Defeating Sand Crocodile

Inside the Underground Burial Temple, the blistering heat of magma collided wildly with dry sand and dust. The air warped, thick with the pungent stench of sulfur.

That massive surge of water had not only sealed Crocodile's ability to turn his body into sand—it was also like a fatal signal. The Pure Gold Poison Hook that Crocodile held tightly in his hand had already been heated red-hot by the extreme temperature of the [Flame Demon Arm], softening and even beginning to drip golden liquid.

"You damned brat!"

Crocodile let out a savage growl and suddenly exerted force with his left arm, trying to pull back the poison hook. However, Rain's right hand, formed from ultra-dense Obsidian, was like a hydraulic clamp welded onto it. No matter how Old Sand activated the power of the Sand-Sand Fruit, he could not pull free.

Rain slowly raised his head. In his pure black eyes, hidden beneath the shadows, Crocodile's face was reflected, twisted by rage and shock. A cruel curve lifted at the corner of his mouth.

"I've come to collect some 'interest,' Sand Crocodile."

The instant he finished speaking, the Devil Fruit power throughout Rain's body erupted. Gray-white Granite instantly transformed into flowing dark-red magma, radiating a terrifying heat capable of setting this underground tomb ablaze.

[Obsidian Meltdown: Combo]!

Rain did not release the golden hook in his grip. Instead, he used it as a pivot to pull himself toward Crocodile. His fully magma-transformed left fist, carrying savage momentum and extreme heat, smashed viciously toward Crocodile's right cheek, which had not been soaked by water!

"You overestimate yourself!"

Though Crocodile was shocked by Rain's sudden transformation, his extensive combat experience allowed him to react instantly. He abandoned his attempt to retrieve his left arm as the right half of his body collapsed into a raging, dry sandstorm.

Desert Diamond Sword!

Four enormous sand blades burst from the sandstorm, shrieking as they tore through the air and shot straight for Rain's chest. In Crocodile's eyes, even if his opponent possessed the power of magma, his dry sand blades still possessed unparalleled cutting power.

However, a scalp-numbing sight unfolded.

When those four sand blades, capable of cutting through steel, struck the warped "invisible heat field" around Rain's body, they emitted a sizzling burn.

"Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle, sizzle—!"

Before that extreme heat, the dry, loose sand was instantly melted by the heat waves. Before it could even touch Rain's skin, it had already turned into small puddles of translucent molten glass, sliding feebly to the ground.

A perfect elemental advantage!

"What?" Crocodile's pupils suddenly contracted. In that instant, an unfamiliar sense of helplessness surged into his heart. Physical attacks were ineffective—and even his ultimate cutting attacks could be directly melted by the other man's high temperature?

In the instant he froze, Rain's magma-coated heavy fist had already slammed into his face!

"Bang!"

Accompanied by the teeth-grinding sound of shattering bone, Crocodile's formerly sinister face was instantly smashed inward.

If his body had not been soaked by water earlier, forcibly maintaining its physical state, Rain's punch would have only passed through a meaningless mass of sand. But now, that punch had struck his body squarely.

The high temperature instantly carbonized Crocodile's outer flesh. The terrifying momentum sent the Shichibukai flying like a kite with its string cut, smashing him hard into the Poneglyph stele at the center of the hall. He then collapsed at the base of the stele, groaning in pain and coughing up mouthfuls of bloody foam.

"Impossible... I am Crocodile... one of the Shichibukai!"

Crocodile struggled to rise. He looked at his left arm, which had been melted by the heat until only half a mangled lump of gold remained, his eyes filled with boundless fury and unwillingness.

He stomped hard, trying to use the hard floor of the Burial Temple to create desertification over a wider area.

Erosion Cycle!

A ring of extremely dry ripples spread outward from him, attempting to turn everything in the tomb into sand and dust.

Rain stood before Robin, coldly watching Old Sand's final struggle.

"Don't you understand yet, Crocodile? Before my magma, all sand has only one fate: death."

Rain pressed his palms together, then suddenly swept them upward.

[Core Collapse: Scorched-Earth Furnace]!

"Rumble, rumble, rumble, rumble—!"

The Granite floor of the entire Underground Burial Temple instantly lost all hardness and chill under Rain's manipulation of his Devil Fruit power and internal assimilation through extreme heat.

Before Cobra and Robin's horrified eyes, the ground of the hall for hundreds of meters around suddenly collapsed and melted, becoming a bubbling lake of dark-red magma.

"Ahhh—hot, hot, hot!" Crocodile, sprawled on the ground, let out a miserable scream. The dry sand and dust he had created with Erosion Cycle melted into fragile glass crystals the moment they touched the magma lake, becoming fuel for the lava instead!

The domain of magma gradually encroached upon Crocodile's desert range, seemingly locking him within that tiny area.

Now, water had sealed his ability to become sand, leaving him unable to flee through elemental transformation.

Despair bit apart the last of his tyrannical pride like a venomous snake.

"Didn't expect it, did you? Your Logia ability has such a massive flaw. A basin of water found anywhere can seal your power completely. And with magma specially prepared for you, how could you possibly have any chance of victory?"

Rain stepped down the stone stairs at the edge that had not yet melted, walking toward Crocodile one step at a time. As he looked at this once-lofty Shichibukai, a trace of cold cruelty flashed through his dark eyes.

"I know what you're waiting for, Crocodile. You're waiting for that huge bang from the Clock Tower, aren't you?"

Upon hearing that, Crocodile's eyes, which had been fighting like a trapped beast, suddenly stiffened. He stared fixedly at Rain, his voice hoarse. "You... what did you say?"

This was his final trump card. Even if he lost, it was his final madness to drag the million civilians of the entire city down to hell with him.

"Unfortunately, I've disappointed you." Rain walked up to Crocodile and looked down at him from above. "That heavy cannon you set up in the Clock Tower, and that terrifying timed bomb..."

Rain lowered his voice and spoke with contempt.

"Ten minutes ago, I dealt with them while I was at it."

"All that's left for you is the ticking of the timer. No need to thank me too much."

Those words were like the final straw that broke the camel's back, shattering Crocodile's defenses as a ruthless conqueror.

His mind went blank for a moment. The perfect plan, three years of scheming, the Ancient Weapon Pluton, Utopia, and the bomb he could use to perish together with everyone else...

Everything turned into bubbles under the words of this black-clad young man.

"This... is impossible... I don't believe it... Aahhh!"

Crocodile let out a miserable scream. His excessive shock created a slight opening in his defensive movements.

"Don't lose focus in battle."

In that fatal moment of hesitation, Rain did not miss the opportunity.

[Obsidian: Supergravity Pulverization]!

In an instant, Rain's right hand completed its material assimilation. His right arm swelled by an entire round, its gray-white stone skin peeling away and being replaced by deep black crystalline armor, its molecular gaps compressed madly from within.

Without another word, Rain drove that black crystalline heavy fist, condensed with ultimate hardness and ultimate momentum, fiercely down into Crocodile's chest!

"Boom—!"

The terrifying shockwave became a tangible storm, instantly sweeping across the entire magma lake and making the massive King's Pillars that had stood on both sides of the hall for centuries tremble violently.

"Pfft—!"

After being stripped of his ability to transform into an element, Crocodile's Shichibukai body was no longer indestructible. His entire chest instantly caved in. The violent momentum passed through his body, blasting a massive crater over ten meters wide into the ground behind him.

"Drip."

Crocodile's eyes rolled back. Great mouthfuls of blood mixed with shattered fragments of internal organs sprayed out. His damaged poison hook slipped weakly down as he collapsed beside the base of the Poneglyph, completely losing the ability to resist.

One of the Shichibukai, Sand Crocodile. This once-unrivaled tyrant who had plotted in Alabasta for three whole years.

At last, he fell before the reincarnated hunter named "Grayrock" Rain.