Crocodile Could Not Let It Go!
In the days that followed, the boat owner traveled at full speed, delivering Ortolan and Gion to Ramani Island nearly three days ahead of schedule.
When he disembarked, Ortolan's injuries had fully healed, and he was full of energy.
However, given his abilities, he had no intention of going into the sea. Wearing a pair of shorts, he lay on a sun Gion on the beach, sunbathing and enjoying the view of Gion and a large group of bikini-clad tourists playing in the water... But more importantly, he was reading the newspaper.
I was unlucky this time on the ship; I didn't see a single News Coo for several days.
It wasn't until he landed on Ramani Island that Ortolan found some of the newspapers from the past few days. However, to his surprise, the newspapers from the first few days were quite calm, with no special news. It was only on Sunday that the newspapers truly broke the bombshell news of Ortolan's battle with Whitebeard.
"What a coincidence..." Ortolan remarked, then began to read.
Up to this point, Ortolan had never met Morgans, the president of the World News, but the birdman still gave Ortolan a lot of face. He rarely appeared in the newspaper, especially in recent years. After becoming the base commander of G-5, he became even more low-key and comfortable, and almost never appeared in the newspaper.
However, in reality, every time Ortolan appeared in the newspaper, Morgans always gave him a positive report and evaluation, at least the World News did.
The same goes for this one; it's estimated that Morgans' people haven't found out the specific reason for the conflict—that it was caused by some Devil Fruit.
So the information in the newspaper was that Bane Ortolan was vacationing on Phoenix Island, participated in a fishing tournament but caught nothing (Ortolan frowned, his favorability towards Morgans decreased by one)... Just before leaving the island, he encountered the Whitebeard Pirates and Blood Hand Lion Rengar.
As a righteous Marines commander, Ortolan did not hesitate to take action to wipe out the pirates.
He single-handedly defeated three opponents in succession: Blood Hand Lion Rengar, the Second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, Kozuki Oden, and the 3rd Division commander, Diamond Jozu.
Whitebeard himself then made a powerful appearance and fought a fierce battle with Ortolan. Neither side could gain the upper hand, and due to the situation on the high seas, they eventually chose to back down.
Well, even though Ortolan only exchanged three blows with Whitebeard, the newspapers portrayed it as if he and Whitebeard were locked in a fierce battle, with neither able to gain the upper hand. This made it seem as if Ortolan was already qualified to be on par with Newgate.
"If it weren't for my abilities, I would have really thought that guy was trying to flatter me to death. But if you're going to talk about something, just talk about it. Why bring up the fishing competition?" Ortolan frowned, then quickly laughed and retorted before closing the newspaper.
He hadn't thought too much about it and was unaware of Morgans's predicament. Some time ago, the Marines's Propaganda Department had given Morgans some instructions to create some momentum. At that time, it was also the time when Ortolan was at the height of his fame. He punched Kaido, kicked Charlotte Linlin, and then took down Red Count. Afterwards, he captured the Pirate King Golden Lion. In those turbulent times, it seemed that Ortolan's shadow was involved in every major event.
It was precisely because of Ortolan's outstanding record Red Count Morgans couldn't possibly say in the newspapers that Ortolan was not qualified to Pirate King on par with Whitebeard Golden Lion, given that so much time had passed.
If he's not qualified, what about all those big shots who fell before him? Isn't this questioning the credibility of our World News?
So, in this awkward situation, Morgans had no choice but to risk offending Whitebeard in order to maintain Ortolan's prestige!
Right now, the one who fears most for Ortolan's defeat on the high seas is not the Marine Headquarters, but Morgans!
The First Half of Grand Line: Saint Ding Island, Alabasta Kingdom, Rain Country.
Rain Country, a newly developed oasis city, has become the largest money pit in Alabasta with the full support of Crocodile, one of the Shichibukai. The casino called "Rain Banquet" is actually a super Entertainment City that integrates all kinds of entertainment.
Now, Rain Banquet is already vaguely known as the 'most luxurious casino in the First Half of Grand Line '.
Therefore, it can be said that Crocodile is now making a fortune and is extremely wealthy.
Based on the wealth he amassed, he also gathered a large number of criminal forces under his command, including the Baroque Works, a rather notorious criminal organization located at the entrance to the First Half of Grand Line.
The Baroque Works is actually quite large. In addition to the numbered executives, it also has management personnel with Million Leader or Billion Leader executives.
According to the Marine Criminal Investigation Department's investigation of this organization, Baroque Works involves tens of thousands of members!
That's right, just the middle and senior management, those so-called leaders, number approximately two thousand people.
As a manager, is it appropriate to have no more than a dozen people under your command?
Therefore, it can be inferred that Crocodile had already amassed a considerable criminal force in the First Half of Grand Line and within the Alabasta Kingdom.
However, given that this organization is currently keeping a low profile, coupled with the apparent involvement of the CP Agency and Crocodile's status Shichibukai, the Marines has at most maintained intelligence coverage of it without taking any targeted action.
Moreover, to some extent, because Baroque Works has a large number of peripheral members such as bounty hunters, they do indeed rely on capturing pirates to exchange for bounties as a major source of funding, and their cooperation with the local Marines is quite good. In a way, they have upheld justice.
At this moment Crocodile, on the third basement floor of the Rain Dinners, in the office of Baroque Works' president, Sand Crocodile was sitting in his boss's chair, cigar in hand, his hair slicked back, looking every bit the big boss, reading the newspaper article about the battle between Ortolan and Whitebeard.
"Whitebeard ..." Crocodile's eyes were somewhat gloomy.
He had mixed feelings about Whitebeard. On one hand, he admired Whitebeard's strength, but on the other hand, he hated the experience of being defeated by Whitebeard, an experience that shattered his dream of becoming a pirate in the New World.
Overall, however, he still admired Whitebeard more. As for that defeat, he believed that when he returned to the New World, it would be time to wash away that shame!
As for how to return to the New World, Crocodile has recently been studying Doflamingo's "mode". If Doflamingo was able to usurp Dressrosa, what if Crocodile usurped Alabasta, which has 100,000 troops?
With the entire nation of Alabasta as his backing, can he support him in stirring up trouble in the New World?
Meanwhile, besides Alabasta, he is also searching for the legendary Ancient Weapon, Pluton Pluto, in this boundless desert.
However, he has no clue about the search for Ancient Weapon. He has almost searched the entire desert but has not found any valuable clues. As a result, Crocodile is very suspicious that the secret news that Pluton Pluto is hidden in Alabasta is a lie.
If Ortolan wasn't here, I really wanted to tell Crocodile to stop looking and go check out Wano Country instead. If you could defeat Kaido, with your persistent spirit in searching for him, Pluton would be within your grasp.
Putting Whitebeard aside, Crocodile has absolutely no good impression of the other protagonist in this news, Bane Ortolan.
He had no grudge against Ortolan, and he had never even met Ortolan. Back in Loguetown, he heard that the guy was there, but Crocodile didn't see him.
Not long after becoming Shichibukai and arriving in Alabasta, a man claiming to be Ortolan's subordinate, Momonga, contacted him through internal Marines communication channels, urging him to hurry to G-5 to collect money!
To say that he Shichibukai is equivalent to owing that guy Ortolan two hundred million in guarantee fees, and he even threatened to beat him up every time he sees him if he doesn't pay up.
How could the proud and arrogant Crocodile tolerate such an injustice? He immediately ordered Momonga to tell Ortolan to die, and then hung up the Den Den Mushi.
Since then, he has had a very bad impression of Ortolan and has been holding a grudge against him, thinking that when he finally gets a chance to meet that bastard Marines, he will scatter his ashes!
However, in recent years, apart from the fact that Ortolan defeated Douglas Bullet, that guy has been very low-key, and Crocodile has gradually faded the impression of this incident.
And then, Crocodile saw him in the newspaper again, saying that he had become a top-tier powerhouse who could rival Whitebeard and not be at a disadvantage. This feeling made Crocodile feel as uncomfortable as if he had eaten shit!
He wondered if he should go and cause trouble for this arrogant Marines.
Otherwise, he always felt that his thoughts were not clear!