Before this, Crocodile had said many times that Sky Island wasn't anything special compared to the other routes on the Grand Line, just a common natural thing.
But for Dalton, Bell, and the others, their excitement didn't go down at all.
After all, for them, Sky Island was an island that only existed in stories!
Before really getting to Sky Island, they had imagined many different things.
Like being treated nicely by friendly Sky Island people, or being suddenly attacked by Sky Islanders, or even not finding anyone at all, just an empty island...
But no matter how they used their imaginations, they always came back to the normal things that might happen when landing on an unknown island.
So, they had made very full plans and were ready for anything that could happen.
...Well, anything that "could happen."
But now, something "impossible" suddenly happened.
The moment the ship broke through the clouds and got to the White Sea, a giant beam of lightning, over a hundred meters wide, came down from the sky!
Crack!
A bright blue light flashed before their eyes, and a deafening crash rang in their ears.
Everyone was surprised by this, so they closed their eyes without even thinking.
Only two people on the whole ship did anything!
Crocodile frowned, almost yelling.
But there wasn't even time to yell.
If this ship was destroyed by this weird lightning beam, Crocodile, as a Devil Fruit user, would fall into the White Sea, which was just like the regular ocean to him.
And he couldn't swim!
Maybe the fish-men could save him, but Crocodile didn't like trusting his life to others.
So, he had to do something.
Quick as lightning, Crocodile moved to the front of the ship.
Sand started to move wildly around his right arm.
Suddenly, tons of sand poured out, forming a huge sand shield in front of the ship!
Sand—doesn't carry electricity when it's dry, so Crocodile didn't have to worry about getting shocked, he just had to try his best to stop the lightning from hitting them.
Even so, the huge lightning beam still had amazing power!
Bang!
Right away, Crocodile felt like his shield had been hit head-on by a giant hammer, making half his body numb.
But the lightning beam didn't stop, it kept pushing against the sand shield!
"Who!"
Crocodile had lots of fighting experience, so he quickly figured out what was going on.
Normal lightning disappears right away, and even a storm cloud can't keep sending lightning to the same spot.
The only explanation was that the lightning beam wasn't some strange, extreme weather thing, but someone was doing it on purpose!
An attack.
They were attacked by someone unknown the moment they entered the White Sea!
"They really think little of us..."
Crocodile's face turned very dark, and he took a big puff of his cigar, putting all his power into the sand shield on his right arm.
"Ha!"
With a yell, the sand shield swung out to the right, knocking the lightning beam into the White Sea not far away.
Crack...
The lightning beam went into the white sea and then disappeared.
Crocodile turned his shield back into an arm and turned around, ready to yell some more, but then he saw another flash of blue light.
Looking up, he saw tons of lightning gathering high in the sky, forming a giant ball of lightning much bigger than the first beam!
A second later.
The terrifying ball of lightning, hundreds of meters wide, was as strong as it could be, and then it came down again towards the ship!
Crocodile took the cigar out of his mouth, flicked off the ash, and then put it back in.
"What a pain..."
He mumbled, and his legs turned into sandstorms, gathering power.
Crocodile planned to jump into the sky and use the sand shield again to knock the annoying lightning ball somewhere else.
But just as he was about to move, Rowan's voice came from behind him.
"Turn into sand!"
The moment Rowan said that, Crocodile turned into a sandstorm and tried to spread his body out as much as he could.
It was almost without thinking, because he just knew that doing this would be the right thing.
Sure enough, after Crocodile turned into sand, a gold line flashed through the gaps in the sand, heading straight for the ball of lightning.
Swoosh!
As the line passed, Crocodile suddenly felt like the world had been cut in half by it, and he quickly understood.
"Is that the move from Drum Island?"
Crocodile's eyes moved slightly, and he was about to pull himself back together when he realized that Rowan wasn't done yet.
Looking up, Crocodile saw something that made his hair stand on end.
Tons of lightning storms, each over a hundred meters wide, were gathering in the sky, and the power was so great that it turned the quiet White Sea into an ocean of lightning!
Crocodile had seen weather like this in the New World.
But the thing about "nature" is that it treats everyone the same, and this wasn't like that.
Those tons of lightning storms were clearly meant to hurt them, they were trying to destroy their ship and kill them!
"Heh heh heh, what a welcome party."
Crocodile chuckled and said to Rowan behind him, "Hey, they really think little of us!"
At the same time, the ship finally landed completely on the White Sea, shaking a lot, but at least it had something to stand on.
Rowan suddenly clenched his right hand, pulling the sand that made up the feathers around them back into the ship.
He took a deep breath and moved his fingers, feeling a little stiff.
Raising an eyebrow, Rowan suggested to Crocodile:
"Go up there and take care of it?"
"It's about time!"
Crocodile was tired of the endless lightning and nodded.
Bell took a few steps forward and said in a low voice, "I'll take you both up there!"
Crocodile was about to agree when Rowan stopped him.
For animal-type Devil Fruit users, the electricity in the lightning would be deadly.
Crocodile frowned, "How are we going to get up there?"
Rowan moved his fingers, using sand to make a tree trunk that went straight up to the sky.
There weren't many places to stand, but it was enough for Rowan and Crocodile.
More lightning storms were about to fall, but they didn't say anything, they just jumped up and started climbing the "tree."
Once they were in the air, even with the lightning storms, Crocodile's anger finally exploded.
He wanted to know who was attacking him, and he wanted to cut that person into pieces!
"Show yourself!"
Crocodile yelled, and a giant sand blade appeared on his elbow.
Since they both had the Sand-Sand Fruit power, the blade wouldn't hurt Rowan, so Crocodile didn't hold back at all, swinging the blade with all his strength!
Slice! Slice! Slice! Slice...
The sand blade sliced through one lightning storm after another, cutting them in half.
"Heh heh heh, this is easy!"
Crocodile said with a laugh, but then he realized that Rowan wasn't doing anything, so he said, "I can do this myself, what are you even doing up here?"
Rowan shrugged and replied:
"Protecting you guys."
"What?"
Crocodile was surprised.
Suddenly, the lightning storms that he had cut open started to react strongly, the lightning inside moving wildly and giving off a bright light.
Those lightning storms were going to explode!
Bang!
Loud explosions echoed in the sky.
Crocodile—and everyone on the ship below, could only see one person in the blinding light.
That person held a staff, moving between the lightning, protecting them all.
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