Kairos stood in the sky, his coat snapping violently in the wind.
He had won.
And yet his expression was strangely complicated.
Crocodile's strength felt… wrong.
His gaze drifted down to the desert several hundred meters below.
There, the sand had been blown apart, leaving behind a circular crater more than a hundred meters wide.
At the bottom of it lay Crocodile's battered body.
At the very last moment, he had still managed to gather the surrounding sand and form one final layer of defense.
That was what had saved his life.
Kairos replayed the earlier battle in his mind.
Crocodile had used Armament Haki.
That alone was strange.
In the anime, Crocodile had never shown Haki when he fought Luffy.
So what exactly was going on?
At this point in time, Crocodile was clearly strong.
Then why had he seemed so weak in the original story?
Was it because he appeared too early in the series, making his strength look inferior compared to later arcs?
Or had his defeat to Luffy damaged his confidence so badly that he weakened further afterward?
Kairos suddenly remembered Crocodile's performance against Douglas Bullet.
The difference between that Crocodile and the Alabasta version was enormous.
Maybe the only real explanation was…
Oda's power-scaling bugs.
Thinking of that, a mischievous idea surfaced in Kairos' mind.
A grin almost appeared on his face.
Then—
he released the Qi around his body and slowly descended from the sky.
"Cough…!"
At that moment, Crocodile was already on the verge of losing consciousness.
His clothes were torn beyond recognition.
Every cough forced blood from his mouth.
He barely managed to open his eyes, only to see a figure standing at the edge of the crater.
Kairos.
"I hope that when you fight someone in the year 1520…"
Kairos looked down at Crocodile, anticipation flickering in his eyes.
"…you use Armament Haki."
He had already made up his mind.
Ten years later, he would return to Alabasta and personally watch the fight between Luffy and Crocodile.
He really wanted to know—
after hearing those words today, would Crocodile's battle against Luffy still unfold the same way?
Year 1520?
What did that mean?
Crocodile's consciousness grew hazier by the second.
He could only faintly hear Kairos' words.
His thoughts were already sinking into darkness.
"What… do you… mean…"
Crocodile struggled to speak.
But before he could finish, his head tilted to the side.
He lost consciousness completely.
"Looks like he heard me."
Kairos glanced at the unconscious Crocodile.
Then he straightened and lightly snapped his fingers.
Snap.
The crisp sound echoed through the air.
The blood-red sky began to fade.
The enormous golden gears hanging in the heavens slowly vanished.
Towering buildings reappeared one after another.
The royal capital gradually returned to its original form.
It was as if a curtain covering heaven and earth had finally been pulled away.
The real world was returning.
"What… happened?"
Workers climbing out of the sand stared blankly around them.
Everything had returned to normal.
Only the sand still clinging to their bodies proved that none of what had happened had been an illusion.
"My house! My house is back!"
Some people burst into tears of joy.
The oppressive blood-red world had nearly suffocated them.
"The cleansing is over…"
"Our sins have been washed away…"
The devout believers remained kneeling, muttering prayers beneath their breath.
The Reality Marble—
Unlimited Blade Works
—which had dragged more than half the royal capital into its domain, had finally disappeared.
"Kairos…"
At the front line, Cobra and the others silently stared toward the distant figure.
The final explosion had looked like the end of the world itself.
Yet not a single person had died.
There was only one explanation.
Kairos had held back.
Cobra looked at the man who had turned the entire kingdom upside down…
and, unbelievably, felt grateful.
"Your Majesty, what should we do now?"
Igaram looked to Cobra for instruction.
Cobra was silent for a moment.
Then he let out a helpless sigh.
"…First, we apologize to Kairos."
After all, Kairos had never truly harmed Vivi.
Everything had started from a misunderstanding.
And in the end, Kairos had shown mercy.
More importantly—
his strength was terrifying beyond imagination.
Cobra absolutely did not want to make an enemy of someone like him.
Meanwhile—
Kairos' expression was growing increasingly strange.
He was checking his rewards.
But one question kept lingering in his mind.
What was wrong with Alabasta?
This was supposed to be a desert.
So why did it feel like Pleasant Goat's Qingqing Grassland?
Why were so many rewards turning into Pleasant Goat cards?
Kairos seriously suspected the system might throw him a Slow Goat card next.
"Ding: Host has defeated Sir Crocodile, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea."
"Reward obtained: Gilgamesh Card — Fate/stay night Version, 1/1."
Kairos immediately let out a breath of relief.
Good.
At least it wasn't another Pleasant Goat character.
But very soon, he noticed something even more shocking.
"Ding: Host has used Heroic Spirit EMIYA Card — Fate/stay night Version."
"Skill acquired: Unlimited Blade Works."
Kairos' eyes widened slightly.
A skill.
And not just any skill.
Unlimited Blade Works itself.
In a sense, this ability was practically an independent world.
Without question, it was EMIYA's strongest power.
For Kairos, it opened up countless new possibilities.
This reward felt like winning the jackpot.
Just then—
Kairos noticed Cobra slowly walking toward him with Vivi in his arms.
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