution will take place in one week, at Roger's birthplace—the starting point of the East Blue, Loguetown."

"Roger's death will crush the courage of every pirate."

With the arrival of Garp, who had finally shown up, Golden Lion's aura grew even more fearsome.

Sengoku knew the battle was about to erupt.

And with Garp's arrival, the damage could be minimized. Together, the two of them would surely capture Golden Lion and throw him into Impel Down!

"The legend of Pirate King Roger ends in that weakest of seas, the East Blue? Don't make me laugh! That would be the ultimate disgrace for that bastard!"

Garp shrugged off his coat as he said, "So what if it's the weakest? The East Blue is a symbol of peace."

But Golden Lion could no longer hold back. He exploded into motion, leaping down from the corpse pile and unleashing two razor-sharp slashes with all his might, descending from above onto Garp and Sengoku.

Facing Golden Lion's strikes, Garp and Sengoku simply shattered them with a single punch. The shockwave from their collision blasted the nearby Marine soldiers away.

This was a battlefield where the weak simply had no place to intervene.

But as the battle grew fiercer, even Sengoku and Garp gradually found themselves unable to keep an eye on the surrounding damage, left only to hope that Marine casualties would be minimal.

As for the buildings—after this fight, Marine Headquarters would likely need to be rebuilt.

"Lion's Pride Rain!!"

In the midst of battle, Golden Lion began using the power of the Float-Float Fruit for a large-scale assault, the immense buoyancy lifting the entire ground into the air.

The plaza at Marineford's coast, along with the buildings already battered and broken from the fighting, now floated endlessly in the sky.

Countless dense chunks of stone, in an instant under Golden Lion's control, accelerated and rained down upon Garp and Sengoku like a torrent.

Boom boom boom boom!!

With a brilliant golden light flooding the scene, a massive golden Buddha suddenly appeared, its entire body shimmering with golden Buddhist radiance—this was Sengoku's Devil Fruit ability!

Mythical Zoan — Human-Human Fruit — Great Buddha Form!!

Sengoku transformed, his right palm pressing forward in an instant, an invisible shockwave roaring outward as the large and small rubble was smashed to dust!

"Sengoku!! Garp!! This move of mine, you'll block it whether you want to or not!!"

"Lion's Pride Earth Roll!!"

With a furious roar from Golden Lion, Shiki's twin famed swords clashed against Garp's fists, and in that single moment, the massive foundation of Marine Headquarters began to rise, floating toward an even greater height.

This rampaging Golden Lion was nothing like the weakened version twenty years later; his Earth Roll created an astonishing number of stone lions.

In an instant, countless lion-shaped attacks formed from earth and rock covered most of Marine Headquarters, mercilessly crushing everything in their path!!

The great collision was imminent. Sengoku and Garp roared in unison, continuously shattering the onslaught, and in that single moment, they understood Golden Lion's true intent!

A blatant scheme!!