"I… I'm not dead?"
Crocodile didn't know how long he'd been unconscious, and finally his eyes opened slowly.
The hazy world before him replayed the moments before he blacked out, making the super rookie from the dawn of the Great Pirate Era murmur in a daze.
"Right. You should thank me for sparing your life."
That unfamiliar yet familiar voice snapped Crocodile fully awake.
He followed the source of the voice and met Yami's amused gaze.
No one else stood beside Yami.
Seeing Yami hadn't killed him, and looking down to find his body unharmed and his Devil Fruit ability usable again, Crocodile didn't attack. He asked in a low voice, "What do you want?"
In this world, aside from a few foolish saints, no sane person treats captives kindly or easily spares those who threatened their life.
The man before him clearly wasn't that sort.
Yet he hadn't finished him off, nor shackled him with the ability-sealing power. He clearly had a purpose.
"Reasonable. I thought you'd try another round with me."
Seeing Crocodile make no move to resist, Yami nodded, his tone approving.
"Winners are kings, losers are scavengers. That's the iron rule of the sea."
Crocodile dusted himself off, drew a cigar from his coat, glanced at the golden hook on his left hand, and said flatly, "The victor decides the defeated man's fate. You didn't kill me. What do you want me to do?"
"As expected of a great pirate—someone who understands the sea's rules."
Yami gave a thumbs-up, then nodded. "Good. I want you to do something for me."
"What is it?"
Crocodile frowned slightly. If a Warlord had to be involved, it wouldn't be a simple task.
Reading his thoughts, Yami smiled. "Relax. I'm not sending you to die. I want you to use your reach to help me find someone in the North Blue."
Hearing it was only about finding someone, Crocodile's brow eased. "Who?"
"His name is Trafalgar Law."
Yami added, "Just locate him. Don't spook him or take it upon yourself to act."
"Fine." Crocodile agreed without hesitation, sincerity uncertain.
At that, Yami suddenly produced two photographs and smiled. "Find him for me and these two are yours."
On seeing them, Crocodile's pupils tightened. He ground his teeth. "You bastard… damn you."
Both shots in Yami's hand were selfies.
In the first, Crocodile lay prone while Yami sat on his back.
In the second, Yami gripped Crocodile's hair and leaned in for a close-up.
In that shot, Crocodile was unconscious, face caked with sand, while Yami grinned and threw up a peace sign.
The bastard had captured his black history.
If those got out, Crocodile's name would be ruined. He'd be mocked by the world and stripped of the title of Warlord by the World Government.
No wonder anger boiled in him.
"Easy. Just a bit of motivation."
Yami pressed the air with his palm and soothed him. "With my abilities, if I wanted fame I'd already be global. I don't need you as a stepping stone."
"So find him for me within three years, and the photos are yours."
"Find him sooner, earn my goodwill sooner. There may be chances to cooperate down the line."
"…Fine!"
This time, Crocodile agreed through clenched teeth.
"OK. Here's a transponder snail with my number. Contact me when you find him."
Yami took a transponder snail from his person and tossed it to Crocodile.
Both the camera snail and the phone snail had been specially purchased by Yami in Alubarna.
After finishing the deal, Yami headed toward Alubarna.
Watching Yami's back, Crocodile still didn't strike.
He didn't have the nerve. That ability to seal Devil Fruits was too disgusting, the perfect counter to Logia users who rely on elementalization.
Crocodile planned a comeback and a return to contend in the New World.
So he couldn't die here.
Trading a search for Yami for his life was worth it.
As for today's humiliation, he'd repay it double later.
With Nico Robin at his side, Yami would get word of Pluton, and no one else could decipher it.
It seemed he'd have to find that man first, establish a partnership, then seek help or seize a chance to snatch Nico Robin.
To sit as an equal with that man, he would need overwhelming strength.
"I've really grown lax these years."
In that moment, Crocodile's hunger for power reignited.
The butterfly had finally flapped its wings.
.........
"Master, who is Trafalgar Law?"
"Is he that special? Enough to make you pass up the Sand-Sand Fruit?"
After putting some distance between themselves and Crocodile, Yami opened an air door and let Carina and the other two step out from the pocket space.
No sooner had they emerged than Nami and Carina asked.
"Trafalgar Law, a Paramecia user of the Op-Op Fruit," Yami replied casually.
"The Op-Op Fruit?!"
Robin's surprise instantly drew Carina's and Nami's eyes.
Whenever Robin looked like that, they knew it wasn't simple.
Meeting their expectant gazes, Robin didn't keep them in suspense. "The Op-Op Fruit is one of the top Paramecia. Even a mediocre doctor who eats it can become the world's greatest surgeon."
"It is also among the most valuable of all Devil Fruits. The World Government once posted fifty billion Berries on the black market for the Op-Op Fruit."
"Yet someone actually ate it."
After speaking, Robin looked at Yami and asked, curious, "Boss, aren't you afraid that letting Crocodile search will lead him to discover Trafalgar Law has the Op-Op Fruit and try to seize him?"
"He won't, and he couldn't succeed."
Yami shook his head, certain.
From how Crocodile didn't recognize the method of sealing abilities, and how he viewed the Dark-Dark Fruit, it was obvious he hadn't studied the Devil Fruit compendium, or his knowledge was incomplete.
The World Government has sought the Op-Op Fruit for its Eternal Youth Operation.
As rulers of the world, they would never share such immortality with others.
So the Eternal Youth Operation, like the truth about the Rubber-Rubber Fruit being the Nika Fruit, was long erased by the World Government.
Crocodile couldn't know the Op-Op Fruit's secrets.
If he discovered Law had the Op-Op Fruit, his strongest impulse might be to have Law transplant him a new arm.
Given his pride, even that's unlikely.
To save face, and with Robin in the picture, Crocodile absolutely wouldn't move against Trafalgar Law.
And even if he did, Yami thought the odds of catching Law were low.
As a Door-Door Fruit user, Yami knew how nasty space-type abilities are.
The Op-Op Fruit can relocate targets. Without reclaiming his Haki, and unless his Observation Haki range exceeds Law's Room, Crocodile will never get close.
From what Yami knew, Crocodile would at most send subordinates to the North Blue, not go himself.
Yami needed Baroque Works' low-level intelligence network.
In the original course of events, few Grand Line powers watched the four Blues' rookies. Crocodile was an exception.
He personally recruited Daz Bones in the West Blue and sent people to the East Blue to recruit Roronoa Zoro.
As soon as Trafalgar Law made a name in the North Blue, Crocodile would get the news quickly.
That was what Yami wanted. Otherwise, scouring one of the four great seas aimlessly for Trafalgar Law could take who knows how long.
But Yami had no intention of waiting until the year 1520 of the Sea Circle Calendar.