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Ace also recognized Golden Lion Shiki. Though he had never seen him in person, he'd often heard stories about Golden Lion from Whitebeard. He knew Shiki was once a great pirate who rivaled his father Roger.
Though eager to deal with Blackbeard, Shiki's appearance made Ace pause his attack.
Nami frowned and looked at Ikki with worry. Shiki's words made her understand why this flying man had come after them.
Ikki gave Nami a reassuring look, then turned to face Golden Lion high in the sky.
"Golden Lion Shiki, did my friend's lightning affect your sky island?" Ikki asked.
"Your partner..." Golden Lion glanced at Ikki. "Shihahaha! Because of your partner, most of my research facilities were destroyed."
Shiki explained that not long ago, he had been navigating his ship and some floating islands past Mock Town. The sudden appearance of thunder had destroyed many of his men and the research facilities used to study animal transformation. Seeing that the thunder wouldn't stop and was getting worse, Shiki had moved his islands away from the thunderclouds and headed straight for Mock Town.
"That's true," Ikki nodded, resting Tensa Zangetsu on his shoulder. "So what do you want to do about it?"
"What do I want to do?" Shiki smiled coldly. "Since you've damaged my property, how do you think we should handle this, boy? I'll give you two choices. First, become my subordinates and make up for my losses. That thunder power is quite good and might help my plans. Second... well, I don't need to explain. If you're not stupid, you should make the right choice now that you know who I am."
Hearing this, Ikki just shrugged. "Then there's nothing to talk about."
He called over to Ace, "Fire Fist Ace, like you asked, Blackbeard is all yours. That guy ate the Dark-Dark Fruit, which can pull in Devil Fruit users and cancel their powers if he touches them. Though he's been fighting my partner for a while, you should be careful if you don't want to lose."
Ikki had confirmed through his Haki that the Blackbeard Pirates were dead. Having already made an enemy of Blackbeard, he didn't mind finishing him off right there. But with Shiki present, he had to leave Blackbeard to Ace for now.
"The Dark-Dark Fruit can cancel Devil Fruit powers?" Ace frowned, looking at Blackbeard.
"Thanks for the warning, stranger," Ace nodded. "Hope you survive."
Ace glanced at Golden Lion, then turned back to Blackbeard. "Teach, let's find another place to settle our business."
Hearing this, Blackbeard frowned. He had no intention of leaving.
"Ace, I'll deal with you later," Blackbeard said coldly, then looked up at Shiki. "Golden Lion, don't underestimate these two. They're powerful swordsmen, and you saw the woman's strange thunder power. Since you're also here to fight them, why don't we team up?"
Blackbeard looked at Ikki and Nami with a vicious smile.
"Team up? Who do you think I am?" Shiki laughed, waving his hand casually.
The ground beside Blackbeard, Ace, Ikki, and Nami suddenly rose up, forming stone lions that roared and charged toward them.
"I'm very upset, so none of you will escape today," Shiki declared, directing the stone lions to attack.
"Hey, are you attacking now? I have no interest in fighting Golden Lion," Ace sighed. He punched in Blackbeard's direction, his fist turning into a massive fireball that rushed toward his target.
Blackbeard dodged, pushing off the corner of a stone lion to fly further away.
"Good luck to you both," Ace called to Ikki and Nami as his body turned to flames. He fled through the hole created by his fire fist, quickly disappearing from sight.
"He destroyed my ability," Shiki noted with surprise. "Logia-type Flame-Flame Fruit—interesting. But running is useless. Once I deal with these two, he won't escape either."
Shiki clenched his fist, causing the rocks around Ikki and Nami to compress inward.
Nami frowned, wanting to use her thunderclouds to strike the rocks, but worried about hurting Ikki. She looked at him with concern.
Ikki smiled confidently as Tensa Zangetsu moved in a blur, striking out repeatedly. Each swing released a powerful flying slash that cut the incoming stones to powder.
"Hmm!" Golden Lion looked at Ikki with surprise. He hadn't used much power in his attack but hadn't expected Ikki to counter it so easily. The slash Ikki had used to block his earlier attack had already shown his skill as a great swordsman, but Shiki hadn't expected him to destroy his stone lions so quickly with pure slashing power.
What Shiki didn't know was that Tensa Zangetsu greatly increased Ikki's speed, making those slashes easy for him.
"I seem to have underestimated you, boy," Shiki said. "I didn't expect to meet such an amazing young man after being away from the world for so many years. It's a shame someone like you has to die. Why not become my partner and help me overturn the world?"
Golden Lion laughed and extended his hand to Ikki.
"What day is this? I've been invited to become a pirate by two pirates in a row," Ikki shook his head, standing between Nami and Shiki. "If I joined you, how could I collect bounties from the Marines?"
The Demon Mark on his forehead had begun to spread across his face.
"That's truly a shame," Shiki shook his head with mock pity. "At least tell me your name before I kill you, young man."
"Fair enough," Ikki nodded. "My name is Ikki Kurogane, and my partner is Nami. When you go to the next world, at least carry our names with you."
Hearing this, Shiki laughed again.
"Shihahaha! You're really arrogant. It seems I've been away from the sea for too long, and people have forgotten the name Golden Lion."
As he spoke, a powerful aura burst from Shiki and rushed toward Ikki and Nami. Though it wasn't Conqueror's Haki, it was still strong enough to shock them.
Nami's eyes widened. She felt this man might be even stronger than Blackbeard. But soon, her attention was caught by the conversation between Ikki and Shiki.
"Golden Lion, can I ask you a question? What's your bounty?" Ikki asked.
Since Shiki had been imprisoned in Impel Down, his bounty poster had long been withdrawn. Though he later escaped, he hadn't appeared in public for a long time. The Marines and World Government believed he might be dead and hadn't put a new bounty on him. Despite collecting bounty posters for pirates of all sizes, Ikki had never seen one for Golden Lion.
"Bounty? Kid, do you want to exchange my head for money? Shihahaha! My head is worth 4.8 billion Berries. If you want it, come and get it!"
Nami's eyes widened, and an unusual aura came from her.
"F-four point eight billion Berries? Is that true?"