Chapter 71: Battle! The Seven Warlords [Second Update]

The sea breeze swept by, lifting sand and dust that danced lightly in the air, a solemn and murderous intent heavy on the wind.

“So, you insist on protecting her?” Crocodile sneered with disdain.

Shu Mingyuan spread his hands. “You could say that.”

“This country is about to fall. The Dark King will soon be in my grasp. And you, perhaps you’ll perish in this war,” Crocodile’s voice turned suddenly cold, his murderous aura surging.

Shu Mingyuan touched his nose. “I have this bad habit, you see. I always believe in miracles. Even that place known as hell couldn’t kill me—do you really think I’ll die here?”

Crocodile let out a harsh laugh. “On the contrary, it’s precisely miracles I love to shatter. In this desert kingdom, I am a god!”

With a wave of his arms, countless grains of sand rose up at his command. Fixing Shu Mingyuan with a chilling smile, he mocked, “The great disaster at fifteen? Heh, let’s see if your reputation is undeserved!”

Shu Mingyuan met his gaze, unflinching and cold. “Then come and try, Desert God? I don’t see it that way.”

Crocodile’s voice became icy as, with arms lifted, the sky filled with swirling yellow sand. “Ghost Hunter Monkey D. Shu Mingyuan, have you ever heard of quicksand? It’s a desert coffin that needs no gravestone, swallowing everything into itself.”

“Desert Sunflower!”

His arms instantly transformed into sand and slammed down fiercely onto the ground. Within a hundred meters of Shu Mingyuan’s feet, the sand sank and churned like seawater, a fearsome vortex forming at the center, threatening to swallow them both.

The endless sands closed in, their bodies slowly sinking. Vivi had already screamed, clinging desperately to Shu Mingyuan’s hand, pupils quivering. A power to command sand itself—abilities bordering on the divine. And she had actually thought to oppose him? The notion was laughable.

“Don’t be afraid. With me here, nothing will happen to you.”

There was something in the boy’s calm voice that, when Vivi heard it, warmed her heart.

“Moon Step!”

He wrapped an arm around Vivi’s waist, stomped the ground, and shot into the sky, breaking free from the quicksand’s grip in an instant.

Crocodile’s eyes narrowed. He recognized the Moon Step of the Navy Six Styles at once. Just as the reports had said, this boy’s abilities were far from simple.

But it didn’t matter. In this desert, he was the only god. No one could defeat him here.

After settling Vivi in a safe place, Shu Mingyuan pulled the nearly-sunken Karoo the duck out of the sands as well. Placing himself protectively before Vivi, he declared with mock seriousness, “Hey, we’re all adults here. No need to use these childish tricks in a fight. It’s really boring. Why not take things seriously?”

Crocodile’s eyes sharpened as his arm dissolved into sand. Without a sound, a gust swept by, and suddenly a hand gripped Vivi’s neck, lifting her swiftly toward Crocodile.

She screamed. Shu Mingyuan’s figure vanished and, in a flash, a slicing kick severed Crocodile’s sand arm.

Once again, he rescued Princess Vivi. She was still shaken, her life hanging by a thread in another’s grasp, her spirit nearly broken.

Shu Mingyuan steadied her, patting the back of her hand, then turned to Crocodile, his tone turning cold and sharp. “Affairs between men are best settled by men. Don’t you agree, Crocodile?”

Crocodile laughed, a deep, mocking sound. “What an interesting brat. Losing your temper already? In that case, I’ll deal with you first. Neither of you is leaving here alive!”

He puffed on his cigar as his body slowly dissolved into sand, merging with the swirling storm around them and vanishing from sight.

Suddenly, the sand before Shu Mingyuan was whipped into a frenzy—a golden, venomous hook emerged, slashing at his chest.

The boy bent low, narrowly dodging, then lashed out with a kick. The place Crocodile was struck turned instantly to sand, leaving him unharmed.

“Kid, for a Logia-type Devil Fruit user like me, no matter how many times you attack, it’s useless,” Crocodile sneered.

“The unique elementalization of Logia, huh? It’s a bit troublesome… but only a bit.”

The boy’s voice rang out, a vein pulsing in Crocodile’s forehead. From the start, this boy had looked at him with utter indifference, never once taking him seriously.

He was one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, a rare Logia user—when had he ever been so belittled? And by a mere child?

“Kid, your attitude and your face are really starting to piss me off!”

“Desert Spada!”

His arm turned to sand, generating a fierce, razor-sharp edge. With a vicious swing, a blade of sand, tinged with a strange purple aura, sliced a straight path through the desert, cutting the sand itself in two.

Shu Mingyuan dodged aside, eyeing the gash left in the wake. The power of Desert Spada was just shy of Shiryu of the Rain’s slashes, but not by much.

Such force could truly threaten him.

The Seven Warlords, indeed—not to be underestimated. No wonder even in the original story, he was imprisoned on the sixth level.

“Kid, are you scared now? I’ve pushed the Sand-Sand Fruit to its limits, able to shape its power into countless devastating forms. A brat who only relies on martial arts can’t possibly hurt me. We’re not even on the same level. I’ll make you regret opposing me—then you’ll die, mummified and dehydrated!”

Crocodile laughed maniacally, his hands again shifting to sand. With another slash, two blades of sand swept forth, carving the desert into four.

“Do you know the difference between you and Magellan? He’s poison, you’re sand. Besides, when did I ever say I only know martial arts?”

Shu Mingyuan’s voice whispered in his ear like a phantom. In the blink of an eye, his body appeared before Crocodile. With one hand clenched, he struck.

“I’ve told you many times, it’s useless—”

“Armament Haki: Hardening!”

As he punched, his fist was coated with a layer of jet-black Haki, gleaming with a dark luster. The force of his blow ripped the air with a piercing sound.

This time, Crocodile’s elementalization failed; the punch landed squarely, choking off his retort and forcing a mouthful of blood from his lips.

He was sent flying, skidding hundreds of meters across the sand before finally coming to a halt.

“Who told you my fists could never hit their mark?”

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