"Unknown fleet ahead!" the lookout shouted.
"Flag identified—a golden lion's head!"
Roger leaned out of the cabin, straw hat tilted lazily.
"Hm? A new pirate crew?"
Rayleigh folded his newspaper, frowning slightly.
"I don't recall hearing of anyone flying that flag."
Scopper Gaban rested his axe on his shoulder and squinted toward the horizon.
"They're lined up in battle formation," he said. "Looks like they came looking for trouble."
Five ships cut through the waves ahead, perfectly spaced. At the prow of the flagship stood a golden-haired man, tall and proud, two swords crossed casually over his shoulders. His grin was sharp, brimming with unchecked ambition.
"Dya-ha-ha-ha!"
His laughter rolled across the sea.
"So this is Roger's crew? That broken tub ahead?"
Reith straightened slowly.
A man who loses his beloved, charges alone into the enemy's den, gets sealed, cuts off his own legs to escape fate and throws himself into the sea just to chase his ambition…
He smiled faintly.
"So it really is you, Golden Lion."
Roger didn't get angry. Instead, he waved cheerfully.
"Yo! New faces? Want to stop by for a drink?"
The man's grin twisted.
"Spare me the jokes."
"I came today to trample you beneath my feet and announce it to the world—
I, Shiki the Golden Lion, will become the next Pirate King!"
Roger blinked.
"Huh? A new king?" He laughed. "Sure, go for it. I'm not stopping you."
"Ku-ha-ha-ha!" Gaban roared. "Captain, this one's got nerve!"
Rayleigh adjusted his glasses calmly.
"Bounty: 280 million. Fuwa Fuwa no Mi user. Recently destroyed three Marine bases."
He looked up. "He's no small fry."
Reith exhaled softly.
Good. Then we don't give him time.
A crimson fog bloomed outward.
In an instant, it swallowed Shiki's flagship whole.
The pirates on deck froze in horror.
Their voices were gone.
Not deaf—silenced.
The mist crept into nostrils, wrapped around skin like countless venomous threads, corroding flesh and gnawing at willpower itself.
"Kh—!"
A pirate officer with a seventy-million bounty stared in terror as his palm decayed before his eyes, flesh peeling away to reveal bone. He tried to scream.
Only blood spilled from his mouth.
Reith emerged from the fog.
Black Tide dragged behind him, its tip scraping the deck with a shrill screech.
His pace was slow. Deliberate.
Every pirate could see him—his long black hair drifting, his calm smile almost gentle.
Yet no one could touch him.
"Shoot him!" a sniper screamed. "It's just smoke—!"
The bullet struck Reith squarely—
—and passed through an afterimage, dispersing into mist.
Reith's footsteps echoed elsewhere.
He left false bodies behind, woven from fog, while the real him had already moved on.
A Tori Tori no Mi user transformed into a massive bird and beat his wings violently, summoning a hurricane to disperse the mist.
It didn't move.
"Fog Sword Style: Life Severance."
The bird-man collapsed mid-transformation, Armament Haki fading as he fell asleep—
a sleep without dreams.
"Monster…" someone whispered, dropping their weapon and fleeing.
Reith raised a finger.
"Misty Corrosion: Piercing Heart."
Hair-thin crimson threads shot forward, piercing through the man's back and erupting from his chest. He staggered, looked down at the hole, and fell to his knees.
Silence followed.
When the fog receded, the deck was a graveyard.
Black Tide was spotless.
In just over ten seconds, the Golden Lion's crew was annihilated.
Only Shiki remained.
Shiki trembled with fury.
"My ships…"
"My crew…"
"Do you have any idea how long it took me to build this?!"
His golden hair whipped wildly as Oto and Kogarashi flew into his hands. Haki erupted, cracking the deck beneath him.
"I'll kill you!!!"
He leapt skyward.
Under the Fuwa Fuwa no Mi's power, the flagship tore free from the sea, warping and fracturing into a storm of razor-sharp debris.
"Lion's Roar—Thousand Valleys!"
Golden slashes screamed toward the Oro Jackson, each powerful enough to cleave a battleship.
—
"Hey, hey," Roger's voice echoed calmly.
"Don't get so worked up."
Roger appeared midair, straw hat fluttering. Ace, coated in jet-black Busoshoku, swung upward.
"Divine Departure!"
THOOOOOOM!!!
Haoshoku collided.
The sky split with a black fissure. The sea collapsed inward, forming a massive depression as water rushed back violently.
Shiki was blasted backward, boots detonating sonic booms in midair as he barely stabilized himself.
His eyes widened.
He stopped it… just like that?!
"Dya-ha-ha-ha…" Shiki grinned wildly. "Interesting! You really are Roger!"
Reith returned to the deck, clicking his tongue.
"Ah… the wheels of fate are turning. Captain really does have that irresistible charm."
Roger landed lightly, smile gone.
"Shiki. Ambition's fine. But you're charging straight toward death."
"To death?!" Shiki roared. "I'll show you who the real king is!"
The remaining ships lifted into the air—
—but Roger was already behind him.
"Young man," Roger said softly,
"know your place."
Too late.
SHHH—!
Blood sprayed.
A massive gash tore across Shiki's chest. He crashed into the sea like a cannonball, sending a colossal plume skyward.
The ocean slowly settled.
Wreckage drifted.
Shiki floated unconscious.
Roger scratched his head.
"Oops. Think I hit too hard?"
Reith stared at the drifting Golden Lion, lips twitching.
"So that's how I lost… huh. Guess my family situation's complicated now."
Roger laughed loudly.
"Alright! Let's keep sailing!"
The Oro Jackson turned away.
Behind them, Shiki's fingers twitched. His eyes snapped open—burning with hatred.
"Roger… that fog brat…"
"You'll regret this…"
"I swear it—
I will surpass you."