Seeing Alonso flee, Sand Crocodile did not continue the pursuit.
Sand Crocodile knew full well that although he held a slight edge in Devil Fruit ability, if they truly fought, the two sides would have to battle for at least days and nights. He could only say his odds of victory were better, not that he could definitely defeat his opponent.
Besides, this fight had merely been a whim of his. Alonso was already a pillar of the Hasshoken Army and could not join his ranks. With nothing to gain, he naturally could not be bothered to keep fighting.
Far away, several kilometers from the battlefield, Alonso, still hanging in the air, finally released the threads wrapped around Lao Cai and set him down. He then returned to the ground himself.
"So this is the strength of the sea's very strongest fighters? The combat power of a Shichibukai?" Lao Cai said in considerable surprise. "He's much stronger than I imagined."
"The Shichibukai may indeed be a powerful force on the sea, one that can stand alongside pirates and the Navy. But aside from Doflamingo, the rest are basically just there to make up the numbers."
Even Hawkeye, who often sparred with Red Hair, was still far from his complete form! Red Hair himself was not yet a Great Pirate at the level of the Four Emperors.
Therefore, Alonso was not wrong at all to say the other Shichibukai were merely making up the numbers.
"Th-This is far more exciting than I imagined," Lao Cai muttered. "How did my old man become a Great Pirate back then?"
Alonso curled his lip. At Chinjao's peak, he might have possessed the strength of a First Mate, but he had still been far from a truly top-tier Great Pirate!
After all, if he