Shiki the Golden Lion

[Hachinosu – The Pirate Island, New World],

"Hey, did you hear about the prisoners?"

"Ah, it seems that those mommy's boys finally got their heads straight"

"No way, I heard the boss used Katakuri's little sister as hostage to force them into submission"

"Hahaha! Then we'll just have to make sure she doesn't escape, or nothing happens to her"

"…"

"Huh?..." A sense of bewilderment washed over one of the men as his gaze swept across the encroaching darkness that enveloped their surroundings. The atmosphere grew thick, as if a colossal shadow had descended upon their very position "Hey, something is wrong…"

As he shifted his gaze back to the other man, a profound sense of dread swept over him, mirrored in the visage of his companion. Eyes widened in horror, brows furrowed in panic, their expressions painted a vivid picture of fear and trepidation. Intrigued by the reaction, he followed their gaze skyward, and as his eyes met the ominous sight above, a chill ran down his spine. Suddenly, beads of sweat formed on his brow, betraying his growing nervousness

"W-What in the world?!!" A colossal airborne entity descended upon the island,, it looked like a meteorite.

…On the top of the skull building,

Calvin burst through the door, his actions brimming with urgency. Without a moment's hesitation, he addressed Ashen with an urgent tone "Ashen! You should come out and see this!"

Ashen was surrounded by Big Mom's children who were previously held as prisoners, but after Ashen made his point to Katakuri that he would not hesitate to do anything to make him work for him, including torturing his sister Brûlée, Katakuri finally gave up and accepted on the condition that nothing happens to her.

The other Big Mom's children didn't have much of a choice after and decided to go with whatever their big brother does. Though Ashen still made sure to put bomb collars around the necks of some of them, to make sure they don't try anything funny.

Thought Charlotte Galette seems to be the only one who didn't show much resistance and was actually okay about working for him. Her action made Ashen a little suspicious, though he didn't have any problem if she's earnest about it.

"You're also coming!" Ashen said as he left, Katakuri and the rest of his siblings followed him afterwards.

"You don't have to say it"

"Tsk, how long are we going to work for this fucker" Cracker said while clenching his fists in anger.

"Shut it! Be grateful we're still breathing, he's Mama's killer after all" Galette replied in an aggressive way "It's not like there is anywhere to go, he already took over Mama's territory and if we are going to stay in the New World, we're bound to fall under one of the emperor's or have the navy after us"

"Did you already forget? This bastard killed our siblings!...He even handed brother Oven to the navy" Mondee mentioned.

"Don't forget we were the ones who attacked him first--" Galette was interrupted mid-sentence.

"Enough!" Katakuri interrupted their conversation with a yell "We'll do as he say for now, do you understand?...don't try to do anything stupid"

…

"What is it?" Ashen asked his crew outside and they proceeded to point to the large object flying down at them.

"What should we do?" Enel asked.

"Calvin, you destroy it, everyone else spread across the island and try to prevent the debris from turning this town to dust!"

"Right away!" Calvin said with a grin while cracking his knuckles, and with a Hasshoken shockwave he propelled himself upwards, using Soru and Geppo to fly towards it at a high speed.

"It's useless, there to many debris, they are going to destroy the whole place" Katakuri stated taking a glimpse into the next few seconds of the future.

"Hoooraaa!!--*BOOOM*" With a Haki-Coated punch and a strong Hasshoken Shockwave, Calvin managed to shatter the giant boulder into pieces. But unfortunately, the small debris came raining down upon the town.

The rest got ready to take care of them, but surprisingly just as they were about to crush down, they suddenly stopped mid-air.

"What's happening?"

"They are floating in the air…" Urouge said, everyone looked confused at what just happened.

"Jihahahaha!!..." A loud laughter reverberated throughout the entire island, carried on the winds that swept across its shores. All eyes turned skyward, captivated by the sight of a majestic figure gracefully descending from the heavens "As expected from an emperor, even your crew members are strong!"

*Lightning*-*Lightning* In a swift motion, the figure unleashed an overwhelming surge of Conqueror's Haki, its immense power reverberating through the air. The impact was nothing short of cataclysmic as the shockwave cascaded outward, rendering all but a select few individuals unconscious in its wake. Only those possessing exceptional strength and unwavering willpower managed to withstand the tremendous force that swept through the area.

"Conqueror's Haki?…"

"You bastard, did you do this?" Enel asked as lightning wrapped his body while standing near Zeus, just as he was going to charge at him, Ashen waved his hand stopping him.

"Sorry about that, you can never be too careful in an enemy territory" As the figure approached the ground, Ashen finally managed to recognize him as he got a closer look.

"You stay back, you are no match to him…" Ashen said as he took off his coat and immediately unsheathed his sword "Shiki the Golden Lion, what a surprise…you were still alive all this time, what could possibly be the reason of your visit?"

Shiki calmly landed on the ground. He had a cocky smile on his face.

"Shiki, do you mean the one that escaped Impel Down six years ago" Calvin pointed out as he got on guard "I heard he disappeared without a trace after that"

"Hmm?...Are those brats Big Mom children?" Shiki questioned as he glanced at Katakuri before he started laughing hysterically "Jihahahaha! I can't believe this, you really made them work for you after killing their mother"

"Shiki" Katakuri muttered to himself as he looked at him in hostility.

"Demon of The Sea Ashen, nice to meet you…Puff…Before we talk business, I just want to see what this new generation is really made up from" Shiki said while smoking a large cigar, he grinned maniacally before he unsheathed his two swords as thick black and red lightning surged from his position "I hope you don't mind me kicking your ass for a bit"

"Ahahaha!...bring it on old man, let's see what a rival of the Pirate King can do!" Ashen said with a menacing tone of voice before Shiki dashed at him while swinging his Haki coated swords.

Ashen responded by coating his sword with Haki while channeling his blueish purple flames into it before he met Shiki's attack head on.

*BOOOM* The force of the impact caused everyone around to get sent flying back. As both Ashen and Shiki were going all out with their Haki, all the weak people at this part of the island were lying unconscious on the ground, foaming at the mouth.

"Shit! All the rookies passed out!" Urouge pointed out as he was holding the unconscious bodies of Franky and Ken.

"Not bad!" Shiki said before he gestured with his arm and all the debris from the giant rock that Calvin destroyed flew towards Ashen at a high speed.

"Hmph, don't think a bunch of rocks will be enough to fight me" Ashen proceeded to gathered flames in his left hand before he shot them into a dense fire column, burning all the debris into dust "Hiken!"

After that Ashen used his awakened power to shoot up massive fire column from the ground underneath Shiki.

*BOOOM* Shiki easily avoided the attack by floating away using his devil fruit power.

"Is that a devil fruit awakening?" Shiki commented on Ashen's attack before he sent two Haki-Coated sword slashes.

*Clang*-*Clang* Ashen easily deflected them before used Inferno Jet Steps to fly towards Shiki who was floating mid-air, closing the distance in an instant and then with a simple diagonal slash, he unleashed the full might of his Haki.

"If they fight here, this the whole town will go to ruin" Enel said, as he was watching the fight from a distance with the rest of the crew.

"Hey, who the hell is that old man? He's insanely strong" Ian asked while watching them in surprise.

"Along with Roger, Whitebeard and Big Mom, he was also a legendary pirate during the old era" Moria stated "Who would have thought he was still alive and kicking, doesn't seem he lost much of his strength if he's able to fight the captain equally"

*KABOOOM* To Ashen's surprise, Shiki managed to block the attack and countered by thrusting the sword on his left leg into Ashen's chest.

"SCREEECH!!....That's not going to work on me" Before Shiki even attacked, Ashen already anticipate it and use his Logia power to dematerialize the area where he was going to get struck, making the attack go through him the same way normal attacks would.

"A Logia huh? But I used Haki in that attack…" Shiki said, as he blew some smoke from his mouth before he cracked a knowing smile "You can see the future…Jihahahaha! Let's stop it here, it seems that the new generation is not as weak as I thought, or maybe you're just an exception--"

"Huh? You just caused destruction in my town and want me to stop?!" Ashen said with a wicked smile, as he stunned Shiki with a surprise attack. He gathered dense indigo flames in his left fist while channeling his Haki and Hasshoken energy before he punched Shiki using his ultimate technique.

"Cosmic Annihilation!!!"

"What--?!!!"

The punch sent Shiki flying downwards at a blinding speed before he crashed into a building.

"*CRASH*!!!…Damn it!...That was a hell of a punch!" Shiki wiped the blood from his mouth as he slowly got on his feet.

"Now we'll stop" Ashen said, suddenly appearing in front of him. He proceeded to put his sword back to its sheath.

"Fair enough"

"Fuck! It feels like this island is cursed or something. Every time I reconstruct the place something new happens" Ashen cursed loudly as he watched the destruction caused by their fight "You're still going to give me a compensation for this, do you understand?"

"Whatever…But this place brings back some memories" Shiki said as he remembered his time when he was part of the Rocks Pirates.

"You mean Rocks?"

"How the hell do you know about him? I'm pretty sure you were still milking your mom's tits when he was around" Shiki said while looking shocked at the fact that Ashen knows about the Rocks Pirates.

"Well let's just say that I know some things that normal people wouldn't" Ashen responded with a grin before turned back and walked away, Shiki proceeded to follow him "So, are you here to pledge your allegiance to the future king of the world?"

"Very funny" Shiki replied in a sarcastic way "I heard Wang Zhi was the boss here before"

"Yeah, I kicked his ass before I turned him to one of my zombie soldiers"

"Ohh, that guy in your crew, he was a super rookie who fought Kaido, his name…Ahhh—I forgot"

"Gecko Moria, he's using his shadow power to build me a zombie army. Too bad I couldn't retrieve Big Mom's dead body, she would have been a great addition—by the way your buddy Captain John is also a part of it"

"John huh?...Jihahahaha! Are you the Rocks hunter or what? John, Wang Zhi, Big Mom?…Anyway, I'm not here talk about those shitheads"

"Yeah? And why are you here then?" Ashen asked as he led Shiki towards the skull building.

"*Smile*…I have an offer for you"