Chapter 63: Alabasta – Luffy vs. Crocodile (Gear Second Debut) & Robin Joins the Crew
"Crocodile! Finally caught up to you, you stinking crocodile!" Luffy's figure suddenly burst out from the passage entrance.
Crocodile's pupils contracted slightly. "You bastard… weren't you supposed to turn into a dried corpse and die?"
"Before I send you flying, how could I possibly go down!" Luffy said, immediately launching a rubber whip kick—but with Crocodile on guard, it was easily blocked by the golden hook.
"Heh, floppy rubber. Now that you don't have your water barrel, what are you going to fight me with?" Crocodile looked at Luffy with disdain.
"Floppy? Then I'll evolve all my moves!" Luffy bent his knees slightly. His body compressed like a pump, blood surging wildly through his veins. His skin instantly turned bright red as scalding steam burst from his pores.
"Gear Second!"
"Flashy tricks." Crocodile sneered, but in the next second his eyes widened—Luffy's figure suddenly vanished!
Bang!
A heavy fist smashed brutally into Crocodile's cheek, blood spraying from his mouth. He tried to turn to sand, but Luffy's whip leg followed instantly, kicking him straight through a stone wall.
"Cough cough… the simplest form of Haki coating, but no doubt about it—this brat actually learned Armament Haki?! Then all that earlier water nonsense was just him messing with me!" Crocodile wiped the blood from his face, growing angrier the more he thought about it. His right hand lashed out fiercely: "Heavyweight Sandstorm!"
A violent sandstorm swept forward. Luffy leaped high—"Rubber Fireworks!" His four limbs turned into afterimages, smashing the sandstorm apart with raw force.
Crocodile's eyes sharpened. The outer layer of his left golden hook suddenly fell away, revealing a gleaming poisonous needle. The hook blade tore through the air. Luffy barely leaned back in time—the needle grazed the tip of his nose.
Luffy was about to counterattack when he suddenly saw Crocodile's right hand blocking his path. He immediately jumped back to create distance.
"Haah… haah…" Luffy panted heavily. "I absolutely cannot let that right hand touch me…" His gaze swept the surroundings. He snapped a stone pillar in half, grabbed it, and swung it hard. Crocodile sneered and raised his hand—the pillar instantly turned to sand.
Amid the dust cloud, Luffy's spiraling contracted arm shot out like a cannonball: "Rubber · Jet Spiral Bullet!"
"Urgh!" Crocodile's abdomen caved in. At the same moment, his poisonous hook slashed across Luffy's arm. Under Gear Second, blood surged violently—the poison spread instantly. Luffy's face turned ashen.
"How does the poison taste?" Crocodile wiped blood from his mouth and stood up, grinning savagely. "Your body's already starting to go numb, isn't it?"
Luffy suddenly swept his leg horizontally: "Rubber · Jet Whip!" But Crocodile had already turned to sand and easily dodged.
"How long are you going to keep talking tough?" Crocodile reformed from sand. "The outcome of this battle was decided from the start."
"Beating you… is enough!" Luffy gritted his teeth against the dizziness. He stared fixedly at Crocodile, silently thinking to himself: "I have to… end this quickly!"
"Rubber Jet Pistol!"
Luffy's steam-wreathed fist slammed brutally into Crocodile's face. But the Warlord quickly steadied himself, a trace of ferocity flashing in his eyes.
"Don't get cocky! There are plenty of brats like you who don't know their place all over the Grand Line!" Crocodile roared. His right arm suddenly turned to sand and expanded into a giant sand blade—
"Desert Spada!"
Swoosh!
Blood sprayed! A hideous gash instantly opened across Luffy's chest, blood gushing out.
"Waaah—!" He dropped painfully to his knees, but when the sand blade came down again he gritted his teeth, rolled away, and staggered back to his feet.
"I'm the man who's gonna become Pirate King!" Luffy wiped blood from his mouth, eyes blazing red as he roared: "If I don't beat you, I can't take back Vivi's country! My dream will end right here!"
"Oooohhh!!"
Steam erupted again! Luffy flashed instantly in front of Crocodile and delivered an upward kick that sent him soaring into the air. Then both arms turned into afterimages—
"Rubber Jet Gatling!"
Countless fist shadows poured down like a rainstorm! Crocodile grinned savagely in midair and turned both arms to sand: "Desert Diamond Blade!" Four giant sand blades crossed and slashed downward!
BOOM BOOM BOOM—!
Sand blades and fist shadows clashed violently! In the end, Luffy's fists broke through the defense, smashing Crocodile from underground all the way through the surface and launching him into the sky!
Bang!
The sand crocodile's body crashed heavily to the ground, completely unconscious.
"Haa… haa…" Luffy collapsed as he exited Gear Second, but a brilliant smile spread across his face: "Sol! I did it! I beat Crocodile!"
Sol walked over slowly, carrying the rescued Robin and Cobra at his sides. He laid the three of them side by side. Green healing magic bloomed from his palm, soft light enveloping the wounded.
Cobra woke first. He silently looked at the unconscious Crocodile, then at Luffy still receiving treatment, his gaze complicated.
When Robin regained consciousness, she looked deeply at Sol and said softly: "Thank you." She took a vial of antidote from her coat and carefully fed it into Luffy's mouth.
"How are you feeling? Can you stand?" Sol asked after withdrawing the magic.
Luffy grinned his trademark smile: "Hehe, nope The wounds are healed, but my whole body feels like jelly"
"Can't be helped—you wouldn't let me help anyway." Sol laughed helplessly and hoisted Luffy securely onto his back. "Let's go, King Cobra. You need to calm your citizens."
Cobra dusted himself off, gave a complicated glance at the unconscious Crocodile, then walked ahead to lead the way. Sol carried Luffy on his back while Robin followed quietly behind, keeping a subtle distance.
"Hey, Sol," Luffy said from Sol's back, tilting his head to look at Robin. "Why is she following us? Wasn't she with Crocodile?"
"That's the thing," Sol replied without turning. "I invited her. She's our crewmate now."
"Got it! Then no problem!" Luffy immediately broke into a bright grin and waved at Robin: "I'm Monkey D. Luffy! Nice to meet ya!"
Robin paused for a moment, then returned an elegant smile: "Nice to meet you. I'm Nico Robin." She paused again, a trace of curiosity in her eyes. "You're really okay with letting me join just like that?"
Sol turned his head, gaze steady: "I already said it—we need you, the archaeologist who can read the Poneglyphs."
"Because Sol invited you, I don't dislike you!" Luffy nodded matter-of-factly, then tilted his head in confusion. "By the way, what's an archaeologist? Can you eat it?"
"You don't need to know that much," Sol sighed helplessly. "Just know that with Robin joining us, we can find Laugh Tale."
"What?! Laugh Tale?!" Luffy instantly got excited and started flailing on Sol's back. "Hey, stop moving around!" Sol quickly steadied himself to stop the overly enthusiastic Luffy.
Robin watched the noisy pair in front of her, her thoughts drifting back to moments earlier. When she had been lying on the verge of death, Sol had crouched beside her and said:
"We meet again. Though your condition isn't great this time, Nico Robin."
"Just let me die like this…" She had felt dead inside. "I never thought I'd die without learning the truth of history…"
"Then how about living first?" Sol's voice seemed to pierce the darkness. "Maybe the truth you want is on Laugh Tale."
"You know how to reach Laugh Tale?" She remembered forcing herself to ask. "In eight hundred years, only Roger's crew ever made it there. Isn't that just a legend?"
"I know," Sol said seriously. "You need to collect all four 'Road Poneglyphs.' They point to four islands, and Laugh Tale is where those four islands intersect in an X shape. But our crew has no one who can read those texts."
"So?" He extended his hand to her. "Want to gamble one more time? Join the ship of the future Pirate King."
She remembered nodding—and then losing consciousness. When she woke again, she had already been saved and healed by Sol.
"This time… will this be my place to belong, Saul…?" Robin silently asked in her heart, her gaze calmly resting on the bickering pair ahead.
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