A look of total worldview collapse was evident in Crocodile's eyes. Luffy recognized it—the look reserved for monsters who defied all reason.
Reason?
Reason was meant to be broken!
"To be honest, you're really disappointing me, Crocodile."
Luffy seemed a bit unenthused. "I don't have much time for you. Three minutes. I can't stand any more than that."
He threw Crocodile's own words back at him, but in Luffy's case, there was a genuine reason.
The damned/twisted plan would adjust itself after he cursed at Nami a few times, but here he was, having finally encountered a Warlord of the Sea. Couldn't it just let him fight single-mindedly?
His brain still had to process navigation knowledge. Did the plan think his current strength was enough to multitask against a Warlord?
Thinking about it that way made some sense.
Anyway, the ultimate goal of the plan was to make him the Pirate King, possessing everything a Pirate King needed.
From the current perspective...
Defeating Crocodile was even less useful than navigation knowledge. Could he understand it that way?
The cigar in Crocodile's mouth snapped in two.
But he was a resilient schemer. The broken half still dangled from his lips.
Crocodile trusted no one. He was profoundly self-centered. Another Warlord, that fellow Doflamingo, had proposed cooperation with him multiple times, and he had always refused.
But this time...
"I acknowledge your strength."
Crocodile took a measured breath. "Let's talk terms. What do you want?"
In his view, Luffy was a pirate. What were pirates? They were all the same—madmen who sailed for various goals on this sea: wealth, status, fame? Or that so-called ultimate treasure, One Piece.
Aside from One Piece, Crocodile had everything: fame, status, wealth... If Luffy wanted it, he could even hand over his Warlord title.
The strength Luffy had just displayed made him impossible to look down upon. This was no mere small-time pirate.
But the only thing Crocodile himself wanted was that one thing. He cared for nothing else.
"I already have everything."
"I'm not interested in anything you're offering. I promised Vivi I'd punch you flying. If there's anything I want, it's that."
"So there's no room for negotiation?"
"What do you think?"
The next second, Luffy's fists, wrapped in Armament Haki, smashed heavily into a sand shield Crocodile hastily conjured.
The sand shield exploded on impact, yellow sand flying everywhere. The powerful shockwave sent Crocodile sliding back over ten meters, plowing two deep grooves into the parched ground.
He's fast.
"But, let me show you something!"
Crocodile's form suddenly shifted. The flow of sand around him visibly accelerated, and more and more sand from the surroundings began gathering onto his body.
The desert was his stage. Everything here could be his to command. It had been a long time since Crocodile had used this form, but faced with a strong opponent, especially one so young and provoking, the veins on his forehead looked ready to burst.
"If you survive this, years from now, when you're whiling away your time in some dingy tavern, you should recall that the terms I offered just now might have been the only chance you'd ever get in this life."
Crocodile grew more confident. "Three minutes! Just three minutes!"
"You think you're the only one who can transform?"
Pshh!
A puff of white steam shot from Luffy's nostrils. Immediately after, white, flame-like wisps began to coil around his body, flickering in and out of visibility. His hair also seemed to shift between colors. "It's not the complete form yet, but it should be enough to deal with you."
"What is this?!"
Crocodile was slightly startled, clearly not expecting Luffy to have a transformation of his own.
And those white wisps... they looked familiar!
But there was no time to think.
"Desert Burial!"
A sky-obscuring, sun-blotting wave of sand swept forth like a tidal surge, its power visibly intensifying.
But Luffy—
"Gomu Gomu no... Giant!"
Luffy visibly enlarged. With both hands, he coated them in Haki, then plunged them into the sand, churning it around like someone catching a loach, and fished Crocodile right out.
"Got you."
Luffy looked at the snarling Crocodile in his grasp, a battle-maniac's excited grin spreading across his face.
Once caught, there's no escaping.
Elsewhere, as Luffy and Crocodile's battle entered a new phase, skirmishes in other corners of the battlefield were also unfolding.
Many Baroque Works agents, knocked unconscious by the Conqueror's Haki, were staggering back to their feet, only to be immediately clubbed back down as soon as they stood.
"These guys are tenacious."
Nami wielded her Clima-Tact like she was playing whack-a-mole.
In her arms was Nika, who was feeling a bit woozy from the residual effects of Luffy's Haki.
Nika: "Nika not dizzy."
"I say you're dizzy, so you're dizzy."
Nami didn't need you to think, she only needed herself to think. In this situation, only holding Nika provided a slight sense of security.
That earlier clearing of the field, while shocking, meant everyone left standing was a tough opponent.
Her gaze soon locked onto a figure approaching her—a woman with thick, deep blue hair.
Her posture swayed seductively. She held a slender smoking pipe, walking with an exaggerated, almost catwalk-like sway, projecting a deliberate sensuality.
"Oh? This little miss, also part of the Straw Hat Pirates?"
Miss Doublefinger blew a smoke ring, her voice carrying a lazy, husky quality, but her eyes scanned over Nami like sharp knives.
"How does it feel, playing at knocking people out?"
Nami's heart skipped a beat. She immediately plastered on a harmless smile, waving her hands dismissively.
"You've got the wrong idea.
I am part of the crew, but I'm not a fighter. If you want to fight, go find that green-haired swordsman over there, or that curly-browed cook. I'm just an ordinary navigator!"
"An ordinary navigator? Well, you'll have to do."
Miss Doublefinger lightly tapped her pipe against her hand, gesturing at the now-sparse battlefield. "Seems like the only opponent I can pick here right now... is you."
Nami's smile froze on her face. She cursed inwardly.
Why did she have to be left with such a troublesome one?
Fight this Thorn-Thorn Fruit user, who, according to Robin, had a 35 million Berry bounty?
No way!
Devil Fruit users were never easy to deal with.
"How timid."
Miss Doublefinger exhaled smoke, turning her gaze towards the distant figure of Luffy locked in fierce combat with Crocodile. Her tone held a hint of regret and confusion. "That Straw Hat boy... seems to have limitless potential, to be able to trade blows with our boss like that.
It's hard to imagine why he would have someone like you as a... partner. Someone who seems rather useless?"
"What did you say?"
Nami's arms, holding Nika, unconsciously tightened. Her orange hair seemed almost ready to stand on end.
That, she couldn't just let slide.
It was like someone saying Luffy couldn't become the Pirate King.
***
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