The skies had darkened.
Clouds roiled in unnatural shapes, spiraling and shifting as if alive. The horizon blurred, sea and sky indistinguishable in the storm's fury. The only constant was the howling wind—and the predator flying through it.
King.
His black wings cut through the tempest with grim precision, fire trailing in his wake. He kept his grip firm on Shinobu, who had long since stopped screaming. Now she simply clung to him, her breaths short and fast as they passed through icy wind and burning sky.
They had been flying for hours.
Chasing a ghost.
Golden Lion Shiki had disappeared high into the stratosphere, weaving into the clouds where light couldn't reach and even the strongest haki struggled to grasp intent.
King clenched his jaw.
"You can't hide forever, old man."
The wind howled louder in response.
Somewhere above the highest banks of cloud, Shiki cackled from his floating perch. He hovered on a loose disk of rock, blood dripping down one leg, his cloak flapping in the storm.
"Heh… persistent little bastard, aren't you," he hissed, eyes scanning below.
The storm wasn't natural.
Shiki had manipulated the island debris earlier to trigger sea weather disruptions. Though rudimentary, he'd done enough in his decades of experience to know that unnatural pressure shifts could create sky tempests if timed right. It was a gamble—and it had worked.
He'd been losing.
Now he had room to breathe.
But King was not one to give up.
Below, King glided just above the thunderheads, his brow furrowed in irritation. He could feel Shiki's presence. Distant. Unpredictable. Every time he thought he had him pinned, the bastard would vanish like mist.
This continued deep into the night, and into the next morning.
Twenty-four hours.
King's patience was running dry.
Then it happened.
A scream of wind split the sky—and Shiki came plummeting from above, cackling like a demon.
"DID YOU MISS ME?!" he roared, swords flashing.
A barrage of flying slashes burst through the clouds toward King. The air cracked as each one tore through the sky like a hurricane blade.
VZZZZZ! VZZZZZ! VZZZZZ!
King's eyes narrowed.
He didn't dodge at first. Instead, he slowed—mid-flight—and closed his eyes.
The world dimmed.
The wind fell silent.
For a moment, there was only darkness and tension—the quiet pressure of Observation Haki sharpening like a blade in his mind.
He felt the trajectory of the slashes, not with his eyes—but his instincts.
He twisted mid-air, leaning just enough to the left to let one blade pass by his ear. He banked downward, another screaming slash whizzing overhead.
Three more. Four. Five.
King moved like a shadow through them, not wasting an ounce of energy. His body and haki were in sync. This was focus. This was discipline.
When he opened his eyes again, the fire in his wings reignited.
"Now it's my turn."
He slashed out with his sword—several wide, flaming arcs of cutting wind lashing out across the open sky.
Shiki laughed.
He twisted, dipped, and spun between them, his movements elegant despite the blood on his chest. "That all you got, sky demon?!"
King said nothing. He adjusted his angle again, wings flaring as he sent another set of precise, narrowed slashes directly at Shiki's core.
This time, Shiki didn't dodge.
He grinned.
And took the attack head-on.
BOOOOOOM!!
The impact was massive, the explosion of flame and force blasting him backward into the clouds.
Smoke curled in the sky.
King hovered in place, his sword pointed down, eyes watching where the older pirate had vanished.
The clouds swirled. For a moment, it seemed Shiki was gone for good.
Then King felt it.
A ripple.
A pulse in the air.
Something ancient. Terrifying.
BOOOOOOMMM.
The sky shuddered.
His wings flinched involuntarily. Shinobu gasped, clutching his waist tighter.
Then it struck.
A wave of pressure—invisible, crushing, terrible—smashed through the clouds like a titan's scream.
Conqueror's Haki.
It didn't aim to kill. It aimed to demand attention.
King spun in mid-air just as the clouds beneath him parted, torn aside like curtains revealing a massive stage.
She floated there, her silhouette massive and terrible.
Hair aflame. A pink frilly dress. A homie sword with a snarling face. Thunderclouds curled beneath her feet as she rode a dark storm like a chariot of wrath.
BIG MOM.
Linlin's eyes were wide with glee, her tongue licking her lips as her maddened gaze locked on King.
"LUNARIAN!" she bellowed with savage delight. "I SMELLED YOUR BLOOD ALL THE WAY FROM THE SHORE!!"
The lightning rumbled around her. The sky itself seemed to bow.
King's grip on Shinobu tightened.
Shiki had disappeared.
And now, another predator had come—one far more dangerous.
Big Mom raised Napoleon, the sword cackling with glee as it transformed into its flaming blade form.
"YOU HAVE SOMETHING I WANT! YOU BETTER GIVE IT TO ME TO PAY FOR MY TEAPARTY THAT YOU DESTROYED!"
The clouds screamed.
King met her gaze. His jaw clenched.
This was no longer a mission.
This… was survival.