The scorching sun burned the earth, and in the vast expanse of the desert, the massive Moving Crab galloped on its six long legs, kicking up curtains of yellow sand as it raced toward Alubarna. The Straw Hat crew clung to its back, their faces etched with anxiety.
SHOO—!!
Suddenly, a golden flash tore through the rolling dust from the side. A massive golden hook, radiating lethal intent, hooked onto one of the crab's hind legs.
The sheer force made the sprinting crustacean stumble, nearly flipping over. With a violent flick, the golden hook swung upward, targeting Princess Vivi.
"Guh-hahahaha! I told you, there is no escape!"
Amidst the raspy laughter, a whirlwind rose from the dunes. "Leave the Princess, and the rest of you can rot."
In the blink of an eye—
"In your dreams!!"
A red blur leaped from the crab's back. Luffy spun in mid-air, his right foot slamming into the deadly golden hook with a heavy CLANG. He landed firmly on the scalding sand, standing directly between Crocodile and his friends. He adjusted his straw hat, not looking back as he roared:
"EVERYONE GO ON AHEAD!! I'M GONNA BE THE ONE TO BEAT THIS GUY!!"
"Luffy!!" Vivi and Nami screamed in terror. They couldn't leave him alone against the monster. "Stop the crab! We have to help him!"
"KEEP RUNNING!!"
A powerful hand clamped down on Vivi's shoulder. Viktor stood on the crab's back, his black eyes fixed coldly on the rear. He issued an undeniable command to the crab: "FULL SPEED AHEAD!! DON'T LOOK BACK!!"
The Moving Crab, sensing the terrifying aura from Viktor, dared not disobey and sprinted forward with watery eyes.
"But Luffy..." Vivi was nearly in tears.
"He's the Captain." Viktor's voice was calm but laced with absolute trust. "If he says he's got it, we believe him. If even he loses... then our being there is just a death sentence. Have faith. That idiot... is stronger than you think."
In the heart of the desert, the wind howled. Luffy stood alone against the man known as the "Sand Crocodile."
"Ignorant brat." Crocodile reattached his hook, his body beginning to sand-ify, his eyes filled with contempt.
"Gum-Gum... GATLING!!!"
Luffy didn't waste breath. His fists turned into a blurred storm, hammering at Crocodile. However—
Puff! Puff! Puff!
Every punch passed through Crocodile's body without resistance, striking only clouds of sand. The particles swirled in the air before reforming into the Warlord's human shape.
"Useless," Crocodile sneered, not even bothered to dodge. "In the first half of the Grand Line, Logia is synonymous with invincibility.
No matter how fast or heavy your fists are, they mean nothing if they can't hit a solid body. You... don't even have the right to touch me."
Luffy stopped, gasping for air. Before, he might have felt despair. But in this moment, under the crushing pressure of life and death, a memory flashed through his mind—that starry night at Little Garden. The boisterous voices of the Giants echoed in his ears.
'Feel the presence...' Dorry had said. 'Turn your will into armor... and strike the "incorporeal" entity...' Brogy had raised his axe. 'Hey! Straw Hat! Don't use brute force; use your will to capture him!'
"Phew..."
Luffy took a deep breath. In the middle of the chaotic battlefield, he slowly closed his eyes. A mysterious sensation began to flow through his body—the latent potential sleeping in the depths of humanity. He was no longer just swinging muscles; he was focusing his rage, his resolve to protect his friends, and his unyielding will into his right fist.
Hum—
Luffy snapped his eyes open, his gaze like lightning! "I don't care if you're a God or sand!!" His right arm stretched back, muscles tensed to the limit. "THE ONE I'M GONNA SEND FLYING—IS THE MAN HIMSELF!!!!"
"GUM-GUM—"
Luffy swung. This time, there was no water. But in the friction of the high-speed strike, a faint, almost imperceptible dark current flickered—the prototype of Armament Haki.
"PISTOL!!!!"
Crocodile intended to ignore the hit with element-shifting as he had before. But the moment the fist approached, his instincts as a veteran powerhouse screamed a warning! A visceral sense of crisis made his hair stand on end!
"What?!"
But he was too arrogant. He was too slow to dodge.
BOOM!!!!
A heavy, meaty thud. It was a collision of flesh against flesh. The punch slammed squarely into Crocodile's haughty face!
"GAH!!"
Crocodile was lifted off his feet, flying backward like a ragdoll and tumbling through the sand several times before stopping. He clutched his face, staring in shock at the bright crimson smear on his glove.
"Blood?!..." Crocodile's pupils shook. He looked at the Straw Hat kid in disbelief. "Could it be... Haki?! Impossible! A brat from the 'Paradise' stage... how could he master the power of the New World?!"
"I hit him!!"
Luffy's confidence surged. He pressed the attack, and while the "Haki" was intermittent and unstable, he relied on his beast-like instincts to land several more precise blows on Crocodile's physical form.
Bam! Bam! Crocodile was actually suppressed for a moment, forced back several steps. However, the humiliation of being wounded by a rookie thoroughly enraged the Warlord.
"Excellent... Straw Hat boy." Crocodile stood his ground, wiping the blood from his lip. His eyes turned truly horrific—pure, cold killing intent. "Since you seek death... I shall grant you desiccated despair!!"
"Desert Spada!!"
CRASH!! With a swipe of his hand, a massive sand blade sliced across the ground, cutting off Luffy's momentum and rending a bottomless trench into the earth.
Whoosh!
Using sand-flicker, Crocodile appeared before Luffy like a ghost. His right hand shot out, catching Luffy's incoming fist.
"Sables: Pesado!!" (Dehydration)
"AAAAAAAAHHH!!"
Luffy let out a harrowing scream. His plump, rubbery arm shriveled instantly under Crocodile's touch. In just a second, the limb became a withered, mummified husk, looking like wood that had been dried for a thousand years. The agony and instant dehydration caused Luffy's vision to go black as he lost consciousness.
"In the end, just a monkey swinging his fists." Crocodile showed no mercy.
Click. The outer casing of his golden hook popped open, revealing a sharp, purple-glinting scorpion venom stinger.
"Die! You arrogant brat!"
PLUCK!!!!
Without hesitation, the venomous hook transfixed Luffy's chest, hoisting him high into the air. Blood dripped down the golden metal onto the scalding sand.
"Cough..." Luffy spat blood, his head dropping completely.
"This is the price of challenging me." Crocodile tossed him aside like trash.
Plop. The near-dead Luffy was thrown into a massive quicksand vortex nearby, his body slowly sinking into the mire. "The gap in strength... is an unbridgeable chasm."
Without a second glance, Crocodile transformed into a violent sandstorm and roared off toward Alubarna. The desert returned to silence, save for the vortex relentlessly swallowing the young pirate.
Just as Luffy's head was about to be completely buried—
"Do you want to live? Member of the D. Clan."
At the edge of the dunes, the silhouette of a woman in cowboy attire appeared. Robin looked at the dying Luffy, remembering Viktor's words back at Whiskey Peak: "The survivor of Ohara."
"Thirty Fleur: Clutch." (Wait—Thirty Fleur: Chain)
Dozens of white arms blossomed from the sand like flowers, connecting to form a long rope. A split second before the quicksand claimed him, a hand gripped Luffy's withered arm and pulled him back from the edge of the abyss.
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