Taking Down Crocodile Is a World-Benefiting Event!

After confirming his temporary direction, Bane began to rethink the expansion of his team.

If he were to join the Marines later, the recruits could not be pirates, and Nami herself was somewhat resistant to that idea.

This left very few people who caught Bane's eye. After all, in his impression, the talented potential recruits worth nurturing during this period were mostly pirates, such as Trafalgar Law, who had just caused a stir in the North Blue.

Although Trafalgar Law was not a true villain, he was indeed troublesome. His abilities were particularly unique; if he joined the Marines, it would be like throwing a sheep into a tiger's den. Who knew what those scumbags in Mary Geoise might do to him.

Thinking it over, the candidates from the Worst Generation didn't seem quite right.

Enel might actually work. Bane suddenly thought of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit user, that tyrant ruling over the sky.

First, Enel's status was not an issue. Although he committed atrocities on the sky island, he was not fundamentally a pirate; he could barely be considered a ruler.

Moreover, he had never been issued a bounty by the Marines or the World Government. All Bane had to do was go to the sky island, beat him into submission, recruit him, and bring him down to the surface world to properly discipline him—it would also be a chance for him to atone for his past absurdities.

The guy's talent wasn't top-tier, but it wasn't bad either, especially his Observation Haki. Combined with his Rumble-Rumble Fruit ability, he was quite outstanding. He had just been a big fish in a small pond for too long, a frog at the bottom of a well. If he were thrown into this vast ocean to be tempered for a while, he could certainly become a powerhouse.

"But figuring out how to get to the sky island is a headache. I'll have to think about that later." Bane shook his head, feeling troubled.

According to conventional methods, there were basically only two ways to reach the sky island. The first was to ride the Knock-Up Stream from Jaya, an extremely risky way to ascend.

However, this stream only occurred once a year, and the next one was still a long way off—the very one the Straw Hat crew encountered in the original story.

Bane didn't necessarily have that much time to wait, nor was he willing to.

The second conventional method was to use a secret route held by the Marines called the 'Summit of the West Sky'. Bane didn't know the specifics, only that such a route existed.

Excluding these conventional ways, the rest depended on one's own means. If you could fly, it was basically no problem. Big shots like Shiki the Golden Lion or Kaido could travel to the sky island without obstruction.

After pondering for a long time, Bane couldn't think of a good solution, so he decided to take it one step at a time.

After dinner, Bane, Nami, and Zoro checked into an inn. Sitting alone in his room, Bane took out a notebook and began to detail what he needed to do if he were to proceed with his plan.

"First, continue to strengthen my own power. There is no doubt about that; in this ocean, strength is what matters. So, I must go to the prehistoric island, Little Garden, to test myself." Bane finalized the first step.

Then he began to think about what would happen after joining the Marines. Zephyr's 'Neo Marines' seemed like a project with great potential. However, the old man's original approach was too extreme. He hadn't been independent for long before he decided to pull off a 'big news' event—destroying three islands connected to massive underwater magma pools in the New World to trigger a cataclysmic magma eruption and wipe out all the pirates in the New World.

Following that line of thought, he intended to kill everyone in the New World. Just for that, calling him the greatest terrorist in history was no exaggeration.

From this perspective, Bane felt the man had definitely gone mad. Doing that was no different from digging his own grave. Not only would the pirates of the New World not let Zephyr go, but the Marines, the World Government, and the people of the world wouldn't either.

But in Bane's impression, Zephyr wasn't entirely a madman. So why would he choose such an extreme path?

After thinking carefully for a while, Bane felt it might be because Zephyr was old. He knew his Neo Marines might have a moment of success, but as time passed and he gradually became a 'remnant of the old era,' he would eventually end up like the Whitebeard Pirates—with no one to take over and no one to inherit his will.

In fact, Zephyr's Neo Marines did have this problem. They had plenty of troops and elite soldiers, but almost no one in the high command could carry the banner. Whether it was Ain or his other subordinates, their strength wasn't enough, nor did they have the talent to manage the big picture. Zephyr felt his Neo Marines wouldn't last long, so rather than fading away, he might as well go all-in and play a big game—using the Neo Marines to trade for the entire New World!

Bane felt he could solve this problem. Why couldn't he be the successor? Plus, with the team he was building to serve as the management, taking over Zephyr's forces would be perfectly fine.

Give Zephyr hope, let him see that the Neo Marines could get better and better, and that the possibility of eradicating pirates was increasing. Then Zephyr shouldn't resort to such extreme measures. After all, he wasn't a true madman or a mass murderer by nature.

The second point was the sustainability of the Neo Marines. The emergence of the Neo Marines was mainly due to Zephyr's personal charisma and prestige. Having served in the Marines for many years, a large number of the current high-ranking officers were his students; he was essentially the headmaster of the Marines.

Therefore, when he declared his independence, he had a massive following within the Marines, immediately pulling together an impressive force, at least among the mid-to-lower ranks. And judging by the fact that he possessed a variant of the Pacifista, a group of elites from the Marine Science Division must have defected with him.

But these people could work for love for a while, but they couldn't follow Zephyr in his madness forever. First of all, not solving the payroll issue was absurd. To some extent, the reason the Marines were so manipulated by the World Government was because they couldn't solve their own military funding, leading to various shackles and turning them into the 'watchdogs' of the World Government.

The reason the Neo Marines perished in just two or three years was partly because Zephyr died in battle, but a large part was due to a lack of momentum and sustainable financial support. After everyone worked for love for a while, they couldn't keep going.

So, to some extent, this might have been one of the triggers that drove Zephyr to take such risks.

As a big shot of the Marines, Zephyr was far-sighted and couldn't have been unaware of this problem, but at the same time, he truly couldn't solve it in the short term, eventually choosing to go to extremes.

Compared to the first point, Bane felt this was the hardest to handle.

In the original story, Zephyr's Neo Marines relied on plundering pirates to barely sustain themselves in the short term, but that wouldn't work in the long run. They needed an industry to support the Neo Marines!

Speaking of industry, Bane couldn't help but think of Crocodile in Alabasta. This guy was filthy rich! Not only did he have Baroque Works spread across the first half of the Grand Line, but although this organization was a criminal syndicate, the lines were blurred. Aside from attempting to overthrow the Alabasta government, most of the time, the organization's main focus was hunting pirates for bounties, taking on assassination missions in the Underworld, smuggling contraband, and running intelligence businesses.

Bane didn't actually find these so-called crimes hard to accept. There was good and bad, a mix of reputation. This world wasn't black and white, and he wasn't that naive.

The internal structure of Baroque Works was complex, but it did provide a steady stream of massive funds to Crocodile, allowing him to thrive in Alabasta. He not only opened the most luxurious casino in the first half of the Grand Line, raking in money daily, but could also fund hundreds of thousands of Alabasta rebels.

What kind of person was this? A tycoon!

He was going to take him down anyway, so after cleaning him up, it would be perfectly reasonable to take over Crocodile's legacy.

Crocodile used this legacy for his evil plan to overthrow Alabasta, but Bane could use it to fund Zephyr's righteous cause. What was this? This was a great deed that would benefit the whole world!

"As it happens, with Robin's status, it's not suitable for her to join the Marines openly, and since she is the second-in-command of Baroque Works, she is perfect for handling these matters." Thinking of this, Bane felt the plan was simply perfect!