As Crocodile was blasted away by Dragon's punch—
Sand and dust filled the air, and the battlefield fell into dead silence.
Nicole Robin stood inside the massive sand crater behind Dragon (Shenlong), covering her mouth in shock.
"That Crocodile… was actually—"
To be honest, her decision to betray Crocodile and cooperate with the other party this time was, to a large extent, because Dragon knew her true identity. She believed she had no other choice.
Deep down, however, she had never been optimistic about this betrayal.
As Crocodile's partner and collaborator, she knew very well just how powerful he was.
He was a member of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, one of the three great powers chosen by the World Government to maintain balance across the seas.
Crocodile was unquestionably an extremely dangerous existence.
Especially his strength—in Robin's memory, she had never once seen Crocodile injured.
Anyone standing before him was as insignificant as a human facing the desert itself.
That was precisely why, despite knowing full well about Crocodile's plans in Alabasta, and despite feeling compassion in her heart, she had never dared to oppose him openly.
And yet now, this Seven Warlord—nearly invincible in her mind—had been sent flying right before her eyes.
"This man…"
Nicole Robin's gaze unconsciously shifted toward that figure.
The one from the organization known as the Twelve Zodiac, bearing the codename Dragon.
"It's rare for a person to have a chance to pursue their true value, only to miss it for some reason and end up hiding in a dark corner again... is that truly what you want?"
She suddenly recalled the words he had spoken not long ago.
"What I... want." She murmured inwardly without realizing it.
But at that very moment—
"Hey, Miss Robin—if you've got time to space out, you'd better move away from the battlefield."
Dragon's voice abruptly cut off her thoughts.
The voice beneath the mask was calm, but his words made Robin freeze.
Then she instantly understood what he meant.
The fight wasn't over!
"Buzz!"
As if to prove his point—
Accompanied by a shrill slicing sound, a gigantic blade of sand tore through the swirling dust and shot forward.
It swept past a weathered rock hill and cleaved it cleanly in two without the slightest resistance.
"Desert Spada!"
Facing the incoming attack, Dragon simply raised his hand.
Three enormous ice shields appeared once more, positioning themselves in front of the massive sand blade.
Boom!
Boom!
This time, however, the powerful sand blade shattered two of the ice shields outright, only finally losing its momentum upon striking the third.
At that moment, Dragon's gaze turned toward the figure emerging from the dust.
Crocodile.
His clothes over his left abdomen were completely torn apart, exposing taut muscles and a clearly visible bruised fist mark.
Around the imprint were obvious signs of frostbite.
A trace of blood still lingered at the corner of his mouth, making him look thoroughly disheveled.
The arrogance and indifference that had once defined him were gone, replaced by the ferocity of a beast driven into a rage.
"There was really no Haki on it… and you actually knew that?"
His eyes locked tightly onto Dragon.
Both of them understood exactly what he meant.
"Of course there was no Haki."
Dragon smiled.
Naturally, he wasn't about to say 'Bro, I haven't even learned Haki yet.'
Instead, he raised his hand.
At that moment, droplets of water were steadily condensing in his palm.
"Against you, this thing is far more useful than Haki."
Indeed.
Water—the fundamental weakness of Crocodile, or rather, of the Sand-Sand Fruit itself.
Once sand comes into contact with water, it solidifies. As a result, once Crocodile is struck by water, the affected parts can no longer undergo elemental transformation.
When it comes to restraining Crocodile, water is actually even more effective than Armament Haki.
Earlier, it was precisely by coating his hand with water that Dragon was able to send Crocodile flying with a single punch.
Drip! Drip! Drip!
And just as he was speaking—
Rain had already begun to fall from the sky.
"So I told you before—you can't beat me."
He calmly repeated the words he had said earlier.
This time, Crocodile showed no trace of disdain.
He simply clenched his cigar between his teeth, gazing at the torrential rain pouring down ever more heavily from the heavens, while feeling the intense pain radiating from his abdomen.
He was more than willing to admit one fact—that he had underestimated Dragon.
Or rather, the long stretch of smooth sailing he had enjoyed in Alabasta had truly made him complacent.
He had always known that Dragon was the "Rain Summoner," someone who possessed some kind of ability or technology capable of bringing down rain.
But he had never been particularly wary of it.
He had always believed that no one knew his weakness, and had never imagined that Dragon would counter him with water right from the start.
This directly put him in grave danger just now—if he hadn't realized something was wrong in time and used Armament Haki hardening to block most of the frost damage, that punch might very well have taken him out of the fight entirely.
Dragon's abilities truly countered his own.
And because of that, he felt a long-lost sense of danger emanating from Dragon.
Even so, there was no panic in his heart—on the contrary, a sense of excitement welled up.
How many years had it been?
How long had it been since he felt this way, ever since his crushing defeat at Whitebeard's hands in the New World?
He didn't like being outmaneuvered, didn't like being at a disadvantage, and didn't like being forced onto the defensive.
But he enjoyed danger.
"I am Crocodile!"
"If you think that just knowing 'water' is my weakness is enough to defeat me, then you're wrong."
At that moment, he bared his teeth in a feral grin.
"Sand Curtain!"
As his words fell, the yellow sand on the ground that had yet to be soaked by the rain surged upward.
It wriggled and rose into the sky, eventually forming a massive curtain that blocked out all the falling rain—along with the light of the heavens themselves.
Just as stated before, Alabasta was a kingdom of sand.
And in this kingdom—
He was the one and only "king."
Even rain could not fall without his permission.
"Impressive."
Watching the magnificent sight of the sand stretching across the sky to blot out the rain, even Dragon couldn't help but praise him.
"A fitting feat for one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea."
He meant it sincerely.
Even knowing the plot, and even knowing Crocodile's abilities and weaknesses, he had never expected Crocodile to possess a move like this to deal with rain.
Crocodile had never used anything like this in the original story.
"No wonder he's a tyrant who made it to the final stage."
"If you underestimate him without some protagonist-level plot armor like Big Brother Nika's, you're basically asking to die."
He sighed inwardly.
At this moment, of course, Crocodile had no idea what Dragon was thinking.
The Warlord simply looked at him and said, "Kid, I already understand your abilities—rainfall, freezing, water droplets on your skin. I don't know what Fruit it is, but you can manipulate the moisture in the air, right?"
Raising his left arm, the golden hook once again pointed at Dragon.
"But you've already missed your one and only chance to kill me."
"From here on out, you won't get another opportunity to touch me with water."
Hearing this, Dragon laughed.
"Really?"
He said calmly, "I don't believe that."