The Sky Islands

Before long, the Sand Crocodile caught up with "The Strong World"—an archipelago floating in the air!

With some clouds and fog obscuring the view, and each island being relatively small, it's easy to remain undetected unless you're incredibly unlucky and drift directly above them.

"You wait down here," Crocodile told his crew before transforming into a sandstorm vortex and soaring into the sky.

Crocodile doesn't have a very strong crew; his hidden forces are all within "Baroque Works," and are not openly related to him.

The crew members couldn't tell that Crocodile was flying rather fast and high...

Because now Sig is using the power of the Wind-blessed to give him a boost!

With the help of "wind," the mobility and lethality of "sand" will be greatly enhanced.

Sig's "wind" is much more direct than the wind Crocodile creates by adjusting air humidity.

From below, it doesn't seem like much, but once you fly closer, you realize how exaggerated the island is—the largest one, nearly ten kilometers in circumference, and very "solid," with undulating mountains on top, not a flat piece.

And presumably for the sake of the island's vegetation, Shiki didn't just float the ground layer, but the entire island, including its base, was floated, with a thickness greater than the island's horizontal diameter...

The surrounding area was also enveloped in seawater—seawater can restrain Devil Fruit users, but it cannot eliminate their abilities. The Float-Float Fruit can float a small island, so it's no problem for it to float some seawater as well.

However, as they got closer, the other side clearly noticed Crocodile and became unfriendly.

Amidst the deafening roar, shore-based artillery on the island began firing at Crocodile.

But they're just solid cannonballs; Crocodile doesn't need to dodge them at all...

At the same time Crocodile and Sig both felt a jolt of surprise—that's it? Shiki might not even be "home"!

He's Great Pirate, after all. If Golden Lion were on the island and discovered Crocodile of the Shichibukai, had arrived, he would at least have to meet him in person. Even if a fight was inevitable, wouldn't he at least exchange a few polite words?

There's no reason to fire right off the bat...

The only effect was that it weakened its own momentum!

Crocodile was even more ruthless, directly following the winds of Sig and spreading the sandstorm towards the direction of the artillery.

A sandstorm swept in, instantly coalescing into human form, and the pirates operating the cannons caught in the blast were reduced to dried corpses and fell to the ground...

"Golden Lion! Is this how you welcome me?" Crocodile shouted.

Behind the shore artillery position, there is a large building that looks like the lair of the Golden Lion.

Although he suspected that Golden Lion was probably not there, Crocodile still called out to him to avoid others thinking that he had come to launch a sneak attack while Golden Lion was away!

"Crocodile? You... what are you doing here, a Shichibukai?" A bald man who looked timid and was wearing a researcher's uniform asked, peeking out slightly from behind a rock.

"Huh? Who are you? Where's Shiki?" Crocodile asked dismissively.

"I... I'm the Navigator of the Flying Pirate Group. Captain Shiki... is not here," the bald researcher said timidly.

Crocodile realized it too—there wasn't a single one who could fight.

As for why Navigator would be dressed as a researcher?

When Golden Lion fought Roger, his Flying Pirate Group, including dozens of warships, were caught in a storm and most of them sank, resulting in a crushing defeat.

Even Golden Lion himself was seriously injured when the rudder, which was swept up by a storm, impaled on his head during his fight with Roger. To this day, the rudder is still stuck in his head—it involves the brain, and his Ship Doctor dares not perform surgery lightly.

From then on, the Golden Lion attributed its failures to bad luck and a lack of ability to predict the weather!

It seemed that if it weren't for the storm, he could have wiped out the Roger Pirates...

After Golden Lion began to rebuild the Flying Pirate Group, the two most important departments were the climate research department and the biological research department.

The Navigator of the Flying Pirate Group is not a single person, but an entire research institute—in any case, Golden Lion's ship is big enough.

As for the biological research department, it was naturally established to further develop "IQ".

The bald man is the head of the climate research department who stayed on the island, which is why he is a researcher.

"Not here? What a rude fellow... Where did you go?" Crocodile said reasonably.

Then Crocodile turned into sand and instantly floated in front of the bald man, only his head remaining, almost touching his face, the cigar nearly burning his nose...

"I said... I'm super annoyed right now, you better not say you don't know," Crocodile said blatantly.

The bald man swallowed hard, then said in a hoarse voice, "North... North Sea..."

"Oh? What are you going to the North Sea for?" Crocodile continued to stare intently at the bald man.

But just then, a rumbling sound came from the side, and a group of "monsters" rushed over.

Most of them were enormous, including giant birds that looked like ancient creatures, giant bears with extremely long arms resembling Longarm Tribe- armed race, giraffes with strange stripes and heads like dragons, and giant saber-toothed tigers with two tails and six legs...

In short, they were all strange-looking things!

Sig had actually discovered long ago that back in their lair, when the organization was releasing the rare beasts from the experimental zone—since he had suspected the Golden Lion was missing— Sig had been searching the entire island with his Byakugan.

The number of these rare beasts is still insufficient, and their mutation process is likely still ongoing...

However, since there were enemies, the Golden Lion's remaining subordinates immediately prepared to use these rare beasts to launch an attack.

Crocodile didn't know at first, but when he saw it, he didn't seem worried at all, just turned his head to look with a blank expression.

"No... wait... wait... they... aren't they..." The bald researcher stammered in fear, inwardly cursing the bastards in the other department. Weren't they supposed to wait until he was safe before releasing him?

Even if I'm not killed by the enemy's wrath now, I'll still be caught by those Monsters...

Erosion Cycle!

Crocodile calmly bent down and pressed his palm onto the ground.

Immediately, centered on this place, the land rapidly turned into desert, and even the rocks began to weather at a visible speed.

The rare beasts that crashed into this area withered and died one by one, turning into dried corpses as they fell to the ground. They were still inertia when they fell, as if they hadn't even realized what was happening before they died.

If Sig hadn't pointed it out, Crocodile would likely have expanded the desertification even further— the Sand-Sand Fruit indeed exhibit two different behaviors on land and at sea.

However, Sig secretly stopped him...

The Golden Lion's method of utilizing this place was far too crude, but... I wonder if the IQ component would be effective against artificial Zoan Devil Fruit?

Sig felt that the environment should be protected...