Pirates: How Many Divisions Do the Five Elders Have? Big Mom-Conquering Admiral-General Crocodile

Cobra awoke from his coma.

Since assuming the throne at the age of nine, Cobra had not had such a sweet sleep in a long time.

He had a very long dream.

In his dream, the Alabasta Kingdom flourished under his rule.

The people were dressed neatly, ate enough food to fill their stomachs, drank clean water, everyone had a job, and everyone could enjoy reasonable compensation.

They don't have to struggle for a living, worry about their children's upbringing, or engage in cutthroat competition due to scarce resources.

In his dream, Kob stood on the high platform of the palace, overlooking the bustling city.

People spontaneously gathered in the Royal Palace Square, chanting their own names.

His trusted old minister, Igaram, whom he hadn't seen in a long time, stood beside him, praising his achievements from the bottom of his heart.

And her beloved daughter, like a warm, comforting coat, smiled sweetly and said, "I'm so proud of you!"

In the dream, Cobra opened his arms wide, his face showing a hint of doting affection.

Her sweet little girl ran towards him like a swallow returning to its nest.

What a wonderful and blissful moment!

However.

To Cobra's surprise, little Vivi, her cheeks slightly flushed, passed by him and nestled headfirst into another man's arms.

Cobra rubbed his eyes.

The man's features became clearer.

His handsome face, with its sharp features, always carried a hint of unpleasant slickness.

The bright red scarf fluttered in the wind, looking so jarring at that moment.

"Ma Qiao, you bastard! Let go of my lovely daughter!"

Just as Cobra was about to angrily berate this pig who had stolen his carefully cultivated tender cabbage, he suddenly noticed that the name being chanted by the people in the square was gradually changing from "Cobra" to "Ma Qiao".

Cobra grabbed the railing of the platform in surprise, leaned out, and tried to see the outside view clearly.

Red Flags adorned with penguins were planted all over the capital, the entire Alabasta, and even the whole world.

"No, you can't!"

Cobra yelled angrily and reached out to tear down the penguin flag flying high in the palace square.

But no matter how high he reached, he could never reach the flag that seemed so close.

Cobra could only desperately tiptoe and lean his body outwards.

Finally, he slipped and tumbled off the platform.

With a remarkably realistic spinning sensation, Cobra's head slammed into a hard object, and he slowly woke up.

What came into Cobra's view was a short, old man.

Standing beside the old man were the exceptionally tall Katakuri and Brûlée siblings.

The two seemed oblivious to Cobra's awakening, or perhaps they simply didn't care whether Cobra was awake or not, and were engrossed in their heated argument.

The short old man called himself the head chef of the Streusen.

His small stature belies an incredible strength.

Streusen kicked Cobra in the backside, sending him spinning several times before his head slammed against the stove block.

Cobra finally understood what was going on in his dream, where everything was spinning around.

"Katakuri, how many times have I told you, only I can make the delicious dishes your mother loves."

"I sent you out to find a chef before, simply to entertain those gluttonous Giant Tribe."

"But now the Giant Tribe prince has left heartbroken and furious, and all our hopes of reconciling with the Giant Tribe have been destroyed by that idiot Lola!"

Streusen danced around and cursed Charlotte Lola for messing everything up.

Although Lola's appearance was not popular among humans, her high cheekbones and round face were considered a top beauty by the Giant Tribe.

The Giant Tribe prince is coming to Whole Cake Island to propose to Big Mom, which is a very important event for Big Mom.

To this end, the Big Mom not only prepared a generous dowry, but also sent her children out in advance to find excellent chefs.

But to everyone's surprise, the Giant Tribe prince, eager to propose, arrived ahead of schedule.

What's even more unexpected is that Lola, the twenty-third daughter of the Charlotte Family, is actually an outlier full of rebellious spirit.

In pursuit of a free marriage, she secretly fled the Totto Land.

This infuriated the Big Mom, who had never been disobeyed by her children before, but she was powerless to do anything about it.

Left with no other choice, the Big Mom had to have Lola's twin sister, Chiffon, accept the Giant Tribe prince's marriage proposal in her place.

However, this Giant Tribe prince was also a passionate lover.

He recognized at a glance that the woman in front of him, who looked exactly like Lola in both voice and appearance, was not Lola, and flew into a rage and left.

This happened a few days before Katakuri and the Three Sisters returned to Totto Land.

With no Giant Tribe to entertain, there were suddenly too many chefs on Whole Cake Island.

Therefore, Streusen did not want to recruit this seemingly lazy old man into its chef team.

"In short, the tea party next month for the heads of major organizations around the world won't need that much food; my team and I have enough to handle it."

The Streusen bread refused again.

"But, Head Chef, the tonkotsu ramen made by this old chef from Alabasta is truly delicious!"

Bray was reluctant to give up.

But the Streusen waved it away in disgust.

"No, no, what would an ugly woman like you know about fine food..."

At this point, Streusen suddenly felt a sudden, inexplicable pang of heart palpitation.

He looked up and saw Katakuri's dangerous gaze.

Although Streusen was Charlotte Linlin's first husband, he was theoretically also Katakuri's father.

Moreover, the Streusen itself is quite capable.

However, Streusen still felt some fear when facing the strongest of the Sweet Commanders, the strongest child of Four Emperors Big Mom.

Katakuri Cobra from the ground and patted his sister's head:

"Let's go. Since you love this chef's ramen, then as the Minister of Flour, I will certainly make sure he gets to use his talents."

Cobra, held in Katakuri's hand, writhed wildly, wanting to say that his main job was governing the country, and cooking was just a hobby.

Tonkotsu ramen and such are not my specialties.

My talent lies in using various micro-management techniques to enable all people to live happy and prosperous lives!

However, reason told Cobra that remaining silent was his best option at this moment.

While Cobra was stranded on Flour Island, his sworn brother, far away in Alabasta, was not idle either.

Although Crocodile had no intention of disrupting Big Mom Tea Party or reclaiming Cobra's brother, he was, overall, a man of his word.

Now that Crocodile has agreed to deliver the Alabasta Kingdom's credentials to the Totto Land, he will do everything in his power to do so.

Therefore, even someone as arrogant and conceited as him had to seek out some helpers.

For example, the woman sitting in front of him right now, elegantly sipping red wine.

"Nico Robin, it's been a long time."

Just as Crocodile was about to take out a cigarette and light it, a hand grew out of his arm, picked up the teapot on the table, and extinguished his cigarette.

"It seems you don't welcome me as your boss at all..."

Crocodile's face darkened. "You don't actually think that now that Baroque Works is bankrupt, you're no longer my subordinate, do you?"

"If I remember correctly, we've always just been business partners, haven't we?"

Robin maintained her elegant smile, "By the way, what do you think of this new style of sofa?"

"It didn't feel very good!"

Crocodile shifted his position.

Crocodile has only one feeling about this "pear wood" Chinese-style sofa made of Maokai branches.

That means my butt hurts.

It's nothing like the previous Crocodile-Skin Sofa.

If you have hemorrhoids, this kind of sofa should absolutely be thrown into the trash and never used again.

"Okay, I'm not kidding anymore."

Robin shook his head.

She had no liking for the man in front of her who only wanted to use her.

Moreover, Robin would not hesitate to betray him when necessary.

Robin believed that Crocodile must see her that way too.

However, Robin also knew that Crocodile was her master's mentor, and that her master was a very sentimental person.

He often said, "Clothes are not as good as new ones, and old people are not as good as new ones."

You can deceive, fool, and exploit Crocodile, your employer, but you can't be without any bottom line.

Crocodile is now at his wit's end, and Robin knows she'd better not kick him while he's down.

Robin opened the drawer of his desk, took out a document, and handed it to Crocodile.

"How?"

Crocodile glanced at the file's title. "How did you know I was here?"

Well...

Robin found a newspaper in the pile of books.

In Shurima, new media has become the dominant force.

However, this does not mean that Big Bird Media has not ventured into traditional media such as newspapers and television.

Big Bird Media also has its own newspaper, called the Peace Daily, in which Ma Qiao often writes articles under the pen name "Death Knell".

However, this newspaper is practically the official government and political body of the Big Bird Consortium and the Getan Alliance.

Aside from government departments, hospitals, and schools, almost no ordinary people subscribe to this newspaper.

They prefer to surf the internet, using Big Bird Network to get what they need, or rather, the information that the invisible hand wants them to need.

Strictly speaking, Nico Robin is neither an employee of the Big Bird Consortium nor a government official of Alabasta or the Goa Kingdom.

However, if there is one last person in Shurima City who still insists on reading paper books and newspapers, that person must be Nico Robin.

As a descendant of a nation of scholars, Robin has a natural love for paper books and newspapers.

"What an old-fashioned woman! Who reads newspapers these days...?"

Crocodile shook his head and took the newspaper.

But after it was opened, his face quickly turned ice-cold.

The newspaper featured a picture of a man in full armor, looking imposing and awe-inspiring.

He stepped on one of the iconic pawn-like soldiers of the Big Mom Pirates.

The hook in his left hand was holding a pirate flag that was slowly burning.

That was the pirate flag of Big Mom Pirates.

Meanwhile, the man, with a cigarette dangling from his lips, slicked-back hair, and deadpan eyes, seemed to leap off the page with an expression of utter disdain.

Below this fabricated photograph, a line of large text was written:

"Those who offend my Godan, though far away, shall be punished—General Crocodile Big Mom-Conquering Admiral-General."

Crocodile's blood pressure rose just from seeing this photo.

As for those grand pronouncements made in the news, such as:

"I think Linlin is just a bargaining chip sold in Seoul!"

"I'm already thinking about becoming one of the next Four Emperors!"

Crocodile's vision went black upon seeing this, and he nearly fainted on the spot.

Considering the next Four Emperors?

I've been working on Whitebeard for over twenty years and still haven't figured it out, and you're already thinking about the next Four Emperors?

How could anyone in the world defeat one of the Four Emperors and then immediately go on to fight the next one?

This is completely unreasonable!

No, even defeating Charlotte Linlin is impossible!

That was a witch who was very active during the time of Rocks, known as the Iron Balloon!

Crocodile feels like he's going crazy!

"As everyone knows, photos can't be photoshopped. Crocodile, your Courage is truly impressive!"

Robin conjured up six arms, trimming his nails while making sarcastic remarks with a straight face.

This woman has always been good at making sarcastic remarks.

Crocodile ignored the vicious woman's sarcasm, calmed himself down, and sighed as he said:

"Is this the power to manipulate public opinion? It's terrifying..."

"That's right, wasn't it the same power that allowed the World Government to call Ohara the Land of Demons back then?"

Nico Robin nodded seriously, a rare occurrence for her. "In any case, Mr. Crocodile, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, you don't want your reputation to be completely ruined, do you?"

"Of course."

Crocodile sneered, "If I remember correctly, the editor-in-chief of this newspaper is that Alabasta princess, isn't he? He's putting me on the spot, probably because he's wary of the reputation of my kingdom's hero!"

"That..."

Robin asked tentatively, "Is it possible that this news article was actually written by Ma Qiao?"

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

Crocodile said decisively, "Ma Qiao is an honest and kind man..."

This must be a scheme devised by that princess herself to harm loyal officials while Ma Qiao was away at the Whole Cake Island for the tea party...

Hehe, I've seen plenty of scheming women like you, haven't I?

"Oh right, right, but I'm not some scheming woman..."

Robin shook his head. "Anyway, I've already given you the list and contact information. As long as we sign an interest-free loan contract, you can hire your former subordinates as their sugar daddy. Isn't that a wonderful thing!"

"Of course... my foot!"

Crocodile slammed his fist on the table. "Nico Robin, do you think I'm a sucker? You're giving me a fake contract? I won't pay a single penny! They're all my subordinates!"

Robin sighed.

So you weren't fooled after all?

"However, Shurima's tax authorities are quite formidable, you know? Are you sure you want to submit a fraudulent contract?"

"Enough with the nonsense!"

Crocodile signed his name on the fake contract with a flourish.

"By the way, you're also an executive of our Baroque Works. Aren't you planning to come with me to the Totto Land this time and make an appearance?"

Robin rolled his eyes at his old partner. "Do you think I, as the Devil Child, have the right to show my face in this world?"

"Haha, it's a wonder you still remember your place."

Crocodile, holding the contract and contact list, looked up to the sky and roared, then swaggered out of the office.

"Don't have any unrealistic ideas. There's no future for you and that guy. If you really love him, stay away from him..."

I don't know what you're talking about.

"Then just pretend I didn't say anything."

"What an annoying partner..."

Nico Robin watched Crocodile's departing figure, the fountain pen in her hand making a clattering sound...