Just as Blackbeard had predicted, Crocodile had no intention of handing Alabasta over so easily.
Not Alabasta—
and certainly not Nico Robin.
What a joke.
He had spent so many years scheming in this country, standing at the very brink of uncovering Pluton's secrets. And now the Beasts Pirates thought they could simply swoop in and reap the harvest?
Did they really think Sir Crocodile was some soft fruit anyone could squeeze at will?
Back then, Crocodile had dared to challenge the strongest man in the world, Whitebeard, without hesitation. Compared to that, what did this so-called "Fifth Emperor" amount to?
Five Emperors or not—Crocodile didn't care.
Even if Kaido himself descended upon Alabasta, Crocodile would never obediently roll over and leave.
With a cigar clenched between his teeth, his voice low and contemptuous, Crocodile sneered:
"Oi… do you even know whose territory this is?"
"Playing god, you brat—listen carefully. I am Crocodile."
Having risen to fame over twenty years ago after battling Douglas Bullet in his youth, Crocodile's name had echoed across the seas long before Luo Xing ever appeared.
Calling Luo Xing a junior was hardly inappropriate.
Luo Xing's expression didn't change in the slightest. He merely smiled faintly.
"So Senior Crocodile has no intention of leaving. That's unfortunate."
"I have a habit," he continued calmly.
"Once I make a move, I don't stop until my enemy is completely dead."
"I have no interest in watching someone crawl back from the grave and stand in my way a second time."
Since transmigrating into this world, Luo Xing had developed an intense disgust for one particular phenomenon—people who should be dead but somehow weren't.
Kin'emon surviving Kaido's Conqueror-coated club, then another lethal strike, and still getting back up in the original story had disgusted him to no end.
Luo Xing had already decided: when the twenty-year deadline arrived, once Kin'emon and that certain someone appeared—
He would reduce them to ashes.
Then scatter the ashes.
Then obliterate what remained.
He refused to believe anyone could "get back up" after that.
Crocodile didn't possess such an absurd trait, but he did have another—
the infamous ability to fight anyone to a draw.
Doflamingo. Mihawk. Akainu.
At Marineford, Crocodile had clashed with all of them.
Unfortunately for him, Luo Xing had no intention of giving him that chance.
Luo Xing turned his head slightly and spoke calmly to Jack and Who's-Who:
"Except for Nico Robin, kill everyone in Baroque Works."
"Those who kneel and surrender may be spared."
His voice was soft.
Yet to the Baroque Works officers, it sounded like a death sentence from the depths of hell.
Faces turned pale instantly.
Some of them were already wavering.
After all, this was the Beasts Pirates—
even their boss could not be compared to such monsters.
Thud.
One of the lower-ranked officers dropped to his knees.
"I surrender! Fifth Emperor, I surrender! I'm willing—"
Before he could finish, a surge of sand swallowed him.
A large hand seized his face and lifted him into the air.
"I don't allow surrender."
Crocodile's voice was ice-cold.
In the next instant, the man was drained dry—
his body shriveling into a mummified corpse.
Crocodile's chilling gaze swept across the remaining officers.
"Anyone else want to become a mummy?"
The room fell dead silent.
Whether they surrendered or not, death seemed inevitable.
If that was the case—
they could only fight to the bitter end.
Seeing this, Jack and Who's-Who laughed instead of growing angry.
That meant they could slaughter freely.
"Come on!" Who's-Who roared with savage delight.
"You trash from the first half of the Grand Line—let me show you what the New World looks like!"
A thunderous tiger's roar echoed.
Who's-Who transformed into a massive saber-toothed tiger with crimson wings, plunging into the crowd like a butcher among lambs.
With combat power easily worth over a billion in bounty, he utterly outclassed these officers who barely even knew Haki.
Even the strongest among them—Mr. 1, Daz Bones, and Mr. 2, Bon Clay—could only barely resist before being overwhelmed.
Jack, not to be outdone, charged straight at Crocodile.
His massive fist swung down like a meteor.
For the first time, Crocodile felt genuine shock.
Jack's defense was monstrous—
even Akainu's magma couldn't breach it easily.
Crocodile's hook and sand attacks were nothing more than scratches.
Jack didn't bother defending at all.
Coated in Armament Haki, his fists slammed into Crocodile again and again.
Crocodile was driven back relentlessly.
Though he had consumed a Monster Cell, it was only Tiger-level.
Jack's was Dragon-level.
The gap was insurmountable.
Screams echoed through the palace.
Blood stained the sand.
Even King Cobra inside the palace sensed something wrong.
He stumbled outside—
—and froze.
The demon who had plunged Alabasta into despair, Crocodile.
The Baroque Works that had tormented the kingdom for years.
They were being slaughtered.
The contrast was so overwhelming that Cobra could hardly process it.
"Father!"
Vivi rushed to his side.
Seeing her father's battered state, tears filled her blue eyes.
"Vivi… what's happening?" Cobra asked shakily.
Vivi wiped her tears.
"It was Lord Luo Xing. He saved me. He saved Alabasta!"
Luo Xing?
Cobra remembered the name.
The Beasts Pirates' son-in-law.
The so-called Fifth Emperor.
But he was still a pirate.
Could his motives truly be pure?
Cobra wasn't as naïve as his daughter.
He suspected Luo Xing sought Pluton just as Crocodile had.
The same thought crossed Nico Robin's mind.
She understood pirates better than anyone.
Luo Xing was no savior.
Just a far more terrifying devil.
And she knew what that meant.
She was merely being transferred
from one demon's hands
into another's.
Exhaustion and despair weighed heavily on her heart.
Her entire life had been a tragedy.
If not for the Poneglyphs…
if not for the truth of history…
She would have ended her life long ago, joining her mother and the scholars of Ohara.
The battle ended without suspense.
Who's-Who annihilated the Baroque Works officers with absolute dominance.
Then he joined Jack in surrounding Crocodile.
Crocodile roared, unleashing massive sandstorms, nearly tearing the palace apart.
But it was meaningless.
Absolute power crushed all tricks.
His "fifty-fifty" reputation became a cruel joke.
In the end—
Crocodile died.
Truly died.
There was no revival.
No escape.
No surrender.
He faced death standing tall, never begging, never fleeing.
A true overlord to the end.
The endless desert swallowed his body and his unwilling expression alike.
For a man who wielded the power of sand—
to be buried beneath sand—
was perhaps the only fitting conclusion.
◇ I'll be dropping one bonus chapters for every 10 reviews. comment
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on P@treon if you're interested:
patreon.com/ZoroTL442