54: Chapter 54 Thunder Piercing Through the Sandfall

Alubarna Royal Plaza.

Yellow sand obscured the sky.

Crocodile's lower body had completely transformed into high-frequency flowing yellow quicksand.

Under the control of his Devil Fruit ability, the tens of thousands of tons of sand beneath the entire plaza were boiling.

A giant black sandstorm, hundreds of meters in diameter, roared into existence.

A terrifying physical vortex formed at the center of the sandstorm.

Countless tons of heavy yellow sand, like an inverted yellow waterfall, carrying the physical weight capable of suffocating all living things, plunged madly down the fifty-meter vertical shaft that Rice had just chiseled!

The sand particles rubbed against the air, emitting a deafening roar.

Beneath the abyss was the underground stagnant pool where white dove was docked.

Once these tens of thousands of tons of yellow sand poured down, the entire underground waterway would be instantly filled.

The steel warship, along with everyone on board, would all be buried alive in the depths of the rock layers, never to see the light of day again.

"Too late, brat from the East Blue."

Crocodile hovered in mid-air, looking down at Rice below.

That scar-covered face revealed the cruel sneer of a desert Dominator:

"Go save the woman on your ship, or stay here and watch this country turn to scorched earth—you choose!"

The wild wind whipped up Rice's white shirt.

He stood barefoot on the edge of the collapsed giant crater. On the surface of his bronze-colored skin, bright blue lightning pulsed at high frequency beneath his muscle fibers, emitting crackling electrical bursts.

He did not look at Crocodile in mid-air.

His violent black eyes crossed the sky full of yellow sand and locked straight onto the giant bronze clock tower on the west side of the plaza.

At the top of the clock tower, the giant minute hand made a dull mechanical clicking sound.

There were only three minutes left until the two million tons of power gunpowder buried underground would detonate.

"Paula, Mikita."

Rice's deep voice exploded in the gale, carrying the undeniable texture of raw iron:

"Go to that clock tower. Slaughter the one who is lighting the fuse."

The two women standing on either side did not hesitate at all.

Mikita stretched out her hands and wrapped them around Paula's slender waist.

The rules of her Devil Fruit were activated instantly.

In an instant, the weight of their two voluptuous bodies became an absolute, light one kilogram.

The wild wind raged across the plaza.

Borrowing the terrifying updraft generated by the sandstorm, Mikita tapped her feet lightly on a giant stone flying in mid-air.

Their figures, like kites with broken strings, stepped on the sky-filling flying rocks and broken wood, and drifted at high speed toward the giant clock tower hundreds of meters away.

Rice retracted his gaze.

He lowered his head and looked at the bottomless vertical shaft beneath his feet.

Tens of thousands of tons of yellow sand, like a burst dam, had already fallen to the middle section of the shaft. Endless darkness was being filled by yellow sand.

Rice bent his legs slightly.

The denim fabric on his thighs was stretched taut by his instantly expanding muscles, almost tearing.

Boom!

The granite floor beneath his feet shattered instantly.

Rice's body turned into a black meteorite, jumping directly into the vertical shaft filled with yellow sand.

Gravity pulled him down at high speed.

Rushing towards him was the heavy sand waterfall, weighing tens of thousands of tons.

In mid-air, the muscles of Rice's waist and abdomen contracted violently.

His entire upper body leaned backward. His right leg was raised high in the void, stretched to the limit of human bone structure.

Pitch-black Armament Haki instantly covered his entire right leg, dyeing his flesh an absolute, light-devouring black.

Bright blue lightning gathered madly along his ankle.

[Tempest Kick · Thunder Cannon].

Rice's right leg kicked out fiercely from bottom to top, meeting the tens of thousands of tons of yellow sand crashing down from above!

The air was kicked to pieces at this moment. A crescent-shaped white vacuum slash, dozens of meters wide, wrapped in violent blue lightning, erupted from his toes.

The vacuum slash, carrying the physical sharpness capable of cutting mountains, collided head-on with the falling giant sand waterfall.

Bang—!!

A visible, pale-white ring-shaped shockwave exploded violently in the center of the vertical shaft.

This was a collision of pure physical kinetic energy. The gravitational acceleration of tens of thousands of tons of falling yellow sand was forcefully blocked by this violent vacuum slash.

The terrifying shockwave turned into a super hurricane that rolled backward, rushing madly back toward the surface along the vertical shaft.

On the surface plaza above the shaft.

The sandstorm that had been falling suddenly paused for an instant.

Immediately afterward.

Rumble!! Countless tons of yellow sand were like an erupting yellow volcano, forcefully pushed thousands of meters into the high sky by the terrifying air current surging from underground.

The yellow sand exploded in mid-air, turning into a sand rain that covered the entire Alubarna, falling with a rustling sound.

The vertical shaft, dozens of meters deep, was kicked clean by Rice.

...

Deep underground, in the stagnant pool.

The steel keel of ship was shaking violently.

Nami gripped the mahogany helm tightly. Wood splinters pierced her palms, and blood flowed through her fingers.

She gritted her teeth, her arm muscles tensed, and she turned the helm hard to the left.

"Momoo! Full speed ahead! Get out from directly under this gap!"

Nami shouted loudly.

In the engine room.

Sea Cow Mohmoo let out a dull roar. Its thick tail fin slapped the water surface frantically, stirring up large patches of white foam.

The pure steel chains were pulled taut. The massive hull of ship made a sharp turn on the water surface.

The steel armor scraped against the granite wall on the side, producing a series of dazzling orange-red sparks and a harsh metallic screeching sound.

The warship had just sailed out of the position directly under the shaft.

Several boulders weighing several tons, mixed with a small amount of sand, fell from the dome and slammed heavily onto the water surface where it had originally been docked, creating several water columns that shot into the sky.

On the deck.

Chopper hugged the heavy medical wooden chest tightly with his two hooves.

Nojiko stood to the side, holding a silver scalpel in her hand, her eyes fixed on the huge gap overhead that revealed the sunlight.

Princess Vivi slumped on the deck, panting heavily.

They heard the dull air explosion from above.

They saw the sand waterfall rolling back into the sky.

That man had used his physical strength to forcefully smash open a path to survival.

...

At this time, on the west side of the surface plaza.

At the top of the giant bronze clock tower.

The wild wind blew against the rainproof wooden shed on the tower top.

Two figures wearing Baroque Works agent uniforms were standing next to a huge bronze gear.

Mr. 7 held a yellow flintlock musket with a peculiar design in his hand.

Miss Father's Day was wearing a weird frog costume, holding a burning fuse torch in her hand.

The flame of the torch swayed violently in the wind, emitting a pungent smell of gunpowder.

Below the torch was a thick fuse several meters long.

The fuse led directly to the special heavy detonator at the bottom of the clock tower.

"Two minutes left."

Mr. 7 glanced at the mechanical pocket watch beside him, and a cold arc curled up at the corner of his mouth.

Suddenly, a sound of breaking air came from outside the tower.

Mr. 7 turned his head sharply.

In mid-air, two graceful figures, one blue and one yellow, were stepping on flying debris, crossing hundreds of meters of void, and landing steadily on the bronze roof of the clock tower.

"Advanced Agents? Miss Doublefinger? Why are you here?"

Mr. 7's face changed drastically, and the yellow musket in his hand was instantly raised, aiming at the two women above.

Paula did not waste words.

She stepped in her high heels, and her voluptuous body exerted force on the bronze roof.

[Spike-Spike Fruit · Sky Full of Needle Rain].

Her ten fingers aimed downward, and countless black thorn steel needles glowing with cold light poured down like a rainstorm, shooting towards Mr. 7.

Bang bang bang!

Mr. 7 pulled the trigger.

Special yellow lead bullets sprayed out from the gun barrel.

The lead bullets collided with the thorn steel needles in mid-air.

Huge kinetic energy was converted into heat. Sparks splashed everywhere. The bullet heads of the lead bullets underwent physical deformation, were forcefully cut in half by the hard thorns, and fell onto the wooden floor.

"Light it quickly! They have rebelled!"

Mr. 7 screamed.

Miss Father's Day was startled and hurriedly brought the torch in her hand towards the thick fuse.

The flame licked the edge of the fuse, making a sizzling burning sound.

Just as the sparks were about to ignite the fuse.

Above the bronze roof.

Mikita lifted her light-light state. The rules of her Devil Fruit were instantly reversed.

The terrifying weight of ten thousand kilograms was loaded onto her delicate body without warning.

Boom—!!

The thick bronze roof of the clock tower, along with the load-bearing thick wooden beams below, could not even support it for a second under this ten-thousand-kilogram physical heavy smash.

The hard bronze plate buckled violently inward, and rivets flew off. The thick wooden beams made a shrill breaking sound, exploding into thousands of sharp wooden splinters.

Mikita's figure was like a heavy bomb falling from the sky, smashing directly through the roof and landing fiercely in the gear room inside the tower.

The huge downward force landed squarely on Miss Father's Day, who was wearing the frog suit.

Crack!

A bone-chilling sound of bone fragmentation rang out in the narrow tower.

Miss Father's Day didn't even have time to scream before her whole body was crushed into a puddle of flesh by the ten thousand kilograms of gravity.

The frog suit's eyes burst, and blood mixed with fragments of internal organs splattered all over the surrounding bronze gears.

The burning torch in her hand fell onto the wooden floor with a clang.

Mr. 7, standing nearby, was stunned frozen by this bloody scene.

Before he could even raise his flintlock again.

Paula's figure had already descended through the hole broken in the roof.

Her figure flashed, and she kicked out sharply with her slender right leg. A thick, half-meter-long thorn extended from the tip of her index finger, piercing precisely through Mr. 7's right wrist joint with a shrill whistle of wind.

Splurt.

Blood sprayed wildly.

The tendons and bones in his wrist were shredded by the thorn.

The yellow flintlock clattered to the ground.

Paula retracted her finger.

She took a step forward with her high-heeled right foot, the heel stamping heavily onto the torch that was about to ignite the fuse.

She ground her boot down hard.

The flame was completely extinguished by the friction under her sole, emitting a wisp of blue smoke.

The fuse was safe.

The crisis of the two-million-ton gunpowder detonation was averted.

Outside the clock tower, the massive bronze minute hand made a crisp click.

The hand stopped exactly on the hour.

But the catastrophic explosion that had been anticipated did not occur.

...

In the center of the Royal Plaza.

The swirling yellow sand slowly dissipated. Crocodile's sand-formed body, which had been hovering in mid-air, gradually condensed back into solid form.

He landed on the white marble platform, his face twisted to the extreme.

He could not hear the sound of an explosion.

There was no vibration coming from underground.

His endgame plan, which he had painstakingly plotted for years, had been smashed to pieces by those two traitorous agents and that kid from the East Blue who had appeared out of nowhere.

"A bunch of... scum looking for death."

Crocodile's voice was cold to the freezing point.

His right arm turned to sand again, condensing in mid-air into four giant desert blades, each dozens of meters long.

[Desert Diamond Blade].

The four sand blades, accompanied by a sharp whistle that tore through the air, slashed crazily toward Rice, who had just jumped onto the surface from the edge of the vertical passage.

The high-speed friction of the sand blades made the surrounding air scorching hot.

Rice stood in the scorching yellow sand. He raised his head, his violent black eyes watching the four giant sand blades descending.

He stomped his feet hard on the ground.

[Shave].

The air let out a sonic boom.

Rice's figure abruptly vanished from where he stood.

The four sand blades slashed fiercely into the stone slab, cutting four massive trenches several meters deep. Gravel splattered everywhere.

The next instant.

Rice's figure had already appeared in mid-air above the platform. Less than five meters from Crocodile.

He did not use any flashy Moves. The muscles in his right arm bulged high, and pitch-black Armament Haki wrapped around his fist.

Bright blue lightning danced across the surface of his knuckles.

No Logia-type Devil Fruit user could remain invincible in their elemental form in the face of Haki.

Rice twisted his waist and threw a punch.

His black iron fist tore through the resistance of the air, carrying devastating physical kinetic energy, and smashed straight toward Crocodile's face.

Crocodile's expression changed drastically.

He felt the terrifying Haki coiled around that punch.

His body instinctively retreated violently, while simultaneously erecting a hard sand wall several meters thick in front of him.

Boom!!

The black iron fist smashed into the sand wall.

The hard, compressed sand particles disintegrated the instant they touched the Haki.

The remaining force of the punch did not diminish, piercing through the sand wall and smashing heavily into Crocodile's left ribs.

Crack! A crisp sound of breaking bones rang out across the platform.

Crocodile spat out a large mouthful of blood. His tall body, as if hit by a Sea Train traveling at full speed, lifted off the ground and flew backward wildly.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

His body successively smashed through three thick marble load-bearing pillars behind the platform.

The stone pillars collapsed, kicking up clouds of dust and smoke.

Finally, Crocodile slammed heavily into the heavy main gate of the Royal Palace.

The hard, copper-clad wooden door was smashed into a huge human-shaped crater.

Rice landed barefoot on the white marble platform. He shook the sand off his fist and strode toward the depths of the dust.

In the dust.

Crocodile slowly stood up. He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.

The scar across his nose turned purple-red with anger.

His left hand, that huge poison hook made of pure gold, made a mechanical click.

The hidden mechanism inside the poison hook popped open.

A layer of purple, highly toxic liquid emitting a pungent, fishy odor slowly dripped down the sharp tip of the hook.

The purple venom dripped onto the white marble floor.

Sizzle, sizzle— The hard stone slab was instantly corroded into a charred little hole, emitting pungent white smoke. This specially refined scorpion venom could coagulate blood and dissolve the heart within seconds if it even broke the skin.

"I'm going to suck you into a dried-up corpse."

Crocodile's eyes were bloodshot, and his right half turned into quicksand again, propelling his body to sprint toward Rice at full speed.

The poison hook on his left hand carved a deadly purple arc in mid-air, aiming straight for Rice's throat.

Rice stood where he was, making no Move to dodge.

[Iron Body: Hard: Absolute Defense].

The bronze-colored skin on his upper body tensed to the limit in an instant.

Armament Haki dyed his neck and chest an absolute, pure black.

Ding—!!

A crisp metallic clashing sound rang out.

Crocodile's pure gold poison hook stabbed fiercely into the side of Rice's pitch-black neck.

Sparks flew.

The pure gold hook tip couldn't penetrate even a millimeter in the face of the absolute defense of Armament Haki.

The purple venom slid down Rice's skin and dripped into the sand, making a sizzling corrosive sound. On Rice's neck, only a shallow white scratch remained.

Crocodile's pupils vibrated violently.

This level of physical defense was completely beyond his understanding.

Before he could even withdraw the poison hook.

Rice's left hand suddenly shot up. Five fingers, as if cast from raw iron, grabbed the edge of the pure gold poison hook.

"Playing with poison?"

Rice's low voice exploded in Crocodile's ear.

His left fingers exerted force suddenly.

Terrifying physical grip strength poured crazily into the physical structure of the pure gold.

Creak... Snap! The hard, pure gold poison hook began to undergo severe physical deformation under the crushing pressure of Rice's five fingers.

The hook tip bent, and the venom storage tube inside burst spectacularly. Purple venom splashed all over Crocodile himself.

Rice pulled back hard with his left hand.

The massive pulling force dragged Crocodile's body directly in front of him.

Rice's right fist had long been drawn back to his waist.

The lightning power deep within his bones was fully ignited.

Bright blue electric light wrapped his pitch-black fist into a dazzling thunderball.

"Get down."

A black iron heavy punch, with nothing held back, smashed fiercely into the center of Crocodile's abdomen.

Rumble—!!

This was physical kinetic energy sufficient to shatter a small mountain.

The violent force poured frantically into Crocodile's internal organs from the point of contact.

His spine bent backward into a horrifying arc in that instant. His eyeballs bulged, and a large amount of blood mixed with gastric juices gushed from his mouth.

The terrifying shockwave accompanying the fist penetrated his body and erupted in a fan-shaped area behind him.

The heavy, copper-clad main gate of the Royal Palace, along with a granite load-bearing wall several feet thick behind it, collapsed instantly under the impact of this shockwave that struck through the target. Gravel splattered everywhere.

The entire front exterior wall of the palace completely collapsed and disintegrated.

Crocodile's body, like a cannonball fired from a chamber, followed the broken wall and smashed straight into the darkness of the deepest part of the Royal Palace.

Bang!

A dull thud came from deep within the palace.

Rice withdrew his right fist. The lightning on the surface of his fist slowly dissipated.

He stepped over the debris covering the ground, crossed the ruins of the collapsed main gate, and walked into the interior of the palace.

The floor in the center of the palace had been smashed into a huge deep pit by Crocodile.

Below the deep pit was a massive stone chamber, hidden underground and built with magnificent antiquity.

Rice walked to the edge of the pit and looked down. The light in the stone chamber was dim.

Crocodile lay in the pile of rubble like a puddle of mud, his life or death unknown.

And behind Crocodile's body.

A massive, perfect cube-shaped, dark blue Poneglyph was standing quietly in the very center of the stone chamber.

The surface of the stele was engraved with dense, ancient text, exuding an aura of heavy vicissitudes that had spanned eight hundred years.

This was the ultimate secret that the Alabasta royal family had guarded for generations.

The ancient stele that recorded the location of the Ancient Weapon "Pluton."

Thud.

Rice leaped down, his feet landing steadily in this secret underground royal tomb.

His violent black eyes, in the dim light, locked firmly onto that huge, dark blue stele.