In midair, Dan halted as he sighted an old-aged man, who seemed to be wearing typical clothes of Alabasta common folks, lying down on the sand.
"Uh..." Dan scratched his head as he descended from the sky, "Hello, are you awake?"
Leaning in, Dan could feel that the man's heart was beating, although weakly. The man seemed dehydrated and bruised.
"What a miracle." Dan muttered as he stared at the man, "No special trait whatsoever. He's just an average man. Yet, he somehow survived... hold on."
Dan stopped for a moment, remembering when Rowan used his 'Juggernaut Blast.'
"Ah I see," Dan smirked as he gazed at Rowan, who was confronting Crocodile, "so that's why you didn't retreat during then."
Dan leaned down and patted the man's head, "Stay here for a second, will you? After the fights are over, I will make sure to get you treated."
Propelling himself back up to the sky, Dan continued his way to Carmen and Cavendish.
_______________
[In the middle of the desert between Katorea and Tamarisk, Alabasta]
With determined gazes, the rebel forces were seen to be marching with their leader, Koza, in the front. With a stoic expression, Koza continued to lead the rebellion to Tamarisk.
'Sir Crocodile told us that Grimheart's attack towards the spy was an attempt to fool us. Both pirates were hired by the king, and they attempted to have the former avoid our suspicion. This... has to be true, right?' Koza thought with uncertainty, but didn't let it out.
"Koza." One member of the rebellion, Erik, ran up from the back and called Koza in a stern manner, "You have to come and see this."
Hearing Erik, Koza raised his hand and signaled for the people to stop, and followed Erik to the backline.
Several rebels were seen to be pointing their weapons at a large man with blond hair rolled into buns: Mr. 8.
Mr. 8 was seen with deep bruises and dried blood all over his body, indicating how many injuries he's taken. He was lying down face first with his hands tied back by a rope.
"...Igaram?" Koza whispered in confusion, "The captain of the royal guard, what are you doing here?"
Mr. 8, now revealed as Igaram, attempted to talk, but only the painful dry coughs came out of his mouth.
"Bring some water." Koza said seriously, and one member quickly placed a cup of water in front of Igaram.
Igaram greedily gulped down the cup of water, before opening his mouth once more, "*Cough* *Cough* Ma ma ma~, everyone, you have to stop this right now—it will only bring our kingdom to ruins!"
The rebel forces instantly brought their weapons closer to Igaram in anger, but Koza raised his hand to prevent them from acting rashly.
"Go ahead." Koza's eyes locked onto Igaram, as he signaled the latter to continue.
"After the large volume of Dance Powder was discovered, Princess Vivi and I infiltrated into an organization led by Crocodile called Baroque Works. All the conflicts between the royal force and the rebellion, were the schemes of Crocodile!" Igaram cried out with sincerity in his tone.
He rolled up his sleeve and showed them the jolly roger of Baroque Works on his left arm, causing the rebels around him to gasp in shock, for they realized that they had already seen it before.
Koza collapsed on his spot after witnessing Igaram's mark, unable to contain the shock within himself.
After having caught many spies within the rank, most of them abruptly died on the spot with a poison needle on their back. They only managed to interrogate one spy who was responsible for assassinating the other spies, and that spy spilled that the organization he belonged to, had no affiliation whatsoever with the royal force. However, Koza decided that Crocodile's words plus the years of their sufferings were more credible than the words of the spy, and hence, began their march to Alubarna.
Now, with Rowan's abrupt assault, the spy's fearful words, and Igaram's sincerity all overlapping within his mind, Koza had to admit that they were tricked by Crocodile.
"If our enemy is Sir Croco- no, Crocodile, what are we supposed to do now?" Koza said helplessly. Crocodile's ability made him nigh-invincible within the desert; Koza knew that even if the number of forces amounted up to two million, they won't be able to defeat him.
"As of the current moment, all members of Baroque Works were called to assemble. It was initially Rainbase, but the location changed to Yuba. Unfortunately, Princess Vivi and I were discovered beforehand... but I managed to sneak my way into the ship and reach here." Igaram spoke out with difficulty as he mentioned the name 'Vivi,' also known as Miss Wednesday.
"Vivi?!!" Koza exclaimed in surprise.
"Do not worry." Igaram said as he took out a small Den Den Mushi within his vest, "I managed to contact Princess Vivi, *Cough* *Cough* ma ma ma~ few days ago and found that she was safe, sailing with the friendly pirate crew."
"Friendly pirate crew... whatever." Koza was not able to believe Igaram's words, but they did not have enough time to dispute whether a pirate can be 'friendly' or not. "Yuba... the Grimheart pirates went towards Nanohana. If this Baroque Works that you mentioned and the Grimheart pirates clash in Yuba..."
Koza's eyes widened in realization, "No no no... father!!! No, don't tell me..."
"Grimheart... pirates?" On the other hand, Igaram froze, "As in Grimheart who disappeared three years ago?"
Just thinking about the clash between Rowan and Crocodile made Igaram shiver. Along with the other members of the Grimheart pirates and all the members of the Baroque Works, Igaram felt that the situation has already gotten out of their control.
Koza stood up shakily, with his fists clenched tight, "Farafra, select few capable combatants among our ranks. We are going to Yuba right away." Lifting his sword up, Koza cut the ropes that tied Igaram's hands.
"*Cough* *Cough* Ma ma ma~ I'm going with you." Igaram said with determined gazes, "If a battle of such a scale broke out, our king would already be aware. Going to Alubarna comes after the fight in Yuba."
Few members of the rebellion, along with Farafra, brought a small boat-like vehicle along with them, ready to leave immediately.
"Erik, you are in charge from now on. Head to Alubarna and clear up the misunderstandings with the royal army." Leaving his final words, Koza, Igaram, and the others left swiftly.
________________
Ayan Taekwondo. It was said that the martial art originally belonged to the kingdom in alliance with Daifuku kingdom. Excluding the improvements in Haki, devil fruit ability and physical capabilities, this martial art was something Rowan was able to learn from the subordinates of Aoki Ichiro.
Of course, learning such an advanced martial art in a short span of time would be impossible in normal cases. However, with Rowan's abnormal eyes, he was able to copy the movements and incorporate with two of the following: his devil fruit ability and the 'Renewal Taekwondo' shown in the Webtoon called 'God of High School.'
This is how Rowan prepared himself over three years, thinking of ways to counter all kinds of scenarios. Counter the large-scaled attacks by convergence of bounce. Counter heavy defences by variations of nail-punch. Counter fast small-scaled attacks by incorporation of martial art.
Now, Rowan maintained his stance firm, awaiting at the utmost concentration as Crocodile was rocketing towards him, with a black-coloured greatsword and armour intact.
*BOOOOOOOOM* Within the proximity, Crocodile swung the greatsword in a wide motion, diagonally, causing a giant, sharp and lethal arc of sand to slice through everything in its path.
"Bounce Art: Ground drawer." With propulsion on his foot provided by bounce force, Rowan's right leg drew an arc on the sandy terrain at an insane speed right before the arc of sand reached him.
*BOOOM* A shock wave of bounce blasted off from the terrain, causing the arc of sand to abruptly disperse in the air.
"Sonic Step." Rowan instantly appeared in front of Crocodile with his leg outstretched.
Crocodile gritted his teeth and immediately swung the greatsword towards Rowan, who vanished once again and appeared behind Crocodile, kicking Crocodile on the head three times at an inconceivable speed.
"Bounce Art: Third Stance Hwechook."
*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* Crocodile grimaced as he felt the vibrations caused by Rowan's kicks that were reinforced by sharp bounces. The impacts managed to crumble the head part of his armour, since Rowan's Armament Haki surpassed Crocodile's. Instantly repairing once more, he turned around while raising his free hand up, causing the huge waves of sands to instantly swarm towards Rowan.
*BOOM* Rowan propelled himself up from the terrain and back-flipped, before expelling the bounce forces all around his body to disperse the rushing sands. Crocodile used that time to jump up with his greatsword above his head.
"Desert Ultimo: Deus Greve!" Crocodile slammed the greatsword with a domineering force.
Rowan slightly twirled his body by bouncing off in midair, letting Crocodile's greatsword miss him.
*BOOOOOOOOOOOM* The whole section of desert ahead was severed into two by Crocodile's slash, causing the sands to erupt in a straightforward fashion.
Rowan clenched his right fist and folded his arm as the elbow section turned black from the application of Armament Haki.
"Bounce Art: Arang."
*BOOOOM* Rowan's elbow slammed into the side of Crocodile's greatsword, shattering it apart. The heavy and dense volume of sands that constituted the greatsword blew apart, causing Rowan to be propelled backward by the force.
Crocodile held out his hand, which caused the dispersed sands to immediately swirl back and form the greatsword once more.
"Desert Ultimo: Julgamento." With the greatsword floating atop of his head, Crocodile launched it towards Rowan at great strength.
"Bounce Art: Baek Rok." Right before the greatsword impacted upon him, Rowan lowered his body closer to the terrain and extended his right leg up, having the sole of his foot push up the greatsword in an instant moment.
*BOOOOOOOOOM* Rowan's technique abruptly changed the trajectory path of Crocodile's greatsword and made it blast up high in the sky, rendering Rowan unharmed.
Crocodile, for the first time after his loss to Whitebeard, began to feel dread. He's thrown all kinds of attacks, of all that he was capable of. However, every single time, Rowan effortlessly countered his move by using the most efficient means to nullify his attack.
Watching as Rowan instantly appeared in front of him once again, all Crocodile could do was to raise his arms and trust in the defence of his armour. At the same time, the sands were gushing towards him, but he knew that it was too slow to block Rowan.
"Bounce Art," Rowan's leg crashed onto Crocodile's abdomen, causing the latter to cough blood out as his previous injury was impacted by it, "Hanra."
*BOOOOOOOOOOOM* A booming noise resonated as the area of armour hit by Rowan's technique crumbled, revealing a bloody mess within. By using a sharp bounce force while in contact with Crocodile, Rowan's technique dealt internal damage upon Crocodile.
Now, Crocodile's condition seemed very severe, with blood dripping down from his mouth and his eyes reddened from exhaustion.
"I've... *Cough* I've been doing this for fourteen years. I've prepared fourteen years for this. And... to think... *Cough* this is how I would end up." Crocodile weakly spoke as the huge volume of sands began to swirl up in front of him, becoming denser and denser atop his palm. At the same time, each grain was encased by the Armament Haki, amplifying the lethality of the technique by several folds.
Witnessing the dense black-coloured ball on Crocodile's palm, Rowan crouched down and blasted off towards Crocodile, not giving him any further time to develop his technique.
"Desert *Cough* Ultimo..." With his eyes half-lidded, Crocodile released the dense black ball from his hand, "Deus Olho." Afterward, Crocodile fell on the ground, having used every bit of his strength on the technique.
Rowan clicked his tongue seeing how Crocodile's attack did not target him, but where Carmen, Dan, and Cavendish were located at. Rowan changed his direction mid-way and flickered in front of the trajectory path of the dense black ball.
Taking a deep breath, Rowan cocked his fist back once again, with his eyes closed. At his will, the black-colour of Armament Haki spread all over his body. Rowan cocked his right fist back and crouched slightly.
"Nine Layers Convergence, Twenty-Hit: Blast Drive."
The combination of convergence and nail-punch. The result was so destructive not only to the environment but also to himself, that Rowan had to cover his whole body with Armament Haki whenever he used it.
At the next moment, Rowan blasted his fist forward in an uppercut motion.
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM* Upon Rowan's fist impacting the bottom part of the black ball at the exact timing, the whole earth below him quaked and formed large cracks, causing the sands around to erupt wildly. Subsequently, the trajectory path of the black ball unnaturally bent upwards, not being able to contest against Rowan's blow for a single second.
*BOOBOOBOOBOOBOOBOOM* The dense black ball blasted up as the earth-shaking noises filled the whole sky. With each propulsion provided by each succession of converged bounce forces, the black ball formed cracks.
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM* Eventually, with the impact from the final bounce force, the dense black ball exploded into a huge volume of sands, which crashed onto the sandy terrain, causing another wave of sands to erupt.
Rowan huffed as the Armament Haki faded from his body, with his right arm shaking slightly from the shock. He turned around and vanished once more, appearing at where Crocodile was seen sitting on the sand.
The two were now in stalemate, with Rowan standing and Crocodile sitting down tiredly.
"I... *Cough* wonder where *Cough* a monster like you came from." While vomiting blood, Crocodile let out a hollow laugh. He could sense it; this was his end. "Even in the New World... *Cough* ha, even Bullet won't be your match."
Crocodile took out a lighter and cigar from his pocket with shaky hands. He lit the cigar and placed it in his mouth, taking a puff with a hollow expression.
Rowan raised his hand, with his extended index finger pointing to the forehead of Crocodile.
"I suppose this is it..." Crocodile closed his eyes as he puffed upon the cigar for the last time.
Rowan stood on his spot silently. There was no more word to be spoken.
*BOOM* With a booming sound, Crocodile's head was blasted by Rowan's bounce, and the former collapsed onto the ground powerlessly, dead. The sands around him were soaked red in blood.
Staring at Crocodile for a moment in silence, Rowan turned around with a stoic expression on his face, before walking away.
Within the vast desert and destroyed Yuba nearby, there lied one corpse, formerly known as Sir Crocodile the 'Desert King.'