Chapter 23

The ice of Marineford was a chaotic mosaic of blood and debris. While Luffy sprinted ahead, screaming Ace's name, a different storm was brewing near the Moby Dick.

Sir Crocodile, the former Warlord, had been thwarted by Luffy’s water-soaked kick. Now, he stood amidst a squad of terrified Marines, his hook dripping with poison, his face twisted in a scowl.

"Worthless trash," Crocodile grunted. He placed his hand on the ground.

Ground Seco (Ground Drying).

The ice turned gray. The moisture evaporated instantly. The Marines standing on it screamed as their boots crumbled and their skin began to crack like old parchment.

"Desiccate," he muttered.

BANG.

A black bullet tore through the drying air. It didn't hit Crocodile—he dispersed into sand instinctively—but it shattered the ice right in front of his hand, breaking his contact with the ground.

The sand swirled and reformed into the tall, imposing figure of the Desert King. He looked up, his eyes narrowing.

Standing on a chunk of raised ice, pointing a smoking black flintlock at him, was Kurumi.

"My, my," Kurumi smiled, her voice cutting through the wind. "Dehydrating the elderly and the weak? How very Baroque Works of you, Mr. 0."

The Sandstorm

Crocodile stared at her. "I know you. The little girl who plays Marine. Doflamingo's new pet."

"I am no one's pet," Kurumi replied, her Haki coating the barrel of her gun. "And you are trespassing on government property."

"Kuhahaha!" Crocodile laughed, lighting a cigar. "Government property? This entire island is about to be a grave. And you're just another tombstone."

He swung his arm.

Sables (Sandstorm).

A massive tornado of sand erupted from his palm. It grew larger by the second, ripping up chunks of ice and tossing Marines into the air like ragdolls. It roared toward Kurumi.

Kurumi didn't move. She took a breath.

Zafkiel: Aleph.

Time accelerated. The world slowed. The swirling grains of sand seemed to hang in the air.

Soru.

She vanished.

She reappeared inside the eye of the sandstorm, the only calm spot.

"What?!" Crocodile’s eyes widened. "She walked through it?"

Kurumi was already airborne, her leg raised high.

Rankyaku: Hyakkeri (Hundred Kicks).

She unleashed a barrage of air blades, each one coated in invisible Armament Haki. They sliced through the sandstorm, dissipating it, and rained down on Crocodile.

The Clash

Crocodile turned his body into sand to let the air blades pass through, but the Haki-infused edges caught him. He grunted, reforming with a cut on his cheek.

"Haki…" he growled. "You're annoying."

Desert Spada (Treasured Sword of the Desert).

He slammed his hand down. A massive blade of compressed sand surged forward, cutting the ice in half. It was fast—faster than anything he had shown in Alabasta.

Kurumi couldn't dodge left or right; the fissure was too wide.

Geppo.

She kicked the air, shooting straight up. The sand blade passed beneath her, slicing the tip of her coat.

"Got you," Crocodile sneered.

He raised his gold hook. The casing popped off, revealing the poisonous purple tip. He launched it on a hidden wire.

Venom Hook.

It spiraled toward her mid-air. She had no leverage to dodge.

Kurumi’s eyes flashed. She reached into her pocket with her free hand. A small vial of water—Marine standard issue survival gear.

She crushed it in her hand.

Splash.

The water coated her glove. She grabbed the wire of the hook mid-flight.

"What?!" Crocodile yanked, but the wet glove solidified the sand mechanism.

Kurumi pulled down, using gravity and her accelerated weight. She yanked Crocodile off his feet.

"Get over here!"

She descended like a meteor, driving her knees into his chest.

Crash.

Crocodile hit the ice, coughing. For a split second, he couldn't turn to sand because of the water on her uniform.

Kurumi pressed the barrel of her flintlock against his forehead.

"Checkmate," she whispered.

The Interruption

"BRILLIANT DIAMOND!"

Just as Kurumi was about to pull the trigger, the world shook. A massive, glittering figure slammed into them from the side.

BOOM.

Diamond Jozu, the 3rd Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, tackled Crocodile with the force of a freight train.

Kurumi was blown backward by the shockwave. She tumbled across the ice, recovering with a cat-like flip.

"Tch," she hissed, holstering her gun. "Kill-steal."

Crocodile was sent flying, crashing into a wall of ice, coughing blood. Jozu stood there, his diamond skin sparkling.

"Marine!" Jozu roared, turning his massive body toward Kurumi. "You're next!"

"I think not," Kurumi said, stepping back as Doflamingo suddenly landed on Jozu's back.

"Fufufufu! What a chaotic party!" Doflamingo laughed, controlling Jozu with his strings. "Hey, Croc-boy! Why don't we team up?"

"Get lost, Flamingo!" Crocodile yelled, blasting sand everywhere.

The battlefield had become a three-way deadlock between a Warlord, a Yonko Commander, and another Warlord.

Kurumi backed away. This was too heavy. Her stamina was already dipping from the Aleph usage.

"I made my point," she muttered, wiping sweat from her brow. "Crocodile is slowed down. Jozu is distracted. My job here is done."

She turned and ran toward the execution platform. The real target wasn't the sandman. It was the fire.

"Ace is still on the block," she reminded herself. "And Sengoku is about to reveal the plan."