As the two figures drew closer, Crocodile frowned deeply.
One of them was easy to identify. Between the Marine officer's coat draped over his shoulders and his youthful appearance, there was no doubt: this was the man who had recently surged in notoriety, Sean Campbell.
But the other—a tall woman wearing a mask...
Crocodile knew that silhouette all too well.
The fact that this woman was walking side-by-side with Sean Campbell could only mean one thing...
"Nico Robin!" Crocodile snarled, staring intently at the masked woman. "What is the meaning of this?"
Crocodile didn't care whether Robin lived or died, nor did he care if she was truly loyal to him. To him, as long as she remained obedient and served his purposes until his plan was complete, that was enough.
But looking at her now, it was clear she had betrayed him.
"You have the wrong person. My name is Aivilo," Robin replied calmly.
The answer was so absurd that even Sean, standing beside her, blinked in confusion.
'Aivilo? What on earth is that? That sounds weird,' Sean thought.
He had told Robin to come up with a new alias, but this was a bit too discordant, wasn't it?
Then, a realization hit him.
Robin's mother was named Olvia. Olvia reversed roughly sounded like "Aivilo."
'Wait... did she just reverse her mother's name to make an alias?'
"Stop playing games! Do you think a mask is enough to fool me? You haven't even changed your clothes!"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Robin replied, her voice remaining flat. She showed no sign of embarrassment at being exposed.
This caused Crocodile's rage—which had only just begun to simmer down after an hour—to spike once again.
Robin shot Sean a sharp glance. Her eyes seemed to say, ''You didn't even give me a uniform. See? Now I've been found out.''
"Alright, Crocodile, you're a grown man. Stop obsessing over my adjutant, will you? We have business to attend to," Sean interrupted. "Usually, I give people two choices. You're no exception."
"First: Surrender now, come back with me, and cooperate with an experiment. Afterward, I'll give you a decent burial and even put up a headstone."
"Second: Continue to resist, get beaten into a pulp by me, and then be dragged back for the experiment. After that, I'll toss you into the ocean to feed the fish."
"You may begin your choice."
Hearing this, Crocodile actually laughed out of sheer indignation.
What was this? Experiments?
No, the experiments weren't the problem. The problem was... this brat actually thought he had already won.
Both options led to the same end; the only difference was whether he got a grave or became fish food. First it was Lucci, and now it was Sean.
'Who the hell do they think I am?'
'I am Crocodile!'
Crocodile was truly livid, his rage hitting its absolute limit. If he suffered from high blood pressure, his veins would have likely burst on the spot. Around them, the previously still sands began to churn and swirl, as if something volatile was brewing.
"Lucci, protect her!"
"Yes, Rear Admiral!"
At the command, Lucci dropped quickly from the air and took his position in front of Robin.
Meanwhile, Sean slowly drew Hekireki, walking toward Crocodile with measured steps.
"Crocodile, if I'm reading this correctly, you've chosen the second option, right?"
"No. I choose neither. Aside from Robin, every single one of you dies here today!"
"Is that so? Well, give it your best shot," Sean replied with total indifference.
His nonchalance was the final straw. Unable to restrain himself any longer, Crocodile lunged at Sean.
"Arc Moon Dune!"
His right arm instantly liquefied into sand, forming a massive, crescent-shaped blade—resembling a Shinigami's scythe—and slashed horizontally across Sean's chest. While it wasn't a forty-meter blade, it was easily four meters long.
"This move... it doesn't seem to have any actual cutting power?" Sean remarked.
"Then have the guts not to dodge!"
"Fine. I won't."
Sean smiled, making no effort to move.
In the next instant, the massive blade slammed directly into Sean's chest.
'I got him!'
The two passed each other in a flash, with Crocodile maintaining his forward momentum.
"Sean Campbell, I thought you were supposed to be impressive. It's true that this attack lacks physical cutting power, but..."
Crocodile sneered. "The moment this attack touches you, every drop of moisture in your body is drained in an instant."
"As expected, a brat is still a brat. You have zero combat experience!"
"Now, once I kill that flying pest, my plans can return to their proper course. This world will eventually belong to me, Crocodil—"
Mid-sentence, Crocodile felt something was off.
Normally, he wouldn't have bothered looking back to see the wreckage of his opponent. After all, a real man doesn't look back at the explosion. But the feeling of wrongness was too strong to ignore.
He glanced back.
Sean was perfectly fine. He was standing there with his arms crossed, looking for all the world as if he were admiring a performance.
Crocodile couldn't understand it. The attack had clearly landed, so why had it failed?
Regardless, it didn't matter.
His right hand liquefied again, and the massive crescent blade reappeared.
"I don't believe you can survive this one!"
Once again, the attack struck Sean squarely. However, the expected sight of Sean being shriveled into a desiccated corpse never happened.
It was as if some invisible barrier was preventing his ability from making contact with Sean's body.
Crocodile didn't know how Sean was doing it, and he didn't believe it was possible to simply "nullify" his power through sheer will, yet his attack had been completely useless. It hadn't affected Sean in the slightest.
"Impossible! This is absolutely impossible! Why are you unharmed?"
Seeing this, Crocodile nearly lost his mind. If Sean had used Full Body Armament Haki to tank the hit, he could understand it. But the problem was that Sean hadn't used Armament Haki at all; he had simply stood there, yet the ability was neutralized.
How was this possible?
"Sean Campbell, I don't believe it!"
In a fit of rage, Crocodile lunged forward and grabbed Sean's shoulder with his right hand.
"I refuse to believe you can defend against this! Desert Prison!!"
In the original story, this was the move that had turned Luffy into a dried-up husk.
But now...
Crocodile remained frozen in that position, his hand clamped firmly on Sean's shoulder.
Still, nothing happened. Sean just stood there, without moving a single muscle.
Crocodile was completely blindsided.
This made no sense at all!
How on earth was this guy defending against his ability?
However, even if his powers were useless, he still had...
"Poison Scorpion Needle!"
That was right. He didn't know how Sean had managed to nullify the Suna Suna no Mi, but surely he couldn't defend against a physical attack laced with toxin.
Crocodile's free left hand whipped forward, striking at Sean with the poison needle attached to his prosthetic arm. The hook of the weapon was coated in a lethal toxin—the kind that killed the moment it entered the bloodstream.
Once scratched, no matter how powerful the opponent, death was inevitable without an antidote. The only difference was that the stronger the person, the longer they could cling to life.
'Since you love standing there acting so untouchable, I'll just send you to your grave!'
As the poison needle neared Sean, Crocodile's expression grew increasingly ferocious.
But in the next instant, a streak of azure light flashed. Something shot into the air—a brilliant, shimmering gold...
It was impossible to miss.