Deep within the subterranean mausoleum.
Glug... glug...
After a series of fierce exchanges, the massive water barrel on Luffy's back had been completely shattered by Crocodile. The precious water spilled across the floor, rapidly absorbed by the parched sand.
"Without water, you're just a monkey hopping around in the dark," Crocodile said, his eyes cold and menacing.
However, Luffy looked at his blood-soaked fists and wore an expression of strange calm. "I see now..." He tightened his grip, blood dripping through the gaps of his fingers.
"It doesn't matter if the water is gone! Blood is a liquid, too! As long as my fists are covered in blood, I can solidify your sand and hit you!!"
"Hmph, how pathetic." Crocodile slammed his right hand onto the ground. "Sables: Pesado—Ground Death!!"
Rumble!! The entire stone floor of the mausoleum sand-ified in an instant, turning into a quicksand marsh that threatened to swallow everything. Simultaneously, Crocodile aimed his palm at Luffy.
Sizzle...
Before Luffy could throw his bloody punch, the moisture was ripped from his body. He withered once more into a desiccated husk, his eyes rolling back as he collapsed into the sand.
"Turn into dust," Crocodile muttered, preparing the finishing blow.
But then—
"Ox - Monkey - Hare - Rat - Boar - Bird..."
Standing nearby, Viktor's hands were a blur of seals. "Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet Jutsu!!"
ROAR—!!
A massive surge of water materialized out of nowhere, spiraling into a roaring dragon that charged the center of the battlefield. Crocodile, thinking the attack was for him, flickered away in a sandstorm. "Tch! That red-eyed brat!"
However, the dragon didn't chase the Warlord. It swerved mid-air and crashed directly into the mummified Luffy.
SPLASH!!!
A deluge of fresh water engulfed the boy. Viktor lowered his hands and sighed. "As the Vice-Captain, I can't exactly let my Captain turn into a piece of jerky, can I?"
Recharged by the life-giving flow, Luffy's body expanded like a sponge. He even spat out a literal jet of water. Pshoo—!!
"PUH-HAH!!! I'm back!! Huge help, Viktor!!" Luffy shouted, full of energy.
Seeing this—seeing himself, a Warlord of the Sea, played like a toy by two rookies—Crocodile finally snapped. He tore off his fur coat, revealing his suit vest, and clicked the casing off his golden hook. A curved, purple stinger dripped with lethal venom.
"Since you want to die so badly... I'll show you hell! This venom can corrode rock and kill on contact. One scratch, and you're finished!"
Luffy didn't care. "I'm not afraid of that thing!!" He roared and charged. Even as the venomous hook grazed his skin and his vision began to blur, he swung his bloody fists with reckless abandon. The battle entered its final, most brutal phase.
While Luffy fought his desperate duel, another battle reached its conclusion before the massive Poneglyph.
Robin felt the pressure of the black-haired youth reach its peak. To protect her secret—or perhaps out of instinctual fear of this "uncontrollable variable"—she crossed her arms. "Six Fleur: Twist!"
Arms sprouted on Viktor's neck and shoulders, attempting to snap his spine.
Flash!
This time, Viktor didn't even use hand signs. His silhouette blurred like a ghost; with a single Body Flicker, he passed through the forest of arms. The next second, cold steel touched Robin's skin.
Viktor appeared behind her, a sharp kunai pressed against her slender throat. His other hand expertly pinned her arms behind her back, slamming her body against the cold surface of the Poneglyph.
"Execution: zero points," Viktor whispered in her ear. "As an assassin, your taijutsu is terrible. You rely too much on your Fruit. Once someone gets close, you're defenseless."
Robin struggled, but his grip was like an iron vise.
"Don't move," Viktor's voice turned serious. "Listen. I don't care about Crocodile's boring ambition or the Ancient Weapon Pluton.
But I am curious about the words on this stone." He looked at the ancient glyphs, his eyes spinning.
"Tell me what it says. I swear on my life, I won't tell a soul—not the World Government, and not even my Captain. This is just... a secret between us."
Pressed against the stone, Robin didn't show fear. Her eyes were hollow, filled with a cold, numbing despair.
"A secret?" Robin closed her eyes, a desolate smile touching her lips. "Just kill me. I have nothing to say to you. History, the D. Clan... I'm tired. I've spent my life searching, only to be betrayed and abandoned. This is my end. Let me be buried with this stone."
Viktor stared at the woman who had lost her will to live. He remained silent for a few seconds.
"Sigh..." He withdrew the kunai and released her. It seemed this side-quest was a bust. "You're a stubborn, troublesome woman," he said as she slid to the floor. "You won't even try to trust someone once?"
Just then—
"I WILL NEVER LOOOOOSE!!!!"
A soul-shaking roar erupted from the center of the hall. Through sheer willpower, Luffy suppressed the venom. He kicked Crocodile into the air and began to inhale frantically.
His body inflated and twisted, accumulating the fury he had gathered for Vivi's tears, for old man Toto's sand-filled water, and for the suffering of this nation.
Ping! Black lightning flickered around Luffy's fist—Haki manifested once more!
Crocodile steadied himself in the air, forming a massive sand blade. "Desert Girasole!!"
"NOT THIS COUNTRY!! NOT MY FRIENDS!!" Luffy's voice drowned out the sandstorm. "YOU WON'T TAKE ANYTHING!!!!"
"GUM-GUM... STORM!!!!!"
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!!!!
Luffy's fists became a berserk gatling gun. Accompanied by a mist of his own blood, he hammered into Crocodile's body. Every punch hit the physical form. Every punch carried his entire soul.
PUH-WHA!! Crocodile's sand blades shattered. His eyes rolled back as his bones snapped under the relentless pressure. Under the "Storm," the Warlord was driven upward, smashing through the thick bedrock ceiling of the mausoleum!
CRASH—!!
The earth split. The invincible Warlord was punched from the depths of the earth into the sky over Alubarna, falling like a broken doll.
And then, the rain finally fell.
"Huff... huff..." Luffy landed in the rubble, looking up at the hole in the ceiling with a goofy grin. "Viktor!! I won!!" Then, his eyes rolled back, and he collapsed.
Flash. Viktor appeared, catching him before he hit the ground. "Yeah. I saw. Good work, Captain."
But the danger wasn't over. The "Storm" had pulverized the main support pillars. The mausoleum began to groan and collapse. Huge boulders rained down.
Viktor looked to the corner. Robin was still leaning against the Poneglyph, unmoving, watching the falling stones with a peaceful expectation of death. She turned her head toward him. "Why aren't you leaving? It's collapsing. Take your Captain and go. Leave me."
Viktor looked at her "it's a romantic time to die" expression and shook his head. "Are you kidding me?"
He hoisted the unconscious King Cobra onto his left shoulder and walked over to Robin. "Since you won't read it to me..." Viktor reached out and grabbed her by the back of her collar, ignoring her startled struggle. "Then live! And read it to me later!!"
"What—let me go!!" Robin cried.
"Shut up and hold on!" Viktor's blue chakra exploded.
BOOM! A split second before the exit was sealed by a thousand tons of rock, he became a streak of black lightning, carrying the three of them out of the doomed underground world and into the falling rain.
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