Alabasta. West Coast. Underwater Submarine.
Since the last Marine attack failed, most of the Marines on the surface were either annihilated or fled in chaos.
Only this submarine, being underwater, was not discovered by Oden. Coupled with the order to continue surveillance given by Major Katz of the auxiliary defense team when he fled, it had been recording the movements of Pain's ship from underwater.
The person in charge of the underwater submarine was Karoo, a Marine Lieutenant. Seeing that the enemy ship had already set off towards Twin Cape and several people had disembarked and were running towards the East Coast, Karoo didn't have time to ponder what the enemy intended to do. He hastily grabbed a Den Den Mushi to report to his superiors.
After receiving the news, Katz quickly relayed it to Spandam at CP0 headquarters. Coincidentally, Spandam concealed the ship's actual destination and reported that Kozuki Oden and his group were heading towards the East Coast.
"Ah ha ha ha ha ha... what luck the gods have bestowed upon me!" Spandam laughed maniacally to himself.
Despite appearing to be a weakling, Spandam's ambition had never extinguished. Not for any other reason than Spandam being keenly aware of his own weaknesses.
He had inherited the position of CP9 Director through his father's influence, but his combat ability was abysmal. Previously, he had even blamed Lucci and others for the Enies Lobby incident to save himself.
Now, subservient to Lucci, he appeared respectful on the surface, but secretly, Spandam had always sought an opportunity to break free from Lucci and become independent.
Spandam's calculations were insidious: since the strongest combatants had already disembarked and gone to the East Coast, the ship must surely contain the weakest members of the enemy organization.
As soon as the ship was far from Alabasta, Spandam could secretly dispatch his Family members to attack, eliminate the Marines who knew the information, and then obtain the precious Materials on board. By then, he would have devoured this fat piece of meat without anyone knowing.
The more Spandam thought about it, the more excited he became. He quickly grabbed a Den Den Mushi to report the situation to his father and made arrangements... Alabasta. East Coast. Floating Island.
"Golden Lion" Shiki, though a very thoughtful person, possessed one admirable quality: he kept his promises.
Since Golden Lion had promised Pain and his group that he would wait here, he would keep his word, no matter how long it took or what he encountered.
The Golden Lion, who loved to drink, still sat on the lion figurehead of the Floating Island, getting himself muddled with alcohol.
Pain and Oden, with a few leaps, lightly arrived behind Golden Lion.
"I say, Shiki, you should really change that bad habit of sitting on the ship's figurehead and drinking. If you really get drunk and fall into the sea one day, it would be a very unjust death, wouldn't it?" Oden was the first to speak, ridiculing him.
This time, Golden Lion ignored him again... It was still that subordinate. After seeing a group of people come to the island, he initially told everyone to be on guard, but after recognizing the newcomers, he gasped and chased after Golden Lion, shouting loudly, "Captain... Captain! Your... your friends have come to see you!" He trembled and panted as he spoke.
"Hm?... What?... The sea has poured onto the island? Zehahahaha, no problem, no problem, I'll make the seawater float back, Zehahahaha." Golden Lion said, took another swig of alcohol, and then started doing a rooster dance.
Watching this familiar scene, Oden helplessly said to Pain, "This guy's old habits are acting up again. Normal communication is impossible! Tsk, really."
"It's got to be the usual way!" With that, without waiting for Pain to reply, he swung his Saber at Golden Lion... The same roar, the same scolding... "Shiki, can't you be normal? It's really tiring to communicate like this every time." Oden complained to Golden Lion, who was mostly sober.
"Zehahaha, my apologies, my apologies. I always get muddled when I drink. Zehahahaha..."
Golden Lion replied with a laugh.
"Well, never mind. Let's get to the point."
"We've come again this time to invite you to join our organization, to overthrow the corrupt World Government together, and once again ascend to the Peak of the world."
"What do you say, interested?" Oden asked on behalf of Pain.
"Zehahaha, overthrow the World Government? Very interesting indeed. But..."
"Do you have the strength for that? I'm full of doubts. Zehahahaha."
Golden Lion replied with a laugh.
Oden remained silent then. Oden knew that Golden Lion was questioning the leader's ability. If Pain's strength couldn't subdue Golden Lion, then Golden Lion would certainly not agree, just as he himself had been initially.
"You want to fight, don't you? As you wish." Pain slowly spoke.
"However... I reiterate, with me, there is only submission or death! I will take the Floating Island as the organization's headquarters. I hope your final choice does not disappoint me." Pain added.
"Zehahaha, zehahahahahaha..." Golden Lion laughed wildly, as if he had heard a great joke.
"Boy, a fight with me is also a matter of life and death. I hope you can still stand and talk to me afterwards!" Golden Lion said, his laughter tinged with anger, and immediately made his move.
Seeing that they were about to fight, Oden quickly motioned for the small fries to retreat. Oden also rapidly fell back to make space for Pain and Golden Lion to battle.
Golden Lion's first move was not a probing attack. Instead, he used his ability to quickly ascend into the air. He gathered Qi in his feet, swung them, and lightly uttered "Slicing Wave." A Saber Qi capable of piercing and extending for tens of meters attacked Pain.
Without pausing, he immediately unleashed his ultimate technique, "Lion's Threat: Earth Scroll," using his Float-Float Fruit ability to detach a large portion of the island's ground, which then converged in mid-air into the shape of a giant lion's head, opening its massive mouth to devour Pain.
Pain had already prepared to receive the attack when Golden Lion launched his first assault. Pain shared vision with Preta Path and Human Path, and his mind was rapidly calculating a countermeasure. This Saber Qi attack was so powerful that Pain chose to dodge it and then counterattack.
Pain, Human Path, and Preta Path each leaped, dodging the Saber Qi attack. Although dodged, the Saber Qi continued to spread, splitting a small area of the Floating Island into a chasm tens of meters long and about three meters deep.
After Pain, Human Path, and Preta Path dodged the attack, a giant lion's head came at them, trying to devour them. Pain had Preta Path use "Sealing Technique Absorption Seal," and a light barrier covered Pain and the two Paths above them.
Pain then aimed his right hand at Golden Lion and unleashed an "Almighty Pull," intending to pull Golden Lion down so that Human Path could directly control him. However, the "Almighty Pull," which had always been effective, failed. Golden Lion merely swayed slightly and broke free from the suction.
Golden Lion's "Lion's Threat: Earth Scroll" attack energy was also completely absorbed by Preta Path.
Golden Lion floated in the air, unfazed by the failure of his two attacks. He ascended higher, rapidly brandishing his two renowned Swords, "Sakuragi" and "Koten," with his feet, lightly uttering "Lion: Thousand Scythe Valley."
As Golden Lion spoke, golden Sword Qi descended from high in the sky, like a rain of Swords, striking towards Pain's direction.
This kind of wide-area attack was like the Oni-like technique Oden used to unleash, with a large area and high attack density, making it difficult to completely dodge with just movement techniques. Pain could use the most basic Body Replacement Technique to dodge, but Preta Path and Human Path would have to endure all of Golden Lion's attacks.
The biggest problem now was Golden Lion's aerial ability. If it couldn't be restricted, they would only be passively beaten, which Pain did not want to see.
Pain had Preta Path use "Sealing Technique Absorption Seal" to withstand Golden Lion's Sword rain, while he rapidly calculated an effective combat method to control Golden Lion in his mind.
Seeing that Preta Path was about to reach the limit of its "Sealing Technique Absorption Seal" endurance, Pain and Human Path retreated rapidly, allowing Preta Path to dispel the "Sealing Technique Absorption Seal" and transform its body into sand to dodge, and then had the sand-transformed Preta Path quickly pursue Golden Lion in mid-air.
Golden Lion hadn't expected his opponent to have the ability to transform his body into sand. For a moment, he was astonished, almost allowing Preta Path to gain the upper hand and restrain his body.
Preta Path thus chased and entangled with Golden Lion in mid-air. When Golden Lion attacked, Preta Path would transform into sand to dodge. Seeing that this attack was ineffective, Golden Lion immediately blackened his hands, condensing black-purple Haki, and blasted it directly at Preta Path.
Pain controlled Preta Path to pursue Golden Lion, intending to restrain Golden Lion and then use "Devour: Sandification World" to incapacitate him.
Preta Path's Devour, originally used to absorb Chakra in the Hokage world, had now been modified by Pain to absorb stamina and integrated with the Suna Suna no Mi ability to create this technique.
Seeing Golden Lion condense his Haki, Pain knew that if Preta Path was hit, it would surely be knocked out of the air, losing air superiority. Pain no longer hesitated, controlling Preta Path to entangle with Golden Lion while unleashing his ultimate technique.
Pain's body slowly ascended, and he lightly uttered, "Chibaku Tensei!"
As he spoke, all the surrounding matter rapidly converged towards Golden Lion, with him at the center.
Seawater, Floating Island matter, all sorts of miscellaneous things gathered towards Golden Lion. Most crucially, Preta Path was also controlled by Pain to hide in the distance, continuously releasing sand and dust to avoid being affected by "Chibaku Tensei."
Golden Lion was greatly startled after Pain unleashed "Chibaku Tensei." He disregarded attacking the enemy in front of him, cold sweat pouring down his body, and tried to control the converging matter to float away.
But Golden Lion discovered with horror that his ability to make all things float was no longer under his control, and his body gradually lost control and couldn't move. He could only watch helplessly as these things enveloped him into a spherical shape.
Golden Lion screamed in terror, "What... what is this? Stop it! I surrender! I give up!"
Golden Lion had no choice but to be terrified. His body had lost control, and he was being surrounded by seawater. Once his body was immersed in seawater, he would be even more powerless. Coupled with his lack of understanding of this thing's power, Golden Lion could only admit defeat and loudly declare his surrender.
Pain temporarily ignored Golden Lion's surrender. Golden Lion's lower body was already enveloped by "Chibaku Tensei," and soon his entire body would be.
Pain said coldly, "Submit, or die!"
Oden had been observing the battlefield from the side, dodging Golden Lion's indiscriminate attacks. Watching Golden Lion, whose body was controlled and was gradually being swallowed by the spherical mass, his heart was a mix of emotions.
"Is this Pain's strength? He truly is powerful."
Then he shouted at Golden Lion, "Shiki, surrender quickly! Do you want to die?..."