A terrifying aura instantly enveloped the entire dock.
Everyone felt as if an invisible hand gripped their heart.
The air grew thick, almost congealed. The sea breeze slammed into an unseen wall, halting abruptly in mid-air.
Ain felt as if her lungs were filled with lead, every breath requiring immense effort.
Beside her, Binz turned pale, his knees trembling uncontrollably, emitting faint creaking sounds from his bones.
Was this the power of the man who once standing at the pinnacle of this sea?
Just an emotional outburst from him was enough to suffocate an ordinary people!
"Enough!"
Sengoku's roar hit like a thunderclap, instantly shattering the suffocating deadlock.
Golden shockwaves erupted from the Fleet Admiral.
"This is Marineford! The face of the Marines! Are you going to tear Headquarters apart?!"
The veins on Sengoku's temples throbbed as he strode between Garp and Kizaru, his gaze behind his round glasses sharp as knives.
"Rein in your killing intent, Garp!" Sengoku turned, staring fixedly into his old friend's bloodshot eyes, his tone more severe than ever before.
"This isn't the time for your blind anger! Saving lives comes first! Zaraki is still in the hands of that flying madman!"
At Zaraki's name, the all-consuming killing aura around Garp finally loosened slightly.
Seeing this, Sengoku swiftly issued orders. "Garp, set off for the East Blue immediately! Whatever mess the Golden Lion left behind, or if you want to turn Loguetown upside down—that's your freedom! But sailing the seas takes time, you couldn't catch up to an island in the sky right away!"
Sengoku abruptly turned his head, his gaze locking onto the yellow figure still leaning casually atop the streetlamp.
"Borsalino!"
"Right here, right here. Fleet Admiral Sengoku is really fired up, huh." Kizaru pursed his lips, his tone as flippant as ever, but the hand in his pocket twitched slightly—he noticed there wasn't a hint of jest in Sengoku's eyes.
"Since that rookie is a monster, and since that old bastard Garp says he's a future pillar of the Marines, then the Marines cannot afford to lose him." Sengoku took a deep breath, his voice steady as stone.
"Use your Pika Pika no Mi speed and head at full throttle toward the skies over the East Blue! You have only one mission—find the trail of the Golden Lion's floating island, confirm its coordinates, and before Garp arrives, find a way to keep that kid alive!"
This rescue was the Marines' high-stakes gamble on the future.
Sengoku's gaze grew profound, his tone carrying an undeniable chill. "That guy Shiki has been dormant for years. Suddenly appearing in the East Blue and attacking it—this is no whim of him. If we don't figure out what he's planning, these seas will likely be thrown into chaos again."
The orders had been given.
On the streetlamp, Kizaru scratched his cheek, his wrinkled face breaking into his trademark, somewhat resigned smile.
"How scary~ You really know how to make trouble for people."
With a lazy sigh, his body dissolved into dazzling particles of light, reforming in the air.
This time, he dropped his spectator pose and slightly adjusted his yellow sunglasses.
"Even though searching for a flying rock high in the sky is like looking for a needle in a haystack... since it's the Fleet Admiral's order, plus Vice Admiral Garp's terrifying glare, I suppose I have no choice but to make the trip."
The golden light seemed blinding at this moment, a precursor to an imminent burst of speed.
"After all, I'm quite curious too—just what kind of monstrous power does the brat have that caught the Golden Lion's eyes?"
Before his words fully faded, the golden light shot straight into the clouds, poised to tear through the sky.
On the dock, Garp, upon hearing Kizaru accept the order, finally withdrew the killing intent surrounding him completely, replacing it with pure urgency.
Just as that yellow light shot into the clouds, the heavy pressure on the dock tensed again due to another person's movement.
Garp moved.
He didn't say a word, nor did he even glance back at his old comrade.
He strode forward, each step landing on the hard stone pavement with a dull, heavy thud.
His Justice Coat flapped fiercely behind him, stretched taut by the sea breeze.
Before his adjutant could give the order, Garp leaped onto the deck of the dog-head warship.
The thick deck groaned with a strained creak the moment his boots landed.
"Full speed ahead! I don't care if the boilers blow!"
A furious roar accompanied the deafening clatter of chains as the warship cut through the waves, charging madly eastward like an enraged steel beast.
Watching the rapidly shrinking warship, Sengoku's tense shoulders finally slumped slightly. He removed his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose wearily.
"Don't worry too much, Sengoku." A broad hand patted his shoulder.
Zephyr's purple hair looked somewhat disheveled in the sea breeze, but the steadiness in his eyes held firm like an anchor.
"Garp might be a bastard most of the time, but he knows better than anyone what he's doing. And..."
Zephyr paused, his gaze shifting toward the seemingly calm blue sky, a complex smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
"If that kid can make that old fool Garp care this much, he's probably not the type to die easily."
...
Ten thousand meters above sea level, Floating Island Merveille.
Here, there was no salty scent of sea breeze, only a strange odor blending the rotting decay of a primeval forest with harsh chemical reagents.
"Jihahahaha! What a scary brat!"
Shiki the Golden Lion floated in mid-air.
Even with both legs severed and replaced by the famed swords "Oto" and "Kogarashi," this man's oppressive presence remained like a mountain.
A cigar clenched between his teeth, smoke swirling around him, his hawk-like sharp eyes gleamed with madness.
Beside him, Dr. Indigo, his face painted with thick greasepaint, let out a strange cackle.
"Kelelele... Boss, we haven't measured this kid's physical data yet, but the burst of Haki he just displayed makes him practically a perfect specimen!"
"Then let's test him..." Shiki exhaled a thick cloud of smoke, his gaze turning cruel and mocking.
"The newly developed IQ evolution serum just needs a durable punching bag to verify the combat capabilities of those beasts. If he can't even survive this first trial, then he's not worthy of standing on my side."
As Indigo danced over and stomped on a red control button, a massive iron gate deep in the jungle rumbled open.
ROAR—!
A roar that sounded like a mix of dinosaur and tiger instantly tore through the jungle's tranquility.
Zaraki's boots had just touched the ground, and before he could even brush the rainwater and dust from his black coat, a foul, stinking gale swept toward him.
This was a jungle that defied the laws of nature.
The trees twisted and coiled, their leaves displaying an eerie purplish-red hue.
The creatures emerging from the shadows were enough to give ordinary people nightmares with just a glance—a massive bear walking upright, three times the size of a normal giant bear, its muscles bulging like rocks.
Even more terrifying were its blood-red eyes, filled only with a killing desire pushed to the absolute extreme by drugs.
"Is this the so-called 'welcome gift'?"
Zaraki stood in place, not only not drawing his blade but even letting out a bored yawn.
He tilted his head, watching the drooling monster approach while silently grumbled in his heart.
As someone familiar with this world's history, he naturally knew about the Golden Lion's IQ Herb research at this point in time.
But seeing these biological weapons transformed into mindless killing machines with his own eyes was still somewhat nauseating.
Since it was nauseating, he might as well cut it down!
Just then, a faint murmur of voices drifted on the wind and reached Zaraki's ears.
It was feedback from his Kenbunshoku Haki.
In this hostile and unfamiliar environment, his Kenbunshoku Haki instinctively spread out like an invisible net, capturing every movement around him.
"Hey, how long do you think this kid will last?"
"Last? Don't joke around. That's the latest model Evolution Berserk Bear—one slap can shatter solid rocks. I give him ten seconds at most before he turns into mush."
"Heh, I bet five seconds! Look at that kid, too scared to even draw his blade. He must already be trembling in his boots!"
Hundreds of meters away, on a high slope, a group of pirate underlings crouched behind cover, watching through binoculars, placing bets while enjoying the spectacle.
In their eyes, the black-haired brat standing in the center of the clearing was already a dead man.
Zaraki's slightly lowered eyelids twitched.
'Hah, trembling? Me?'
He slowly raised his head.
His eyes didn't fix on the roaring berserk bear before him but pierced right through the dense layers of trees, landing precisely on the group of annoying insects on the distant hillside!