Chapter 85: The Plan to Capture Crocodile

Huh?

The strongest woman in the world?

Hearing that familiar name, Ozz was a little surprised, but then thought it made perfect sense.

When he was a kid reading the papers, he often saw that beautiful woman from the Rocks crew.

Though rumor had it she'd been letting herself go in recent years.

Not that it mattered. Ozz was never one to "clean the pot" anyway. He preferred to claim things for himself.

If it were the younger version of Linlin from before she joined Rocks, he might have shown a flicker of interest. But now, not even a ripple.

Come to think of it, in his past life's anime, Big Mom was always fond of dealing with the underworld.

Didn't expect those signs to show up this early.

"Alright then. Write down the ones you can't handle. I'll take care of them."

"Understood, Lord Ozz. I'll send the intel on those people to you right away."

Morgans grinned mischievously. Mixed into that intel were plenty of personal vendettas—some were those who'd refused Ozz's recruitment, others were obstacles to his business.

Of course Ozz knew this old bird wasn't exactly honest.

But he couldn't be bothered to worry about it. As long as Morgans was mostly loyal, it was fine. Solving Morgans' problems was essentially solving his own.

"As for the second matter, we've located the target you asked about. Crocodile is currently in Alabasta."

Alabasta, huh?

Got beaten by Whitebeard and now he's gone off the rails, has he? Poor Sandy.

"Got it. Thanks for the info."

"Serving Lord Ozz is my greatest honor."

Click.

Ozz slipped the Den Den Mushi back into his pocket, loosened the top button of his shirt, and turned to look at Mihawk.

"Things are about to get busy."

Mihawk gave a small nod. Truth be told, he was also intrigued by their next crewmate. Oro Jackson felt too quiet lately. It was better when little Robin was around. Now, with just him and Ozz on the ship all day, it really was a bit dull.

"The Eternal Pose to Alabasta should be on board, right?"

Ozz looked at Mihawk. His Observation Haki let him freely retrieve things from the ship, but all those Log Poses looked nearly identical.

He honestly couldn't tell them apart.

Mihawk gave a faint nod.

"From now on, let's engrave the name of each island onto the pointer."

Though he, too, had innate Observation Haki, Ozz's was quite different from that of Queen Otohime or Redfield.

If theirs was focused on spiritual and emotional domains, then Ozz's leaned toward the physical and material.

Innate precision.

No, innate subtlety.

Even if someone carved a single letter onto the handle of a compass in the ship's hold, Ozz could fish it out in seconds.

Thanks to that fine-tuned sensitivity, Ozz could perceive shifts in wind thousands of meters away, making him a world-class sniper without even relying on a Devil Fruit.

The world's number one sharpshooter.

"Alright then... let's set sail for Alabasta."

…

Paradise

Alabasta

Rain Dinners

Inside the rowdy casino, gamblers packed the place wall to wall, shouting in victory or groaning in defeat.

A few who had lost too much were starting to get violent.

In a high-backed chair, a striking woman puffed on a cigar, smoke curling around her. Her sharp eyes swept over the crowd with disdain.

"This body is still too weak..."

She raised a slender hand. A small cyclone of sand spun into shape, then burst outward in a sweeping arc.

The next instant, a shriveled corpse collapsed to the floor, silencing anyone who had been entertaining treacherous thoughts.

"That woman... she's a Logia user, isn't she?"

"Yeah. Heard her bounty's off the charts."

"Looks like the intel was accurate."

"After being defeated by that legend Whitebeard, she ended up in a backwater like this?"

Crocodile, of course, noticed the countless prying eyes in the room, but couldn't be bothered to react. She simply snorted and returned to her office.

Recently, she'd picked up an interesting piece of intel.

Among the rising stars of the seas, there was someone with a Devil Fruit that could change a person's gender.

If she could become a man, wouldn't she be even stronger than she was now?

As she prepared to set sail in search of this so-called "Courage Corps"…

Two unexpected guests stepped into the casino she had just opened.

"Welcome, sir. What game would you like to try?"

"Hmm... what do you have? This is my first time in a place like this."

The man in the dark red suit and black trench coat smiled. He wore sunglasses and had a calm, easygoing air.

Behind him stood another man in a white shirt and sunglasses, a massive cross strapped to his back. He looked like he was trying not to cringe.

What the hell kind of getup is this...

That said, despite walking through crowds of people, not a single soul had recognized them.

Because of the modifications done by Vegapunk, Ozz hadn't brought his iconic black rifle with him.

Now dressed in a designer dark red suit, blade at his waist, a sweeping trench coat draped over his shoulders, and sunglasses hiding his face, the tall and handsome young man looked more like a gang leader's heir than any kind of pirate.

As for Mihawk, despite the conspicuous cross on his back, his natural air of nobility and graceful demeanor made it hard to associate him with the pillaging image of a pirate.

Seeing how refined the two men looked, the casino manager greeted them with utmost respect, practically treating them like royalty.

But in his heart, he was already overjoyed.

Their clothes screamed wealth, and judging by how green they were, they were total amateurs.

When was the last time they landed such big fish?

Looking at the warm, composed smile on Ozz's face, the manager could almost see the words floating above his head:

"Rich. Dumb. Easy pickings."

As they followed the casino host inside, the first step was to exchange some chips. After listening to the rules, Ozz slowly reached into his pocket and pulled out…

A 100,000 Beli banknote.

"...???"

The casino manager froze, black lines appearing above his head.

What the hell? He's a broke boy?

Dressed to the nines, and that's what he pulls out?

Ozz, however, didn't seem the least bit concerned. With a casual air, he sat down at one of the common tables.

"Alright then. What are the rules?"

With a waiter's help, he quickly understood a special game they had here.

Ten cards would be drawn at random.

Each player would then be dealt five of those cards.

They would each pick one card to compare.

Higher card wins. In case of a tie, both would draw again from their remaining four.

Big wins beat small ones, and the winner takes all.

Ozz sat at the table, fingers laced in front of him. Behind him, Mihawk stood with interest, his sharp gaze focused on the cards.

"Well then. Let's begin."

He grinned.

"You see, I've got a bit of a knack for cards."

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