I am the Bandit King of the East Sea.

Bang.

The shadow clone Sig, inside the glass space, vanished completely in a puff of smoke.

The blood and chunks of flesh scattered everywhere vanished without a trace, as if they had never existed.

"Ouch, that hurts!" Sig's true form, outside the glass laboratory, was still grimacing.

For more than a year, he has been cooperating with Vegapunk's human experiments.

The shadow clone inherits and synchronizes with the sensory experiences, so it also bears the pain of death.

This wasn't a pleasant experience, but fortunately, when Sieg caught the King of Tennis, he developed a high pain tolerance... meaning he got used to the pain and could endure it better than most people.

The pain is tolerable for the sake of layering nails and for the sake of living a peaceful life safely.

Pain means I'm still alive, which is better than death.

Of course... Vegapunk wasn't an anti-human scientist; his experiments also took into account Sieg's feelings.

Vegapunk's human experiments were not designed to torture people, and not every death of a shadow clone was accompanied by immense suffering.

"The experiment is progressing quite well." Vegapunk, wearing a white lab coat, appeared.

"Life restoration combined with your clone ability is simply the perfect match for human experimentation."

"It's a pity. If I could have the full power of the Time Reversal Fruit, that would be even better."

"Speaking of the Time Reversal Fruit ability... Sigurd, have you thought it through? Reversing time and going back to the past?" Vegapunk asked.

Just as Sieg was about to answer, a thought suddenly struck him.

He reached into his pocket and rummaged around, pulling out a small, transparent glass bottle.

Inside the small glass bottle is a life card.

The size of this Life Card is shrinking at a rate visible to the naked eye.

The little smiling face that Ain had drawn on the piece of paper gradually turned to ashes in the dim firelight.

Sig's previous nonchalant expression vanished. He stared quietly at the glass bottle in his hand, his face expressionless, but his eyes seemed to be brewing an invisible storm, his surging telekinetic power on the verge of exploding.

"I just want to be alone, why do you have to force me...?"

He stood up and glanced at Vegapunk.

"Let's put the experiment on hold for now; I need to go out."

........................................................

The island where the Kingdom of Jeston is located.

Far off the edge of the battlefield.

A large amount of blood dripped from Ain's wrist, and her face quickly turned pale due to the massive blood loss.

"That's about enough. I can't die; I have to live."

A resolute look appeared on Ain's pale, pretty face.

When her vitality declines, her life card will also shrink.

Self-harm is done to weaken one's vitality, so that when the Den Den Mushi signal is blocked, it can be used to call for help from Sig.

As for suicide? She wouldn't be that stupid.

If a person dies, the life card immediately turns to ashes and naturally becomes useless.

Not only could she not commit suicide, but she also had to do everything in her power to survive until Sieg found her based on the directions on the Vivre Card.

At this moment, Ain was not quite sure where Sieg was, how far away he was, or how quickly he could get there. So she had to survive, and survive long enough.

The bleeding needs to be stopped...

She raised her left wrist again and reached her right hand towards her right waist, preparing to take out a bandage for stopping bleeding from her bag.

At this time.

"Little girl, you really are ruthless. No wonder you're Sieg's daughter..."

A cloud that had been hovering in the sky suddenly transformed into the shape of a golden lion. It descended from the sky, its feet half a meter off the ground, hovering in mid-air and looking down at Ain.

"Young lady, put the knife down first," the Golden Lion said in a deep voice.

Knife?

Ain was slightly taken aback.

She had lost a lot of blood, and her reactions were much slower than usual.

When the golden lion appeared, her movements completely stopped, her right hand reaching into the pouch at her waist.

She pondered for a moment, then instead of removing the bandage, she took out the dagger.

Chapter 1235 Sunset Red Team 5k

The clouds in the sky transformed into the shape of a golden lion and descended from the sky.

"Shiki the Golden Lion?"

After the initial shock subsided, Ain secretly tightened her grip on the dagger in her hand.

With her strength, she naturally had little power to contend with the Golden Lion, especially since she had just bled herself and was now somewhat weak.

The person she's waiting for isn't the Golden Lion...

“Hmm…right, Shiki the Golden Lion.” Ain’s gaze fell on Shiki’s old face.

She vaguely remembered one thing.

When she discovered Higuma's true identity, she mentioned a past event.

Many great pirates, including Shiki the Golden Lion, Roger, Wald, and Lone Red, look younger than their actual age.

Roger's fate was due to the effects of time travel, while Wald's was due to being frozen for many years.

As for Shiki the Golden Lion... his rejuvenation is due to the influence of Higuma's Rewind Flame Bottle, which is also the Rewind-Rewind Fruit of Ain.

The golden lion stood in mid-air, his hands behind his back, silently looking down at Ain before him.

This infamous and vicious pirate, however, did not show much outward hostility in front of Ain, a NEO Marine.

"He seems... a little impatient?" This thought flashed through Ain's mind.

“Young lady, I have a past with Sig and owe him a favor. I’m acting on his behalf now.” The Golden Lion’s lips curled up slightly, trying his best to put on a kind expression.

But he was, after all, a notorious pirate, and even his fake smile was surprisingly benevolent, almost scaring Ain into launching a counterattack.

“Sieg will be here soon. You are weak right now, and if CP0 finds you, I may not be able to protect you. In short, come with me to take refuge in the air first, and I will think of a way to deal with Zephyr later.”

As he spoke, the Golden Lion waved his hand, and a cloud floated out from his sleeve, landing at Ain's feet.

Ain was initially pleasantly surprised, and then felt a sense of relief.

But as soon as she took a step, looking at the golden lion's face, she stopped in her tracks, a doubt arising in her heart.

Was Sieg's movement really that fast?

It should be noted that the Den Den Mushi's Nen wave communication in the surrounding sea area is still being interfered with.

Ain didn't know Sig's exact location, nor how many days it would take him to get there... To be honest, after cutting her wrists, she had mentally prepared herself for a long battle, intending to at least flee for a day or two until Sig arrived.

Only a few minutes had passed since the wrist-cutting incident.

Although she knew that Sieg possessed all sorts of incredible abilities and was known as the devil himself, the Devil Fruit user, this was still ridiculously fast.

Even if Sieg immediately noticed the anomaly in the Vivre Card, how could he have gotten the Golden Lion to the island within minutes?

"What? You don't trust a mere pirate like me?" Golden Lion sneered when he saw Ain hesitate.

"If you're not coming, fine. I don't want to save a mere navy."

"This is the first time in my life I've saved someone, and I'm even being suspected of it. How ridiculous."

"It's true that I owe Sieg a favor, but I'm not his subordinate!"

The Golden Lion glanced coldly at Ain, then his body floated up again and rose into the sky, seemingly intending to abandon her and leave.

He ascended into the sky and was about to leave when a voice came from behind him.

"Wait." It was Ian's voice.

The Golden Lion understood. He turned around without making a sound, thinking that Ain had already given in, but he saw that Ain was holding a dagger to her own white throat, looking like she was about to commit suicide.

“If you leave, I will kill myself right now,” Ain said.

The golden lion was taken aback at first.

Then he threw his head back and laughed so hard he almost died laughing on the spot.

"Young lady, don't you understand the situation? I didn't beg you to save me. The stupidest thing in the world is to threaten someone with your own life."

"And what's even more foolish is that the person you're threatening is a pirate!"

The Golden Lion's gaze suddenly turned cold. Having seen countless battles, he naturally wouldn't panic in front of this little girl.

Aside from appearing slightly impatient when he first appeared, the Golden Lion has now regained his former aura.

"Really? Perhaps you're the one who doesn't understand the situation."

Ain stared at the Golden Lion for several moments, noticing the age spots on his palms and the faint wrinkles on his face.

Over the years, she followed Admiral Higuma and Zephyr in their campaigns, and two years ago she was already a general-level officer, serving as the governor of the former Navy NEO Legion.

Although Zephyr said he was too young and didn't have a deep understanding of the path of justice, this was relative to veterans like Zephyr who had spent their entire lives in the game.

Having been tempered on the battlefield, Ain was no longer a rookie.

As a former naval officer, one principle we must always remember is...

Don't trust any pirates!

"If we've wronged Golden Lion, we can apologize later. Right now, we should be more cautious..."

The thought crossed Ain's mind. She held a dagger to her pale neck with one hand, and pointed the other hand at the golden lion.

The effects of Devil Fruit powers are mostly temporary, not permanent.