Actually, Michael's decision to come to Alabasta to "rob" Cobra was the result of careful consideration.
Alabasta held a pivotal position within the Angel Alliance, making it an undeniably high starting point for the legendary journey of the Old Geezers Pirates.
Most importantly, Michael trusted Cobra enough.
After all, Cobra had been his accomplice from the very beginning.
So he had no fear of revealing his true goal—gold.
That's right. Michael had come to "rob" Alabasta of its gold.
The golden city he had taken from Skypiea years ago had been hidden deep within the desert.
Under this pretense, he planned to take a portion of that gold.
Aside from covering the daily expenses of the Old Geezers Pirates, he also wanted to craft a "persona."
Back in the East Blue, there was a legendary golden pirate named Uunan, who never oppressed civilians but instead thrived on battling evil pirates.
Through this, he amassed mountains of gold—reportedly one-third of the world's total—before vanishing into seclusion with his vast fortune.
Thus, the legend of "Uunan's Treasure" was born in the East Blue.
Even now, people still searched for that treasure.
Of course, from Michael's perspective, the claim of one-third of the world's gold was undoubtedly exaggerated, but the "mountains of gold" part might not be far from the truth.
Michael's current goal was to create a persona for the Old Geezers Pirates similar to "Uunan's Treasure," luring pirates across the seas to chase after them in pursuit of vast riches.
This would gradually weaken the "pirate worship" propagated by the World Government, shifting it instead into "wealth worship."
After all, worshiping wealth was far better than worshiping pirates.
And Alabasta was just the first step.
"So, all you need to do is help me with the publicity… though this might damage your reputation, leaving you discontent and eventually forcing you to step down quietly."
"Wait, seriously!? That sounds amazing!" The moment Cobra heard "step down," his interest was instantly piqued.
"You're reading my mind! For the past seven years, I've had Vivi serve as Alabasta's goodwill ambassador, building her reputation to the point where she's even more beloved than me, the king… Honestly, I wouldn't mind stepping down right now and letting Vivi take the throne!"
"You old fox… I never expected you'd scheme against your own daughter just to free yourself! Heh heh heh."
"Takes one to know one… You didn't hesitate to drag Marineford's higher-ups into the mud, tsk tsk tsk."
The two of them grinned wickedly at each other, exchanging compliments—at this moment, they truly looked like villains.
Birds of a feather, indeed.
However, the sight of two grown men cackling at each other vanished the moment Sora arrived.
Angel D. Sora—the only woman in the world who could suppress Michael through sheer bloodline dominance.
Bellemere and Isca, after guiding Sora to this usually deserted palace, didn't leave.
Instead, they waved at Nami and Nojiko."You two... have quite the audacity, don't you? Becoming pirates without saying a word?"
Bellemere wore a kind smile, but an ominous aura radiated from her entire being.
Nami and Nojiko, who had been scolded by Bellemere since childhood, gulped in unison and reluctantly stepped forward.
"Alright, whose idea was this?"
"Michael! It's all Michael's fault! If he hadn't wanted to become a pirate, we definitely wouldn't have followed his lead!" Nojiko immediately raised her hands, throwing Michael under the bus without hesitation.
"Yeah, yeah!" Nami also raised her hands, chiming in.
"Let me ask this... even if Michael was being reckless, you didn't have to follow him, right?" Bellemere narrowed her eyes.
"From what I know of him, Michael isn't the type to force you into anything."
"Ahem... well, we still have to get by in the Angel Alliance, you know? Gotta give the 'Angel' of the alliance some face... And even old man Garp was convinced by Michael, so what could us small fries do..." Nojiko gestured to the elderly crew around them.
"Yeah, yeah."
"Is 'yeah' all you can say?!" Bellemere rubbed her temples in exasperation. "You... never mind. Michael must have his reasons... But you have to protect yourselves."
"Of course!"
Michael suddenly popped up beside them, giving Bellemere a thumbs-up.
Though his face was so swollen with bruises that it was barely recognizable as his.
Nearby, Luffy shuddered at the sight of Michael's face.
He'd often ended up the same way after being beaten by Aunt Rouge and Nami!
"This woman... what's her relationship with Michael? He's always been kind to his own people, but this is a bit much..."
Imu, who had been observing the scene while gathering information, asked with interest.
"How could he not be kind to her?" Reiju shrugged. "She's our mother—Angel D. Sora, Michael's older sister."
Hearing this, Imu immediately perked up and rushed forward.
"Hello, I'm Michael's girlfriend—"
"Well, that's not... entirely surprising."
Sora looked at Imu with mild astonishment, then glanced at Michael with a hint of... relief.
Could even an iron tree bloom?
"Come, let's talk more."
...
Michael, of course, had no idea what his sister Sora discussed with Imu.
He was busy loading gold onto the Maria and having Cobra publicly expose the crimes of the Old Geezers Pirates to the world.
Thanks to Alabasta's standing in the Angel Alliance—and the close personal ties between Cobra, Sora, and Michael—it took only three days after their departure for the bounty posters to appear.
"Tsk tsk, the folks issuing these bounties work fast. Three days and they've already set the prices?"
"What?! Bounty posters?! Did they put one out for me too?"
On deck, Sengoku eagerly leaned in to take a look.
After serving as Fleet Admiral for so many years, suddenly becoming a pirate brought him an endless sense of novelty.
Michael heard this and flipped through the bounty posters in his hand, eventually finding the one belonging to Sengoku.
"Reach-for-the-Sky—Old Man Zhan? What kind of ridiculous name is this?"
"...What else can we do? It's not like we can just tell people you're Sengoku. But you should be secretly pleased—at least your name sounds way better than Garp's."
Hearing this, Sengoku took Garp's bounty poster.
Written on it was...
"Loudmouth—Cannon Garp."
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