One Piece: My Crew Uses Zanpakuto

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"Hehehe, hahahahaha!" Crocodile laughed maniacally. "You heard me, Princess Vivi! The super bomb I arranged has successfully exploded. Everyone gathered in Alubarna Square, whether royal soldiers or rebels, must have been blown to pieces. The man you trusted, Ikki, could do nothing. Not only could he not save your fellow citizens, he can't save you either."

Crocodile spread his arms wide, grinning at Vivi. Perhaps adhering to the principle of "real men never look at explosions behind them," he didn't even turn to see the actual location of the blast.

Vivi tilted her head, doubt flashing in her eyes. She simply stared at Crocodile without saying a word.

After a moment, Crocodile finally sensed something was amiss. He frowned and asked suspiciously, "Miss Wednesday, what's with that expression? The people of Alabasta you loved so much are dead. Perhaps your father Cobra also died in the explosion. Yet you don't seem sad at all?"

Vivi pursed her lips, raised her finger, and said, "Crocodile, you said you placed the bomb in Alubarna Square. But why did the explosion come from the uninhabited desert?"

Vivi wasn't surprised about the existence of a bomb in Alubarna. Before this confrontation, Nico Robin had called to inform the three of them about the conversation between Crocodile and Ikki. When she heard the explosion from elsewhere, Vivi immediately realized this was Ikki's doing.

Vivi and her companions had prepared for Crocodile's appearance. However, the Sand-Sand Fruit user's stealth abilities proved too formidable for them without Observation Haki. That's why Nojiko and Nami were caught by the sudden sandstorm.

Though they were blown away, Vivi remained calm and wasn't overly concerned for their safety. From her frequent training sessions in the Sword Room aboard the Explorer, she understood that the sandstorm wouldn't cause serious harm to Nojiko and Nami—at most, it would just separate them temporarily.

"What? Where was the explosion?" Crocodile frowned and quickly turned to look behind him. He discovered that the towering clouds of smoke and dust stirred up by the explosion were indeed located in an uninhabited desert area.

"Damn it, could it be... hmm?!" Crocodile was speaking when a sudden movement behind him caught his attention. However, confident in his powers, he didn't take any precautions, turning leisurely back toward Vivi.

"Your sword is of no use to me... Gah!"

Before he could finish speaking, a sharp pain shot through his chest. Looking down, he found that Vivi's sword had pierced his torso.

This wasn't what surprised him—he hadn't bothered to evade because he normally could transform into sand. What truly shocked him was the sight of water mixed with his blood flowing from the wound.

"Water? Why is there water on your blade?" Crocodile looked up at Vivi in shock.

After a moment of confusion, he understood why the attack had succeeded. The water flowing on Vivi's sword prevented his body from elementalizing. If his body hadn't instinctively shifted slightly, his heart would have been pierced.

"I missed the heart?" Vivi, momentarily stunned by her successful sneak attack, came to her senses. She twisted the blade, preparing to cut Crocodile's body in two.

Crocodile snarled and grabbed Vivi's sword with his right hand. Activating his Sand-Sand Fruit ability, he quickly absorbed all the water condensed on Vivi's blade.

"So you planned to use water against me from the beginning?" Crocodile said. "I must admit, I underestimated you. But now the water is gone. How do you intend to fight me?"

He raised the poisonous hook on his left arm, swinging it toward Vivi.

"Armament!" Vivi's eyes narrowed as Armament Haki quickly covered Sode no Shirayuki. The bright blade instantly darkened under the influence of Haki.

Seeing this, Crocodile's eyes widened. He abandoned his attack and tried to retreat, but Vivi's two-handed slash still left a long gash across his body. Blood poured from Crocodile's wound.

Even without summoning water flow, Vivi's Water Breathing technique gave her tremendous striking power. Even if Crocodile tried to grab her sword, he couldn't hold it back.

"Damn it!" Vivi frowned as she watched Crocodile. She realized she'd been too nervous, preventing her from executing her attacks smoothly. Even with Crocodile's carelessness, she had missed his vital points.

"'Damn it'? You actually regret not leaving a deeper scar on my body?" Crocodile said as he used his ability to absorb the remaining moisture from his wound. "Miss Wednesday, I truly underestimated you. Have you mastered Armament Haki? Such strength is impossible to obtain without intense training. Are you... really Princess Vivi of this country?"

"What do you think, Crocodile?" Vivi replied. "I gained this power specifically to defeat you. Today, I won't let you leave here alive."

Vivi took a deep breath, slammed her foot on the ground, and rushed toward Crocodile at incredible speed.

"Water Breathing, Fifth Form: Blessed Rain!" Vivi cried out, using the fastest stabbing technique of Water Breathing to target Crocodile's head. Ten streams of water curved around the blade as she thrust forward.

'A Devil Fruit power that creates water?' Crocodile thought with alarm. 'What a nuisance! But the real problem is... that Armament Haki!'

Crocodile's eyes widened as he swung his arm, transforming it into yellow sand aimed at Vivi. "Desert Sword!"

The sand formed by his arm pulled in surrounding sand to create a sharp slash heading directly toward Vivi. After the near-fatal attack he'd just experienced, Crocodile wasn't taking any chances.

BOOM!

Vivi turned her blade, and the tip of Sode no Shirayuki struck the sand slash head-on, causing it to ripple like a stone thrown into water. The soft water technique instantly diminished the power of the Desert Sword.

"This woman cannot be underestimated!" Crocodile thought, his confidence shaken. He suddenly remembered what Ikki had said on the Den Den Mushi. 'That man wasn't joking—his companions aren't ordinary people. And those two who were blown away just now, plus Ikki himself... I need to end this quickly.'

Realizing that Nojiko and Nami might not have been seriously injured by his sandstorm, and that Ikki could be heading their way, Crocodile gritted his teeth and raised his hands. The surrounding sand began rapidly gathering around him as if responding to his command.

In an instant, thousands of meters in all directions were shrouded in dust clouds and yellow sand.

"A simple trick to obscure vision?" Vivi raised her eyebrows, trying to locate Crocodile in the swirling sandstorm.

"Miss Wednesday, you've surprised me," Crocodile's voice echoed. "But you've also completely infuriated me. I originally planned to spare your life so you could witness Alabasta's misery. But now I've decided to execute you right here. Prepare yourself, princess of the desert kingdom."

Crocodile extended his right hand, and the sand before him tore and spun, forming a human-sized tornado. Surrounding sand continued pouring into it, making it grow larger by the second.

"Executing me? That depends on whether you can," Vivi replied. "Don't think what you've seen is the full extent of my power."

Vivi took a deep breath and moved Sode no Shirayuki in a graceful pattern. "Dance, Sode no Shirayuki."

Following her soft command, the sand around Vivi was immediately enveloped in a burst of cold air and fell harmlessly to the ground.

"Not your full power? Do you have more tricks to show?" Crocodile frowned deeper, sensing the sand around Vivi slipping from his control. He grew increasingly uncertain about her abilities.

"It doesn't matter what power you possess," he declared. "You'll die here regardless."

With that, Crocodile thrust his hands forward. The sand tornado rushed toward Vivi, growing to nearly 100 meters high in an instant.

"Second Dance: White Ripple!" Vivi remained calm, pointing Sode no Shirayuki at the approaching sandstorm. A wave of ice erupted from the sword's tip, surging toward the tornado.

BOOM!

The collision produced a thunderous noise. Under the continuous onslaught of ice, the sand tornado stopped expanding.

"How is this possible? This woman can use ice powers too?" Crocodile's focus intensified as he noticed the elegant Sode no Shirayuki in Vivi's hand. "No, it must be the sword that possesses ice powers."

"Interesting. In that case, I'll take that sword without mercy!" Crocodile laughed fiercely, his legs transforming into sand to propel him toward Vivi as she continued defending against the sandstorm.

"Die!" Just a few meters from Vivi, Crocodile prepared another Desert Sword attack.

At that moment, thunder suddenly cracked above them. Crocodile looked up in confusion and was struck directly by a purple lightning bolt. With his attention fully on Vivi, he couldn't evade, and his body instantly shattered into a burst of yellow sand.

"Pierce , Gonryōmaru!" A female voice called through the thunder.