Smoke rose like funeral veils. The wind was sharp with salt and scorched wood. Beneath a sky slowly shifting from gold to gray, Dead Reef Island was dying a second death.
Wreckage floated on the waves like driftwood corpses—half-sunk galleons, shattered Marine dreadnoughts, merchant ships with their sails torn as if they'd been devoured by titans. The battlefield, which hours ago teemed with war criminals and corrupt soldiers, now lay barren… except for a single lingering presence:
Charlotte Linlin.
Perched atop Zeus, her living thundercloud, the matriarch of the Charlotte Family stared out over the sea, where she had last struck Rakan, the half-Buccaneer, half-Merfolk monstrosity who had obliterated both Marines and pirates in a single blood-drenched rampage.
Her eyes scanned the waters.
"Tch… still not surfacing?" she muttered, frowning. "Don't tell me I hit you too hard, brat."
She hovered there for a long moment, squinting toward the shoreline ruins, the still water, the broken bones littering the sand. Her voice dropped into a murmur.
"You're too special to die that easily…"
She bit her lower lip.
There was a strange glint in her eyes—not just caution, not just battle lust… but hunger. Ancient and twisted.
"Buccaneer strength. Merfolk blood. A rare hybrid… You'd make a fine addition to my collection…""MAMAMAMA~ I could keep you in my room. Maybe even breed you. Imagine the children... monsters like gods."
Zeus flinched beneath her.
"Mama, you're drooling again…"
Linlin wiped her mouth, her smile widening.
"That body… that power… Rocks will want him as a weapon. But I want him for something far more delicious."
Suddenly, a ripple broke the surface. A fast-moving silhouette, just beneath the waves.
She blinked.
Then smirked.
"There you are."
Without hesitation, she raised Napoleon, now burning with Prometheus's soul flame, and swung downward.
"Elbaf Spear: Heaven's Divide!"
A pillar of compressed flame and air carved through the water like divine judgment. The sea howled, vaporized on contact. Steam burst skyward in a shrieking geyser.
But something felt off.
She narrowed her eyes.
The silhouette she'd struck—didn't bleed. Didn't twitch. Didn't scream.
"...A decoy?"
Then a voice roared from behind her.
"WATER DRAGON!"
Linlin spun—too late.
A titanic serpent formed entirely of pressurized seawater erupted from a cliffside reservoir behind her. The beast's form coiled with aquatic energy, its glowing eyes like whirlpools of rage. Its roar split the sky—and it slammed into her body with crushing force.
"GAHH—!"
Linlin's scream echoed across the island.
The water wrapped around her like a vice. She felt her Devil Fruit curse activate instantly—her limbs lost power, her body went limp, her grip on Napoleon faltered.
The sea clung to her. Drowning her. Sapping her power. Her flames hissed and died in the presence of the one thing she could never overcome.
Her world tilted.
"No… not water… not now—!"
From Above – Rakan Descends
Rakan dropped like a meteor.
His body coiled, arms spread wide, a vortex of seawater spinning around him as he channeled momentum and rage into a single focused strike.
Linlin looked up—just as his fist crashed down on her skull.
"TAKE THIS—OLD HAG!!"
BOOOOM.
Her scream was swallowed by the sea as her massive body hurtled downward, carving a path through the ocean like a boulder from the sky.
She vanished beneath the waves in a thunderous impact.
Above the Sea – Aftermath
Rakan landed hard on a broken mast, panting. His chest rose and fell, blood dripping from his knuckles. His arms steamed from the impact. His white cloak was completely gone, leaving only tattered pants and leather cords tied across his shoulders.
He looked down at the water, chest still heaving.
"Stay down, you freak."
Zeus shrieked in panic, darting toward the splash zone. Prometheus spun in burning circles, eyes blazing with fury.
But Rakan didn't wait.
He launched again, ready to drive the final blow into Linlin's drowning corpse—when suddenly—
"LION VALLEY!!"
Two blades of golden air cut through the sky like wrath given form.
SLASH. SLASH.
Rakan's body spasmed. He staggered mid-air, blood erupting from twin gashes that tore across his upper back and shoulder. He crashed into the sand, barely catching himself on one knee.
His vision blurred. His breath faltered.
"Who—?"
A booming laugh answered.
"GYAHAHAHAHA! That's some power you've got, boy!"
Descending from above was a figure wreathed in golden light. Flowing blond hair, long mustache, dual swords on either leg—and eyes that burned with madness and pride.
Shiki the Golden Lion.
He hovered with effortless control, floating just above the battlefield with his arms wide.
"Didn't expect to see a punk like you giving Linlin that kind of trouble. I like surprises."
Rakan rose to his feet, fists raised, blood trailing from his wounds.
"You want to fight too, golden clown?"
Shiki raised a brow. "Fight you? Nah. I'm here with a message."
Rakan didn't drop his stance.
Shiki's grin widened.
"Captain Rocks wants you."
"Join us," he said. "Or we'll carve your name into the sea the hard way."
Rakan spit blood to the side.
Shiki chuckled.
"So young. So stupid. I like you even more now."
Suddenly, he moved.
Faster than expected, he caught Rakan by the throat, lifting him off the ground with shocking force.
"You're not gonna die. Not yet. Captain wants to see you in person."
Rakan tried to resist—but his wounds screamed. The dual slashes had hit deep.
"Damn… bastard…"
Shiki grinned wider.
"Sleep it off, kid."
Down Below – Linlin Resurfaces
Zeus and Prometheus dragged Linlin from the sea's grasp, her massive frame shuddering with pain. Water poured from her mouth as she coughed, eyes wide and blazing with fury—and something else.
Lust.
She stared up at the sky, at the golden lion soaring away with Rakan's unconscious body, and a shiver ran down her soaked spine.
"MAMAMAMA…"
"You won this round, brat. But next time…"
Her fingers clenched.
"Next time, I'll chain you… forever."