Although Golden Lion had not agreed to help Lilith kill the Celestial Dragons, he had still "tricked" her onto the floating island by offering to teach her Haki and swordsmanship.
Noah, hidden over a dozen kilometers away, sensed Lilith tear up the card she carried and knew she had successfully infiltrated the Golden Lion Pirates.
Lilith did not carry a Den Den Mushi. Her only safeguards were the spatial coordinate gem around her neck and a deck of playing cards made by Noah.
On the floating island, Lilith showed Golden Lion her talent for navigation while posing as an ordinary person and asking him to teach her Haki and swordsmanship.
After more than half a month of effort, Lilith's standing in the Golden Lion Pirates had risen sharply, nearly matching that of the scientist Indigo, the second-in-command.
At the same time, Lilith had discovered Golden Lion's weakness: the ship's wheel embedded in his head. It not only restricted his Haki but also caused bouts of confusion from time to time.
Inside a dedicated training ground on the floating island.
Golden Lion was explaining advanced techniques for applying Armament Haki. After a few minutes, his expression suddenly changed, and he began crowing like a rooster.
"Cock-a-doodle-doo..."
My chance! Lilith burst into motion at once, releasing a colorless, odorless poisonous gas from her body.
The toxin soon entered Golden Lion's lungs as he breathed.
In just one minute, Golden Lion fell unconscious. The compound toxin not only worked as a fast-acting anesthetic but could also induce hallucinations and was highly effective at putting people to sleep.
Lilith tore up another playing card.
In an instant, the spatial coordinate in the gem on her necklace activated, and a wormhole appeared in the training ground.
The training ground was well hidden, and Lilith was monitoring the area with her Observation Haki at full strength, so the other members of the Golden Lion Pirates did not know that Golden Lion had fallen asleep.
Noah and Ray jumped out of the wormhole.
"Big brother, mission accomplished." Lilith wore an expression that said she wanted praise.
Noah stroked her hair. "Thanks for your hard work. We'll deal with the rest of the Golden Lion Pirates first. Sorry to trouble you with Golden Lion, Lilith."
"OK."
Lilith continued injecting venom into Golden Lion's body to make sure he stayed asleep.
Of course, she did not dare soak Golden Lion in seawater now. Otherwise, the floating islands would lose their buoyancy and fall from the sky.
Noah, Ray, Mary, Jay, and Anthony quickly made their way toward the Golden Lion Pirates' base.
Meanwhile.
Noah unleashed his Observation Haki to its fullest, locking onto everyone on the dozen or so floating islands.
Besides the winged people originally from Merveille Island, there were more than two thousand pirates under Golden Lion's command. The winged people all lived together on another floating island.
Most of Golden Lion's subordinates were on Lion Island, the main island of the floating archipelago.
Several hundred pirates were also stationed on the floating islands used to raise evolved beasts.
According to Lilith's information, the scientist Indigo and Scarlet, the red gorilla, were on the main island.
The Fish-Man swordsman, meanwhile, was on Beast Island No. 1.
Noah sent the brothers Ray and Jay to eliminate the Fish-Man swordsman.
He personally took charge of clearing the entire main island.
Noah's Observation Haki soon "saw" Indigo. He knew the man could use chemical reactions to produce venom, so he had no intention of fighting him at close range.
Before Indigo could react, Noah appeared behind him in an instant. Having spent so long on Golden Lion's floating island, Indigo had let his guard down.
By the time his Observation Haki picked up the danger behind him, it was too late.
Noah knocked him unconscious with a chop of his hand and casually sealed him away.
Immediately afterward, Noah's Conqueror's Haki erupted.
The terrifying Conqueror's Haki instantly knocked a large portion of the pirates unconscious, but those who remained awake did not notice anything unusual.
When Golden Lion had an episode, he would occasionally unleash his Conqueror's Haki too.
But when Anthony's infrasound waves and Mary's sliding blades struck the pirates who were still conscious, they finally came to their senses.
"Enemies?"
"Idiots! Fight back!"
"Bastards, you're dead! Boss Shiki will never let you get away with this..."
"Argh..."
Invisible ultrasonic blades cut down pirate after pirate as though harvesting wheat.
Mary slid rapidly through the air, moving too fast for the naked eye to follow. With her short sword polished to the utmost smoothness, the pirates she struck were usually cut in two.
"Bastards!" the red gorilla roared in fury.
The next second, Noah appeared in front of him. His Conqueror's Haki focused on the red gorilla in an instant, making the simple-minded gorilla feel as though he had seen something terrifying.
Before he could move, Noah flung out a card coated in Armament Haki.
The card flew like a throwing knife, slicing into the back of the red gorilla's left knee at an exceedingly tricky angle. The blow struck a spot he had injured before, instantly rendering his left leg immobile.
In an instant, Noah concentrated Armament Haki in his fingers and, in a flash, thrust them into the red gorilla's third rib on the right side.
Armament Haki Internal Destruction!
The red gorilla's eyes widened. His entire body felt as though it had been smashed by an iron hammer, and he fell heavily to the ground, unable to rise again.
In less than twenty minutes.
The pirates on the main island had been wiped out.
Meanwhile, the brothers Ray and Jay had also swiftly eliminated the pirates on the several beast islands, along with the last officer, the Fish-Man swordsman.
Even the exceptionally strong Fish-Man swordsman ended up bound like a rice dumpling when he faced Jay, who controlled thousands upon thousands of graphene threads, and Ray, who lurked in hiding.
After dealing with the pirates, Noah and the others finally began taking stock of their gains.
Aside from Golden Lion himself and the two Supreme Great Grade Swords, the greatest treasures on these floating islands were the IQ Plants cultivated there and the research data on them.
For now, however, the most urgent task was to deal with the sleeping Golden Lion as soon as possible.
Noah also found Golden Lion's condition somewhat troublesome. The current way to safely deal with the ship's wheel in his head was to use the Op-Op Fruit.
Unfortunately, the Op-Op Fruit had not yet appeared.
If they did not deal with Golden Lion soon, the World Government would discover these immobile floating islands sooner or later, and the place would become extremely dangerous.
But after using tarot cards to divine the outcome of modifying Golden Lion immediately, Noah had seen no possibility of success. That was why he hesitated.
The Float-Float Fruit was of enormous strategic importance.
With that fruit in hand, the Noah Family would be in an unassailable position. Even the World Government would have no way to encircle and suppress them.
After all, a major reason Golden Lion had been captured was that he had lost his mind and insisted on going to Marineford alone to take on Garp and Sengoku, determined to fight to the death rather than retreat.
With no way to modify Golden Lion.
Noah could only choose another, relatively conservative method.