Starting as a pirate, he rose to become the strongest Shinigami in Soul Society.

Chapter 48 Crocodile is dead, Sand-Sand Fruit is in hand!

Feeling the small tremors at the Rain Banquet, Bane raised his fist somewhat dissatisfiedly and said, "I'm still not skilled enough. I don't have that feeling of ease and mastery. According to Donley, this kind of power concentrated at a single point shouldn't have any impact on the surrounding area except for the target."

Just like a hegemonic state, a single strike can obliterate the target, but have little impact on the rest. It leaves a hole wherever it hits, unless something is caught in the crossfire, such as an object in its trajectory.

If that punch had been perfectly successful, Yu Yan wouldn't have even felt anything.

Crocodile's head was suspended in a deep crater. That's right, the attack had pierced the ground and created a crater tens of meters deep. His face was covered in blood and his features were unrecognizable.

After a few breaths, Crocodile twitched, as if trying to raise his hand, but Bane held it down.

Sensing the commotion, Bane exclaimed in surprise, "Seriously? You're that tough?"

In his memory, this guy was really weak at this point in time, and was easily defeated by Luffy's flurry of punches.

That punch I just threw was really powerful! How could it still struggle?

Of course, Bane had no intention of giving Crocodile a chance. A fierce glint appeared in his eyes as he clenched his fist, ready to deliver another blow.

Just then, Crocodile's consciousness seemed to return, and he struggled to speak, "Wait...wait...we have no grudge against each other, why?"

Upon hearing this, Bane's lips curled into a cruel smile. "After all these years as a pirate, it's truly regrettable that you can still ask such a question. Crocodile, when you plunder others, do you ever consider whether you have any grudges against them?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Bane's fist was about to strike. At that moment, Crocodile seemed to sense the deadly crisis.

He was unwilling to accept it. He had been plotting in Alabasta for so many years, and he was about to succeed!

He was furious. He was clearly very strong, but in this fight, from beginning to end, he couldn't even hurt that bastard Bane. He didn't even have a chance to make a move!

This is precisely the importance of intelligence. Bane knows him too well, while Crocodile knows almost nothing about him, so much so that Bane grabbed his hand right away, which is a disgrace for a Devil Fruit user.

He, the mighty king of the desert, was beaten like a dog in this boundless desert land!

"Don't kill me. I... I even treated you to a meal," Crocodile finally uttered.

However, this time Bane's iron fist did not stop, but instead struck Crocodile's head with a fierce blow, instantly shattering Crocodile's already fragile consciousness.

Withdrawing his blood-stained fist, Bane looked at Nicole Robin behind him with a puzzled expression and asked, "When did he ever treat me to a meal?!"

"A buffet?" Nicole Robin responded instinctively.

Bane?

This is what you call inviting someone to dinner?

However, he didn't dwell on the matter. Seeing that Crocodile was about to die, Bane quickly called out, "Nami, here are the things I asked you to prepare."

"Here you are!" Nami rushed in from the hallway outside, carrying a large pile of fresh fruit.

Nicole Robin clearly had no idea what Bane was up to, and looked at the fruit with a puzzled expression.

What for? To repay Crocodile for the meal he provided, so he can have a good meal before he dies?

Before she could even finish this thought, she saw a dense burst of dark element erupt from Bane's hand, instantly enveloping Crocodile completely.

Then, Bane's expression turned serious, and Robin realized that even during his battle with Crocodile, this man had never shown such a serious expression.

Perhaps in his view, this moment is more important than killing Crocodile?

What exactly is he trying to do?

However, Bane was in no mood to explain anything at the moment. Under the questioning gazes of Robin and Nami, his dark power carefully explored Crocodile's body.

At the same time, this dark power was also drilling into Crocodile's body through his eyes, nostrils, ears, and other areas, which directly caused Crocodile, who was already running low on energy, to die on the spot.

At the very moment of his death, Bane's Dark-Dark Fruit seemed to have discovered something delicious, sensing a special power within Crocodile's body that wanted to break free and escape.

But at this moment, Crocodile was completely enveloped in darkness, leaving that power nowhere to escape. Immediately afterwards, the power of darkness quickly captured this power.

Like the ability users, this power lost its ability to resist the moment it came into contact with the dark power, and could only let Bane slowly exert his strength, using darkness to pull it out of Crocodile's body.

At the same time, the darkness that enveloped Crocodile's body receded, leaving only a black elemental sphere in Bane's hand.

"Is this the power of the Sand-Sand Fruit?" Bane observed with a look of novelty in his eyes.

"The Sand-Sand Fruit?" Nico Robin asked, somewhat surprised. "What do you mean? You..."

At that moment, she thought of Bane's restraint on ability users, and of the dark power that she could not resist, as if facing a natural enemy!

Then, under her shocked gaze, Bane showed no intention of selecting any fruit and directly injected the darkness into the prepared fruit.

Not a single mistake, not a single poem, not a single post, not a single piece of content, not a single look!

As Bane made this move, the originally ordinary fruit quickly underwent a mutation, growing strange patterns.

Nico Robin, being a Devil Fruit user herself, certainly knew that this was a characteristic of Devil Fruits!

After a few breaths, this ordinary apple turned into a cactus covered in thorns!

After feeling that there were no more remnants of dark power left in his hand, Bane withdrew his ability, picked up the cactus, and said with admiration, "The most vicious ability in history. It truly lives up to its name, seizing the enemy's power and turning it into one's own. Tsk tsk."

"You created a Devil Fruit!?" Robin asked incredulously.

"That's right." Bane nodded, looking at Robin and saying, "To be precise, I stole Crocodile's power."

Speaking of Crocodile, Bane glanced at Crocodile's corpse, clicked his tongue, and said with a hint of boredom, "I thought this guy would be quite troublesome. I thought we'd have an epic battle in this desert. But it turns out, has he been too complacent all these years, forgetting even the most basic vigilance? Knowing I had ill intentions, how dare he be so careless?"

To be honest, Robin was also very puzzled. In her memory, Crocodile was a very cautious and careful person. How come he was so careless and friendly after meeting Bane?

In particular, she had actually warned Crocodile, telling him that Bane harbored ill intentions towards him and was most likely there to hunt him down.

Why did he act like he didn't understand?

If even his Devil Fruit ability hadn't been revealed, Robin would have suspected that Crocodile was actually Mr. 2 Bon Clay.

"I don't know either. He was acting a bit strange today. He was too kind to you," Robin replied, puzzled.

"Well, that's the cruelty of the sea. A slight misstep, and even a great pirate like Crocodile, who has roamed the New World for many years, can meet his end on the spot. So we should thank him, thank him for giving us another lesson with his life. He sacrificed himself to illuminate others. He was a great man!" Bane said with emotion.

Sometimes, that's just how it is. Being too clever for one's own good can backfire and cost one's life. If Crocodile hadn't thought so much, perhaps he could have struggled a little longer.

(End of this chapter)