East Blue — calm waters
Gern Reginald Sigmar was alone, drifting gently with the swell aboard a small sailboat he had "borrowed" from an East Blue Marine branch.
He lay on a deck chair, face up, sunglasses on, as if basking in the sun—yet in truth, he was searching for a long-hidden "old acquaintance."
To be honest, even in the world of the Pirate King, the Four Seas were vast.
At the very least, in the boundless expanse of the East Blue, trying to find someone who was deliberately hiding—especially a bastard who could fly through the sky—
Was no different from looking for a needle in the ocean. Absurdly difficult.
But since Gern had come, he naturally had his own method.
Unhurried, he rolled up from the deck chair, picked up the notebook beside him, and began flipping through it once more.
Its pages were densely packed with information he had gathered over this period through countless channels.
Most of the entries were eyewitness accounts from islands, towns, and fishermen across the East Blue.
[Fishermen near the waters of the Goa Kingdom claim that after a storm, they saw an enormous shadow pass through the clouds—suspected to resemble the outline of an island.]
[Children in Shells Town said they saw a "flying mountain," but adults dismissed it as childish nonsense.]
[A merchant vessel near Orange Town reported seeing an island inexplicably lift into the air; the color of the sky was abnormal…]
[...]
These fragmented, vague reports—mostly treated as jokes or hallucinations by locals—would never be accepted by any formal intelligence organization.
And precisely because of that, Golden Lion Shiki had been able to rely on the powers of the Fuwa Fuwa no Mi to remain hidden in the skies for so many years.
Gern, however, extracted value from these seemingly useless scraps.
Through cross-referencing, analyzing frequency and geographic distribution, he roughly outlined a probable area.
He didn't need precise coordinates.
He only needed a "stage" conspicuous enough.
Snap.
After a long while, Gern closed the notebook and raised his head, the gaze beneath his sunglasses sweeping across the vast, cloudless sea before him.
According to his analysis, this was the region where abnormal sightings had been reported most frequently in recent times.
"Looks like…" Gern murmured with a faint, knowing smile, "…this is the sea with the biggest audience."
His voice dropped even lower.
"My old acquaintance… Golden Lion."
The instant those words fell—
Gern did not choose to ascend into the sky and search blindly. That would have been inefficient—and far too likely to alert his prey.
Instead, he calmly removed his sunglasses.
In the next moment, a terrifying crimson light flared violently within his eyes!
Immediately after—
An overwhelming, boundless presence erupted from him without restraint, surging outward like a catastrophic flood!
HMMMM—!!!
The air froze solid.
The sea surface became smooth as glass, not a single ripple allowed to form.
The clouds overhead seemed seized by an invisible giant hand, their movement halted completely.
Within dozens of nautical miles, every living creature—whether fish swimming beneath the waves or birds gliding through the sky—
Was seized by absolute terror and paralysis, bodies trembling uncontrollably, many collapsing unconscious on the spot.
This was supreme Haoshoku Haki.
A pressure that towered above all living beings—
The absolute dominance possessed only by those who stood at the very summit of the world!
Gern raised his Conqueror's Haki to its absolute limit, holding nothing back.
In that instant, the "ripples" and "disturbance" it created pierced the clouds themselves, shaking the heavens!
This was the most direct—most arrogant—possible declaration to that old rival hidden above the clouds.
I'm here.
I know you're here.
Come out and face me.
...
At the same time—
High above the East Blue, concealed within thick layers of cloud, floated the airborne island Merveille.
At the very center of the island stood a palace of rough, imposing design, still bearing the unmistakable mark of the former Flying Pirates.
Within the great hall sat the legendary pirate—
Golden Lion Shiki.
Age had caught up with him. His golden hair dragged along the floor, his sideburns and beard equally long and gold.
If the Golden Lion of the past had truly lived up to his name, then the current image was more like a golden, long-haired beast—one that was balding on top.
Yet the ship's wheel embedded in his skull, and the famed blades Oto and Kogarashi fitted as prosthetic legs,
All silently testified to the madness and glory this man had once embodied.
"Hah…" Shiki sighed softly, holding an archaic, dish-like sake cup in his hand, his gaze unfocused.
According to his original plan, by now he should have unleashed the "IQ" plant annihilation project he had cultivated for twenty years—
And announced the return of Golden Lion Shiki to the East Blue, to the entire world.
But reality was that the plan had been delayed again and again.
The root cause lay years earlier, when Gern had been unusually active throughout the East Blue.
Though the man's target had not been Shiki himself, it was still enough to make the aging, inherently cunning and paranoid Golden Lion choose deeper concealment.
At that moment, his most trusted companion over the years—and the crew's doctor—Dr. Indigo, approached with his peculiar, comical gait.
He began gesturing wildly with his body, roughly conveying:
"Captain Shiki~ when are we finally going to start the plan?
The research on the 'IQ' plants is already ve~ry stable now! Those enhanced creatures will definitely help us conquer the world! Shurorororo~!"
Watching Indigo's excited face, Shiki let out a bold laugh on the surface—but didn't answer immediately.
The so-called "IQ" plant research…
No one understood it better than Shiki himself.
In truth, it was nothing more than a consolation fantasy—crafted by a failure who, after long years of imprisonment and hiding, refused to abandon his ambition of ruling the world,
Yet knew deep down that the times had changed, and that his own strength might never again reach the peak.
Those beasts strengthened by drugs might overwhelm ordinary Marines or pirates—
But against true top-tier monsters—
Against, say… that man—
Or even against Shiki himself now—
A single burst of Conqueror's Haki would be enough to make them collapse, utterly helpless.
To conquer the world with such things?
A delusion worthy of laughter.
Yet Shiki did not shatter the dream he had woven for himself. He merely smiled perfunctorily and said,
"No rush, Indigo. We can still—"
CLANG!
Before he could finish, Shiki's expression froze.
The sake dish slipped from his hand without warning, smashing onto the tatami as clear liquor spread outward.
Shiki rose abruptly from his seated position, all trace of his smile erased, replaced by an extreme, deadly seriousness as he stared toward a direction beyond the palace walls.
He felt it.
That familiar, heart-stopping fluctuation rising from the seas below.
His hand instinctively touched the scar on his chest.
"That presence… there's no mistake!"
"It's that bastard's Haki!! He actually came to the East Blue?!"
"Captain Shiki? What's wrong—?" Dr. Indigo froze, thrown completely off guard, his gestures stumbling into confusion.
But Shiki paid him no heed.
In the next instant—
The power of the Fuwa Fuwa no Mi activated!
WHOOSH!
Shiki's figure blasted straight through the palace roof, trailing a violent gale as he shot toward the source of that overwhelmingly tyrannical Conqueror's Haki!
All that remained behind was Dr. Indigo, standing dumbstruck beneath the shattered ceiling, staring at the spilled sake and broken tiles—
Completely at a loss.