One Piece: SSS-Rank Haki at Age Seventeen

Somewhere in Paradise, the first half of the Grand Line—

An island once known for its peace and thriving commerce met its end in a single deafening roar.

BOOOOOOM—!!!

An unimaginable explosion erupted in the center of town.

A massive orange fireball swelled upward like a volcanic beast bursting from the depths of the earth itself.

The destructive shockwave expanded outward in every direction, shattering every window within kilometers into glittering dust.

Buildings trembled violently.

Smoke and debris swallowed the sky.

Screams vanished beneath the thunderous roar of destruction.

Fear spread across the island like a deadly plague, seizing every soul in an instant.

And every eye—

Every trembling gaze—

Locked onto the terrifying figure slowly rising above the flames and rubble.

He floated arrogantly in midair.

Long golden hair whipped wildly around him like the mane of a furious lion, glowing ominously amid fire and smoke.

His eyes swept across the panicked crowd below like insects scrambling beneath his feet.

A cruel grin stretched across his face.

The mere presence he radiated felt like an ancient beast—or a demonic god descending upon the mortal world.

"G-Golden Lion…!"

Someone finally forced the nightmare name through trembling teeth.

"Golden Lion Shiki!! It's really him!!"

"H-How is he here?! Didn't he disappear?!"

"RUN!! RUN AWAY—!!"

The moment the name was confirmed, all remaining hope vanished.

The entire town descended into chaos.

People screamed, shoved, and trampled over one another in blind desperation.

At this moment, status, morality, and order meant nothing.

Only survival remained.

Because standing before them was—

The legendary pirate who escaped from Impel Down twenty years ago.

The monster who once stood shoulder to shoulder with Gol D. Roger and Edward Newgate.

"Jihahahahaha!!! Run! Struggle with everything you've got!!"

Golden Lion Shiki spread his arms wide as though admiring a grand performance he personally directed.

His laughter drowned out every scream below.

"The taste of fear! The look of desperation!!"

"That's what makes this fun!!"

His body rose even higher into the sky.

The twin blades embedded in place of his legs—Oto and Kogarashi—gleamed ominously beneath him.

And the ship's wheel lodged halfway into his skull no longer looked ridiculous.

Instead, it resembled a savage medal of war that displayed his monstrous vitality and madness.

At this moment—

He was disaster incarnate.

A walking natural calamity.

Shiki slowly lifted his gaze toward the heavens, as though staring through the clouds themselves toward Marine Headquarters, Marineford… and beyond that, the summit of the Red Line.

"Garp!! Sengoku!! Marine Headquarters!!"

"And you self-righteous fools of the World Government—!!"

His voice exploded like thunder, overflowing with decades of hatred, arrogance, and challenge.

"Can you see it now?!"

"I—Golden Lion Shiki—have returned!!!"

With that declaration complete, he seemed to lose interest in the insignificant chaos below.

His figure transformed into a streak of golden light as he soared toward the skies.

But this was not the end.

It was only the beginning of a deeper despair.

Just as the fleeing civilians thought the demon had finally departed—

RUMBLE… RUMBLE…

The earth groaned painfully.

Behind the escaping crowds, massive shadows spread and rose.

The ground split apart.

Countless rocks and slabs of earth surged upward like living creatures, roaring violently.

Within seconds—

A colossal lion made entirely of stone and earth rose from the island itself.

The gigantic stone lion crashed downward with the force of a tsunami swallowing the shore.

Like a divine meteor cast from the heavens.

Everything in its path—

Roads.

Homes.

Bell towers.

Docks.

Even the people desperately fleeing—

Were swallowed, crushed, and buried beneath the merciless avalanche of stone.

The city collapsed in waves of destruction.

Smoke surged skyward once more.

Yet even the roaring devastation could not drown out Golden Lion's maniacal laughter echoing across the heavens.

"Jihahahahaha!! The old era is over?!"

"TO HELL WITH THAT BULLSHIT!!"

His voice thundered across the ruined island.

"I am the king who rules over all of this…"

"THE KING OF THE WORLD!!!"

The island trembled.

The sea itself seemed to wail.

And with unimaginable brutality—

A legendary monster announced his return to the world.

The following day—

Marine Headquarters, Marineford.

The highest-level war room inside Fleet Admiral Headquarters was suffocatingly tense.

Around the massive oval conference table sat nearly every pillar of the Marines' present and legendary past.

At the head of the table sat Fleet Admiral Sakazuki.

Wearing his white coat draped with gold epaulets, he sat rigidly upright like a volcano moments from eruption.

His brows were tightly furrowed.

His expression looked colder than iron beneath the shadow of his cap.

To his left sat Great Staff Officer Tsuru.

The veteran strategist remained calm and composed, fingers lightly tapping the table as though organizing countless threads of thought simultaneously.

To Sakazuki's right sat the pillars of the Marines' new era.

Admiral Fujitora rested quietly with closed eyes, his heavy expression carrying immeasurable pressure.

Beside him, Admiral Ryokugyu leaned casually in his chair, though the tension in his jaw revealed his vigilance.

The attendance of two Admirals alone showed how seriously the Marines viewed this incident.

Even Sengoku and Monkey D. Garp—both semi-retired legends—had been urgently recalled.

Surrounding them were dozens of Vice Admirals and Rear Admirals from Marine Headquarters.

Every face, young or old, carried solemn tension and faint unease.

At this moment, nearly the entirety of Marine Headquarters' command structure and top combat force had gathered here.

A meeting of the highest possible level.

Then—

"Yooo~ sure is lively in here."

The heavy doors opened as a lazy voice broke the suffocating silence.

Admiral Kizaru strolled inside with both hands in his pockets.

As always, he wore that casual smile as though he'd wandered into an ordinary gathering instead of a world-shaking military summit.

Sakazuki's brow twitched violently.

His expression darkened immediately.

"You always manage to arrive at the perfect time, don't you… Borsalino?"

Several officers subtly twitched at the corners of their mouths.

Still, no one reacted openly.

By now, everyone was already used to Kizaru's eternally laid-back behavior.

Even so, seeing him act this casually during a meeting of this magnitude still felt absurd.

"You seriously need to fix that lazy attitude of yours."

Sengoku glared at Kizaru from the side.

"You ate one of the strongest Devil Fruits in the world, yet you're somehow always the slowest person to arrive."

If he were still Fleet Admiral, he'd probably already be smashing the table while yelling.

But now?

Now he was retired.

Watching Sakazuki struggle to suppress his anger toward Kizaru somehow made the old man feel… slightly amused.

Sakazuki planted both hands firmly against the table and slowly rose to his feet.

The pressure radiating from him felt like a mountain.

"Everyone is present."

His voice rumbled like magma grinding through stone.

"Everything discussed in this meeting will be classified as a top-level military secret of Marine Headquarters."

His cold gaze swept slowly across every person in the room.

"Any leak of information will be punished under the harshest military law."

"No exceptions."

"Yes, Fleet Admiral Sakazuki!!"

Every officer straightened immediately.

The unified response shook the room itself.

"Begin."

Sakazuki nodded toward Tsuru.

The Great Staff Officer calmly signaled an aide, who immediately distributed sealed documents across the table.

At the same time, the giant screen at the front of the room illuminated.

Images projected from a Den Den Mushi filled the chamber.

Burning ruins.

Collapsed cities.

Towns reduced to graveyards of ash and rubble.

Entire islands torn apart and reshaped by terrifying power.

Most horrifying of all—

The bodies left unburied among the wreckage silently testified to the brutality of the attacks.

The room remained deathly quiet as the horrifying footage continued.

Then Tsuru spoke.

"These images were gathered over the past seventy-two hours from seven separate locations throughout Paradise."

She stood and lifted a report.

"It has now been confirmed that the pirate known as the 'Flying Pirate' Admiral…"

"Golden Lion Shiki…"

"Has returned."

She paused deliberately, allowing the weight of that name to settle across the room.

"And he has launched continuous indiscriminate attacks across Marine-controlled waters in Paradise."

"So far, seven islands have suffered catastrophic destruction."

Her eyes lowered toward the report.

"Among them are two major cities belonging to World Government member nations."

A wave of shock swept through the assembled officers.

Even those mentally prepared for bad news couldn't suppress their reactions once "Golden Lion" and "member nations" were spoken together.

Golden Lion Shiki.

That name alone represented a terrifying era.

A monster who once rivaled Gol D. Roger and Edward Newgate.

The only pirate in history to successfully escape from Impel Down.

And perhaps most dangerous of all—

His nature.

Human life meant nothing to him.

He discarded allies as tools.

Morality and restraint simply did not exist in him.

Compared to Roger's charisma or Whitebeard's devotion to family, Shiki's sheer malice and lust for destruction had always been considered an even greater threat by the Marines.

And his Float-Float Fruit granted him unmatched aerial mobility.

He and his fleet could appear anywhere like ghosts… then vanish into the sky before anyone could corner them.

Twenty-one years ago, it took both Sengoku and Garp fighting together to finally subdue him after half of Marineford was destroyed in the battle.

Even now, that event remained a nightmare few Marine veterans liked discussing.

And now—

That monster had returned.

Not quietly.

But with destruction far worse than before.

"The World Government is under tremendous pressure from the allied nations," Sakazuki continued coldly.

"The highest authorities demand an immediate and overwhelming response from the Marines."

"We will restore order."

"And we will restore faith in Marine authority."

His burning magma-like resolve filled the room.

"This is not merely a suppression operation."

"It is a declaration."

He spoke each word like a hammer striking steel.

"The entire world must understand…"

"That in this new era, the Marines possess the power and resolve to destroy any ghost of the old age."

His clenched fist slammed heavily onto the map marking Shiki's attack zones.

"Therefore—"

"The highest objective of this operation is absolute."

"No compromises."

"No alternatives."

Fleet Admiral Sakazuki's final declaration echoed through the war room like a death sentence.

"Golden Lion Shiki…"

"Must die."

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