With a deafening boom, a massive shockwave erupted.
The towering sandstorm surrounding Crocodile was instantly blasted apart by Lilith and Nahamah, who unleashed even stronger magic ice and fire.
There was barely any trace of desert left on the ground.
All that could be seen now was flowing lava and searing black flames—or else dark ice spreading in frozen sheets.
The temperature was terrifyingly warped and chaotic.
At that moment—
Crocodile himself was sent flying like a cannonball.
He carved a long black arc through the air with a piercing shriek of wind,
And finally crashed into a patch of frigid permafrost, unleashing a thunderous explosion that echoed across the battlefield, gouging out a massive ring-shaped crater.
Crocodile slowly stood up, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth, and muttered with a self-deprecating chuckle, "Never thought I'd fall in a place like this."
His upper body was now visibly scorched and frostbitten.
Clearly, Lilith and Nahamah's magic flames and ice were powerful enough to pierce through Crocodile's Busoshoku Haki.
"It's starting, it's starting—it's finally starting!"
"Yes! Break him, torment him, destroy him!"
Descending slowly from the sky, Nahamah and Lilith were visibly excited again.
"But something's missing, Nahamah."
"Hmm. It's fear. Despair. He doesn't carry those delicious scents, Lilith."
Below, Crocodile heard them and looked up, letting out a mocking laugh. "Fear? Despair? Do you even know who I am? I'm Crocodile! Kuaha—ha—ha—ha—!"
Even in this mortal crisis...
He actually let out his signature, ragged, wheezing laughter!
"Then I'll torture you until you can't laugh anymore! I'll taste your fear, drink your despair—then shatter your body into frozen shards!"
Lilith, consumed by rage, let out a piercing scream.
In an instant, with a sweep of her arms—
Countless black ice thorns materialized out of thin air around Crocodile, twisting and lashing toward him from all directions. But before they could reach him, they were violently shattered by a sudden burst of his Haoshoku Haki.
"You seem to be confused about something. I haven't lost my ability to fight. As for these injuries…"
As he spoke, Crocodile reached into the inner pocket of his tattered coat of justice, pulled out a Purple Butterfly Emergency Pill, and swallowed it.
Immediately, a soft green glow rose from his skin, and his wounds began to heal rapidly.
"I may not be able to beat you two—but if you want to kill me, you'd better be ready to waste ten whole days and nights trying!"
Laughing wildly, Crocodile stared back at Lilith and Nahamah with fearless defiance.
"How ridiculous. How pathetic. How sad," Nahamah said flatly. "You still don't understand that the difference in our power isn't even within the same dimension, do you?"
Without emotion, Nahamah raised his left arm, formed entirely from condensed demonic flame.
"Let's finish this. We'll kill him now and seize his soul. After that, you can play with him however you want, Lilith."
"A wonderful idea, Nahamah. Let's do that!" Lilith giggled behind her hand.
[BOOM! BOOM!]
In the blink of an eye, Crocodile looked up as the entire sky above him was consumed—blanketed by a vast tide of black fire and black frost.
Under such a massive-scale assault, even his Kenbunshoku Haki would be useless. There was no doubt this time—they truly meant to kill him.
But Crocodile had no intention of sitting still and waiting for death.
Even knowing that his Sand-Sand Fruit powers were no match, he unleashed them at full force.
In the next second, the frozen ground around him instantly melted, bursting into a roaring flood of golden sand—surging like seawater.
In midair, the sand rose and formed into a massive sand crocodile, its jaws wide open as it let out a thunderous roar, charging straight at the descending black ice and flames.
"I am Crocodile, the Desert King!!!"
But just as his furious shout echoed across the battlefield—
A sharp voice rang out from afar: "Makahadoma!!!"
Instantly, a wave of pale blue light swept across the entire field—
And for a moment, everything—even the light itself—froze in place.
Everything happened far too quickly.
For Crocodile, Lilith, and Nahamah...
This domain, which seemed to freeze the world itself, merely slowed their bodies, leaving their consciousness completely unaffected.
"To think they're mimicking the effects of temporal stasis using ice-based power, without producing any actual freezing... What a brilliant idea—how did they do it?"
Lilith couldn't help but gasp in amazement, covering her mouth.
As a fellow wielder of ice powers—
Watching everything in the world suddenly freeze before her eyes was truly an eye-opening experience.
"But it's far too weak."
Lilith raised her right arm, formed entirely of black ice.
[BOOM!]
In an instant, countless sharp, densely packed black ice thorns formed out of thin air across the sky and earth.
Wherever the rapidly spreading thorns reached, the faint blue light shimmering in the air began to crackle and fracture under a thin veil of black frost, accompanied by a series of crack crack sounds.
Finally, with a crisp snap, it shattered into countless beautiful fragments of light.
Everything that had been frozen—this entire illusion of suspended reality—was restored to vibrant motion.
This was magic ice powerful enough to extinguish even conceptual laws!
Yet at that moment, all attention was drawn to the sky, where a torrent of snow and ice came crashing down like a waterfall.
"So that was the backup plan. Impressive in scale... Too bad it's nothing but ordinary ice and snow."
Just as Nahamah finished speaking—
A towering pillar of black fire erupted from its body, piercing straight into the center of the icy waterfall. The searing heat vaporized the avalanche midair before it could even reach the ground.
But their distraction gave Crocodile a brief window—just enough to break through the suppression of the black firestorm and the black frost, seizing a rare moment to breathe.
"Aokiji?"
Having successfully repositioned himself in the air, Crocodile thought Kuzan had arrived.
"Hm?"
Just as Crocodile steadied himself in midair, his eyes caught sight of two graceful, striking figures—and he froze.
"That's…"
He quickly matched the silhouettes to information from memory.
Back when Imu had revealed his existence to the ministers, marshals, and generals, the Five Elders had also relayed classified intel to their general-candidates.
So the profiles of Historia and Esdeath had been included as well.
That way, no one would misidentify them and cause a needless misunderstanding later on.
Which is why, the moment Esdeath appeared, Crocodile's gaze dimmed once again.
What good was a former Imperial Navy admiral from the Teigu World?
Sure, judging by her earlier display, her power had clearly grown.
But the aura she gave off… it was still clearly beneath his level.
Which meant, realistically, there was no hope of defeating those two demons.
But then—
When he saw the figure standing beside Esdeath, that flicker of hope blazed to life once more.
Guren!
A Super-Class Danger Beast from the Teigu World, officially designated by the military command as possessing general-level combat strength.
If it was her—maybe she could replace Kuzan in this fight.
"Lady Esdeath, Lord Imu's orders were for you to return first. I'm the one assigned to support Lieutenant General Sand Crocodile."
Guren's face was full of helpless resignation.
It wasn't just that Esdeath wasn't yet strong enough. Even if she were, given a choice, Imu wouldn't have let her come risk herself.
But who could've predicted that Esdeath would defy orders and bring Guren along without permission?
"Save the lecture. I'll take responsibility and answer to Lord Imu later. For now—let's fight these demons first!"
Esdeath's eyes sparkled with battlelust as she stared at Lilith and Nahamah in the distance.
She'd already been briefed on them by Imu and knew just how terrifying they truly were.
Ice and fire that could annihilate intangible conceptual laws—
Unbelievable! Eye-opening! Astonishing beyond words!
Because of this, she simply couldn't suppress the impulse rising within her—
and came running straight into battle.
Demons... another legendary existence!
How could she just stand aside and go back quietly? That wouldn't be her at all.
Guren, however, could only sigh inwardly, thinking she would definitely have to keep a closer eye on Esdeath from now on.
With that thought, she immediately revealed her true form.
[VMMMMMMMM—]
A brilliant white light burst forth. Guren's humanoid shape vanished within the dazzling radiance. As the expanding glow filled the sky, it gradually took the shape of a massive Nine-Tailed Fox.
As the light faded, the being worshipped as a deity in the Teigu World—the Super-Class Danger Beast: Heavenly Nine-Tailed Fox—made a stunning debut in this alternate time-space shinobi world.
Esdeath gracefully landed atop Guren's head.
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