"Jihahahaha! What an absolute joke!"
High above a stretch of cloudless blue sky in the New World, an airborne continent pieced together from countless islands, so vast it blotted out the sun, hovered silently.
This was Merveille, the Island of Miracles, the throne of the old era's overlord, Golden Lion Shiki, the "Flying Pirate."
At that moment, inside the lavish palace built from gold and bleached bones, Golden Lion Shiki stared at the latest newspaper just published by the World Economy News Paper and burst into deafening laughter.
His trademark ship's wheel and hair trembled slightly with extreme anger and disdain.
The newspaper's front page carried a headline in the most eye-catching, exaggerated type, one that could shake the world:
[The dawn of a new era! "Tyrannosaurus" Yas recruits two Admiral Candidates, and the strongest "Divine Punishment Fleet" in history begins to show its might!]
The accompanying photograph showed Yas standing atop a cliff, with Zephyr, Bullet, Sakazuki, and Borsalino arrayed behind him on either side.
Although Sakazuki's and Borsalino's faces were filled with resentment and humiliation, to outsiders, this was indisputable proof that "Tyrannosaurus" Yas had brought every last one of the Marines' future hopes under his command!
"Some wet-behind-the-ears brat wins against a few useless fools with a little brute strength from who knows where, takes in a few Marine lapdogs, and dares call himself 'the dawn of a new era'?"
Shiki violently crumpled the newspaper into a ball and hurled it at the floor!
Boom!
He had infused that flimsy newspaper with Haki, giving it the power of a cannonball, and it smashed a massive crater straight into the floor made of pure gold!
"Who the hell does he think he is?!"
Shiki abruptly rose from his throne. His towering, oppressive figure left the crew members attending