You can read ahead up to 15 chapters on my Patreon: https://www.p*treon.com/darkshadow6395
The moment Shinryu spoke, Crocodile saw a massive wave appear out of thin air.
The meltwater from the iceberg converged and surged downward. Its sheer volume and towering crest reached dozens of meters in height!
It was as if a true dragon were churning and overturning within the raging waves! The torrent roared as it charged toward the stretch of desert where Crocodile stood.
"..."
In the distance, Aiha was completely dumbfounded as he watched this scene unfold.
For a moment, he almost felt like he was dreaming. But shortly after, he was certain that it wasn't a dream.
Even in his wildest dreams, he could never have imagined a scene like this.
In Alabasta, a nation of deserts, a tsunami had appeared!
At that moment, Crocodile felt an unprecedented sense of danger. What was happening before him likewise surpassed his understanding.
"That enormous iceberg... it melted? How was that done? What exactly is this guy's ability?"
Countless questions surged through his mind. But now, none of that mattered anymore.
There was only one thing that mattered: the outcome of this battle!
"Heh... I've really run into a terrifying monster."
As he spoke, Crocodile did not retreat. Facing a move like this, running away would be meaningless.
So...
Bang!
He clamped his right hand onto the wrist of his left golden hook and thrust both hands fiercely into the sea of sand beneath his feet.
"Ground Death -- Erosion Samsara!"
The low roar fell.
The earth shook violently once more in the next instant. From within the desert, countless grains of yellow sand surged up in an even more frenzied tide.
They rolled and swelled, forming an invisible wave that spread outward with Crocodile at its center.
Wherever it passed, even the scant traces of moisture that barely existed in the desert were rapidly drained away. The stone fragments that were faintly visible within the quicksand were instantly pulverized into dust.
At that very moment...
"Heavy Sandstorm!"
Crocodile unleashed his power again. The surrounding yellow sand reversed its flow even more violently, forming an immense tempest.
In the next moment...
That power, which drained all moisture, together with the colossal sandstorm... collided head-on with the massive wave sweeping across the desert!
Bang!
Yellow sand churned against the giant wave, blasting murky columns of water skyward.
The collision between the golden sandstorm and the deep blue waves was so grand that it was almost mythological.
But every story has its end.
The moment the giant wave's droplets began passing through the sandstorm... the victor had already been decided.
Bang!
In the next instant, the massive wave shattered the sandstorm completely. Mud and slurry sprayed everywhere, and the remaining surge washed over Crocodile unobstructed.
Crocodile felt his body stiffen in an instant and gritted his teeth.
He knew... that from this moment on, he could no longer undergo elementalization.
And he knew even more clearly that... his opponent would never let this opportunity slip!
Indeed, that's exactly what happened.
Crack!
A piercing chill swept over him. Crocodile looked up and saw Shinryu leaping toward him with ice-coated hands.
"The outcome is decided, Crocodile!"
He swung his fist, smashing it straight toward Crocodile.
"Indeed."
But at that very moment, a strange smile crept onto Crocodile's lips.
"The outcome is decided!"
As his words fell...
Boom!
Something burst through the sand that had already been washed by the giant wave behind Shinryu.
Something burst through the sand and shot out.
It was a hand!
A left hand wearing a golden hook and sand.
But...
At that moment, the golden hook had already been replaced by a sharp, needle-like spike.
In the next instant...
Shhk!
That left hand lunged from behind, piercing straight through Shinryu's right abdomen.
Crocodile's face lit up with exhilaration.
"You're truly formidable. Waves of that size couldn't possibly be completely drained, not even by my 'Ground Death -- Erosion Samsara.'"
"But..."
He straightened up.
The wind fluttered his long coat, revealing that his left arm was completely gone.
At some point, his left arm had vanished completely from the shoulder down.
"Before the water washed over me, I hid one hand beneath the sand. That's something I can still manage."
Crocodile knew he had won.
Because both his golden hook and the short needle were coated with Alabasta's specialty: highly lethal scorpion poison. Once stabbed, death was inevitable unless an antidote was obtained!
However, before Crocodile could declare his victory...
He sensed that something was wrong.
"Hm!?"
At that moment, he finally noticed. His left hand did not feel like it had pierced flesh.
On the contrary, it felt as if he had stabbed into some indescribably viscous substance.
Only a moment later, Crocodile felt searing heat and extreme pain surge through both arms.
"Ugh... ah!"
The agony of bone and flesh melting together was so intense that even a tyrant like Crocodile couldn't help but cry out.
Yet his willpower forced him to lift his head and struggle.
Then he saw it...
Something was flowing out from Shinryu's body.
But it wasn't blood.
That thick, scorching, flame-like substance was unmistakably...
"Magma?!"
Gritting his teeth and hoarsely saying, "Elementalization?!"
He understood what had happened. Shinryu had elementalized preemptively in that instant, evading both of his fatal strikes.
But...
"How is that possible? The Magu-Magu Fruit should clearly..."
He naturally knew that the Magu-Magu Fruit, a top-tier Logia Devil Fruit, belonged to the Marine Admiral Akainu. However, at that moment, Shinryu had no intention of giving Crocodile time to think.
Because right then...
"Whoosh!"
The sound of tearing air rang out again. Shinryu's fist was already upon him.
Crocodile faced it, his eyes reflecting an unbelievable sight.
The imposing dragon-head mask seemed to split into two halves... one red, one blue.
And so was Shinryu's form.
Steam coiled around his body like a pristine mantle.
One part of his body was made of frost. The other burned with magma.
"Dual Elementalization: Frostfire Body."
As the frost melted, water dripped, silently answering Crocodile's doubts.
Shinryu's ability was never about manipulating moisture.
"Ice and magma... two completely opposite elementalizations coexisting within one body?"
This had gone beyond Crocodile's understanding.
He was certain that if he told others what he was seeing, it would shake the entire world. But clearly, he would not have the chance.
"I told you already, didn't I?"
In his fading vision, the dragon-head mask spoke calmly. And within the eyes revealed beneath that mask, there was only tranquility.
"You can't beat me."
The fist formed of magma and frost grew larger and larger in Crocodile's sight.
So he closed his eyes.
"The Twelve Zodiac... 'Shinryu.'"
He softly repeated the name he had heard for the first time today in his heart. He knew the other party was destined to shake the seas.
Just like he once had.
The excitement of first setting sail as a pirate, the satisfaction of growing stronger step by step, the helplessness of being defeated by Whitebeard, and the pride of becoming a Shichibukai flooded his mind at this final moment.
He thought of the ambitions he had failed to fulfill and his unfinished aspirations.
But, as he had said earlier, when one fails, all of that becomes useless, carved only onto a tombstone: You're called a king if you're victorious and a bandit if you're defeated... the victor takes everything.
That was the rule of this sea.
"...So unwilling."
That quiet murmur became the final thought of Crocodile's life.
(End of Chapter)