Kidnapping?

After leaving Bilca, Sig originally wanted to return to the East Blue to check if Enkidu had any older brothers or sisters!

However, before they could even leave the Grand Line and head to the East China Sea, their attention was drawn to something else...

While Sig was training his original Byakugan ability somewhere between Water 7 and Drum Kingdom, he happened to see a World Government ship being attacked by pirates.

Under normal circumstances, Sig would at most cheer on these righteous men in his heart, but there would be no need for him to travel such a long distance to see them.

But then Sig realized that this was no ordinary World Government ship, but a vessel escorting dignitaries from a major power to Mary Geoise. More importantly... there was another group of people not far away!

The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind?

No, something doesn't seem right...

The group of pirates who attacked the World Government's warships were just a relatively well-known group from the first half of "Paradise." Their Captain, Tompus, had a bounty of over 200 million, but because he had been at sea for a long time, he wasn't considered Supernovas.

But what Sig noticed was that the group of pirates who were rushing towards them from afar... no, this "name" of pirates was none other than Crocodile, the most senior of the Shichibukai!

On the surface, Crocodile's subordinates don't seem to have any particularly powerful members.

Although he is not very old, in terms of seniority... Crocodile is one of the only remaining Oldest One seven Shichibukai, while the other six positions have been filled at least once.

Crocodile, who was already Shichibukai in his early twenties, was a prime example of "early fame".

Now, more than a decade later, Crocodile is hardly young anymore, but he remains a formidable force on the high seas.

It is said that at the age of 19, he was evenly matched with Douglas Bullet, as a former member of Roger Pirates, was said to be evenly matched with Rayleigh...

Of course, such rumors should always be taken with a grain of salt, just like the famous Red Earl... especially Crocodile's record, which has already been 50/50 twice!

However, it was still more useful than Sig had imagined; at least Sig's gaze was detected by it— its Observation Haki was quite good.

Furthermore, if it were just that, Sig wouldn't have thought much of it, but now... on the attacked ship were none other than the King of Alabasta —Neferutari Cobra —and his eight-year-old daughter, Vivi.

Considering Crocodile's subsequent actions in the original work, Sig couldn't help but suspect that these pirates were either hired by him or lured there by his scheme.

At this moment, Cobra, now over forty years old, had personally drawn his sword, shielding his daughter behind him, ready to fight alongside the Alabasta Warrior and the escorting navy...

Once the pirates have completely gained the upper hand, even capturing warships and wiping out the Marines, Crocodile's reappearance would indeed boost Cobra's favorability. It would then be logical for him to find an opportunity to settle in Alabasta and become its guardian deity.

Seeing this, Sig slightly tilted the glider and turned to fly towards the area where the fierce battle was taking place.

Sig will need a while to get there... but the battle won't be over immediately!

Protecting Cobra were two of Alabasta's top guards: Jaka, the Dog-Dog Devil Fruit ability, Bell, the Bird-Bird Devil Fruit ability, along with a group of Alabasta guards, a Rear Admiral from Marine Headquarters, and his subordinate marines...

This Rear Admiral is also a Zoan-type Devil Fruit ability, but while Jaka is in his jackal form, this Rear Admiral is in his spotted dog form!

The Dalmatian form's enhancement to physical strength is obviously not as great as the Jackal's, but this Rear Admiral is definitely stronger than the two guards of Alabasta combined. This is the difference in the level of development of Devil Fruit ability.

However, the pirates are still stronger. Their Captain, Tumbler, seems to be Paramecia Daruma Fruit " ability. Standing over two meters tall, his proportions are similar to a fatter version of Oz, and he looks rather wobbly, yet his physical combat skills are extraordinary...

If this continues, Crocodile's appearance will be imminent.

Twenty minutes had passed when the tumbler-like Captain punched Rear Admiral Dalmatian into the mast. At the same time, almost all the navy on board was killed, and the Alabasta guards were also seriously injured or killed.

"Hahaha, Your Cobra, don't worry, I just want to invite you to be my guest! I've heard that Alabasta has a lot of gold. As long as we cover your and your daughter's food and lodging expenses, we'll release them!" The tumbler was clearly planning to kidnap them.

It's said that Alabasta has ten million people. If each of them gave me 1000 Beli, wouldn't that be ten billion?

The Great Pirate Era was never short of daring and ambitious people.

But just then, one of his men shouted, "Boss! Something's wrong! There's a pirate ship... no, not pirates, it's Shichibukai... Crocodile's ship!"

A medium-sized ship with a crocodile-shaped prow was approaching.

Crocodile didn't have many strong crew members. In fact, when he Oldest One became Shichibukai, it was almost a one-man pirate crew—the only one who could be considered a fighter was Crocodile himself.

Therefore, the Gold Crocodile is not a large ship. The reason it is not a small ship is mostly because Crocodile is just showing off.

"What? Shichibukai... Tch, these lackeys!" The tumbler was clearly not directly hired by Crocodile.

However, he did not realize that one of his officers, "Bora of Thorns," had joined an organization called "Baroque Works."

From discovering the Alabasta king's whereabouts to this kidnapping plan, everything fell into Crocodile's trap.

Even Paula was just following orders, knowing that after this job, she would go to Alabasta to find an identity and hide herself. She didn't know that Crocodile would come at this time, nor did she know that he was the boss of Baroque Works.

Logically, Crocodile should have brought the ship closer by now...

But we encountered a small problem!

From the moment he approached the battlefield, he felt a gaze fixed on him.

However, upon closer inspection, he found no one watching him, which made Crocodile irritable, wary, and even somewhat paranoid.

That's right, because Sig was still some distance away, he started staring directly at her to buy some time.

As expected, Crocodile was now somewhat intimidated, becoming hesitant after sensing Sig's gaze.

Seeing the Tumbler Pirate Crew steal the warship and try to escape, Crocodile finally decided to give chase— the World Government's warships were much faster than ordinary pirate ships, and even Crocodile's ship could be left behind if he didn't keep up...