The training square of the G-17 branch was so hot it felt like it could catch fire.
Hundreds of shirtless soldiers were pushing through brutal physical training. Sweat ran down their red skin and gathered at their feet, making the hard ground slick.
There were no instructors here waving whips.
There were no loud slogans about justice either.
Only one thing drove them this hard: desire.
In their eyes, every drop of sweat could turn into Berries in the future. To steal a kill and take the reward, they had to run faster than everyone else. To survive a chaotic battle and still get paid, they had to be tougher than everyone else.
Smoker stood on a raised platform with two cigars in his mouth. Surrounded by smoke, he looked bored and a little irritated.
Even though he kept shouting and waving his Seastone weapon to scare the lazy ones, his anger was not really aimed at the soldiers.
"Tch, that bastard..."
Smoker blew out a thick cloud of smoke and looked toward the southeast sky with frustration. "He said he was going to scout that dangerous Merveille Island. I bet he just wanted an excuse to spend time alone with Gion."
As Aiden's classmate, Smoker knew that monster's strength too well. Forget some dangerous island full of beasts. Even if you threw Aiden into Level Six of Impel Down, he would probably still find a way to live comfortably.
Worry that he might get into trouble?
Smoker felt it made more sense to worry about whether the island itself could survive Aiden's visit.
"He left me here to hold the line while he went off with a beautiful woman. What a heartless commander."
Just as Smoker was complaining about Aiden in his head,
the square, which had been under a bright sun, suddenly went dark.
A huge, irregular shadow spread from the center of the base. It expanded fast and instantly covered the entire harbor and the square!
"What... What is that?!"
The soldiers doing push-ups stopped in fear and looked up.
A second later, everyone's mouth fell open, and their pupils shrank in shock.
Hundreds of meters in the air, a massive chunk of rocky island the size of a large warship was floating there, completely ignoring gravity!
The sight of such a huge rock hanging over their heads was suffocating.
"It's... It's flying?!"
"This ability... could it be...?"
One old soldier suddenly remembered a headline from last month's newspaper. His face turned pale, and his voice began to shake. "It's Golden Lion! It's the Flying Pirate, Golden Lion Shiki!! He just escaped from Impel Down last month! He must be here for revenge against the Marines!!"
Panic exploded through the crowd at once. To the soldiers stationed in the first half of the Grand Line, the name Golden Lion meant legendary despair.
"Don't panic! Grab your guns! Prepare for battle!"
Smoker was also shocked by what he saw, but after spending so much time around Aiden, his nerves had long since gotten stronger. He reacted at once.
His legs turned to smoke and launched him into the air. He gripped his jitte tightly, ready to face a legendary enemy.
However, before he could rise to the height of the floating rock, a familiar lazy voice drifted down from above.
"Smoker, tell everyone to move back a little. This thing isn't that big, but it'll still crush plenty of people if it falls on them."
"Ai... Aiden?!"
Smoker stopped in midair and stared with wide eyes.
Two figures stood at the edge of the floating rock.
Aiden sat on a piece of jutting stone. His coat fluttered in the wind. He held a bottle of wine he had no doubt found on the way, and two old swords rested across his knees.
Beside him, Rear Admiral Gion wore her Justice Coat. Small beads of sweat covered her forehead. It was obvious that controlling such a huge rock was still difficult for her.
One hand was raised toward the air. As she slowly pressed her palm down, the floating rock obeyed and began to descend!
"Rumble!!!"
The massive rock pushed through the air with a heavy thunder-like sound.
It stopped about ten meters above the water outside the harbor, then crashed into the sea. The huge wave it raised almost flipped over the patrol ships docked along the shore!
Sea water sprayed everywhere, and mist filled the air.
When the mist cleared, a brand-new artificial island had appeared right beside the G-17 branch.
"This... This is..."
Smoker landed on the rock and looked around, feeling as if his brain had stopped working. "You two... weren't you scouting? Why did you bring part of an island back?! And Gion... you can fly now?!"
"She can do more than fly now. She can move mountains too."
Aiden laughed as he jumped down from the rock. Then he casually tossed the two swords to his aide, Moore, who had just arrived.
"Take these. Find the best maintenance specialist you can and have them cleaned properly."
Moore scrambled to catch the two blades. The moment they landed in his hands, a sharp sting ran through his palms. Even though their owner was dead, the fierce aura of famous blades had not faded.
"This... This is..."
Moore stared at the lion-shaped decorations on the hilts. His pupils shrank to pinpoints, and his voice cracked.
"Oto?! Kogarashi?!"
As an experienced Marine, there was no way he would fail to recognize them.
These were famous meito, two blades among the fifty Ryo Wazamono. More importantly, they were the personal swords that Golden Lion Shiki valued more than his own life!
"Yes. Those are the swords of the Flying Pirate, Golden Lion Shiki."
Aiden straightened his collar and turned toward the soldiers, who were still standing there with guns in their hands and confusion on their faces.
His voice was calm and steady. He was not showing off. He was just stating a fact.
"The scouting mission is over. We ran into a small accident on the way."
"We happened to meet Golden Lion Shiki while he was looking for new territory."
Aiden pointed at the two swords.
"But you don't have to worry about him coming back for revenge."
"Because Golden Lion Shiki's story ended today."
The entire G-17 branch fell into a silence for ten full seconds.
Everyone doubted what they had just heard.
Golden Lion?
The legendary man who had once nearly destroyed Marineford?
He had been out of prison for less than a month, and he was already dead?
Killed by their own base commander?
"And one more thing."
Aiden pointed at Gion, who was still catching her breath. A small smile appeared on his face.
"Rear Admiral Gion has inherited Golden Lion's Float-Float Fruit."
"BOOM!!!!"
This time, it was not an explosion.
It was the roar of thousands of soldiers cheering wildly.
It was the sound of pure worship bursting out from the deepest part of them.
In this Great Pirate Era, where strength meant everything, there was nothing more reassuring than following a powerhouse who could kill a legend.
Looking at the two swords left behind by a legend of the old era, and the piece of island that had been dragged back by force, Aiden's prestige inside the G-17 branch reached its absolute peak.
In their hearts, his status now stood above everything else.
To Be Continued
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