The desolate desert, apart from the scorching sun, was left with only the howling wind and sand. Gusts of wind and sand blew up, as if sensing Crocodile's melancholy, seemingly mourning the former master of this desert.
Renaut looked at the battle that had ended in the distance, and with a flash, he appeared beside Pain, looking at Crocodile, who was lying on the ground waiting for death, with a hint of sympathy.
Crocodile lay there helplessly after unleashing "Desertification World," knowing he faced death, yet appearing unusually calm. His eyes moved, looking at the two strangely dressed men standing before him, and Crocodile asked his last question.
"You said..."
"You're looking for my corpse, why?... What value does my corpse have to you?..."
"Death is rebirth..."
"Your corpse is the first stepping stone for me to subvert the old rules of this world... I will allow your corpse to exist in another way..."
Pain had no pity for Crocodile in his heart, only indifference.
"To exist in another way?..."
"It seems not such a bad outcome..."
"Gurgle... Hahaha... Cough cough..."
"Do it!..."
Crocodile let out his final maniacal laugh.
"Pain... what do you plan to do next?..."
Pain did not answer Renaut's question with words but showed him with actions. Looking at the laughing Crocodile, Pain extended a black rod with his left hand and pointed his right hand at Crocodile's heart.
The black rod was inserted directly into a vital point in Crocodile's head, and the laughter abruptly stopped. The moment the black rod's insertion into the vital point caused Crocodile's death, Pain released Almighty Pull with his right hand at Crocodile's heart.
Pain expanded the range of Almighty Pull's suction, maintaining a constant frequency of suction, allowing the suction to continuously strengthen. After about five minutes of sucking at Crocodile's heart, a fruit-shaped energy slowly condensed in Pain's right hand. This energy also gradually solidified, finally turning into a yellow-orange pineapple shape.
Looking at the fruit-shaped energy body in his hand, Pain confirmed that his previous conjecture was correct.
After an Ability User dies, the Devil Fruit energy in their body scatters and leaves the body the moment of death, drifting to various places. These energy bodies will eventually merge into a new Devil Fruit in the place where the largest energy body is, to be obtained by the next lucky person and then re-host a living host.
And the location where the energy resides is the heart. This was Pain's conjecture after hearing Renaut mention what Blackbeard did to Whitebeard.
So Pain made preparations, using the characteristics of Almighty Pull to prevent the energy from scattering at the same time he caused Crocodile's death. Pain controlled the force well, and eventually, through gravity, gathered these energies together, forming the new Suna Suna no Mi in Pain's hand.
After Devil Fruit energy leaves its original, deceased host, it's a process that is both fast and slow.
Fast: refers to the very high speed at which Devil Fruit energy flees after leaving the body. If measured by data, it's equivalent to one-third the speed of light.
Slow: refers to the fact that these energies are too vast; even when scattering from the body, they cannot dissipate in just a minute or two. All of this was anticipated by Pain, which is why he now held the fruit in his hand.
Renaut watched the Devil Fruit energy in Pain's hand slowly taking shape, feeling as if Pain was performing a miracle, extracting the Devil Fruit from Crocodile's corpse. But Renaut knew this was no miracle, but the result of Pain's ability combined with his intellect.
The more Renaut thought, the more excited he became. Renaut realized that following Pain might be the most correct decision he had ever made in his life. This enigmatic man had, in this short time, shown Renaut the hope of truly standing at the Peak of this world and finding its end.
Renaut watched silently, no longer asking the questions in his heart, standing quietly by, waiting for Pain's instructions, to see if Pain had any tasks he needed to handle.
Renaut didn't have to wait too long. As soon as Pain had solidified the Devil Fruit, he instructed Renaut, "Find the underground ancient city and bring back the information Crocodile obtained about the ancient weapon 'Pluton'."
"As you wish, Leader!..."
Renaut replied wholeheartedly, and a flash of white light disappeared. In the underground ancient city, these fanatical archaeologists were still diligently working on the final decipherment. An old man, seemingly the leader of this group, was directing them in an orderly manner.
From Crocodile's departure from the underground ancient city to his death, no more than about ten minutes passed. In between, the underground ancient city also experienced a slight tremor, similar to a magnitude two earthquake.
That was caused by Chibaku Tensei, but these seemed to fail to attract any attention from the archaeologists here. Only the directing old man looked up, lost in thought.
A flash of white light, and Renaut appeared in the underground ancient city, in the place where Crocodile had previously sat, similar to a throne. Renaut's appearance was sudden and silent.
But someone still sensed the flash of white light and cast a gaze of attention—it was the leading old man.
Renaut observed the old man. By his appearance, he seemed to be around sixty years old, with a height of about 1.8 meters and a body that, though old, still showed vigor. His strong muscles seemed a bit out of place with his identity as a scholar. He had a unique hairstyle, black and white hair resembling a disc. A large rope was wrapped around his back, and two knives hung from his waist. His legs were bare, and he wore wooden clogs.
His slightly wrinkled brow seemed unable to relax, tightly furrowed, with a high nose bridge and a slightly smiling face. Renaut watched him, vaguely feeling that this old man was not simple, seemingly hiding his strength.
Under the old man's watchful gaze, Renaut transformed into a streak of white light and stood before him. As the white light flashed, the scholars who were focused on deciphering the poneglyph also stopped their work and cast inquiring glances.
"Crocodile is dead..."
Renaut calmly stated the fact.
This statement, though calm, was undoubtedly a thunderclap to these scholars, stirring up a thousand waves. The scholars' expressions varied: some frowned, some were happy, some were terrified, and some were calm.
The calmest was the old man in front of Renaut, while the other scholars were chattering and whispering about something.
"Crocodile is dead?... I'm wanted by the World Government... who will protect me now?..." This was the thought of the frowning scholar.
"Crocodile is dead?... Good riddance... Hahaha, finally free!..." This was the thought of the happy scholars, as they had been coerced.
"Crocodile is dead?... How is that possible?... How did he die?... Who will pay me the reward he promised?..." This was the thought of the terrified scholars.
And the calmest scholar only showed a slight surprise. He knew of Crocodile's earlier departure, and from the previous tremors, he could guess that Crocodile was fighting someone. But it was unexpected that Crocodile would die, and it had only been about ten minutes from his departure to hearing the news of his death.
Crocodile was very strong. In the old man's opinion, an Ability User with a Logia Devil Fruit, even if he couldn't defeat others, could at least escape. Yet Crocodile's enemy had killed him in a short time, which required immense strength to accomplish.
These thoughts lasted only a moment before Renaut's next words brought him back, "Although Crocodile is dead, your efforts will not be in vain."
"Give me the information you've deciphered over the past few years; we will use it appropriately..."
As soon as Renaut's words fell, the other scholars all cast glances at the old man, as if passing the buck. They meant, 'We don't know what to do; apart from Crocodile, this old man is the one in charge here, so you ask him.'
Renaut followed the gaze of these scholars, his eyes directly on the old man as he asked, "What do you say?..."
Outside the ancient city, Pain was busy. Crocodile's corpse had been almost completely modified by Pain. Chakra receivers were placed in various parts of the body, and Chakra receiver nails were in the facial features; everything was arranged, and only the direct application of the technique was needed to complete it.
Pain stared at the modified corpse and let out a soft cry.
"Outer Path: Samsara of Life Technique!..."