The instant Chenlong finished speaking, Crocodile truly saw the enormous wave that had appeared out of nowhere.
The meltwater from the iceberg gathered together and surged downward, its volume immense and its crest nearly dozens of meters high.
It was as if a real dragon were rolling and tumbling within the waves!
It surged and roared, charging toward the desert where Crocodile stood!
"."
In the distance, Aha watched the scene from afar and was practically dumbstruck.
He almost thought he was dreaming.
But moments later, he confirmed that he was not dreaming.
Because even in a dream, he could never have imagined such a scene.
Alabasta—in this desert kingdom, a tsunami had actually appeared!
At that moment, an unprecedented sense of crisis also rose in Crocodile's heart.
What was happening had likewise exceeded his understanding.
"That enormous iceberg melted. How did he do that?"
"What exactly is going on with this guy's ability...?"
Countless questions still filled his mind.
But at this moment, none of that was important anymore.
The only thing that mattered now was the outcome of this battle!
"To think I'd actually... run into such an incredible monster."
As the words fell, Crocodile did not retreat—running away was meaningless in the face of such a technique.
So.
"Boom!"
His right hand seized the wrist of his left hand, and he abruptly plunged both hands into the Sea of Sand beneath his feet.
"Corrosion Samsara!"
His low growl rang out.
The next moment, the earth shook violently once again.
Countless grains of Yellow Sand surged even more violently from within the desert.
They churned and formed an invisible wave centered on Crocodile, spreading outward.
Wherever it passed...
Even the scant moisture remaining in the desert was rapidly sucked dry.
The stones faintly visible within the quicksand turned to powder in an instant.
And at that very moment—
"Heavy Sandstorm!"
Crocodile unleashed his ability once more. The surrounding Yellow Sand rolled back even more fiercely, forming a vast storm.
Then, in the next instant—
The force that had drained away all the moisture and the enormous sandstorm collided with the Giant Wave sweeping across the desert!
"Boom!"
The Yellow Sand twisted around the Giant Wave, sending muddy pillars of water soaring into the air.
The golden sandstorm and the deep-blue Giant Wave collided in a scene so grand it seemed drawn from mythology.
But every story eventually came to an end.
The instant droplets from the Giant Wave first began passing through the Yellow Sand—
The victor had already been decided.
"Boom!"
The next moment, the Giant Wave smashed through the sandstorm.
Mud scattered across the sky, while the remaining waves washed over Crocodile without obstruction.
Feeling his body stiffen in an instant, Crocodile gritted his teeth.
He knew that from this moment onward, he could no longer use Elementalization.
He also knew that his opponent would never let this opportunity pass!
And that was exactly what happened.
"Crack!"
A wave of extreme cold suddenly swept over him. Crocodile looked up.
He saw Chenlong leaping toward him, frost coiling around his hand.
"The victor has been decided, Crocodile!"
He swung his fist and slammed it down at Crocodile!
"Yeah."
But at that very moment—
A strange smile appeared at the corner of Crocodile's mouth. "The victor... has been decided!"
As his voice fell—
"Bang!"
From the sandy ground behind Chenlong, which had already been washed by the Giant Wave—
Something suddenly shot through the sand and flew out. It was a hand!
A left hand wearing a Golden Hook, with Yellow Sand wrapped around the base of its arm.
But the Golden Hook had been removed from the hand. In its place was a sharp, short needle.
The next moment—
"Whoosh!"
The left hand flew in from behind and pierced straight through Chenlong's right abdomen.
Crocodile revealed an excited smile.
"You're a formidable one—the level of that Giant Wave was beyond anything I could completely drain with even my 'Corrosion Samsara.'"
"But."
He rose to his feet.
The wind stirred his long robe, clearly revealing that his left arm had somehow vanished entirely from the base of the arm.
"Before the water washed over me, I could still manage to hide one hand beneath the Yellow Sand."
Crocodile knew he had won.
Both the Golden Hook on his left hand and the short needle had been coated with Alabasta's specialty, Scorpion Venom.
Once pierced, the victim would die without an antidote!
But before Crocodile could announce his victory—
He realized that something was wrong.
"Hm!?"
Only then did he notice that his left hand had not struck the sensation of "flesh."
Quite the opposite.
It felt as though he had stabbed into some indescribably viscous substance.
And just moments later, a searing heat and unbearable pain shot through both of Crocodile's arms.
"Gah!"
The agony of having his bones, flesh, and skin melted together was so intense that even a warlord like Crocodile could not help crying out.
Yet his willpower still made him struggle to raise his head.
Then he saw it—something had begun flowing from Chenlong's body.
But it was not blood.
The viscous, scorching substance burning with flames was unmistakably—
"Magma!?"
Gritting his teeth, he rasped, "Elementalization!?"
He understood what had happened. At that instant, Chenlong had used preemptive Elementalization to evade both of his fatal attacks.
But—
"How is that possible? The Magma-Magma Fruit clearly belongs to—"
With his knowledge, he naturally knew who possessed the Magma-Magma Fruit. That top-tier Logia belonged to the Marine admiral Akainu.
But Chenlong clearly had no intention of giving Crocodile time to think.
Because at that moment—
"Whoosh!"
The sound of something tearing through the air rang out again. Chenlong's fist had arrived.
At the same time, Crocodile saw the incredible form of his opponent.
That imposing Dragon Head Mask seemed to split into red and blue halves at this moment.
His appearance was the same.
Steam coiled around his body like a white sash.
One part of his body was condensed from frost.
The other part of his body burned with magma.
"Dual Elementalization: Frost-Fire Body."
Water dripped down as the frost melted, silently answering Crocodile's question.
His opponent's ability was not the manipulation of water at all.
"Two completely different forms of Elementalization—ice and magma—coexisting within one body?"
This had already exceeded Crocodile's understanding.
He was certain that if he told others what he was seeing, it would cause a sensation throughout the world.
But clearly, he would never have that chance.
"I told you before, didn't I?"
Within his field of vision, the Dragon Head Mask spoke in a calm voice.
The eyes revealed beneath the mask were equally calm.
"You can't defeat me."
The fist formed from converging magma and frost grew larger in Crocodile's sight.
So he closed his eyes.
"Twelve Zodiacs: 'Dragon.'"
He silently murmured the name he had heard for the first time today.
He knew that his opponent was destined to shake the seas.
Just as he once had.
The excitement he had felt when he first went to sea as a pirate, the sense of accomplishment from growing stronger along the way, the helplessness he felt after being defeated by Whitebeard, and the pride he had felt upon becoming a Shichibukai—all kinds of memories surged through his mind at this moment.
He thought of the ambition, aspirations, and goals he had never managed to fulfill.
But just as he had said before—
When one failed, they were all nothing but useless things that would be carved onto a gravestone.
The victor became king and the loser became a criminal. The victor possessed everything—that was the rule of these seas.
"What a... bitter regret."
That quiet murmur became the final thought of Crocodile.
Although Old Croc was a villain, he was actually quite a captivating character, especially after Impel Down.
Originally, I hadn't wanted to write him out so quickly. I had even planned a return for him later on, but while reviewing the outline yesterday, I realized that section actually had a better alternative.
So there was nothing I could do. In this book, he won't get the chance to achieve enlightenment at Dragon Field.
Before you continue