Chapter 189

"Damn it! That damned Golden Lion! Full retreat, I'm turning the rudder, turning the rudder, full retreat!"

Even though Akainu gritted his teeth and issued the order for full retreat, only one-third of the navy ships managed to escape, while the remaining two-thirds were all sent to the seabed by Golden Lion and buried.

"Hahahaha! Golden Lion is back, navy!" With a deranged laugh, Golden Lion slowly lifted his massive warship into the sky.

"Damn Golden Lion, one day I will wipe you pirates clean from this sea!" Navy Admiral Akainu's fists blazed with rolling magma as he glared furiously at Golden Lion soaring in the sky.

He could have used Moon Step to close in and clash with Golden Lion, but with Golden Lion having fully restored his strength—and even surpassed it—he honestly had no confidence in winning.

Back then, in that great naval battle, if not for a sudden storm, this old lion might very well have become the Pirate King.

"Full retreat! This suppression mission has failed, the world's destroyer Vandalvard was rescued by Golden Lion."

"I say, that golden-haired old man, you, where are you taking me?" Perona looked nervously at Golden Lion.

"Hmph, shut up, little brat, just follow me obediently." Golden Lion gave Perona a fierce glance.

As soon as they met, this little brat used Negative Ghost on him, but you think I'm someone you can mess with?

I'm one of the strongest on this sea, your special Devil Fruit ability is useless against me.

If you lot with special abilities had no restraint, you'd have dominated the seas long ago, not us.

"Oh dear! Uncle, you look so scary!"

Still, I have to admit, this old guy was quite handsome when young, tsk, why would I know he's a seventy-year-old? The two soon arrived before Luode.

"Captain, I've brought back everyone you wanted." The teacher finished speaking, then tossed the Ghost Princess and the World Destroyer Vandalvard before Luode.

"Ghost! No, undead! True undead creature, I like it."

Perona came excitedly before Sylvanas, making strange gestures, spinning around in circles.

As the Ghost Princess, she loves zombies and undead things.

"Little brat, come follow me from now on! I'll take you to a place full of undead and zombies—how about that?" Sylvanas glanced at Perona and said.

"Ah! Okay! Wait, no! You, you're the one who took Moria! Where is Lord Moria now?"

Perona carefully observed Luode and Sylvanas, and also the conspicuous Four Emperors Kaido standing nearby.

She immediately recognized them as the ones who captured her Lord Moria during the Summit War.

"Your Lord Moria is now one of my undead subordinates."

After killing Moonlight Moria, Luode directly threw the corpse to the Queen, then transformed it into a Forsaken, now working for the Queen.

"You killed Lord Moria! Negative Ghost." Perona knew these people had killed her captain, so she immediately used Negative Ghost.

But everyone present either had top-tier Haki for protection or was undead, so none were affected by her Negative Worry.

This Ghost Princess's combat power dropped to zero—this little brat relies entirely on her Devil Fruit ability, her own combat power is basically nil.

"Hmph! Wah!" Sylvanas let out a banshee's wail.

"Oh dear! How scary!" Perona's eyes spun in circles, and she fainted on the spot from fright.

"This little brat is a bit easily scared, but her Devil Fruit ability is indeed quite unique."

"Alright, let Bulin handle her when we get back—we need to deal with two prisoners."

Luode's hands gathered soul fragments, purple light began to envelop the area, soon a soul stone was crafted and then implanted into Vandalvard's body.

Compared to the Druid's reincarnation, the Soul Stone creation by the Reincarnation Mage is not overly complex.

However, its effect is not as good as true reincarnation, because the soul stone must be pre-bound, and it merely pulls the soul of the recently deceased into the body.

After resurrection, the injuries still need treatment, otherwise there's a chance of dying again—this method usually requires pairing with a healing stone.

"Guy's about to die, hurry up and extract his Devil Fruit ability!

Then see how the resurrection works— the cheaper the resurrection,

the easier it is to swap Devil Fruit abilities, after all, we can't use reincarnation on everyone." Luode said.

The Druid's reincarnation, the Paladin's redemption skill, the Priest's resurrection spell, the Shaman's ancestral spirit—all consume enormous resources.

Cheaper resurrection abilities? Probably only the Warlock's soul stone.

Luode crafts this effortlessly—after all, he's a Soul-Soul Fruit user; for other warlocks, soul stones require massive amounts of soul and are difficult, but for Luode it's trivial.

After Vandalvard died completely, Luode and the Queen joined forces again, successfully extracting the Momo Fruit, then Luode took out a box and carefully placed the Duplicate Fruit inside.

A few minutes after death, the purple soul stone began to glow, pulling back the soul that had already left, and Luode then took out a healing stone to treat Vandalvard's wounds.

"Nothing serious, he should be revived. But to be safe, let's test again—see if he can eat a Devil Fruit." Kaido said, then looked at Luode.

"Please! Father-in-law, Devil Fruits are precious—my Devil Fruits here are all Zoan types, you really want to give this guy one?"

Although I still have a Boar Fruit and a Scorpion Fruit, but those are also precious, okay! "We need to clarify—now that Devil Fruit extraction and resurrection are confirmed.

The only uncertainty is eating another Devil Fruit—you can't possibly have Lingling test it, can you?" Kaido said.

"Captain, I have Devil Fruits here." Golden Lion winked at his subordinates, and soon someone brought two boxes.

Opening them, one red, one silver-white with strange patterns, the fruits lay quietly inside.

"Captain, I may be old, but I'm still a top-tier pirate—I also have Devil Fruits."

"Golden Lion, you're quite rich—what abilities do these two fruits have?" Luode glanced at Golden Lion and asked.

"Captain, both are Paramecia types—I've already compared them using the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia.

One is the Muscle Fruit, which enhances full-body muscle strength, controls muscles; the other Paramecia fruit is the Silver-Silver Fruit.

Its effect is similar to the Gold-Gold Fruit user—if awakened, it can turn touched objects into silver. It can also control that silver, and if developed well, this Silver-Silver Fruit is actually stronger than the Gold-Gold Fruit.

Silver is harder than gold, more abundant, easier to carry, and its development potential far surpasses gold."

"Don't waste the Silver-Silver Fruit—give the Muscle Fruit to him!" Luode thought for a moment and said.

"Silver-Silver Fruit, though it manipulates silver, it's not a weaker version of the Gold-Gold Fruit—in fact, in some aspects it's even stronger."

"But we still need to pick the right person to eat it—this waste Vandalvard shouldn't get it; even after eating the Momo Fruit, he didn't awaken."

"Hehe! Boss, this Silver-Silver Fruit, please accept it with a smile—you probably don't think much of this guy's strength, huh?"

"I've taken the Devil Fruit—what do you want? Just say it straight!" The old lion giving himself a gift must have an agenda.

"Luode boss, look, you're the one who wants to arrange for me to become one of the Four Emperors in the future, but look, I don't have any notable subordinates under me! Why don't you give this guy to me?" Golden Lion glanced at Bondivalde and said.

Luode looked down on Bondivalde's strength, but Golden Lion did.

He doesn't rely solely on his Devil Fruit ability for a living; this guy's physique is just monstrous, and he can use both colors of Haki.

Golden Lion truly has only a few big cats and small dogs under him.

The only ones who can be considered combat officers are his two hundred and fifty scientists and a gorilla under him; their strength.

Never mind, saying more just brings tears! I, the mighty Golden Lion, have only a few cats and dogs under me, and even some of Bondivalde's subordinates are better than mine.

I don't care about face!

"Hmm! I understand, you want this guy to be your subordinate, right?"

Bondivalde's strength, after losing his Devil Fruit ability, Luode indeed looks down on him somewhat, as there are plenty of guys like him in the Beasts Pirates.

But just because I look down on him doesn't mean Golden Lion does! This old lion truly is penniless, with high-end combat power basically zero.

Bondivalde's strength can indeed crush the gorilla and the scientist under him.

"Alright! Handing this old guy over to you is fine, can you subdue him?" Luode nodded, agreeing to Golden Lion's proposal.

However, Bondivalde is quite the unruly fellow! Whether Golden Lion can subdue him is something Luode doubts.

"Boss, don't underestimate me; no matter what, I was once a top-tier pirate.

Golden Lion's reputation is still quite renowned; if I can't even subdue a guy like this, what am I still doing out here?"

As a pirate, as long as your strength is greater than the opponent's and you give them benefits, you can subdue them.

Back then, those prouder than him were all subdued by me.

"I understand, since you're to become one of the Four Emperors, naturally you need to cultivate your subordinates' strength, I'll give you ten bottles of Desperation Potion, you can give them to whoever you want!"

Desperation Potion can now be mass-produced, Luode is completely unbothered and very generous in giving some to Golden Lion, after all, the latter contributed two Devil Fruits.

"Then thank you, Captain, if I ever collect good Devil Fruits in the future, I'll immediately send them to you." Golden Lion said, then took out the Muscle Fruit and fed it to Bondivalde.

After eating the Devil Fruit, Bondivalde's body showed no change, and there was no phenomenon of exploding and dying.

He himself also woke up, but hadn't yet reacted to what happened before Golden Lion kicked him unconscious.

Afterwards, Golden Lion had someone bring a set of Seastone chains to lock him up, and this old guy immediately became completely weak.

He has successfully become a Devil Fruit user.

"Success, Luode, he has now become a Devil Fruit user again, just a Muscle Fruit ability user." Kaido looked at Bondivalde, nodding with satisfaction.

My guess has finally come true; now I can change the Devil Fruit abilities of my subordinates.

"Alright, old lion, this guy is yours from now on, he will be your subordinate.

If he refuses to obey your orders, just tell me.

I'll send a Memory Fruit ability user over to alter his memory." Luode directly handed Bondivalde over to Golden Lion.

"Don't worry! Boss, I am Golden Lion."

Joke! Can I not subdue a mere Bondivalde? This guy has no Devil Fruit ability anymore, just ate a Muscle Fruit, now his combat power is far worse than before.

And not just him, his gang of subordinates, that giant fishman, that Cube Fruit ability user, and the ship doctor on his vessel, Golden Lion plans to subdue them all.

After dealing with Bondivalde, Luode turned his gaze to another prisoner, Hawk-Eye Mihawk, this guy is the main event!

Having been corroded by evil energy for so long without dying, it shows Hawk-Eye's vitality is strong.

Luode used sorcery to remove the evil energy from Hawk-Eye's body, then took out a healing stone and gave Hawk-Eye some recovery.

Shortly after, Hawk-Eye opened his eyes.

"Cough cough! Is it you, Beasts Kaido, Golden Lion, have you two teamed up?"

"These aren't your concerns, Hawk-Eye, now you need to worry about one thing.

Is it living to serve me, or dying and then serving me?" Luode stood before Hawk-Eye and asked.

Hawk-Eye looked at Luode, then glanced at Kaido and Golden Lion standing beside Luode, showing a surprised expression.

This guy, this guy, did you subdue Beasts Kaido and Golden Lion? Is Golden Lion regaining youth your doing?

Or is it about living to serve you or dying to serve you? Is that how you deal with Whitebeard?

"Let me tell you straight, Hawk-Eye, Charlotte Linlin, Whitebeard, Kaido, and Golden Lion, they've all already pledged allegiance to me, you should know what that means."

(End of Chapter)