This Thing is Much More Useful Than Haki!

As Crocodile was sent flying by the Dragon of Chen's punch.

Sand and dust filled the air, and the battlefield fell silent.

Nico Robin stood behind the Dragon of the Hour in the massive crater, covering her mouth in surprise.

"That Crocodile, to actually be…"

To be honest, she had chosen to betray Crocodile and cooperate with the other party this time largely because the Dragon of Chen knew her identity—she felt she had no choice.

But deep down, she wasn't optimistic about this betrayal.

Because as Crocodile's partner and collaborator, she knew very well how powerful Crocodile was.

He was a member of the Shichibukai, one of the three major forces in the sea specially selected by the World Government to maintain balance.

Crocodile was undoubtedly an extremely dangerous existence.

Especially his strength—in Robin's memory, she had never even seen Crocodile injured.

Anyone in front of him was as insignificant as a human facing the desert.

This was also why Robin knew about Crocodile's plan in Alabasta, and despite feeling sorry for it, she didn't dare to openly resist.

But now, this Shichibukai, who was almost invincible in her mind, had been directly blown away in front of her.

"This person…"

Thus, Nico Robin couldn't help but look at that figure.

The one from the organization called the Twelve Zodiacs, codenamed Dragon of the Hour of the Dragon.

"A person rarely has the opportunity to pursue their true value, but misses it for some reason, and finally has to hide back in the dark corner. Is that what you seek?"

She suddenly remembered what he had said not long ago.

"My… seek."

Her heart subconsciously murmured.

But it was precisely at this moment…

"Hey, Miss Robin—instead of spacing out, you should quickly get away from the battlefield."

The Dragon of the Hour's voice suddenly interrupted her thoughts.

The voice behind the mask was calm, but what he said stunned Nico Robin.

Then, she immediately realized what the Dragon of Chen meant.

The battle was still continuing!

"Buzz!"

And seemingly to corroborate his words.

Accompanied by the piercing sound of slicing, a huge giant sand blade instantly cut through the diffused sand and dust and flew out.

It swept past a weathered rock mountain and effortlessly split it in half in an instant.

"Desert Treasure Sword!"

Facing this incoming attack, the Dragon of Chen gently raised his hand.

Three huge ice shields appeared again, blocking in front of the giant sand blade.

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

But this time, the powerful sand blade successfully shattered two of the ice shields directly, and its momentum finally stopped at the third one.

At this moment, the Dragon of Chen's gaze turned to the figure walking out of the smoke.

Crocodile.

At this moment, the clothes on his left abdomen were completely torn, revealing strong muscles and a clear bruise from a fist print.

Near the fist print, there were also very obvious signs of frostbite.

A trace of blood remained at the corner of his mouth, making him look very embarrassed.

And at this moment, the arrogance and indifference on his face had disappeared, replaced by the ferocity of a beast that had been completely enraged.

"Indeed, there was no Haki imbued… You actually knew?"

His eyes were fixed on the Dragon of Chen.

What he said was understood by both the Dragon of Chen and himself, naturally.

"Of course, there was no Haki imbued."

So, the Dragon of the Hour of Chen also smiled.

Of course, he wouldn't say, 'Bro, I haven't even learned Haki yet.'

He just raised his hand.

Only to see that at this moment, on his hand, drops of water were constantly condensing.

"Dealing with you, this is much more useful than Haki."

Indeed.

Water—this was Crocodile's, or rather, the Sand-Sand Fruit's weakness.

Sand solidifies when it comes into contact with water, so if Crocodile is hit by water, the affected area cannot be turned into sand.

When it comes to countering Crocodile, water is even more effective than Armament Haki.

And just now, Dragon of the Hour was able to punch Crocodile away precisely because he had coated his hand with water.

"Plop!" "Plop!" "Plop!"

And at the same time as he spoke.

From above, rain began to fall from the sky.

"So I said—you can't win against me."

He calmly repeated the words he had just said.

But this time, Crocodile showed no more disdain.

He simply bit his cigar, looked at the increasingly heavy rain falling from the sky, and felt the sharp pain in his abdomen.

Of course, he didn't hesitate to admit one fact—that he had underestimated Dragon of the Hour.

Or rather, his long-standing success in Alabasta had indeed made him complacent.

He had always known that Dragon of the Chen was the 'Rain Summoner', possessing some kind of ability or technique to bring rain.

But he hadn't been too wary of it.

He had always believed that no one knew his weakness, and he never expected Dragon of the Hour to use water against him right from the start.

This directly led to him being in a dangerous situation just now—if he hadn't noticed something was wrong in time and used Armament Haki hardening to block most of the frostbite, that punch could have directly deprived him of his fighting ability.

The Dragon of Chen's ability did indeed counter him.

Therefore, he felt a long-lost sense of crisis from Dragon of the Hour.

But even so, he still didn't feel panicked in his heart, but instead, a sense of 'excitement' arose.

How many years had it been?

Since that crushing defeat against Whitebeard in the New World, how long had it been since he had felt this way?

He didn't like being schemed against, didn't like being at a disadvantage, and didn't like being passive.

However, he enjoyed 'danger'.

"I am Crocodile!"

"If you think you can defeat me just because you know that 'water' is my weakness, then you are wrong."

At this moment, he grinned, smiling hideously.

"Yellow Sand Giant Curtain!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the yellow sand on the ground that had not yet been dampened by the rain rose up.

They writhed and rose into the sky, eventually forming a giant curtain that blocked all the rain falling from the sky, along with the sunlight.

Just as he had said before, Alabasta was a country of sand.

And in this country—he was the only 'king'.

Even the rain could not fall without his permission.

"Impressive."

Seeing the magnificent sight of the yellow sand blocking the rain curtain in the sky.

Even Dragon of the Hour couldn't help but exclaim in admiration, "Worthy of being one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea."

He was genuinely impressed.

Even knowing the plot, and even knowing Crocodile's abilities and weaknesses, he didn't expect Crocodile to have such a trick to solve the problem of rain.

Crocodile hadn't used this in the original story.

"As expected of a survivor who made it to the final round."

"If you don't have the protagonist's halo like Nika, underestimating him is just asking for death."

He sighed inwardly.

At this moment, Crocodile naturally didn't know what Dragon of the Hour of Chen was thinking.

At this time, the Shichibukai was just looking at Dragon: "Boy, I already know your ability—rain, ice, water droplets on your skin. Although I don't know what fruit it is, you can manipulate the moisture in the air, right?"

He raised the golden hook in his left hand and pointed it at Dragon of the Hour again.

"But, you've missed the only chance to kill me."

"You won't have another chance to touch me with water."

But after hearing his words, Dragon of the Hour laughed.

"Really?"

He said, "I don't believe it."