Victory / An Unquiet Night

The golden light surged furiously, roaring with rage like a tiger charging down a mountain.

Crocodile, rushing straight at it, was completely swallowed up as though he had run into a blade.

Arthur saw Crocodile split in two by the cutting edge at the front, then turn into a cloud of yellow sand within the golden torrent. The tiny grains gradually vanished into nothingness.

To Arthur's considerable regret, however, Crocodile's life was too tenacious, and the golden torrent lasted far too briefly.

Only a small portion of the sand was disintegrated; the greater part stubbornly survived.

Chapter 36: Victory

(This is the only chapter today. Actually, there wasn't going to be one, but I slowly typed it out on my phone at the hospital. I have a fever from a bad cold, and I live alone. This is my first time getting sick since I came away to study, and I'm really scared. I don't even dare take a bath. I need to drink more water and sleep more, so I'm taking a day off. I'll resume updates tomorrow or tomorrow night, and once the story goes on sale, I'll make up for everything. Sorry.)

The surviving sand gathered into a ball as if drawn by a magnet, then formed Crocodile once more.

Although he had survived being engulfed by the golden torrent, Crocodile was not in as good a condition as one might imagine.

First, the golden handguard, which had already been melted down to a short stub, had completely dissolved. The burns that had covered his chest now looked as though they had been splashed with magma, leaving his flesh mangled and giving off a haze with the smell of cooked meat. Bones were faintly visible beneath the burns on his arms in particular.

These burns could not be healed by transforming into his elemental form. He could only rely on medicine and time to recover slowly.

This was already a very good outcome. If most of the sand had been disintegrated, even if Crocodile recovered, he would at least have lost limbs.

Crocodile was weaker than he had ever been, his stamina as dry as an empty well.

Whether turning into sand within the golden torrent or restoring his body afterward, both consumed a tremendous amount of stamina.

Having already used a wide-area Erosion Cycle and now brought himself back to "life," Crocodile once again felt that utterly stifling exhaustion after so many years.

That exhaustion had another name: the feeling of defeat, a suffocating weight.

Looking at Arthur, who was also panting, Crocodile forced his eyelids open and said through gritted teeth, "You win, knight brat. I'll leave this humiliation with you for now. Step over me and rise to a higher position! Don't you dare lose to someone I look down on, or I'll hunt you down across the entire world."

With those words, Crocodile lost consciousness under the weight of his exhaustion. His body fell from the air toward the ground like a hailstone.

Arthur watched him and let out a heavy breath. Having released the True Name twice in succession, he had nearly exhausted his mana as well, and he slowly drifted down after Crocodile.

"Ding! You have won this battle. Accumulated victories: 31!" As he descended, the long-unheard notification sounded in Arthur's mind.

As it rang out, Arthur felt a warm current well up inside him. Like a whirlwind, it swept away all his fatigue. He could clearly feel his nearly depleted mana rapidly recovering with every breath he took.

This was the free enhancement the system granted after a battle when it acknowledged his victory.

This time, however, the enhancement was more intense than any before it.

It swept away all his fatigue like an autumn wind scattering fallen leaves, and by the moment Arthur landed, roughly forty percent of his mana had recovered.

Could it be that the stronger and more renowned the person I defeat, the greater the enhancement I receive? At that thought, Arthur immersed his consciousness in his mind.

Name: Arthur Pendragon

Sex: male

Age: 17

Height: 181 cm

Weight: 69 kg

Strength: D+

Endurance: D+

Agility: D+

Agility: D+

Mana: C-

Luck: EX

Noble Phantasm: EX

Innate skills: Instinct (A), Mana Burst (A), Giant Beast Hunting (A), Charisma (D)

Skills: Observation Haki (D+), Armament Haki (D+), Swordsmanship (A-)

Noble Phantasms: Excalibur (EX), Invisible Air (C), Rhongomyniad (unawakened), Avalon (unawakened)

...

They all rose by one minor rank?!

Just as Arthur had guessed, his strength, endurance, and agility had all risen from D to D+, while his mana had reached C-, the lowest grade of rank C. Even both types of Haki had risen by one minor rank.

What delighted Arthur most, however, was that a month of training at Whiskey Peak, the two uses of Excalibur just now, and this most intense enhancement had finally brought his Swordsmanship from B+ to rank A.

Although it was only A-, the lowest grade of rank A, Arthur could now be counted among the top swordsmen.

He had to admit that the value Crocodile had brought him truly surprised him.

The reputation of the Shichibukai needed no explanation. Alongside the Four Emperors and Marine Headquarters, they were known as the three great powers of the Grand Line. To become a Shichibukai, one needed tremendous fame and enough power to intimidate the seas. Every one of them was a true great pirate.

This was Arthur's first time defeating a great pirate, and the enhancement Crocodile had brought him seemed to light the way forward.

The stronger and more renowned a person was, the greater the corresponding enhancement he could gain by defeating them.

Returning his attention to the outside world, Arthur glanced at Crocodile lying on the ground and smiled faintly. He had no intention of finishing off this troublesome man.

Crocodile was a Shichibukai, and his bounty had been frozen when he joined their ranks.

Even if Arthur killed him, he could not exchange his head for Beli.

Moreover, Arthur believed that Cobra, who understood what Crocodile had done all along, would certainly not let such a good opportunity slip by.

It would have been different if Crocodile had been defeated in secret, but unfortunately for him, he had been knocked off his pedestal before countless people, and some people had been paying attention to his actions.

That was a fatal weakness. Having failed, he still harbored dangerous intentions, and Cobra was not the only one who would seize this opportunity; Marine Headquarters and the World Government would not let it go either.

Crocodile's position was finished, and the fate awaiting him was imprisonment in Impel Down, just as in the original story.

Arthur was more than happy to hand Crocodile over to Cobra in exchange for a favor.

With that thought, Arthur gave Crocodile one last look, then turned and headed toward Nanohana.

Not long after he left, a group of Alubarna's guards arrived, put Seastone Handcuffs on the unconscious Crocodile, and took him away.

Chapter 37: An Unquiet Night

At dusk, at a dock in Nanohana.

After buying supplies and cool clothing in the city, Nami and Robin had obediently stayed aboard the ship, waiting for Arthur to return.

"Is something wrong, Nami?" Robin asked from inside the cabin, where she was keeping Nami company.

A few hours ago, the normally lively Nami had suddenly become anxious and downcast, arousing Robin's curiosity.

Suddenly, Robin seemed to think of something. Her eyes lit up, and she looked at Nami. "Does it have something to do with that golden light from earlier?"

A few hours ago, a golden meteor had streaked across the sky, visible from almost all of Alabasta. Robin remembered that Nami had become like this only after seeing it.

"Yes, Arthur was probably responsible for that golden light." Nami nodded, hiding nothing from Robin. "I've seen it before. It's incredibly powerful. Arthur must be fighting some powerful enemy."

Having seen Excalibur with her own eyes, no one knew better than Nami how powerful the golden light that had torn across the sky was. Even a large ship would instantly be reduced to nothing before it, and a Fish-Man's sturdy body would be vaporized the instant it was lightly touched.

Although Arthur had not said so, Nami could guess that the move had to be a trump card he used to save his life.

Anyone who could make him use it was undoubtedly a formidable enemy.

How could Nami not worry?

"The captain did that?!" Robin could not help being surprised.

He could walk on water, might have eaten a Devil Fruit that gave him control over wind, and was a skilled swordsman who would certainly rank among the best in the four seas. That was Robin's assessment of Arthur's strength.

If the golden light that had torn across the sky, visible throughout Alabasta, was an attack, its power was surely more than its dazzling appearance suggested.

Nami's words made Robin reassess Arthur's strength.

Mr. Knight, Captain... just what kind of person are you?

A desire to find out rose unbidden in Robin's heart.

"Creak—"

Just then, the cabin door was pushed open from outside.

The chrysanthemum-red light of the setting sun fell on a tall, upright figure.

"Arthur..."

Seeing him in the doorway, Nami immediately rushed over and clutched his clothes tightly, looking frightened.

"..."

Not understanding what was going on, Arthur gently patted her back.

"Idiot, you went to explore an island. How did you end up fighting someone?" Nami clenched her small fist and thumped him hard on the chest as she chided him.

"I'm a bounty hunter. Isn't it normal for me to fight pirates?"

"Is the Grand Line really that dangerous? If any random pirate can make you use a move to save your life, maybe we should stop being bounty hunters." Nami took him at his word and said worriedly, "What if you become famous and even more pirates come after you for revenge? What will we do then?"

"Come on, can't you have a little faith in me..."

"Come on, can't you have a little faith in me..."

Hearing this, Arthur finally understood why Nami had rushed at him in fright as soon as he returned. He reached out and pinched her nose, smiling as he said, "I'm very strong, you know."

If he were in the New World, Arthur might not have dared say that, but here in Paradise, he was confident he had no one to fear.

"This is for you!"

With that, Arthur took a small bag from his pocket and tossed it to Robin, who was watching from the side.

"A veil?" Robin caught it and opened the bag. When she found a veil inside, she looked at Arthur in confusion.

"It'll take some time for the Log Pose to store Lodestar Island's magnetic field. We'll stay on the island for the next few days, and this will help you hide your identity so your organization's boss won't find you, won't it?" Arthur pretended not to know that Crocodile was Baroque Works' Mr. 0, and he did not tell Robin that he had already defeated him.

"How thoughtful of you, Captain." Robin smiled gently, though it was unclear how she felt.

"Enough talking. Hurry up and take a bath and change your clothes. You're filthy." Nami suddenly interrupted and patted Arthur's clothes, raising a cloud of dust. Even in the chrysanthemum-red light, his once-pure-white knight's outfit was visibly covered in dirt.

Leaving aside his battle with Crocodile, simply crossing the desert and back was enough to make Arthur's clothes look as if he had rolled around on the ground.

At Nami's words, Arthur smiled and nodded, then headed for the bathroom.

That night, Arthur and the two women temporarily left their life aboard the ship and stayed at an inn in Nanohana.

To them, it was another warm and pleasant night.

But to certain others, it was a night of great upheaval.

First was Alubarna, where the capital could hardly remain calm.

Cobra was immensely agitated.

Cobra knew that Crocodile was behind both the Dance Powder incident and the Rebel Army, and that the Shichibukai was trying to seize his country.

For that reason, his daughter and the captain of the guard had risked entering enemy ranks to uncover the secrets of Baroque Works, the organization Crocodile had founded.

Although Cobra strongly opposed his daughter's actions, he knew better than anyone how powerful a Shichibukai was.

It was no good thing for someone so dangerous to have his sights set on his country.

And now, that great pirate had been defeated, and in full public view at that.

Over the years, thanks to Robin deliberately leaking information, Cobra had learned many of Crocodile's secrets. Knowing the advantages and drawbacks of the Shichibukai system well, he immediately sent people to arrest Crocodile. Then, in his capacity as king of a World Government Member State and a descendant of the former Nefertari king, one of the twenty kings who had jointly founded the World Government eight hundred years ago, he called the World Government to expose Crocodile's crimes.

Although his ancestor had refused to move to the Holy Land eight hundred years ago, leaving him without the immense privileges of the Celestial Dragons who lived there now, and although Alabasta's origins had gradually been forgotten over those eight centuries, Cobra was still a descendant of the creators. His words carried more weight than those of any other king of an Affiliated Nation.

Being defeated in public was tantamount to losing his reputation as a great pirate, which meant he no longer met the requirements to be a Shichibukai. Moreover, he had committed the crime of attempting to seize a country, and that country was an Affiliated Nation that paid Heavenly Tribute to the Celestial Dragons.

Just as Arthur had guessed, Crocodile was finished. All that awaited him was a trip to Impel Down.