"If you want to go, then go. I don't care if you stir up something even bigger; you're still one of my men anyway. But the one who got hurt recently… Drake, right? King, you sure care about that girl. Even the cold and ruthless Flame Disaster has his gentle side?"
Flame Disaster, Illusory Calamity, Plague Disaster, and Jack—whose exact calamity title is still a mystery—each and every one of them is infamous. Their "Disaster" names were stained into history with blood and brutality in large-scale wars.
Plus the Hundred Beasts flag on their backs—out there they're monsters whose names alone can make kids stop crying.
Say they're cruel and people outside will believe it without a doubt, but say these guys are gentle and that's the punchline to a joke.
"Big Bro Kaidou, don't joke around. She's a troublesome one. Since she embarrassed herself out there, I've gotta get that face back for her."
"O-guh-guh-guh, say whatever you want. There's nothing big going on lately anyway. Hand things over to Queen, then go handle your business."
"Yes."
"Wait, that guy called Teach… be careful when the time comes. He might not be as simple as he looks."
Right before King set out, Kaidou suddenly remembered something. When he forced Shanks to drink with him to create a smokescreen, Red Hair wasn't completely silent the whole time.
He rambled a bunch of stuff that to Kaidou's ears was all nonsense—something about "world balance" and other such crap.
But he did remember Red Hair mentioning Blackbeard's strength, and saying that Ace going after Blackbeard wasn't exactly a wise move.
"That guy seems to have left a scar on Red Hair. Maybe he's got some special trump card. Of course, I believe you're more than enough to handle him, but don't underestimate him. To hide himself for so long—he's a schemer."
"Understood."
Kaidou's arrangement was, in a sense, perfectly fine; it's just that as the one taking over, Queen had a bit of a problem with it.
"So it's you, this torture freak, who volunteered to go stick up for someone, and somehow I'm the one stuck with overtime again? I've lost weight these last few days!"
"You really think I don't know what you used to look like? If you've got a problem, go take it up with Big Bro Kaidou."
"..."
Queen really wanted to go complain to Kaidou face to face, but his rationality told him that wasn't a wise move. The only outcome would be his "overtime" turning into "extra training."
Leaving Queen behind to work overtime, King set off on the road to hunt down Blackbeard. But finding Blackbeard wasn't easy even for him. Blackbeard's whereabouts were an unknown to King; he could only extrapolate based on the last battle's location.
Although the New World has ways to make Life Cards, aside from the Hundred Beasts—who, because of internal inspection protocols, made Life Cards for all personnel stationed on Ghost Island—no pirate crew would make Life Cards for every single member.
Even the Whitebeard Pirates didn't have a Life Card for Blackbeard; otherwise tracking him down wouldn't be so troublesome for them.
King's mobility was extremely high. This time he didn't even take a ship; he set out alone, flying to begin his hunt. But even so, tracking down Blackbeard would still take some time.
...
While King was still tracking Blackbeard, the Straw Hats had already, after a series of adventures, arrived in Alabasta.
"Everyone, we've reached Alabasta. I told you already: the mastermind behind Baroque Works is Crocodile, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea."
After the Merry reached the port of Alabasta, Vivi once again emphasized to Luffy and the others the root cause behind the current turmoil in Alabasta.
"As pirates authorized by the World Government, their strength is all pretty troublesome. But don't worry, we've got someone who can help us. The toughest one to deal with right now is Crocodile himself.
When he became one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, his original bounty was canceled. But even many years ago, he was already a pirate with a bounty of 81 million Belly."
"Eighty-one million?!"
"What, so it's only 81 million."
"Yeah, scared me for a second. I thought it was some super terrifying monster. Turns out he hasn't even broken 100 million."
Aside from the newly boarded Chopper, who was shocked by that amount, Nami and Usopp were completely calm, even a bit dismissive of that number, which left Vivi slightly confused.
"But Luffy's bounty is only 30 million. This is more than double that..."
"Don't worry, Vivi, you don't get it. There's a saying: 'More debt, less pressure'..."
"Yeah, compared to those real monsters, this guy might just be a grunt."
Rather than saying Nami and Usopp weren't afraid, it'd be more accurate to say they were numb to it. An 81-million former bounty, a Seven Warlords of the Sea title—those things do carry pressure, but it depends who you're comparing him to.
Luffy's already set his sights on taking down Kaidou, whose bounty is over four billion. Compared to Kaidou's monstrous bounty, Crocodile really is insignificant.
Bounty doesn't say everything, but for most people, it's the most straightforward way to judge strength.
A low bounty doesn't necessarily mean someone's weak, but a high bounty definitely doesn't belong to a weakling. This logic applies to Queen as well. Even after stripping away all the blame pinned on him, Queen's personal strength is still that of a monster.
Whether it's the Haki forged by Kaidou's training or the various weapons and equipment on his body, all of it can cause devastating results. With his abilities, as long as no strong enemy stops him, wiping out a country wouldn't be hard.
...
Meanwhile, Yamato and her group had also, after finishing their journey, successfully arrived in the desert kingdom of Alabasta.
"Alright, you head back first. I'll call for you again when I need you."
Yamato didn't keep Corviknight with her, instead sending it back to its nest. Alabasta's climate really didn't suit Corviknight's survival.
Nights were still okay, but in the blistering daytime, Corviknight's wings got so hot from the sun's baking that you could practically use them as a griddle.
"It's so hot… I don't like it here. Let's change countries. I think that last island was great—their potato carnival didn't seem to be over yet."
Ulti had a special love for potatoes. Fried potatoes tasted way better than Sea Beast meat to her, and that carnival had made her very happy.
The food in Alabasta was fine, but this temperature was something she absolutely couldn't accept.
"Don't worry, it won't take long. Robin's got a big discovery over there too. Once we finish this, we can leave. But… I've got a bad feeling going back to Wano Kuni is gonna bring bad luck."
"Those locations the Thousand-Year Dragons gave us still haven't been figured out. Let's hurry up and have her translate that map, then get out of here."
"True. Then let's move. Robin's message said she's in the capital, and it sounds like there's already a war breaking out there..."