Chapter 33: Let Me Show You... The Gap in Our Abilities! (BAM!)
In Alabasta, when people speak of nature or disasters, what comes to mind?
The answer is beyond doubt.
In a country where over 70% of the land is desert, "nature" and "disaster" refer to the same thing: the yellow sand that covers the nation.
And right now, where the 'Spiders Cafe' once stood, the power of 'Sand' was on full display.
RUMBLE!
The sand-covered earth moved like a living creature, devouring everything on its surface. The sand was its mouth, its teeth, its claws.
The entire cafe had already been dragged underground.
In its place was a massive, swirling sinkhole over a hundred feet wide—a 'Desert Sunflower'—continuously swallowing everything in its reach.
Above the ground, Crocodile hovered, carried by the desert wind.
"Desert Sunflower."
His lower body had completely transformed into a flowing stream of sand.
This was the power he relied on, the power that let him stand near the peak of this sea—the Logia-type Sand-Sand Fruit.
Click!
He calmly took out another cigar, snipped the tip, and lit it.
"Phew."
Exhaling a cloud of smoke, he looked down at the sinkhole.
"Ryuji... he must be connected to that Yuji. Members of the same organization or pirate crew?" he guessed.
"And Nico Robin..."
His expression darkened.
His 'Operation: Utopia' wasn't just about usurping Alabasta. Its most important goal was to obtain the intel on Pluton hidden within the kingdom.
Nico Robin was indispensable for that. But now, he had been forced to kill her. That annoyed him.
Of course, he didn't regret it. Tolerating betrayal was a fool's decision, and he knew that better than anyone.
"Whatever."
He thought calmly. "I'll take Alabasta first. As for deciphering the Poneglyph... I'll find another way."
"First priority is to confirm the status of the others."
"I can't lose my Warlord status yet. I need new agents. If the executives are dead, I'll have to pause the plan, find new strong subordinates to rebuild the company's strength, and then restart."
Thinking calmly, Crocodile turned to leave.
But...
"Hm?"
He had taken only one step when he frowned, sensing something.
He stopped and turned back around.
He looked at the massive sinkhole in the desert.
Krrrk! Krrrk!
From within the shifting sands came a crisp sound—the sound of sand freezing solid.
"Hm?"
Crocodile raised an eyebrow.
The next moment...
BOOM!
The sand in the entire sinkhole stopped flowing.
And then...
SHATTER!
It exploded outward!
Crocodile saw Ryuji and Nico Robin emerge.
Robin's face was pale with lingering fear and shock.
But Ryuji walked calmly out of the pit.
"What's wrong, Crocodile?"
"I heard you fought Whitebeard when you were young. You got crushed, sure, but you've seen the world. You didn't think that little attack would kill me, did you?"
He looked up at Crocodile, his voice mocking under the mask.
"..."
Hearing this, Crocodile's face grew even darker.
His crushing defeat at the hands of Whitebeard was the one thing he hated being reminded of.
"Is that so? Coming from a guy who hides his face, you talk big. But you look pretty weak to me."
As a warlord of the sea, Crocodile wasn't one to lose a battle of words.
"Coincidence."
Ryuji laughed. "That's exactly what I wanted to tell you. Crocodile... you can't beat me."
As the words fell...
"Heh."
With a sneer, Crocodile's body dissolved into sand.
An instant later, he reformed right next to Ryuji.
His golden hook flashed cold, whistling through the air toward Ryuji's head.
But immediately...
CLANG!
An ice wall materialized out of thin air. Crocodile's hook slammed into it, the tip embedding itself in the ice.
"Freezing... So that's how you escaped the Desert Sunflower," Crocodile's pupils constricted.
But before he could pull his hook free, he saw Ryuji move.
"There's a lady present. Let's take this somewhere else."
Ryuji whispered with a chuckle, his fist clenching.
"Tekkai: Steel Fist!"
And then...
BOOM!
Crocodile saw the fist flying toward his abdomen.
"Tekkai... one of the Rokushiki!"
Crocodile recognized the technique instantly. He wasn't surprised—while the Rokushiki were created by the World Government, they were widely known across the seas.
What he truly cared about was...
"No Haki!?"
His Observation Haki confirmed it. There was no Armament Haki on that fist.
And as everyone knew—against a Logia user, an attack without Haki was meaningless.
"Idiot."
Crocodile concluded.
He didn't dodge. Just like he had done for years against all those rookie pirates in 'Paradise.'
"Let me show you... the gap in our abilities... Guh-oh!"
Crocodile's confident smirk froze before it could even fully form.
Because at that moment, he felt it—the sensation was wrong.
The fist didn't pass through his sand body.
Quite the opposite!
BAM!
It felt like being hit head-on by a rampaging beast. Crocodile's torso caved in!
Hot blood sprayed uncontrollably from his mouth. His body was launched backward like a kite with a cut string.
CRASH!
He flew like a cannonball, smashing through rocks before slamming heavily into the desert sand, kicking up a massive cloud of dust.
Ryuji slowly retracted his fist.
"Sorry, I didn't quite catch that."
"What were you saying you wanted to show me?"
☆☆☆
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