"This place will automatically self-destruct in an hour, and lake water will flood this basement..."
Crocodile laughed loudly as he left.
Lake water began to gush out, and the water level in the secret room gradually rose. Banana Crocodiles also crawled up through the passage along with the rising lake water and began to attack Princess Vivi outside the cage.
Crocodile emerged from the "Rain Dinners" casino. After confirming his direction, his legs transformed into wind and sand as he took to the sky, flying straight toward the southeast.
At the same time, Taro, who had returned to the shore, was also heading northwest. Unaware that the main group had already arrived, he hoped to wait directly in Rainbase and then coordinate with Luffy and the others to defeat Crocodile.
Crocodile left the secret underground room. The lake water gradually reached the thighs of Luffy and the others. Just as they were in a panic, a cool voice came over:
"Please try not to make noise while dining."
"Anti-Manner Kick Course!"
A handsome man appeared and delivered a straight kick, hitting a Banana Crocodile square in the abdomen and sending it flying.
"Sanji!"
"Sanji!"
Luffy and the others all shouted the man's name in surprise. The newcomer was indeed Sanji. His blonde hair covered half of his face, he had curly eyebrows, a cigarette in his mouth, and he wore a blue shirt under a black slim-fit suit.
Hearing his companions call his name, he put his right hand in his pocket, straightened his left hand while holding his cigarette, struck a pose, and lightly exhaled a puff of smoke.
"Hello there. Have you been waiting long? My companions!"
Luffy and Usopp shouted in surprise, "Prince, that's so cool!"
Zoro, however, shouted, "You bastard, hurry up and find the cage key!"
Nami asked, "Sanji, didn't you run into Crocodile? He said he was going to kill you!"
"Miss Nami," Sanji ignored Luffy, Zoro, and the others, looking instead at Nami. He instantly turned into a lovestruck fool, twisting his body, "Have you... have you fallen in love with me?"
Nami said speechlessly, "Yes, yes, I've fallen in love with you! So hurry up and answer my question, then find the key to open this!"
"Crocodile? Who's that?"
"Haven't you met him?" Nami asked in confusion. "He's the president of Baroque Works, Mr. 0, and one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea."
"Huh?" Sanji was stunned. "Mr. 0? I've only spoken to him via den den mushi; I've never actually met him."
"What?"
Nami and the others were all startled, looking at each other. Then who was Crocodile going to kill?
"There were only some small fry outside. I got in quite easily."
Sanji didn't understand what had happened.
"Is now the time to talk about this? Find the key quickly and let us out!"
Zoro shouted at Luffy and the others, while Smoker sat nearby, deep in thought. It seemed like there was another faction involved?
...Taro rushed northwest without stopping, unaware that developments had already exceeded his expectations.
To be honest, Taro's condition was very poor. Physical fatigue was secondary; it was more of a mental exhaustion.
He didn't know that Crocodile had already mistaken him for the "Sanji" of the Straw Hat crew and had developed killing intent.
Across a sand dune, on a part of the desert out of Taro's sight, Miss All Sunday—that is, Nico Robin—was following Crocodile's orders, returning to Katerea to search for information on "Sanji."
She also didn't know that Crocodile already knew she had withheld information and had also developed killing intent toward her.
These two people, both marked by Crocodile, missed each other just like that, separated by a single sand dune.
Having just crossed the St. Dora River that divided the kingdom in two, and before he had traveled very far, Taro suddenly felt something was wrong.
The distant sky was a bit too dark, as if something was rapidly approaching. Taro stopped, focused his attention on the horizon, and then his eyes gradually widened.
A tornado was whipping up sand everywhere, spinning at high speed across the desert and approaching Taro's location.
A Sandstorm!
Taro looked around but couldn't find a suitable place to hide. Aside from a few sand dunes, he couldn't even find a large piece of rubble. The f·crocodile beneath him also seemed very uneasy, constantly pawing at the sand with its claws and letting out low growls.
With a Sandstorm of this scale, there was no way to outrun it. Taro's heart sank; he could only take a gamble.
He forcibly drove the f·crocodile toward the direction of the approaching Sandstorm and stopped under a huge sand dune directly in front of him.
He pulled his fists to his waist and swung his right fist with force.
"Fishman Karate: Thousand Tile Punch!"
With a low shout, a punch force like a rippling current broke through the air and smashed into the sand dune in front of him. With a loud "boom" and a cloud of yellow sand, a large hole over 2 meters in diameter appeared in the dune.
Taro quickly led his mount inside. Immediately after, the whistling gale swept in. Amidst the flying sand and stones, the overwhelming yellow sand and debris buried the entrance.
At this moment, Crocodile had transformed into sand, using the gale of the Sandstorm to rush southeast. Suddenly, ahead of the Sandstorm, a loud noise accompanied by splashing yellow sand caught his attention.
It was pitch black inside the hole. Taro didn't heave a sigh of relief until he heard silence return outside. He used both hands and feet to dig open the entrance and crawled out.
Covered in sweat after his narrow escape, Taro lay on the sand, gasping for air. He was truly too tired and unconsciously closed his eyes, wanting to take a good rest.
Once his breathing leveled out, Taro slowly opened his eyes. However, in the next second, his hair stood on end in shock.
At the top of the sand dune, a black figure was standing there. Because of the light and the angle, Taro couldn't see the person's face clearly, but from the huge hook on the left arm, he still recognized the man.
Crocodile!
Why would he appear here?
Taro scrambled up from the sand in a bit of a mess, looking warily at Crocodile on the sand dune.
Crocodile had a cigar in his mouth. He glanced at Taro with an arrogant gaze, a hint of a disdainful smile on his lips.
Seeing Taro's reaction, Crocodile became even more certain of his judgment. This guy was indeed the fifth member of the Straw Hat Pirates.
Taro rapidly searched through his memories. Unfortunately, he hadn't met Luffy's group yet, nor did he have any news from the Marines, so he had no way of judging where the plot currently stood!
The two of them stood in a standoff for a while before Crocodile chuckled. "I said it before, didn't I? I remember you!"
"My, my, you're in quite a pathetic state right now!"
"How should I address you?"
"Mr. Sanji of the Straw Hat Pirates?"
"Or Mr. Prince from that shitty restaurant?"
Crocodile's tone was chillingly cold, and his gaze toward Taro turned cruel.
Taro's eyes widened as he looked at Crocodile in disbelief.
What?
---------------------------------
I hope you're enjoying the fanfiction so far! If the story has you hooked and you can't wait to see what happens next, you can unlock 30 chapters in advance over on my Patreon: patreon.com/TLHimejima1
Every bit of support means the world to me so if you're loving the ride, don't forget to drop a Power Stone and let me know.