Golden Lion Pirates

The Golden Lion Pirates is a pirate crew led by Shiki the Golden Lion.

Edd War and Shiki's Seclusion
Twenty-three years prior the story's beginning, the Golden Lion Pirates were the biggest pirate fleet in the seas. When Shiki confronted Gol D. Roger in the New World, wishing to ask him to join the Golden Lion due to finding an Ancient Weapon, hoping to rule the world together, Roger refused, leading to the Battle in Edd War. Though the Golden Lion Pirates were gaining the upper hand, a storm suddenly struck, wiping out half of Shiki's fleet, and allowing the Roger Pirates to escape.

Three years after the war, after Shiki was imprisoned in Impel Down for attacking Marineford, the Golden Lion Pirates kept a low profile, until their captain escaped. Shiki attempted to ask Whitebeard to join him, to which he once again got rejected. Shiki then retreated to Merveille in the Grand Line, having Dr. Indigo create a massive army of monstrous animals to help dominate the world.

Inviting the Amigo Pirates
Twenty years since Indigo started creating the monstrous army, one of them, Boss, escaped, and as such, Shiki made an offer with the captain of the Amigo Pirates: if Largo can recapture Boss, he would be invited to become the commander of the Golden Lion Pirates' 51st division. Ultimately, Largo was defeated by Monkey D. Luffy and the entire Amigo Pirates were arrested at Little East Blue. Shiki, not knowing that Luffy was the one who defeated Largo, merely stated that this one setback would not upset his ultimate plan.

Clash with the Straw Hat Pirates
Continuing with his plans, Shiki continued to recruit powerful allies to accompany him in world domination, as well as to destroy East Blue, due to Shiki bearing a grudge to the sea for being Roger's death place. When he came across Nami, he noted on her exceptional navigational skills and beauty, he forced her to become a member of his crew by holding her crewmates as hostages. Eventually, the rest of the Straw Hat Pirates attacked Shiki to retrieve Nami and to stop the Golden Lion Pirates from attacking East Blue. Chopper and Robin went to destroy Indigo's laboratory where the SIQ drug was, to prevent anymore mutant animals from being created, while the rest of the crew attacked Shiki's allies and palace. Eventually, Nami tricked Shiki into guiding Merveille, now converted into a floating island fortress with Shiki's levitating powers, into a lightning storm, and with that, Luffy crashed a lightning-enhanced giant leg down onto Shiki and the floating island, defeating the Flying Pirate and sending the mutants plummeting into the sea. The Marines then arrived to arrest the falling pirates, but it is unknown if Shiki and his main members survived.

Crew Strength
Little is known about the strength of the Golden Lion Pirates, but they managed to terrorize the entire sea with their largest fleet twenty-five years ago, and managed to gain an upper hand against the Roger Pirates. Roughly half the fleet was lost during the Battle in Edd War.

The captain, Shiki, was one of the most infamous pirates of all times, being the first person to ever escape Impel Down, and match against powerful figures such as Roger, Whitebeard, Marine Vice Admiral Garp and Admiral Sengoku.

Over the last twenty years, the crew spent much of their time creating an enormous army of mutant animals, greatly gaining in military power, as well as still having over fifty divisions in the crew. They are too, one of the few pirate´s crew from Roger´s time that continue to be active to this day, even through more than two decades has passed since then. But even with all this power on their side, they were finally and completely defeated by the Straw Hat Pirates.

Trivia

 * Ironically, the captain, Shiki, gained the steering wheel in his skull after he made his Jolly Roger, which consisted of a skull with a mane of golden hair, and instead of cross bones, it had a ship's steering wheel.