Crocodile pulled his thoughts back from the outside forces.
He began examining himself.
The nine consecutive battles in the Paramount War had not only greatly boosted his reputation within the military, but also brought more tangible gains.
He could clearly feel that his long-stagnant Haki had improved somewhat.
His Sand-Sand Fruit ability also seemed just one step away from its second awakening.
"Cannot stop accumulating natural energy. 'Sand' is the core of my power."
Crocodile took a sip of red wine, savoring its rich flow down his throat while his mind raced.
"Alchemy helps one understand the essence of material transformation. It will aid my comprehension of the laws of 'sand.'"
"But where is the crucial opportunity?"
Lowering his head, he glanced at the empty back of his left hand.
Truth had told him that.
Kuzan and Sakazuki had both, during the Five-Star Sea Unification and with Lord Imu's help,
used the immense power unleashed by the expansion of Ice Land and the formation of Flame Continent to break through their bottlenecks in one stroke.
They had elevated the Ice-Ice Fruit and Magma-Magma Fruit to their second-awakening states.
But the manifestation of laws brought about by such heaven-and-earth upheavals was an opportunity one could encounter only by chance.
"If I do not have that kind of luck, then I can only use the clumsiest method."
Crocodile's gaze did not waver in the slightest.
Rather than falling into the negative emotions of envy, he planned out his own path to becoming stronger.
First, he would continue absorbing the earth energy contained within the Nether Crystals produced by the Nether Crystal Dragon.
Second, he would regularly venture deep into Alabasta's desert regions.
He would fully elementalize his body and merge with the endless sea of sand, sensing its pulse and laws.
He