Starting as a pirate, he rose to become the strongest Shinigami in Soul Society.

Chapter 30: Defeating Crocodile is a great thing that benefits the whole world!

After determining the temporary direction, Bane began to consider expanding his team again.

If she were to join the Navy later, the recruits would have to be non-pirates, and Nami herself had some reservations about this.

As a result, there aren't many people who can catch Bane's eye. After all, in his memory, most of the promising talents worth cultivating during this period are pirates, like Trafalgar Rosh, who just caused a huge disturbance in the North Blue.

Although Trafalgar Law isn't exactly a villain, he is indeed a bit of a problem, especially since his abilities are so unique. If he were to join the Navy, it would be like throwing a lamb to the slaughter; who knows what those scum on Mary Geoise might do.

The contestants from the "Worst Generation" seem rather unsuitable after thinking about it this way.

"Enel is actually alright," Bane suddenly thought of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit user, the guy who was a local tyrant on Skypiea.

First of all, Enel's identity is not in question. Although he committed atrocities on Skypiea, he was not a pirate in essence, but rather a ruler.

Moreover, he has never been wanted by the Navy or the World Government. All we need to do is go to the Sky Island, beat him up, recruit him, and bring him to the world above the sea to teach him a lesson. It would also be a good opportunity for him to atone for his past outrageous deeds.

This guy's talent isn't exceptionally outstanding, but it's not bad either, especially in Observation Haki. Combined with his Rumble-Rumble Fruit ability, it's quite remarkable. However, he's been ruling over a small place like Skypiea for too long, making him a frog in a well. If he were put on the vast ocean and honed his skills for a while, he could become a promising expert.

"However, figuring out how to get onto the sky island is a problem. We'll have to think about it carefully later." Bane shook his head again, looking somewhat troubled.

In the conventional way, there are basically only two ways to reach the Sky Island. The first way is to take the rising current from Gaya Island and reach the Sky Island in an extremely risky manner.

However, this upwelling current only occurs once a year, and this year's current is still a long way off, which is the one that the Straw Hat Pirates encountered in the original story.

Bane might not have that much time to wait, nor is he very willing to wait.

The second conventional method is to take a secret route controlled by the Navy, called "The Summit of the West." Bane doesn't know the specifics; he only knows that such a route exists.

Aside from these conventional methods, the rest depends on individual abilities. If you can fly, there's basically no problem. Big shots like Shiki the Golden Lion and Kaido the Beasts can travel to Skypiea without any obstacles.

After pondering for a long time, Bane couldn't come up with a good solution and could only take it one step at a time.

After dinner, Bane, Nami, and Zoro checked into the hotel. Sitting alone in his room, Bane took out a notebook and began to think carefully about what he needed to do if he were to proceed according to the plan he had just come up with.

"First of all, we must continue to strengthen ourselves. There is no doubt about that. In the end, strength is what matters on this vast ocean. So we must give it a try to reach the Ancient Island - Little Garden." Bane finalized the first plan.

Then he began to think about what would happen after joining the Navy. Zeff's "New Navy" seemed like a very promising project. However, the original progress of this boss was too intense. He had only been working alone for a short time when he wanted to make a big splash. He wanted to destroy three islands that connected to the huge magma pool at the bottom of the New World, thereby triggering a massive and destructive magma outburst in the New World and completely destroying all the pirates in the New World.

According to his line of thinking, he wanted to wipe out everyone in the new world. Based on this alone, calling him the greatest terrorist in history wouldn't be wrong.

Judging from this alone, Bane thinks this guy must be crazy. Doing this is tantamount to digging his own grave. Not to mention the pirates in the New World won't let Zephyr go, the Navy and the world's governments and people all over the world won't let him go either.

But in Bane's memory, Zephyr wasn't entirely a madman, so why would he choose such a radical approach?

After careful consideration, Bane felt that perhaps it was because Zephyr was getting old and knew that his new role as a Marine might be successful for a while, but as time went on, as he gradually became a "remnant of the old era," he would eventually suffer the same fate as the Whitebeard Pirates, meaning that no one would take over and no one would be able to inherit his ambitions.

In fact, Zephyr's new navy did have this problem. He had a lot of troops and no shortage of elite soldiers, but almost no one at the top was willing to take the lead. Whether it was Ain or the other subordinates of Zephyr, none of them were strong enough or had the ability to manage the overall situation. Therefore, Zephyr felt that his new navy would not last long. Rather than gradually declining and dissipating, he might as well go all in and do something big, using the new navy to directly replace the entire New World!

Bane felt he could solve this problem, so why not just be the successor? Plus, with his own team in management, taking over Zephyr's team would be no problem at all.

Give Zephyr hope, let him see that the new Navy can get better and better, and that the possibility of eradicating pirates is getting greater and greater. Then Zephyr probably won't do such extreme things. After all, he is not a real madman or a murderer at heart.

Secondly, there is the issue of the continued development of the new navy. The emergence of the new navy is mainly due to Zephyr's personal charisma and prestige. He has been deeply involved in the navy for many years, and a large number of the current high-ranking officers in the navy are his disciples. He can be described as a senior figure at the level of the navy's principal.

Therefore, when he said he wanted to establish his own independent force, he received a great deal of support in the navy and quickly built up a considerable team, at least in the lower and middle ranks. Moreover, judging from the fact that he also controlled a variant of the Pacifistas, it is likely that a group of elites in the naval science unit had fled with him.

However, these people can act out of love for a while, but they can't go crazy with Zephyr forever. First of all, it's outrageous that you don't solve their salary problem. To some extent, the reason why the Navy is so controlled by the world government is because it cannot solve its military spending problem on its own, thus being shackled in various ways and gradually becoming the world government's "guardian dogs".

The reason why the new navy was destroyed in just two or three years was partly because Zephyr died in battle, but a large part of the reason was that it lacked successors and sustainable financial support. After working for a while out of passion, everyone could no longer continue.

Therefore, this point, to some extent, may also be one of the factors that prompted Zephyr to take the risk.

As a high-ranking officer in the Navy, Zephyr had a long-term vision and could not possibly be unaware of this problem. However, he was indeed unable to solve it in a short period of time and ultimately chose to take an extreme approach.

Compared to the first point, Bane felt that this was the most difficult to handle.

Not a single mistake, not a single poem, not a single post, not a single piece of content, not a single look!

In the original story, Zephyr's new navy could barely survive for a short time by plundering pirates, but it definitely wouldn't last long. They needed to find an industry to support the new navy!

Speaking of this industry, Bane couldn't help but think of Crocodile of Alabasta. That guy was incredibly rich. He not only had Baroque Works all over the first half of the Grand Line, but although Baroque Works was also a criminal organization, its boundaries were rather blurred. Apart from its intention to overthrow the Alabasta regime, most of the time, Baroque Works' main focus was on fighting pirates for bounties, taking on assassination missions in the underworld, smuggling various contraband, and doing intelligence business.

Bane didn't find these so-called crimes particularly unacceptable; they were a mix of good and bad, a mixed bag of praise and condemnation. The world wasn't simply black and white, and he wasn't that naive either.

Baroque Works has a complex internal structure, but it has consistently provided Crocodile with a large amount of funds, which has enabled Crocodile to thrive in Alabasta. He not only opened the most luxurious casino in the first half of the Grand Line, making a fortune every day, but he was also able to fund hundreds of thousands of Alabasta rebels.

Who is this person? A super-rich tycoon!

Since he was going to take him down himself, it would be perfectly reasonable for him to take over Crocodile's legacy after he finished him off, right?

Crocodile used these legacies for his evil plan to overthrow Alabasta, but Bane used them to fund Zeff's righteous cause. What is this? This is a great thing that benefits the whole world!

"Perfect timing. Given Robin's status, it wouldn't be appropriate for her to openly join the Navy. And since she's the second-in-command of Baroque Works, she's perfect for handling these matters." Bane thought about this again and felt that the plan was absolutely perfect!

(End of this chapter)