Pirate: Invincible from the Start

"For the villagers?"

"This guy really is a good Marine!"

Ahua and the other two looked at the bearded man with a trace of admiration.

Kuina quickly turned and helped him to his feet.

She did not immediately give him the answer he was hoping for. Instead, she asked,

"Do you know that golden figure?"

After Kuta shattered the falling island, Kuina noticed something was wrong. He had not returned, but remained in the sky.

The golden figure that appeared afterward and faced Kuta down had to be incredibly strong.

Otherwise, Kuta would not have been so serious, and this bearded Marine officer would not have been so afraid.

"I do."

The bearded man thought back, and fear immediately crossed his face.

"That old man is the legendary pirate from twenty years ago, Golden Lion Shiki."

"He's the captain of the Flying Pirates, admiral of the Golden Lion Pirate Fleet, and a Float-Float Fruit User. They also call him the 'Flying Pirate.'"

"The Float-Float Fruit?"

Golden Lion's long string of titles sounded impressive, but Kuina was most interested in his Devil Fruit power.

She looked at the bearded man and asked curiously, "Can you tell me exactly what the Float-Float Fruit does?"

The bearded man hurriedly explained, "Its user is called a 'Floating Man.' He can make himself or objects float through the air. Golden Lion can make anything nonliving he touches float, including islands—and not just one island."

"Hey, you've got to be kidding!"

Ahua leaned over and asked in astonishment, "You mean there are more islands above those clouds?"

"Uh... yes!"

When the bearded man nodded in confirmation, a sense of urgency rose in Ahua and the other two.

No wonder he's so terrified.

Who wouldn't be, facing a legendary pirate who tosses islands around like toys?

They hurriedly looked at Kuina.

Kuina finally made her decision.

They would leave first. Staying would only make them a burden to Kuta.

A battle between fighters at the pinnacle of the seas was not something they could take part in.

They would even need to be far away just to watch.

Seeing the villagers rapidly gathering at the docks, they hurried to help everyone board.

Before long, all the villagers were aboard.

With their sails full, more than a dozen boats of every size, along with the Marine vessels, sped out of the harbor toward Loguetown. All were packed with villagers, with Freedom and the Marine warship leading the way.

In the sky.

Ever since Golden Lion arrived, he had been smoking and watching Kuta with a smile.

The way he stared at Kuta was like a lion eyeing prey already caught in its claws.

His gaze was cold and merciless, yet tinged with curiosity, amusement, and satisfaction.

He paid no attention to the villagers and Marines evacuating the island below.

In his eyes, the weak were not even worth a glance.

Since Golden Lion was in no hurry to attack, Kuta was happy to rest and recover his strength.

A short while later.

Sensing that Kuta had recovered, Golden Lion burst out laughing.

"Jihahahaha..."

"Silver-haired kid, how about joining my pirate crew?"

When he spotted Kuta's bounty notice in the latest newspaper that morning, it had felt like fate.

With the IQ drug making further progress, he could sense that his return was close.

So lately, he had been drifting above the Four Blues, looking for pirates with potential, strength, and ambition to join the Golden Lion Pirates he planned to rebuild.

He happened to be passing over the East Blue when a powerful Great Swordsman had just set out to sea.

And the kid was so young. On his very first voyage, he had already earned an astonishing bounty of 70 million Beli.

Kuta's youthful face on the bounty notice reminded him of a man on Roger's ship named Silvers Rayleigh.

Both had come from the East Blue. Both were Great Swordsmen. Rayleigh had been the first companion Roger invited aboard and had eventually become known as the "Pirate King's right hand."

It almost made Golden Lion believe fate had sent Kuta to help him fulfill his ambitions.

If he could bring this silver-haired kid into his crew, it would be much like Roger gaining Rayleigh.

He needed Kuta's strength to help him achieve his ambition of conquering the world.

So when he discovered Kuta's route was not far from his own, he had rushed over as fast as he could.

Then he casually dropped an island as a test for Kuta.

If Kuta could not even handle an island he had tossed down on a whim, he did not deserve an invitation, much less a place as his true comrade.

What he had not expected was for Kuta to pass the test by cutting the entire island to pieces.

A Great Swordsman could split his island easily enough. Shattering it was another matter.

And from the way Kuta stood freely in midair, it was not hard to guess that he might also be a Devil Fruit User with the power of flight.

That made him a perfect fit for the Flying Pirate.

After all, Golden Lion was the man who intended to rule the seas from the sky!

"Your pirate crew?"

Kuta watched the ships below steadily leave these waters and let out a long breath of relief.

Whether Kuta wanted to clash with a strong opponent to train his Haki, or Golden Lion had come looking for him for some other reason, one thing was certain.

He and Golden Lion would come into conflict, and they would fight.

The villagers on the island below could not withstand a battle like that.

To ordinary people, a fight between the powerful was little different from a natural disaster.

And with someone as capable of devastating the world as Golden Lion, they needed to get as far away as possible.

The bearded man truly was a good Marine. Not only had he knelt to a pirate for the sake of the island's residents,

he had also freed Kuta from the worry that would have held him back against Golden Lion.

Kuta looked up at the second strongest person he had met in the world of the Pirate King—or perhaps the strongest.

After all, he did not know just how strong Dragon was.

Thoughts churned through his mind.

Is Golden Lion in his seventies now, or his eighties?

Hmm... He's definitely past his prime, and his stamina can't match mine.

Kuta remembered that, between his age and the ship's wheel lodged in his head, the old man probably could no longer use Conqueror's Haki.

His limited stamina likely meant he could not use much Armament Haki, either.

As for my strength...

I can win now.

Still, Kuta had to respect the man for giving him time to recover.

Thousand Slashes might sound simple, but he had unleashed all those strikes in an instant.

Even with his stamina, he needed some time to recover from that.

Swinging his sword one slash at a time was different. He could manage not just a thousand strikes that way, but ten thousand.

His stamina was back at its peak, the villagers below had evacuated, and the old man could not beat him now.

Kuta relaxed, his expression returning to its usual calm.

It was often the unknown that bred fear. In this world, he feared nothing he understood.

He looked at Golden Lion and said lightly, "Hey, old man. Do you even have a pirate crew anymore?"

As he recalled, Golden Lion would not rebuild his crew for another two years.

"Jihahahaha..."

Golden Lion laughed heartily, spread his arms, and invited Kuta again.

He genuinely admired Kuta.

The kid could hardly have suited him better.

"I can tell from your eyes that you know who I am. Then you should know how strong I am, too. Join me, and I can rebuild my crew right now."

After a pause, he laughed again.

"Jihahahaha! Silver-haired Kuta, become my right hand! With my plan and your potential, I can make the World Government suffer right now."

"I'll let them know that I, Golden Lion, have returned."

"Jihahahaha..."

Kuta watched Golden Lion laugh wildly. He could feel the man's mad ambition in his every word and expression.

Now, all the man wanted was to destroy the world. He had become utterly obsessed.

The moment he stopped trusting his own strength and turned to creating mutated beasts, he ceased to be one of the world's strongest.

His ambition had plainly outgrown his strength.

With his power, he had no need for beasts. He could drop a few dozen islands and flee. Destroying the East Blue would take no time at all.

He could even wipe out the Marine branches, not just the East Blue.

Hmm... Or maybe there's something I don't know.

"Burp!"

Kuta pulled the wine gourd from his waist, raised it to his lips, took a drink, and burped.

"Ah, that hits the spot!"

The wine that had cost him 300,000 Beli really was something.

Kuta smiled at Golden Lion. "Old man, when you get this old, you should find somewhere peaceful and beautiful to retire."

"Why go around making a spectacle of yourself? Wouldn't it be better to remain a legend?"

He paused to take another drink.

Then he scoffed, "At your age, going around proclaiming you'll destroy the world? Don't you realize how ridiculous that sounds?"

"Destroy the world, make the world feel pain... Who do you think you are, Pain?"

As Golden Lion listened, his laughter slowly died.

He studied Kuta with a slight frown, took a deep drag on his cigar, then removed it from his mouth and tapped off the ash. A vicious air surged from him.

"So that's your answer, is it?"