Chapter 98

Someone caught sight of this scene.

In an instant, everyone in the venue drew their weapons and began firing in that direction—who cares if there might be collateral damage!

To these underground bosses, who had committed who knows how many crimes, killing was a trivial matter; the only thing that mattered now was snatching that Paramecia Devil Fruit from that damned bastard!

Kouya Riede and the few people beside him hadn't even reacted to what was happening before they were riddled with bullets by a hail of gunfire.

Luo En swept his leg backward.

A massive cyan wind blade instantly sliced through all the lead bullets fired at him, slashing horizontally toward the group of underground bosses already driven mad with greed by the Devil Fruit.

Some people didn't even notice after being cut by the cyan wind blade; only after several seconds did their upper bodies separate from their lower halves, blood gushing out.

The cyan wind blade, losing none of its momentum, struck a pillar of the auction hall, which collapsed with a rumble, crushing quite a few more people to death.

The scene instantly became utterly chaotic.

"Don't even think about running!"

Baroque Works senior agent, Float-Float Fruit user, the umbrella-bearing Miquette floated toward Luo En.

Luo En didn't even look at her, and once again unleashed Rankyaku.

A cyan wind blade, twice the size of the previous one, directly cut through wall after wall, bursting out of the Rain Banquet Casino.

Luo En stomped his foot, and his figure vanished once more.

Seeing the situation, the rest of them could no longer sit still either.

"That guy got out!"

"After him, quick!"

"Whoever catches him first gets the Devil Fruit!"

"Don't fight me for it—believe it or not, I'll slaughter every last one of you?!"

"Heh, you've got the guts, then come on—let's see who kills who?!"

The surviving group grabbed their weapons and guns and charged outside.

Miquette saw this scene, panicked a little, hurriedly took out her Den Den Mushi, and contacted Mr. 0—Crocodile.

"What is it?"

"President, terrible news…"

After hearing Miquette's report, Crocodile, at the top floor of the Rain Banquet Casino, was silent for a few seconds, then blew out a smoke ring and said in an icy voice: "Miquette, go notify Mr. 2, tell him to act immediately. I'll go snatch back the Iron-Iron Fruit!"

"Understood!"

After hanging up the Den Den Mushi.

Crocodile clenched the Den Den Mushi in his hand, veins bulging on his forehead, his face dark and grim.

"How dare you ruin my plans… just who is looking to die!"

As his words fell, his body turned into a mass of quicksand, directly smashing through the glass in front of him and drifting off into the distance.

……

Below the Rain Banquet Casino.

Mr. 2 Bon Clay, after receiving Miquette's notification, immediately led his men to launch a sweep against the various forces around the Rain Banquet.

When the bosses inside the casino rushed out, what they saw was their own people being surrounded and slaughtered by Baroque Works' men; their hearts instantly chilled, and they understood everything.

And what followed was even greater fury.

"Baroque Works, I want you dead!"

They began to fight back like madmen.

The streets below the Rain Banquet Casino were instantly filled with endless gunfire and battle, utterly chaotic.

………………

Rain Drench City, the eastern outskirts near the city wall.

Luo En, carrying the unconscious Nico Luo Bin, dropped down here from a distant rooftop.

After he set Nico Luo Bin aside and leaned her against a wall corner.

A mass of sand drifted from afar to this spot, gathering into a human form on an empty patch of ground not far from him.

"So it's you, the one who stole my Iron-Iron Fruit."

Crocodile, cigar clamped between his teeth, squinted as he stared at the black-haired boy with his back to him not far away.

Upon seeing the Iron-Iron Fruit in his hand, Crocodile secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Good, it hasn't been eaten…

In that case, all he had to do was snatch it back…

His right arm instantly turned to sand, becoming a sand rope that shot swiftly and silently toward the black-haired boy.

But it grabbed only air.

"What?"

Crocodile's eyes narrowed.

What terrifying speed!

"Sand Crocodile, Crocodile, Logia user of the Sand-Sand Fruit."

The mysterious black-haired boy, wearing a white short-sleeved hooded sweatshirt, stood about ten meters directly in front of him, one hand tucked into his sweatshirt pocket, the other weighing the Paramecia Iron-Iron Fruit in his palm, and said to Crocodile with a smile, "So you're the mastermind behind Baroque Works."

Crocodile's eyes narrowed, then squinted.

Luo En, sensing his killing intent, was not flustered in the slightest. Looking at him, he smiled and said: "To make you instantly show killing intent toward me, this piece of information must be quite valuable—certainly to you, at least."

"It seems, if this information were to leak, it would be quite fatal to your future plans, wouldn't it."

"Shut up!"

Crocodile, biting down on his cigar, could no longer stand Luo En's words.

Waving his hand with killing intent, he activated the power of the Logia-class Suna Suna no Mi and attacked toward Luo En.

"Sables!"

91, Battle with Crocodile (Part 1) (3/5 — please subscribe!)

A small sandstorm surged from Crocodile's palm, rushing toward Luo En, and the brick-and-stone ground along its path was destroyed.

"Tempest Kick!"

Luo En swung out a kick.

A cyan wind blade collided with the sandstorm, violent winds running rampant.

Silently, Crocodile — who had at some unknown point turned into sand — appeared beside Luo En, both hands reaching for the Devil Fruit in his grasp.

But he grabbed only air.

The black-haired youth's figure flashed; vanishing from where he stood, he reappeared at the spot Crocodile had just occupied.

The two of them swapped positions.

Crocodile's expression gradually grew solemn.

"Marine Six Styles — Soru!"

Staring at Luo En, he said: "Kid, who exactly are you?"

"My name is Luo En. I'm just an ordinary, unremarkable traveler."

Luo En looked at him and smiled, then released the hand holding the Devil Fruit, watching that Iron-Iron Fruit slowly sink into the void beside him — a void like the surface of water. Crocodile's eyes narrowed slightly.

"So you're a Devil Fruit user too."

Luo En smiled and offered no rebuttal.

The ability of Wang Zhi's Treasury, in this world, did indeed look very much like a Devil Fruit's power.

Having witnessed his Soru and his 'Devil Fruit ability,' Crocodile grew completely serious, treating the black-haired youth — who looked to be only in his early teens — as a true enemy.

"I acknowledge your strength, but if you want to challenge me, that's still a fool's dream."

Biting on his cigar, Crocodile fixed cold eyes on Luo En. Wisps of fine sand, like living things, seeped out from his body and drifted in all directions. The black fur-collared coat draped over his shoulders swayed its sleeves backward, and the pointed tip of the golden hook on his left hand gleamed with a sharp, cold light.

The full imposing aura of one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea — the King of the Desert — was completely unleashed!

Crocodile slammed a palm onto the ground.

With him at the center, the ground within a radius of several dozen meters dried and cracked at a speed visible to the naked eye. Even rock could be pulverized into yellow sand, and that yellow sand — symbolizing death and withering — drained the moisture from any living being or object it touched, gradually spreading outward.

The ground looked as if it had died, becoming cracked, barren wasteland.

"Erosion Cycle!"

Over a dozen sand serpents, formed from rock that had been sandified into yellow sand, burst from the cracked wasteland and attacked Luo En from all sides.

Once those yellow sands made contact, the moisture within one's body would be drained in an instant.