The shadow of Impel Down swallowed Marineford.
"That's really Impel Down!"
"How is it flying?!"
"Move! Get away from the harbor!"
"It's going to crush the entire island!"
Sengoku stood atop the execution platform with his teeth clenched, veins bulging across his forehead.
That bastard Shiki…
Had the chaos on Sabaody not been enough for him? He had gone on to attack the World Government's supposedly impenetrable prison and brought the entire structure straight to Marineford.
Before Sengoku could issue an order, Impel Down suddenly stopped.
The colossal prison froze in midair above the outer harbor, and the abrupt halt sent everyone standing atop it flying forward.
"Aaaaaaaah!"
Countless screams poured from the upper battlements as pirates, escaped prisoners, and several extremely unfortunate members of the Straw Hat crew tumbled over one another.
"He could've warned us before stopping!" Usopp screamed, clinging desperately to a broken section of the wall.
"We're too high! We're all going to die!" Chopper cried beside him.
Sanji had one hand buried in the stone while his other arm was wrapped around Zoro's neck.
"Stop dragging me down, moss-head!"
"You're the one hanging onto me, idiot!"
Franky dug both hands into the battlement.
"This entrance is completely un-SUPER!"
Brook's body bent backward beneath the force of the wind.
"My bones are going to break! Although I'm already nothing but bones! Yohohoho—waaah!"
Amid the chaos, one figure pushed himself upright.
Luffy stumbled toward the edge of the prison, holding his straw hat against his head as the wind tore at his clothes.
The war below him seemed impossibly vast, with tens of thousands of Marines covering the plaza, but he paid attention to none of it.
Luffy's eyes raced across Marineford until they reached the execution platform.
There, kneeling between two executioners, was Ace.
Luffy drew in a breath so deep that his chest expanded.
"ACE!!!"
The scream thundered across Marineford.
Ace's head snapped upward, his expression filled with bewilderment.
"Luffy…?"
"Ace! I'm here!"
Ace's eyes trembled.
"LUFFY!!!"
The voices of the two brothers met across the battlefield.
High above them, Shiki stood alone upon the highest tower of Impel Down, his coat snapping violently behind him.
He looked down at Luffy, then toward Ace on the execution platform. Although his expression remained calm, a faint twitch appeared near his eye.
How had things become this troublesome?
Several days earlier, everything had still been relatively peaceful—or at least as peaceful as Sabaody could be after three Celestial Dragons had been killed and an Admiral defeated.
Following his battle with Kizaru, Shiki had returned to the coating dock and waited for Rayleigh to finish preparing the ship.
That should have been the end of it.
All he needed to do was wait for the coating to be completed, send Nami and the others away, and then carry out what he intended to do.
Then, somehow, Luffy—who had also remained on Sabaody to have his ship coated—received the news that Ace was going to be executed.
The moment Luffy read the headline, the entire grove descended into chaos.
"Ace is going to be executed?!"
The Straw Hat captain immediately declared that he was going to rescue his brother. His crew tried to calm him down long enough to form an actual plan, but Luffy had already begun running in the direction he believed Impel Down was located.
Unfortunately, it was the wrong direction.
After dragging him back, the Straw Hats spent the next several hours shouting, arguing, searching for a ship, and trying to determine how they could possibly break into the most heavily defended prison in the world.
Shiki took no part in their commotion. After all, they could handle their own family problems.
Then that troublesome old man opened his mouth.
"Why are all of you panicking?" Rayleigh spoke casually. "Shiki is heading to Marineford as well."
Luffy appeared in front of Shiki almost instantly.
"You're going to Marineford?!"
Shiki remained silent. Inwardly, he was barely resisting the urge to teach Rayleigh a painful lesson for dragging him into this, but he held back for the sake of the ship's coating.
"Take us with you!"
"I refuse."
"I have to save Ace no matter what!"
"That's not my problem. Go ahead and do it."
"I'll do anything!"
"No."
"I'll give you all my meat!" (PS: Pause.)
"…"
After enough shouting, arguing, and trouble to exhaust even Shiki's patience, Luffy and his crew ended up accompanying him when he left Sabaody.
Their first destination had been Impel Down.
Luffy wanted to rescue Ace before the execution could begin, while Shiki himself wanted to cause as much trouble as possible.
By the time they arrived, however, Ace had already been transferred to Marineford.
Naturally, Luffy responded by causing even more chaos.
One thing led to another.
In the end, rather than waste time finding enough ships to carry everyone, Shiki simply tore Impel Down free from the sea and brought the entire prison with him as a visiting gift for the Marines.
And now they were here.
Marineford.
Shiki's lips slowly curved upward as he stared at the execution platform.
At least the Fleet Admiral's expression made all the trouble worthwhile.
Elsewhere, Garp stood amid the shattered ice created by his clash with Whitebeard, his fist raised and ready to strike once more, when a familiar voice thundered from high above his head.
Even without seeing its owner, there was no possibility of mistaking that scream.
Garp's head jerked upward.
His eyes widened in disbelief, his face twisting comically as snot ran from his nose when he saw Luffy leaning over the battlements of the floating prison and waving both arms toward Ace.
"Luffy?!"
Whitebeard followed his gaze.
"So that's the little brother Ace was always talking about."
"Garp!"
From the execution platform, Sengoku turned toward Garp and roared, murder blazing in his eyes.
"It's your family again!"
Garp's face twisted with embarrassment, but he quickly laughed it off.
"Don't blame me! I'm not the one who brought him here!"
Rather than continue arguing with Garp, Sengoku slowly raised his head toward the blond figure standing atop Impel Down.
"Shiki…"
Both of his hands clenched at his sides, his knuckles creaking as he struggled to suppress his rage.
"After everything you pulled at Sabaody, you still had the nerve to show your face here. As though that weren't enough, you committed the grave crime of attacking Impel Down and brought the entire prison to Marineford as though this war were some kind of game!"
His furious voice rolled across the battlefield.
"Do you truly believe I'll allow you to continue doing as you please? Don't make the mistake of thinking you can walk away alive after everything you've done!"
A fierce pressure erupted from the Fleet Admiral.
The platform beneath his feet cracked as his fists tightened further, while the coat draped across his shoulders snapped violently in the wind.
Shiki calmly met Sengoku's furious gaze.
"This should be our first time meeting, but you seem awfully angry, Sengoku."
The casual response caused the veins across Sengoku's forehead to throb even harder.
Shiki then spread his arms wide, gesturing toward the enormous prison beneath his feet.
"As for Impel Down… consider it a visiting gift."
"SHIKI!"
Far from Marineford, the same scene was being broadcast across the world.
Countless people stood before enormous screens and Projection Den Den Mushi, watching the impossible sight unfold in stunned silence.
They had gathered to witness the public execution of Portgas D. Ace and the war between the Marines and Whitebeard.
None of them had expected to see Impel Down descend from the sky.
In town squares throughout the Grand Line, civilians stared at the broadcast with pale faces.
"That really is Impel Down…"
"The great underwater prison?"
"How could anyone move something that enormous?"
"He attacked Sabaody only a few days ago!"
"And now he's invaded Impel Down too?!"
Fear spread through the crowds.
The World Government had always portrayed Impel Down as an inescapable destination.
Once a criminal passed through its gates, there was no coming back.
For generations, the prison's very existence had been enough to strike terror into pirates throughout the seas.
Yet that symbol of absolute authority was now floating above Marineford in full view of the entire world.
Inside taverns and pirate dens, however, the reaction was entirely different.
Pirates stared at the broadcast with their mouths hanging open before roaring with laughter and disbelief.
"That madman brought the whole prison with him!"
"Not only did he humiliate one of the Marines' greatest forces at Sabaody—he immediately went and attacked Impel Down too!"
"Just what kind of monster is Shiki?!"
Some raised their mugs and cheered.
Others remained silent, realizing that yet another terrifying name had risen within this era.
Within the kingdoms affiliated with the World Government, nobles watched the broadcast from luxurious halls, their expressions growing increasingly pale.
"This cannot be allowed…"
"What are the Marines doing?"
"First the Celestial Dragons, then Admiral Kizaru, and now Impel Down!"
"If the Government cannot stop him here, what will the rest of the world think?"
The World Government ruled through power, authority, and fear.
In the span of only a few days, Shiki had challenged all three.
Back at Marineford, one man was enjoying the unfolding disaster more than anyone else.
Donquixote Doflamingo threw his head back and laughed.
"Fuffuffuffuffu! Now this is getting interesting! Shiki, you madman… let's see what kind of insanity you pull next!"
The other Warlords reacted differently.
One of them, however, had fixed her attention entirely upon Shiki.
Boa Hancock stared at him with an intense frown.
Whitebeard's eyes narrowed as he studied Shiki's face, a distant memory stirring within them.
"Gurararara… That resemblance really takes me back."
Garp finally tore his attention away from Luffy.
Hearing Whitebeard's words, he cracked his knuckles and flashed a fierce grin.
"Oh? Then how about I remind you of a few old memories myself?"
Whitebeard snorted arrogantly and tightened his grip on his bisento.
"Gurararara… Don't get ahead of yourself, Garp. Those fists of yours never managed to put me down back then either."
"Listen carefully, Shiki."
Sengoku's voice thundered across the battlefield and through every broadcast around the world.
He knew he had to say something.
Otherwise, the entire world would begin questioning the Marines and the World Government.
Whatever happened in this war, Shiki had to die.
"Marineford will be your grave."
Shiki's coat billowed behind him, yet his expression remained perfectly calm. Not even the slightest trace of fear appeared upon his face.
Instead, a smile slowly spread across his lips.
"Is that so?"
He stepped forward until he stood at the very edge of the tower.
"Then you'd better make sure you have enough graves for everyone else here as well."
His eyes swept across the battlefield.
"Because I came here with every intention of killing."
With that, Shiki raised one hand.
His power immediately spread throughout Impel Down.
Prisoners from every level—from Level One all the way down to Level Six—were torn from the prison alongside the Straw Hat Pirates. Wrapped in Shiki's gravity, they were sent flying down toward the battlefield.
"Wooooah!"
"Damn it! I'm gonna die!"
Some screamed in excitement, while others stared downward with nervous and horrified expressions.
And just like that, some of the worst criminals in the world officially entered the war.
The Marines immediately began recognizing them.
"Those are prisoners from Impel Down!"
"How many of them escaped?!"
"Look over there! That's Jinbe!"
"Emporio Ivankov too!"
"That's Buggy the Clown!"
Buggy immediately pushed his way toward the front and threw both arms into the air.
"That's right! Tremble before the great Captain Buggy!"
Several prisoners erupted into cheers.
"Captain Buggy brought us to Marineford!"
"He escaped Impel Down and challenged the Marines!"
"He's standing alongside Shiki!"
Buggy froze.
He slowly glanced toward Shiki, then toward the execution platform.
His face turned blue.
"That isn't what happened at all!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
One after another, they crashed onto the ground.
A moment later, Shiki descended calmly from above and touched down among them.
"Now then…"
Shiki's blade slid free from its sheath, golden light flashing through his eyes as the edge caught the sunlight.
"Where should I begin?"
"Ice Age."
The temperature around him plummeted the instant he finished speaking.
A massive wave of ice surged toward him from every direction, threatening to freeze everything in its path.
Shiki turned his gaze toward Aokiji, who stood several dozen meters away with one hand pressed against the ground.
A faint smile appeared on Shiki's face.
"It seems I won't have to bother looking for my target anymore. You delivered yourself right to me."
The freezing wave closed in around him, yet he made no move to dodge.
"Aokiji… after attacking me yourself, you should already know what happens next, right?"
An invisible gravitational field erupted around his body.
Boom!
The ice shattered before it could even touch him into countless fragments, the shards crushed and scattered through the air by the overwhelming gravity surrounding Shiki.
Aokiji slowly straightened and slipped both hands into his pockets.
"Ara ara…"
His eyes narrowed slightly.
"No wonder Borsalino ended up in such a sorry state."
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