The raging yellow sand swelled rapidly amid a furious roar. Crocodile transformed into a sandstorm connecting sea and sky, locking firmly onto the Fearless's deck.
"Lorne, don't get too full of yourself!"
Crocodile's face emerged from the swirling sandstorm, the golden poison hook on his left hand gleaming with a bone-chilling light.
"You think one modified ship is enough to establish yourself in the New World? When I was dominating the Grand Line, you were still playing in the mud in the East Blue!"
On the dozen or so surviving pirate ships nearby, pirates clung to slanting decks and wailed in terror.
"Has Lord Crocodile gone mad? That ship hasn't even recharged its main cannon. Just sitting there, it's enough to crush us!"
"Stop fighting! We can't possibly beat a monster like that!"
"Raise the sails! While that Pluton Battleship isn't firing again, hurry and escape back into the depths of the New World!"
"Shut up, you worthless fools!"
Crocodile roared in fury. The wind pressure within the sandstorm tore the surrounding seawater into clouds of spray.
"The Cross Guild's flag will not fall here! Once I get aboard that ship, its Seastone armor will become your own coffin!"
That ship's main cannon may be terrifying, but an Ancient Weapon of that caliber must consume an enormous amount of energy. It definitely can't fire a second shot so soon!
As long as I get into close combat, no matter how strong Lorne's Rokushiki is, my Erosion Cycle can drain all the moisture from him in an instant!
That muscle-brained idiot Kaido let you wear him down and kill him, but that doesn't mean my Logia powers can't deal with you!
Killing intent churned wildly in Crocodile's chest as yellow sand spread across the sea at an astonishing speed.
"**Erosion Cycle: