55: Chapter 55 Robin! Joins the White Dove Gang!

Underground of the Royal Palace.

A secret underground mausoleum.

The air was thick with the scent of dust.

Mixed with the stench of bloody gore spewing from Crocodile's mouth.

A massive cubic stone stele stood in the very center of the mausoleum.

The stele was a deep, profound blue, its surface polished to an extraordinary smoothness.

Dense ancient cuneiform characters, like some mysterious totem, were carved deep into the hard stone texture.

Rice stood barefoot, stepping on the shattered stone slabs covering the floor.

He walked up to the Poneglyph that exuded an ancient, weathered aura.

His bronze-colored right hand lifted, and his calloused, rough palm pressed against the surface of the deep blue stele.

Cold. Hard.

A dense physical structure, completely unlike any known mineral on this sea, conducted through his palm.

Even with a heavy punch coated in Armament Haki, one could not leave even a white mark on this stele.

This was an indestructible object crafted eight hundred years ago by the stone masons of the Kozuki clan of Wano Country.

It recorded the resting place of the Ancient Weapon, "Pluton."

Tap, tap.

The crisp sound of high heels clicking against the stone slabs rang out abruptly in the shadowy corner of the mausoleum.

Rice did not turn back.

His Observation Haki had long since locked onto the figure hiding behind a load-bearing pillar.

A tall woman, wearing black slim-heeled leather boots, slowly walked out of the shadows.

She had dark skin with a healthy wheat-colored tone.

A head of black, silky long hair draped over her shoulders.

She wore a purple tight-fitting leather outfit, outlining the stunning, mature curves of her female Physique.

On her head, she wore a white cowboy hat.

In those deep, azure eyes, curiosity, vigilance, and unmistakable fear were interwoven.

Nico Robin.

Vice President of Baroque Works, Miss All Sunday.

The survivor of Ohara, the only archaeologist left on this sea capable of deciphering the Poneglyphs.

"What truly surprising, pure violence."

Robin stopped ten meters away from Rice. She looked at Crocodile, who had collapsed in a pool of blood with his chest deeply sunken, and her breathing paused slightly for a moment: "That man who was so overbearing in the desert, actually couldn't even withstand a single punch from you. Captain of the white dove from the East Blue, Rice. What kind of monster are you exactly?"

Rice slowly turned around.

His violent black eyes swept over Robin's body.

There were no lecherous thoughts, only the absolute coldness of assessing an asset.

"I didn't come here to listen to your nonsense."

Rice pointed to the deep blue stele behind him, his voice as low as grinding raw iron: "Take out the knowledge of those ancient characters in your brain. Read what is on this stone."

The corner of Robin's eye twitched slightly.

She crossed her arms over her chest.

Her slender fingers formed a peculiar gesture.

The rules of her Devil Fruit activated instantly.

"Hana Hana no Mi · Thirty Fleur · Clutch."

Without any warning, countless phantom pink petals bloomed instantly on Rice's broad, bronze-colored back, his sturdy arms, and both sides of his thick thighs.

A full thirty fair-skinned female arms, like vines growing out of thin air, tightly wrapped around Rice's throat, joints, and waist.

These arms exerted crazy force, attempting to use the principle of physical leverage to snap Rice's cervical spine and limb joints.

"Sorry."

Robin's face returned to her usual calm smile, but those blue eyes revealed icy murderous intent: "I am only interested in true history. Whether it is you or that Sand Crocodile who fell on the ground, as long as you attempt to use the Ancient Weapon, you are all my enemies."

Robin's crossed hands tightened inward sharply.

"Break."

The thirty arms wrapped around Rice's body simultaneously erupted with maximum physical torque.

However, Rice stood in place, not even blinking an eye.

His tall, 1.92-meter torso was as steady as a fortress cast from raw iron.

The veins on his neck bulged slightly. His bronze-colored skin tightened to the limit in an instant.

"Iron Body: Hard."

Creak... Snap!

The teeth-gritting sound of bones breaking rang out in the mausoleum.

But what broke was not Rice's bones.

Robin let out a muffled groan of pain, and her face turned deathly pale instantly.

She saw in shock that the arms she had grown on Rice using her Devil Fruit ability could not shake him in the slightest when they touched that body, which was as hard as black iron.

Instead, with Rice's slight muscle expansion, that extremely brutal counterforce snapped those phantom arms inch by inch!

The pink petals shattered over a large area in mid-air.

Thirty arms turned into light and shadow across the sky and dissipated completely.

Robin fell to her knees on the cold stone slabs.

She clutched her arms tightly, a layer of fine cold sweat seeping onto her forehead.

The neural backlash from having her Devil Fruit ability forcibly shattered sent waves of needle-like pain through her brain.

"In the face of absolute physical mass, this kind of soft joint technique doesn't even qualify to scratch an itch for me."

Rice stood with one hand in his pocket, strode forward with his long legs, and walked step by step in front of Robin.

He looked down upon this woman who had been hunted by the World Government for twenty years.

He lifted his right foot and stepped on a piece of rubble beside Robin.

The rubble instantly turned into powder.

"Child of the Demon of Ohara. Do you think I care about that piece of junk Ancient Weapon?"

Rice's mouth pulled into a cruel arc, his voice filled with an arrogance that pierced through everything: "This stone is written with the coordinates of Pluton. It is buried underground in Wano Country. I can't even be bothered to take a second look. My fist is much harder than that piece of junk ship from hundreds of years ago."

Robin suddenly raised her head, her blue eyes filled with disbelief and horror.

He knew!

This man hadn't even looked at the stele, yet he had accurately stated the top-secret content recorded on this Poneglyph!

He even knew the exact resting place of the Ancient Weapon!

"You... who exactly are you..."

Robin's voice trembled. The psychological defense line she had built for twenty years was experiencing a devastating collapse in front of this man who seemed omniscient.

"I am your new Captain."

Rice leaned down, his large, calloused hand grabbing Robin's chin, forcing her delicate face up, compelling her to stare directly into his violent black eyes: "The history that the World Government dares not investigate, I will take you to investigate. If an Admiral dares to block the way, I will smash them with my fists. From today on, put away that boring assassination act of yours. Your life belongs to the white dove. I want you to use those eyes of yours to translate every single Poneglyph on this sea, word for word."

This was not a negotiation.

This was pure physical oppression, and also a declaration of protection unique to a tyrant.

Robin looked at those black eyes that had no hypocrisy, only absolute confidence.

It had been twenty years. She had been fleeing in this world like a sewer rat.

Betrayal, selling out, and slaughter filled her life.

And now, an indestructible steel fortress had violently crashed in front of her.

"I..."

Robin's lips trembled slightly.

Just then, a hair-raising rustling sound came from the pile of rubble not far away.

Rice let go of Robin's chin and slowly turned his head.

That Crocodile, whose ribs had been smashed and chest sunken, had stood up again at some point.

His scar-covered face was full of extreme, distorted madness.

Blood flowed down his forehead into his eyes, dyeing his vision a blood-red.

"Don't get too carried away... you scum from the East Blue!"

Crocodile let out a roar that did not sound human.

His right hand pressed fiercely onto the hard granite floor tiles of the mausoleum.

"Ground Death."

The power of a Devil Fruit Awakening level was fully stimulated in the desperate situation of near-death.

This was no longer simple sanding.

A rule of absolute dryness that stripped away all moisture spread crazily in all directions from Crocodile's palm.

The moment the hard granite slabs came into contact with this power, the moisture inside was completely drained, instantly weathering into a handful of yellow sand.

The thick load-bearing stone pillars began to collapse. The air became incomparably dry.

Small cracks even began to appear on the surface of Robin's skin due to extreme dehydration.

This power of weathering, like an invisible ripple of death, swept along the ground at a speed difficult for the naked eye to capture, rushing toward Rice's feet.

"Trying to turn me into a dried corpse?"

Rice sneered.

He didn't use Armament Haki to resist this rule-based deprivation.

He stomped his feet hard on the ground.

"Soru."

The air emitted a deafening sonic boom.

The weathering ripple barely grazed the spot where he had originally been standing, completely turning the flagstones in that area into powder.

But Rice's figure had already vanished from where he stood.

His speed broke the sound barrier, creating a white tunnel of airflow within the narrow royal tomb.

In one second.

Rice appeared in front of Crocodile.

Crocodile's right hand, which had been pressed against the ground, had not yet had time to retract.

His blood-red eyes only caught a mere afterimage.

Rice's left hand, like an iron pincer, grabbed Crocodile by the throat.

He hoisted his towering, over-two-meter-tall body straight up into mid-air.

"You play with sand quite well."

Rice's right hand clenched into a fist.

Pitch-black Armament Haki completely enveloped his fist.

Bright blue lightning danced wildly across his knuckles.

"Too bad, your bones are too brittle."

Boom—!!

The heavy iron fist slammed into Crocodile's face without reservation.

His nasal bone shattered instantly.

His entire mouthful of teeth crumbled under the terrifying physical kinetic energy, spraying out from his mouth mixed with a large amount of blood.

Rice did not stop.

His left hand pressed against Crocodile's skull, the muscles in his arm bulging.

He treated this arrogant Seven Warlords of the Sea like a tattered rag, slamming him hard against the indestructible, deep blue Poneglyph behind him!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Once. Twice. Three times.

The dull sound of flesh impacting stone echoed inside the royal tomb.

Crocodile's back and head struck the cold, hard surface of the Poneglyph again and again.

The stone tablet did not budge.

But every bone in Crocodile's body shattered inch by inch under this violent physical crushing force.

Blood flowed down the texture of the stone tablet, staining those ancient cuneiform characters a shocking dark red.

One final heavy smash.

Rice released his left hand.

Crocodile's body, now completely unrecognizable as human, slid limply onto the base of the Poneglyph like a pile of mud.

His eyes rolled back, and he lost consciousness completely.

That dark green fur coat was in tatters. The once-arrogant Sand Crocodile had all his dignity thoroughly crushed.

Rice stood in the pool of blood.

He shook the blood off his fist.

He turned around and looked at Robin, who was slumped on the ground.

"Take this pile of rotting meat. Follow me up. The war on the surface should be over now."

...

Alubarna Royal Plaza.

Yellow sand filled the sky.

Visibility was less than ten meters. A million rebel soldiers and royal soldiers were still engaged in brutal mutual slaughter.

Swords and blades clashed.

Severed limbs rolled in the sand. Thirst, anger, and despair dominated everyone on this land.

At the edge of the plaza.

Nami, Vivi, Nojiko, and Chopper, who had climbed up from the depths of the underground through a vertical passage, finally stepped onto the surface.

Vivi looked at the battlefield, which was like a Shura Hell before her. Her sky-blue long hair was disheveled in the wind and sand.

She shouted loudly for them to stop fighting, but her weak voice was instantly drowned out by the deafening sounds of slaughter and clashing weapons. No one could hear the wail of a princess.

"It's useless! The sandstorm is blocking the sky! They have fallen into a crazy vicious cycle!"

Nami used her hand to block the wind and sand blowing in her face.

She looked up at the thick layer of dry sand clouds in the sky, created by Crocodile.

This layer of sand clouds intercepted all moisture, preventing this country from having a single drop of rain for three years.

As long as the sand clouds remained, the despair of drought would continue to drive these soldiers to kill each other.

Just then.

Boom!

A huge roar erupted from the ruins of the royal palace. A black figure wreathed in bright blue lightning stepped on a collapsed white marble pillar and leaped dozens of meters into the air.

Rice.

In his left hand, he held Crocodile, who looked like a dead dog.

Rice hovered in mid-air.

He used Moonwalk under his feet, emitting dull sonic booms.

He threw Crocodile's body away casually.

Bang.

That blood-covered body slammed heavily onto a huge rock in the center of the plaza.

Above the heads of the million-strong army, it displayed the most miserable posture of defeat.

Countless soldiers who were fighting were drawn by this loud noise.

When they saw the lifeless Sand Crocodile on the rock, all their movements came to a brief standstill at this moment.

That was the hero of Alabasta.

That was the invincible Seven Warlords of the Sea.

Now, he was thrown there like a pile of trash.

Rice ignored the shock below.

His violent black eyes looked up at the thick, dry yellow sand clouds above his head.

The power of thunder he had devoured in Loguetown was, at this moment, pushed to the true limit his body could withstand.

Bright blue lightning surged wildly along his blood vessels.

The entire sky was dyed a blinding blue-white in an instant. A violent electric field was rapidly established in the air.

Rice's right fist clenched tightly.

Armament Haki dyed his fist pure black.

Countless thick pillars of lightning intertwined on his fist, forming a huge lightning ball with a diameter of several meters.

"Give me... rain!"

Rice let out a wild roar that resounded through the world.

His right fist slammed hard into the sand clouds above!

[Thunderstorm · Skybreaker].

A huge blue beam of lightning with a diameter of over ten meters erupted from Rice's fist.

The lightning pillar, carrying destructive physical kinetic energy and temperatures of tens of thousands of degrees, crashed straight into the layer of thick yellow sand clouds.

Rumble rumble rumble—!!

The deafening roar of thunder tore through the sky of all Alubarna.

The lightning pillar exploded inside the sand clouds.

Violent electric currents shuttled wildly through the clouds, performing high-intensity physical ionization.

Under the effect of high-temperature ionization, the moisture inside the originally dry sand clouds was instantly and forcibly condensed.

The Devil Fruit rules remaining after Crocodile's death were completely shattered in the face of this violent natural lightning.

Black cumulonimbus clouds quickly replaced the yellow sand clouds in just over ten seconds.

Drip.

A drop of cold rain penetrated the strong wind and landed on Princess Vivi's dust-covered cheek.

Drip. Drip.

Immediately followed by a second drop. A third drop.

Whoosh—!!

A torrential downpour, like the heavenly river pouring backward, descended upon this desert kingdom that had been parched for three whole years.

Bean-sized raindrops smashed densely onto the scorching yellow sand, emitting bursts of white smoke.

They smashed onto the soldiers' blood-stained armor, washing away that glaring crimson.

The million-strong army in the plaza was completely stunned.

They threw away the steel swords in their hands.

They threw away the wrought iron spears.

Countless soldiers knelt in the muddy sand, raised their heads, opened their cracked lips, and greedily welcomed this nectar falling from the sky.

The rebel leader Koza stretched out his hands, feeling the coldness of the rain, tears mixing with the rain flowing wantonly down his rugged face.

The lie of the drought was ruthlessly exposed by the heavy rain.

The reason for the war collapsed completely at this moment.

The bloody civil war in Alubarna was forcibly brought to an end by a violent thunderstorm.

...

At the edge of the plaza.

A man with short silver hair, wearing a Marine Colonel uniform, with two cigars in his mouth, stood quietly in the curtain of rain.

The rain soaked his clothes and flowed down the giant jitte on his back.

Smoker.

Beside him stood the bespectacled female Marine, Tashigi.

Tashigi's hand gripped the famous sword at her waist tightly, her body trembling slightly in the rain.

Smoker exhaled a thick cloud of white smoke.

The smoke dissipated quickly in the rain.

His cold, sharp eyes pierced through the heavy rain, staring fixedly at Crocodile on the huge rock in the center of the plaza.

As well as the black-haired young man slowly descending from mid-air.

"That guy..."

Smoker bit down slightly harder on his cigars, leaving a row of deep tooth marks on the ends of the cigars.

He recalled that scene on the execution platform in Loguetown.

That madman who smiled in the wild thunder.

Now, this madman had not only walked out of the East Blue alive but had even single-handedly, right under the nose of an Admiral, beaten a Seven Warlords of the Sea into a cripple and ended a country's war.

"Colonel... that is the Shichibukai Crocodile... He has been defeated..."

There was an unmistakable tremor in Tashigi's voice.

Smoker did not reply.

He reached for the Den Den Mushi on his waist.

He knew that the balance of this sea, starting from today, was about to be completely smashed into a huge hole by this lawless monster.

The World Government was bound to experience an unprecedented earthquake.