First half of the Grand Line.
High above the clouds, several thousand meters in the air, Sephiroth beat the Black Wings on his back and sped through the dense clouds, leaving a straight trail through them as he headed in the direction indicated by the Vivre Card in his hand.
After more than a month of carpet-style searching by dedicated Umbrella Corporation personnel, Golden Lion Shiki's location had finally been found.
The Vivre Card in Sephiroth's hand belonged to the company employee who had gone out to conduct the search.
As long as that employee stayed near Golden Lion Shiki's headquarters, he could indirectly locate Golden Lion Shiki through the Vivre Card's guidance.
After a long while, Sephiroth, who had departed from the City of Water, finally saw more than ten floating islands in the sky after crossing several thousand kilometers through the air... Merveille Island!
Sephiroth had no intention of searching those islands one by one. He directly unleashed his Observation Haki at full power, covering a radius of twenty kilometers.
Very quickly, he sensed a powerful aura at the top floor of a red palace built on a large floating island at the center of those floating islands.
So, he immediately rushed toward that palace.
When Sephiroth arrived near the pavilion on the palace's top floor, he flapped his wings and suspended himself in midair.
Then, his gaze fell upon the blond old man drinking atop the pavilion in the distance.
"You're Golden Lion Shiki, right...?"
"That's right! It's me!"
Golden Lion Shiki set down the wine bottle in his hand and used the power of the Float-Float Fruit to make himself float into the air as well.
"Kid, state your name!"
"Karl D. Sephiroth."
"Hm!? I feel like I've heard that name somewhere..."
Upon hearing that, Golden