Seeing Marineford—the symbol of Marine authority—reduced to such a humiliating state left Shiki immensely satisfied, as though a grievance he had carried for years had finally been paid back.
Yet his delighted laughter did not last long.
As it gradually subsided, the Golden Lion narrowed his eyes. A familiar mixture of arrogance and ambition surfaced within them, born from the same pride that had once driven him across the seas as one of the greatest pirates of his era.
Watching Kaido and Bullet steal all the attention had stirred something inside him.
He remembered the years when his own name had shaken the world, along with all the ambitions he had never managed to fulfill. Shiki had no intention of quietly watching from the sidelines while everyone else seized the spotlight.
He was still the Golden Lion.
And if the world needed reminding of that fact, then he would give it a reminder it could never forget.
Besides…
What was so impressive about merely wrecking Marine Headquarters?
A crooked smile appeared on Shiki's face as he tossed the newspaper aside.
He rose from his specially constructed floating chair and walked toward the edge of his temporary palace, overlooking all of Loguetown below.
The residents looked like ants moving through the streets, desperately trying to continue their daily lives despite the fear that had hung over the town ever since Shiki's arrival.
Shiki spread his arms wide.
"What I'm about to do…"
His grin widened.
"…is going to be a hell of a lot more exciting than that!"
An enormous, unnatural force immediately surged outward from his body and sank deep beneath Loguetown.
The Float-Float Fruit—
activated.
Vmmmm—!
At first, the disturbance was barely noticeable.
A faint tremor passed through the ground, subtle enough that many people mistook it for nothing more than their imagination.
Then it grew stronger.
The streets began to shake.
Buildings creaked.
The earth beneath Loguetown started trembling in increasingly violent waves, as though some colossal creature beneath the island had awakened and begun forcing its way toward the surface.
"W-What the hell?! An earthquake?!"
"No! It's Golden Lion!"
Someone's face went pale as realization struck.
"What is he doing now?!"
"RUN!"
Panic erupted across Loguetown.
Residents poured into the streets as houses shook violently around them. Roof tiles came crashing down, walls split apart, and jagged cracks spread through the roads beneath their feet.
People screamed as they fled in every direction.
Within moments, the town had descended into chaos.
But this was no ordinary earthquake caused by shifting tectonic plates.
The entire island beneath Loguetown was being seized by Shiki's terrifying power.
The Float-Float Fruit's influence spread through the land itself, wrapping around the island like an invisible hand.
Every layer of stone beneath the town groaned under the tremendous force.
Rock cracked.
The earth shifted.
The entire island seemed to strain against the sea that had held it in place for countless years.
And Shiki was only getting started.
The legendary pirate who had once left an indelible mark on the previous era had finally returned to the world stage, and he had no intention of settling for a simple act of destruction.
What he was doing now was a declaration.
An announcement that the Golden Lion's ambitions had never truly died.
Whatever terrifying plan he had once envisioned—
he intended to bring it back.
And this time, he was going to make sure the entire world watched.
"JIHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Shiki floated high above the violently trembling island like a demon looking down upon his domain.
"WATCH CLOSELY, WORLD!"
His laughter rolled across the sky.
"WATCH ME, RON! KAIDO!"
Below him, Loguetown shuddered as though the island itself were about to tear free from the ocean.
Shiki's eyes burned with manic confidence.
"JIHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
The era of the Golden Lion—
was about to roar back to life.
Once again, the ambition of a monster from the old era began stirring the seas.
...
At the Loguetown Marine Branch, chaos had already taken over.
Documents that had been neatly stacked across desks were thrown into the air by the violent shaking, fluttering around the room like snow.
Water splashed from overturned cups.
Decorations crashed to the floor one after another.
Crash! Clatter!
Cracks rapidly spread across the walls as the entire building groaned beneath the immense strain.
At any moment, it looked as though the Marine Branch itself might split apart.
Branch Commander Vice Admiral Karon, normally a calm and imposing officer, was having considerable trouble remaining composed amid the violent shaking.
...
Vice Admiral Karon gripped the window frame so tightly that his fingers turned white, barely managing to keep himself upright as the entire building shook violently around him.
His face had gone deathly pale, and beads of sweat rolled down his forehead, soaking into his collar.
"Headquarters! Headquarters, do you copy?! This is the Loguetown Branch!"
He roared into the communications Transponder Snail.
"We're experiencing an unidentified, extremely powerful earthquake! I repeat, an extremely powerful earthquake! Requesting immediate—"
His voice abruptly stopped.
Through the violently shaking window, Karon saw something he knew he would never forget for the rest of his life.
Outside, the familiar streets, rows of houses, harbor, and distant horizon were changing in a way that made no sense.
No.
The view was not tilting.
The ground beneath his feet was moving.
The entire island of Loguetown—
was slowly rising into the sky.
"N-No…"
Karon trembled.
"That's impossible…"
His pupils contracted to pinpoints as shock completely overwhelmed his normally disciplined expression.
Beyond the window, seawater around the harbor was being forced violently outward, retreating from the island as though pushed away by an enormous invisible hand.
The wet seabed emerged beneath it.
Fish that had been swimming only moments earlier flopped desperately across the exposed ground as the sea withdrew farther and farther away.
The distant horizon, normally a perfectly level line, began curving downward before Karon's eyes.
And the curvature kept increasing.
The sky seemed to draw closer.
Clouds that should have been far above now appeared almost within reach as Loguetown continued climbing.
This was not an earthquake.
An earthquake could shake the land.
It could crack streets and topple buildings.
But this—
this was something else entirely.
"The island…"
Karon's mind finally caught up with what his eyes were seeing.
"The island is flying?!"
A chill swept through his entire body.
Then a single name surfaced in his mind.
The legendary pirate who had taken up residence in Loguetown.
The man whose Devil Fruit power could make even islands defy gravity.
Golden Lion Shiki.
"G-GOLDEN LION!!!"
Karon's scream nearly broke.
Everything suddenly made sense.
And that realization only made the situation more terrifying.
He threw himself back toward the communications Transponder Snail, nearly falling as the floor pitched beneath him.
Both hands seized the receiver.
"HEADQUARTERS! EMERGENCY REPORT! HIGHEST PRIORITY!"
His voice had become almost hysterical.
"LOGUETOWN—THE ENTIRE ISLAND IS LEAVING THE SEA!"
"IT'S FLYING INTO THE SKY!"
"I REPEAT, LOGUETOWN ITSELF IS FLYING!"
His breath came in ragged bursts.
"IT'S GOLDEN LION SHIKI! HE'S MADE HIS MOVE!"
"REQUESTING REINFORCEMENTS!"
"REQUESTING TOP-TIER COMBAT POWER IMMEDIATELY!"
"THE EAST BLUE—!"
Karon's voice cracked.
"THE EAST BLUE IS ABOUT TO HAVE A DISASTER ON ITS HANDS!!!"
...
Far above the sea, Loguetown continued climbing.
The island slowly tore itself free from the ocean's embrace as Shiki's Float-Float Fruit lifted it higher and higher into the sky.
A violent sensation of weightlessness swept across the town.
People screamed and grabbed whatever they could find as the ground beneath them tilted and trembled.
Winds howled around the rising island with the fury of a wild beast, tearing through streets and battering buildings while the entire landmass ascended.
The emergency transmission raced across the distance toward Marine Headquarters.
But Marineford itself was still in chaos.
Buildings had been shattered.
Fires continued burning through parts of the fortress.
Smoke hung heavily over the ruins.
Marines rushed through the wreckage, carrying wounded comrades, clearing collapsed structures, and desperately trying to restore even the most basic defenses.
Headquarters had barely survived Kaido and Bullet's attack.
How much strength could it possibly spare for a catastrophe unfolding in the East Blue?
And this was no ordinary pirate raid.
An entire island had been lifted out of the ocean.
A disaster on that scale was closer to a natural calamity than anything conventional Marine forces were trained to handle.
Back in Loguetown, Karon slowly collapsed onto the ruined floor.
It felt as though all strength had drained from his body.
He stared blankly through the window at the sea below.
It was already far away.
The ocean that had always surrounded Loguetown now looked strangely distant and unfamiliar.
Karon could only watch as the island continued rising.
A disaster far more terrifying than an ordinary pirate attack had descended upon the East Blue.
And for the first time since it began—
Karon understood just how helpless they truly were.