Target, Alabasta, Advance!

The energy contained in the meat of the Island-Eating Monster far surpassed that of the dinosaurs on the island, and it was even more nourishing than the Sea Kings Bane had eaten before, which left him thoroughly satisfied.

It was just a pity that the thing was simply too massive. Even with only half its body remaining, it was still more than enough to feed hundreds of men, two giants, and a glutton like Bane. Since there were no refrigerators—and even if there were, they wouldn't fit—they could only salt what they could to store on the ship and discard the rest.

I might as well just change my profession to Monster Hunter; there are plenty of sea monsters around here anyway, Bane thought to himself.

Between the Kraken, the Giant Anglerfish, and a whole mess of other creatures—especially in the deep-sea territory of Fish-Man Island, which was teeming with sea monsters and Sea Kings—Bane felt he would have plenty to feast on when he eventually made his way there.

Bane had originally intended to eat the dinosaurs on this island to extinction before leaving, but calculating the time, he realized he was on a tight schedule. Crocodile planned to usurp the throne this year; if he managed to take over Alabasta completely, it would become much more inconvenient for Bane to deal with him.

Furthermore, he needed to head to Marine Headquarters to observe the Summit War and make contact with the big shot Zephyr to lay the groundwork for his future plans. Not to mention, he had to leave some provisions behind for Dorry and Brogy. After weighing his options, Bane decided it was time to depart.

Fortunately, in the nearly two months he had spent on Little Garden, he had grown significantly. In terms of raw strength alone, he could already surpass the two hero-class giants, Dorry and Brogy.

Even more prominent was the all-around enhancement of his physical constitution; his skin and flesh were so tough that if Zoro didn't use Haki, he could barely cut him anymore.

"Alabasta has some exotic species, and there are special sky beasts on the Sky Islands. These shouldn't be much worse than the dinosaurs on Little Garden, right? Once I sweep through them all, maybe I can achieve that steel-like body of Charlotte Linlin?" Bane set another small goal for himself.

He would evolve his physical constitution to the level of Charlotte Linlin!

However, thinking about it carefully, he was still far behind Charlotte Linlin in terms of power. That woman had been rampaging through Elbaf since she was five years old. Indeed, this sea was crawling with monsters.

"Boss, our ship is back, and we've brought you the new newspapers—the ones with the East Blue section you requested," a subordinate said, running over from a distance while Bane was leaning against a tree, deep in thought.

After taking the paper, Bane ordered, "Good, unload all the liquor from the ship and send it over to those two."

He then opened the paper to check the recent news.

There were no major incidents, but some keen political observers had already noticed a shift: Marine bases across the world seemed to be pulling in their elite forces, though no one knew the specifics.

The Marines were making moves, and while their objective was unclear, the big shots of the New World responded immediately.

For instance, upon sensing the Marines' unusual activity, the Beasts Pirates and the Big Mom Pirates, who had recently been locked in a series of conflicts, tacitly ceased hostilities and consolidated their forces to guard against any unforeseen changes.

The Whitebeard Pirates issued a summons, beginning to gather the independent captains under their banner from all corners of the world.

Looking at this information, Bane felt that Newgate had likely sensed it too; the Marines' move was very likely aimed at him.

Especially since it had been some time since Ace and Teach were captured. The two had suddenly lost contact in the East Blue, and there was no way Whitebeard would just act like nothing had happened; he would certainly be investigating.

Even if the Marines did a good job covering their tracks, Newgate would surely detect something amiss.

"A storm is coming," Bane whispered.

For the Summit War, the Marines had gathered one hundred thousand elite officers and soldiers from across the globe; those without rank on their shoulders weren't even qualified to step onto the battlefield. Such a massive mobilization clearly couldn't be done overnight, so while it might have seemed like a sudden outbreak in the stories, in reality, there had to be a prelude.

The same went for the Whitebeard Pirates. With dozens of independent pirate crews under their flag, Newgate would naturally need time to notify them in advance so they could converge when the war began.

As it stood, both sides were already in motion.

After flipping past the reports on the global situation, Bane looked at the East Blue section. The news there was even more insipid, mostly singing the praises of the World Government's virtues and the peace and stability of the East Blue.

Smoker, the commander of the East Blue, appeared in the paper several times, with articles claiming that his anti-corruption efforts within the Marines in the East Blue were making significant progress.

Then, one piece of news caught Bane's sharp eye.

The pirate admiral Krieg, having failed in his attempt to conquer the Grand Line, had been defeated by a brat who had just set sail upon returning to the East Blue. This brat went by the name 'Monkey D. Luffy'.

He claimed to be a pirate, and because he had defeated Krieg and caused a ruckus at a Marine base, he currently had a bounty of 12 million Belly.

"Hahahaha!" Bane burst into laughter as he read the news.

If he could see this in the paper, he didn't believe for a second that Garp didn't know his precious grandson had set sail as a pirate. He was really looking forward to seeing the news of Garp catching him.

"What's so funny?" Dorry and Brogy's figures appeared at the camp before he even noticed them.

Bane set the newspaper aside and stood up. "Nothing, just saw some interesting news."

After a brief pause, he said with a hint of reluctance, "We're getting ready to leave."

"So soon?" Brogy asked, surprised. "Didn't you say you were going to eat all the dinosaurs on the island?"

"I'll leave some rations for you two, lest you end up having to eat grass in the future, hahahaha!" Bane laughed heartily.

Dorry and Brogy laughed along. Although they were reluctant to see him go, they didn't try to hold him back.

"I had people bring you plenty of liquor this time; it should last you a while. Someone will come to deliver more periodically. Also, here are new Den Den Mushi. Yours must have died long ago, right? Take these. I've already saved my signal frequency in them, so if anything comes up, you can contact me." Bane handed the two Den Den Mushi to them.

Taking the devices, which were smaller than their thumbnails, Dorry sighed with emotion. "Thank you, Bane. We will remember your friendship. If you ever need our help in the future, don't hesitate to reach out!"

After one last hearty banquet, the next morning, Bane and his crew packed their things, boarded the ship, and officially departed from Little Garden, where they had stayed for over two months.

Watching the figures of Brogy and Dorry waving goodbye on the shore, Nami, who was leaning against the mast, suddenly remarked, "It seems not all pirates are that detestable."

Nami hadn't known those two were pirates at first, but after getting to know them, she naturally found out; a hundred years ago, they had been legendary figures who dominated these seas.

"In the 'just' Marines, there are scumbags, so naturally, among the 'evil' pirates, there are some who aren't bad. That's perfectly normal," Zoro said, swinging his sword on the deck.

"If you judge a person's character solely by their status, that would be too unreasonable," Bane said, taking a swig of liquor before laughing. "Just like Nico Robin. The World Government defines her as the Devil Child who intends to destroy the world, but in reality, she isn't some evil villain."

Without dwelling on these matters, the group chatted for a while longer until Bane watched Little Garden gradually disappear from sight.

He then finally turned his gaze toward the path ahead, a grin spreading across his face. "Next, it's time to go deal with my beloved friend and brother, Crocodile."

Nami said excitedly upon hearing this, "Take him down, and we'll become the world's top billionaires!"

Zoro also raised his Wado Ichimonji high. "Target: Alabasta. Full speed ahead!"