Little Croc, Come Outside and Have a Chat with Us

The Sand-Sand Fruit is also great for traveling.

Transforming into a gust of sand, Crocodile raced towards the desert northeast of the royal capital.

Along the way, the earth was cracked, sandstorms raged, and riverbeds were dry. Such beautiful scenery pleased Crocodile greatly.

This is the idyllic paradise of my dreams!

However, as he slowly approached Shurima, he sensed something was amiss.

Crocodile reverted to his human form, his clothes changing from his unchanging boss attire to a simple desert robe, and he covered his face with a sand-proof mask.

Theoretically speaking, this guy with a cigar in his mouth and a hooked hand doesn't look like a commoner at all.

However, the generally carefree nature of the pirate world allowed Crocodile to easily blend into the refugee group.

He patted the man in front of him, an old man who at first glance looked quite tall, but upon closer inspection was thin and frail, clearly suffering from kidney deficiency and physical weakness. "Why are you queuing here? What kind of queue is this?"

Cobra, who harbored ulterior motives or was nervous about finally seeing his beloved little darling, was startled by the pat.

He turned his head and saw a man whose build resembled Crocodile, whose hook resembled Crocodile's, and whose voice also resembled Crocodile's.

However, Cobra knew that this person was not Crocodile.

Because cigars are different.

Crocodile would never smoke such a low-quality, young-aged cigar.

Cobra tightened his sand mask and replied, "Brother, I'm not quite sure either; I'm new here."

You don't even know this?

At this moment, a kind-hearted old woman turned around and enthusiastically interjected, "Today is the day Shurima City opens for citizenship registration. Aren't you here to seek the protection of the great philanthropist Baron Ma Qiao?"

"Shelter?"

"A great philanthropist?"

Crocodile and Cobra frowned simultaneously. "What's this kid up to?"

"Oh dear, it's my turn, guys. I'm going to register now, or there won't be any eggs left!"

The old woman, leaning on her cane, turned her bound feet into wheels of fire and dashed ahead in a flash.

Crocodile and Cobra stared at each other, wide-eyed.

Soon, encouraged by the crowd, Crocodile and Cobra were pushed to the registration point.

Several Shurima City officials wearing penguin hats are filling out forms for refugees applying for settlement.

"Name?"

I'm asking for your name!

The manager asked impatiently, "Stop dawdling, there are many people in line behind you!"

Cobra somewhat regretted that he had followed his daughter's example and ventured into the enemy's lair alone.

It seems that going undercover is no easy task.

To actually have to make up a name yourself, that's really too difficult.

Fortunately, I just met a younger brother.

Cobra was about to lower his voice and ask his younger brother for a hand, the younger brother turned his head away.

I am your older brother, you are my younger brother, and our mother is dead.

The two quickly reached an agreement.

The political screening process for entering Shurima is not strict. Registering names, ages, skills, etc., is only to facilitate job placement for new immigrants later.

After all, Ma Qiao has already moved all the core industries to the Sky Island, Shurima no longer needs to go to great lengths to build up its security.

Furthermore, in terms of infiltration, the thing Ma Qiao's side needs to guard against most is the World Government's spies.

The World Government's intelligence agency Cipher Pol, is quite professional.

This is far beyond what Vivi, Cobra, and Karem, those childish spies, can compare to.

If Rob Lucci and Kuka dare to come to Shurima, Ma Qiao will make them screw things.

After all, these special agents are dedicated to their work and are the best workers.

To infiltrate a shipyard, he actually became a master shipwright—can you believe it?

Compared to them, Cobra undoubtedly lacked professional espionage skills.

He listed cooking as his special skill.

His confidence in cooking stems from when Vivi was a child, when he personally prepared baby formula.

Meanwhile, Crocodile was much more Haki; he simply wrote "murder" in the "Special Skills" column on the form.

Cobra is playing a game of pretending to be a secret agent, just like his daughter, while Crocodile is like a boss going on a clandestine mission.

Hiding his identity and using an alias was simply to avoid alerting the enemy, so as to see the true working conditions of his traitorous subordinate.

Therefore, Crocodile didn't have many concerns.

However, even though his special skill was listed as murder, it didn't cause any chaos.

This is no peaceful and tranquil era.

Just like in America, having a special skill is shooting; there's nothing particularly special about it.

In the world of One Piece, having the special skill of killing is perfectly normal.

Looking at the newly built Shurima City, the two old men had very mixed feelings.

Their eyelids twitched, and they cursed inwardly, "This is my money!"

If Ma Qiao knew what they were thinking, he would definitely cry foul.

The 300 million Beli allocated by the Alabasta treasury for wheat cultivation, plus the 100 million Beli provided by Baroque Works for the Dance Powder Operation, combined don't even amount to the surgery and recovery fees provided by the Navy!

You poor wretches have no right to pat yourselves on the back.

With unreliable bosses like you around, I, Teacher Ma, would be starving long ago. What's the point of building a city? What's the point of being a lord?

Unfortunately, they are destined never to hear Teacher Ma's heartfelt words.

Heartbroken that their funds had been embezzled and wasted by a lazy bum, the two old men remained silent, growing increasingly alarmed the further they ventured into the city.

After six months of development, Shurima has transformed from a dilapidated town into a comprehensive small city featuring medical services and e-commerce and entertainment as its main businesses.

The headquarters of Big Bird Express and Big Bird Home Delivery are located here.

Fresh ingredients from Cocoyasi in the East Blue Teleport Shurima via Hextech Teleport, where they are processed by Ma's Fast Food, packed into refrigerated containers, and then delivered by Penguin Meal Delivery to various islands in the first fifth of the Grand Line.

The reason we can only transport goods within this range is because the dangerous Sea Beast within this area have already been taken care of by Cho’Gath.

Cho’Gath, wearing a scarf, holding a knife and fork, let out a burp...

As for other common Sea Beast, such as sharks, the penguin couriers, equipped with Hextech accelerators and shark-proof lasers, can generally handle them.

It can be said that it is these diligent, selfless, and perfectly content employees who are only satisfied with a little dried fish that have supported the development of Shurima's industry.

They are the city's true unsung heroes.

So along the way, you can often see the strange sight of pedestrians giving way to penguins, letting the penguins waddle across the road first.

Here, penguins hold a similar status to zebu cattle in India, enjoying great respect.

Cobra was pelted with tomatoes by the children for not giving way to the penguins.

Because they each had their own plans, the two old men parted ways.

Cobra plans to fully experience the process of integrating into the city and find a way to contact his daughter.

But before that, he needed to change his clothes, which were covered in tomato juice.

He also needed to find out which family's child was so extravagant as to throw tomatoes at people.

You should know that, due to the climate, even wealthy families in the capital city can't afford to eat more than a few tomatoes a month.

It's fair to say that Cobra's mind was full of questions.

In contrast, Crocodile had absolutely no interest in seeking these answers.

He wasn't there to play games with his employees; he was there to check KPIs and confirm whether Ma Qiao had implemented the Dance Powder campaign as planned.

Judging from the city's level of greening, Crocodile believes that Ma Qiao must have already used Dance Powder.

However, there seems to be no news about the Nefertari Family abusing the Dance Powder, which is puzzling.

Meanwhile, Crocodile looked at the rows of brand-new buildings and his face turned green.

Especially when Crocodile saw his beloved Crocodile-Skin Sofa lying there perfectly fine in the window of a secondhand market called "Salted Fish," he finally lost his temper and decided to teach that damned freeloader a lesson!

Although he still needs to maintain a good hero persona, the bustling streets of Shurima provided Crocodile with excellent cover. He randomly grabbed a lucky pass and dragged him into a corner.

He used an iron hook to press against the lucky passerby's abdomen and grabbed his neck with his right hand.

"Tell me where that damned parasite Ma Qiao is!"

"No... you are not allowed to insult Baron Ma Qiao, you bastard!"

After draining the lifeblood of several lucky passersby, Crocodile received the same response each time.

Just as he was about to drain the life out of the fifth lucky passerby, Crocodile's Den Den Mushi suddenly rang.

[Pop-up notification: The most powerful online game in history, 'Infinite Tsukuyomi', has officially launched its closed beta test. Game designer Baron Ma Qiao will be at the Shurima Big Bird Spin Spin Spin Internet Cafe to welcome you...]

"Hmph, finally found you, kid."

Crocodile sneered, tossed the lucky passerby to the ground, and turned to leave.

Unbeknownst to him, shortly after he left, the ground suddenly began to seep out moisture, and the passersby who had been dried out were quickly rehydrated and recovered.

The passerby stared in astonishment at the changes in his body, looked around in fear, and then hurriedly ran towards the Shurima Police Station.

A vampire is looking for Baron Ma Qiao. Call the police! You have to call the police!

Etc!

Baron?

Could Baron Ma Qiao be related to vampires?

The passerby thought of the vampire trope from urban legends, then quickly shook his head.

Baron Ma Qiao is a people's entrepreneur who led everyone to prosperity through hard work; how could he possibly be a vampire?

How could I make such a connection without any basis?

Finding the Big Bird Spin Spin Spin Internet Cafe is very easy.

Because there was a very large billboard standing on this building.

The billboard depicts a giant Fox attacking a village.

In front of the village, a black-haired, black-eyed man, wearing the cloak of the Fourth Hokage, stood majestically facing a giant Fox, protecting a blue-haired girl with a slightly protruding belly behind him.

In the blank space of the image, four large characters are written, "Infinite Tsukuyomi".

Crocodile's temple veins throbbed.

He had already recognized the blue-haired girl in the picture; she was the new member of the club who had been promoted directly from trainee agent to Miss Father's Day.

And that pretentious male protagonist is none other than the first employee he blindly picked up from the job market, Ma Qiao Benjo.

This wasn't even the part that truly broke Crocodile's defenses.

What truly broke his composure was the sudden discovery that the gemstone rings he had lost were perfectly intact on that guy's hand.

"Ma Qiao! I'm going to kill you!"

Crocodile kicks open the internet cafe door with Haki kick.

"Meow~"

"Meow~"

"A goat? A goat eating a donut?"

The scene that greeted him was somewhat unexpected; Crocodile witnessed an incredible sight.

Inside the network card, rows of large Den Den Mushi (snail Den Den Mushi) are quite eye-catching.

The computers were already full of people browsing the internet.

After finishing their daily tasks, employees who no longer need to work for Baron Ma Qiao choose to relax here.

After all, the Baron has already said that all expenses today will be paid by Crocodile!

Aside from the unexpectedly full house, what Crocodile truly found hard to accept was the goat blocking his way.

There was a plump, white goat, lying against the wall in an anthropomorphic manner. Its two hind hooves were crossed, while its two front hooves were holding a large bag of donuts, which it kept stuffing into its mouth.

"Where did this strange creature come from!"

Without a second thought, Crocodile slapped the goat away. Then he strode inside, slammed his hand on the table, and turned it into quicksand.

"Ma Qiao, get out here! I need to talk to you!"

"Aren't you going to talk to me before that, Crocodile?"

"Oh, so you actually know me, and you even dare to use that tone..."

Crocodile heard an angry voice, and looked down with a cold laugh.

Then his smile froze on his face.

The man in front of me seems to, appears to, probably...

Crocodile quickly turned his head and glanced at the goat he had just slapped away.

This goat was in remarkably good physical condition.

It took a solid slap from one of the Shichibukai, but it was surprisingly unharmed; only its left cheek was swollen and the donuts on its hoof were scattered all over the ground.

The goat, tears streaming down its face, trotted away and hid in the arms of the man standing in front of Crocodile. It covered its face, pointed its hooves at Crocodile, and bleated, looking like it was complaining to its parents about something it had wronged.

The man stood up, gripping his right hand with his left, his knuckles cracking.

At the same time, two semi-retired elderly men stood up at two other computer desks nearby.

"Naruto, hurry up and finish him off! We still have newbie quests to do!" Garp shouted angrily at Sengoku.

"Okay, Sakura, wait three minutes."

"Speaking of which, Zephyr, your account isn't linked yet? Garp already reluctantly chose a female character so he could team up with the three of us, so hurry up and choose that gay guy already!"

As he spoke, Sengoku put down his pet goat, rubbed its head, and then the three old men gathered around him:

"Little Sha, Elbow, come outside and have a chat with us."