Two days later.
The weather was clear as the *Freewill* sailed slowly across the calm sea. The sunlight was bright and warm, and the sea breeze brushed across the deck with a hint of coolness.
On the ship, Gin was leading his subordinates in their morning exercises.
In the corner, Sanji and the members of the First Division, wearing aprons and gloves, were carrying out their weekly major kitchen cleaning.
The floor hatch beneath the mast opened, and Killer led the shipwrights of the Fifth Division down the deck passage to the first basement level of the cabin for the *Freewill*'s daily maintenance.
Above the ship's superstructure, in the various functional rooms on the third floor, the navigators of the Third Division, the doctors of the Fourth Division, and the members of the Zero Division were all performing their respective duties.
Having just finished breakfast, Allen came up from the second floor. As he passed the entrance to the library, he bumped right into Robin walking toward him.
"My, good morning, Allen."
"Good morning. Hitting the library this early in the day? You sure are diligent."
Allen teased, then asked, "How have your injuries been healing these past two days?"
"Mhm, it's nothing serious anymore. I just hope it doesn't leave a scar," Robin replied with a faint smile.
After exchanging greetings, the two chatted casually for a bit before parting ways. Afterward, Allen headed to the aft deck.
At that moment, a News Coo was standing on the ship's railing. It pulled a newspaper from the small pouch on its chest with its beak and handed it to Nami.
After paying a 100-Berry coin, Nami took the newspaper, walked under a parasol, sat down on a lounge chair, and opened it to read.
Allen walked over and sat down in the other chair beside her.
"Any big news lately? Regarding the Marines, I mean."
"Marine news? I haven't seen any. Is there some major move we should be keeping an eye on?" Nami looked over curiously, then, thinking of something, asked, "Right, what's the deal with the Warlord of the Sea summons? Ever since we left Valkav, we've been sailing using the Eternal Pose to Marine Headquarters. Will Robin be okay?"
"Don't worry. Our ship will only dock at the Sabaody Archipelago. Even though it's very close to Marineford, the Marines probably don't have the time to pay attention to anything else right now." Allen stated dismissively, "Didn't the newspaper report that Fire Fist Ace was captured a while ago? Marine Headquarters is planning to use him to start a war with the Whitebeard Pirates."
"That 'Strongest Man in the World'? I can't believe something like this is happening." Nami's expression grew a bit more solemn.
Although she didn't have a concrete grasp of it, as someone who frequently read the newspaper, she still knew about the formidable power of the Whitebeard Pirates. Just the title of the world's strongest was enough to spark endless imagination.
"A war of this scale is simply unimaginable. If the Marines lose, wouldn't the entire world plunge into chaos overnight?"
"How could the Marines possibly lose? There are four powers like Whitebeard in the New World. If a single Pirate Emperor could conquer Marineford, the Marines would have ceased to exist on these seas a long time ago," Allen said, waving his hand.
The Marines were a massive machine, not an armed gang like a pirate crew that would just go to war in a moment of hot-headedness based on a single word from their captain.
Since Marine Headquarters... or rather, the World Government, had decided to go to war, they definitely had absolute confidence in their victory. They had even forcibly summoned the Warlords of the Sea, so they would surely throw all their other combat forces into the fray as well.
Besides, the Whitebeard Pirates' goal wasn't to defeat the Marines, but to rescue Ace.
Otherwise, facing such a lineup, let alone the Whitebeard Pirates, even if another Four Emperors crew came to help, it would be impossible to conquer Marine Headquarters.
Allen could even assert that it would be useless even if all the Four Emperors crews came at once.
Invincibility on earth merely invites enemies from the heavens.
If the Four Emperors truly joined forces to set foot on Marineford, people would definitely come down from atop the Red Line. When that happened, it would be nothing more than a repeat of the God Valley Incident.
Marineford and Mary Geoise—these two combined were the undisputed overlords of the sea. They could take on the entire world without a problem.
In Allen's view, the outcome of this war was destined from the very beginning. Someone like him going there would just be an excuse to slack off.
Allen crooked his finger at Nami. "Where's the newspaper? Give me a couple of pages to look at."
"I haven't even read it myself yet. Here," Nami said in exasperation, casually pulling out the top page and handing it over.
Allen took the newspaper, lay back in his chair in perfect sync with Nami, crossed his legs, and spread the paper open with both hands to read.
The next second.
"Hm!"
"Eh!"
The two of them voiced their surprise at the same time, springing up from their lounge chairs in perfect synchronization.
"The Golden Lion has resurrected?!"
"A Warlord of the Sea was defeated?!"
"Huh? Which Warlord was defeated?"
"Uh, Gecko Moria. And who is the Golden Lion?"
The two blinked at each other, then, as if sharing a telepathic link, swapped the newspapers in their hands and continued reading.
"Warlord of the Sea Gecko Moria defeated. The challenger is... Pfft! The Kid Pirates? What the hell!" Allen's eyes widened, nearly doing a spit-take.
Beside him, Nami didn't feel much after reading the report about the Golden Lion. She turned and asked, "Who is the Golden Lion? You look really surprised."
"Hey, considering you read the newspaper all the time, isn't it a bit much that you don't know the legend of the Golden Lion?" Allen couldn't help but feel a bit speechless.
Nami spread her hands and shrugged. "The newspaper says he was a great pirate active over twenty years ago. I wasn't even born back then."
Allen: "..."
That was fair enough.
"After the end of the Rocks era and before the rise of the Four Emperors in the New World, there were three names that could never be avoided on the seas. One was the Pirate King, Roger. Another was Whitebeard, Newgate. And the last one was Golden Lion Shiki."
"During the Battle of Edd War, he led the Golden Lion Armada to besiege Roger. However, a sudden storm interrupted the battle, and the Roger Pirates took the opportunity to escape," Allen explained to Nami while earnestly reading the contents of the newspaper, muttering continuously.
"Over twenty years ago, when his lifelong rival Roger was captured, Golden Lion Shiki caused a massive uproar at Marineford because of it. In the end, Marine Fleet Admiral Sengoku and Hero Garp joined forces. At the cost of half of Marine Headquarters being destroyed, they defeated Shiki and locked him up in the great underwater prison, Impel Down."
"Two years later, the myth of the sea collapsed. Shiki successfully broke out of prison, becoming the first pirate in history to escape Impel Down alive."
After finishing the news article, Allen folded the newspaper.
According to the report, Shiki, who had vanished without a trace for over twenty years, had recently reappeared when his ship, the Flying Lion, suddenly showed up in the sky above Marineford.
The newspaper also included a photo. It showed a flying ship modified from an island suspended in the sky, with an arrogant figure standing on the lion-head figurehead at the bow.
"Why does he look a bit like Killer...?" Looking at the figure in the picture, Nami couldn't help but mutter.
Allen: "..."
Hearing this, the image of Killer taking off his mask and transforming into Golden Lion Shiki involuntarily surfaced in his mind.
But then again.
Over twenty years ago, the Golden Lion caused havoc at Marineford because of Roger. Now, Whitebeard was preparing to cause havoc at Marineford for Roger's son.
Back then, the Golden Lion failed and was thrown into prison, and then Roger was executed by the Marines. In a little while, Whitebeard would also fail, and then Ace would be executed by the Marines.
The cycle of history was quite interesting. He wondered if the Golden Lion would show up at the Summit War later on.
*Of course, that was assuming Shiki didn't run into Luffy...* Allen couldn't help but think to himself.
Before long, the two finished reading the newspaper. Allen called Killer over and told him about Kid defeating Moria.
Seeing the report, Killer became incredibly excited. Even the mask on his face couldn't hide it as he started clamoring in Allen's ear again, waiting for Kid to come and get his revenge.
Allen dug at his ear with a look of disgust, treating it as nothing more than a golden retriever barking beside him.
A short while later, the clear sky suddenly darkened a bit, as if dark clouds had covered the sun.
"Strange, there are no signs of it turning cloudy."
Noticing this phenomenon, Nami couldn't help but look up at the sky in confusion, only to see a thin mist drifting over.
Looking out into the distance, she found that the entire sea was shrouded in a layer of hazy fog. Only then did Nami realize, "Have we reached the Florian Triangle...?"