The morning's incident quickly passed.
Once Bellemere fully settled into her duties and took charge of the young Marines from around the world, Michael gathered all members of the SWORD—except for Hancock and her two sisters—and set off for Rainbase.
After all, the presence of the notorious pirate like Crocodile was undoubtedly a thorn in Cobra's side, a constant source of unease.
As one of Michael's financial backers, Cobra's problems were Michael's problems!
He was, after all, a man of professional integrity!
And besides...
Michael currently held the authority to recruit a Warlord of the Sea.
And Crocodile—regardless of his personal ambitions—was the most suitable candidate.
His abilities spoke for themselves.
In fact, among Logia Devil Fruit users, he was arguably the strongest aside from the future Three Admirals.
Ryokugyu?
Just a coward who pissed himself at Red Hair Haki.
"Is Crocodile really hiding in Alabasta?"
"If it were just a single piece of intelligence, it would indeed be questionable. But now, after cross-verifying different sources, we can basically confirm it."
Michael responded meticulously to Smoker's inquiry.
Regarding Smoker, Michael actually held high expectations.
In the original storyline, Smoker not only suffered from appearing too early but also wasted much of his potential in the East Blue.
How could a genius who joined the Marines so young only be a headquarters captain by his thirties?
Especially as a rare logia-type Devil Fruit User at that.
As expected, without Aokiji's lazy training approach, Smoker's combat power had grown rapidly over these two years.
Though only seventeen, his strength had already surpassed his original Loguetown self.
Hina had also progressed remarkably fast.
In Michael's view, she too had exceeded her original debut strength.
Apart from these two, Rosinante hadn't eaten the original Calm-Calm Fruit but had chosen the Gold-Gold Fruit instead.
And he is much much stronger than his original counterpart.
However, since Rosinante was still undercover, Michael couldn't say how far his fruit development had progressed.
T-Bone was the only member under Michael's command who hadn't eaten a Devil Fruit, yet his combat improvement was no less impressive.
Especially after obtaining the great sword "Garuda," he trained relentlessly in swordsmanship—so much so that Michael often had to remind him to rest.
Shu, T-Bone's comedic partner, turned out to be Michael's biggest surprise.
After Michael began teaching these Devil Fruit Users about fruit development, Shu seemed to have an epiphany.
The development speed of his paramecia-type Rust-Rust Fruit was beyond imagination and its direction even surprised Michael.
Michael had a premonition...
Shu might be the first among his subordinates to achieve awakening, potentially skyrocketing to become the second strongest in the entire SWORD—second only to himself.
Yes, second strongest.
The undisputed strongest beneath him was Stella.
As Garp's highly praised personal disciple and wielder of the Cloud-Cloud Fruit, Stella remained a headquarters lieutenant solely because her recent military achievements hadn't been reported yet.
In terms of pure strength, she could easily be parachuted into a Vice admiral position without issue.
Now, with the still-developing Hancock and her two sisters added to the mix, the SWORD Secret Special Forces could potentially face a Yonko crew head-on in the future—even without Michael present.
The SWORD team didn't utilize Alabasta's unique transportation methods like running ducks or water route turtles.
Instead, each member employed their own special methods—a routine they were long accustomed to.
This also served as one of their stamina-training methods.
Even T-Bone, the relatively slower member, matched the running ducks' pace by combining Soru and Geppo techniques.
Thus, crossing the Sandora River and reaching Rainbase took less than half a day.
"Wow, so there really is such a green miracle in the middle of the desert." Stella, floating mid-air, glanced at Rainbase in the distance.
"A city built on such a vast oasis must be the most prosperous place besides Alubarna, right?"
"Exactly. If Alubarna is the political center, then Rainbase is the economic and entertainment hub," Michael nodded with a smile.
"But unfortunately, we're just here to look. Our target isn't Rainbase—we need to pass through it and head southwest."
"A living sandstorm? That sounds utterly ridiculous," Smoker grumbled. "It's definitely that Crocodile! Don't any of you dare steal this from me! Let this 'Smoke Demon' have a go at the 'King of the Desert'!"
"Tch!" Hina sneered at Smoker's bold declaration.
"Hina advises Smoker to weigh his own capabilities carefully, lest he ends up bitten while trying to catch fish."
"Wait, Smoker has a title like 'Smoke Demon'?" T-Bone caught the key point in Smoker's words.
"If I recall correctly, aside from that black sword wielder we fought years ago, none of our enemies survived. So who gave you that title?"
"Isn't it obvious? He gave it to himself!" Shu nudged T-Bone in the ribs. "It's just a phase young people go through—cut him some slack. After all, Smoker's still a minor."
"Hina disagrees with Shu statement! Hina is two years younger than Smoker and hasn't entered any so-called 'chuunibyou phase'!"
"You bastards! Don't hit a man when he's down or expose his weaknesses!" Smoker's face instantly turned red and soon his entire body turned into smoke, his voice echoing from within the haze.
"You're doing both at the same time!"
Michael watched his rowdy subordinates without irritation.
This was a sign of vitality and energy.
Just then, Issho who had been silent, suddenly frowned and spoke in a low voice.
"Michael, I... found him."
Ever since crossing the River, Issho had been using his exaggerated Observation Haki like radar, scanning for Crocodile's presence.
And now, he had pinpointed Crocodile's exact location.
"Found him? Then let's keep moving."
"However, there's a slight complication."
"What kind of complication?" Michael frowned. "Don't tell me that Crocodile has targeted Rainbase's civilians?"
"No... There's another person with Crocodile."
Issho "looked" at Michael.
"That person carries an enormous sword on his back."
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