"Damn it... that blasted bastard!"
Crocodile's heart burned with rage the more he thought about it. Unable to hold back, he ripped off the sheath covering his left hand's golden hook, revealing the venomous curved blade hidden beneath.
"Go to hell, you lunatic Will!"
With that, he charged through the water rising past his knees, brandishing the poison-laced hook and roaring as he rushed toward Will.
It was clear he intended to use the deadly venom to finish his opponent off!
Will raised an eyebrow, a flicker of surprise flashing in his eyes.
Crocodile's reckless move showed he'd been completely consumed by anger, no longer capable of calm, rational thought.
He was acting purely on instinct.
But as Crocodile closed in, Will swiftly kicked the poison hook from his left hand, then raised his fist and slammed it directly into Crocodile's face.
Boom!
"Damn it..."
A muffled thud echoed as Crocodile's head tilted back slightly, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. Gritting his teeth, he swung a fierce punch in retaliation.
Bang!
Will didn't dodge this time, letting Crocodile's fist connect with his cheek.
Feeling the raw power behind the blow, Will's lips curled into a slight smirk as he commented, "Not a bad punch, but..."
Before he finished speaking, Will pulled back his fist, gathering strength, then unleashed a devastating punch forward. "My strength surpasses yours!"
BOOM!!
Crocodile, too close to react, took the full force of the blow to his face.
His head snapped back violently, blood spraying from his mouth as his eyes began to glaze over.
But before he could collapse to the ground—
Slap!
A crisp sound cut through the chaotic rush of water.
Will's hand clamped onto Crocodile's face, his fingers gripping tightly as he stared into the man's furious, shocked eyes.
Will grinned and said, "Don't worry, Crocodile."
"I'm not going to let you die so easily here. That would be far too wasteful."
"This is just a little appetizer to make you realize how foolish you've been."
"I'll give you one more chance to unleash your full power."
"I hope you won't disappoint me."
With that, Will ignored Crocodile's struggles and reactions. He bent his knees slightly, gathering strength, then launched forward with explosive force.
Boom!
With a crashing impact, Will dragged Crocodile through a nearby gap, pushing against the water pressure as they burst out.
Glancing around, Will noticed that beneath the underground chamber they'd been in was an enormous water tank.
Surrounding it were several massive crocodiles, looking somewhat dopey.
But Will didn't linger. Crocodile, still in his grasp, was visibly struggling, his face turning pale from holding his breath.
So Will accelerated again, smashing through two crocodiles blocking his path and hauling Crocodile straight to the surface.
Upon breaking through, Will didn't land immediately. Instead, he kept kicking the air, soaring toward the desert outside the city.
Meanwhile, on a wooden bridge leading to the casino "Rain Dinners," a middle-aged man dressed in a light purple kimono, holding a blind man's cane, was walking slowly forward.
"Hm?"
The man, who had been probing the path with his cane, suddenly lifted his head, turning to "look" toward the distant sky, as if sensing something.
He said nothing and continued walking, but after crossing the bridge, he didn't head toward Rain Dinners.
Instead, he turned and began walking unhurriedly toward the outskirts of the city.
Elsewhere, Robin had already escaped via the stairs and returned to the upper gambling hall.
Recalling Will's words below and Crocodile's ugly expression at the time, she couldn't help but cover her mouth, stifling a soft chuckle.
Years of living as a fugitive had honed her ability to stay composed in any situation.
But this time, it was just too amusing, and she couldn't suppress the laughter bubbling up inside her.
"To think that Crocodile, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, the man plotting to seize an entire kingdom..."
"Would be so easily defeated in the 'fish tank' he himself built."
"What an unexpected outcome..."
Robin lowered her hand, struggling to hold back her laughter, and shook her head with a wistful look.
But before Will had pointed out such a glaring oversight, even she hadn't noticed it.
After all, that underground meeting room—and the tank below it used to feed the crocodiles—had been built with her assistance.
"I don't know what I was thinking back then, completely missing something like that."
Her gaze drifted toward the empty staircase, her expression thoughtful.
Just then, a splash of water from outside a nearby window snapped her out of her thoughts.
She hurried to the window and caught sight of a tall figure clutching something, rapidly flying toward the city's outskirts.
"Is that Will?!"
The figure moved too quickly, and her angle wasn't ideal, so she couldn't be certain.
But who else could emerge from the water like that if not Will?
After a moment of thought, Robin turned and left, deciding to follow Will's earlier instructions and summon all the chief commanders of Baroque Works.
Outside Rainbase, in a desolate stretch of desert, a figure streaked through the sky at breakneck speed.
Seeing the environment was perfect, Will halted his acceleration and hurled Crocodile downward with a powerful throw.
Boom!
With a dull thud, Crocodile crashed into the sand, quickly swallowed by the shifting dunes.
Will landed steadily, the dark sheen on his arm fading away.
Looking at the spot where Crocodile had vanished, and the sand still sinking slowly, he called out impatiently, "Come on out, Crocodile."
"This is the desert—your home turf, specially chosen for you."
"Your Devil Fruit powers should be at their peak here, right?"
BOOM!
As soon as Will finished speaking, the sandpile exploded.
Crocodile emerged slowly, his expression dark, his face still marked with vivid red fingerprints.
"You bastard... back in the water, why didn't you just kill me?!"
His eyes burned with rage as he glared at the man who had humiliated him from the moment they met.
If Will had kept him pinned underwater, Crocodile would likely have died in the lake beside Rain Dinners.
But this guy hadn't done that. Instead, he'd foolishly brought him to the desert.
It was as if Will wasn't the least bit worried about being overpowered.
And earlier, Will had clearly spared his life, even giving him a chance to fight back.
Could it be that this man had come all this way just to have a full-on battle with him?!
That couldn't possibly be true...
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