"No, that's impossible!"
After being stabbed in the back by Rosen's Kyōka Suigetsu, Crocodile knelt on the desert, blood flowing continuously from the wound on his chest like a crimson waterfall, constantly washing over the desert where he knelt.
In response to this.
He paid no attention to it, his focus entirely on the dried-out corpse in his right hand.
"how so?"
It would have been better if he hadn't looked; once he did, Crocodile's face instantly changed color.
He remembered clearly that the dried corpse in his hand was Rosen, whose moisture he had drained, but now the dried corpse seemed to dissipate like a wisp of smoke in the wind, drifting away from his sight.
It was as if it had never existed.
"Don't waste your energy, you can't kill me."
Rosen raised the Zanpakutō in his hand and flicked it lightly, sending the blood that had stained the blade when it pierced Crocodile flying onto the desert.
"Desert Spada!"
Upon hearing this, Crocodile's face darkened. He suppressed the excruciating pain in his chest, grabbed the sand in front of him with his right hand, and with a backhand motion, he stirred up the surging yellow sand, forming several sand blades mixed with purple light, which he slashed at Rosen standing behind him.
Click
Under Crocodile's astonished gaze, Rosen was directly cut into several pieces by Crocodile's Multi-Sand Blade, but his severed body disappeared as quickly as a dream.
at the same time.
Behind Crocodile, another unharmed Rosen reappeared.
"It's happening again!"
Crocodile turned to look at Rosen behind him, his expression growing increasingly grim.
three times.
This was the third time he had witnessed a illusion, but he still couldn't see any flaws.
He was completely unaware of when he was affected by the Kyōka Suigetsu or when Rosen used its power.
Whether they were unprepared or prepared, the result was the same: they were completely outmaneuvered by Rosen's illusory abilities from beginning to end.
Let alone cracking the illusion, they can't even cope with it.
"Don't you understand?"
"My Zanpakutō, Kyōka Suigetsu, has the true power of complete hypnosis."
"As long as I'm willing, any opponent you defeat, no matter how many times, is nothing but an illusion."
Rosen stood behind Crocodile, looking down at the King of the Desert.
"Complete hypnosis?"
Crocodile recalled three experiences of falling into hallucinations.
Sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch.
Everything was affected.
The illusory world woven by the power of illusion is exactly the same as the real world.
Even those with Observation Haki couldn't detect anything amiss.
This illusion, so real it was indistinguishable from reality, even captivated him despite his knowledge of the illusion's power, leading him to believe he had killed Rosen.
Because all of this feels so real.
No.
The information captured through the five senses and the Haki of observation is the feedback and processing result obtained by the brain, which is real.
Only when one's body is pierced by a blade can one realize that they have been under an illusion.
"Rosen is right in front of me."
"I was clearly watching him the whole time."
"Whether I look with my eyes or use my Observation Haki to sense it, I haven't let my guard down for a moment, but I still can't detect when he used the power of that knife."
Crocodile was completely baffled.
Previously, it was understandable that Rosen hadn't shown himself, but now that he was standing right in front of him, he still couldn't tell when Rosen had used the Kyōka Suigetsu ability.
"unless."
At this moment.
An idea popped into Crocodile's mind, and his pupils immediately contracted, as if he had thought of something terrifying.
"So-called complete hypnosis."
"Once you're affected by the 'Kyōka Suigetsu' ability, you'll be in a state of complete hypnosis forever."
Even if you know you've been hypnotized, you can't escape it.
Crocodile's mind was filled with turmoil as he thought about this.
He was unable to detect when Rosen used the Kyōka Suigetsu ability because he was always in the illusion, never leaving it.
Since they were in a state of complete hypnosis the whole time, they naturally couldn't detect when Rosen used the Kyōka Suigetsu technique.
How could someone who has been living in a world of illusion possibly touch Rosen, who is living in the real world?
"Yes.
"This is just a illusion."
"Once you fall under the spell of 'Kyōka Suigetsu,' you will be in a state of complete hypnosis from that moment on."
"This time is forever."
At this moment.
Rosen suddenly spoke up, revealing Crocodile's thoughts and admitting that his guess was correct.
"Forever?"
Upon hearing this, Crocodile felt a sinking feeling in his heart, as if he were being oppressed by an invisible mountain.
To be in a state of complete hypnosis for one's entire life.
Then he would be nothing more than a prisoner of illusions.
The kind that can never be freed from.
How can he fight under such circumstances?
"It seems you understand."
"As a prisoner of illusion, you don't even have the right to raise your sword against me."
"It's forever."
Rosen looked into Crocodile's eyes and spoke in a calm tone, as if stating a fact.
"Yeah?"
"That's not necessarily true."
Crocodile gritted his teeth and dragged his blood-stained body to his feet in the desert.
"oh?"
Seeing that Crocodile had faced the illusion of the moon and water several times without despairing, or rather, without giving up, Rosen couldn't help but reveal a playful smile.
"I don't need to distinguish between truth and falsehood at all."
"I don't need to know where you are."
"As long as I know you're nearby, that's fine."
Crocodile stomped his foot on the desert.
Boom
Pfft
The vast desert trembled violently at first, then one, two, three... little did anyone know that sand blades were rising from the ground, encompassing the desert within a radius of several thousand meters.
As countless sand blades burst forth from the earth, everything within sight was pierced through.
Whether it's Rosen, or Nico Robin who's in the same category, or Kuzan.
No one can escape it.
They were all pierced by this blade hell woven from countless sand blades.
Not only that.
After being pierced by a sand blade, the body's moisture will be rapidly absorbed.
"Guhahahaha!"
"Rosen."
"If I were a Zoan-type or Paramecia-type Devil Fruit user, then facing your Kyōka Suigetsu would truly be equivalent to facing despair."
"However, it's a pity."
"I am a Logia-type Sand-Sand Fruit user. All I need to do is destroy everything in front of me, and the enemies in this area will also be destroyed."
Crocodile coughed a few times, a sinister grin spreading across his face.
"An illusion is ultimately just an illusion; it is false."
"My sand is different; it's real power."
Even if I am in a state of complete hypnosis at all times, in the illusionary world you have woven for me, my sand can still touch you in the real world.
He hadn't finished speaking.
Click
A sudden sound of something breaking rang out.
Then.
Under Crocodile's astonished gaze, his left arm was severed at the root, stained with scarlet blood, and flew through the air.
Snap
The belated pain as his arm fell to the ground finally snapped Crocodile out of his daze.
Click
Just as he came to his senses, before he could react, he heard a familiar cracking sound again.
Immediately afterwards.
Crocodile felt his right shoulder become lighter.
Then.
Like his left arm, his right arm was also severed at the root, mixed with blood, and fell to the ground.
In an instant.
The king of the desert had his arms removed and could do nothing but stand there, enduring the pain of losing his arms.
…
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