Following the direction indicated by the Log Pose flower, the Carefree continued moving forward.
Along the way, he occasionally encountered extreme weather, but thanks to Lind's powerful psychic abilities, he managed to push through. Aside from Lind feeling a bit bored, nothing much happened.
During this time, Lind's mutant devil fruit experienced another small surge in power. A passing seagull, after being affected by Lind's powers, awakened psychic abilities and had its intelligence greatly enhanced.
Recognizing that Lind was someone worth following, the seagull latched onto him without hesitation. Seeing that the fruit's effect was rare and that this little creature was both intelligent (and knew how to flatter), Lind decided to keep it. Since the journey was dull, he took it in as his first underling, feeding it some dragon bananas and divine dragon coconuts.
That day, the sun was shining brightly, and the sea was unusually calm.
Lind was lying on the deck, sunbathing, when the seagull, which had been scouting ahead, suddenly returned to the ship.
"Boss, there's a ship up ahead. The sail has a skull painted on it. It should be one of those pirate ships you mentioned."
With his strong psychic powers, Lind had developed some level of telepathic communication, allowing him to roughly converse with high-intelligence creatures like the seagull.
"Hahaha! Finally, people! Seven days! If I didn't run into someone soon, I was going to lose my mind!"
"The anime totally lies. The ocean is so vast—where is it ever that easy to run into another ship?"
Hearing the seagull's report, Lind laughed excitedly, his eyes even getting a little misty. Sailing alone on the sea had been an excruciating experience.
"Finally, I don't have to rely on sheer luck anymore. Even if it's a pirate ship, as long as I'm strong enough, I can get the answers I need!"
"Free, bring me my sword!"
( TN: Free is the nickname of the ship Unfettered.)
As Lind's voice fell, a gleaming sword shot out of the cabin.
Lind had put a lot of effort into this sword, mutating a wooden blade exactly eighty-one times before he was finally satisfied.
As for the Unfettered? There was no ship spirit, of course. Lind was just using his psychic powers to put on a show.
Watching the sword fly into his hand, Lind was pleased with the dramatic effect. Without hesitation, he stepped onto the blade and soared in the direction the seagull had pointed.
As he neared the pirate ship, Lind started getting into character. When he was about fifty meters away, he spoke, amplifying his voice with psychic energy to create a grand, echoing effect.
"Riding the waves, I roam free, unfettered by land or sea.
A single draw cut a thousand sails, one dance casts the world in veils.
One swing shakes the seas, another shakes the heavens.
Standing alone above all foes, none but the Mortal Dust Sword."
( AN: 'The languages in the pirate world are so chaotic—throwing in some classical Chinese poetry shouldn't be a big deal. Just ignore this detail. Everyone gets a poetic entrance. If you get too caught up in it, you won't enjoy the story. Just pretend the protagonist crossed into the Chinese-dubbed version of this parallel world.')
It felt a bit embarrassing, but also incredibly satisfying. Being alone for so long led to wild thoughts, and over the years on the deserted island, Lind had successfully pieced together his own dramatic entrance speech, inspired by a certain legendary drunken swordsman.
Seeing the stunned expressions of the pirates on the ship, Lind paused for a moment before continuing.
"Pirates ahead, listen well! I am the Mortal Dust Sword, Hilt—Lind!"
Just as Lind was finishing his introduction, a tall young man, around two meters in height, stepped out of the cabin. His long golden hair cascaded behind him like a flowing cape.
"Holy crap, the Golden Lion!"
Without any hesitation, Lind immediately used his psychic powers to control his flying sword and turn tail, accelerating away.
On the other side, the Golden Lion had been in the middle of reporting to his boss when he suddenly heard an arrogant voice from outside.
Normally, this sort of thing would be left for the underlings to handle, but the poetic entrance intrigued both him and Rocks, so they decided to check it out themselves.
The Rocks Pirates needed talents like this.
Seeing Lind turn and flee, the Golden Lion was rather pleased with his own intimidation factor. But actions had to be taken regardless, so without hesitation, he gave chase. After all, the Rocks Pirates really could use a guy like him.
Seeing the Golden Lion chasing after him, Lind flew even faster, cursing internally.
'Did I burn through all my luck mutating things on the island?! Why is the Golden Lion, of all people, out here floating around instead of flying in the sky where he belongs?!'
'If it were Whitebeard, I could still escape with psychic power. But running into the Golden Lion is just bad luck. The Fuwa Fuwa no Mi consumes way less stamina than psychic power. I can only go all out for a day and a night before I'm drained, but the Golden Lion can float indefinitely!'
Lind had no idea how fast the Golden Lion could fly, but he wasn't about to gamble that his two and a half years of psychic training could outrun him.
After much internal debate, Lind decided that discretion was the better part of valor. Maybe he should just surrender.
After all, plenty of novel protagonists had joined the Rocks Pirates before—one more wouldn't make a difference.
Besides, he had just been showing off. He had no real grudge against the Rocks Pirates, so there was a good chance they'd accept his surrender.
If he tried to run and just ended up annoying the Golden Lion, who knew what would happen?
And if he joined the Rocks Pirates, as long as he was strong enough, he could probably carve out a little space of his own—making it easier to set up his farm. Without the protection of a crew, all sorts of troublemakers would come knocking.
Lind kept rationalizing, convincing himself that it was perfectly fine to join the Rocks Pirates.
'Let's surrender first. If the Golden Lion really wants to kill me, I can always run later!'
But if he was going to surrender, should he at least fight first to show off his strength?
If the Golden Lion invited him personally, then he wouldn't even need to surrender—it'd be a recruitment instead.
Thinking this, Lind stopped in mid-air, controlling his body with psychic power while his flying sword hovered around him.
'Damn, I should've made two swords—one for showing off and one for actual combat.'
Not standing on his sword felt unnatural.
Soon, the Golden Lion closed in, standing opposite Lind as the two faced off in the air.
"Jihahahaha! Kid, not running anymore?"
"I liked that little speech of yours. How about joining the Rocks Pirates?"
"Our boss personally asked for you—we need people like you in the Rocks Pirates!"
Hearing the Golden Lion's words, Lind almost lost his footing. That line sounded straight out of some secret police recruitment.
For a moment, he wanted to respond with "Palace Imperial Jade Wine" or "Odd changes, even remains unchanged" just to test if they were from the same world.
But he quickly dismissed the thought. It was more likely a coincidence.
Shaking his head, he spoke.
"Let's fight first!"
Before he even finished speaking, Haitaka shot toward the Golden Lion.
(TN: Haitaka the sword's name)
"Jihahahaha! Interesting kid! Let's see what you've got!"
Drawing his two swords, Oto and Kogarashi, the Golden Lion blocked Haitaka with one and sent a flying slash toward Lind with the other.
Seeing the massive slash hurtling toward him, Lind quickly dodged, cursing in his mind.
'Aren't you a swordsman?! Why are you fighting like a damn mage?!'
Thanks to the overwhelming power of his telekinesis, Lind's reaction speed was far beyond normal. Using his psychic abilities to dodge with agility, he never gave the Golden Lion a chance to get close.
Though it seemed like he was being suppressed, he was, in fact, holding his own against the Golden Lion. At the very least, he wasn't in any immediate danger.
However, Lind's "unorthodox" fighting style was starting to irritate the Golden Lion.
"Jihahahaha! Kid, is running and dodging all you can do? As a swordsman, can't you fight me head-on?"
Lind really wanted to tell him that he wasn't a swordsman at all—he hadn't even known a sword style, let alone mastered a sword technique!
The only reason Haitaka could clash with the Golden Lion was due to Lind's psychic-enhanced brute force and the sheer durability of Haitaka itself, which far exceeded that of ordinary swords.
Even so, Lind doubted Haitaka could last much longer. If the Golden Lion hadn't been going easy on him, he would've surrendered already.
Seeing that Lind remained unmoved and stubbornly stuck to his slippery fighting style, the Golden Lion smirked and subtly slowed his attacks, preparing something bigger.
"Lion—Thousand Cut Valley!"
With a sudden slash, the Golden Lion cleaved Kunpeng apart, then, in an instant, unleashed dozens of flying slashes toward Lind.
"Holy shit!"
Seeing the barrage of slashes hurtling toward him, Lind cursed out loud and immediately cranked his psychic abilities to maximum output, forming a protective barrier to block the attack.
The slashes struck the transparent shield, causing it to flicker violently before shattering in an instant.
Luckily, Lind's years of training on the deserted island hadn't been for nothing. He had long since awakened Armament Haki. By reinforcing his body with it and relying on his powerful physique, he barely managed to withstand the attack.
The Golden Lion seemed to have noticed something—Lind didn't really know swordsmanship.
Since his Lion—Thousand Cut Valley had already let off some steam, he decided not to continue attacking.
"Jihahahaha! Not bad, kid! You've got some real strength. How about joining me? I'll make you my vice-captain!"
At this point in time, the Shiki the Golden Lion wasn't yet the infamous pirate captain of the future. He didn't have any particularly noteworthy subordinates.
Finding someone who could withstand one of his ultimate moves was rare, and Lind's young age made him even more valuable. Feeling a bit of appreciation for this talent, Shiki attempted to recruit him.