"We meet again. This time, I won't let you escape."
Crocodile, wearing a black overcoat, looked at Tom, who was on guard. "A nobody like you doesn't even have the value to be killed by me, but I don't mind spending a few minutes crushing you."
From Crocodile's tone, it seemed that deigning to spend time dealing with Tom was already giving him great face.
But although Crocodile's words were full of contempt for Tom, he didn't let his guard down because of it.
Yes, as one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, one of the world's three major powers, Crocodile indeed looked down on a small-time pirate like Tom with only a thirty-million Berry bounty. But that didn't mean he would be careless in the coming fight.
On the contrary, he was like a patient crocodile. Even with the weakest prey, once he decided to strike, he would go all out to deliver a fatal blow, then devour the prey completely.
Crocodile had been famous for over twenty years. He was insidious, cunning, and also very cautious. He had come to the outskirts of Katorea today to personally confirm whether there would be any unexpected variables in the Utopia operation.
If the situation changed, he could take timely countermeasures.
Now that he had successfully provoked and incited war, his plan was half complete.
Especially since he had seen with his own eyes the rebel army charging out of Katorea, he wanted even more to make sure Tom didn't live.
Although Crocodile clearly expressed his contempt for Tom, Tom showed no reaction.
Tom knew that his upcoming fight with Crocodile wasn't children playing rough. If he made one mistake, he would die. The other party looked down on him, so he felt it was better to save his energy than waste it on words.
Honestly, when Tom saw Crocodile and Robin appear together, he did feel immense pressure.
With Vivi still there, he truly didn't think that with his current strength, he could protect Vivi while fighting Crocodile.
This wasn't a lack of confidence, but intuition—or rather, a sixth sense he had gained after dancing on the edge of death multiple times since setting sail.
But if they ran, there was still Robin, another Devil Fruit user. Could they escape?
Tom knew Robin's strength very well. Even Mr. 5, a Baroque Works high-ranking officer, couldn't handle her. Escaping from Robin, the vice president of Baroque Works, was next to impossible.
"I'm staying!"
Vivi, behind Tom, said with great determination.
She had spent some time with Tom. She didn't fully understand him, but she knew that because of her, Tom had been put in a difficult position.
In the past, when facing enemies, Tom had always made a decision quickly—either fight or retreat temporarily.
Like when the female Marine Ain appeared, Tom had let her and the others escape first, staying behind to fight the enemy.
But this time was different. After Crocodile appeared, Tom didn't move. Vivi immediately understood: Tom didn't know what to do with her.
In this situation, whether Tom told her to run or stay would be wrong. That was why Tom, usually decisive, was hesitating.
Is this really the time to hesitate?
Vivi didn't think so. She understood this clearly, so she made a snap decision, solving the dilemma for Tom—the dilemma that would have left him with no good answer no matter what he chose.
Since Vivi had already made her choice, Tom didn't dwell on the question of whether she should stay or go.
Although Tom had only hesitated for a moment, those two seconds had already exhausted Crocodile's patience.
"Hurry up and attack. My time is precious."
Crocodile pointed at Tom with his golden hook on his left hand, speaking very generously.
It had to be said that Crocodile was indeed arrogant. He could have ambushed Tom earlier but didn't.
Crocodile was insidious and cunning, but when facing someone far below him in reputation and status, he really didn't bother playing dirty. He had absolute confidence that he could crush the opponent head-on.
As early as Whisky Peak, Tom had already provoked Crocodile. Then after coming to Alabasta, he had punched him. So Crocodile wanted even less for Tom to die too comfortably.
"Take care of yourself."
After saying this to Vivi behind him, Tom clenched his fist and attacked Crocodile without hesitation. "Since your time is precious, then disappear quickly!"
Tom's attack speed wasn't slow. But just as his fist was about to hit Crocodile's face, Crocodile vanished before his eyes.
Turned into sand?
Tom saw Crocodile's body turn into sand particles and dissipate into the air. Then behind him, Crocodile, who had reformed from sand, thrust his sharp golden hook toward Tom's back.
Seeing the danger, Tom quickly put his hands on the ground and flipped forward a few times, dodging Crocodile's attack. At the same time, he threw a "True Punch" toward Crocodile.
With a bang, a blast echoed through the air. Crocodile's body had a hole punched through it. Tom could even see the blue sky beyond through the hole.
Normally, a person with a fist-sized hole in their body would have collapsed from severe injuries. But Crocodile was completely fine. And what flowed from the hole wasn't red blood, but yellow sand.
Seeing that his fists weren't working well, Tom immediately pulled out his fishing rod from his arm-sleeve device, thinking to himself: I hit him with one punch last time. Why can't I do it now?
There must be a reason.
Unfortunately, this wasn't the time to calmly think things through. Gripping his spear, Tom immediately launched an attack on Crocodile.
"Spear Style: Hundred Strikes Reincarnation!"
Tom leaped into the air, landing above Crocodile. He thrust his right-hand spear down at Crocodile at incredible speed, leaving afterimages in the air.
Moments later, Crocodile's body was riddled with holes, but he still stood perfectly fine. Seeing his attacks weren't working, Tom continued.
"Spear Style: Inch of Cold!"
Tom concentrated all his strength into his right hand and, with lightning speed, thrust at Crocodile, who stood motionless. Under the sunlight, the sharp spearhead emitted a dazzling light, like a bolt of lightning in the darkness, striking the enemy.
When Tom's spear pierced Crocodile's body, Crocodile's body shattered from the force. But soon, he reformed his body from sand and appeared before Tom unharmed.
"Spear Style: Dragon Serpent Breaker!"
Tom gripped the spear tightly in his right hand. As he gathered his strength, his body spun rapidly in the air, thrusting toward Crocodile. The force generated by his spinning stirred up the yellow sand beneath him, carrying it toward Crocodile.
With the momentum of the fierce spin, Tom's attack was even more powerful than before. He and his spear passed straight through Crocodile's body.
But Crocodile, with a hole through him, was still alive and well. He said to Tom, "No matter what attack you use, it won't work. You're too far beneath me."
Tom ignored Crocodile's words. He knew clearly that if he stopped attacking, it would mean defeat. So he had to keep attacking, even if his attacks were ineffective.
He thrust the fishing rod with the Soft Current Particle attachment into the sand. Bending the rod, he shot upward like a rocket, reaching dozens of meters in seconds. He gripped the spear tightly with both hands. "Spear Style: Tenfold Inch of Cold Extinction!"
Like a shooting star, Tom fell from the sky, striking Crocodile below at incredible speed.
With a thunderous boom, Tom's spear, held with both hands, pierced through Crocodile's head and into the ground. When the spear touched the ground, the resulting shockwave blew away all the sand within a dozen meters. Dust and sand flew everywhere, leaving a large circular pit. Crocodile was nowhere to be seen, as if he had been blown away.
After unleashing a relentless series of powerful attacks, Tom was somewhat out of breath. But when the thick dust cleared, Crocodile's figure reappeared before Tom's eyes.
No effect!
The last move Tom had used had killed the giant goldenfish on Little Garden that could swallow whole islands. But against Crocodile, it was completely useless. Since setting sail with Luffy, the only times he had felt such overwhelming helplessness were when fighting Mihawk and now against Crocodile. It was exhausting.
Throughout the entire exchange, Crocodile had never once tried to stop Tom's attacks. He just watched Tom with a mocking expression, like a cat playing with a mouse.
"Fish-Man Karate?"
Crocodile recognized the punch Tom had thrown as Fish-Man Karate. He said to Tom, "A nobody like you—don't you have any decent attacks?"
Seeing Crocodile with his back to her, Vivi was about to take out her weapon and strike Crocodile from behind when Tom shouted, "Don't you dare attack him! I'm fighting him one-on-one!"
Vivi was stunned for a moment, then understood. Tom clearly didn't want Crocodile to turn his attention to her. If even Tom was helpless against Crocodile, anything she did would only cause more trouble.
"We'll just watch quietly from the side, don't you think, Princess?"
Robin, wearing a white cowboy hat, walked over to Vivi with a smile. Even walking through the desert, her steps were elegant and rhythmic.
Seeing Robin approach, Vivi dared not move.
"Nico Robin!"
"You'd better not call me that name."
As Robin spoke, two arms sprouted from Vivi's shoulders and covered her mouth, preventing her from making a sound.
Tom couldn't pay attention to Vivi's side because his focus was entirely on Crocodile.
"One-on-one?"
Crocodile gave Tom no chance to attack again. With a wave of his right hand, he transformed his arm into a sand blade, enlarged it, and hurled it at Tom. "A brat like you, who only fights with speed and strength, isn't qualified to say that."
Tom felt a sharp, piercing force flying toward him. Without thinking, he quickly jumped to the side. Then he saw that the large circular pit had been split open by the sand blade sliding across the ground. Before him appeared a bottomless chasm. At first glance, it looked as if the vast desert had been forcibly split apart. It was terrifying to behold.
"You see? The gap between you and me is just too wide."
As Crocodile slowly walked toward Tom, he spoke. "Your fighting method is completely chaotic. No technique at all. I've seen far too many useless rookies like you."
No technique?
Hearing Crocodile's words, Tom's heart shook. He suddenly realized—this was the reason he had felt his progress was slow lately.
Crocodile was right. The combat techniques Tom had mastered were all developed based on his own speed and strength. He hadn't paid special attention to technique.
To maximize one's strength, power, speed, and technique were all indispensable. But mastering the secrets of combat technique wasn't easy.
As the saying goes, practice makes perfect. Most people who can skillfully use combat techniques to defeat opponents have extensive practical experience. In this regard, Crocodile, who had been famous for over twenty years, was far superior to Tom.
Although Tom had fought many pirates, the number of pirates who had died at Crocodile's hands was countless. He had reached his current status and position by stepping over the corpses of countless pirates.
Crocodile was strong. The fact that he could split the ground so easily showed that his strength far surpassed any enemy Tom had ever faced.
Nearly three minutes had passed. Crocodile didn't intend to continue playing with Tom.
Just as Tom was about to launch another series of fierce attacks, he heard Vivi's voice. "Let me go! What are you doing?!"
Vivi's hands were tightly bound behind her by arms sprouting from her back. Robin, a faint smile on her face, said to Tom, "We're just taking the princess to our party. I hope you won't refuse."
"Stay away from her, Nico Robin!"
Damn it. I promised that pervert cook. If I let her be taken right in front of me, he'll laugh at me for the rest of my life! Better to die than do nothing!
"I'll give you some advice."
Robin glanced at Tom charging toward her. Her face was calm, still gracefully composed. "If you don't want to suffer too much, just die quickly. Otherwise, you'll regret it."
"What kind of stupid reason is that?! Who would want to die just because of that? You're seriously twisted!"
As Tom said this to Robin, Crocodile attacked from the other side. "Crescent Cutlet!"
Seeing Crocodile's right hand turn into a crescent-shaped sand blade swinging toward him, Tom, unable to dodge, jumped upward to evade the attack.
But as Tom jumped, Crocodile's hand also swept upward. Then Tom saw the sand blade on Crocodile's arm pass through both his feet.
After being hit by Crocodile's attack, Tom's feet were still there, but when he landed, he found he couldn't stand. Looking closely, he saw that his feet had become withered and dry, like dead branches. He couldn't muster any strength.
Vivi, restrained by Robin, saw Tom's feet shriveled and horrible-looking. She asked urgently, "What's wrong?!"
Before Tom, sitting in the sand, could finish speaking, Crocodile walked over, grabbed his neck with his right hand, and lifted him up. "It's over. With strength like this, you wanted to challenge me?"
"Your existence is like a drop of water spilled in the desert—it could never affect my plans! But since you dared to challenge me earlier, I wasted a little time crushing you!"
Crocodile gripped Tom's neck tightly. "I am Crocodile. A king who rules. You're just a small-time pirate with a thirty-million Berry bounty. Ignorant, arrogant scum like you are everywhere on the Grand Line!"
Tom looked down at Crocodile, who was holding him up with one hand. Then he suddenly spat a mouthful of saliva onto Crocodile's face. With his right hand clenched, he punched Crocodile square in the face. "What kind of person I am isn't for you to decide!"
Crocodile's nose felt like it had been broken. The sudden pain made him reflexively throw Tom aside. Then he felt his nose swelling and hot. A stream of warm, red liquid mixed with something else flowed from his nostrils.
Crocodile wiped his nose with his hand. Seeing the reddish liquid with a hint of yellow on his fingers, he became furious. His face no longer held its previous calm composure.
"King who rules? After taking a punch from me, you still end up with a bloody nose."
Tom, who had been thrown to the ground, said to Crocodile. "How about that? Now you're bleeding, aren't you?!"
"I'll kill you!"
Crocodile's voice was low and dark. He was truly enraged.
Vivi watched as Crocodile drained Tom dry, turning him into a shriveled mummy. Her heart raced with anxiety. Since meeting Tom, she had never seen him so lifeless, lying on the ground completely motionless, like a dead man.
"I'll leave first."
After glancing at Tom, who had lost all his moisture and lay on the ground without a sign of life, Robin said this to Crocodile and left, taking the restrained Vivi with her.
"What an incomprehensible woman."
Crocodile didn't stop Robin from leaving. He walked over to Tom, now a shriveled mummy, and opened the hook on his left hand. "I won't let you die comfortably. Before you die, enjoy pain worse than hell."
As he spoke, Crocodile used the venomous tip of his hook to carve two bloody gashes across Tom's shriveled body. Because he had lost too much moisture, no blood flowed from the wounds.
"Before you die, I'll give you one more gift."
Crocodile grabbed a handful of sand with his right hand and opened his fingers. Tom's body sank into the flowing quicksand. As Tom was slowly buried, still staring intently at him, Crocodile said, "Appreciate my mercy. Before you die, I've prepared this painless sand coffin for you."
"Do you regret it now, you ignorant brat?"
Crocodile watched Tom's body slowly sink into the quicksand. A glimmer of mockery in his eyes, he asked.
"Next time... I won't just give you a bloody nose!"
Most of Tom's body was already buried. His mouth parched, he struggled several times before finally forcing out these words.
"A fool who doesn't learn his lesson."
Crocodile watched Tom's head sink into the sand, then turned gracefully and walked away laughing.
No one knew how long passed. When Robin returned to the place where Crocodile and Tom had fought, the quicksand that had buried Tom had returned to normal.
"Dead?"
Robin walked forward a few steps, looking at the desert so calm it made one think of death. She said this.
Vivi's mouth was covered by arms sprouting from her back. She couldn't speak. She thought Tom must have died, leaving nothing behind. Her heart filled with sorrow, her nose stung, and tears finally fell.
Just as Robin was about to leave with Vivi, a withered, skeletal hand suddenly shot up from underground and grabbed her foot. Then, before her shocked eyes, a "mummy" crawled out of the sand.
"Why are you still alive?!"
Robin's face finally lost its calm, unruffled composure. If not for the clothes the "mummy" wore, she wouldn't have recognized him. This mummy was covered in red stripes.
Vivi saw Tom's terrifying, withered face. Although her mouth was covered, she still struggled excitedly.
At this moment, Tom had lost so much moisture that even the blood-red pupils in his eyes looked dried out.
Earlier, just as Tom was about to be buried in the sand, filled with unwillingness, he had been pushed to the edge.
After taking a punch from Crocodile, Tom had finally learned Crocodile's weakness.
If you wet Crocodile with liquid, he couldn't turn into sand.
So Tom didn't want to die like this. In this fight with Crocodile, he had been thoroughly defeated.
Thinking of the words he had said when parting from Luffy and the others, his heart burned with even more unwillingness.
If I die like this, Nami will be really angry.
There's no other way. Since I'm going to die anyway, I might as well go all out.
After emerging from the sand, Tom felt excruciating pain all over. The heart-wrenching agony gradually erased his sanity, replacing it with boundless madness.
Seeing Vivi behind Robin, Tom, his mind in chaos, could barely recognize her. His mind flashed back to a conversation he had had with Chopper days earlier.
"You said to make cell activity thousands of times stronger than usual, then use your own body to draw out your potential... Wouldn't that work?"
"Impossible. No one's body can withstand such intense toxins."
"If there was a way to withstand it?"
"Then you'd still die! Even if it worked, the toxin would spread thousands of times faster. It would quickly reach your brain tissue, make you completely lose your sanity, and you'd die in madness. I'm a doctor. I won't allow you to do this. Promise me, Tom, never test this method. You'll die!"
Sorry, Chopper. I have no other choice.
As Tom thought this, the last shred of his sanity vanished completely. The intense pain from the toxins drove him mad. He let out a roar like a wild beast.
"His pupils changed?!"
Robin saw it clearly. As Tom let out that roar, his blood-red pupils gradually transformed into a dark, venomous green—pupils stained by poison, filled with a chilling light.
On the other side, among Luffy's group heading to Rainbase, Chopper, riding on the camel with Nami, suddenly asked, "Was Tom ever bitten by a venomous snake?"
"Why do you ask?"
Nami was puzzled. In Cocoyashi Village, Tom had indeed been bitten by a sea snake.
"Because a few days ago, he told me something that I found very strange."
Chopper's words made Nami's heart skip a beat. She suddenly felt very uneasy. "What did he tell you?"
"He said he secretly tried to activate the dormant snake venom in his body and seemed to become stronger. He asked me if he could use toxins to stimulate his body and become more powerful."
Chopper asked Nami, "Does Tom have a way to control cell activity?"
"I'm not sure about that. But his Devil Fruit ability is very strange. I've been with him for so long and still haven't fully figured it out."
Nami shook her head, thinking to herself: That idiot. If he dares to mess around again and turn himself into some kind of freak, I'm going to beat him senseless.
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T/N :
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