In the melee between Luffy, Smoker, and Crocodile, the one who had been at a disadvantage had definitely been Luffy, who had been the only one who hadn’t been a Logia.

His Gomu Gomu no Gatling hadn’t been able to cause any damage no matter who it had been blasted on, making Luffy feel both troubled and angry.

Speaking from their positions, Smoker should have joined hands with Crocodile to take down Luffy, but Smoker had instead attacked Crocodile more, following his own thoughts in the end.

Although he hadn’t had any intention of joining hands with Luffy, it had indeed made the battle reach a strange balance.

Crocodile had been about to be angered to death, and what he had originally thought had been to have the people of Baroque Works entangle Drake and cause chaos, and he would have taken the opportunity to take Robin away, directly forcing her to reveal the location of the Poneglyph that had recorded the location of Pluton.

He had even planned to simply give up the ideal country plan for this.

But he hadn’t expected that a group of clueless marines would interfere halfway, making the first step of his plan have a problem.

Not only had the people of Baroque Works been stopped, but the Smoker who had been at the lead had actually openly violated the agreement between the marines and the Shichibukai, taking action against him.

The opponent had also been a Logia, and the battle had therefore become quite troublesome. Compared to this, the Luffy who had appeared later on hadn’t counted for much apart from being a bit noisy.

Drake descending from the sky had had a very large impact on Crocodile back then. Robin having been held back hadn’t only prevented Crocodile’s plan from advancing, but it had also made his intelligence system disconnect.

So he had been completely unaware of the fact that the marines had rushed to Rainbase, and this had created his current predicament.

How could Crocodile not have been clear that his intentions had already completely fallen through. The best way to handle things right now had been to turn around and leave.

But he hadn’t lost all of his pride yet! Last time could be said to have been a decisive action, but he was going to run away this time without even seeing Drake’s face... would he even want to mix around on the sea in the future!

Quicksand had condensed into a blade, forcing back the tenacious Luffy, and he had also blasted a punch into Smoker at the same time.

Perhaps it had been because of this desperate situation that Crocodile had regained some of his former aura, and this punch had actually carried the power of Armament Haki.

Smoker had been caught off guard, taking a heavy punch on his face, and his entire person had flown out.

But before Crocodile could even savor the feeling of that power returning, a feeling of danger had enveloped his heart.

His body had just moved when a huge impact had blown him away.

That had been caused by Drake slamming into the ground after descending from the sky, and if Crocodile had been slightly slower just now, he would have been directly smashed. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Crocodile had rolled several times on the ground in a sorry state before stopping, looking up at Drake, saying, "It’s you again, you bastard! What exactly are you? Why are you obstructing me?"

Smoker, who had just stood up, had also wanted to know the answer to this question, so he had also looked at Drake.

Drake had replied, "Oh, my name’s Drake, as for the reason why I’m finding trouble with you...

Last time had indeed been a personal grudge, but this time is for work. Our Fairy Tail guild has accepted a request, and the content is to beat you down, so I won’t let you run away this time."

Crocodile had furrowed his brow, saying, "A bounty hunter? Then that makes things easy, I’ll double whatever price the person who requested you paid...!"

Drake had directly opened his mouth, interrupting Crocodile, saying, "Don’t misunderstand! Since I’ve already accepted the request with the name of Fairy Tail, how could I give up because of the reward."

With negotiations having failed, Crocodile had finally understood that there had only been one path left for him to take right now, and that had been to defeat Drake!

So he hadn’t wasted any more words, launching an attack directly.

Actually, Crocodile hadn’t been hoping to resolve the problem through negotiations from the start, so he had already been preparing to battle at the same time that Drake had appeared.

The sand below Drake’s feet had long been controlled by him, and it had all surged up at this time, enveloping Drake within it.

Crocodile’s outstretched hand had made a gesture of gripping something in the air, and that yellow sand had tightened even more.

Just as Crocodile had been planning to suck the water out of Drake’s body through the sand, that clump of yellow sand had exploded with a boom, and Drake, who had been wrapped in flames all over, had shot into the sky directly.

Just at this time, Luffy had charged up, shouting, "Hey, Drake, don’t interfere, I haven’t lost to him yet!"

"Now isn’t the time to talk about who came first!"

Drake’s reply had made Luffy even more anxious, turning his head, charging towards Crocodile, wanting to snatch the first move.

Having been looked down on like this, Crocodile couldn’t endure it either, and he had spread out his palm, and a sand tornado that had been formed from sand particles had been thrown out by him.

"Sables!"

The small sand tornado had expanded rapidly the moment it had left Crocodile’s palm, stirring up a sandstorm that had blotted out the sky and covered the sun.

In this battlefield, which had been extremely suitable for his ability to be displayed, Crocodile could easily control the weather.

Luffy had been swirled up directly, and he had been thrown away far away.

But to Drake, even a sandstorm of this level could only block his vision, and couldn’t cause any damage.

Crocodile had cursed a damn monster in his heart, and had then transformed into sand, entering the sandstorm.

Drake had also discovered a special point about Logia abilities, and that had been that they could integrate into the environment more thoroughly after becoming elemental.

When Crocodile had disappeared, Drake had discovered that his aura had been scattered everywhere, and he hadn’t been able to lock onto his location for a moment.

But Crocodile clearly didn’t have any ability to attack in this state either. Drake hadn’t been flustered at all, and what he had had to do had just been to seize the opportunity for Crocodile’s main body to converge again.

Drake had turned his head, and the firelight in his pupils had drawn out two red lines, and he had grabbed the gold hook that had been stabbing towards him with one hand.

Drake had blasted a kick out, but his hand had loosened, and the gold hook shell that Crocodile had been wearing on his wrist had actually fallen off, and he himself had also retreated out.

And at the same time, Crocodile had swung his other hand, and quicksand had transformed into a scimitar, slashing towards Drake.

"Desert la Spada!"

Drake had withdrawn his foot that he had kicked out, and he had slashed the quicksand scimitar to pieces with a hand blade as a matter of course.

And at this time, Crocodile had already turned back, swinging his hook, hooking towards Drake.

After the gold shell on the surface of that hook had fallen off, what had been revealed had been a metal structure that had been covered in dense holes.

What had been most terrifying was that a purplish-black liquid had been flowing out from the holes on the hook, and it had looked like it had been a deadly poison that would seal the throat with blood.

This was the method that Crocodile had thought was most likely to change the course of the battle, and even if his skin had been scratched by the hook just a little bit, Drake would have lost most of his combat power even if he hadn’t been poisoned to death... Crocodile had believed this.

But in the next moment, Drake’s fist had smashed his confidence together with the poison hook to pieces.

Metal fragments had flown out together with the venom, and Crocodile had had to face Drake’s counterattack directly.

Drake hadn’t been polite, blasting Crocodile away with one punch after going up, and had then taken a step out, catching up to Crocodile, blasting his chest with another punch, making him fly even faster.

He had taken another step out, adding another punch, repeating it seven times in a row, blasting out seven punches in a row, and Crocodile’s blood had been flying in mid-air, and he didn’t know how far he had flown.

The dignified Shichibukai had only had the share of being abused before Drake.

But Drake had been standing in place, moving his fingers.

The feeling of that last punch had been somewhat strange, and Drake could feel that there had been a strange feeling of repulsion in the location that he had hit. So Crocodile hadn’t taken that heaviest punch solidly.

And Drake had also seen that kind of feeling before, and it had been when he had been battling Kaido.

That had been the power of Armament Haki, and under the circumstances of having been suppressed to the limit by Drake, the instinct to survive had made Crocodile finally recall the power that he had once possessed.

Crocodile, who had had blood hanging from the corners of his mouth and his forehead, had appeared again, and his eyes had been filled with ferocity as he had looked at Drake.

"You’ve forced me to this extent, so you should regret this properly!"

Drake still had a carefree expression on his face, and a hyena wouldn’t be able to defeat a lion even after waking up, let alone a dragon!

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