Golden Lion Pirates

The Golden Lion Pirates are pirates led by Shiki the Golden Lion.

Ed 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 Ed 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 Jolly 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 on 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, unknowing to Luffy being the one who defeated Largo, merely stated that this one setback would not upset his ultimate plan.

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 Jolly Roger Pirates. Roughly half the fleet was lost during the Ed War.

The captain, Shiki, was one of the most infamous pirates in 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.