Discovered the Target

Sig did not stay in Cocoyasi Village for long, only two days and one night...

Only Arlong, Hachi, Bellemere, and the three children knew.

Before leaving, Sig noticed Bellemere's mood—she probably sensed that something was wrong with her condition, and Sig's hasty departure was related to this.

As for the rest, Sig only reminded Arlong about Crocodile's fleet in the East Blue, telling him to be careful not to get into a conflict, after all... the Arlong Pirates were definitely no match for Crocodile!

Sig originally planned to make up an excuse to let Crocodile stay in the East Blue to continue searching for Golden Lion —after all, the "island" where that guy was located was also floating in the air, and Sig didn't know where it was.

Sig wants to go to the North Sea now, so I don't have time to accompany him on his search, however...

"Quick! Use your abilities to look at the sky to the northwest!" Crocodile said as soon as he saw Sig.

"Huh?" Sig didn't expect that Crocodile would discover a clue in just two days.

However, since Crocodile had indeed discovered a clue, Sig couldn't very well refuse—if he could find Golden Lion immediately, it wouldn't waste any time.

Moreover, eliminating the Golden Lion will also remove a destabilizing factor from the East China Sea.

Sig's forehead veins bulged, and he opened his original white eyes, instantly shifting the viewpoint to the northwest.

"There's news from the Mushroom Kingdom. Apparently, the corpse of an unidentified giant beast has been discovered... It might be one of the Monster you mentioned," Crocodile explained.

Sig had previously told Crocodile about the Golden Lion conducting biological experiments on a certain "artificial Sky Island" in the East China Sea.

After listening to Crocodile's words, Sig also looked at the sea chart and corrected his perspective to the island where the Mushroom Kingdom was located.

Among all the seas, nautical charts are generally quite accurate.

However, no floating islands were found around the flower mushroom, Sig could only search further with the wind.

In the East Golden Lion discovered a small island called "Verumeau," on which grew a plant containing an ingredient named "IQ." Animals that consumed it would go berserk. Shiki used his powers to "float" the island into the air, and together with a dozen or so smaller islands, they formed a floating island group called "Strong World."

Further research into the nature of "IQ" was conducted, and more and stronger ferocious beasts were artificially induced. The plan was to release them in various places in the East China Sea when all preparations were complete, in order to destroy the East China Sea and deter the World Government!

It's supposed to be a fairly large area, but compared to the entire East China Sea, it seems tiny and not so easy to find.

Sig tried to raise his gaze upwards to observe a larger area.

Compared to Crocodile, or even Doflamingo from the original work, Golden Lion are a blatant act of revenge against society.

Crocodile wanted to establish a military superpower after conquering Alabasta and obtaining Pluton, while Doflamingo's actions in Dressrosa, though inhumane, were also for his own benefit.

The Golden Lion's extermination plan was entirely intended to intimidate the World Government by causing widespread death among the population!

While the World Government may not care about civilian casualties,... quantitative changes can still lead to qualitative changes.

If the Golden Lion were to succeed, while it's impossible for the East China Sea to be completely wiped out, it's entirely possible to cause the death or injury of more than 90% of the islands and civilians.

There are very few true masters in the East China Sea...

Although it has produced the Pirate King Roger and now has a Marine hero like Garp, it doesn't have any "superpowers"—like Germa 66 in the North Blue, the Donquixote Family, or the Flower Country in the West Blue.

It can be said that in the other three seas, even without entering the Grand Line, as long as one is willing to provoke, there is eventually a chance to encounter an opponent of the level of Great Pirate. However, this is basically impossible in the East Blue. The strongest country, the Kingdom of Goa, does not have any powerful figures, even without considering its relationship with the World Government.

If these ferocious beasts were released into Marineford, it would only be providing the navy with more food.

On the islands of the Grand Line, almost every island has people capable of dealing with these ferocious beasts; concentrating their power on one or two islands is necessary to achieve destructive force.

Even if the attacks are dispersed to the other three seas, the first wave might cause more damage, but powerful experts will quickly emerge to help save the other ordinary islands and boost their popularity, thus controlling the damage.

However, if the Golden Lion were to indiscriminately unleash its berserk beasts in the East China Sea, while these beasts might not be particularly powerful, the islands that truly possess the "experts" capable of dealing with their destruction would likely number no more than 10%.

And the problem with these ferocious beasts is that they will become completely irrational once provoked.

At that time, on the other 90% of the islands, the unrestrained berserk beasts will leave civilians in hiding for who knows how many days before the outside world receives news and provides assistance. It is foreseeable that a large number of casualties will occur during this period.

The World Government wouldn't care about the deaths of a few lowly civilians, but... with deaths reaching this level, directly impacting the World Government's profits in the East Blue, it's impossible for them not to care!

However, even Sig could not support this method of retaliation—it was simply killing innocent people to achieve the goal of making the World Government feel sorry for them.

If those ferocious beasts were a few levels stronger, Sig would be willing to cooperate and then just throw them all onto Mary Geoise.

"Found it!" Sig finally pinpointed the location of the "Strong World" archipelago by following the wind direction.

The incident of the beast falling in the Mushroom Kingdom was only reported as gossip several days ago. It happened at night when the wind was strong, and the beast's corpse was not discovered until the next day.

Fortunately, the Golden Lion did not seem to control the island's direction of movement; it was simply moving with the wind.

After Sig reported the location, Crocodile ordered his men to give chase.

Golden Lion?

This outdated title of "Great Pirate" might scare others away, but it definitely won't frighten Crocodile.

[There are countless silver medalists on this sea who died in defeat because they couldn't defeat Whitebeard and Roger] -- This is a quote from Crocodile!

In Crocodile's opinion, what legendary Great Pirate? Just a drop in the ocean. Watch me take a bite...

Sig didn't believe that the Golden Lion could cause any trouble while he was hiding in the shadows.

After all, Sig had seen the Golden Lion a few years ago. Compared to his "legendary" and formidable reputation, five years ago he was already broken-toothed and dull-clawed, and was nothing special...