Somewhere on the sea, a dozen or so miles away from Hachinosu.
Two pirate ships floated quietly.
On the oro jackson.
Roger and Whitebeard were drinking wine while looking towards Hachinosu from afar, seemingly waiting for something.
Suddenly, Jabba, who was looking around with a telescope, laughed loudly:
"Haha! They're here! Roger, Carlo's pirate crew really did come to find trouble with Shiki! The array looks huge; they've likely come out in full force."
Hearing this, Roger, who was sitting on the deck drinking and chatting, stood up with Whitebeard, Rayleigh, and the others, walked to the ship's railing, and looked in the direction Jabba was pointing.
What met their eyes was the vast, endless sea.
With an ordinary person's eyesight, naturally, nothing could be seen.
But among those present, who was an ordinary person?
With the support of their powerful vision and Observation Haki, the group soon discovered dozens of pirate ships sailing majestically towards Hachinosu on the extremely distant sea.
On the sails and masts of those ships, a winged skull emblem was tattooed.
It was indeed the Sky Pirates.
Rayleigh stroked his chin, his glasses reflecting light. "Fifty-seven pirate ships—the number of people must be nearly twenty thousand, right? With so many people, is Carlo going to completely break ties with Shiki?"
Roger laughed loudly: "Only twenty thousand? That's too few! Compared to Shiki's current military strength, it might not even match his spare change! If Carlo only has this much strength under him, I'm afraid it will be hard for him to seize territory from Shiki."
"Having many people does have an advantage, but it doesn't play a decisive role. The key to the problem still lies with their two Captains."
Whitebeard shook his head, rejecting Roger's viewpoint, while slightly frowning and wondering:
"I don't seem to sense Carlo's presence. Did he not come himself?"
Roger also investigated carefully and said curiously: "There really is no sign of Carlo's presence. Is his Haoshoku too powerful, and he used Observation Killing to hide his presence, or as you said... did he really not come?"
"We'll find out if we keep watching. Anyway, something is definitely going to happen today. And..."
"There are quite a few bystanders; even the Marines have come."
Rayleigh suddenly turned his head and looked at the sea to the side.
"Marines?" Roger looked over in the direction of his gaze and soon saw several warships the size of black dots, stopped in a sea area further away than them.
The emblem on one of the warships looked somewhat familiar.
Roger narrowed his eyes and observed carefully for a moment, saying in surprise: "Sengoku! That guy actually came. As an Admiral, he actually dares to barge into the heart of this New World; isn't he afraid he won't be able to return?"
Jabba giggled: "Maybe he wants to be the fisherman. The Marines can only hold onto this kind of idea to deal with us now. Thinking about it this way, they probably want to see Carlo and Shiki fight until they're bloodied even more than we do, right?"
"The Marines' influence is indeed somewhat weak at this stage." Roger shook his head and stopped looking towards the Marine side, instead looking at Whitebeard:
"Newgate, if a fight breaks out later, which side do you plan to help?"
Whitebeard folded his arms, his expression calm: "Both sides are former comrades. Who do you think I should help?"
"So, you won't help anyone?"
"Of course."
"Is that so?"
Roger chuckled and looked towards Hachinosu.
"Shiki has come out. Looking at his aura, it seems he's very angry."
At the same time.
Above the sea on the other side of Hachinosu.
A hot air balloon floated a thousand meters high in the sky.
Below the hot air balloon, a wooden house was hanging.
At this moment, in this rather simple wooden house, a birdman was holding a telescope, observing the situation on Hachinosu Island with great interest.
When he saw the movements of the dense pirate ships on the sea, as well as the large number of pirate ships faintly appearing further away, he became completely excited.
In his pair of bird eyes, there was nothing but anticipation and excitement.
"Big news! This time I can definitely get first-hand big news!"
"Sky Pirates VS Flying Pirate Crew!"
"Heavenly King Carlo VS Golden Lion Shiki!"
"This is the first true battle for the new pirate hegemony since the dissolution of the Rocks Pirates!"
"Both the Heavenly King and the Golden Lion were Division Captains of the Rocks Pirates. No matter which side wins this battle, I will witness history with my own eyes!"
"Speaking of which, news just came from the Totto Land sea area saying that the Big Mom Pirates have been completely defeated and were almost destroyed by the Flying Pirate Crew."
"Looking at it this way, in the entire Rocks Pirates, the only people who can truly compete with each other and be considered pirate overlords are Whitebeard, Golden Lion, and Heavenly King Carlo. I didn't expect that even Charlotte Linlin, whom I had high hopes for and thought had a chance to compete with those three, would lose so miserably. Then the others are even less worth looking at."
Morgans, the president of the World Economic News Paper, lamented alone in the attic of the wooden house.
Just then, a deep voice filled with anger suddenly exploded in his ear.
"Wororororo! What do you mean, you feathered birdman? Are you looking down on me? What do you mean by 'not worth looking at'? Explain it clearly to me!"
This sudden, massive voice was like a thunderclap, making Morgans' ears ring.
"Who... who is speaking?"
He was startled and looked around in a panic.
Then.
Through the attic window in front of him, he saw that in the sky where dark clouds gathered, amidst the churning clouds, some kind of huge, unknown creature seemed to be swimming past.
That's right.
Swimming.
That massive unknown creature swam and shuttled through the dark clouds, occasionally revealing a large area of slimy scales that reflected the sunlight.
Morgans' eyes widened in terror.
"Wha... what is that? There's... there's a monster in the clouds! Is it one of the Sea Kings? But... how could there be Sea Kings in the clouds?"
Just as his heart was racing.
The nearest mass of dark clouds suddenly billowed and dispersed to both sides.
Then in the next moment.
In Morgans' bird eyes, which were widened to the limit due to excessive shock and horror.
He saw a massive head emerge from behind the dark clouds, revealing itself before his eyes.
It was an incomparably majestic and ferocious dragon head!
Behind the dragon head was a dragon body as vast as a mountain range, covered with countless green scales.
This massive dragon head lowered from the dark clouds and leaned in front of the hot air balloon where he was.
A pair of domineering and majestic dragon eyes appeared outside the attic window, glaring at him fiercely.
"I'm talking to you! Are you deaf? Birdman!"
Morgans' bird beak opened wide, a dying rattling sound coming from his throat, his legs went weak, and he fell onto his butt with a thud.
"Dra... dra... dragon..."
"Dragon your head! You've made me very unhappy, and I'm going to destroy you right now!"
The giant Azure Dragon opened its fanged mouth, and deep in its throat, a burning red light lit up.
"Heat..."
"Slurp slurp..."
Ten minutes later.
In Morgans' wooden house, Kaido sat on the floor, holding a large plate of noodles, slurping them crazily and eating with great relish.
Beside him, Morgans, with his head covered in bumps, was cooking noodles with a miserable face.
On the floor next to him, the flour-based food that would have lasted him for months was almost gone.
After Kaido finished the noodles on the plate, he drank all the soup inside, then extended the large plate and shoved it in front of Morgans.
"Another bowl!"
"Please... please wait a moment, Lord Kaido." Morgans took the plate with tears in his eyes and continued to work hard cooking noodles.
Seeing this, Kaido glared.
"Huh? You're unhappy about cooking some noodles! After speaking ill of me, it's already good enough that I didn't kill you on the spot!"
"I'm... I'm sorry! It was my fault, Lord Kaido! Please be magnanimous and forgive me."
Morgans apologized quickly.
On his bird face, there was only a bitter smile at this moment.
Who would have thought that while he was casually muttering to himself in this hot air balloon a thousand meters high, he would encounter the person involved on the spot?
And it was someone with such a fiery temper.
Kaido!
A Senior Combatant of the Rocks Pirates.
He was also a Great Pirate with quite a reputation.
He also participated in the battle of God Valley.
Morgans had even met him once at God Valley.
However, compared to the few people he mentioned earlier, he was quite inferior.
Of course, Morgans wouldn't dare say that now.
If Kaido hadn't suddenly gotten hungry just now,
he might have really turned into a roasted bird by now.
A few minutes later.
He cooked the noodles again, picked them out, ladled the soup, served a huge plate, and laboriously brought it to Kaido once more.
Kaido took it with satisfaction, stepped on the creaking floorboards, walked to the attic window, sat down, and looked toward Hachinosu while eating his noodles.
"I saw that bastard Shiki, but what about Carlo? Will he come?"
He muttered.
Then, he said with teeth-gritting anger:
"Rocks's legacy... Damn it! I want a share too! But even Linlin was defeated by that bastard Shiki, so I have even less of a chance! This is so infuriating!!"
Hachinosu Port.
Countless pirates swarmed onto the pirate ships docked in the port, quickly sailing toward the open sea.
The pirate ships quickly spread out, forming a fan-shaped encirclement across the vast sea, awaiting the arrival of the Sky Pirates.
Above the sea.
Golden Lion Shiki flew through the air and soon arrived above the Sky Pirates' fleet, looking down from a height.
His gaze scanned the pirate ships one by one, searching for any sign of Carlo.
But after searching for a long time, he found nothing.
Golden Lion Shiki then had a general idea.
Right now, Carlo was likely still in the Totto Land waters with Linlin.
Thinking of this, he looked at John standing on the leading pirate ship below and showed a sinister grin.
"John! How bold of you! With that brat Carlo not here, you actually dare to come? You really aren't afraid of death! Or do you think I'll spare you out of old times' sake?"
On the pirate ship, John stood in a relaxed posture, looking up at Golden Lion Shiki floating in the sky.
"No need for threats, Shiki. We're all old acquaintances. I know you won't kill me, and you won't dare to kill me."
"I won't dare to kill you?" A fierce light flashed in Golden Lion's eyes. The two long swords floating behind him flew into his hands. A massive aura erupted from him, pressing down below.
"That bastard brat Carlo dared to kill Kurozumi Higurashi. Do you think I won't dare to kill you?"
Although John was somewhat startled by Golden Lion's current aura, he still smiled:
"But Carlo didn't kill your good brother Silver Axe, did he? That dead bitch Kurozumi Higurashi didn't give Carlo face, so she deserved to be killed! You see, I'm being very respectful to you."
"Carlo said that if you kill me, he will kill Silver Axe, kill Bastar, and kill all your subordinates, leaving you as a lone commodore. You should know that with his strength and speed, he could definitely do it easily."
"Shiki, you wouldn't want that, would you?"
In the sky.
Golden Lion's expression flickered uncertainly.
He was already extremely furious.
But what John said seemed to be correct.
With Carlo's strength, he could have indeed finished off Silver Axe and the others back at Cake Island.
But Carlo didn't do that.
He only killed Kurozumi Higurashi.
Presumably, he didn't want to completely burn bridges with him either.
That stupid woman Kurozumi Higurashi is dead, and that's that.
Golden Lion didn't actually care at all.
Just...
No matter what, Kurozumi Higurashi was still a high-ranking officer under his command.
Carlo just killed her like that.
If he didn't show some kind of reaction, where would his dignity go?
Thinking of this...
Golden Lion's eyes became cold and sharp again.
He looked down at John, "What are you doing here? Don't tell me you're here to demonstrate. With just this small force of yours, you'll only make me laugh my head off!"
As he spoke, he waved his hand.
On Hachinosu Island behind him, pirate ships floated up into the air one by one, as if defying gravity, and flew into the sky.
Before long...
In the sky behind Golden Lion, over a hundred pirate ships of various sizes appeared!
The shapes of these pirate ships were quite different from normal vessels.
The gun ports on the ships were arranged like a honeycomb, opening downward.
These were pirate ships specially designed according to Golden Lion's Float-Float Fruit ability.
They could fire cannons from the sky down toward the sea surface.
While the cannonballs from the sea below had no way to reach them flying in the sky.
It could be said that they were inherently invincible.
These special ships, parked directly on the island, were Golden Lion's original core force.
The famous Flying Fleet!
The hundred or so ships here weren't even the entire fleet, just a part of it.
But even just this portion of ships was enough to cover the sky!
A dense, dark mass blotted out the sun like clusters of storm clouds.
It gave off a tremendous sense of pressure!
On the pirate ship, John couldn't help but marvel at the spectacular sight.
"I really should have brought those brats here to see what a real fleet looks like."
A saying had always circulated in the New World.
When it comes to the scale of a fleet, if Golden Lion is second, no one dares to claim first.
In front of his Flying Fleet...
Even the Marine fleet has to step aside!
Seeing the spectacular sight of these hundred ships ascending, even John, as an opponent, couldn't help but be amazed.
Jesman, who had come along, was so shocked he was speechless.
At this moment, he finally understood why Golden Lion was called the Flying Commodore.
At the same time, he was even more shocked by the power of the deceased Rocks.
Because even a man as powerful as Golden Lion was once willing to serve under Rocks as the second division captain.
If one Golden Lion was already this terrifying...
Then how powerful must Rocks have been, to gather monsters like Golden Lion, Whitebeard, Carlo, and Charlotte Linlin all in one place and become their Captain?
With the sky above and the sea below filled with pirate ships, Golden Lion's face broke into a wild smile, like a lion baring its teeth as it overlooked the ocean.
"John! I'll give you one more chance! Tell me what you're doing in Hachinosu? If you give the wrong answer..."
"...then all of you shall be buried here!"
Feeling Golden Lion's killing intent...
John's expression changed slightly, "Shiki! You..."
"I never take threats from anyone!!"
"If Silver axe dies, it's only because of his own incompetence! He doesn't deserve to reach the top of the sea with me!"
"Subordinates are things... I can have as many as I want! Even if every subordinate here dies, I won't feel a bit of pain!"
"Because I am... the Golden Lion!!"
Golden Lion's golden hair danced wildly in the wind, and his overbearing aura pressed down overwhelmingly, knocking unconscious a large number of pirates in the Sky Pirates' fleet below.
Knowing that Golden Lion wasn't joking this time,
John didn't dare to provoke him further and gamble with his own life.
But he couldn't just back down either.
After all, at this moment, he represented the entire Sky Pirates—he represented Carlo.
So he said,
"We have two demands for coming here today!"
John held up two fingers.
"First! You've locked up Maron, haven't you? Release him and hand him over to us!"
"Second! We, the Sky Pirates, want half of the territory you've occupied from Rocks! This includes the gold mines on Hachinosu Island, as well as the former casinos, ports, and Pleasure Districts of the Rocks Pirates. We want half of all the profits..."
"You're looking for death!!"
Before John could even finish, Golden Lion suddenly clenched his hand in the air.
In the next instant...
In front of John's pirate ship, thousands of tons of seawater roared and surged into the sky, instantly condensing into a seawater lion the size of a small mountain. It opened its massive mouth and bit down toward John.
"Lion's Majesty: Imperial Palace Earth Roll!!"