Perhaps Shiki was not destined to die yet. His luck had not completely run out, and the Marines' massive search failed to find him.
Under Fisher Tiger's leadership, the Fish-Man squad successfully brought Shiki aboard the Oran Empire's submarine and traveled through a Teleportation Gate to Oran Island.
"Hahaha! Shiki, I never thought I'd see the day you ended up like this!"
In a private room at the Oran Empire's First Hospital, John laughed as he looked at Shiki, whose entire body was wrapped in bandages.
Silver Axe and Ochoku stood beside him, looking equally pleased with Shiki's misfortune.
"What are you planning to do once you recover? Go back to your Flying Pirates and start over, or retire like me and stay on Oran Island?"
John put the question to Shiki, whose eyes had lost almost all their spark.
Shiki gave no answer. He remained silent, his vacant eyes revealing nothing of what he was thinking.
John had watched the entire livestream of Shiki's battle with the Marines at Marineford. Seeing Shiki plunge into the sea, his fate unknown, had saddened him somewhat and reminded him of his former captain.
John could not help admiring Shiki's fierce resolve. He wondered whether, had he not retired, he would have died as defiantly as Shiki, or perished for some other reason in a forgotten corner of the world.
Overcome with melancholy, John called Ochoku in Flower Country and Silver Axe, who was wandering around somewhere.
He invited them to his tavern for a drink, and to pay their respects to their former captain, Rocks, as well as Shiki, who had inherited Rocks' will.
Indeed, in their eyes, Lind, Whitebeard, and the others were aberrations among pirates, nothing like men who had come out of the Rocks Pirates. Only Shiki truly resembled