Chapter 376 - 215

Chapter 215: The Mad Lion's Return and the Iron Curtain Declaration!The Grand Line, Paradise, an unknown island that was once peaceful, tranquil, and commercially prosperous.An ordinary day was brought to an end by a thunderous roar that tore through the sky.BOOM—!!!An unimaginable explosion erupted in the center of the town, as orange-red fireballs rolled, expanded, and rose, as if a molten behemoth imprisoned deep within the earth had burst forth.A devastating shockwave spread in a ring, sweeping through everything, and the glass windows of all buildings within a radius of several kilometers shattered into crystalline dust at the same instant.Houses shook, smoke and dust blotted out the sun, and screams were drowned out by the even more violent roar.Fear, like the deadliest plague, instantly seized every soul on the island.Everyone's eyes were fixed on the terrifying figure slowly floating up from the center of the sea of fire and ruins, unable to look away.He hovered haughtily in mid-air, his long golden hair dancing wildly like the mane of a furious lion, shining with an ominous light amidst the flames and smoke.His gaze pierced through the dust, scanning the panicked crowd below like ants, his mouth curling into a cruel and mocking sneer.His mere presence exuded an aura like that of an ancient beast or a demon descending upon the mortal world!"Gold... Golden Lion!"Someone finally squeezed that nightmarish name through trembling teeth, their voice distorted and out of tune due to extreme terror."Golden Lion Shiki!! It's that Golden Lion!!""How could he be here... didn't he disappear?!""Run... run away—!!"Once the name was confirmed, the last shred of hope vanished.The entire town fell into complete madness.People screamed and pushed, fleeing in all directions like headless flies.At this moment, order, morality, and status all became void, leaving only the purest instinct for survival.Because they knew that the man before them,Was the legend who successfully escaped from the great underwater prison "Impel Down" twenty years ago!He was a monster who vied for supremacy with the Pirate King Roger and Whitebeard Edward Newgate!"Jiehahahaha...!! Run! Run with all your might!!"Golden Lion Shiki spread his arms as if admiring a grand play he had personally directed, his wild laughter overriding all the noise."The scent of fear, the sight of struggling... only this makes things interesting!!"His body rose in defiance of gravity, supported steadily by his legs, which were the famous blades oto and mugure.The half-steering wheel deeply embedded in his skull did not look ridiculous; instead, it seemed more like a medal of some cruel achievement, highlighting his inhuman vitality and madness.At this moment, he was the incarnation of disaster, a walking natural calamity!He looked up, his gaze seemingly piercing through the clouds toward the distant Marineford and the peak of the Red Line."Garp!! Sengoku!! Marine Headquarters!! And the high-and-mighty World Government—!!"His voice suddenly rose, filled with decades of accumulated resentment, arrogance, and defiance, exploding like thunder:"Do you see clearly?! I... Golden Lion Shiki, have returned—!!!"Having finished his declaration, he seemed bored with the commotion of the ants below, and his figure turned into a golden stream of light, soaring toward the higher heavens.However, this was not the end, but the beginning of a deeper despair.Just as countless people thought the demon had temporarily left and took a brief breath!Rumble... the earth let out a dull and painful groan.Behind the fleeing crowd, a massive shadow spread and rose rapidly!The ground cracked, and rocks gathered and surged wildly as if they had a life of their own, letting out a deafening roar!In an instant, a lion that blotted out the sun, composed of countless rocks and soil, rose from the ground!The giant rock lion pounced down with the force of a mountain-toppling wave, like the most violent tsunami hitting the coast, or a world-ending meteorite cast down by a god.Wherever it passed, streets, houses, clock towers, docks... along with the lives fleeing within them, were swallowed, crushed, and buried by that heartless stone maw and the ensuing collapse!The town collapsed in large swathes amidst wailing, and dust soared into the sky again, but it could no longer cover Golden Lion's sneer that echoed through the clouds and asserted his absolute dominance:"Jiehahahaha! The old era is over?! To hell with that bullshit!!"His voice, carrying a madness that swept the world, echoed over the ruins and dust:"I am the one who rules it all... the King of the World!!!"The island trembled, the ocean wailed, and the return of a legend, in the most cruel way, announced his return and ambition to the world... The next day, Marineford.The operations briefing room on the top floor of the Fleet Admiral's Office, symbolizing the highest power of the Marine, was currently enveloped in a heavy air that felt nearly solidified.Around that exaggeratedly styled oval conference table made of rare wood, almost the entire weight of the Marine's current and legendary figures was gathered.In the primary seat sat the new Fleet AdmiralSakazuki, draped in a greatcoat adorned with golden tassels, sitting upright.His brow was tightly furrowed and his lips were pressed thin, like a volcano about to erupt; even the shadow under his hat brim appeared exceptionally cold and hard.To his left was Chief of Staff Tsuru.This wise veteran's gaze was as calm as water, her fingertips lightly tapping the table as if silently untangling a thousand threads.To the right were the pillars of the Marine's new era.The new Admiral "Fujitora" Issho sat with his eyes closed in meditation, a weight of a thousand pounds seemingly behind his heavy eyelids;"Green Bull" Aramaki leaned back in his chair, his posture seemingly relaxed, but his slightly tightened jawline betrayed his internal alertness.The presence of the two new Admirals marked the extreme importance the Marine's highest combat power placed on this incident.Even Sengoku and Garp, who had already retired to the second line, were urgently recalled.Surrounding the inner circle, dozens of Rear Admirals and Vice Admirals of Marineford were all in attendance.The stars on their epaulettes glinted slightly in the light, and every face, whether young or weathered, was filled with solemnity and a faint worry.It could be said that those gathered here represented almost all the core combat power and command will of Marineford, making it the highest-specification emergency response meeting.Amidst this silence stretched to its limit!"Oh~ it's quite lively here."The heavy carved wooden door of the briefing room was pushed open, and a slow voice broke the silence.Kizaru walked in with his hands in his pockets, stepping to his own unique rhythm.He wore his usual, slightly playful and relaxed smile, as if he had just wandered into an ordinary gathering rather than a military meeting deciding the direction of the world.Akainu's brow instantly twisted into a deeper scowl, his face so dark it almost seemed to drip with gloom.Suppressing his anger, he squeezed a sentence through his teeth:"Is your sense of time always so 'precise,' AdmiralBorsalino?"The officers seated there all twitched their lips in unison, but they quickly returned to normal... they were already "used" to this Admiral who was always "fashionably late" and had a casual attitude.However, being like this even in a meeting of this level still made people feel a bit of absurdity and helplessness."You really should fix that lazy, rotten habit!"Sengoku, sitting nearby, looked up and glared at Kizaru.Despite having eaten the fastest fruit, he ended up being the last to arrive at the meeting.If Sengoku were still in office, he would likely have been slamming the table and scolding him by now.But now that he had stepped down from the heavy responsibility of Fleet Admiral, he felt "light as a feather."He looked at Akainu's expression of holding back fire without being able to fully erupt on the spot,And even looking at Kizaru, who always skirted the edge of discipline, felt... inexplicably a bit more pleasing to the eye... Sakazuki braced his hands like iron pincers on the heavy conference table and slowly stood up with a mountain-like pressure."Everyone is present."His voice was not loud, but it was like lava rolling through rock crevices, carrying an unquestionable weight."All topics and conclusions of this meeting will be classified as the highest-level military secrets of Marineford."His cold, sharp gaze slowly swept across every face present like a searchlight, a gaze that seemed to pierce through flesh and reach the depths of the soul."Any act of leaking information will be dealt with according to the strictest military law, with no leniency!""Yes! Fleet Admiral Sakazuki!"All the officers straightened their backs and responded in unison, causing the air in the briefing room to vibrate slightly from the oath-like response."Then, let us begin."Sakazuki turned his gaze to Chief of Staff Tsuru and gave a slight nod.Tsuru's expression was calm as she signaled with her hand.The adjutants, who had been on standby, quickly distributed several tightly sealed documents to the tables in front of the officers.Almost simultaneously, the huge screen at the front of the briefing room lit up, and a specially prepared Visual Den Den Mushi began to project heart-wrenching images.Broken walls and ruins twisted in thick smoke; prosperous towns had been turned into graveyards of scorched earth and rubble.The surface of the islands had been torn and reshaped by terrifying power, looking like wounds trampled by a giant beast.Even more shocking were the bodies among the ruins that there had been no time to bury, silently speaking of the cruelty of the atrocities.Scene after scene, though silent, was more impactful than any roar.Tsuru's steady voice sounded, injecting a cold commentary into this cruel scroll:"The visual data comes from seven different locations in the 'Paradise' stage of the Grand Lineover the past seventy-two hours."She stood up and picked up a report."It has now been confirmed that the great pirate who vanished twenty years ago, the Admiral of the 'Flying Pirates'—Golden Lion Shiki, has reappeared."She paused briefly, letting the weight brought by this name fully sink in."Furthermore, he has launched continuous indiscriminate attacks in the Paradise waters under Marine jurisdiction.""As of now, seven islands have suffered devastating blows, among which..."Her gaze swept over the document,"Include the major towns of two World Government Affiliated Nations.""Whoosh—"Despite being mentally prepared, when words like "seven islands" and "Affiliated Nations" were linked with "Golden Lion," the Vice Admirals and Rear Admirals present couldn't help but change color, their low gasps of shock impossible to suppress.Golden Lion Shiki.The name itself represented a legend, a period of terrifying history.A monster who once stood on equal footing with Gol D. Roger and Edward Newgate, the legendary pirate who, nineteen years ago, was the only one to successfully escape from the "iron fortress" of Impel Down.Even more terrifying was his style of operation:He treated human life like grass, using any means necessary to achieve his goals; his cruelty and cold-bloodedness even made many vicious pirates shudder.To him, subordinates were merely tools that could be discarded at any time; morality and boundaries were nowhere to be found in him.Compared to Roger's heroic spirit or Whitebeard's treasuring of "family," Golden Lion's pure malice and desire for destruction had always been rated higher in threat by Marine assessments.And the power of the "Float-Float Fruit" he consumed granted him and his fleet unparalleled aerial mobility,Allowing him to appear in any sea like a ghost and then drift away after achieving his goal, making him extremely difficult to track and corner.The battle twenty-one years ago that destroyed half of Marineford and forced Sengoku and Garp to join forces to finally throw him into Impel Downremained a nightmare that the Marine high command was reluctant to mention, due to its tragedy and difficulty.At that time, if Golden Lion had not chosen to launch a frontal assault out of rage, the cost of capturing him would likely have been far more than that.Now, this fierce lion, who had disappeared for twenty years, had not only returned but had also stirred up a storm of blood far greater than before as soon as he appeared."The World Government is under immense pressure from the Affiliated Nations,"Sakazuki took over the conversation, his voice sounding as hard as if it had been ground by sand and stone,"The highest authorities demand that the Marinemake an immediate and powerful response to restore order and demonstrate authority."He scanned the room again, a magma-like hot and firm will burning in his eyes."This is not just a cleaning operation. This is a declaration!"He spoke word by word, each syllable striking everyone's heart like a heavy hammer:"We must let the whole world see clearly that in the new era, the Marine possesses the strength and determination to crush any ghost of the past!"His clenched fist landed heavily on the nautical chart marking Golden Lion's activity area."Therefore, the highest objective of this operation allows for no discount and no compromise!!"Sakazuki's declaration echoed in the grim briefing room like a final judgment:"Golden Lion Shiki must die!!"