Outside of Erumalu City:
"Whew, the quality's really good."
Aiha held the reins of his Karoo duck, Duodoru, as it dug a fresh sand shoot out of the desert. This unique plant grows in the deserts of Alabasta, drawing nourishment from underground water and rainfall.
It has a delicious flavor and is difficult to harvest, making it highly sought after by gourmets.
Aiha's profession was that of a "sand shoot merchant."
"That last rain from the Rain Summoner really saved us in a pinch." As he spoke, Aiha tossed the sand shoot into the basket strapped to Duodoru's back and sighed.
He'd lost count of how many times he'd said something like this lately.
People never forget miracles.
Aiha would never forget the scene he had personally witnessed, the moment the Rain Summoner walked out of the desert. In a sense, that rain had saved his life and those of his wife and children.
"I just don't understand why His Majesty the King won't admit to knowing the Rain Summoner. I clearly heard that he'd already been to the royal palace..."
Sha... Sha...
He lit his long pipe and muttered under his breath.
Sha... Sha...
But after taking just a couple puffs, he sensed something was amiss.
Sha... Sha...
Soon, he came to a conclusion: "...The sound of the sand isn't right."
Aiha frowned deeply.
As someone who traveled the desert year-round, he knew it very well. The desert around Erumalu shifted daily due to wind or underground water, but it had been far too active lately.
The sound of the moving sand even felt strangely grating.
"No, something's wrong. The sky and the direction of the wind to the west aren't right either."
Soon, Aiha noticed more anomalies. At the edge of his vision, the western sky over Erumalu looked inexplicably gloomy.
He could see the sand moving visibly to the west, yet he didn't feel much wind coming from that direction.
"This isn't good…" Aiha decided to go take a look.
His house was nearby, and for the sake of his wife and children, he needed to find out what was happening.
So...
"Duodoru!"
"Quack!"
He mounted his Karoo duck and sped toward the west.
"I remember that area being the outskirts. Wasn't there a café out there? Huh?"
He continued thinking as he rode.
Then...
"Quack!"
After cresting a sand dune, the Karoo duck beneath him suddenly let out a startled cry. It slammed on the brakes, nearly throwing Aiha straight off.
"Duodoru?! What are you doing..."
His complaint cut off halfway because once he crested the sand dune, the sight before his eyes was nothing short of terrifying.
In the sky above, a torrential rainstorm was pouring down.
Yet the rain couldn't reach the ground because an enormous "sand curtain" rising from the earth had already blocked it entirely.
Only then did Aiha understand why the sky in this area looked so strange.
Even the nearby sunlight was completely blocked by that massive sand curtain.
Da! Da!
Crisp sounds rang out all around.
They were the sounds of chunks of sand, having absorbed too much moisture, falling from the sky and slamming into the ground. As those sand blocks fell, more sand rose into the air, sustaining the sand curtain.
As spectacular as this scene was, it wasn't the most shocking part.
"Hōng lóng!"
At that moment, aside from the sand curtain blocking the rainstorm, the entire desert within several hundred meters was rolling and churning. Countless grains of golden sand surged like massive waves.
The desert no longer looked like a desert; it looked like an "ocean" of raging tides.
Upon that sea of sand, nothing remained.
Whether rock pillars, shrubs, or even the café that Aiha distinctly remembered being nearby, everything had vanished without a trace.
That was why his Karoo duck had stopped.
One more step forward and he would become part of the desert, too.
As a citizen of Alabasta, Aiha was quite familiar with such scenes.
Quicksand was Alabasta's most common and terrifying "natural disaster."
But the problem was...
"...What...is that?"
At that moment, Aiha's murmur sounded like a dream.
He saw it...
Within that rolling, surging sea of sand, there were actually two human figures!
Bang!
One of them had merged his lower body completely into the endless yellow sand. His left hand was a golden hook, and with each swing, it whipped up waves of sand that obscured the sky and condensed into gigantic curved scimitars.
Wherever those scimitars passed, massive ravines cleaved open the desert itself. If one looked carefully, they would even realize that the very center of the flowing quicksand across the entire desert... was this man himself.
Facing him was a figure that Aiha knew all too well.
The imposing dragon-head mask was the same as the "Rain Summoner."
At that moment, the mysterious visitor was displaying power that was equally unbelievable.
He walked calmly through the raging quicksand.
With every step he took, a thin layer of ice spread outward beneath his feet.
No matter how violent the quicksand was, it froze solid the instant it drew close to him, becoming firm footing.
Every time Crocodile unleashed "Desert Spada --- Treasured Blade of the Desert," massive ice shields erupted beside the Rain Summoner to block the attack.
Witnessing this incomprehensible scene, Aiha began to doubt his earlier judgment.
Everything before his eyes told him one undeniable fact: What he was seeing now was not a natural disaster, but the work of these two people.
Their battle was reshaping the surrounding terrain.
"...Are they really human?"
That question inevitably surfaced in Aiha's mind.
But soon, worry followed. Because even though he was someone who couldn't fight at all, he could still tell that on the battlefield right now, the one controlling the quicksand clearly held the upper hand.
And the Rain Summoner seemed to be getting suppressed.
Yet for Aiha…
He didn't know why the two were fighting, but at least he knew one thing.
"That Rain Summoner… is the hope of the country right now." He murmured anxiously.
…
At this moment, on the battlefield...
"Kid, I already told you, you won't have another chance to touch me with water." Crocodile's voice came through the flying sand, filled with unmistakable arrogance.
"Chi..."
As he spoke, the 'Desert Spada - Treasured Blade of the Desert' roared out once more.
On the other side...
Clang!
Shinryu waved his hand, and an ice shield instantly appeared to block the incoming sand blade. Before the sharp edge could split the shield, Shinryu leapt backward, evading the attack.
"So when you say 'no more chances,' you mean not coming into contact with me at all?" Shinryu shook his head. "I thought the schemes of a Shichibukai would be more...high-level."
He bluntly pointed out what Crocodile was doing.
Ever since confirming that Shinryu knew his weakness and that his ability seemed to manipulate moisture,
Crocodile's chosen strategy was to increase the distance between them and unleash a sea of quicksand. He continuously attacked Shinryu from afar using the Sand-Sand Fruit's power, never once engaging in close combat.
"As long as a scheme is effective and leads to victory, that's enough."
Crocodile replied calmly.
"As for pride or honor, those things belong on tombstones."
As he spoke, he swept his right hand again, and another massive hand of yellow sand rose from the sea of sand, reaching toward Shinryu.
Buzz!
Shinryu sprang into the air, narrowly avoiding the attack.
Crocodile didn't mind at all when the strike failed. He was a Logia-type Sand-Sand Fruit user. Logia users represented nature itself. Their power was equivalent to natural disasters.
When Paramecia or Zoan Devil Fruit users attempted large-scale destruction from a distance, they typically expended a great deal of stamina.
But Logia users were different.
They could generate elements out of nothing, making large-area attacks incredibly easy.
Controlling the elements around them consumed almost negligible stamina, especially within their own natural environment.
This is precisely why Logia-type Devil Fruits are considered the strongest.
Just like Crocodile right now.
From a great distance, he could manipulate sand to attack Shinryu as instinctively as breathing; the sand was simply an extension of his body, costing him almost no stamina.
"Your ability does threaten me. But between our abilities, there's a clear difference in rank."
As he spoke, he waved his hand once more.
Several sand blades shot out in succession, all of which Shinryu dodged once again.
"Victory... isn't it too early to be saying that?" Shinryu chuckled softly.
Beneath the mask, Roy's expression carried a hint of a smile.
In truth, Crocodile's choice had played right into his hands.
Crocodile didn't want to engage in close combat, and Roy wanted that even less. This Slice Clone, Shinryu, lacked sufficient Fruit Ability Slots and hadn't been equipped with any Devil Fruits that enhanced physical strength.
As a result, his use of Rokushiki could only be described as barely passable. If Crocodile had chosen close-quarters combat, Roy would have been far more wary. But since Crocodile had decided to clash purely in terms of abilities, Roy was more than happy to oblige.
At that moment...
"It's time." He murmured quietly to himself.
On the light screen before his eyes...
[Logia · Sand-Sand Fruit, Analysis Completion: 100%.]
The display told him that he no longer needed to conserve stamina.
So...
"Setting other things aside, are you saying there's a gap in our abilities? That's something I definitely can't just pretend I didn't hear!"
As he spoke, Shinryu landed on the ground.
He slowly raised his hand and snapped his fingers.
Then, Crocodile saw it... a colossal mass erupting violently from beneath Shinryu's feet!
"Hōng lóng!"
The earth trembled, and the land itself roared. Along with that heavy, oppressive sound came an icy chill, like the depths of winter.
The cold was so intense that even Aiha, who was watching from far away, shuddered involuntarily.
Then, he saw the Rain Summoner slowly rise into the air, or, more precisely, being lifted upward by whatever was beneath his feet.
It was a massive, crystal-clear, and dazzling structure.
Emitting bone-chilling cold, it tore through the sea of sand, rising straight from the ground and appearing in a land that had once belonged only to sand.
It was...
An iceberg!
[Freeze · Frost Mountain]
"How is that possible?!"
Crocodile's expression stiffened instantly at the sight of something that should never exist in a desert. What was happening now was beyond even this Shichibukai's understanding.
"This is a desert... an arid desert with almost no moisture."
"Not even 'Aokiji' could create an iceberg this massive in such a short time. Even a Logia-type user who can generate elements and alter the environment would need time..."
As his thoughts reached that point, his body froze.
Then, he abruptly turned his head and scanned his surroundings.
Within the raging yellow sand, he noticed things he hadn't before. Things that had been falling from the sky almost nonstop throughout the battle...
Chunks of sand that had once formed the rain-blocking sand curtain were now dropping from the sky after absorbing massive amounts of rainwater.
At that moment, Crocodile finally realized the danger.
"From the very beginning, he..."
In his mind, renowned for its scheming brilliance, the terrifying truth clicked into place in an instant.
From the start, this had been the opponent's true objective.
No wonder the storm in the sky never stopped, even after he raised a sand curtain to block the rain.
The purpose of that rain was never to soak him… It was to alter the moisture content of the entire battlefield.
"Crocodile…" At this moment, Shinryu's voice rang out from atop the towering iceberg.
His voice was noticeably heavier… clearly, using his ability at this intensity was taxing even for him.
But still…
"My organization is called 'The Twelve Zodiac.' And my codename within that organization… is 'Shinryu'!"
As his words fell…
Crocodile saw the massive, towering ice peak beneath Shinryu's feet begin to change once again. White steam billowed across the iceberg's surface, nearly shrouding it completely.
Even though the interior was obscured, Crocodile could still hear the sound.
Then…
"Shhh…!"
He heard the roar of surging water.
[Molten Heat · Giant Wave]
No…
"Shhh…!"
Bang!
"Hōng Lóng Lóng…!!!"
The violent, surging noise made it clear that this was no gentle stream… It was a massive wave!
"A mere desert… if I couldn't summon storms and waves even here, how could I possibly be worthy of this codename?"
(End of Chapter)
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