One Piece: Nobody knows Devil Fruits better than me.

Chapter 33: Let me show you the difference in our abilities! (Bang!)

What comes to mind when people in Alabasta think of nature or natural disasters?

The answer is beyond doubt.

Alabasta is a country where more than 70% of its land is desert.

Whether it's nature or natural disaster, they often refer to the same thing—the yellow sand that covers the entire country.

For example, right now, the location where the former 'Spider Cafe' once stood is undoubtedly demonstrating the power of 'sand'.

"Boom!"

At that moment, the sand-covered earth began to devour everything on its surface as if it were a living thing.

The yellow sand is its mouth, its teeth, and its claws.

At this moment, the entire 'Spider Cafe' had been dragged underground by it.

The entire ground was occupied by a single circular sand pit, resembling a sunflower and exceeding tens of meters in diameter—within the pit, the quicksand continued to devour everything edible.

Above the ground, Crocodile's figure soared through the desert winds.

"Desert Sunflower"

His lower body had now completely turned into a swirling mass of yellow sand.

This is the ability he relies on, enough to allow him to reach the pinnacle of this sea—the Logia-type Devil Fruit, the Sand-Sand Fruit.

"Crack!"

He silently took out another cigar, tore off the wrapper, and lit it.

"call."

He exhaled a puff of smoke and looked down.

"The Dragon (辰龙) should be related to that Rooster (酉鸡). Are they members of the same organization or pirate crew?"

He wondered to himself.

"And Nicole Robin."

His expression was somewhat gloomy.

His 'Utopia Project' itself, besides usurping Alabasta, had the most important purpose of obtaining information about Hades within Alabasta.

Nicole Robin was originally an indispensable part of it.

But now, he had to kill her, which naturally annoyed him.

Of course, Crocodile would not regret it—tolerating betrayal was a fool's decision, and he knew it better than anyone.

"That's all."

So in the end, he simply thought calmly, "First, we'll take Alabasta. We can figure out other ways to decipher the Poneglyphs later."

"The most important thing now is to determine whether the others are alive or dead."

"I can't lose my status as a Shichibukai for now. I need new proxies. If they all die, then the plan will have to be temporarily suspended until we find enough strong people to revitalize the company before restarting it."

Crocodile calmly considered his thoughts as he turned to leave.

But
"Ok?"

He had just taken a step when he frowned as if he sensed something.

He then stopped and turned around.

His gaze fell upon the giant crater in the desert before him.

At this moment
"Click!" "Click!"

Amidst the shifting sands, a crisp sound emanates—the sound of sand freezing.

"Ok?"

Crocodile then raised an eyebrow.

next moment.
"boom!"

The sand and gravel in the entire crater completely stopped flowing, and then...
Shatter!

Then, Crocodile saw Dragon and Nico Robin again.

At this moment, the latter's expression clearly showed lingering fear and horror.

The former, on the other hand, slowly stepped out of the deep pit.

"What's wrong? Crocodile?"

"I heard you fought Whitebeard when you were young, and although you were utterly defeated, you've seen it all—you don't think that kind of attack could kill me, do you?"

He looked at Crocodile, a mocking voice coming from beneath his mask. "..."

Upon hearing his words, Crocodile's expression grew even more somber.

His crushing defeat against Whitebeard was one of the things he least wanted to be mentioned.

"Yeah—after all, someone like you who hides his face looks weak."

But clearly, as a tyrant of the seas, Crocodile is no less skilled in verbal combat.

"What a coincidence."

Upon hearing this, Chenlong laughed: "That's what I wanted to say to you too—crocodile, you can't beat me."

As the words fell.

"Ah."

With a sneer, Crocodile's figure instantly turned into a cloud of yellow sand and vanished.

A moment later, his figure reappeared beside Chenlong.

The golden hook in his left hand gleamed coldly as it hurtled toward Chenlong's head with a sharp sound.

But it followed closely behind.
"clang!"

An ice wall suddenly appeared in the air, and Crocodile's golden hook struck the ice wall, its tip instantly embedding itself into it.

"Freezing. Was it this that helped you escape from the 'Sunflower' earlier?"

Crocodile's pupils suddenly contracted.

But before he could pull out the golden hook, he saw that the dragon had already moved.

"There are ladies here, let's find another place to play."

He chuckled softly as he whispered this, his fists already clenched.

"Iron Body, Steel Fist!"

then
"boom!"

Crocodile saw that the opponent's fist had already been thrown, heading straight for his abdomen.

"It's the Iron Body, one of the Six Styles!"

Crocodile recognized the punch instantly, but he wasn't surprised—as mentioned before, although the Six Powers were created by the Navy and the World Government, they have spread widely throughout the ocean.

What he really cares about is
"No Haki attached!?"

At this moment, his Observation Haki had already sensed that there was no Haki attached to the opponent's punch.

As is well known, for Logia-type Devil Fruit users, an attack without Haki is equivalent to non-existence.

"idiot."

Thus, Crocodile came to a conclusion.

He didn't run away—just like the rookie pirates who faced 'Paradise' many years ago.

"Let me show you the difference in our abilities. Hmm!"

But Crocodile's smile didn't even have time to fully open before he let out a muffled groan.

The confidence on his face froze instantly.

Because at that moment he had already realized—the sensation was wrong.

The opponent's fist did not penetrate his body, which was like sand.

Quite the opposite!

"boom!"

As if he had been hit head-on by a charging beast, Crocodile's body suddenly caved in!

Hot blood gushed uncontrollably from his mouth, and his body was blasted backward like a kite with a broken string.

"boom!"

He shattered the rocks on the road like a cannonball, then crashed heavily into the desert, stirring up a cloud of murky sand.

At this moment, Chenlong slowly withdrew his fist.

"Sorry, I didn't hear you quite right."

"What did you say you wanted me to see?"

(End of this chapter)