Toku moved through the dunes like a breath that had never existed.
The awakened Suke Suke no Mi rendered him nothing no outline, no shadow, no scent, no intent. Even the sand itself failed to register his footsteps. He walked behind the original Crocodile, who stood alone on a high ridge overlooking the chaos he had created, cigar glowing between his teeth, hook resting on his shoulder as he watched his thousand copies torment the island.
Crocodile never sensed him.
Toku reached out, invisible fingers closing around the golden hook still attached to Crocodile's severed left arm. The metal was warm from the sun and the man's own body heat. He lifted it slowly, deliberately, pressing the curved tip against the side of Crocodile's throat from behind.
The first cut was shallow just enough to part skin and draw a thin line of blood.
Crocodile stiffened. His cigar dropped from his lips.
"What the ?"
Toku leaned in close, voice a cold whisper directly into the man's ear.
"You almost ruined everything."
He dragged the hook sideways, slow and steady. The sharp edge sliced deeper, parting flesh with a wet, tearing sound. Blood welled instantly, hot and dark, spilling down Crocodile's neck and soaking the collar of his black coat.
"You nearly buried the Straw Hats . You nearly killed the woman I needed intact. You nearly disrupted my plans before they even began."
The hook continued its path efficient, mechanical. Cartilage crunched softly as it severed the windpipe. Crocodile gurgled, one hand clawing uselessly at the air, sand trying to rise in defense but finding nothing to target.
Toku kept cutting.
No anger.
No pleasure.
Just elimination.
Blood poured in thick sheets now, running down Crocodile's chest, dripping from his chin. His legs buckled. Toku held him upright with one invisible hand on the shoulder, the other continuing the slow, deliberate slice until the hook had carved a ragged half-circle through the throat. The head lolled forward, barely attached by a few strands of muscle and skin.
Crocodile's eyes still open, still aware widened in final shock.
Toku twisted the hook downward in one clean motion.
The curved tip hooked under the waistband of Crocodile's pants, then ripped upward. Fabric tore. Flesh parted. The man's genitals came away in a single, wet slice cock and balls dropping onto the sand with a soft, heavy thud, blood spraying in a brief arc.
Crocodile's body convulsed once. Twice.
Then went still.
Toku released the corpse. It collapsed forward, face-down in its own spreading pool of blood and sand.
He crouched, wiped the golden hook clean on the dead man's coat, then pried the Suna Suna no Mi from the limp fingers. The fruit felt heavy, warm, still pulsing with residual power.
Toku slipped it into his inner pocket.
A new plan crystallized cold, detached, efficient.
After killing any Devil Fruit user from now on, he would take their fruit. Sell them. Use the berries to build his own kingdom underground a hidden empire of only women, safe from the eyes of the world, where he could indulge every desire without ever being seen.
He had heard rumors… a Devil Fruit user who could manifest paintings from canvas into real life. That one would be useful. Very useful.
Toku stood.
He looked down at the cooling corpse of Crocodile one last time.
"Eliminated."
Then he vanished completely presence erased, body gone, only the faint ripple of displaced air marking his passage.
The real work had begun.
He was no longer hunting the fruit.
He was hunting the world.
One invisible step at a time.