The Golden Lion

The Golden Lion had suddenly begun urgently summoning the pirate crews under his command, scattered across the New World and even around the world. This had already caught the World Government's attention. To put it bluntly, in the New World, the impact of the Golden Lion's every move was greater than that of the Government's orders.

Louis's mission was to find out why the Golden Lion was making this move. The Golden Lion Pirates had probably already been infiltrated by Government agents. For all he knew, someone who spent every day with the Golden Lion might have been an undercover agent serving the Government for decades. Louis wouldn't have been surprised in the least.

Sending a rookie like him on such an important mission was practically a joke. But it didn't matter. Mr. Skello didn't care whether Louis could obtain accurate intelligence. He only needed this genius, who had refused to follow his orders and had shown Spandine goodwill, to be unable to return. He didn't need the mission to have any chance of success; it was enough that it was difficult.

Louis had no way to resist, and running away was even more impossible. Every trainee spy about to join CP had to undergo a strict vetting process. Their background, origins, potential, and abilities were all investigated; unless the inquiry went back as far as their birth, they could never successfully enter the CP series. Brainwashing was also an essential part of their subsequent training. And to ensure the organization's secrecy and prevent betrayal, the CP series had specially made Vivre Cards. All it took was a little fingernail to make a Vivre Card that would always point toward its owner. Traitors had nowhere to run.

Louis could only face the mission head-on, even though what awaited him afterward was the world-shaking Aethelwold Sea Battle between the Golden Lion Pirates and the Roger Pirates, in which the Golden Lion Pirates would be nearly wiped out.

But right now, the Golden Lion Pirates' boldness looked truly astounding.

The enormous floating island hanging in the sky was the Golden Lion Pirates' base.

"Hahaha! Surprised, aren't you, Mario?"

Rhode laughed heartily. "That's Admiral Golden Lion's power!!"

"That's a person's power?"

Louis exclaimed. "It's practically divine."

"Right? Admiral Golden Lion is as powerful as a god! He's destined to be a great man who'll rule these seas!"

Rhode's eyes seemed to gleam with excitement.

"Captain,"

Louis asked, sounding a little surprised, "do you really admire Admiral Golden Lion that much?"

"Ha, rookie, you don't know the story yet."

Nearby, Baro, the first mate, leaned against the ship's rail and puffed on a cigarette. He grinned. "This guy, our Captain Rhode, went to sea because he heard the legends about the Golden Lion."

"Hahaha, because it's just so romantic!"

Rhode narrowed his eyes. "Sailing the seas, soaring through the skies, with both sky and sea bowing before a man! It's just so romantic! That's what a hero of the sea should be! What's this nonsense about freedom or family? What do those things even mean? If a real man doesn't pursue the highest power and status, what kind of man is he?"

"Whoa!"

Louis exclaimed in awe.

The ship sailed onward. Farther ahead, below the floating island, many ships had already gathered. Without exception, they were pirate ships flying pirate flags. Judging by how peacefully they were getting along, they were all crews under the Golden Lion Pirates.

"So, are we going up there now?"

Louis asked, puzzled. "Are we flying up?"

"Just wait and see, Mario. Admiral Golden Lion's power is beyond anything you can imagine!!"

Captain Rhode chuckled.

"Rumble!!"

As soon as he finished speaking, an astonishing change took place. The sea began to churn, and something rose from beneath the waves. A huge shadow appeared on the surface.

"Whoa! There's something down there! Something's coming up from the seabed!"

Honestly, pretending to be this easily startled, over-the-top character was pretty difficult. Louis himself was a rather coolheaded person.

"Hahahaha!! Don't let it scare you!!"

Rhode laughed.

It was a small island—or rather, a huge platform that had been specially modified.

It was a flat circle, with a hollow center and raised walls around the edge. Special drainage channels had been left in the structure. As it gradually rose, it looked like a spoon, scooping up all the ships gathered there and enclosing them inside. The walls around it kept the vessels from being swept away by the water.

It rose slowly as it emerged from the sea. But once it had gathered all the ships, the platform shot upward like an elevator, racing into the sky.

"It's—it's flying!"

Louis's surprise might have been exaggerated, but it was genuine. The Golden Lion's power was simply too formidable.

"Hahahaha! This is Admiral Golden Lion's power!!"

Rhode spread his arms and laughed heartily. "Unbeatable power!!"

The platform soared into the air, rising higher than the floating island. Only then did it slowly move sideways toward the island, before gradually descending.

"The sea in the sky!!!"

Louis's eyes widened. An even more astonishing sight lay before him. The floating island wasn't just an isolated island; it was surrounded by a sea. The water encircled the island like a heavenly galaxy. The platform carrying all the pirate ships slowly settled onto the sea, then continued descending. The ships were held up by the water, and the platform separated from them.

"Hahaha! Don't be so surprised! Come on, let's go see Admiral Golden Lion!"

Rhode raised his eyebrows, clearly pleased with Louis's reaction.

The ship continued forward. The island had no fixed harbor, so the pirate ships simply moored along the shore. They didn't need to worry about enemies launching a surprise attack, so it didn't matter where they docked.

Rhode led the people aboard off the ship, where they happened to run into another group of pirates disembarking.

"Well, if it isn't Captain Rhode? Ha."

The man at the head of the other group wore sunglasses, and his hair stood up in a mound like a little hill. He was short and very fat, hunched over in a flowery shirt. He looked ridiculous, and his attitude was far from friendly. "You actually came too, huh?"

"Humph."

Rhode merely sneered and walked straight past the man with his people, ignoring him completely.

"He's just trash. Don't mind him."

Apparently noticing Louis's curiosity, the first mate, Baro, yawned and said casually.

Louis nodded, understanding. He actually knew that man. His name was Flog, and he had once been one of Louis's infiltration targets. He was also under the Golden Lion Pirates, with a bounty of 115 million. Like Rhode, he was one of the powerful fighters among the crews under the Golden Lion. He was a Zoan Frog-Frog Fruit User.

He didn't get along with Rhode. Even though they were both under the Golden Lion, they had clashed quite a few times.

Farther on, a rough path wound through the lush forest. They followed it deeper into the island, and after a while, the view suddenly opened up. A vast cluster of buildings came into sight before Louis.

Red wooden buildings, with a Japanese style, streams, and covered bridges.

"Come on! Admiral Golden Lion is inside."

Louis could hear the excitement in the man's voice.

They entered the cluster of buildings and followed Rhode this way and that before finally reaching a hall. Many pirates had already gathered there. The hall was enormous; perhaps it would have collapsed without the Golden Lion's power. It was noisy and crowded, and the arrival of Louis and his group drew no attention at all.

They found a spot and sat down. Rhode sat in front, with Louis and Baro sitting on the floor behind him. Though Louis was a rookie, his demonstrated strength was far greater than that of the riffraff. For pirate crews of any size, strength was an important factor in determining rank.

Flog and his men glared angrily at Rhode before taking seats nearby.

After they'd waited for a while,

"Jiehahahaha!! Is everyone here, boys?!"

A boisterous voice came from the entrance, and a man strode in.

A man like a lion.