“My God!
What happened?!”
“Is this… the end of the world?!”
Voices of panic echoed through the city, but Lucas’s expression remained unchanged.
His hunter-like eyes were fixed intently on the scene before him.
The sand slowly gathered together, once again taking the shape of Crocodile’s body.
A bloody wound ran across his chest.
He gently touched his chest and looked at the blood staining his fingers.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve been injured.”
Crocodile narrowed his eyes, staring calmly at Lucas.
“You’re the first, kid.”
His voice carried an eerie calm, like the silence before a storm.
Lucas watched him warily without relaxing for even a moment.
Although he had unleashed an extremely powerful slash earlier, he didn’t believe that it could instantly kill an opponent with a Logia Devil Fruit.
Crocodile slowly raised a hand, and his expression suddenly became savage.
“Sandstorm!”
The instant those two words left his mouth, the entire world seemed to darken.
Sand and dust filled the air, swirling wildly until nothing could be seen.
Lucas gently closed his eyes and sensed the presence of everything around him.
In fact, what Lucas was using at this moment was already the embryonic form of Observation Haki.
However, because he had never formally learned how to cultivate it, the range and precision of his perception were still extremely limited.
Countless grains of sand battered his head and body, but Lucas remained completely unmoved.
Then, in the next instant, his perception detected countless grains of sand gathering in the air.
Thousands upon thousands of weapons materialized from the sand and came crashing down upon him!
What the hell?!
The original story really can be misleading.
And protagonists really do have it easy!
Lucas cursed inwardly.
This move had never appeared in the original story.
If Crocodile had used something like this against Luffy, Luffy probably would have been killed long ago.
He could complain all he wanted, but his hands certainly weren’t idle.
Lucas drew his sword, his expression becoming extremely solemn.
Phantom Sword Dance!
This was the second original sword technique Lucas had created after comprehending Sword Pressure and becoming a Sword Master.
It relied on explosively fast successive slashes to accumulate Sword Pressure, before releasing all of that accumulated power in the final strike.
The resulting attack was no weaker than his Iai Slash: Breaking the Void.
At this moment, Lucas’s arms moved like phantoms.
The Sword Pressure generated by his frenzied sword dance blocked every sand weapon that came at him.
Even the countless grains of sand swirling through the air could not penetrate to within a foot of his body.
After maintaining this insane barrage of sword strikes for several seconds, Lucas’s arms gradually began to strain.
A thought flashed through his mind.
He suddenly raised both arms high, then brought them crashing down with the Kitetsu in his hands.
All the Sword Pressure he had accumulated erupted at once!
BOOM!
Two enormous sword lights swept across the battlefield, resembling the rising sun in the darkness of night!
“So powerful…”
Robin’s expression was filled with shock as she watched Lucas.
Her interest in this man had only grown deeper.
Nami, meanwhile, stared at his figure in fascination.
In her eyes, no matter what earth-shattering feat he accomplished, she would never be surprised.
Because he was her man.
The omnipotent god in her heart.
As the sword lights swept across the battlefield, the countless sand weapons suspended in the air were completely obliterated with overwhelming force.
The entire street was left with a gigantic trench stretching dozens of meters across the ground.
“No… Impossible!”
Crocodile’s heart was filled with disbelief.
“Could this guy be a Great Swordsman?
How can he possess such incredible power?!”
Once again, the slash completely destroyed his body.
Although he immediately transformed into sand, the sword light still inflicted tremendous damage upon him.
“Huff… huff…”
Lucas stared at the pile of sand slowly gathering in front of him, sweat running down his forehead.
He had unleashed his two strongest techniques, consuming an enormous amount of stamina.
When he had still been a first-rate swordsman, he had already been able to use clever methods to unleash attacks with the power of a Sword Master.
Likewise, now that he had become a Sword Master, he could use his own methods to unleash power approaching that of a Great Swordsman!
Yet Lucas felt no pride whatsoever as he looked at the tremendous destruction he had caused.
If it had been Mihawk, the trench would probably have been at least a hundred meters long.
Perhaps it would even have been a thousand-meter-long abyss.
Thinking this, Lucas wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked at Crocodile.
Crocodile had barely managed to reconstruct his body.
Two more sword wounds now marked his body.
His expression was grim as he stared at Lucas.
Then, suddenly, he laughed.
“Kid, I don’t know what method you’re using to unleash attacks comparable to those of a Great Swordsman despite only being a Sword Master…”
“But it must consume a tremendous amount of stamina, doesn’t it?”
“So, how are you going to fight me now?”
Hearing this, Lucas continued to breathe heavily, his expression showing signs of fatigue.
Robin watched from a distance with a faint smile.
Little man who seems to know everything… How are you going to deal with an almost impossible-to-defeat Logia user?
You look very different now from the confidence you displayed earlier, as though the entire world were already in the palm of your hand.
Crocodile gave a sinister grin and swept one hand outward.
A small, spiraling sand tornado appeared in his palm.
“My turn now!”
“Kid, you can die!”
Desert Girasole!
In an instant, the tiny whirlwind expanded into a gigantic storm that seemed capable of blotting out the sky.
With unstoppable force, the violent sandstorm swept toward Lucas.
Yet Lucas suddenly stopped panting.
His expression became extraordinarily calm.
“All right.
I’ve used you to test my new sword technique, and I’ve gained a much deeper understanding of my own strength.”
“So, this battle can end now.”
A smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
It was as though everything remained under his control.
Robin’s heart trembled as she watched him.
Could it be… that he really was only using Crocodile to test his strength?
Was everything truly within his grasp?
The next moment, Lucas smiled and drew his sword.
Then he gently sliced open a small leather pouch strapped around his waist.
Inside…
Was seawater.
The water thoroughly soaked the Kitetsu.
Lucas slowly returned the sword to its scabbard and looked at the sand tornado that had already reached him and was about to engulf his entire body.
A sinister smile appeared on his face.
“Ghost Shadow… Flash!”
Lucas’s figure vanished in an instant.
The next moment, he appeared behind Crocodile.
Without making a sound, the enormous sand tornado seemed to have suddenly become a solid object.
A single slash split it cleanly in two.
The entire storm was completely destroyed!
Crocodile held one arm across his chest, his eyes filled with disbelief.
So my ability… really does have a weakness!
Pfft!
He spat out a mouthful of blood and slowly collapsed to the ground.
His left arm had been severed at the wrist, while a huge wound, deep enough to expose the bone, ran across his body.
So I was the one who cut off his arm?
And that iron hook in the original story appeared because of me?
Lucas stared at the scene in slight bewilderment.
Only now did he notice the problem with Crocodile’s arm.
In the original story, Crocodile had no left hand and instead wielded a golden hook.
But now he still had his left arm—and it had just been severed by Lucas.
What a strange development.
It was difficult to explain.
“Hmm… Forget it.
If I can’t figure it out, I won’t think about it.”
Lucas smiled and strode toward Nami and Robin.
Meanwhile, the entire Kingdom of Alabasta had descended into chaos.
Because it was nighttime, and because Crocodile’s sandstorm had obscured everything, no one knew what had actually happened.
All the guards and royal troops rushed into the streets, but there was no proper organization among them.
They frantically patrolled the city in confusion.
By then, Lucas had already brought Nami and Robin into the royal palace’s Burial Hall.
There, they found the enormous stone tablet inscribed with a Poneglyph.