Ding! Your Golden Lion Teacher Has Permanently Logged Off

After all, the old man had spent twenty years drifting around the world. He was bound to have collected plenty of treasure. He might even have a Devil Fruit.

And Kuta really had been his apprentice, in a way.

An apprentice inheriting his master's treasure...

That wasn't too much to ask, was it?

"Hmm... No, it wasn't."

Kuta watched wave after wave of towering white surf race toward the horizon, a flicker of awe in his eyes.

He marveled at the vastness of the sea, and at the sight a person had created. Perhaps only in a world like this, where such immense power could belong to one person, could he witness something like it.

Kuta took a drink, laughed, and looked down at the island as it gradually settled. Then he flew toward Golden Lion's main island.

The early morning sunlight fell across him, making him look almost like a god.

Carefree, graceful, and outrageously arrogant.

He paid no attention to the panicking pirates on the island. As he passed the harbor, he simply sank every ship there.

Of course,

if some pirate with a death wish happened to cross his path, that was just bad luck.

A red glint flashed in his eyes, and he located Golden Lion's second-in-command, Doctor Indigo, inside the palace.

Indigo was now the strongest pirate left among them, which made him the easiest to find.

In the corridor leading to the palace entrance,

a series of pfft, pfft sounds, rather like farts, rang out.

Indigo hurried toward the exit with a group of pirate captains whose names Kuta didn't know.

He was running so fast that his whole body jiggled. His arms spread wide and swung from side to side, making him look ridiculous.

Despite his comical appearance, movements, and even walk, Indigo had a cold, ruthless side. He was also a mad chemist.

His specialties were making all kinds of chemical concoctions and fighting with various chemical

elements.

He called this fighting style "Chemical Magic."

In truth, it was just a juggling act that used chemical elements to cause explosions. It was also known as "Acrobatic Magic."

The moment Golden Lion unleashed Conqueror's Haki, Indigo knew something had gone wrong.

He was not only Golden Lion's second-in-command but also his attending physician.

Of course he knew how badly the ship's rudder embedded in Golden Lion's head had affected his mental state.

Without the rudder's effects and his advancing age, would someone as proud as Golden Lion ever have worked with him on something like IQ?

After escaping Impel Down, Golden Lion's strength had declined severely. He had felt that his power no longer matched his ambition, leaving him little choice.

And from what Indigo knew of Golden Lion, even if he couldn't beat that silver-haired youngster, he would never run.

If Golden Lion had managed to use Conqueror's Haki, he must have torn the ship's rudder out of his head.

And with the rudder gone, Golden Lion had to be at death's door.

Indigo had never imagined that silver-haired brat could push him that far.

Their plans, nearly twenty years in the making, had gone up in smoke because of him.

At first, Indigo had waited in the Infirmary for Golden Lion to return.

As far as he was concerned, once Golden Lion pulled out the rudder, no one could defeat him.

He had been sure Golden Lion would deal with the silver-haired brat in no time.

But he waited and waited in the Infirmary, and Golden Lion never came back.

Panic began to set in.

And as time passed, it only grew.

When the island began to fall, he knew Golden Lion had not merely lost. He was dead.

Panic turned to terror.

Indigo hastily gathered the pirate captains in the palace and rushed with them toward the exit.

If that silver-haired man came looking for them now, they were finished.

All Indigo could do was pray.

Please don't come. Please don't come. Please don't come...

But fate loved playing tricks. Sometimes, the more desperately you hoped things would go your way, the more likely the opposite became.

And sure enough,

the person he feared appeared.

Ding! Your Teacher Golden Lion Has Gone Offline Forever ### Kuta suddenly appeared at the palace entrance like a ghost, blocking their escape.

Indigo slammed to a stop, panic on his face.

"What is it?"

The pirate captains behind him stopped as well and called out.

Then they followed Indigo's gaze and saw Kuta standing in their way.

They all shuddered before turning as one and bolting back into the palace.

They wished they could grow two more legs to run faster.

They made a sorry sight.

They had thought that, once they joined the legendary pirate Golden Lion, they would be free to do whatever they wanted.

Never had they imagined everything would change so suddenly. The legend had fallen just like that.

They hadn't had a moment to prepare themselves.

Indigo ignored the fleeing captains. He knew there was no escaping a monster who could kill Golden Lion, no matter how far they ran.

Sure enough,

two crossing crescent-shaped Slashes shot past him and hurtled down the corridor.

Their cutting edges made every hair on his body stand up. Cold sweat poured down his back.

The corridor, noisy only moments before, fell silent.

As the dull thuds of bodies hitting the floor sounded behind him, Indigo's pupils contracted. He swallowed hard.

When the Slashes had come at him, he had thought he was dead.

Tap!

Tap!

Tap...

Then slow footsteps sounded through the empty corridor.

They were light, but to Indigo, each step struck his heart like a hammer.

As Kuta strolled closer, Indigo lowered his head and bent at the waist without meaning to.

He knew Kuta must have spared him because he had some use, so he probably didn't have to fear being killed on the spot.

But faced with a monster who had killed Golden Lion, Indigo felt an invisible pressure. He didn't dare look down at Kuta, or even meet his eyes.

Kuta padded up to Indigo in his slippers. Looking at the comical performer who towered over him, he smiled.

He actually wanted to recruit Indigo as his ship's doctor.

Indigo might look ridiculous, but he was a highly skilled physician.

Still, Kuta needed to look into him first.

He smiled at Indigo. "You're Golden Lion's second-in-command, Doctor Indigo, aren't you? Sorry for the trouble, but could you show me your Infirmary and Golden Lion's treasure vault?"

Kuta intended to destroy all the records on the IQ drugs Indigo had developed. He wasn't about to leave something so dangerous for the World Government.

He also wanted to find out whether Indigo had experimented on humans.

If his experiments had involved only animals, that was one thing.

If he had used people, it was another matter entirely.

In that case, no matter how skilled a doctor Indigo was, Kuta couldn't let him stay.

Indigo gave Kuta a smile uglier than a grimace. He knew he couldn't refuse.

Kuta might be smiling as though he were open to discussion, but he had just killed Golden Lion!

"Of course, sir. Please follow me. I'll take you to the Laboratory right away."

His Laboratory was also his Infirmary.

Indigo quickly turned and led the way deeper into the palace.

Kuta followed with his hands tucked into his sleeves until they reached an enormous iron door.

Indigo took a key from his clothes, inserted it into a hole in the door, and twisted it hard. The door slid apart, opening slowly.

Standing at the entrance, he turned to Kuta. "Sir, this is the Laboratory."

Kuta glanced at the vast space beyond the door. Without paying Indigo much attention, he walked in.

The first things he saw were around a dozen enormous glass cultivation tubes glowing with cold blue-green light.

Seeing Kuta stop in front of them, Indigo hurried over to explain. "Sir, those are the remains of animals used in experiments on a plant containing a substance called 'IQ.'"

"Mm. I know. Take me to your experimental records."

Kuta saw no human remains. So far, so good, but he still needed to check the records.

"This way, sir."

Indigo led him to a workbench. Looking at the notebooks covering an entire wall, Kuta couldn't help thinking that scientists were truly obsessive.

If he had to write that much, he'd rather die.

He pulled out a notebook at random and began to read.

Hmm. Couldn't understand it.

His expression unchanged, he tossed it aside and took another.

Hmm. Still couldn't understand it.

What was wrong with these scientists? Couldn't they write something a person could understand?

He threw the notebook away and turned to stare at Indigo without a word.

Only when Indigo was drenched in cold sweat did Kuta smile and speak. "Doctor Indigo, can I ask you something?"

Indigo watched him warily and shivered at the sudden smile.

"Whatever you want to ask, sir... Ask away. I'll tell you everything I know."

"Have you ever experimented on humans?"

Kuta's expression changed in an instant, and an immense pressure bore down on Indigo.

Feeling Kuta's sudden surge of power, Indigo panicked and dropped to the floor.

He trembled, then remembered Kuta was waiting for an answer. He hurriedly looked up and shouted,

"No, sir! Never!"