"What do you mean by 'real sand'?" Crocodile sneered, as if hearing a ridiculous joke. "You're far too arrogant. Do you really think your little tricks can defeat me, Kaguya?"
Kaguya.
Mr. 1, who had been preparing for battle on the side, suddenly widened his eyes in shock.
Could it be? Was she the one who single-handedly destroyed the Big Mom Pirates and killed Charlotte Linlin? The one recently appointed as a Navy Admiral—Kaguya?
Mr. 1's expression shifted drastically. His demeanor turned grave.
He couldn't believe it was her.
She wasn't some minor pirate—she was a powerhouse among powerhouses. Even in the New World, she stood near the very top. Even someone like Whitebeard might not be her match.
The fight hadn't even begun, but cold sweat was already dripping down Mr. 1's back.
"So you know my name, and still choose to be my enemy? Is it ignorance or overconfidence?" Kaguya said, loftily amused.
"Save the attitude," Crocodile's voice turned sharp like a blade. "Even if you hadn't come to me, I would've gone looking for you. This just saves me the trouble."
"Oh?" Kaguya raised a brow in mild surprise. "You want to defeat me?"
"Don't get cocky. You're nothing but a stepping stone!" Crocodile roared as his body turned to sand. A powerful whirlwind began to form in his palm, exploding outward toward Kaguya.
"Heavy Sandstorm!"
In an instant, a massive tornado enveloped Kaguya.
The wind slashed like blades, gouging deep scars into the ground. Rocks exploded, buildings were shredded, and even the vegetation withered to dust. The yellow sand covered the sky, and the howling winds created an apocalyptic scene.
"Looks like I've been underestimated," Kaguya said, smiling faintly amid the chaos. "Such childish tricks—don't waste my time."
She snapped her fingers.
"Sand Drizzle."
Suddenly, the ground erupted with flowing sand. The sand seemed alive, rising into the air and disrupting the tornado. The storm's momentum slowed dramatically.
Crocodile's eyes narrowed. She had somehow used the sand to suppress his storm.
Not only that, the sand he had conjured for his attack was no longer under his control.
How was this possible?
The Sand-Sand Fruit allowed its user to become sand, manipulate parts of their body turned into sand to attack, and extract moisture from objects or people. It could dry out rocks or soil into sand, or absorb underground water to create quicksand.
But it had limits. The Sand-Sand Fruit couldn't control vast amounts of natural sand. It could manipulate some of it, but full-scale control of the environment required awakening the Devil Fruit—a level Crocodile clearly hadn't reached.
Kaguya, on the other hand, was different. With sufficient chakra, she could not only manipulate sand freely but even turn entire forests into deserts. She could reduce entire countries to dust.
"Don't get ahead of yourself!"
Enraged, Crocodile roared. His arms transformed into four gleaming sand blades, and he launched himself at her at blinding speed.
"Desert Diamond Blade!"
Crocodile thrust his sand-formed blades fiercely forward.
"With just that level of skill," Kaguya said with disdain, "you think you can challenge me?"
As soon as she spoke, the ground erupted with sand that gathered into the shape of a massive tanuki, standing protectively in front of her.
It was the "Shield of Shukaku."
Clang!
A sharp metallic clang echoed as the Desert Diamond Blades clashed with the Shield of Shukaku, sending brilliant sparks flying.
But then—crack! Four distinct shattering sounds rang out. The Desert Diamond Blades fractured all at once, breaking into scattered fragments.
Crocodile's pupils contracted.
Those blades were incredibly sharp—capable of slicing through solid rock and even shearing metal. Yet they had snapped like twigs.
How tough was this tanuki-shaped sand wall to withstand such an assault?
"Is that the extent of your Sand-Sand Fruit?" Kaguya mocked. "Let me show you how to really play with sand."
As soon as she finished speaking, sand swirled into a vortex in her palm and quickly condensed into a long spear. With a casual flick, the spear tore through the air like a lightning bolt.
"Spear of Shukaku!"
So fast—
Crocodile's eyes shrank in alarm.
He had no time to dodge.
Thud!
The spear pierced straight through his chest, flashing like a cold light across the sky before vanishing in the distance.
BOOM!
A deafening explosion echoed seconds later. A distant mountain shattered and collapsed, debris flying, smoke billowing—it had been obliterated by the Spear of Shukaku.
Crocodile looked down in disbelief at the gaping, bloody hole in his chest. He coughed violently, blood spilling from his mouth.
For those without Armament Haki, Logia-types were nearly invincible—untouchable. But once Haki was mastered, Logias lost that untouchable edge.
Kaguya didn't know Haki.
But she wielded the power of the Rinne Sharingan's Kekkei Mora—Bloodline Encompassing. Under its overwhelming force, Logias were no more than fragile paper in her path.
"Someone like you dreams of becoming the Pirate King?" Kaguya approached slowly, gazing coldly at the kneeling Crocodile. "Keep dreaming."
Veins bulged on Crocodile's forehead as he clenched his fists, growling, "Damn it... damn it!"
He slammed his fist into the ground with a boom.
The earth trembled violently, rocks cracked, the ground collapsed, buildings shattered, trees withered, and even the nearby fountain dried up instantly. Everything turned into a sea of yellow sand, surging toward Kaguya like a tidal wave.
A raging wind mixed with yellow sand swept across the land, howling like a storm from hell. The sky darkened, and everything in the sandstorm's path was left in ruins. Many livestock—and even people who failed to escape in time—were drained of all moisture in seconds, their terrified screams abruptly silenced as they turned into shriveled corpses.
Soon, the ground was littered with a field of stark white bones.
"Cycle of Erosion."
This was one of the Sand-Sand Fruit's most terrifying abilities: it could extract moisture from everything in its vicinity—be it from soil, rocks, plants, animals, or even underground water sources.
"Desperate dogs bite the hardest, huh?" Kaguya scoffed coldly, mocking him. "Didn't you say you liked water? Then drink to your heart's content."
She snapped her fingers.
"Water Style: Grand Waterfall Jutsu!"
The moment her voice fell, water burst out from the parched desert ground without warning. Like a torrential wave, it surged upward and transformed the arid wasteland into a massive flood in the blink of an eye.
Crocodile's pupils shrank.
What kind of power was this?
She had turned an arid desert into an ocean.
Then, the "Cycle of Erosion" sandstorm collided head-on with the incoming flood.
BOOM!
The sandstorm and flood clashed violently. Towering waves erupted, sand and water flying in all directions. The two forces mixed into an indistinguishable maelstrom, the entire area becoming a submerged wasteland.
The sandstorm acted like a bottomless black hole, trying to absorb the overwhelming tide. For a while, it managed to dry out a portion of the area.
But as time passed, the absorption began to falter. The water surged ever stronger, flooding the entire city in what now resembled a sea.
Crocodile's face flushed red. He gritted his teeth, sweat pouring down his forehead. His arm, still plunged into the ground to sustain his ability, trembled uncontrollably. He was clearly at his limit.
Just as Kaguya suspected—every ability had limits. Even the Sand-Sand Fruit, with all its moisture-draining prowess, wasn't infinite. If it were, Crocodile could've simply dried up the entire Grand Line.
In that case, maybe it wouldn't be called the Grand Line anymore—but the Grand Highway.
Finally, Crocodile could no longer endure. With his stamina depleted, he collapsed to the ground. The raging flood instantly swept him away.
He tried to resist, but after swallowing several mouthfuls of water, he sank like a stone to the bottom.
So unwilling... so unwilling...
With those final thoughts of regret, darkness closed in as Crocodile lost consciousness.
When Crocodile awoke, it was already dusk.
The sun dipped below the horizon as night fell, its last rays slowly fading away. The sky turned from blue to deep indigo as a bright moon began to rise, and scattered stars twinkled faintly above. A cool breeze stirred the air, carrying a faint chill.
Still groggy, Crocodile suddenly jolted upright from the bed.
Where was this place?
He looked around—it resembled the palace, yet something felt different.
A chill crept over him. Looking down, his pupils shrank in shock.
"So you really were a woman. What a surprise. Is the whole 'tough-guy cute girl' trope trending now or something?"
A pleasant, melodic voice rang out.
Crocodile whipped his head around. Not far away, lounging on a sofa with a book in hand, was the silver-haired girl—Kaguya.
"What did you do to me?!" Crocodile growled, clutching the blanket tightly over her bare body, suppressing the fury in her voice.
"Oh, nothing much," Kaguya said nonchalantly. "Just helped you return to your original form. Honestly, who would've thought that behind that scruffy exterior was a real beauty. Color me surprised."
"You bastard! I'll kill you!" Crocodile screamed and tried to leap from the bed. But as she flung off the blanket, she suddenly froze.
"My left hand...?"
There before her was a pale, delicate hand—smooth and unscarred.
"I healed it," Kaguya said from the sofa, studying her with interest. "You should be thanking me."
Before her was a stunning beauty—fair skin, delicate features, long arched brows, mesmerizing eyes with a smoky depth, a sharp nose, rosy lips, and an alluring charm. Her figure was tall and curvaceous, with long legs, a shapely waist, and a full bosom.
Hints in the original canon had suggested Crocodile might once have been female, though it was mostly treated as rumor. Yet here was the truth, revealed in full.
Crocodile had been near death after exhausting her strength and swallowing too much water. Kaguya had hesitated to let a former Warlord of the Sea die so easily. Killing her would mean paperwork and reporting—not worth the trouble.
More importantly, Kaguya wanted information about Pluton—informations about the ancient weapon rumored to be hidden in a chamber somewhere beneath Alabasta. Since Crocodile had been here so long, she likely knew something.
So Kaguya used Yin-Yang Release to save her. Not only did she restore Crocodile's injuries, she healed her internal wounds and even regenerated her lost left hand.
Unexpectedly, as the Yin-Yang chakra entered her body, Crocodile began to transform. Her skin became soft and fair, her figure slimmed, and her facial structure softened—revealing her original feminine form.
It was later speculated that Kaguya's Yin-Yang Release, with its power to create and regenerate, had essentially rebooted Crocodile's cells. This neutralized the hormones injected by Ivankov in the past and returned her to her natural female body.
Not only that—thanks to the regeneration, she appeared noticeably younger than before.
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