"What's wrong? You seem surprised?"
Ross calmly looked at Crocodile. "It's a common phenomenon to make progress in Battle. You don't think I'm spending stamina meaninglessly."
In this world, Fights are always the best catalyst for improving strength. Before Ross could not combine Busoshoku Haki with the power of distortion perfectly, but in his confrontation with Crocodile, he gradually touched the key point of coexistence between the two, Haki with one hand, Distortion with another.
Ross was going to look for opportunities to activate Gravity Distortion and use his new abilities to crush Crocodile, but it's not fair for him to use it in this fight and it's not in line with his direct and straight forward style of doing things and his principle of working hard on his own.
So he only made preparations for the temporary addition method but did not implement it.
"…"
Crocodile's face became ugly.
Ross's Haki and fruit ability can't be perfectly combined. This is a big flaw and weakness. It is also because of this that he was able to stand against Ross until now.
But now Ross is gradually overcoming this defect, and the final result of this Battle is clearly flying in a direction beyond his control.
"Desert la Spada (Adamant Treasured Sword of the Desert)"
Crocodile's face was twisted in anger and he used his Sand Sand Fruit to its limit, countless dust and sand rolled up, gathered in the air into various huge blades which surrounded Ross in the center.
Under his control, these huge sand blades suddenly attacked Ross from all sides. Crocodile planned to make a quick and large move to finish this fight as soon as possible.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Ross did not have any fear and he did not avoid any coming blade. He just waved his fist in front of him and punched them one after another and with every punch a sand sword fell and this attack did not affect him.
Crocodile guides the sand in Underground with both hands and tries to form a spear to penetrate Ross but before the spear could come out of the sand, Ross raises his foot and the power of distortion pours into the sand, instantly destroying the unshaped spears.
In front of Sand Fruit, Ross can hardly compete for control of sand, but in the same way, Crocodile can hardly manipulate sand on the ground at will.
"Don't you understand yet?"
Crocodile's offensive was disrupted and Ross stepped out of the sand and rushed towards Crocodile.
"From the beginning, I was fighting against you to exercise my abilities."
Bang!
As his voice fell, Ross's fist suddenly punched Crocodile's sand shield and broke his arms and shattered his head.
Crocodile, who was shattered into yellow sand by Ross's punch escaped from the Underground and reformed his body dozens of meters away. This time, when he recovered, there was a blood spilling from his mouth and nose. Obviously, Ross's Last fist had done caused some considerable damage.
"… This arrogant guy."
Crocodile gritted his teeth and his eyes were filled with killing intent but by this time, he knew that the Battle's balance of victory and defeat had begun to tilt.
If he continues his fight against Ross then the chances of winning are very low. Crocodile's mind flickered and eventually, he chose to withdraw.
But.
By this time, he can't walk if he wants to.
"I seem to have said from the very beginning that since you have started, you have to gamble your life as I do with mine." Ross looked at Crocodile indifferently and he ran after him.
"Sables (Sandstrom)!"
Crocodile whispered and a dust storm appeared in his palm and he threw it at Ross. At the same time, he turned into yellow sand and flew away with the wind.
Ross stepped on the foot and shot out like an arrow. His right hand was instantly covered with Busoshoku Haki hardening and it was inserted into the yellow sand.
Crash!
Logia's elementalization was directly captured and held in front of Ross's Haki. As Ross pulled, the yellow sand was partially pulled back revealing Crocodile's figure.
Ross ignored Crocodile's dramatic expression and punched him.
Bang!
This time, Crocodile's body didn't even break up into yellow sand. Instead, it broke up a small part of his body. Crocodile flew backward and bled out of his mouth.
"Violent…Sables (Sandstrom)!"
Crocodile felt the pain in his chest and gritted his teeth. He had been to New World, experienced numerous dangerous situations and even challenged Whitebeard, but he survived. It was impossible for a pirate newcomer to want his life!
With a roar and a violent wave of his hands, the 100-meter-square yellow sand flew into the sky in an instant, bursting into an earth-shaking power and attacking Ross in a mad way.
Far away.
Many Alcaria civilians and guards saw this scene and were shocked, In the desert, such a scene is nothing, but here is the Kingdom of Alcaria, this scene was something out of a fantasy!
In this place, such terrifying sandstorms erupted, so even for them who had lived on the Grand Line their entire life, they were shocked.
But.
Before they could recover from their shock, A loud sound erupted from the sandstorm. The raging sandstorm seemed to become static, it was instantly fixed on the spot and scattered downward.
In the middle of the sky about tens of meters away, two figures appeared and Ross indifferent punched Crocodile's chest and Crocodile's blood dyed the scattered yellow sand.
"This is…"
Seeing this scene, many people who know Crocodile are surprised.
Compared with Crocodile, Ross's popularity is not very low and he is recognized by many people who are watching from afar in silence.
"So, A Shichibukai's head, I will accept it."
Ross took a false step in the air and instead of falling to the ground with Crocodile, he brewed all the power of distortions into his legs and slammed a back kick that hit Crocodile in the back.
Kāchā!
The sound of broken bones spread clearly and shock filled Crocodile's eyes, but his body completely lost control and he fell downward, eventually falling in the middle of a piece of yellow sand, splashing dust and sand.
His eyes fell into darkness and his consciousness gradually shattered.
Even at the last moment, he was not accepting this situation. As the most powerful Logia Devil Fruit user, he should not die here in the hands of a pirate newcomer like Ross.
"…"
Ross watched Crocodile fall into the sand. There was no movement. After several seconds in the air, Ross also fell to the ground below.
After a moment of silence, the people who were watching from afar were finally in an uproar.
Everyone in the world had thought that The Ghost Hand Pirates who had provoked Marine and the government completely, would stop for a while, but they didn't even stop for half a month, killing not only Iron Wall Pirates, but also Crocodile, one of Shichibukai's.
Without a doubt.
This will be big news that will shock the world again!
Everyone present thought that no one could stop the rise of the Ghost Hand Pirates.
...
On the other side.
Ross didn't care about the reaction of Alcaria's civilians, he landed in the sand below, next to Crocodile's body, which had gradually lost its vitality and it suddenly disappeared.
After two seconds, Ross's face, which had remained calm, showed a smile.
"Shichibukai, 'Sand Crocodile', has been killed, earning a reward of 100 Talent Proficiency Points and 1 Free Talent Point."