One Piece: The Cryo Doctor on the Straw Hat Ship

However, at that moment, V in mid-air curled up a smile that seemed to indicate he had expected this.

"Hehehe, they finally fell for it!"

He let out a rebellious laugh; under the rapid thinking brought by S. A.S., everything in the outside world seemed to slow down.

"You thought this was just a prison to keep you in check?"

"...Wrong! Utterly wrong! This is a 'pressure steamer' specially made for you!"

The condensed net of smoke suddenly spread out, instantly transforming into an impenetrable curtain, like an inverted white bowl, firmly encasing every grain of yellow sand that Crocodile, after being elementalized, attempted to escape.

Inside the smoke curtain, fine mist particles vibrated at high speed, emitting a low hum.

At that moment, Crocodile was pressed against the smoke.

"not good!"

Crocodile's eyes flashed, and he suddenly realized something.

But it was all too late!

"burst!!!"

Chapter 80 Containment: Crocodile (Please continue reading~)

Boom!

The deafening explosion resounded like thunder across the desert.

The explosion zone, formed by white smoke, suddenly expanded and cracked open from the inside, with intense flames and shockwaves spreading wildly in all directions, creating sand waves tens of meters high.

The scorching heatwave instantly baked the surface of the nearby sand dunes into glassy crystals.

Just before the shockwave hit, Luffy managed to retract his massive arm and hold it in front of him, his rubber body swaying violently in the gale.

"Wuhu~"

"What a strong wind!"

As his crewmates grew stronger, Luffy felt both happy and intensely anxious.

As the captain, he couldn't let his crew fall behind!

The flames and smoke lasted for several minutes before slowly dissipating.

The ground at the center of the explosion was blasted into a crater more than fifty meters in diameter. The sand and gravel at the bottom of the crater melted and then solidified, forming a charred, glassy texture.

In the center of the giant pit, a charred figure knelt on the ground, breathing heavily.

Crocodile.

This once feared Shichibukai, who had struck terror into the hearts of the first half of the Grand Line, was now in a sorry state.

His bare upper body was almost entirely covered in charred and dark red burns. The wound from his left shoulder to his chest was torn deeper by the secondary explosion, and blood mixed with sand and dust snaked out hideous marks on his taut skin.

"Cough...cough..."

Crocodile coughed up a few mouthfuls of bloody froth mixed with grit, and slowly raised his head.

Those eyes, once filled with ambition and calculation, now surged with unbelievable rage, humiliation, and... a rare hint of solemnity.

For so many years... since his defeat by Whitebeard, his withdrawal from the New World, and his seclusion in Alabasta, he has never suffered such a severe blow.

What he found even harder to accept was that the cause of all this was two greenhorns, young and inexperienced!

"This is... truly pathetic." Crocodile chuckled hoarsely, his voice like sandpaper rubbing against metal. "I never imagined you would push me to this point..."

He slowly straightened up, his body trembling slightly from the pain, yet fine wisps of sand rose around him once more.

But this time, a dark, black luster was faintly visible through the sand.

Armament Haki.

Although Crocodile is not an expert in this field, as a powerful figure who has dominated the New World for many years, he naturally possesses this fundamental yet powerful force.

However, he never felt the need to use it in this paradise.

until today.

"A tiny paradise..." Crocodile's voice deepened, his gaze fixed on Luffy at the edge of the pit and V in mid-air, "How could you two monsters even appear..."

His tone no longer carried contempt, but instead conveyed a near-equal scrutiny.

"Straw Hat Boy, the cyborg..."

"Let me see if you're even qualified to continue this challenge!"

Before the words were finished—

boom!

The sand beneath Crocodile's feet suddenly exploded.

The sandstorm acted as a booster, propelling his charred body like a cannonball towards V in mid-air.

The tattered golden hook was covered with a dark layer of Armament Haki, and emitted a piercing shriek as it cut through the air.

"Desert Diamond Sword!"

The golden hook tore through the smoke barrier and cleaved straight at V's neck.

However, V's prosthetic eye had already detected Crocodile's trajectory.

Under Sianwistan's lightning-fast thought process, his body floated backward, while his hands clenched into fists, and the surrounding pale smoke instantly condensed into dozens of spiraling spears—

"White Willow Dance!"

Whoosh whoosh whoosh—!

Smoke spears rained down like a storm, each spear tip gleaming with a faint red light—the result of highly compressed explosive particles!

Crocodile's pupils contracted, and his golden hook swept across the air, his Armament Haki shattering the incoming spears one after another.

Boom boom boom boom!

The shattered smoke spears exploded one after another, bursting into bursts of blazing fireballs in the air. Crocodile weaved through the gaps in the explosions, his figure slightly unsteady, yet he still relentlessly pressed forward.

"It's not over yet!"

V grinned, and his left arm suddenly deformed—metal components reorganized and extended, and a faint blue energy flow appeared under his skin.

This is the new form he obtained after absorbing a large number of prosthetic bodies.

No arm deformation is required; projectiles can be fired directly from the palm.

This greatly saves time on form changes, making V's combat in each form more flexible and varied.

Om-!

A high-energy particle laser beam, as thick as a bowl, burst forth from his palm, instantly piercing through the smoke of the explosion and striking Crocodile's chest.

Crocodile had nowhere to dodge, and with a roar, he held his golden hook horizontally in front of his chest.

clang--!!!

The white laser collided with the golden hook covered in Armament Haki, unleashing a blinding light and a scorching shockwave.

Crocodile was violently pushed back onto the sand by the impact, his feet carving two deep furrows in the sand.

But the next second, he suddenly looked up, his eyes bloodshot:

"Don't get too cocky, kid!"

He plunged his hands into the sand, his body enveloped in a torrent of sand:

"Erosion of Reincarnation: Dune Hell!"

Rumble—!

Centered on Crocodile, the sand within a radius of a hundred meters churned and undulated like a living thing, and countless grains of sand condensed into two enormous sand hands, which clasped together and slapped down on V's figure.

At the same time, the sand began to dry up and crack rapidly, the moisture was being frantically drawn away, and even the air became hot and suffocating.

"Luffy!" V shouted as he retreated rapidly through the air.

"Leave it to me!"

Having overcome the side effects of Gear Third, Luffy had already leaped into the air.

He took a deep breath, his chest bulging like a balloon.

Under the pressure of his muscles, all the gas rushed into his arms.

"Rubber Rubber - Giant Siege Cannon!!!"

Luffy roared, his arms expanding into massive fists the size of mountains, covered in a torrent of dark Armament Haki.

Instead of smashing directly into the giant sand hand, their fists collided violently—

boom!!!

A terrifying shockwave exploded in a ring shape, instantly shattering the surrounding giant sand hands into a sky full of flying sand.

The shockwave even tore apart Crocodile's "erosion cycle," causing the cracked ground to come to a sudden halt.

"Varied……?!"

Before Crocodile could even regroup, a crimson figure pierced through the sand curtain—

It was Luffy who forcibly exited Gear Third and entered Gear Second.

Given his current physical condition, rashly using such a fighting style would undoubtedly cause excessive wear and tear on his body.

but……

It doesn't matter.

V will make a move!

As a cyborg doctor, he may be slightly lacking in making people instantly stronger, but when it comes to repairing bodies, there are probably few in the entire pirate world who are stronger than him!

At worst... we can just get a new one, right?

It's not like we can't afford to replace it!

"Rubber rubber... Jet Tomahawk!"