One Piece: Rayquaza of the Beasts Pirates

"Hmph, the army?"

The scarred man blew a contemptuous breath into the smoke billowing from the gun barrel and sneered disdainfully, "Once they slowly crawl over here, it'll be perfect for collecting your corpses!"

He then impatiently scanned the terrified crowd, his tone becoming even more irritable: "Don't fucking keep me waiting too long! These guys haven't had any 'meat' in ages. I have no idea what they're capable of."

Faced with the blatant threat to their lives, some people finally succumbed to the pressure and began to nervously pull out their valuables, attempting to pay to avoid further disaster.

Once the first one appeared, a second, a third... the wave of submission spread rapidly.

Just as the atmosphere of despair was about to engulf everything—

"stop!"

A deep, weathered voice rang out from above, carrying an undeniable authority.

The scarred man felt a chill and abruptly looked up.

From the rooftop of a nearby building, a figure was looking down at them.

The man had slicked-back hair, a long horizontal scar on his face, a thick cigar dangling from his lips, and cold eyes.

Most notably, the man has no left hand; instead, he has a golden hook.

His distinctive appearance instantly reminded the scarred man of a name that was absolutely not to be messed with in this land.

"Wait, wait! I can return all the valuables. I'll return them right away!"

The scarred man looked flustered and incoherently offered to return the stolen goods, a stark contrast to his earlier arrogance.

"It's Mr. Crocodile!"

"Our hero has arrived!"

In stark contrast to the scarred man's panic, the people who had narrowly escaped death erupted in cheers of relief.

Because the visitor was none other than Crocodile, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea.

Over the years, he has repeatedly helped them eliminate pirate harassment before the arrival of the Kingdom's army, and has long been an irreplaceable hero in the hearts of the people.

As long as he comes, there will be justice.

As expected, Crocodile had no intention of negotiating; he immediately launched a deadly attack.

"Crescent-shaped dunes!"

His right arm instantly turned to sand and rapidly expanded, transforming into a huge crescent-shaped sand blade.

As he swung his arm down, the sand blade swept across the scarred man and his gang.

In the blink of an eye, before the pirates could react, they were swallowed up and enveloped by the surging quicksand, becoming immobile sand cocoons.

No one noticed that an extremely lucky pirate seemed to have been overlooked by Crocodile, and had managed to stand outside the sand dune area by sheer luck.

"Uh-"

The scarred man and his gang only had time to utter a single character before they instantly dehydrated and shrank, turning into distorted, horrified mummies.

Thump thump...

The mummified corpses collapsed limply to the ground, the stolen valuables slipping from their stiff hands and scattering across the floor.

Crocodile's face quickly switched to a gentle and reliable expression, and he said loudly to the still-shaken crowd, "Go, take back what is rightfully yours!"

"Thank you, Mr. Crocodile!"

"You are our hero! Always will be!"

The recovery of their lost possessions, coupled with the elation of escaping death, brought the people's gratitude and respect for Crocodile to its peak.

After successfully reaping a large amount of reputation, Crocodile turned around and disappeared around the street corner without looking back.

Hidden strength and name.

After passing through several quiet alleys, the pirate who had luckily escaped naturally approached him.

But now, this person has changed completely—his face is covered with exaggerated and bizarre heavy makeup, and he has long false eyelashes.

Mr. 2, the transvestite, reported in a low voice: "Boss, I have recovered all the funds we used to hire those idiots."

Crocodile simply nodded slightly, offering no praise whatsoever.

If he can't even handle such a small matter properly, then Funke is not worthy of the title Mr. 2.

Crocodile asked, "When will the next group of pirates arrive?"

Feng Clay paused, then gritted his teeth and explained, "President, the pirate mortality rate in Alabasta has been quite high lately, and it's hard to find any reckless pirates willing to come here to die. Even if we secretly hire them, we can't find anyone willing to take the job."

Crocodile gave him a deep look, and after a long pause, he said, "Then hurry up. My plan to gain the favor of the people of Alabasta cannot be interrupted!"

Seeing that the president didn't intend to punish him, Feng Kelei breathed a sigh of relief and nodded hurriedly.

Then, he reported on another important matter.

"Kane the Scourge is here!"

Chapter 141 The Secrets of Alabasta

Cataclysm Kane?

Upon hearing this news, Crocodile's brows furrowed tightly, and a strong sense of unease and vigilance instinctively welled up within him.

Is it a coincidence, or... is it aimed at me?

Why would a group of pirates, renowned throughout the world, suddenly descend upon Alabasta, a resource-poor desert kingdom?

No matter how you look at it, there's something fishy about it.

If others heard this, they would just move on, but Crocodile knew better than anyone what kind of powerful "treasure" was buried beneath this seemingly poor country.

That treasure was enough for him to defeat Whitebeard and become the Pirate King.

Should we take the initiative to investigate the situation?

But wouldn't doing this alert the enemy and backfire?

Just as he was secretly weighing the pros and cons, Feng Kelei cautiously suggested, "President, what do you think? Should we ask everyone in the Baroque Works to tone it down for now? Just in case we accidentally offend that 'Calamity'..."

Before he could finish speaking, Crocodile, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, instantly bristled and hissed, "Hmph, I'll avoid his sharp edge?"

"Back when I was battling it out with that old man Whitebeard in the New World, that brat Kane was probably still playing in the mud in his open-crotch pants!"

However, after making those harsh remarks, he forced himself to calm down.

Despite his anger, he wasn't a mindless brute; he was a brain-eater.

"Pass down the order."

He instructed Feng Kelei in a deep voice, "Have your men closely monitor all movements of the palace and Cobra! Report any suspicious activity to me immediately!"

He has painstakingly built up an intelligence network in Alabasta over the past decade, and it's no joke.

If he wanted, he could know exactly how many times King Cobra went to the toilet each day!

"Understood, President~"

Feng Kelei accepted the order in a low voice, then quickly changed his face using his ability, silently blended into the crowd, and hurriedly left.

Crocodile stood alone, his face so dark it seemed to drip water.

He gazed towards the port of the Santorini River, his eyes sharp as knives, and muttered to himself, "You'd better not interfere with my plans. Otherwise..."

The words are divided into two parts.

On the port side, Kane's Sky Pirate had already docked.

But before they could land, they encountered an unexpected obstacle—no, a group of manatees.

Those were a group of peculiar creatures called "Kung Fu Manatees".

They resemble manatees, but carry hard tortoise shells on their backs. They strike standard kung fu starting stances, blocking the path of landing.

"Moo moo moo~"

The lead kung fu manatee stood with its hands on its hips, gesturing with great flair.

Kane glanced at it with interest, then turned and said, "Chopper, translate this."

"Okay, leave it to me!"

Chopper confidently walked up to the group of manatees and acted as a live translator: "It said—'If you want to come ashore, try to defeat me. If you're too scared, go home, you coward.'"

"Huh? Chopper, you actually have this ability? That's amazing!"

Everyone looked on in surprise.

"Ugh~ Even if you guys praise me like that, I won't be happy, you bastards~"

Chopper covered his face, but his body honestly twisted into a seaweed shape, clearly overjoyed.

"In that case, let me have a go at them!"

Yamato immediately rolled up his sleeves with great interest.

then……

The battle ended without any suspense.

Even without the spiked club actually striking, the sheer force of the blows created by the club was like an invisible mountain, pinning the group of kung fu manatees to the ground, rendering them immobile.

"Huh? We lost already? How boring." Yamato pouted, looking somewhat disappointed.

"Moo moo moo! Moo moo!"

Unexpectedly, the leader of the kung fu manatees was not discouraged at all. Instead, his eyes lit up and he shouted excitedly.

The dutiful translator Chopper immediately chimed in: "It said—'Big Sister, please accept us! We want to become your apprentices!'"

Faced with such an unreasonable request, Yamato, of course, readily agreed!

"Alright! Since you guys have such good taste, you'll be working for me from now on!"

Yamato put his hands on his hips, laughed heartily, and directly subdued this group of manatee underlings.

"Moo moo!"

The Kung Fu Manatees were overjoyed and flocked to Yamato's feet, hailing her as their new leader.