"Where are you going?" Indigo called out.
"Preparing the next phase of the plan."
"But what about him? You're just going to let this go?"
Shiki paused at the doorway but didn't turn around. "They'll come back."
Indigo stood there, watching the Golden Lion walk away like nothing had happened. Like Marcus vanishing into thin air was just another Tuesday. He felt lost trying to understand what he'd just witnessed.
This wasn't the Shiki he knew. When Roger had been captured and executed, he had charged into Marineford alone, ready to tear the place apart. He'd destroyed half the Marine headquarters just to prove a point about how they'd never really beaten his rival. And judging by how he had been treating Marcus over the past few days, he'd clearly valued the kid. So why wasn't he doing anything now?
The Straw Hats were still somewhere on the White Sea. Shiki could find them again if he wanted to. He'd already located them once. So why did it feel like he'd suddenly lost all interest in Marcus?
Indigo couldn't wrap his head around it.
But if even Shiki had given up, what could he do? Their relationship was good, sure, but that didn't mean he could tell a legend like Shiki what to do.
He scratched his head in frustration. "This is such a pain..."
Well, at least he had something productive to focus on. The strange cow had already been moved to his laboratory, and he was itching to start examining this bizarre creature. If he could figure out how it worked, maybe even modify or replicate the process, the project would become far more viable and controllable. Just like Marcus had pointed out, the real bottleneck was time. The ability to accelerate growth and enable rapid breeding of enhanced creatures... that was exactly what he had been dreaming about for years.
He headed to his lab, already mentally planning the first round of tests.
Both men seemed to have completely forgotten about Marcus, moving on with their respective plans as if nothing unusual had happened. Everything appeared calm and peaceful. But beneath that still surface, dangerous currents were already moving.
---
The pirates closest to Shiki's floating fortress were naturally the crews scattered across the various routes of the Grand Line's first half.
Just like with Shiki's earlier trials, they'd all received the news and even gotten their hands on Eternal Poses pointing to the legendary pirate's base.
But then what?
How the hell were they supposed to get up there?
On one particular stretch of ocean, dozens of pirate ships had gathered, their crews staring up at the sky with frustrated expressions. The Eternal Poses in their hands all pointed straight up, which wasn't particularly helpful when you were stuck on a ship.
"Damn it! He is screwing with us, isn't he?!" one pirate captain roared, hurling his expensive Eternal Pose onto the deck. The instrument shattered into pieces.
His crew winced. That thing had cost them a small fortune. But just as his rage reached its peak, someone pointed toward the horizon. "Captain! Look!"
A mass of clouds was spreading across the sky, moving against the wind. And they were getting lower.
The captain's anger transformed into a greedy smile. "Get ready to move, boys!"
---
Meanwhile, on the Sabaody Archipelago's High-Speed Sky Route, chaos had erupted.
"HAHAHAHA! I'm the Iron Man, I ate the Iron-Iron Fruit! Your bullets can't do shit to me!"
A man with a metallic blue sheen to his skin stood before a defensive line of Marines, laughing as gunfire ricocheted off his body. The Iron-Iron Fruit had turned his entire body into living metal, making him effectively bulletproof.
"Hey, Gajeel! Quit showing off and let's go!" one of his crewmates yelled from the captured merchant ship behind him.
"Aw, but I was just starting to have fun."
As he spoke, a massive explosion erupted from the device on his back. The blast propelled him forward like a human cannonball, and he tore through the Marine defensive line, leaving a trail of blood and broken bodies.
The High-Speed Sky Route had always been considered a safe zone under Marine and World Government control. Pirates might raid the surrounding waters, but attacking the Sky Route itself? That was rare. The weak ones didn't have the ability to reach this place, and the strong ones heading to the sky island could simply bypass it entirely.
Only idiots or pirates after very specific cargo ever risked attacking here.
But now? Pure chaos. Complete disorder.
Ordinary civilians who made their living on the Sky Route were caught in a nightmare. The Marines were overwhelmed by the sheer number of pirates flooding the area. Every pirate crew in the first half of the Grand Line that knew how to reach the Sky Route was making their move. And the ones with that knowledge tended to be either extremely well-connected or absurdly powerful. These weren't desperate rookies, these were veterans or monsters who could back up their ambitions with raw strength.
Where were the Marine Admirals during all this?
Stationed at Marine Headquarters, preparing for war.
Sending them out to handle individual pirate crews during a declared conflict would be suicide. The pirates would pick them off one by one, or worse, it would show weakness and destroy morale across all Marine branches.
The strategy was clear, if ruthless: let the pirates gather in one place. Release news reports to keep the other seas calm and prevent widespread panic. And then, once enough pirates had assembled, wipe them all out in one strike.
At least, that was the plan.
---
In Marineford's main plaza, Koby stood in the back corner, trying to make himself as small as possible. Helmeppo stood beside him, looking equally uncomfortable. Both of them were fresh recruits, they weren't even proper soldiers yet, just support personnel doing grunt work. They had no business being here. But Garp had given them permission to observe the pre-war ceremony, which meant they couldn't exactly refuse.
He was terrified. This was his first time attending something like this.
Helmeppo leaned closer and whispered, "How about we sneak out of here while everyone's distracted? That's the legendary Golden Lion we're talking about. If we have to fight, we're dead meat."
Koby looked up at the stage where Sengoku, Garp, and the Admirals were all assembled. His hands were shaking.
Half a year ago, he'd been nothing but a deckhand on Alvida's pirate ship, a nobody who survived only by keeping his head down and his mouth shut. But now... he looked down at his bandaged fists. Blood had soaked through the wrappings.
Had six months of brutal training transformed him into something special? Not really. His physical abilities, combat skills, and natural talent, none of it was impressive compared to the other recruits. He'd barely met the minimum qualifications to be considered for Marine Headquarters recruitment. And yet, with those barely-adequate qualifications, he was standing here.
Fear made his fists and legs tremble. The bandages around his hands were wet with fresh blood from reopened wounds. But he remembered so much. The dream of being acknowledged. The path that Luffy and his crew walked. The kind of person he wanted to become.
He clenched his fists tighter. More blood dripped from the soaked bandages onto the plaza stones. The sharp pain from his splitting wounds cut through the fear, giving him something solid to focus on.
His legs stopped shaking. His breathing steadied.
"I don't want to run away, Helmeppo."
Hearing his friend's voice made Helmeppo's expression complicated. Finally, he just sighed and shook his head.
"Man, you really know how to pick your moments to get all fired up. Fine, fine. We're not going anywhere. I'll stick with you. But I'm telling you right now, if we run into someone way out of our league, I'm booking it."
"Deal," Koby said with a weak smile. "I'll buy you time to escape when that happens."
Their quiet conversation went completely unnoticed in the massive gathering of Marines. Up on the stage, the pre-war declaration ceremony continued with formal speeches and displays of military might. Photographers captured everything for the newspapers that would be distributed across all the seas.
---
On Jaya, Blackbeard had just finished repairing his ship when he received word of the Golden Lion's war declaration.
"Zehahaha! Who would've thought Shiki still had this much fight left in him at his age?"
"Captain, are we going?" Burgess asked, flexing his massive arms.
"Vihahaha! I didn't think he was still kicking around," Augur added, adjusting his rifle.
Blackbeard stroked his beard thoughtfully, his grin never faltering. "Oh, it's tempting alright. Real tempting. But it doesn't fit our plans."
He looked out toward the horizon where other pirate ships were already setting sail for the Sabaody Archipelago.
"Right now ain't the time to tear off the mask and go to war with the Marines. We've got bigger fish to fry."
His crew exchanged glances but didn't question the decision. They'd signed on with Blackbeard because he had a plan, a real one, not just the usual pirate dream of finding treasure and causing chaos.
"Besides," he added with a chuckle, "let all those other fools rush in first. We'll see what happens when the Golden Lion and the Marines collide. Might create some interesting opportunities for us down the line."
He turned away from the ocean, heading back toward the tavern.
"Zehahaha! For now, we wait and watch. Our time will come."
---
---
80+ Advance Chapters!
Visit my profile page for more information.