In Alabasta, when people mention nature or natural disasters, what do they think of?
The answer is obvious.
In Alabasta, where more than seventy percent of the nation's territory is desert,
whether one speaks of nature or calamity, it usually refers to the same thing—
sand.
At this very moment, the site where the former Spider Café once stood is a perfect display of the power of sand.
Rumble!
The sand-covered ground began to behave like a living creature, devouring everything on its surface.
The sand became its mouth, its teeth, and its claws.
In the blink of an eye, the entire area where Spider Café once stood was dragged beneath the earth.
All that remained on the surface was a sunflower-shaped circular sand pit dozens of meters wide—within it, flowing sand continued to swallow everything it could reach.
Above the ground, Crocodile's figure glided through the desert winds.
"Desert Sunflower."
At this moment, the lower half of his body had completely transformed into constantly shifting yellow sand.
This was the power he relied on—the ability that allowed him to stand at the summit of the seas:
the Logia-type Devil Fruit, the Sand-Sand Fruit.
Scratch.
He calmly took out another cigar, tore off the wrapper, and lit it.
"Phew."
Exhaling a stream of smoke, his gaze turned downward.
"Dragon (Shenlong)… he should be connected to that Rooster. Members of the same organization, or the same pirate crew?"
He pondered silently.
"And Nicole Robin…"
His expression darkened.
His "Operation Utopia," beyond seizing control of Alabasta, had one core objective: obtaining information about Pluton hidden within Alabasta.
Nicole Robin had originally been an indispensable part of that plan.
Yet now, he had been forced to kill her—something that naturally irritated him.
Of course, Crocodile felt no regret.
Showing mercy to betrayal was the decision of a fool, and he understood that better than anyone.
"Forget it."
In the end, he thought calmly, Once I take Alabasta, I can find other ways to deal with deciphering the Poneglyphs.
"The priority now is to confirm the survival of the others."
"I can't afford to lose my status as a Warlord just yet. I need new agents. If they're all dead, then the plan will have to be suspended for a while—until I gather enough strong individuals to restore the company's strength and restart everything."
Thinking coldly, Crocodile turned and prepared to leave.
But—
"Hm?"
After taking just one step, he frowned, as if sensing something.
He stopped and turned back.
His gaze fixed on the massive pit in the desert.
Then—
Crack! Crack!
Crisp sounds rang out from within the flowing sand—the sound of sand freezing.
"Hm?"
Crocodile raised an eyebrow.
The next moment—
Boom!
The sand within the enormous pit completely stopped flowing and then—
shattered!
And once more, Crocodile saw the figures of Dragon and Nicole Robin.
At this moment, Robin's expression clearly showed lingering fear and shock.
Meanwhile, Dragon slowly stepped out from the depths of the pit.
"What's wrong, Crocodile?"
"I heard you once fought Whitebeard in your youth. Even if you got smashed, at least you've seen the world—"
"Don't tell me you really thought an attack like that could kill me?"
He looked at Crocodile, a teasing tone coming from beneath the mask.
"…"
Hearing his words, Crocodile's expression grew even darker.
His crushing defeat at the hands of Whitebeard back then was one of the things he least wanted anyone to bring up.
"Yeah—after all, a guy who hides his face like you looks pretty weak."
Clearly, as a sea tyrant, Crocodile was not about to lose in a battle of words.
"What a coincidence."
Dragon laughed. "That's exactly what I was about to say to you—Crocodile, you can't beat me."
As his words fell—
"Heh."
With a sneer, Crocodile's body instantly dispersed into a cloud of yellow sand.
Moments later, his form reassembled at Dragon's side.
The golden hook on his left hand flashed coldly, slashing toward Dragon's head with a sharp whistling sound.
But immediately—
Clang!
An ice wall suddenly materialized in the air. Crocodile's hook slammed into it, the tip embedding itself deep within the ice.
"Ice… So that's how you escaped the 'Sunflower' just now?"
Crocodile's pupils shrank.
Before he could pull his hook free, Dragon had already moved.
"There's still a lady here. Let's take this somewhere else."
He murmured lightly, a smile in his voice, as his fist clenched.
"Iron Body · Steel Power Fist!"
Then—
Boom!
Crocodile saw the punch coming straight for his abdomen.
"Six Powers—Iron Body!"
Crocodile instantly recognized the technique. That in itself wasn't surprising—though created by the Marines and the World Government, the Six Powers were widely known across the seas.
What truly caught his attention was—
"No Haki!?"
His Observation Haki clearly sensed that the punch carried no Armament Haki.
And everyone knew—against a Logia user, an attack without Haki was the same as no attack at all.
"Idiot."
That was Crocodile's conclusion.
He didn't dodge—just as he had done countless times against rookie pirates in Paradise over the years.
"I'll show you the gap between our abilities—gh!"
But before his smile could even form, a muffled groan burst from his throat.
The confidence on his face froze.
Because at that instant, he realized—
Something was wrong.
The fist hadn't passed through his sandy body.
On the contrary—
Bang!
Like being rammed head-on by a charging beast, Crocodile's body caved inward violently!
Scalding blood erupted uncontrollably from his mouth, and his figure was blasted backward like a kite with its string cut.
Boom!
He smashed through rocks like a cannonball before slamming heavily into the desert, sending filthy sand and dust soaring into the air.
Meanwhile, Dragon slowly withdrew his fist.
"Sorry, I didn't quite catch that."
"What was it you said you wanted to show me just now?"