The Despicable Crocodile, I'm Coming for You!

"Banlei, you swim pretty fast."

Brando had lain atop Banlei's head for less than ten hours before they reached the vicinity of the island indicated by the Eternal Pose. The coastline was already clearly visible.

Thanks to his Uzumaki constitution, Brando had fully recovered in those ten hours and was now full of energy.

"Wuu..."

Without a mental space, Banlei could only respond with a whine, since it could not speak human language.

"Then go find food nearby for now. I'll call you when I'm leaving."

Brando invaded Banlei's mental space again. After leaving those words behind, he jumped down from Banlei's head and landed directly on the sea's surface.

Unlike the summoned beasts of the Three Great Sacred Lands, Banlei had no fixed home. Besides, Brando intended for this fellow to serve as his long-term means of transportation.

Summoning it whenever he needed it would consume too much chakra. It was simply too massive, so it was better to let it forage around nearby islands.

"Buzz."

Banlei answered, then sank straight into the seawater and vanished.

Brando, meanwhile, ran swiftly toward the rather strange-looking island. He was about two kilometers away, and reached the shore within minutes.

"An island covered entirely in cacti?"

"It seems this is the route Luffy and the others took. This island was called something like Whiskey."

Brando recalled this island from his memories.

Over this period, he had also learned quite a bit through the black market. The Grand Line had several different routes. The magnetic fields between the islands on each route were linked, forming a unique path. Therefore, once one entered the first island of the Grand Line, one could basically determine what the remaining islands would be.

"What luck. I happened to be looking for Crocodile. I wonder what surprises someone with a Logia ability will bring me."

Brando's main targets upon entering the Grand Line were the Shichibukai and the Four Emperors. He might occasionally catch a few Celestial Dragons as well. The Marines did not seem as rewarding as pirates.

Of course, he could not miss the Celestial Dragons, the top priority on his farming list. If he ran into one, he had to farm it.

The moment he stepped onto the island, Brando sensed quite a few people watching him. He was using his real appearance this time and had not used the Transformation Technique.

Besides taking a rest, he had come ashore to buy a Log Pose.

The Eternal Pose he carried pointed to this island and could not adjust to the magnetic field of the next island. He needed an ordinary Log Pose before he could travel onward.

Whiskey Peak was not a large island, only big enough to hold a small town.

Moreover, there did not seem to be any ordinary residents here. Everyone looked exceptionally vicious.

Seeing this, Brando stopped pretending. He immediately activated his Haki, grabbed several people who had been staring at him, and beat them up in the street. Before long, more and more people gathered around, and they did not hesitate to attack Brando.

Their eyes were fierce and filled with greed.

After fighting for roughly half an hour, once no one around him could stand anymore, Brando learned from several soft-spoken captives that the island was practically occupied by bounty hunters who specialized in intercepting the first pirates to enter the Grand Line.

They had set their sights on Brando, intending to kill him for the bounty.

Now that Brando had grown much stronger, using Haki on weaklings like these no longer gave him any rewards. Still, it felt good.

It was like getting crushed in a high-level ANBU match, then turning around and making a new account to stomp Jonin-ranked players. It did not improve his skills, but it made him happy.

Since these people wanted to kill him, Brando showed them no mercy. In the end, he spat out a Great Fireball and set them ablaze. Whether they survived depended on their luck.

Besides, Brando felt he was already being very kind. After all, the Great Fireball had probably never killed many people even in the Shinobi World.

The island had no value whatsoever. After Brando stole a Log Pose that had already recorded the local magnetic field, he ate and drank his fill before leaving.

"BOSS, Red-Eyed Brando just left Whiskey Peak. He caused a huge disturbance there, took out many bounty hunters, and then left."

A man who had not participated in secret was respectfully reporting to Crocodile on the other end of a Den Den Mushi.

Baroque Works was still in its early expansion phase and had yet to fully take control of Whiskey Peak. Crocodile was still building his reputation.

"Hmph. A troublesome fellow has appeared."

"But if I capture him, I can make the World Government owe me a favor."

On the other end, Crocodile smoked a cigar and narrowed his eyes as he thought.

His current priority was to gain enough prestige in Alabasta to earn everyone's trust, because he wanted to do something similar to another Shichibukai.

Seize a country!

Then obtain that country's secret treasure—Pluton.

He did not consider himself a lackey of the World Government. They merely had a cooperative relationship, and a favor from the World Government was worth quite a lot.

"Send the order. Gather all available intelligence on Red-Eye and confirm his location."

After issuing this command, Crocodile hung up the Den Den Mushi.

The Baroque Works member immediately began passing down the order according to his BOSS's instructions.

"So you've set your sights on me, you damn crocodile."

In the corner of that secret room, Brando's Shadow Clone was monitoring everything.

That fellow thought no one would notice him hiding in the corner, but none of his movements could escape those Sharingan eyes. Brando had discovered him from the very beginning.

Seeing how sneaky the man was, Brando did not drag him out for a beating. Instead, he left behind a Shadow Clone to follow him and see whether anything interesting happened.

After obtaining the information, the Shadow Clone automatically dispelled itself.

Brando, seated atop Banlei's head, opened his eyes.

"Hmph, despicable Tobirama, your ninjutsu really is useful."

"And you, damn crocodile. Let's see whether you surprise me, or I surprise you."

Brando had already begun planning how to deal with Crocodile.

With intelligence on my side, victory is only natural!

At the same time, the World Government also received news of Brando's appearance at Whiskey Peak. After all, Whiskey Peak was full of bounty hunters. If they could not defeat an enemy, selling information could still earn them something.

Brando forcing a Celestial Dragon to kneel had caused far too great an impact. It remained the hottest topic in the world, severely damaging the World Government's prestige.

The seas were still in a relatively peaceful period. A Celestial Dragon kneeling was a major incident, completely unlike Doflamingo's era of reading newspapers, when a major news story broke every few days and even a Celestial Dragon being killed would probably have been minor news.

The World Government had withdrawn the pursuit arrangements in the East Blue and instead deployed personnel throughout the first half of Grand Line Paradise to intercept Brando.

Pirates in the New World had been getting somewhat restless lately. The World Government intended to use Brando's head as a warning, to make those people calm down a little.