Feeling the faint tremors running through Rain Dinners, Bane raised his fist with some dissatisfaction. "Still not proficient enough. It doesn't have that effortless feeling. According to Dorry, when this kind of power is concentrated at a single point and unleashed, it shouldn't affect the surroundings apart from the target."
Just like Hakoku: one strike reduced the target to nothing, while everything else suffered little impact. Wherever it hit, it simply punched a hole through, unless something happened to be caught in the path, like objects along its trajectory.
If that punch had been truly successful, Rain Dinners would not have felt a thing.
At that moment, Crocodile's head hung over a massive crater. That was right—the previous blow had punched a hole dozens of meters deep into the ground. His face was covered in blood, and his features were no longer discernible.
After two or three breaths, Crocodile twitched and seemed to try to raise a hand, but Bane had it pinned down.
Feeling the movement, Bane said in surprise, "No way. You can really take a beating?"
As he remembered it, this guy had been pretty weak around this time and had been taken down by a flurry of Luffy's punches.
That punch of his had packed plenty of force! And Crocodile could still struggle?
Of course, Bane had no intention of giving Crocodile another chance. A vicious glint flashed in his eyes as he clenched his fist, preparing to strike again.
Just then, Crocodile seemed to regain consciousness. He struggled to speak. "Wait. Wait. We have no grudge between us. Why are you..."
Hearing that, Bane's lips curled into a savage smile. "You've been a pirate for so many years, and you can still ask something like that? What a shame, Crocodile. When you robbed others, did you ever consider whether you had any grudge against them?"
As his words fell, Bane's fist descended. At that very moment, Crocodile seemed to sense the deadly danger looming over him.
He was unwilling to accept this. He had plotted in Alabasta for so many years, and he had been on the verge of success!
He was furious. He was clearly strong, yet throughout this entire battle, he had failed to injure that bastard Bane even once. He had not even gotten the chance to make a move!
And this was precisely why intelligence was so important. Bane knew him far too well, while Crocodile knew almost nothing about Bane. That was why Bane had seized his hand from the very start. For a Devil Fruit user, that was simply humiliating.
He, the mighty King of the Desert, had been beaten like a dog in this boundless Desert Kingdom!
"Don't kill me. I... I even treated you to a meal," Crocodile forced out at last.
But Bane's Iron Fist did not stop. Instead, it slammed down upon Crocodile's head, instantly shattering what little consciousness he had left.
Pulling back his bloodstained fist, Bane looked strangely at Nico Robin behind him. "When did he ever treat me to a meal!?"
"The buffet?" Nico Robin replied instinctively.
Bane???
That counted as treating someone to a meal?
But he did not dwell on it. Seeing that Crocodile was about to breathe his last, Bane hurriedly called out, "Nami, the things I asked you to prepare."
"Coming!" Nami immediately rushed in from the corridor outside, carrying a huge pile of fresh fruit.
Nico Robin clearly had no idea what Bane intended to do and looked at the fruit with confusion.
What was he doing? Repaying Crocodile for that meal by letting him eat his fill before dying?
Before that thought could settle in, dense dark elements erupted from Bane's hand and instantly enveloped Crocodile's entire body.
Then Bane's expression turned solemn. Only then did Robin realize that even during his brutal fight with Crocodile, this man had never worn such a serious expression.
Perhaps, in his eyes, this was even more important than killing Crocodile?
What exactly was he going to do?
But Bane had no attention to spare for explanations. Under Robin and Nami's puzzled gazes, his Darkness Power carefully probed Crocodile's body.
At the same time, that Darkness Power burrowed into Crocodile through his eyes, nostrils, ears, and other openings. This caused Crocodile, who had barely been clinging to life, to die on the spot.
At the instant he died, Bane's Dark-Dark Fruit seemed to discover some delectable treat. It sensed a special power inside Crocodile's body trying to emerge, trying to escape.
But Crocodile was completely wrapped in darkness, leaving that power nowhere to flee. Then, the Darkness Power swiftly captured it.
Just like a Devil Fruit user, the instant that power came into contact with the Darkness Power, it lost all ability to resist. It could only let Bane slowly exert force, wrapping it in darkness and dragging it out of Crocodile's body.
At the same time, the darkness enveloping Crocodile's corpse receded, leaving only a black sphere of elemental energy in Bane's hand.
"So this is the power of the Sand-Sand Fruit?" Bane studied it with curious eyes.
"The Sand-Sand Fruit?" Nico Robin asked in surprise. "What do you mean? You..."
At that moment, she recalled Bane's suppression of Devil Fruit users. She recalled that Darkness Power that had rendered her utterly unable to resist, as if she were facing her natural predator!
Then, under her shocked gaze, Bane did not bother choosing a fruit. He directly injected the darkness into one of the fruits that had been prepared.
As Bane did so, the previously ordinary fruit quickly began to mutate, strange patterns growing across its surface.
As a Devil Fruit user herself, Nico Robin naturally knew that these were the characteristics of a Devil Fruit!
After three to five breaths, that ordinary apple had transformed into a cactus covered in thorns!
Only after sensing that no residue remained within the Darkness Power in his hand did Bane withdraw his ability. Picking up the cactus, he looked at it with admiration. "The most vicious power in history... It truly lives up to its reputation. Seizing the enemy's power and turning it into one's own. Tsk, tsk."
"You created a Devil Fruit!?" Robin asked incredulously.
"That's right." Bane nodded and looked at Robin. "More accurately, I stole Crocodile's power."
Mentioning Crocodile, Bane turned to glance at his corpse. Smacking his lips, he said with faint boredom, "I thought this guy would be difficult to deal with. I thought I'd have an earth-shattering battle with him in this desert. But in the end, has he been too comfortable all these years? So comfortable that he forgot even the most basic vigilance? He knew I had ill intentions, yet he still dared to be this careless?"
Honestly, Robin was confused as well. In her impression, Crocodile had been a cautious and careful man. Why had he acted so carelessly and so amicably after meeting Bane?
Especially since she had genuinely warned Crocodile. She had told him that Bane bore him ill will and had most likely come to hunt him down.
How had he acted as though he had not understood a word?
If his Devil Fruit power had not been dragged out of him, Robin might have suspected that this Crocodile had been Bon Clay in disguise.
"I don't know either. He was indeed strange today. He was far too friendly toward you," Robin replied, perplexed.
"Forget it. This is the cruelty of the sea. One moment of carelessness, and even a great pirate like Crocodile, who once roamed the New World for years, can perish on the spot. So we should thank him. Thank him for giving us another lesson with his life, sacrificing himself to illuminate others. He was a great man!" Bane said sentimentally.
Sometimes, that was simply how it went. Those who calculated too cleverly often ended up costing themselves their lives. If Crocodile had not overthought things so much, perhaps he could have struggled a little longer.
Before you continue