The Golden Lion's expression morphed violently—first anger, then horror, then hesitation, and finally, raw confusion. In just a second, his entire face contorted like a storm of conflicting emotions.
It shouldn't have been possible to suppress him with Haki alone—especially not by someone like Vivi, a junior Conqueror. Even the Red-Haired Shanks, a Yonko famed for his Conqueror's Haki, couldn't have staggered Shiki so easily. Yet the sheer pressure now weighing on the legendary pirate interrupted even his crazed rampage—his lion construct, Chikiriya, flickered and crumbled mid-roar.
Shiki gritted his teeth and released his own Haoshoku Haki. Vivi's untamed, indiscriminate blast, which had already overwhelmed friend and foe alike, became a battlefield hazard.
Momonga collapsed without a word, and her loyal duck Karoo followed, though an odd system interface barely kept the bird upright, his spinning eyes comically mismatched with his sprinting legs.
Instead of releasing and letting go, Vivi pushed her Haki even further, sustaining it for an entire minute—an incredible feat, considering she'd only awakened it recently.
Tashigi, the scatterbrained yet earnest swordswoman, blinked through her glasses. Just before unconsciousness swept over her, she glimpsed Vivi's determined figure from behind. That aura... that scent of will! She's the one from Loguetown... it has to be!
"Stop it, Vivi! You're affecting everyone—you're hitting your own side too!" Smoker growled, his voice strained. He had half a mind to punch Shiki right then, but Vivi's suffocating Haki made every movement feel like swimming against a whirlpool. He didn't faint—but landing a hit in this state? Nearly impossible.
Vivi ignored him. You had your chance to act, Smoker. Now you think yelling will help? Just because I released it once doesn't mean I can control it!
"Bang!"—a sharp report cracked through the storm as Van Augur seized a crucial opening. His sniper round blasted toward the metallic rudder lodged in Shiki's skull since his escape from Impel Down decades ago.
The impact was massive. The rudder shattered, its kinetic energy rattling Shiki's damaged brain. His forehead bulged unnaturally, blood burst from his nose and mouth, and he staggered, then fell like a broken god.
Smoker lunged for the seastone cuffs they'd used earlier. He didn't care about the glory—he wasn't chasing a bounty or headline. All that mattered was bringing this monster down.
But as soon as he moved, the world dropped.
BOOM.
The floating island—a miracle Shiki maintained using the Fuwa Fuwa no Mi—plunged toward the sea. With Shiki unconscious, his power no longer kept the massive landmass suspended.
"Huh—what—what's going on!?" Vivi's eyes sparkled with residual Haki. She gasped for air. Her burst of Haoshoku had lasted less than five seconds, yet she felt like she'd run a war marathon. As gravity reclaimed the island, weightlessness invaded her limbs, and she stumbled. Smoker caught her just in time.
She barely nodded in thanks, when—out of the corner of her vision—she saw the impossible.
The Golden Lion stood again.
Vivi's breath caught. She had no aces left. No Conqueror's reserve, no backup plan. Her heart sank.
Blood covered Shiki's face. His lion-avatar had leveled much of the sky castle. Rain now poured in sheets. Thunder cracked, and in the blinding storm, the once-mighty Golden Lion seemed... frail. A withered legend.
Neither Vivi nor Smoker moved. Shiki's eyes closed. Blood and rain mingled, dripping down his chin.
Then he roared, head tilting to the heavens. "Jihahahaha! Roger! Be my right arm, damn you! With your secrets and my flying army, we'll crush the world in days!"
"You were caught? Roger arrested?! You think I'd believe garbage like that?! Marines can't cage that man! Lies! ALL OF YOU!"
"I'll never bow! Jihahahaha! I'm Shiki the Golden Lion—I always come back!"
The moment turned deadly. Vivi and Smoker knew Shiki wasn't bluffing—his madness had deepened.
"I'll handle him!" Smoker barked. He turned into smoke and blitzed forward. Vivi fought through the splitting pain in her skull, unsheathed her sword, and lunged. Van Augur fired again—over ten precise shots.
They fought with desperate coordination. But Shiki—half-lucid, driven by muscle memory—fought like a demon. His dead-eyed gaze stared into the clouds, but every strike, every dodge, carried the razor-sharp instinct of a high-level Kenjutsu master.
Clang! Vivi braced with both hands as Shiki's left-foot sword, "Sakura Ten," crashed down.
She held it barely—until his right-foot blade, "Oto," swept horizontally.
Smoker flashed in with Soru, yanking her aside just in time. Vivi scrambled to her feet again. In seconds, they were both battered and on the defensive.
Then Smoker shouted, mid-dodge, "He's not responding to pain—his eyes aren't tracking us! Vivi, your Haki—did it break his mind?!"
Vivi winced. "Don't pin that on me! I think... I think it's the rudder—when Van Augur broke it, it probably damaged his brain! We need to back off!"
They retreated, breathless. Seconds ticked by. Shiki howled nonsense about Roger, then suddenly activated his Devil Fruit—his body rose into the air on a ripple of invisible energy—and he flew off into the storm alone.
Vivi stared dumbly at the falling island and then at the now-vanished Golden Lion.
Was she supposed to call him back to float the island again?
Even if she could, would he listen?
Thirty seconds had passed since the island began its fall. In less than ten more, they'd crash into the ocean.
There was no time to act.
Wind screamed around her. Her thoughts blurred. The island plummeted. She hugged the unconscious Karoo to her chest and closed her eyes.
Then—
"Grab me!"
The voice was sudden, female, calm.
Vivi turned her head. A young woman hovered mid-air, white wings extending from her arms. She was flapping calmly, defying the chaos around her.
"Big sis! We brought help!" Johnny and Joseph yelled from behind. Each was held aloft by winged warriors.
Behind them flew a small fleet of Skypieans—each one carrying a survivor. Vivi's eyes widened. Among them, she spotted the old kind-hearted grandmother, safe and sound.
Help had come. The sky had answered.