Nami: This Crocodile truly deserves to die!

"I really underestimated Crocodile. No wonder he always looked down on Doflamingo," Bane muttered, smacking his lips.

Of course, Bane didn't think Doflamingo was inferior to Crocodile in terms of talent.

Upon hearing this, Nico Robin nodded and said, "That is indeed the case. Because there is a great deal of competition in business, and because Crocodile looks down on Doflamingo for bowing to the Four Emperors of the New World, he has repeatedly rejected Doflamingo's offers of cooperation and has driven many of the Donquixote Family's businesses out of the first half of the Grand Line."

"What do you mean by competition in business?" Bane asked casually.

He had a general idea of Baroque Works' intelligence, but when it came to the core details, he only had guesses.

Nico Robin didn't hide anything and quickly explained, "The main business of Baroque Works lies within the Underworld. We basically monopolize all related business in the first half of the Grand Line: intelligence, smuggling, trafficking in contraband, assassinations, bounties, and so on. If it exists in the Underworld, we do it."

After a brief pause, Nico Robin continued, "This is also why those officers are willing to pay their dues. Baroque Works controls vast channels, and these channels are opened to officers based on their rank and contribution. At the same time, holding the status of an officer in the organization can save one from many unnecessary troubles."

Listening to this, Bane felt a bit of admiration for Crocodile. The Donquixote Family under Doflamingo was the most famous middleman in the Underworld, mostly acting as brokers and dealing in some smuggling, but one could still feel from their model that they were just participants in the Underworld.

Crocodile's methods, however, were clearly more sophisticated. He had carved out a piece of the Underworld for himself, treating the market of the first half of the Grand Line as his own private domain. He then set up a framework: only if you paid up and became a member would he allow you to enter the market; otherwise, the high-end channels remained closed to you.

What if you didn't want to pay? Well, as Robin just said, you would encounter some "unnecessary trouble." Crocodile kept a group of thugs who were quite formidable in the first half of the Grand Line; he likely used them to deal with any troublemakers who refused to join the "World Trade Organization" of the Underworld led by him.

Then, Bane suddenly realized, "So you have almost monopolized all the profits of the Underworld in the first half of the Grand Line?"

"In the early years, it could only be called nibbling away, but in the last two years, a stable situation has been formed," Robin replied modestly.

"How much profit do you make annually?" Bane asked again, his tone now tinged with excitement.

"Excluding various expenses, the net profit is about 400 billion Belly," Nico Robin said after some thought.

As soon as she finished speaking, before Bane could say anything, Nami, who had been listening to the conversation, slammed the table, her tone filled with jealousy and resentment: "Damn it, that Crocodile is truly damnable!!!"

"A surplus of over 400 billion Belly a year? Doesn't that mean Crocodile has trillions in his hands right now? He's that wealthy!?" Bane was stunned.

He could already see his future of sudden, massive wealth.

However, before this fantasy could fully take hold, Nico Robin poured a bucket of cold water on it: "Not quite. As of this year, up until I left Alabasta to find you at Little Garden, the total surplus in the Baroque Works account was only a little over 20 billion Belly."

"Huh?" Bane was dumbfounded, asking through gritted teeth, "How can this guy be such a spendthrift!? What has he been doing!?"

"For years, he has been constantly inciting internal turmoil in Alabasta, successively funding many rebel leaders. This year alone, to my knowledge, he has already funded 400,000 rebels. According to the plan, he intends to completely seize power in Alabasta this year, and most of the accumulated capital reserves have been spent on this," Robin explained.

There were some remaining funds that Crocodile used to win over various nobles within Alabasta, as well as some private lending businesses—just like in the original story, where Crocodile once gave a loan to Buggy.

Bane now understood. Crocodile originally had a lot of reserve funds, likely two or three trillion Belly, but this year he launched his grand plan to seize Alabasta, so he poured all his money into funding the Alabasta rebels.

Good grief, single-handedly supporting 400,000 rebels; this guy was truly ruthless.

But on second thought, Bane's mood improved significantly. Once he took over from Crocodile, if Baroque Works could maintain this level of profitability, he should have no problem funding Zephyr, the "rebel leader" of the Marines.

400,000 might be an exaggeration, as the Marines aren't an army, but even if he supported a few tens of thousands of Neo Marines, he would still be a major player in this world. If he stomped his foot, the sea would tremble!

If he could subsequently enter a path of sustainable development, the money would keep rolling in, his forces would grow, and storming Mary Geoise would be within reach!

"A talent, truly a talent. If I weren't very clear that his personality would never allow him to bow down and serve me, I really wouldn't want to kill him," Bane lamented.

Nico Robin agreed, "That's right. Crocodile is proud, one could even say very arrogant, and he is also very self-centered. He is not a character who would easily submit to others. Moreover, even if you were to force him into submission, you would have to be constantly wary of his retaliation."

Bane nodded, choosing not to comment further on Crocodile. He asked casually, "Besides Baroque Works, doesn't he have a casino? The one called Rain Dinners. I heard it's the most luxurious casino in the entire first half of the Grand Line."

"That's correct. This casino also provides Crocodile with quite substantial funds every year, but he has always used it to win over the elites of various classes in Alabasta. He manages and operates it himself, and he usually lives in the basement of the casino. I don't know much about the revenue there," Nico Robin explained.

"It's fine. Once we take him out, we'll just check the books," Bane said, unconcerned.

"In addition to that, Crocodile holds shares in many joint ventures, such as Carnival City and Gran Tesoro," Nico Robin added.

Bane had a vague impression of places like Carnival City, but Gran Tesoro immediately piqued his interest. He sat up straight and asked, "Is the Gran Tesoro you just mentioned the one belonging to Gild Tesoro!?"

"Yes, the world's largest and most luxurious entertainment city," Nico Robin nodded. "Tesoro and Crocodile have some friendship; Crocodile holds 3.6% of the shares in Gran Tesoro."

At first, Bane found it unexpected, but then he realized it was only natural. Tesoro was the world's richest man, controlling a quarter of the world's cash flow, known as the "Gold Emperor."

Moreover, Gran Tesoro was the world's only mobile neutral zone. There, Pirates, the Revolutionary Army, the Marines, Celestial Dragons, Cipher Pol, and all sorts of other forces coexisted without interfering with one another.

The question then arose: did Tesoro have the strength to suppress everyone? Was he qualified to enjoy such wealth alone?

Clearly, that was impossible. He didn't have that kind of power. He was the master of Gran Tesoro, yes, but there had to be various shareholders behind him!

The World Government was certainly a must, and as one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea with massive influence in the Underworld of the first half of the Grand Line and being a super-rich man himself, Crocodile was certainly qualified to hold a stake in Gran Tesoro.

Perhaps many big shots held some shares; that was the only way Gran Tesoro could thrive in every field!