"So this is the strength of the man who defeated Mihawk."
Crocodile stared at Ryūjin while speaking in his deep and magnetic voice.
His tone carried praise, but not fear.
Even after witnessing Ryūjin's terrifying power firsthand, Crocodile still remained confident in himself.
After all, he was a Logia user.
"But none of that matters," Crocodile said coldly. "You still don't understand what a Logia truly is."
"Desert Sunflower!"
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The moisture beneath Ryūjin's feet vanished instantly.
The ground rapidly dried and crumbled apart. Stones, debris, and broken walls all transformed into loose sand.
The entire area became a miniature desert under Crocodile's control.
Then the sand beneath Ryūjin suddenly began collapsing inward.
Rustle! Rustle!
A massive quicksand pit formed beneath him, spinning violently like a funnel.
For ordinary people, this technique was deadly.
The moment someone lost stable footing, they would inevitably be dragged downward and buried alive beneath endless sand.
Back in Alabasta, even Luffy had nearly died to this move.
But the next second, Crocodile's expression changed.
"Nani?"
Ryūjin did not sink.
The quicksand continued collapsing downward, but Ryūjin remained motionless in the air.
Floating.
Crocodile's eyes narrowed instantly.
"What kind of ability is this?"
He had already witnessed Ryūjin's strange repulsive force earlier.
Now this.
"This bastard isn't just a swordsman..."
The man had defeated Mihawk with swordsmanship, yet until now, Ryūjin had not even drawn a blade.
"If your Devil Fruit hasn't awakened yet, then none of this means anything to me," Ryūjin said indifferently while floating above the ground.
Then he clapped his hands together.
Bang!
Four Wood Release clones split from his body instantly.
Crocodile and Robin were visibly stunned.
One Ryūjin had already been absurd enough.
Now there were five.
The four clones flashed toward the edges of the battlefield simultaneously and formed hand seals.
"Ninja Art, Four Red Yang Formation!"
Boom!
A massive crimson barrier rose around the battlefield instantly, sealing Ryūjin and Crocodile inside.
Robin's pupils contracted.
Even Crocodile's expression darkened immediately.
"What is this?"
Without hesitation, Crocodile attacked.
"Desert La Goutte!"
Several gigantic sand blades shot forward violently and slammed against the crimson barrier.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
But the barrier did not even shake.
Not a single crack appeared.
Crocodile's face gradually became uglier.
That crimson wall was not physical matter.
It was pure energy.
Meaning he could not turn it into sand.
For the first time in a long while, Crocodile realized something troublesome.
He was trapped.
Robin watched everything from outside the barrier, shock filling her eyes.
"This ability..."
Logia users were feared because they could transform into natural elements.
They were difficult to capture, difficult to damage, and nearly impossible to restrain.
But Ryūjin's barrier completely erased that advantage.
"You really are troublesome," Crocodile admitted coldly while staring at Ryūjin. "Fine, I'll admit it. You trapped me."
Then he smirked.
"But what's the point? You still can't hurt me."
Elementalization was still his greatest weapon.
As long as Ryūjin lacked Haki, Crocodile believed victory remained his.
Ryūjin simply looked at him with obvious disdain.
Then he formed hand seals again.
"Water Release, Violent Water Wave."
Splash!!!
An enormous amount of water erupted from Ryūjin's mouth instantly.
Within moments, the barrier began filling with water like a flooding ocean.
Crocodile's face finally changed completely.
"What?!"
He could barely believe what he was seeing.
This amount of water was absurd.
Even Robin's expression froze.
Ryūjin possessed too many abilities.
Sharingan.
Repulsive force.
Wood Release.
Spatial abilities.
And now water manipulation.
At this point, Crocodile genuinely felt like he was fighting a monster.
Inside the barrier, the water level rose rapidly.
Soon it reached Crocodile's ankles.
Then his knees.
Then his waist.
Because of the enclosed barrier, there was nowhere for him to escape.
"Damn you!"
"Heavy Sandstorm!"
A gigantic sandstorm erupted violently toward Ryūjin.
The pressure behind the attack was terrifying enough to shred buildings apart.
But Ryūjin simply raised one hand.
"Shinra Tensei."
Boom!
The sandstorm exploded apart instantly.
The overwhelming repulsive force erased the attack completely.
Crocodile's expression twisted with anger.
"Desert Sword!"
"Desert La Goutte!"
He attacked repeatedly, launching one deadly technique after another.
But every single attack was crushed effortlessly by Ryūjin.
It was complete suppression.
Slowly, the water consumed Crocodile entirely.
At that moment, Crocodile finally lost the ability to use his Sand-Sand Fruit properly.
Water was his natural weakness.
"You bastard..." Crocodile growled through clenched teeth.
"To push me this far..."
But even then, he refused to give up.
Instead, madness appeared in his eyes.
"If I'm going down, then you're coming with me."
Crocodile suddenly activated the poison hidden inside his golden hook.
Dark poison rapidly spread through the surrounding water.
A cruel grin appeared on his face.
"We're both inside the same water. Once the poison spreads, you'll die too."
Ryūjin looked at him silently for a moment.
Then he almost laughed.
"Fuck off."
Did Crocodile seriously think this barrier trapped Ryūjin too?
The next moment, Ryūjin's eyes shifted into the Mangekyō Sharingan.
A Kamui vortex twisted around his body instantly.
Before the poison could spread toward him, Ryūjin disappeared from inside the barrier and reappeared outside it.
Crocodile froze.
Robin was speechless.
That was just embarrassing.
Ryūjin ignored Crocodile completely after leaving the barrier.
Instead, he appeared directly beside Robin using Body Flicker.
Robin's body stiffened instantly.
After watching Crocodile get completely overwhelmed, she naturally understood how dangerous Ryūjin truly was.
Without hesitation, she attacked first.
"Thirty Fleur, Clutch!"
Dozens of arms instantly bloomed across Ryūjin's body.
Some grabbed his neck.
Others locked onto his arms and legs.
Robin tried to snap his spine instantly.
But after a few seconds, her expression slowly changed.
Nothing moved.
Ryūjin's body felt like solid steel.
"Thirty Fleur, Clutch!"
She tried again.
Still nothing.
Sweat gradually formed on Robin's forehead as she continued applying force.
But Ryūjin remained completely motionless.
Her attacks were useless.
"You misunderstand something," Ryūjin said casually. "I'm not here to attack you."
Robin remained vigilant.
"Then what do you want?"
Ryūjin looked directly at her.
"Join my crew."
Robin blinked.
For a moment, she genuinely thought she misheard him.
Out of all the possibilities she had considered, this was not one of them.
Ryūjin continued speaking.
"I want someone who can read the Poneglyphs."
Robin's expression became more guarded instantly.
That answer was expected.
Crocodile had wanted the same thing.
The secrets hidden within the Poneglyphs were dangerous enough to shake the world itself.
She would never casually hand that knowledge over to someone dangerous.
Ryūjin noticed her hesitation immediately.
"I'm not interested in Pluton," he said plainly.
Robin's eyes narrowed slightly.
Ryūjin continued.
"I don't need the ancient weapons. If you find information related to them, I don't care."
"I only want two things."
"To reach Laugh Tale."
"And to learn the truth about the Void Century."
Robin stared at him quietly.
She could not read this man at all.
I've been dealing with exams lately, so updates have been a bit slower than usual.