"Jiehahahaha! What's the matter, Garp? Cat got your tongue?"
Golden Lion Shiki's wild laughter echoed across the battlefield, thick with mockery. "I get it—you've gone silent because you can't refute me! Everything I've said is the truth, isn't it?"
Murmurs rippled through the ranks of Marines as uncertainty began to creep into their disciplined formation.
"Is it really true?"
"Vice Admiral Garp… did he really join forces with the Pirate King, Roger?"
"Wait, that straw-hatted kid is supposed to be Garp's grandson, right?"
"And that Fire Fist Ace—he and Straw Hat are brothers! So does that mean…"
"Could there really be some secret connection between Vice Admiral Garp and the Pirate King Roger?"
The once-steady Marine elites faltered, whispers spreading like wildfire.
"Jiehahahaha! What a 'hero of the Marines'—turns out he's just an old rogue with a shiny title!"
Golden Lion Shiki sneered, pressing the verbal dagger deeper.
"Shut your mouth, Shiki! You bastard, that's enough!" Marshal Sengoku roared, fury twisting his face.
He knew too well that if Shiki kept talking, Marine morale—already battered and strained—would crumble completely.
"Embarrassed, are you?" Shiki's grin widened, golden mane dancing in the wind. "You think yelling will fix your image? Talk is useless. Let's see whose truth stands when the dust settles!"
"Enough!" barked Figaland Garin, Commander of the Holy Knights, his voice cold and cutting.
"This isn't for you to decide," Shiki shot back, curling his lip in defiance. "My mouth's my own, and I'll say whatever I damn well please! The more you don't want me to speak, the more I'll shout it—to the whole world if I have to! Isn't that what rebellion's for?"
His gaze swept across the battlefield, sharp as a hawk's. Then his eyes locked onto the massive video transponder snails stationed at Marine Headquarters.
For the sake of maintaining their grand illusion—the so-called "war of justice"—Sengoku snapped back to reality and barked, "Cut the live feed! Now!"
The operators scrambled, and the broadcast went dark.
This way, the chaos would remain a secret. The truth could later be "adjusted" as needed, and the world would believe whatever story the Marines chose to tell.
But Shiki knew this trick too well.
He smirked, wings of golden hair fluttering as he rose higher. "Sengoku, I think it's time I shut that lying mouth of yours instead!"
"Try it, you damned relic!" Sengoku roared, transforming into the towering Golden Buddha, radiating divine fury.
"Jiehahaha! Come on then, show me what you've got!" Shiki bellowed back, fearless and defiant.
The two legends collided—Buddha's divine might against the storming ferocity of the Flying Pirate. Their clash sent shockwaves tearing through the battlefield.
But then—
Just as Sengoku closed in, Shiki twisted midair, narrowly evading the strike. His sharp eyes flashed. Instead of counterattacking, he streaked toward the video transponder snails at lightning speed.
The sailors guarding them barely had time to react before being blasted aside. They were no match for a man who once shook the seas.
With a thunderous clap of his palm, Shiki struck down. Two massive transponder snails shot skyward, their eyes snapping open.
Power on! Reboot!
One focused on Shiki himself.
The other panned across the entire battlefield.
Meanwhile — Sabaody Archipelago, Grove 30, Live Square
"What's going on now?"
"Why hasn't the feed come back yet?"
"What the hell happened at Marine Headquarters?"
"The president of Fairy Tail said the new Emperor, Sugisawa Yuuto, made his move!"
"And what about Pluton Rayleigh? Straw Hat Luffy? Blackbeard's crew?"
"Wait—does that mean everything we saw before was fake?"
"Did the Marines really wipe out Whitebeard's pirates or not?"
"Damn it! What's happening with this war?!"
The massive crowd filling Live Square—tens of thousands of reporters, spectators, and thrill-seekers—was on the brink of madness.
It had been over half an hour since the feed had been cut, yet not a soul left. In fact, more and more people were gathering, desperate for the truth behind this world-shaking conflict.
Everyone was restless, eyes glued to the giant blank screen, waiting… hoping… craving answers to this battle that would define an era.
And then—
The massive live display flickered twice.
The air grew still.
Then the image burst back to life.
The first thing that appeared on-screen—
—was the figure of the legendary Flying Pirate himself.
"Ah!"
"Ah—ahhhhhh!"
"He… he's… it's him! Golden Lion Shiki!!!"
Gasps and screams erupted across the square as the image of the mythic pirate filled the screen once again—alive, defiant, and smiling like a devil reborn.