Researching

Sig accurately judged Crocodile's emotions, obtained two "contracts" from Crocodile, just as he had predicted, and had both notarized using his "Notary" abilities.

After Sig read the notary's statement, Crocodile felt a strange sense of constraint, and his expression grew increasingly displeased...

The reason it's "two copies" is because Sig divided the notarization into two parts.

The first part, nominally, is about Crocodile representing Alabasta, abandoning darkness for light, resolutely severing ties with the Twenty Nations, completely abolishing slavery, and joining the Freedom Alliance—but this agreement is now useless because Crocodile can no longer represent Alabasta.

The second part is the most important: Crocodile promises to provide support "when Sig needs it" and to make the first contract effective...

Crocodile didn't understand why they had to go through all that trouble, but he guessed it might be related to the development of the "Notary Fruit's" power.

In order to develop the power of the Sand-Sand Fruit, Crocodile also did things like "burying himself in the sand".

His speculation was indeed reasonable, and to some extent, it was close to the correct answer: Sig was paving the way for the promotion ceremony of the "Notary".

Sig's conditions are actually quite unreasonable. Theoretically, if Sig needed Alabasta right now, Crocodile would either die on the spot or suffer the consequences of violating fairness.

Crocodile signed this contract mainly because he had been completely captured and had no chance of escape.

When your life is in someone else's hands, as long as you don't make them completely subservient, any contract is negotiable!

Furthermore, Crocodile believed that Sig spared him for the sake of Alabasta, and that Sieg was not deliberately trying to break the contract to set him up, but rather that Sieg wanted to truly take control of Alabasta as soon as possible.

If we disregard this inhumane "indefinite term," it is merely an alliance targeting the "Twenty Nations," or rather, the "World Government."

Once the World Government is destroyed, the only remaining constraint will be the "abolition of slavery," at which point I will still have the opportunity to lead the way.

Crocodile was willing to take a gamble as long as there was even the slightest hope, rather than directly becoming a pirate named Ke Zhen'e.

What he had to do next was to convince everyone that Siegfried had left after being unable to do anything to him, and then continue with his original plan!

"What are you still doing here?" Crocodile asked, his tone hardening once he woke up.

He was convinced that Sig wouldn't turn against him over something like this, and wanted to save face for himself—even though no one else had seen it!

"Alabasta hasn't been taken yet, but we can still help each other out," Sig said with a smile.

Crocodile continued to stare at him expressionlessly. Sig continued, "You can let me study your body and give you some pointers on developing your Devil Fruit ability... Don't you think that's mutually beneficial?" Sig's tone sounded quite reasonable.

"Heh." Crocodile chuckled coldly and blew smoke into Sig's face... clearly, he didn't think so.

"I know an unconventional guy who also fights using sand, with words carved on his forehead. His sand is more for defense than offense, and it even has the title of 'absolute defense'..."

"I also know of a magical creature that looks like a sand castle, but its defenses actually increase significantly after being attacked by water..." Sig said, speaking the truth.

Seeing Sig's genuine expression, Crocodile frowned slightly and said, "What are you talking about? I've had the Sand-Sand Fruit for over twenty years!"

Sig didn't explain further, only saying, "Anyway, I've seen it... but as for the specific principles, I'd need to know the principles of the Sand-Sand Fruit."

"The principle?" Crocodile had obviously never heard of it; the "principle" of Devil Fruit was something that could be studied.

"Do you know Vegapunk? In terms of scientific research, I'm about this far behind him." Sig gestured.

Crocodile:...

"You're not going to Mary Geoise afterward, are you?" Sig asked Crocodile to confirm.

"No interest, and those guys wouldn't feel comfortable leaving me there anyway." Crocodile still acted arrogantly, as if he had just driven Siegfried away, rather than being burned to a crisp.

Upon hearing this, Sig felt at ease and merged into Crocodile's shadow. Although Crocodile felt awkward for a moment, he did not strongly refuse, but simply scoffed.

They probably felt that Sig might actually know how to develop the Sand-Sand Devil Fruit ability, just as he claimed.

As for "studying the body" and such, Crocodile wouldn't find it unacceptable if it were just kept hidden in the shadows.

Hearing that Crocodile had no intention of going to Mary Geoise, Sig reassured and decided to follow him for a while.

Although Sig possesses the abilities of the "Visionary" and "White Tower" Pathway, and has extraordinary rationality and self-regulation abilities, as Beyonder of the "Tyrant" Pathway, there is always a threshold of anger that he may be unable to control.

On this vast ocean, there are two things that might hit this threshold: one is Kizaru, and the other is the Celestial Dragons.

Therefore, Sig never went looking for trouble with Kizaru when he had even a slight chance of winning or at least a chance of escaping, because the next time they met, one of them would inevitably die.

Therefore, Sig will not go to Mary Geoise unless he is certain that it will be leveled.

Sig's limit is probably the Sabaody Archipelago...

Since the Celestial Dragons' proportion is lower, Sig's rationality can still prevail, allowing him to retaliate in other ways.

Furthermore, Sig has already revealed his whereabouts to the Navy and the World Government, so he cannot return to the East Blue for the time being, unless...

"[How about we go check out the East Blue?]" Sig's voice inexplicably appeared in Crocodile's ears.

Sig cannot reveal his relationship with Bellemere, or rather, he cannot let the World Government notice that he has someone he cares about in the East Blue—just like Yasopp, who over the years only returned to Syrup Village once on a side trip, and did not appear in front of his son.

For the past few months, Sig had been missing, leaving the World Government completely baffled.

Now that Sig has reappeared in the World Government's sights, we must be wary...

Unless there's a sufficiently high-profile person or event to provide cover!

Crocodile didn't respond at all; he wouldn't run errands for Sig without a reason.

"[The Golden Lion is in the East Sea.] "Sig reminded him, then paused before adding, "[You need higher prestige now, don't you?]"

Crocodile's expression shifted slightly...