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Tiberion began to approach rapidly, using Geppo to propel himself with steps through the air.
From the warship, Crocodile watched him with clenched teeth. He exhaled a puff of smoke between his teeth, threw the cigar to the ground with disdain, and roared:
"I don't care if you killed a World Noble or how high your bounty is… for insulting me like that, you're going to die like a miserable dog!"
Without wasting time, he focused his energy and extended his right arm, which began to dissolve into a dense mass of sand.
The volume grew until it resembled a scythe, and with a violent twist of his torso, he swung it forward with brutal force.
"Barján!"
A gigantic slash, crescent-shaped, was unleashed at high speed, cutting through the sky like an expanding wave.
Its width spanned several hundred meters, advancing in a horizontal arc that split the air in two, dragging a buzzing sound that paralyzed the marines with its sheer intensity.
But Tiberion didn't stop. He simply raised his fist, and the black color of Armament Haki covered it. His muscles tensed, and in an instant, he focused all the power into a single point.
Five thousand tons of force.
Boom
The punch collided head-on with the sand slash.
The impact was so intense that the air within a two-meter radius warped. A deafening explosion burst out instantly, causing the slash to dissolve into a swirl of scattered sand.
Having neutralized the attack, Tiberion smiled in a way that hid neither the mockery nor the pleasure of humiliating. His eyes gleamed with a provocative mischief. And then he spoke:
"I heard somewhere that you're transgender…"
His tone was soaked in malice, and without lowering his guard, he let out a laugh.
"Hahahaha… How about I help you destroy that 'masculinity' you're struggling so hard to hold onto… and let your true self blossom?"
His laughter thundered like a storm. His entire body emanated an untamed presence, an aura brimming with testosterone, dominance, and defiance. He was the picture of an alpha male mocking.
"..."
Crocodile, for the first time, stood still.
It was just a second. A second in which something like panic flickered in his eyes. Fear. But he buried it instantly. He clenched his teeth, furrowed his brow, and looked away as if the comment hadn't affected him.
"I don't know what the hell you're talking about."
Meanwhile, on the deck, the marines trembled.
It wasn't the sound of the impact or Tiberion's power that had them frozen—but what they had just heard.
"..."
An uncomfortable silence fell over them as their gazes crossed, filled with confusion and fear.
'What…?' thought one of them, sweat soaking his forehead. 'Sir Crocodile… is transgender?'
'I-Is that true? Since when? How come no one knew?!'
'I mean… even if he looks like a man, is his body genetically still… female?'
'And what was that about "destroying his masculinity"? What did Tiberion Hanma mean by that?'
'Was he being literal? Was it a threat… or did he just want to humiliate him?'
The thoughts piled up one after another, growing more chaotic by the second. The anxiety became unbearable, and with it came a new kind of fear: the fear of knowing too much.
'What if Sir Crocodile decides to kill us for this? For hearing something we never should've known…?'
Fear turned to paranoia, and several soldiers began scanning for an escape route, while others tried to stand firm to avoid drawing attention. But their bodies betrayed them. Everything about them spoke volumes.
And from the corner of his eye, Crocodile saw it all.
He saw them.
He felt the judgment in their fearful stares, the silent whisper crawling through their minds...
He didn't need to hear words — the doubt had already been planted.
And in that very instant, without so much as a twitch of his face, he made a decision.
He had to kill them.
All of them.
But first, there was something more urgent: dealing with Tiberion Hanma.
Though he wouldn't say it aloud, what truly unsettled him wasn't that man's strength or his threats — it was the way he looked at him… that gaze that pierced through him, as if he had already been defeated from within.
The way he moved, upright and confident, like each step marked his territory. The way his masculine aura filled the air — thick, suffocating — as if even breathing had become difficult.
And that disturbed him.
It suffocated him.
It was as if the very air was charged with testosterone, and his body, despite his will, began to react.
Not out of fear. Out of something worse. Something he couldn't allow.
He was terrified.
Terrified that this involuntary response would expose him. That a single glance would be enough for the others to know. Because he understood better than anyone — there are no walls in this world that can stop the wind.
And the more he thought about it, the clearer it became: this situation was unsustainable. He couldn't risk leaving any witnesses.
Tiberion Hanma had to die.
And with him… everyone present.
Tiberion, still stepping through the air, was closing in at full speed.
Five hundred meters… three hundred… two hundred… the warship was getting closer and closer.
And at that moment, Crocodile attacked again.
His right arm transformed into a sand blade that grew until it became a massive scythe, and with a swing, he launched it with full force toward Tiberion.
"Desert Spada!"
The blade descended with a sharp hum, like a slash capable of splitting the sky and cleaving the ocean.
"Oi, oi, a woman should act like a woman. Fighting like this doesn't make you worthy of facing me,"
said Tiberion, his eyes burning like flames, his gaze wild, devoid of humanity, ruled by something deeper: hunger.
However, his bloodlust wasn't directed at Crocodile. His true target remained Kuma, but the need to kill boiled inside him like a volcano about to erupt.
His Hanma blood was at full boil.
Every cell seemed to roar, demanding action, death, submission. The impulse was so extreme that any other human being would have already collapsed from hormonal and nervous imbalance. The testosterone overload far surpassed the limits of any being.
In that state, under his physiological and mental trance, everything Tiberion perceived was defined by testosterone: if it wasn't him, it was a female.
When this thought arose, he could no longer restrain his unbridled desires.
And remembering the highly reliable theory that Crocodile might be a woman, he decided to bet everything on it.
When he defeated him and confirmed that truth with his own perception…
Why not simply rape him?
Then, not only could he release his venom… but also increase his synchronization with Yujiro.
When Yujiro's desire overflowed… he really raped a man.
Since then, he became the strongest creature on the face of the Earth. Absolute power and insatiable desires — in his eyes, everyone was a woman.
He was now betting that Crocodile was, without a doubt, a woman who had become a man.
That way, everything would make sense, and deep down in his consciousness, he would feel somewhat relieved.
Although he was channeling Yujiro, his mind still retained a shred of morality.
And if he really had to do it with a man...
No matter how hard he tried, he simply couldn't go through with it.
But if it was a man who had once been a woman, then there was a lurking temptation.
The idea planted itself in his mind like a spark that, far from dying out, began to grow with excitement.
Facing the sand slash, he spun in the air with a swift motion and took a lateral step using Geppo, dodging it effortlessly.
The attack veered off and fell into the sea, dissolving in the water, and with it, Crocodile momentarily lost control of his sand.
But Tiberion was already within a hundred meters.
Wasting no time, Crocodile transformed both hands into four enormous sand blades, sharper and deadlier than before. He raised them fiercely and, with a single motion, unleashed a massive slash.
"Desert la Spada!"
This time, Tiberion didn't dodge.
He raised his right arm, concentrating an overwhelming force into it. His muscles contracted violently, releasing visible heat like steam. His entire arm was covered with Armament Haki, taking on a dark reddish tone. At the same time, he unleashed 10% of his Demonic Back, boosting his power to a new level.
And then he threw the punch.
60,000 tons of pure destruction.
Boom
The impact wasn't just powerful… it was monstrous. The energy released by that fist shattered the four sand blades into a thousand fragments in an instant.
!
Crocodile was left petrified.
His attack, which could cut through steel like paper, had been reduced to nothing. A chill ran down his spine, and for a moment, Tiberion's silhouette overlapped in his mind with that of a young Garp.
'Those fists were hopeless!'
And before he could recover, Tiberion propelled himself again with Geppo, closing the distance. Then, he simply disappeared.
'Soru.'
Crocodile realized it instantly: he was already on him.
An internal alarm froze him for a moment; he felt as if he were facing his mortal nemesis. His hairs stood on end, and his legs began to tremble.
He reacted by instinct. He activated his Observation Haki at full power, and in the same instant, a dense current of sand surged around him, wrapping him like a floating armor.
Swish
Tiberion appeared in a blink on the deck.
But the moment his feet touched the wood, something changed.
From every corner of the ship, grains of sand began to slide as if the entire vessel had come alive. In a matter of seconds, a thick layer climbed up his legs, over his thighs, his waist, until it covered him completely.
From the top of the cabin, Crocodile watched him with a faint smirk. At some point, he had placed his hand on the roof of the cabin, and through that simple gesture, his power spread throughout the entire structure of the ship.
And that was how he activated his most lethal ability: Desert Encierro.
The flowing sand obeyed his will. It not only immobilized Tiberion… it began to rapidly absorb every trace of moisture from his body.
It was clear that Crocodile had taken his Devil Fruit to the extreme. Normally, it required direct physical contact to drain a victim's fluids. But this time, full control over his sand allowed him to do it from a distance.
An unexpected evolution for Tiberion.
And it was then that he realized his mistake.
He had been caught by relying too much on the information he remembered from canon. He never imagined that Desert Encierro could be executed without direct contact. A recklessness born from overconfidence.
But stealing his moisture wouldn't be so easy.
His muscles tensed and began to compress.
Every fiber vibrated beneath his hardened skin, creating a natural barrier that was nearly impossible to penetrate. The sand tried to absorb, but it barely scratched the surface. Crocodile was only able to extract an insignificant amount of moisture.
And then, his back responded.
He released 15% of his Demonic Back.
A shockwave of energy burst from his body like an eruption. The air trembled, space itself seemed to vibrate with intensity, and a thick layer of wild energy engulfed him completely. The deck of the ship cracked beneath his feet, and even the sand that imprisoned him began to give way under the pressure.
But that wasn't the only thing that broke...
The friction built up by the sand and the violence of his energy release completely tore apart his pants and the red underwear he still wore. In the middle of the explosion, the fabric simply couldn't hold.
A second later, Tiberion was completely naked.
His colossal body, sculpted like a statue, was exposed under the light.
The marines on the deck turned pale at the sight… or rather, at the sight of that veiny "thing."
Their eyes widened in horror they couldn't hide.
Even Crocodile, by pure reflex, took two steps back.
His face remained composed, but his body betrayed him. Something deep inside screamed at him to flee. For the first time in a long while, one thought crossed his mind.
Elementalize.
Turn into sand. Escape. Merge with the wind. Abandon the ship.
Get away from Tiberion Hanma!
But that was when he raised his head.
His eyes turned completely white, radiating an unnatural light. A twisted, hungry smile crept across his face, and his aura grew so dense it seemed to crush the air like a mountain.
Swish
He vanished with a buzz, and in the next blink, he was already behind Crocodile.
The world froze for a second.
And in that suspended moment, a deep, demonic voice whispered in his ear:
"Did you really think you could escape…?"
Crocodile, caught mid-transition, had only just begun to turn into sand. His body was dissolving, seeking intangibility — but it was already too late.
!
Two arms, black as night, emerged behind him and grabbed him with overwhelming strength.
It was like being trapped by a living prison in an instant.
He couldn't move. He couldn't scream.
He was completely immobilized.
Panic consumed him. He struggled desperately, pushing with all his might, but it was like trying to move a mountain. The pressure was suffocating.
The space around him collapsed. Breathing became difficult, and for a moment, the certainty of death chilled his blood.
And yet, it wasn't the strength that broke him…
It was the sensation that came afterward.
Suddenly, he felt something hard, firm, and warm press against his back.
Something that shouldn't be there.
Something wrong…
Terror shot through him like lightning, and his thoughts turned confused and hysterical.
"Hey! What are you doing?! What are you doing to me?! Let me go! Don't do anything crazy…! Aaaaahhhhh—!"
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