A savage, maniacal laugh echoed across the thunder-filled skies, like the whisper of a demon heralding the apocalypse. The sound sent a chill straight to the bone.
Wave after wave of overwhelming killing intent surged toward the military port, instantly draining the color from the Marines' faces. It was as if they'd been plunged into an icy abyss.
"Is that..."
"Damn it... how is this possible..."
"Shiki the Golden Lion!"
"The legendary great pirate, Shiki the Golden Lion!!"
"What's he doing here!?"
"Oh no..."
Marines and civilians across Marineford stared up in disbelief, eyes wide with shock, hearts seized by terror as chaos erupted like a tidal wave.
Shiki the Golden Lion—a pirate of legend—was brazenly invading Marine Headquarters?!
Was he out of his mind!?
"Quick! Alert Fleet Admiral Kong and Admiral Sengoku!"
A Marine cried out in a trembling voice, but the moment he spoke, he froze. His face went pale.
Kong and Sengoku... were both out at sea on missions.
"Jihahahaha!! Marines! You destroyed my grand fleet! Now I'm here to sink your whole damn headquarters!"
In the sky, Shiki roared with laughter, a lit cigar clamped between his teeth.
Then, with a sweeping gesture of his hand, an unimaginable sight unfolded before the stunned eyes of everyone in Marineford.
Far behind him, deep in the stormy sky, streaks of crimson light began to flicker across the black clouds.
Rumble...
A low, ominous rumble echoed from the heavens.
The red glow grew larger and brighter, like roaring flames, before finally bursting through the thick storm clouds with terrifying force.
As the Marines' eyes widened in horror, the rumble sharpened into an ear-splitting roar.
These weren't fireballs.
They were massive meteorites—each one dozens of meters wide!
Shiki, in his madness, had used his Devil Fruit ability to lift chunks of island into the sky and hurl them down as makeshift meteors!
The fragments plummeted under the pull of gravity, their undersides igniting from the friction of air, blazing with fire that cast a blood-red glow across the dark sky.
"This... this can't be real..."
"We can't possibly fight something like that..."
"This is power on the level of a god..."
"It's terrifying..."
"Are we all going to die here...?"
...
At that moment, across the entirety of Marineford, tens of thousands of Marines and civilians stood frozen in place. Weapons trembled in their hands. They looked like soulless statues, gripped by the despair of impending doom.
Their eyes reflected the fiery meteorites falling from the sky, a true vision of the end.
And with Fleet Admiral Kong, Admiral Sengoku, and Vice Admiral Garp all absent, there was no one left who could stop Shiki the Golden Lion!
But then...
It was as if a faint streak of blue lightning crackled through the air—suddenly, the Marines witnessed something impossible.
The muskets in their hands... the fortress cannons... the heavy artillery mounted on the strongholds... and the batteries aboard the dozens of warships in the harbor—all began to move on their own!
Barrels, muzzles, and turrets snapped into position, rotating upward in unison to target the falling meteorites!
For an instant, the world seemed to hold its breath—
BOOM!!
Explosions erupted across Marineford.
Thousands of heavy cannons roared to life all at once, spewing flames into the sky. The sheer force of the barrage made the very ground tremble beneath their feet.
A black storm of shells shot into the air like an enormous net, smashing directly into the swarm of flaming meteors!
One explosion after another lit up the sky, flashes of fire stretching from horizon to horizon, turning the clouds into a wall of flame.
Under the relentless onslaught of thousands of artillery blasts, dozens of falling meteorites were shattered into fragments midair. The pieces turned into a fiery rain that crashed down onto the land below.
Boom!
Crash!
Rumble...
Buildings were struck and collapsed in seconds, some catching fire immediately.
Marines and civilians scattered in panic through the streets, dodging falling debris as flames spread through the city.
But despite the destruction... somehow, mass casualties had been avoided.
"This is... Commodore Daren's ability!"
The Marines and civilians quickly realized what was happening and cried out in relief, grateful to still be alive.
"I really shouldn't have jinxed it... I can't believe they actually invaded Marineford..."
Daren stood firm, electric arcs crackling at his fingertips, one arm holding the pale and shaken Amatsuki Toki close.
Behind him, a meteor fragment crashed down, reducing the family quarters to ruins, now engulfed in flames and smoke.
A scorching wind howled from behind, and amid the flying embers and gunpowder smoke, his snow-white cloak billowed fiercely in the wind.
He lifted his gaze, eyes narrowing with a cold, furious gleam.
His stare locked with the defiant pirate legend in the sky, the air between them seeming to crackle with sparks.
Then, a cold, mocking smile curled at the corner of the Commodore's mouth.
"What's wrong, Shiki? Was wiping out your flying fleet not enough? Now you've come knocking just to die?"
At those words, Shiki's breath hitched. His bloodshot eyes burned with fury.
"You arrogant brat!"
He spread his arms wide, eyes gleaming with killing intent like a wild beast ready to strike.
"Sengoku's not here. No one can save you now! Daren, you little punk!!"
As his words rang out, the ground beneath them suddenly trembled violently, startling the nearby Marines.
As if it were alive, a massive wave of sand and rubble surged upward like a tide. In an instant, it formed into three enormous, ferocious stone lions.
From the left, right, and rear, the beasts roared as they lunged forward, mouths wide open, aiming to devour Daren in the center.
Their power was overwhelming, unstoppable. Hundreds of Marines nearby opened fire, but not a single shot managed to slow them down.
"Shishi Odoshi: Gosho Chimaki!"
Yet even as the attack sealed off every escape route, Daren's expression didn't waver. He simply lifted his eyes and smiled faintly.
"Is that so?"
Suddenly—
Three towering figures, clad in red, yellow, and blue, appeared at Daren's flanks and behind him.
"Great Eruption!"
"Light Speed Kick!"
"Pheasant Beak!"
Blazing torrents of molten magma—
Devastating beams of scorching light—
And an icy blue stormbird—
...all roared to life at once, colliding head-on with the three ferocious lions crashing toward them!
BOOM!!
A thunderous explosion erupted as Shiki's massive constructs, summoned through his Devil Fruit power, were obliterated in an instant by the combined assault.
Flashes of laser light danced wildly, magma firestorms scorched the battlefield, and shards of shimmering ice floated down like snow.
Daren turned his gaze toward Shiki, whose expression had frozen in disbelief, and said with a faint smirk,
"Looks like I let you down."