Golden Lion Pirates

Captained by Shiki the Golden Lion, this crew earlier went by the name Flying Pirates and serves as the principal threat in One Piece: Strong World. Their flag shows a white skull crowned with a golden mane and beard echoing Shiki himself, set against a ship's steering wheel, the same wheel that ended up lodged in his head. Their vessel is no ordinary ship but a slab of land held aloft by Shiki's Devil Fruit, fitted with towering trees for masts and great oars along its flanks.

In their heyday a quarter century back, the crew fielded the largest pirate fleet on the Grand Line and briefly gained the edge over the Roger Pirates, though about half their armada was lost in the Battle in Edd War. Shiki himself ranks among the most notorious pirates ever, a onetime member of the Rocks Pirates, the first to break out of Impel Down, and a match for figures like Roger, Whitebeard, Garp, and Sengoku. For two decades the crew holed up on the hidden archipelago of Merveille, a place of savage ecology where the IQ plant mutated local wildlife. There Shiki kept the surrounding isles floating above the Grand Line and bred an army of engineered beasts boosted with SIQ, planning to overrun East Blue.

Shiki began assembling the crew 33 years ago after the Rocks Pirates fell apart. When Roger refused his proposal to rule the world together, the Edd War followed, and only a sudden storm saved the Roger Pirates by wiping out half of Shiki's fleet. Imprisoned after attacking Marineford, Shiki later escaped, was rebuffed by Whitebeard, and withdrew to Merveille, where Dr. Indigo built his monstrous menagerie. During the Strong World events he abducted Nami for her navigational gift and prepared to launch his assault on East Blue, only for the Straw Hats to strike back. Chopper and Robin wrecked Indigo's SIQ lab while the rest battled Shiki's allies, and Nami lured the floating fortress into a lightning storm so Luffy could crush Shiki with a lightning-charged giant leg, ending the threat as the Marines closed in.