"Rosen!"
Even with both arms severed, Crocodile, with his unwavering will, couldn't help but show pain on his face.
He reflexively looked around.
Only then did they realize that Rosen, who had been pierced by the sand blade that burst from the ground, had vanished without a trace.
Before Crocodile could think any further, he heard the sound of something breaking again, a sound he had already heard twice before.
Click
With the first sound, he lost his left arm; with the second sound, he lost his right arm.
Now.
As the third sound rang out, Crocodile felt a lightness at the base of his right leg, and then his body instantly lost its balance, causing him to fall onto the desert floor.
Lying prostrate on the ground alongside him was a blood-stained right leg.
"ah!"
In the blink of an eye, Crocodile lost both hands and one leg and was unable to do anything. Like a beast on the verge of despair, he could only let out a frustrated, angry, yet powerless roar.
Before his eyes was only a world filled with sand blades. He could not see Rosen, nor the Zanpakutō that had severed him, nor even Kuzan or Nico Robin.
Click
Suddenly, Crocodile, who was lying prone on the ground, heard a cracking sound that sounded like a deadly scream.
This time, it was the left foot.
Intense pain surged from where his limbs had been severed, rapidly engulfing his entire body and draining almost all color from his already pale face, while his expression became abnormally ferocious.
"Go to hell!"
Crocodile roared as he released sand, forming an indestructible sand blade that, wrapped in Armament Haki, slashed towards his severed left foot, which had fallen into the sand.
Sizzle
This strike cleaved the desert in two, creating a deep crack.
However,
Pfft
This time, Crocodile, whose limbs had been severed, finally heard not the sound of objects breaking, but the sound of sharp blades entering flesh.
His back was pierced by an invisible Zanpakutō, tearing through his skin and flesh, the sharp tip of which pierced his spine.
"ah!"
Crocodile screamed, his whole body tensing up like a boiled shrimp, arching backward and convulsing repeatedly, but then he went limp like a soft-skinned snake whose bones had been removed.
puff
Blood gushed out from five places simultaneously: the knife wound on his back, his shoulders, and his groin, quickly turning the desert beneath him into a crimson pool of blood.
He is a user of the Logia-type Sand-Sand Fruit.
Having lost his hands, he can use sand to create hands and feet to replace them, but his spine was severed by a blade. Even though he can still use his Devil Fruit powers with his brain, his body is completely immobile.
Its only remaining body could only lie prone on the ground.
Give up!
"Your sand can't touch me."
"It's forever."
Rosen's voice, like a devil's whisper, lingered in Crocodile's ears.
"Come out!"
"Get out here!"
"Rosen."
"I know you are right in front of me."
Upon hearing Rosen's voice, Crocodile's eyes instantly turned bloodshot, and then, as if provoked, he descended into a frenzied beast.
While roaring repeatedly, he relentlessly created sand, forming one sand blade after another, slashing in all directions.
Click
With a series of tearing sounds, the desert was also cut open, riddled with holes, and extended with shocking cracks.
He seemed to be physically exhausted.
It also seems that the injury was too severe.
Unlike Kaido, who possesses monstrous health bars, regeneration abilities, and defense, Crocodile, after unleashing nearly fifty sand blades in one go, couldn't even stir up a single speck of sand, his proud head pressed against the scorching desert.
It was at this moment.
Crocodile, who was lying face down in the desert, suddenly noticed a figure appear in his line of sight.
His pupils moved upwards, and he saw a blood-stained Zanpakutō.
Continue moving upwards.
He saw the other person clearly.
It was none other than Rosen, who held the Kyōka Suigetsu.
"Rosen!"
Upon seeing Rosen appear, Crocodile gritted his teeth and roared. He instinctively tried to push himself up with his hands, but the next second he realized that his hands and feet had been severed and he was lying paralyzed in a sand pile not far from him.
Why that expression?
Do you really think you can defeat me?
Rosen met Crocodile's predatory gaze with a light laugh.
"..."
Crocodile didn't speak, but his eyes grew increasingly fierce.
"You should be proud of it."
"A pirate of your caliber actually witnessed the power of Kyōka Suigetsu."
"You should know that this is one of my strongest Zanpakutō."
Rosen shook his head:
"Even Kaido and Ochoku, the Four Emperors who reign supreme over the world, have never seen it."
"And you, Crocodile."
"However, it is only the Seven Warlords of the Sea who have the good fortune to witness the illusion of a mirage."
These words were spoken.
Crocodile's eyes widened as he prepared to use the Sand-Sand Fruit again to launch another attack on Rosen.
But Rosen saw through his every move.
Faced with the rapidly condensing sand blades.
After glancing at Crocodile, Rosen did not stop him, but instead said something in a calm tone.
"Shatter, Kyōka Suigetsu."
Click
Just as Crocodile created a sand blade, preparing to slash at Rosen in front of him, the space in his vision exploded first.
The next second.
The cracks, like those on a shattered mirror, disappeared as if they had never existed.
But at the same time.
Along with the cracks, the boundless desert covered with sand blades also disappeared.
Yes.
Whether it was Alubarna, the capital of Arabasta, which stood majestically in the desert, or the entire desert that Crocodile lay prostrate over, they all vanished.
Instead, there was a boundless sea.
Crocodile, on the other hand, lay prone on the beach where the sea met the ocean.
"..."
With Rosen's single word, the sand blade that was about to strike was completely frozen in mid-air.
rustle
A moment later, the sand blade suspended in mid-air began to disintegrate, turning into a waterfall of yellow sand that all fell onto Crocodile's body.
It wasn't Rosen who crushed the sand blade, but rather Crocodile who stopped using his Devil Fruit to control it, and it disintegrated into sandstorm.
Looking at the azure sea before him, Crocodile seemed to have lost his last bit of spirit.
They had lost even the will to launch a pointless attack and continue their death throes.
This moment.
He suddenly realized why the sand blades that had affected an area of a thousand meters in radius couldn't touch Rosen at all.
It turned out that he was no longer in Alubarna, but had come to the border of Arabasta.
Through the world's live broadcast, Crocodile, who had witnessed Rosen tear the sky apart with the Garganta, understood that from the moment he approached the Arabasta Palace, he did not go to the Underground Burial Temple, nor to the desert outside the capital, but stepped into the Garganta and then gradually arrived at the border of Arabasta.
And Rosen.
There's also Kuzan and Nico Robin.
The three of them stood on the frozen sea, silently watching him as he unleashed a torrent of energy at the ocean.
Water is the nemesis of sandy fruits, let alone the ocean.
Faced with the Grand Line, they simply created a desert sword from the sea.
Therefore, the sand blades that were seen everywhere were just an illusion created by Rosen using a mirage.
The battle continues to this day.
Even with his limbs severed and his spine pierced, he was still living in a hallucination.
Unable to distinguish between truth and falsehood.
The enemy is not visible.
They didn't even know where they were.
They can only remain forever trapped in illusions.
Watching the desert turn into a sea, Crocodile was filled with despair and despair.
He lay down on the beach, no longer resisting, but instead asking himself questions.
Everything before my eyes.
Is it an illusion, or reality?
Have I returned to the Grand Line, or am I still living in the illusory world woven by illusions and fleeting dreams?
…
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