Merely "Stance"

Even before Lindsey began to charge up, Crocodile felt that something was terribly wrong.

He hadn't spent a short time with Evan Lindsey, so he naturally knew what kind of person this Primitive Man was.

You could call him arrogant, or you could call him unreliable.

But the most important point was this—

He was unpredictable!

Crocodile had schemed against countless people on his journey, yet he could never do anything about Evan Lindsey.

Why?

Because Evan Lindsey, when he did things, never thought things through; he completely followed his own inner thoughts!

This kind of person wouldn't "go crazy," but they would "get serious."

And once this kind of person got serious, they wouldn't care about the outcome; they would just do it with all their heart!

Just like now—

Evan Lindsey faced Garp on the shore, his body changing as he gathered power in his mouth.

This wasn't the shore, but the deck!

If that Primitive Man unleashed a full-power attack here, he could very well shatter the entire sailboat!

"Tch, I'm too lazy to go ashore and chat with the Navy!"

Crocodile frowned, decisively elementalized his body, and let sand attach to the mast, spreading out and covering the already unfurled sails.

He had already prepared the ship for departure, so the sails were fully set, but now he had to furl them as quickly as possible.

The situation was urgent and didn't allow him to take his time.

So he simply waved his hand, tearing the sails to shreds with sand, minimizing the resistance caused by the sails as much as possible.

The next second, a roar erupted!

"Roar!"

With the roar, Crocodile felt his body lose its weight and float uncontrollably off the deck.

He quickly gripped the railing beside him, elementalized his feet, and seeped a large amount of sand into the deck beneath his feet, further stabilizing himself.

Thus, Crocodile finally managed to stand firm on the deck at this moment, while also observing his surroundings.

The sky was blue, and the clouds were white.

It was quite beautiful.

Wait.

Why could he see "clouds" from outside the ship?

Crocodile looked around and immediately understood.

As expected, it was Evan Lindsey who had unleashed a roar of astonishing power, pushing the entire ship away from the dock of Sabaody Archipelago.

The large sailboat shot forward, leaving the sea and soaring directly into the sky.

However, looking at the receding Sabaody Archipelago, Crocodile breathed a sigh of relief.

No matter what, as long as he didn't further provoke the Navy and the Celestial Dragons, it would be fine.

As for the matter of "Evan Lindsey leaving with Crocodile," even if someone saw it, Crocodile could handle it.

But speaking of which...

Crocodile couldn't help but frown, looking in the direction where Evan Lindsey was.

At this moment, Lindsey had just endured the aftershocks of the roar, and a trace of Armament Haki was faintly flowing from the corner of his mouth.

The extremely abnormal Mythical Zoan Animalization ability slowly dissipated, and Lindsey's body gradually returned to its "perfect human" form.

"Hoo..."

Lindsey let out a long breath, wiped his mouth, and looked back at Crocodile.

Spreading his arms, he excitedly said, "How was it?"

How was what? It would be a miracle if it was "good"!

Did this Primitive Man even know how much trouble he had caused!

Crocodile was choked by this sentence, his eye twitching, and he stopped paying attention to Evan Lindsey.

Now, all he needed to do was wait for the ship to land back in the sea, set the course, and make a beeline for Alabasta.

Not long after, the sailboat landed steadily.

After all, it was a ship capable of long voyages; a mere fall from a high altitude was something it could withstand.

Crocodile took out a Log Pose, calculated their current position, and quickly determined the course.

Just then, a slight disturbance suddenly came from the side.

"Hmm?"

Crocodile worried it was the Navy pursuing them, so he turned his right hand into a Grit Saber and cautiously approached the ship's edge to investigate.

"Who is it?"

Looking down, he saw a burly Fish-Man with red skin, grabbing a net rope on the side of the ship before climbing onto the deck.

It was Fisher Tiger, the Fish-Man who had been acting with Ivan Lindsey on Sabaody Archipelago!

Seeing that Tiger had caught up so quickly, even Crocodile couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.

"I'd heard the Fish-Man Race could move through the sea as if on land, but I didn't expect it to be this fast."

"..."

Tiger looked at Crocodile a few times.

Although he disliked the aura the man exuded, he seemed to be Ivan Lindsey's friend, and this was his ship, so Tiger still nodded in greeting.

Then, Tiger walked over to Lindsey.

The latter was still recalling the recent techniques, trying to conceive better uses from the many unrealized theories.

Armament Haki...

Could he learn it completely?

Seeing Tiger arrive, Lindsey casually nodded and grinned, "Going together?"

"..."

"Thank you so much!"

Tiger pondered for a moment, then finally lowered his head and said in a deep voice, "I'm very grateful for your rescue, but for now... I can't travel with you."

He explained earnestly, "I still have things I need to do, so I must return to Fish-Man Island first, and then..."

At this point, Tiger stopped.

He actually had a plan in mind.

It was to return to Holy Land Mary Geoise, cause a huge disturbance, destroy the ugliness he had witnessed, and liberate more slaves!

This was also what should have happened originally.

But Tiger clearly didn't want to involve Lindsey, so he buried the plan deep in his heart.

Lindsey, however, didn't seem to mind.

Once Fish-Men enter the sea, especially experts like Tiger whose skills are already impressive, unless it's a Navy Admiral with specific abilities, humans on shore would be powerless against him.

The fact that Tiger, having regained his freedom, had specifically chased after them just to say goodbye to Lindsey was proof of his sincere gratitude.

"Whatever you want to do, just do it!"

--This sentence, so characteristic of Ivan Lindsey, was now spoken by Tiger.

"Lindsey, your next sentence would have been this, right?"

Tiger suddenly said.

Hearing this, Lindsey was taken aback, because that was indeed what he had wanted to say, but he hadn't expected Tiger to say it first.

Seeing this, Tiger simply sat cross-legged on the deck and, looking down slightly at Lindsey, said earnestly, "I have a question."

Lindsey and Tiger sat facing each other, while Crocodile silently smoked his cigar, observing the situation.

Tiger pondered for a moment, then slowly began:

"When I witnessed the cruel atrocities committed by humans against the Fish-Man Race in Holy Land Mary Geoise, I could no longer hold back."

"No matter the risk, I had to save them!"

"I hate humans."

"But..."

Tiger recalled the scenes on Sabaody Archipelago.

Those civilians, and the Navy soldiers who had saved them, Tiger couldn't bring himself to hate them.

"I'm a little confused."

Tiger murmured, "Should I stick to my original idea and not associate with humans, or should I agree with Queen Otohime's view and try to coexist peacefully with humans?"

As soon as he said this, Lindsey understood.

Because of the commotion he had caused, Fisher Tiger had prematurely encountered another side of humanity, leading to confusion about his own beliefs.

"Which side should I be on?"

My original self?

Or Queen Otohime?

"..."

Lindsey thought for a moment, then suddenly said, "Actually, I have a question too."

"Hm?"

Tiger was taken aback.

Lindsey pointed to his own head, then to Tiger's, and even gestured towards Crocodile nearby.

He continued, "You, me, and him, we all have different ideas."

"Even brothers aren't exactly the same."

"As long as a living being exists, there will be differences, different ideas, and different stances."

"..."

Lindsey paused, then continued:

"We are all independent individuals, each with our own lives."

"So why should our 'destinies' be decided by mere 'stances'?"

This was perhaps a story about "destiny."