The journey through the Alabasta desert was tense. While the crew was preoccupied with the burgeoning war and the need to reach Alubarna, the capital, Kenji maintained a calm, unnerving silence. He had already dealt with a few Baroque Works agents who stumbled upon them, dispatching them with casual, surgical strikes of his newly acquired Hyper-Velocity Ballistics Mastery, firing compressed air pellets that left clean holes through steel plating miles away.
The crew was already learning to rely on him. Nami felt safer with his uncanny ability to predict sandstorms (using Omniscience Haki), and Zoro enjoyed the occasional, quiet sparring match where Kenji intentionally used an enhanced version of the swordsman's own techniques, pushing Zoro's limits without the need for a scratch.
But Kenji's focus was singular: Sir Crocodile, the Warlord of the Sea and mastermind of the crisis.
The final confrontation took place beneath the royal palace in Alubarna, in the subterranean tomb where the Poneglyph was hidden. Luffy had been temporarily defeated and encased in stone. Nico Robin, now armed with the unbreakable power of Apex: Arboreus-Arboreus, was facing Crocodile, her expression grim but resolute.
Kenji arrived, dropping silently from a vent, his shadow elongating in the torchlight.
"Well, well," Crocodile drawled, smoke curling from his cigar. His gaze, cold and predatory, swept over Kenji. "A new face. You certainly have a knack for following the wrong people."
Robin turned, relief flickering in her eyes. "Kenji..."
"I've got it, Robin-san," Kenji assured her, stepping forward. He glanced briefly at Luffy, still struggling, entombed in stone. "The first order of business: unfreeze the captain."
He closed his eyes, focusing on the concept of sand and dessication—Crocodile's powers.
• Target: Suna Suna no Mi (Sand-Sand Fruit) properties (Absorption and manipulation of water/sand).
• Copying...
• Apex Enhancement Active...
• Resulting Ability: [Apex: Absolute State Manipulation (Dessication/Hydration)] Acquired. (Full mastery over the state of matter, specifically the presence or absence of moisture in any target).
Kenji opened his eyes. He didn't use the power against Crocodile. Instead, he channeled the Apex: Absolute State Manipulation ability, but reversed it, toward Luffy's stone prison.
[Apex: Ultimate Hydration]
A thin, barely visible mist emanated from Kenji's fingertips and instantly coated the stone. The stone, which Crocodile had solidified using his powers of dessication, instantly saturated with water to an impossible degree. It didn't crack or crumble; it simply dissolved into a puddle of harmless, mud-like clay, freeing a coughing, enraged Luffy.
Luffy sat up, wiping clay from his face, and immediately looked at Kenji with sheer admiration. "WHOA! Did you just make the rock... melt?!"
"A little application of hydro-dynamics," Kenji said dismissively, turning his attention entirely to the Warlord.
Crocodile's smirk vanished, replaced by an expression of dangerous curiosity. "That's an impressive trick, boy. You nullified my ability with a casual snap of your fingers. You're not just a Haki user, are you?"