Luffy was cornered by Crocodile in front of a wall at the deepest part of the temple.
He had already been stabbed more than a dozen times with sand blades; his clothes were tattered, and his face, arms, and chest were covered with fine cuts.
Dehydration and blood loss began to blur his consciousness, and the number of Crocodile in his vision increased from one to two, and then from two to three.
But his fists remained clenched.
"What's wrong? You still want to be the Pirate King like this?"
Crocodile continues his verbal barrage.
He walked up to Luffy, slowly raising his right hand, the Golden Hook reflecting a cold light in the afterglow of the setting sun.
As Crocodile swung the hook, he mentally calculated the force of the strike.
The hook pierced the skin of Luffy's right arm, just deep enough to release the toxins without damaging his bones.
The scorpion venom seeped into the bloodstream through a small hole in the hook's tip. This venom was specially prepared by Crocodile for Vera; it was fast-acting but not fatal.
It can cause a person to fall into a deep coma in a short period of time, and an antidote can wake them up immediately.
Luffy felt a sharp pain in his right arm, which then turned into numbness. The numbness spread from his arm to his shoulder, and then from his shoulder to his chest.
His vision grew increasingly blurry, his eyelids grew heavier, and his body fell uncontrollably downwards.
He fell in a very awkward way, face down in the sand.
But even in the last moment before he lost consciousness, his lips were still moving.
"It's not... over yet..."
The voice was very soft and indistinct.
Luffy's fingertips twitched, and he tried to use the sand to get up, but his arms wouldn't obey him at all.
His body went limp, and he completely lost consciousness.
Crocodile stood still, maintaining his superior position.
His expression remained that smug, infuriating smirk, but his mind was racing with calculations.
Is that enough?
The kid is still breathing and his heart rate is stable, so the toxin dosage is not a problem.
Observation Haki sensed that the nearest Straw Hat crew member was on their way and would arrive in about fifteen minutes.
"I'll spare your life today, Straw Hat Boy."
After saying this, Crocodile's body turned into dust and dissipated in the evening breeze of Alabasta.
A moment later, the wind stopped completely.
The temple ruins were so quiet that only the occasional howl of desert wolves could be heard in the distance.
Luffy lay motionless on the ground, only his chest rising and falling slightly.
Crocodile reformed himself on a sand dune a few miles away.
As soon as he steadied himself, he heard Roy's voice transmission in his ear.
"Thanks for your hard work."
"A spectacular crushing victory."
"Snort!"
Crocodile crushed the cigar in his hand, took a deep breath, and swore at the air.
Roy, high above the clouds, smiled slightly.
Observation Haki, he scanned the battlefield, confirming that Luffy's vital signs were stable and that his Straw Hat Pirates were approaching.
That scene is over for today.
This is only the first round; there are even more troubles to come.
Crocodile buried the crushed cigar residue in the sand, then pulled out a new one and lit it.
He suddenly realized that even fighting against various powerful figures in the Hachinosu hadn't been this tiring.
Zoro was the first to find Luffy.
After the sandstorm dissipated, he followed Luffy's scent and raced across half the desert, finally finding his captain deep within the ruins of a partially collapsed ancient temple.
Luffy lay motionless beneath a broken stone wall, his clothes torn to shreds by the sand blades, his exposed skin covered in fine wounds.
His lips were purple, his face was bluish, and there was a clear hook mark on his right arm; the skin around the wound had begun to turn black.
" Luffy!"
Zoro rushed over, turned the man over, and pressed his fingers against his neck to check—there was still a pulse, but it was extremely weak, each beat sounding like a string about to snap.
Sanji arrived at almost the same time as Zoro.
He glanced at the blackened wound on Luffy's arm, and his expression immediately changed.
"This is poisoning."
Chopper stumbled and tumbled down the sand dune, crawling and scrambling to Luffy's side.
He lifted Luffy's eyelids to look at his pupils, then leaned closer to smell the scent of his wounds; his little hooves began to tremble.
"This venom... I've never seen anything like it before... Its composition is too complex; it's neither ordinary snake venom nor plant toxins, it's artificially synthesized..."
Can you solve this?
Nami gripped Chopper's shoulders, her voice trembling.
When she saw Luffy's bloodless face, her eyes began to redden.
"I... I need time to analyze the ingredients... but Luffy doesn't have time!"
Chopper's voice trembled with tears.
"This toxin is spreading too fast. At this rate, it will only last another hour at most..."
He didn't finish his sentence, but everyone present understood the unspoken ending.
Usopp crouched in a corner of the ruins, his hands covering his head, his fingers digging into his hair.
He wanted to say something, to say "there must be another way," to say "how could Luffy die in a place like this?" but his throat felt like it was blocked by something, and he couldn't utter a single word.
He and Luffy set off from the East Blue together and went through so many battles, with Luffy always being the one who stood until the very end.
He never imagined that one day he would see Luffy lying on the sand like this, like a shattered doll.
Just when everyone was at a loss, an unfamiliar female voice came from the shadows of the ruins.
"That's the desert scorpion venom used exclusively in Crocodile's Golden Hook."
Everyone turned their heads at the same time.
Nicole Robin emerged from behind the broken stone pillar.
Her movements were unhurried, and her tall figure cast a long, slender shadow in the moonlight.
The brim of her cowboy hat covered most of her face, revealing only her deep eyes and the faint curve of her lips.
Zoro had already drawn his sword when Robin appeared.
The tip of the Wado Ichimonji sword was pointed directly at Robin's throat, reflecting a cold, sharp light in the moonlight.
His gaze was colder than the glint of a blade; if the woman made any suspicious move, he would not hesitate to strike her down.
"Who are you?"
Nicole Robin.
Robin's answer was brief and calm, as if the blade pressed against his throat were a tree branch rather than a Great Grade Sword.
"Vice President of Baroque Works, codename MISS·ALL SUNDAY."
The atmosphere suddenly froze.
Baroque Works.
The criminal organization that had been relentlessly hunting them down, the mastermind behind the devastation the country had, according to Vivi, had brought, and the underground kingdom that Crocodile had built.
And this woman is its vice president.
"Enemy."
Zoro's fingers tightened slightly, and the tip of his blade pushed forward half an inch.
"If I came here to kill you, do you think I would have come out on my own?"
Robin looked into Zoro's eyes, her tone remaining as calm as if she were discussing the weather.
"If I wanted to harm you, I wouldn't need to go through all this trouble."
"Just wait an hour, and once the poison takes effect, you'll naturally be one captain short."