"Orin..."
At such a critical moment, Orin's sudden appearance instantly broke the tense atmosphere. Borsalino glanced at him, his eyes carrying a complicated expression.
"You really came at the perfect time~"
The charged laser beam slowly dissipated, the yellow light fading as Kizaru leisurely raised his hand.
"Without orders from the World Government, I can't fight you, the legendary pirate [Black Gun]..."
"In that case, I'll just have to wait for orders."
His gaze was dark and unreadable. Whether he was truly following regulations or simply going along with the situation—everyone present understood it clearly.
Orin rubbed his chin, giving Kizaru a strange look before stepping slightly aside.
"Alright, I won't stop you. Go ahead then?"
Borsalino: ???
Vegapunk: ???
"You..."
Vegapunk was completely stunned.
Weren't we already in agreement? I help you complete Sadgeo's transformation, turning him from [Dark Sun] into the [Dark Sun God], and you ensure my safety—
So why suddenly...
And not just him—even Borsalino was frozen in place by Orin's move.
The lecherous grin that almost never changed on his face was now replaced entirely by astonishment.
It made Orin want to laugh a little.
Orin stopped teasing Kizaru. Without even using Haki or any Devil Fruit ability, he casually threw a kick at him.
From the perspective of the Marines watching from the shore, the legendary pirate [Black Gun] had just launched an attack on Marine Headquarters Admiral [Kizaru].
Borsalino was instantly sent flying as if struck heavily, coughing up blood while his body turned into light and shot backward.
"Boom——!!!"
The streak of light slammed beside a docked warship, instantly rendering it unusable.
As for him, he walked out of the explosion's flames, his clothes slightly disheveled.
"Admiral Borsalino!!!"
"I'm fine."
At that moment, a very round Marine stepped out from Future Island.
"Sentomaru-kun..."
...
On the other side,
The door to the underground laboratory slowly opened, and a massive figure walked out.
His body swayed unsteadily, as if he still hadn't fully adapted.
He held his head, staring at his own palm, feeling an unfamiliar sensation.
"What's going on with this power..."
"It's really exaggerated."
Sadgeo stepped out of the lab, his huge body stumbling left and right. Somehow, he wandered into a junkyard filled with Vegapunk's failed experiments.
Among them was a gigantic robot.
"Huh??? Such a huge robot!!!"
Just by visual estimation, it was even larger than a giant like Sadgeo, standing there silently.
Not minding the environment at all, Sadgeo sat down on the ground and began studying his new ability.
And when he tried to use that mysterious power—
"Boom... boom-boom..."
A strange rhythm of drums began to echo, and an overwhelming urge to burst into laughter flooded his mind.
But Sadgeo frowned.
He was indeed happy to gain new power, but it shouldn't be to the point where he felt such an uncontrollable urge to laugh.
His entire body began to glow with Nika's white, symbolizing freedom and liberation. Yet Sadgeo forcibly suppressed the upward curve of his lips.
Dark power surged forth, beginning to suppress Nika's power.
The Dark-Dark Fruit's trait of restraining other abilities was being used by Sadgeo with remarkable precision.
Though he still felt like laughing, it was now controllable—no longer like a madman.
Black-and-white flame clouds wrapped around his body. His hair, eyebrows, and more began transforming toward Nika's form. Aside from the unusual color, he was becoming more and more like that figure from 800 years ago.
The mysterious drumbeats echoed around him,
as if carrying a strange influence that caused everything nearby to tremble slightly.
"No... this isn't right..."
This wasn't Nika's ability—something truly massive was moving.
"What the hell is going on?!!!"
Sadgeo suddenly leapt up, the ground around him bouncing with the motion.
Looking up, he saw that the giant robot, which had been dormant moments ago, now had glowing eyes—and it was staring directly at him.
A voice followed.
"Is it you? Joy Boy!!!"
"That's wonderful!!! You're still alive!!!"
Emet leaned in close to Sadgeo, gazing at the companion who looked exactly the same as in his memories—transformed into the "God" form. His voice was full of joy.
But Sadgeo had no idea what it was talking about.
"What are you saying? I'm not Joy Boy. My name is Sadgeo!!!"
"The man who will become the King of the World!!!"
Emet couldn't quite understand what the Joy Boy before him was saying.
"King of the World?"
"That's right!!!"
Emet fell silent for a moment. After a brief exchange, he finally became certain—the person before him was not Joy Boy.
More than that, he was someone created using Joy Boy as a template—essentially an enemy.
Yet, facing that identical face to Joy Boy's, just like how Kiku couldn't strike down the fake Oden, Emet hesitated, his emotions conflicted, and ultimately did nothing.
"Can you tell me why you want to become the King of the World?"
Emet truly couldn't understand why someone who had awakened the Nika Sun God's power would dream of ruling the world instead of pursuing freedom and liberation.
At that moment, Sadgeo slowly exited his Nika form, returning to normal. He wore the straw hat Orin had insisted he put on before the experiment, along with a black cloak.
Facing the true companion of Joy Boy, he showed not the slightest guilt of being a fake—only boundless ambition.
"If simple freedom and liberation were enough, this world wouldn't still be like this. So I want to use this power..."
"To defeat the World Government. To defeat every pirate in the world. To break the cycle my old man talked about...."
"Not through schemes, and not just through passion alone..."
Emet stared blankly at the young man before him—now out of Nika form, yet indistinguishable from Joy Boy.
Watching him raise both hands, he heard the first voice of this era—
"So!!!"
"I want to become a true [King]!!!"