Somewhere out at sea, inside a ship's cabin.
"Say, you've all heard the name Randall, haven't you?"
A heavily bearded, stern-looking man swept his gaze over everyone around him as he spoke.
A curly-haired man fiddling with a flintlock pistol immediately chimed in:
"Of course we have. Isn't he the whole reason we gathered here?"
"Randall joined the Marine Recruit Training Camp a little over a year ago. His first appearance in the papers was when he was promoted to Vice Admiral. There was also a mention in the miscellaneous section that he had helped capture the Devil's Heir, Bullet.
"The next time he appeared, it was in the headlines, for capturing the legendary pirate Golden Lion.
"But there's no more substantial information than that. He simply hasn't been active for very long."
A man wearing glasses recited every piece of information he could find about Randall.
"Hmph, you might be scared of Golden Lion, but I'm not!
"Besides, Golden Lion had just gotten out of Impel Down. How much strength could he have had left?"
A man with a Golden Mohawk sat sprawled to one side, his face full of swagger.
"Heh, as expected of Golden Retriever. You really are impressive.
"But if you're so impressive, why did you show up here today?"
Across from the blond mohawk—Golden Retriever—a woman wearing heavy eye makeup spoke with biting sarcasm.
"Onigumo, what the hell do you mean by that?!"
Golden Retriever exploded at the slightest provocation. He grabbed his sword and stood up, glaring furiously at Onigumo.
"Enough, calm down, both of you. No infighting!
"Have you forgotten why we're all here?!
"Once we break through the G-1 Branch, our names will be known all over the world!
"With that kind of fame, we can have anything we want!"
The bespectacled