On an island somewhere in the New World.
The ground at the port was dry and cracked, as if all the moisture had been sucked out of it. Some bricks and stones had even turned into fine sand.
The pirate Iron Turtle Chacal, who had a bounty of one hundred twenty-four million Berries, lay on the ground. His once powerful body had now dried up like a stick, dead from having all the water drained out of him.
It was not only him. His men had died in almost the same way.
Not far from the corpses, Crocodile sat on a rock. He held a stack of wanted posters in his hand, bit down on a cigar, and kept flipping through them as he searched for his next target.
"A pirate with a bounty over a hundred million is nothing special…" Crocodile said with clear disdain.
Because the Roger Pirates had found Laugh Tale so many years earlier, the Great Pirate Era had also arrived earlier than expected.
The most direct change brought by the Great Pirate Era was the huge shock to the world economy.
There were more and more criminals on the sea, and raids happened one after another. For a time, the total amount of trade dropped sharply.
In other words, fewer goods were moving around. Supply fell, but demand did not fall with it. Instead, because the world had become unstable, many people wanted to store all kinds of goods to protect themselves against danger, causing demand to rise greatly.
As a result, the Berry began to lose value quickly.
Things that could once be bought with one million Berries now needed three million.
Money was no longer worth as much.
Inflation had arrived.
Pirate bounties also rose along with it.
Pirates who would have had bounties of forty or fifty million Berries in the past could now push past one hundred million.
Iron Turtle Chacal was one of them. Two years ago, his bounty had only been a little over thirty million Berries. Over the past two years, he had committed many crimes, and with the Berry losing value, a pirate who had once been ordinary in the New World had somehow become a "great pirate" with a bounty over one hundred million.
It was exactly because more of these "great pirates" had appeared that the New World had become even more chaotic.
Pirates did not understand economics or inflation. They only believed their strength had improved and their status had risen.
Some of these new "great pirates," who did not truly deserve the old meaning of a bounty over one hundred million, began challenging the older generation one after another, stirring up trouble across the New World.
At the same time, there were also newcomers like Crocodile, who rose with the flow of this chaos.
In the original story, the Roger Pirates had not caused the Berry to lose value this early. Crocodile sailed the sea for a long time before joining the Seven Warlords of the Sea, where his bounty stopped rising. In the end, it was only eighty-one million Berries.
It had not even reached one hundred million.
Now, however, Crocodile had only been at sea for a few months, yet his bounty had already reached sixty-four million Berries.
He guessed that once the news of him dealing with Iron Turtle spread, his own bounty should also pass one hundred million.
Then he would also be a great pirate. And it would be time to challenge those old monsters.
"Boss, we have already moved all the treasure from their ship. Who are we robbing next?" a pirate underling asked excitedly as he walked over to Crocodile.
Crocodile was a very proud person. He was extremely confident in his own strength and also in his own mind. His usual behavior and style also carried the air of a big figure. Even though he was only a teenager, he had combed his hair like an adult, used his height to his advantage, wore a black fur coat, and bit down on a cigar. He truly looked like a powerful boss.
It was easy for people to forget Crocodile's real age. He looked more like a young and successful businessman in his twenties.
A person's appearance often showed what they valued inside. From that, it was clear that Crocodile looked down on crude behavior and cared a lot about elegance.
Because of that, although he called himself a pirate, after forming his own group, he named it Baroque Works.
It sounded more like a company, with him as the boss.
Even in the original story, after escaping from Impel Down and returning to the sea, the group he formed with Mihawk and Buggy was called Cross Guild, not some pirate crew.
"Don't rush. I'm still choosing," Crocodile said without lifting his head.
At this point, Crocodile had not yet suffered any major failure, nor had he gone through too many ups and downs, so he was not that cold and cruel toward his subordinates and partners yet.
If this were the period when he was stirring up trouble in Alabasta, and some underling came up shouting and asking about his next plan, Crocodile would have turned him into a dried corpse without another word.
Although he was very confident, he had not yet reached the point of pure arrogance.
Before killing Iron Turtle, the wanted posters Crocodile held were all pirates with bounties between one hundred million and five hundred million Berries.
He had chosen one slightly above one hundred million, but after making his move, he found it far too easy. There had been no pressure at all.
That changed his original plan of choosing a pirate around three hundred million Berries as his next target.
He would jump straight to five hundred million and try that instead.
If even a five-hundred-million-Berry pirate gave him no pressure, then Crocodile planned to go straight for someone over one billion Berries next.
His final goal was to challenge people like Shiki, Whitebeard, and Valthior.
From this, it could also be seen that Crocodile, as a newcomer, was not reckless. He was constantly using challenges and changing targets to figure out where he truly stood among pirates.
He kept flipping through the wanted posters in his hand. A moment later, his movements stopped, and his eyes fixed on the photo on one of the posters.
"Five hundred forty-two million Berries. Just past that line. He should be good for practice…" Crocodile clicked his tongue and muttered.
The underling beside him heard Crocodile talking to himself, so he curiously leaned closer and glanced at the poster.
"Chinjao the Drill…? Boss, is he our next target?"
"That is right," Crocodile said with a nod.
Not long ago, he had happened to see news about Chinjao. It said that the Happo Navy under his command had come from the West Blue to the New World again after many years. Many people believed that he had also been influenced by the Roger Pirates and tempted by Laugh Tale and the sixty billion Berries, so he had come to search for the final island and take a share of the prize.
After all, anyone who knew Chinjao knew that he loved treasure.
However, Crocodile clearly ignored one detail that he had not thought deeply about, but which was very important.
Chinjao had stayed quiet in the West Blue for many years and had only recently returned to the New World.
In other words, his bounty of five hundred forty-two million Berries was from before Roger became Pirate King.
It was completely different from the newly risen "great pirates" who had appeared during the Great Pirate Era.
"Go to the black market and find information brokers. Spend money to buy information on Chinjao. It would be even better if there are clues about his current location," Crocodile said as he put away the wanted poster and gave the order.
For pirates, the bigger their name was, the harder it became to hide their movements.
Because as long as they did not disguise themselves or hide their identity, someone would always recognize them wherever they went. Then those sightings would become information and spread among different intelligence groups and powers.
And for great pirates, unless they were carrying out some secret operation, very few of them would disguise themselves, hide their identity, or cover their tracks, because that would make them look weak and cheap.
Ever since Chinjao entered the New World from the West Blue, he had not hidden his movements at all. So as long as Crocodile was willing to spend money, he would definitely be able to find sighting reports from different intelligence groups. With careful study, he might even be able to guess where Chinjao would stop next.
...
New World, G-1 Marine Base.
Garp was punching a scrapped warship in the harbor again and again. Not far away, his disciple Kuzan was doing the same thing.
Ever since the incident at Zephyr's home, Garp could feel that a crack had appeared among the higher ranks of the Marines, one that could not be healed.
The mood in Marineford had also become very heavy, making him feel deeply uncomfortable.
He knew that this could no longer be changed. It could only slowly fade with time. Only after everyone "forgot" might the atmosphere improve.
Because of that, Garp could not stand it anymore and came straight to the G-1 Marine Base. He wanted to get some air, and he also wanted to find a few suitable pirates to vent on.
As one of the top figures in the Marines, Garp naturally looked down on those newly risen "great pirates" who were only great in name. But dangerous figures like Whitebeard and Shiki could affect the whole sea with a single move, so under normal circumstances, he could not simply provoke them as he pleased.
Because of that, finding a proper target was not easy.
Just as Garp punched through the keel of the scrapped warship, his trusted right-hand man Bogard walked over from not far away and said, "I found a target that should suit your taste."
"Who?" Garp stopped punching and turned to look at Bogard.
"An old friend of yours. Chinjao the Drill…" Bogard said with a smile.
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