Alabasta was a country located on Lodestar Island along the Grand Line, roughly not far from the entrance to Paradise in the first half of the Grand Line.
This country was one of the few great kingdoms in the world. With a population in the tens of millions and a standing force of over six hundred thousand, its scale was astonishing enough to rank among the very greatest anywhere on the seas.
Even pirates who sailed the Grand Line rarely dared provoke this country.
Of course, Alabasta's own considerable strength was not the only reason pirates did not dare attack it.
Another important reason was that one of the pirates legally recognized by the World Government, a member of the group known as the Shichibukai, had long been stationed in this country.
That man had by now been hailed as Alabasta's guardian deity, and any pirate who invaded the country would face his merciless attacks.
Over the long span of more than a decade, no one knew how many pirates he had turned into dried corpses, left to be buried beneath this country's yellow sands.
The name of the man who guarded this country was Crocodile.
Bright had now arrived in this land of yellow sands.
Fish-Man Island and Alabasta were separated by a vast distance, nearly spanning most of Paradise and almost circling half the world.
But that was nothing to Bright's extreme speed. It did not take him long to descend at the country's border.
"Phew..."
The moment Bright, wrapped in a black robe that concealed his figure, landed on this country's soil, he could not help letting out a long breath.
"This country really isn't friendly to fish-men."
Bright licked his lips.
Looking ahead from the shore, all he could see was an endless desert, while scorching