"What a terrifying mummy!"
"How can that guy, dried up like that, still move?"
"He seems to be fighting Mr. Crocodile."
"That monster—Mr. Crocodile will definitely take care of him!"
More and more onlookers gathered. Seeing that the person fighting Crocodile was a blood-stained, withered mummy reeking of a nauseating stench of blood, many were terrified.
The growing crowd only made Crocodile more irritated. He had spent considerable time molding himself into the hero of the Alabasta Kingdom. But today, he had been sent flying from his own casino by Tom's rod, and nearly the entire city of Rainbase had witnessed it. If word got out, it would undoubtedly damage his image.
Worst of all, if news reached the ears of the World Government's higher-ups and they began to doubt his abilities, affecting his position as a Warlord of the Sea, that would be disastrous for him.
At least for now, Crocodile could still rely on his Warlord status to do many things openly. Losing that status would impact his future plans.
Even if there was only a one in ten thousand chance, Crocodile wouldn't let it happen. So he had already decided to kill everyone in Rainbase. After all, everything that happened here could be blamed on the Straw Hat crew.
Although Rainbase was a small city, tens of thousands of people lived there. These people normally worshipped Crocodile, yet he could still slaughter them without hesitation.
Given Crocodile's strength, killing everyone in Rainbase wouldn't be difficult.
This showed that Crocodile was truly a ruthless and cold-blooded pirate. Just because of that tiny possibility, he could, without even looking back, let tens of thousands of civilians become victims of his schemes.
It wasn't surprising. Crocodile didn't care about the lives of a million citizens, so why would he care about a few tens of thousands?
But first, he needed to deal with Tom.
Crocodile saw that the blood Tom coughed up had completely turned dark purple. He understood that Tom was poisoned, which explained his condition.
What puzzled Crocodile was that yesterday, Tom had indeed been scratched by his golden hook. But Crocodile knew that while the poison on his hook could kill, it couldn't turn a person's blood dark purple.
Crocodile had no idea that Tom, using his Devil Fruit ability, had intensified the poison from his hook thousands of times and used it to force out his potential. The toxicity was beyond Crocodile's imagination.
However, seeing that Tom, poisoned so severely, could not only fight him but also survive, Crocodile was inwardly astonished.
An ordinary person would have long since died in agony.
In fact, the reason Tom was still alive was due to his Devil Fruit ability. The green stripes crawling all over his body instinctively accelerated the growth and regeneration of his damaged cells, keeping him going until now.
But the rate at which the poison destroyed cells far exceeded the rate of regeneration. He was rapidly approaching exhaustion.
"I see. A guy like you won't go down unless I completely crush you."
Crocodile slowly raised his right hand. "In that case, I'll cut your body open and crush your heart myself."
"Desert Spada!"
Crocodile, having already decided to massacre Rainbase, attacked without restraint. His right arm transformed into a massive sand blade, tearing through the air toward Tom.
The ground, unable to withstand the enormous sand blade, split open, revealing a crack at least a hand wide. As the sand blade advanced, the crack continued to widen.
Facing the unstoppable giant sand blade, Tom quickly retreated a few steps, then leaped over it.
Many spectators behind him, unable to react in time, were sliced into pieces by the enormous sand blade. Their blood stained the sharp blade red.
"Mr. Crocodile, why are you attacking us?!"
"There are still many people over there!"
"At this rate, we'll all be killed! Please stop, Mr. Crocodile!"
"Run! We're going to die!"
Soon, people noticed something was wrong. The crowd began to panic.
Crocodile ignored the cries and pleas of the people around him. A cruel smile appeared on his gloomy face.
"Crocodile, stop!"
Vivi and Chopper arrived at the scene. Seeing that the street ahead had been split open by the giant sand blade, with body parts scattered on both sides, Vivi's heart burned with rage. She wanted to rush forward and stop Crocodile.
"This is too horrible. Is he really a Warlord of the Sea?"
Chopper had never seen such a bloody scene since setting sail with Luffy. Severed corpses were everywhere. Some people, unfortunate enough to have their legs severed by the giant sand blade, writhed on the ground in agony, crying out in pain. The scene was like hell on earth. For the first time, Chopper truly understood the cruelty and ruthlessness of pirates.
Only then did Chopper realize that not all pirates were like them—people who could laugh freely on the ship while pursuing their dreams far from killing.
It was also then that Chopper deeply understood what Luffy meant by "betting their lives."
They might not want to kill indiscriminately, but as long as you're a pirate, as long as you sail on this sea, you have to fight. That was the most basic principle of survival in the world of pirates. If you couldn't do even that, only destruction awaited you.
Probably that's why Tom and Zoro, despite having different strengths, still insist on training on the ship?
As Chopper thought this, his instincts as a doctor kicked in. He ran to help the wounded. Even though his strength was limited, he couldn't just watch people die. As he ran, his nose, far more sensitive than a human's, caught a strange scent in the air.
Then Chopper saw several people fleeing in panic. After running a short distance, they collapsed. If he hadn't stopped them, they would have been trampled to death by the people behind.
"They're poisoned! All with the same poison. If we don't treat them quickly, they'll die!"
After quickly examining the unconscious victims, whose faces were gradually turning purple, Chopper found their symptoms were identical.
He told Vivi this, then urgently began preparing an antidote. There were many injured people on the street. Alone, he couldn't save them all, but he had to try. Watching people die before his eyes, he couldn't stand by and do nothing.
As Vivi charged toward Crocodile, he swung another "Desert Spada" at her. "You managed to escape, did you? But if you think that man calling himself 'Mr. Prince' can really save Straw Hat and his crew, you're sorely mistaken."
Crocodile's words made Vivi pause for a moment. In that instant, the enormous sand blade was already tearing toward her with unstoppable force.
Even before the sand blade reached her, Vivi could feel a sharp, cutting force approaching—a presence so heavy it seemed to freeze the air itself.
It was worth noting that Crocodile, in attacking Vivi, also killed several Baroque Works agents hiding among the crowd.
Those poor agents died without even knowing it was their own boss who killed them.
"Get out of the way, broom!"
Tom saw the figure with the sea-blue ponytail and instinctively rushed over to push her aside.
But just as Tom pushed Vivi away, the giant sand blade that had easily split the hard ground was already upon him.
Unable to dodge, Tom thrust his long rod into the ground. The meter-high sand blade crashed into the rod he gripped tightly.
Even though Tom had planted the rod firmly, the force of the oncoming sand blade pushed him backward relentlessly. Rocks flew from both sides. His shoes were ground through by the friction. He slid dozens of meters back, leaving a long trail of dark purple blood on the ground, before finally stopping.
"How many more of those attacks can you take?"
This time, Crocodile swung three "Desert Spadas" almost simultaneously from three different directions.
The three giant sand blades, like merciless reapers, sliced through the panicking crowd in an instant, turning the streets into rivers of blood.
"Stop this! Do you want to kill everyone in the city, Crocodile?!"
Seeing Crocodile show no mercy, not caring about the lives of the people, Vivi was both anxious and furious.
"Not just them. All of you will die here."
Crocodile was determined to massacre the city. After it was over, if the Marines investigated, he would claim that the crazed Straw Hat crew, while he was away, went on a rampage, killing tens of thousands of civilians before perishing with them.
But Tashigi and the Marines who had been in Rainbase had already left after receiving new orders. Otherwise, Crocodile wouldn't have dared to commit such an open massacre.
"I'll die before I let you do this!"
Vivi saw more and more casualties. Her heart ached. The fire of rage burned brighter within her. She was ready to risk her life to stop Crocodile.
These people had been deceived by Crocodile's fabricated persona all these years, worshiping him without knowing his true nature. And now they were dying at his hands. Wasn't this bitterly ironic?
Chopper had just finished preparing the antidote when he saw three giant sand blades flying toward him. They not only reduced nearby buildings to rubble but also claimed hundreds of lives in seconds, leaving many severely injured.
Though Chopper was naive and kind, seeing Crocodile commit such inhumane atrocities, he quickly administered the antidote to the poisoned victims, then transformed into his heavy point form, growing from a small body into a giant, and charged toward Crocodile.
"No matter how many of you come, the result will be the same."
Crocodile didn't take Chopper and Vivi seriously at all. He was about to finish them off in one blow when, in the small city, a thunderous, beast-like roar erupted:
"Don't you dare touch them, Sand Monster!"
Chopper and Vivi heard the sudden roar and turned back to see Tom charging up from behind at incredible speed. He leaped in front of them, raised his long rod high, and spun it rapidly, leaving countless afterimages with a loud whooshing sound.
Then, with lightning speed, Tom thrust the rod forward. When it struck the ground, a deafening boom echoed.
A powerful spiral force erupted from the rod, tearing rocks and debris from the ground. Even nearby rooftops were blown off. Carrying countless碎石 (broken stones) and瓦片 (tile fragments), the spiral force shot toward the three giant sand blades.
"He neutralized my attack?!"
Crocodile saw his three giant sand blades, upon colliding with the oncoming spiral force, instantly turn back into sand and scatter in the wind. He could clearly sense that the destructive power of Tom's spiral force exceeded that of his Desert Spada.
As he said this, the spiral force, with unstoppable momentum, tore his body apart. Though he turned into sand, he was still sent flying far out of the city by the spiral force.
"Is it over?"
Chopper saw Crocodile fly far away, no longer visible, and said this.
"No. We only drove him back temporarily."
Vivi breathed a slight sigh of relief. She knew Tom's attack hadn't hurt Crocodile—it had just blown him away.
The once peaceful small city was now in chaos. Rubble was everywhere. The streets were littered with the dead and wounded, crying out in pain.
"It was that monster who saved us!"
"Shut up! Compared to him, Crocodile is the real monster!"
"I never thought Crocodile would do something like this."
"Have we been deceived by him all these years?"
Some of the less severely injured struggled to their feet. They never imagined that Crocodile would turn his blade on them.
Vivi pulled the headscarf on her head lower. She didn't want people to recognize her identity in such chaos.
Just as everyone was catching their breath, many people turned pale and collapsed unconscious.
"What's wrong with them?"
Vivi was about to go find Tom when she saw several people who had just stood up collapse again. Her expression changed. She quickly asked Chopper.
After examining a few people, Chopper found they were poisoned with the same toxin as the others, only slightly stronger this time. He wiped his forehead and exclaimed in shock, "I see! They're being poisoned by Tom's blood!"
That's right. Those people had been poisoned by the potent toxins Tom's blood released into the air.
"Will this help?"
Vivi took out the antidote Robin had given her and handed it to Chopper.
"This is much more effective than the antidote I prepared, but the quantity isn't enough."
Chopper quickly analyzed the antidote and determined that the one Vivi had was more effective than his hastily made version.
"Then this antidote should also work on Tom."
Hearing Chopper's words, Vivi finally confirmed the antidote was real. She said to Chopper, "I'll find a way to get Tom to take this antidote. You treat the others. We need to hurry. I don't know if something's happened to Luffy and the others."
Crocodile's earlier words made Vivi uneasy. She wanted to get Tom back to normal quickly so she could check on Luffy and the others.
"Yes. Tom's poison can't be delayed any longer. The toxin concentration in his blood is over ninety percent! No normal person could withstand that. If I'm not mistaken, he only has about ten minutes left to live."
Chopper wanted to go with Vivi to find Tom, but he couldn't abandon the poisoned and injured people. He had to trust Vivi.
Only ten minutes?
Vivi didn't waste any more time talking to Chopper. She immediately ran toward Tom.
When Crocodile had been present, Tom's attention had been focused entirely on him, allowing him to temporarily suppress the mad, destructive urges inside him. But now that Crocodile was gone, having lost his sanity, Tom started smashing things again.
"Get out here, Sand Monster! Don't hide from me!"
Tom had now moved to another street. He smashed several nearby buildings to rubble with one swing of his rod.
People who had run from farther away saw a mummy-like monster wreaking havoc, nearly injuring them. Terrified, their faces pale, they ran for their lives.
When Vivi finally found Tom, she saw him about to swing his rod at two children who hadn't managed to escape. She shouted urgently, "Don't do it!"
Hearing Vivi's voice, Tom didn't bring his rod down. As Tom looked toward Vivi, the two frightened children finally ran away.
Sensing his targets had escaped, Tom chased after them like a madman. Seeing he had truly lost his mind and was still going after the children, Vivi rushed forward, wrapped her arms around his waist, and tried to stop him.
But Vivi had barely grabbed hold when Tom casually tossed her aside. She slammed heavily into a wall.
Tom had only thrown her casually, but the impact made her feel as if her insides were churning. She felt terrible, suffering internal injuries. Her throat went dry, and blood trickled from the corner of her mouth.
Vivi quickly wiped the blood away. She looked at Tom, who was walking toward where the children had run. Perhaps because his body was finally giving out, acting only on instinct, his movements were noticeably slower than before, stiff and uncoordinated.
Remembering what Chopper had said, Vivi estimated the time. When she found Tom, nearly ten minutes had already passed. There was very little time left.
But Tom had lost his mind and wouldn't listen to her. Moreover, even in his current state, he was far stronger than her. Forcing him to take the antidote was impossible unless she could restrain his movements.
Vivi watched Tom slowly approaching. His movements were much slower than before; the two children had already escaped safely.
The surroundings were very quiet. She took out the antidote, thought for a moment, then poured it into her own mouth, holding it there. Then, gathering all her strength, she threw herself at Tom.
In truth, Tom's entire body could now feel nothing but pain. He was severely dehydrated but didn't feel thirsty. He hadn't rested properly in days but felt no fatigue.
That didn't mean he wasn't thirsty or tired. His body was already severely overdrawn, but all other sensations were masked by the intense pain from the poison, so no other symptoms showed.
When Tom sensed Vivi charging at him, he instinctively roared. He was about to strike when, due to his greatly reduced physical functions, Vivi managed to tackle him to the ground first.
Lying on the ground, Tom's hand happened to grab Vivi's long ponytail. He was about to throw her off.
Having lost so much moisture, Tom's face was completely withered, unrecognizable—even somewhat terrifying. His face was covered in dried blood and grime, and his body gave off an unpleasant odor. But Vivi did it anyway.
I can't open my mouth yet!
Her hair being pulled like that hurt, but Vivi endured it without making a sound, keeping her mouth tightly shut.
Then, as Tom tried to grab her with his other hand, she used both hands to hold his head in place. Ignoring the pain of her pulled hair, she forcefully pressed her head down. Then she felt a sharp pain on her head.
Just as Tom's deep purple pupils gradually turned back to dark red, a few strands of blue hair drifted in the gentle breeze from his hand...
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T/N :
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