"Sables!"
With a fierce roar, Crocodile enlarged his right arm, instantly morphing it into a massive, crescent-shaped sand blade.
He swung it with a sharp, arid, imposing force, aiming directly at Lancelot, who was hovering in mid-air.
Lancelot's expression shifted slightly as he quickly assessed the situation.
It was crucial to remember that Crocodile possessed the Sand-Sand Fruit, a Logia-type ability.
Among the various Logia powers, the Sand-Sand Fruit's weakness was only slightly less severe than that of the Darkness-Darkness Fruit.
The Darkness-Darkness Fruit prevented its user from freely transforming into their element like other Logia types, while the Sand-Sand Fruit lost its elemental intangibility upon contact with liquid.
Despite this potentially fatal flaw, Crocodile's fighting style remained uniquely formidable and fearsome.
Take the Sables before him as an example.
Even if struck directly by its razor-sharp sand blade, it might appear not to cause substantial physical damage on the surface.
Yet the truly terrifying aspect lay in the fact that once slashed by this sand blade, whether object or human, all moisture would instantly be drained.
If an object were hit, it would turn into swirling sand in the blink of an eye, vanishing without a trace. For humans, the consequence was even more gruesome.
Once unfortunate enough to be struck by this sand blade, the moisture within their bodies would be rapidly extracted, and in an instant, they would become severely dehydrated, like mummies.
Deprived of substantial moisture, the body's functions would rapidly deteriorate, ultimately leaving one powerless and collapsed on the ground, with life and death hanging in the balance.
Such a horrifying technique was truly bone-chilling.
"Hah..." Lancelot took a deep breath.
Immediately after, his legs moved like lightning, kicking twice in mid-air using Geppo.
Each step radiated powerful force fluctuations, and in that instant, he shot upward like a rocket, ascending another ten meters in the blink of an eye.
Just like that, Lancelot evaded Crocodile's fierce strike.
He then hovered steadily in mid-air, looking down at Crocodile below.
At this moment, his gaze was as sharp as a torch, seemingly capable of piercing through all obstacles and reaching the depths of his enemy's heart.
"Against Moria," Lancelot's voice echoed, "I might afford to be slightly overconfident. But facing you, Crocodile, I truly dare not be the least bit negligent!"
No sooner had Lancelot's words fallen than his body began to undergo a drastic transformation.
His originally human form was instantly covered in gleaming, golden scales.
Dragon-like horns sprouted from his head, and his hands turned into sharp, powerful claws.
Soon, a majestic, hybrid human-beast form of Lancelot appeared before everyone.
"Kaido...?"
Upon seeing Lancelot in this dragon human-beast form, Crocodile widened his eyes in disbelief.
Not only him, but even Moria, who was locked in fierce combat with Lina and Zoro nearby, couldn't help but exclaim in shock.
After all, this man had once engaged in a thrilling, life-altering battle with Kaido in the past.
He was all too familiar with that dragon-like, Mythical Zoan human-beast form.
However, what he never expected was that this Rear Admiral Lancelot before him also possessed such formidable power and had kept such a terrifying trump card hidden during their entire confrontation, only revealing it now without reservation.
What did this imply? In Lancelot's eyes, his strength as a Shichibukai was worlds apart from that of Crocodile, another Shichibukai!
'He didn't even qualify to make Lancelot use his full strength!'
Such contempt and insult were an unbearable humiliation for the proud Gecko Moria.
"Damn bastard...!" Moria flew into a rage, his eyes blazing with fury.
The shadows at his feet rapidly split into swarms of bat-like shadows, madly lunging at Lancelot in mid-air, as if intent on tearing him to pieces.
However, just as the Brick Bats were about to succeed, Zoro and Lina rushed forward like two bolts of lightning, seamlessly joining forces.
Zoro unleashed a Tatsu Maki, and Lina used her Frostfire Whirlwind, creating a combined vortex of steel and elements that instantly blocked and dissipated Gecko Moria's ferocious assault.
Meanwhile, Crocodile, standing on the ground nearby, wore an alarmingly grim expression.
His usually cold and ruthless eyes were now fixed intently on Lancelot's new form.
Earlier, when he had witnessed Lancelot instantly unleash a devastating blow against Moria, he had assumed that was the full extent of Lancelot's true power.
Yet, to his utter astonishment, this guy had still been holding back such a formidable trump card!
At this thought, Crocodile couldn't help but feel a chill of dread.
"I truly underestimated you... No, it's not just me—the entire world probably never expected you to conceal your abilities so deeply! I wonder... what kind of expressions will the people in the Holy Land and that fool Sengoku wear when they learn of your true strength?"
By the end, Crocodile's voice carried a hint of sharp mockery.
Reading between the lines, Lancelot understood the implicit meaning in Crocodile's words all too well.
It was nothing more than a veiled taunt about his deep concealment, suggesting that if the Celestial Dragons and Sengoku found out, they would inevitably grow suspicious of him.
At this, the corners of Lancelot's mouth involuntarily curled into a cold smile.
"Don't worry, Crocodile. They will never learn of any of this."
No sooner had he spoken than his tone abruptly sharpened, turning stern and final.
"Because today will be the day you all meet your end, and this place will be your burial ground!"
"What?... Hahahaha!" Crocodile was momentarily stunned, as if frozen in disbelief by these words.
But after just a brief pause, he burst into unrestrained, maniacal laughter, as if he had heard the most absurd joke in the world.
As his wild laughter gradually subsided, an eerie, terrifying killing intent suddenly radiated from his entire being, chilling to the bone like a demon from the depths of hell.
"Who do you think you're looking down on? Not to mention a rookie like you in the Marines—even Whitebeard, hailed as the world's strongest man, probably wouldn't dare claim he could keep me here! What makes you so special? Just because you have an ability somewhat similar to Kaido's? You're delusional!"
Crocodile roared furiously, his eyes blazing like an enraged lion.
"Sables: Pesado!"
With his furious shout, his hand transformed into an enormous, dense sand blade, sweeping toward his opponent with earth-shattering force.
Lancelot swiftly dodged, nimbly evading Crocodile's sharp attack once again.
Then, using Geppo, he took two consecutive steps, each as light as a dragonfly skimming water yet imbued with immense power, propelling his figure upward like a rocket, higher into the thick, dark fog.
As he rose into the clouds, Lancelot stretched out a clawed, golden-scaled hand, steadily supporting the sky above.
Simultaneously, he let out a thunderous roar: "Clouds, gather..."
With his roar, the already mysterious, foggy sky of the Florian Triangle underwent a dramatic, terrifying transformation.