(Seastone Poké Ball Edition)
"You've gotta be fucking kidding me!!!"
Maybe it was Aus's words, or maybe 160 billion was just too crushing a number.
She sure as hell wasn't gonna spend the rest of her life slaving away for some bullshit debt!!!
"Sandstorm!!!"
She flipped the table like it owed her money. A cyclone of sand exploded to life, shredding everything in sight.
To viewers worldwide, the screen suddenly went yellow, then black.
"That's a wrap on our broadcast! For the full story, check out World Economic News!"
Never mind the chaos this was causing across the seas.
Inside what used to be Rain Dinners, a sandstorm from hell swallowed the entire building, turning it into rubble and dust.
People scattered like roaches when the lights come on. Some unlucky bastards who came to gawk couldn't run fast enough and got sucked into the tornado.
Buildings, houses, roads...
In Alabasta, they had everything except one thing—a shortage of sand.
On the town's edge, crowds fled to safer ground. But plenty of people thought they'd made it far enough and turned back to watch.
All they saw was a dust devil that looked like it was trying to high-five God!!!
One look.
They kept running.
Holy shit...
Way too intense!!!
Get caught in that thing and you're definitely dead meat!!!
CLANG—
BOOM—
Suddenly, the screech of tearing steel!
Next to the fleeing crowd, a hundred-meter emerald sword slash shot out from the storm's center!
So sharp it sliced through earth and buildings like butter.
A path got carved straight through the sandstorm.
Some noble-looking swordsman walked out.
"This level of attack still can't touch that man."
He didn't look back, just strolled toward the outskirts at his own pace.
Because Aus had said if this trip turned into a fight, he'd handle it personally.
Right now, dead center of the storm, in Rain Dinners' wreckage.
Maybe because they were in the eye, the sandstorm wasn't hitting as hard here.
"So you're gonna skip out on your tab? Little Sand."
Aus looked across at Crocodile, who was wrapped in swirling sand, ice-cold eyes locked on him. Her coat had vanished somewhere.
That killer body combined with the apocalyptic sandstorm made for one hell of a contrast.
"You son of a bitch... you were gunning for me from the start!!!"
Little Sand nailed it, fury still blazing on her face. Smart as she was, how could she not see what was happening?
But even if she couldn't beat this bastard, she wasn't about to roll over and take it lying down.
She had to try.
Someone like her—hell, even Whitebeard couldn't make her his daughter.
"Smart as advertised. I'll cut to the chase then..."
Wild sand whipped around them. Aus's coat flapped in the wind, but he stood rock-solid. That calm smile never left his face as he held out one hand:
"Become my—"
HISS—
Before he could finish, a desert spike shot out of nowhere from the surrounding storm, aiming straight for his waist!
Next second, something weird happened that made little Sand's eyes go wide, then dart around frantically.
That sand blade didn't draw a drop of blood—just hit empty air!
"Won't even let a guy finish his sentence? You really are different from other pirates."
His voice came from five meters in front of little Sand. Aus still looked cool as ice.
"You've got what it takes to join my crew."
"Come on, little Sand! Let's go see what's at the top of this world!!!"
Aus got so fired up even he felt his blood pumping.
If this were some small-time pirate or hot-blooded idiot, they might've fallen for Aus's pitch.
Too bad Sand Crocodile was neither.
"Sables: Pesado!!!"
She had the guts to fight Whitebeard and didn't become his daughter—like hell she'd bow to anyone!
"No choice then. Guess I'm dragging you back to pay what you owe..."
Debt was debt. Time to collect.
Aus lived by one rule: always have a good reason!
Facing a world gone sandy, Aus's eyes flashed red as he took a deep breath.
CLANG—
Jet-black Armament Haki wrapped his whole body like liquid armor, letting him glide through this desert like he owned the place.
"Armament Haki? But you'll run out of juice eventually against endless sand..."
Her voice echoed from everywhere, smooth and confident, trying to crack his resolve.
But Aus was a pro at handling Logia users. One big nature attack wasn't gonna make him back down.
He felt the shifting winds and sand around him, slowly pulling his blade. Streams of black-red energy coiled around it, then compressed into lightning that made reality itself stutter.
"You know how this works, right? With strong enough Haki, even elementalization—"
THUNK—
Before he finished, that figure wrapped in Ryuo and Conqueror's Haki materialized in the storm's corner, frozen mid-slash with blood dripping from his blade.
The blood warped away.
Sword back in its sheath.
A bleeding figure knelt half-turned away from him.
"Gotcha."
Maybe to stop her from melting back into the sandstorm and escaping, Aus's Haki-coated hand grabbed her slender throat and hauled her off the ground.
"You bastard..."
Little Sand coughed blood, face twisted in pain as she tried to talk tough. (Picture Blackbeard choking Hancock.)
But next second, weakness hit her whole body.
"You're too damn stubborn. Time to chill out."
Aus snapped his fingers.
A Seastone bracelet appeared around little Sand's ankle.
Sure, he couldn't touch Seastone directly, but with his warp powers, he could move any Seastone within his Observation Haki range wherever he wanted.
So Seastone was basically useless against him.
With no strength left and Aus holding her by the throat in midair, little Sand's face turned bright red.
"Oops, maybe I squeezed too hard."
"Anyway... time to head back. We're setting sail together."
Aus grabbed her with one hand, threw her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
They vanished on the spot.
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