Chapter 167: The Sand Crocodile Brutalized
Alabasta - Rainbase Plaza
The midday sun beat down on the damp cobblestone streets. Rainbase Plaza was bustling as usual, with a constant flow of people.
Suddenly—
"BOOM—!!!"
A figure fell from the sky, engulfed in flames!
"AAAAHHH!! A man on fire fell from the sky!!!"
"Run!!!"
Terrified screams echoed through the street instantly. Pedestrians fled in all directions, and merchants abandoned their stalls to run for their lives.
The flaming figure smashed heavily into the center of the plaza, shattering the paving stones. A series of fiery shockwaves rippled out, filling the air with smoke and dust!
Amidst the sand and dust, Crocodile reverted from his sand form to his human shape. He stumbled back wretchedly, his cape mostly burnt, his left shoulder charred black, sweat pouring down his forehead like rain.
"Damn it... that Marine brat following him is this strong?!!"
He growled low, patting out the remaining flames on his body, when he suddenly felt the sunlight dim for a second.
"?!!"
He snapped his head up, pupils shrinking violently!
In mid-air, Ace's legs had completely turned into fire, keeping him suspended. And in his hands—he held high the massive metal crocodile head statue from the casino roof!
"Hey, Sand Crocodile—"
"Still slacking off?"
Ace grinned, swinging it down violently!
"BANG—!!!"
The crocodile head statue, carrying intense heat and the impact force of a meteorite, smashed down onto Crocodile!
Crocodile's pupils shook violently. At the last moment, he abruptly elementalized into sand!
"BOOM—!!!"
The crocodile head smashed into the ground, instantly igniting the flames Ace had attached to it. The entire plaza was swallowed by fire in an instant!
The ground cracked, stone chips flew, and waves of fire roared like giant beasts. Thick smoke billowed into the sky, and several surrounding buildings collapsed under the shockwave!
Immediately after—
"Flame Commandment: Pillar of Fire!!!"
Ace crossed his arms. Flames condensed into a massive, scorching pillar of fire that blasted down vertically from mid-air!
"BOOM!!!"
On the ground, Crocodile, having just reformed, roared back!
"Sables (Sandstorm)!!!"
A monstrous sandstorm rose to the sky, colliding head-on with the pillar of fire!
Fire and sand intertwined and clashed. The air twisted from the heat, and terrifying waves of pressure slammed in all directions like tsunamis. The entire plaza shook violently as if in an earthquake!
Atop Rain Dinners, Roy stood on a high platform, his gaze calm as water.
He waved his hand. Within a few breaths, civilians from the entire surrounding block were instantly teleported to a safe zone far away.
"Wrecking the property is fine, but don't hurt the civilians."
Just as he lowered his hand, the click of high heels sounded behind him.
Nico Robin walked to his side, her coat fluttering in the wind, her expression complex. "The Baroque Works agents have cleared the area as ordered."
She paused, looking at the center of the plaza swallowed by fire and sand, her tone carrying a rare hint of worry. "Is that young Marine... going to be okay?"
Roy smiled easily. "You mean Ace?"
"Don't worry~"
"That's my little brother."
"Beating a 'Little Crocodile'," he glanced at the battlefield, his tone indifferent, "is a piece of cake."
Robin: "..."
Her mouth twitched slightly. After a few seconds of silence, she murmured to herself, "That's... a Warlord of the Sea..."
"What exactly do you two think a 'Warlord' is?"
In the center of the battlefield, fire soared and sandstorms roared. The battle between Fire Fist and Sand Crocodile continued to escalate.
The sky was burned a sickly yellow, and the ground was torn into ruins of scorched black and sand.
Amidst the flying dust, two figures clashed fiercely in the flames, the booms deafening!
Crocodile knelt on one knee, face dark. His golden hook dug deep into the ground, sand swirling around him like a giant python ready to strike.
He gritted his teeth and growled, his voice low and furious. "...Damn it, this Fire Fist brat is way stronger than the intel said!"
His cape was burnt to ash, his right arm scorched, and his elementalized body showed signs of crystallization.
Suddenly, he jerked his head up, a vicious glint in his eyes!
"Desert Spada!!!"
"SWISH—!!!"
With a piercing scream, a violent stream of sand gathered on his arm, forming a massive crescent sand blade. Carrying the force of a storm, it tore through the air, sweeping horizontally at Ace's waist!
The sand blade was like a tsunami, enough to level an entire block!
Ace just chuckled lightly, his eyes showing laziness and disdain.
He pulled his right fist back abruptly. Jet-black Armament Haki climbed onto his fist like iron ink. Flames compressed violently at his knuckles, flickering with an unstable white-hot light.
"Great Flame Burst: Pierce!"
"BOOM—!!!"
The flame blasted out!
It was a ball of white-hot fire compressed to the limit, like a precise heavy cannon, piercing through the air instantly to smash into the sand blade!
"SIZZLE—!!!"
Upon impact, the high temperature instantly melted the sand blade into glass-like crystal, which then shattered with a CRACK under the massive force!
Crocodile's pupils shook. "Impossible... this flame can penetrate the density of my sand blade?!!"
Before he could react, his vision suddenly went dark—
Ace had closed in like a blazing streak of light!
"Flame Burst: Chain Star!!!"
"BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM—!!!"
Double fists wrapped in white-hot flames rained down like a meteor shower, the rhythm fierce as war drums!
Every hit carried extreme heat and impact. The ground exploded, sparks flying!
Crocodile gritted his teeth, dodging by turning into sand while counterattacking. However, every part that had just turned into sand was forcibly "burned solid" by the high heat, even showing crystallized burns!
"GAAH—!!!"
He grunted, his shoulder blasted back several meters by a punch, half his body nearly exploding.
"Can't drag this out... I must suppress his flames!"
He roared through gritted teeth, slamming both hands onto the ground. "Ground Secco (Erosion Cycle)!!!"
"RUMBLE—!!!"
Centering on him, the ground turned to sand rapidly. Moisture and oxygen were quickly sucked from the air, turning the entire plaza into a dry, suffocating hell instantly!
The dancing flames stagnated immediately. The light on Ace's body dimmed visibly.
Crocodile grinned savagely, spreading his arms, wantonly absorbing the moisture and oxygen from the surrounding air. The earth beneath his feet turned to sand rapidly. The scorching battlefield felt like its last drop of blood had been drained.
"Without oxygen, let's see how long you can burn!"
He threw his head back and laughed, sand churning. It felt as if he controlled the world alone.
"The true terror of the Sand-Sand Fruit..."
His voice was low and cruel, like sand grinding against a heart. "Is not destruction, but—DEPRIVATION!!!"
But the next second, that twisted smile froze on his face.
He saw the young man in the flames slowly take a deep breath.
In that instant, it felt as if all the air was sucked back into his body.
The flames around Ace suddenly retracted, compressing inward violently. His silhouette became extremely distinct, like a sun cast into a steel body. On his knuckles, white-hot points of light shone one by one, like the silence before a supernova explosion—
Then, he moved.
"—Great Flame Commandment: SUN PIERCER!!!"
"BOOM!!!!!"
The sound of the sound barrier shattering exploded across the battlefield!
Ace's figure turned into a light spear tearing through the sky. Breaking the sound barrier in an instant, he transformed into an extremely thin white-hot stream piercing through the plaza!
Like a fragment of the sun, slashing through the sky with incredible speed!
Where he passed, the air twisted and collapsed, forming a vacuum trail. Violent winds swept up, the street collapsed instantly, and the sand and stone bricks on the ground melted directly into flowing crimson glass. Even time seemed to be torn apart!
"SWISH—!"
Crocodile's eyelids twitched violently. Instinctively, he tried to turn into sand and flee!
But it was too late!
"SPLAT—!!!"
The Sun Piercer line penetrated his right shoulder instantly! The high temperature pierced directly through the sand structure, forcibly burning a "physical wound"!
The scorched area crystallized transparently, radial cracks spreading from the edge. The faint sound of melting sizzled in the air!
"GYAAAAHHH—!!!!!"
Crocodile let out an unprecedented scream, flying backward!
He smashed heavily into a ruined building. Flames spread along the wound, clothes charred, his entire right arm on the verge of disintegration!
A scorched black-red trail was left on the ground, like a god's angry slash, engraved forever!
He lay on the ground, shoulder smoking continuously, face twisted in pain, curled into a ball.
When he looked down tremblingly at the pierced part of his sand body—
The sand grains could no longer aggregate. The elemental structure had failed, as if the high heat had completely stripped away the foundation supporting his ability!
His lips turned white, almost mumbling, "This guy... can compress flames into a line—"
"Penetrating even elementalization?!!"
Roy watched the straight scorched trail quietly, his expression unchanged, eyes deep.
Robin stood beside him, fingertips trembling slightly. Looking at Crocodile blasted away in the distance, she couldn't calm down for a long time.
She whispered, "Your brother... that move just now was compressing flames to the limit and releasing them like a laser beam?"
Roy nodded casually, his voice relaxed with a hint of teasing. "Yeah, it's called 'Sun Piercer'."
"He originally wanted to test it on Uncle Kizaru."
Robin: "..."
She was silent for three seconds before finally blurting out:
"Are you brothers born to break the balance of the world?"
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