Smoker stood there, looking at the empty street, and gritted his teeth as he withdrew his Jitte.
He glanced at Tashigi, who was still standing there holding Shigure, her fingertips trembling slightly.
" Captain Smoker —should we report Fire Fist Ace's appearance to Marine Headquarters?"
Smoker pulled a new cigar from his pocket and put it in his mouth, but his hand holding the lighter trembled twice because he was still angry before he lit it.
" The Whitebeard Pirates have appeared in Alabasta, and with that restless Crocodile the other side—there's much more hidden beneath this desert than we imagined."
"Report this to headquarters!"
In the direction of Alabasta, the capital of Alubarna, a sandstorm suddenly became exceptionally fierce. The sky was filled with yellow sand, obscuring the sun and reducing visibility to less than three meters.
Having escaped the Navy's pursuit, the Straw Hat Pirates is making their way forward with difficulty.
Nami struggled to find her way through the sandstorm, but the wind was so strong that she only managed to shout, "Hold on tight, everyone!" before being blown backward by the gale.
Zoro reached out to grab her, and just as his fingertips touched Nami's wrist, another sandstorm struck from the side, completely separating the two.
Usopp and Chopper rolled away together, Sanji tried desperately to run towards Nami and Vivi, but the sand hit his face like knives, and he couldn't open his eyes at all.
Luffy didn't hear anyone calling out.
In fact, he could barely even tell where he was.
The force with which the sand grains struck my skin was so great that it didn't feel like a naturally formed storm, but rather more like some kind of deliberately manipulated force.
And that is indeed the case.
At the eye of the sandstorm, a force not belonging to natural winds was pulling him along.
Crocodile stood atop the highest point of the abandoned temple, his right hand clenched loosely, the power of the Sand-Sand Fruit flowing between his fingers.
He precisely controlled every airflow of the sandstorm, separating the little devil in the straw Straw Hat from his companions and dragging him toward the battlefield he had planned.
"They've taken the bait."
Crocodile exhaled a puff of cigar smoke, which dissipated in the wind along with the dust.
The temple ruins are located in the heart of the desert, thirty miles outside Rainbase City, and were once a sacrificial site of an ancient dynasty.
Huge, broken stone pillars lay scattered across the sand, and the bas-reliefs half-buried in the yellow sand still revealed faint human faces.
Crocodile sat atop the largest broken stone pillar, the glow of his cigar flickering in the swirling yellow sand.
The sandstorm gradually subsided.
Luffy climbed out of a pile of sand, spitting out sand from his mouth as he looked left and right.
All around were broken stone pillars and shattered reliefs, and there was no sign of any companions.
But a person sat on the largest stone pillar directly in front of them, casting a long, flat shadow in the setting sun.
It's you!
Luffy clearly recognized him. Vivi had suspected back then that the mastermind behind Alabasta was the Shichibukai standing before her.
Crocodile jumped down from the stone pillar, his boots landing silently on the sand.
The Sand-Sand Fruit's power makes him virtually invincible in the desert; every grain of sand beneath his feet becomes a weapon and an extension of his senses.
" Straw Hat Boy."
His voice was hoarse and deep, carrying a natural sense of pressure.
"I heard you want to get involved in Alabasta's affairs?"
Luffy did not answer.
He instinctively sensed danger, and his body automatically assumed a fighting stance.
With legs slightly apart, left fist loosely clenched in front, and right fist concealed at waist, ready to strike.
Seeing Luffy's posture, Crocodile stopped talking and took the cigar from his mouth, stubbing it out on the stone pillar.
He silently repeated "control your strength" three times in his mind, then suddenly swung his right hand.
The sandstorm exploded again, but this time it was smaller in area and more concentrated, focusing on a space of less than five meters around Luffy.
The sand beneath Luffy's feet suddenly sank, as if someone had removed all the support from beneath the sand layer.
He had no time to react before he was engulfed in quicksand.
The moment the sand reached above his knees, he stretched out his hands to grab the stone pillars on either side, trying to pull himself out, but the suction of the sand was incredibly strong.
A rubber body completely loses its advantage in the face of this non-solid attack.
Crocodile approached slowly.
With his right hand outstretched, the Sand-Sand Fruit's power circulated in his palm, sucking away all the moisture from the surrounding air.
This is a skill he honed over many years in Alabasta; in the desert, he can drain every last drop of water from any living organism.
Luffy sensed something was wrong.
My lips started to crack, my tongue became rough and astringent, my throat felt like I had swallowed sand, and every breath was accompanied by a burning pain.
He tried to resist, but his limbs felt as heavy as lead, and he couldn't even throw the simplest rubber punch.
Is that all you've got?
Crocodile looked down at Luffy, who was half-buried in the sand, with a contemptuous tone.
But he was sweating bullets inside.
I didn't control the force of the water extraction properly just now, and I exceeded the limit slightly.
Roy was watching from above the clouds. He had clearly felt a wave of Observation Haki sweep across his wrist, a clear indication that it had gone too far.
Damn, being an actor is really tough.
Luffy struggled to climb out of the sand.
His lips were cracked and bleeding, and his skin was wrinkled from dehydration, but the fighting spirit in his eyes remained undiminished.
The first thing he did after regaining his footing was to throw a punch at Crocodile.
" Gum-Gum Pistol!"
The fist shot out, piercing through Crocodile's sand-covered chest.
The sand slipped through my palms, giving me no real sensation of being hit.
Luffy threw several more punches, each one hitting Crocodile's body precisely, but each punch only passed through the sand and struck the air.
" Logia ".
Crocodile looked down at the rubber arm that had pierced through his chest, his tone as calm as if stating a perfectly ordinary fact.
In the New World, pirates who don't Haki aren't even considered grunts.
Luffy withdrew his fist and stepped back, panting heavily.
Dehydration caused him to lose energy several times faster than usual; just standing up required a lot of effort.
Crocodile gave him no chance to catch his breath.
He swung his right hand again, unleashing a horizontal slash of sand.
Luffy hurriedly jumped back, but the sand blade was too fast, and the tip of the blade grazed his left shoulder, leaving a shallow but long cut.
Blood seeped out, mixing with the sand clinging to the wound, a deep red tinged with gold.
Then came the second cut, the third cut, and the fourth cut.
Crocodile, like a cat Nezumi, relentlessly forced Luffy deeper into the ruins of the temple with his sand blades.
Each cut, seemingly fatal, actually left room for maneuver.
Every single one of his attacks precisely hit the very edge of Luffy's limits.
He couldn't kill him with a single blow, nor could he let Roy, who was watching from the sidelines, think that he was holding back.
This kind of delicate work is even more tiring than a real beating.