Chapter 430: Volume 3 – Chapter 73: Isn't It Good to Stay Alive, Crocodile?

"Sand... So he's a Devil Fruit user?"

Tokikake frowned.

Daren let out a faint laugh.

"Does it matter?"

The smile on his lips carried a biting chill.

"Whoever he is, this isn't just a challenge to the Marines… it's a challenge to me."

Tokikake blinked in disbelief.

"Wait, you're saying he's targeting you?"

He quickly waved to the nearby Marines, issuing orders while still looking doubtful.

"That seems unlikely…"

The warship promptly adjusted course.

Daren just shrugged, then lifted his hand and curled a finger.

Clang!

Two glints—one black, one white—flashed out from the ship's cabin. Without a sound, they sliced through the air and arrived before Daren, floating in place.

"It's only been a few days since I hit Totto Land. With the whole pirate world lying low, this guy's the only one bold enough to strike at the Marines. Who else could he be after, if not me?"

Daren sneered as he stepped onto Enma's blade.

"Wait! I'm coming too!"

Seeing Daren preparing to head out, Tokikake called out urgently.

Daren looked back, puzzled.

Tokikake grinned with excitement, cracking his knuckles.

"Leave this one to me."

Daren eyed him skeptically.

What's this guy up to now?

Tokikake puffed out his chest and said righteously,

"I'm just keeping my word. Didn't I tell you? I approve of you now, Daren!"

"If anyone dares to mess with you, I won't let them off easy!"

Daren couldn't help but laugh.

"Alright, hop on. Just hold tight."

With Daren's permission, Tokikake eagerly stepped forward, ready to stand on Enma's blade as well.

He'd been fascinated by Daren's flashy travel style for a while now.

Riding a sword through the air—

Power aside, it was just plain cool!

But as soon as he got close, a suffocating, deadly aura exploded from the blade of the cursed sword, stopping him in his tracks and raising every hair on his body.

He instantly stepped back, staring at the long sword wrapped in black and purple flame-like patterns with visible unease.

Was it just his imagination, or did that sword actually feel... deadly?

Thinking back to the day it pierced straight through an entire island, Tokikake swallowed hard.

"Not that one."

"Oh, oh, got it."

He turned toward the other sword—Kariumi.

"Not that one either."

"Damn it! Where am I supposed to stand then!?"

"Don't you have your own military sword?"

"..."

...

New World.

An island.

Yellow sand danced in the wind.

The town looked as if it had been corroded by time. The buildings' surfaces had crumbled into dry quicksand, and all around were broken walls and ruins.

Marines lay scattered across the ground, some looking like shriveled husks—bodies completely drained of moisture, barely clinging to life like mummies.

A young figure radiating a powerful aura sat among the debris of a collapsed house, one foot resting atop a critically wounded Marine.

The youth had slicked-back hair and a shadowed gaze. He wore an orange plaid shirt, black pants, and a black fur coat draped over his shoulders.

Though only seventeen or eighteen by appearance, his sharp arrogance and mafia-like demeanor gave him an air of maturity well beyond his years.

"Damn pirate..."

"Why didn't you just kill us..."

The dying Marines cursed weakly, their eyes filled with bitter resentment as they stared at the man.

He was too strong.

Their attacks had done nothing. In less than three minutes, their entire 200-man patrol unit had been decimated like dry leaves in a storm.

But what enraged them most was that, despite being able to kill them all in an instant, he had deliberately held back—and even allowed them to call for reinforcements from nearby Marine branches.

"Killing small fry like you is a waste of my energy."

The man sneered coldly, his gemstone-ringed hands scattering into yellow sand, spinning into a miniature storm.

The Marines stiffened, faces red with helpless anger.

"How arrogant..."

At that moment, a calm voice echoed faintly from high in the sky.

Almost the instant it was heard, a flash of snow-white light tore through the air, moving faster than the eye could follow and streaking across the island.

Crack!

The man's entire face suddenly burst into particles of sand.

In the next instant...

A tall, imposing figure streaked downward from the clouds on a trail of black light, landing hard on the ground. A long, snow-white cloak billowed violently behind him.

"Vice Admiral Daren!!"

"Vice Admiral Daren came for the rescue!!"

"This is amazing! We're saved!!"

"..."

The battered Marines' faces lit up with surprise and joy. Even as they lay half-dead, they stared up in awe at the Marine Vice Admiral who had descended from the heavens.

The airborne sand twisted, swirled... and reformed into the man's head.

The moment his gaze fell on the Vice Admiral, a flicker of surprise passed through his eyes—but it quickly turned into an uncontainable excitement and thirst for battle.

"At first, I thought they'd send some branch vice admiral... Kuhahaha. Didn't expect it'd be you..."

The young man rose slowly from the rubble, his eyes locked onto Daren, burning with unhidden ambition.

"But this is even better... Rogers Daren. The 'monster' of Marine Headquarters! The 'Legend Slayer'! The 'Uncrowned King of the North Blue'... Kuhahahaha! Before I take down Whitebeard, I'll sharpen my blade on you first!!"

Daren tilted his head, eyeing the vaguely familiar young man.

Then, a wide grin spread across his face.

"Isn't it good to be alive, Crocodile?"

This man was none other than a young Crocodile.

After tearing through the Grand Line, his sights were now set on challenging Edward Newgate—the "strongest man in the world."

"You know me?"

Crocodile's eyes lit up. He let out a loud laugh.

"Kuhahaha! Even better. Saves me the trouble of an introduction."

His right palm suddenly gathered a tightly condensed sandstorm, growing rapidly into a whirling tornado over ten meters tall.

In an instant, a fierce wind swept across the area, yellow sand pelting the ground and nearby walls like a hail of bullets, riddling everything with holes.

"Then let's get started!"

Crocodile took a long drag from his cigar.

But just as he was about to launch his attack—

"Aaaahhhhhh!!"

A pig-like shriek of misery suddenly rang out from above, rapidly getting closer...

...

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