Ben, Nojiko and Honey were flying towards the Rainbase. Nojiko and Honey held onto Ben tightly. They raced across the desert following the river upstream.
"Ben, do we have a plan?" Nojiko asked.
"We will beat him by using our power," Honey replied.
"Pretty much," Ben said.
"As you know Crocodile is a logia user of the Sand-Sand devil fruit. When sand is wet it solidifies and we can hurt him. If you both stay back and just keep getting him wet, I can take him," Ben replied.
"Okay," Nojiko said.
"You both are logia users so use that to your advantage if he comes near you," Ben added.
The girls nodded.
Ben on the horizon saw the outline of a town. He could see buildings.
"We are here," Ben said.
Honey and Nojiko looked up and saw the town in front of them.
"Ben look there," Nojiko pointed out. They looked in front, just on the outskirts of the town they saw a whirlpool of sand, swallowing nearby objects. Ben spotted a hand sticking out from the twisting sand. Just next to the whirlpool a man with a golden hook was standing and smiling.
"Crocodile," Ben said. Ben then slowly went down and got closer to the ground. "Girls jump off for a second," Ben added.
The girls let go of Ben and landed on their feet on the ground. Ben contented and increased his speed. He saw the whirlpool and dived into it. Crocodile saw a man with wings. "What," he said, smoking his cigarette.
Ben saw the hand moving downwards in the quicksand environment and reached towards the hand. Ben caught the hand and gripped it firmly. The current inside this place was strong and started to drag him down as well. However Ben put all his strength into and pulled. He pulled. Ben pulled and started to bring the hand out of the sand. Slowly he saw his arm, then strawhat, head and body and finally Ben made one big push and pulled Luffy out completely. He flew out and landed away from the whirlpool.
"You saved that brat," Crocodile said as he approached Ben.
"He is my friend and ally," Ben replied.
"I gave him three minutes and he could not do anything to me Kuahahahaha," Crocodile laughed.
"I will give you three minutes as well," Crocodile added.
Ben smiled. "You will regret that," Ben replied as Nojiko and Honey came running towards Ben.
"A few more insects won't make a difference to me," Crocodile said.
"You will regret that," Ben replied.
"Time to end this nightmare for our friend and crewmate," Ben said.
"Yes, let's do it," Nojiko said, thinking about Vivi. Honey nodded.
"Liquid Air Blast," Honey said as she put her hand forward and a torrent of purple liquid blasted at Crocodile. Crocodile got hit by the purple liquid in the stomach. He hunched forward slightly not expecting to get hit.
Ben rushed forward and gathered energy in his fist. "Demon Fist," he said as he punched the area where Honey had hit him with the purple liquid. Crocodile hunched even more forward.
Crocodile quickly got his composure and moved his golden hook hand to strike Ben. Ben saw it and put his arm up and blocked the attack. Crocodile then jumped back.
"You actually hit me," Crocodile said looking at Honey and Ben.
He felt his stomach with his hand and looked at his hand and saw the purple liquid drops.
"Sables Pesado," Crocodile said Crocodile gathered a swirling mass of extremely dense sand in his hand, then hurled it at Ben. Ben dodged the attack however a massive shock wave was created upon impact.
"Liquid Air Blast," Honey said again as she shot a torrent of purple liquid towards Crocodile again. Crocodile got hit by liquid against his chest as he had just finished his attack.
"Why you?" Crocodile said.
Nojiko started to produce lots of clouds. "Cloud Surge," Nojiko said. The surrounding area was covered in clouds.
"Lightning Surge," Nojiko added. The cloud turned black and hit Crocodile. He was blasted by lightning bolts hitting his body. Bolt after bolt hit him.
"Demon Blast," Ben said as he raised his two hands and channelled his energy. He then blasted the energy towards Crocodile who got hit by the attack. A small explosion was seen and black smoke cloud was emitted.
"Did we do it?" Nojiko asked.
"Keep your guard up," Ben replied.
"Sables," Crocodile said as he summoned a massive tornado of sand. The clouds were pushed away from the sandstorm. The cloud and the tornado of sand clashed and cancelled each other out.
Crocodile then moved forward toward Honey. "Desert la Spada," he said. He formed several solid blades with fan-shaped edges made from sand and threw it as Honey.
Honey saw the blades coming towards her and pointed her hand in a gun shape towards the attack. "Liquid Bullet Barrage," Honey said. Honey created purple liquid bullets and fired them at the blades. They bullets and sand blades clashed and they started knocking each other out.
Crocodile moved towards Honey as she was still firing the purple bullet liquids. He was about to impale Honey with a golden hook when Ben came in and kicked the hook away. However Crocodile on the other hand had prepared another attack. "Sables Pesado," he said as he created a whirling mass of dense sand and hit Ben with it.
Ben went flying back from the impact of the attack. "Ben," Honey said.
"I have not forgotten about you,"Desert Grande Espada," Crocodile said as a sand blade came from the ground cutting Honey in half as her body split in two.
"Honey," Nojiko shouted, seeing her crewmate get cut in half. She had once again surrounded Crocodile with clouds.
"This again," Crocodile said as he formed a small sand tornado in his hands. "Sables," Crocodile added as the sand tornado got bigger and got rid of the clouds. Nojiko ran up and created two small clouds from her hand.
She jumped in front of Crocodile and had both her hands in front of her parallel to each other. The clouds turned dark.
"Rain burst," she said as her left hand fired rain at Crocodile. Immediately after that, Nojiko, using her right hand, fired a lightning bolt at the Crocodile. "Lightning Surge," Nojiko snouted.Crocodile again was hit by lightning again. He could not turn into sand quickly enough due to the rain attack. He yelled in pain.
His body was smoked up from the attack and thin smoke vapour could be seen. Nojiko was panting. "I will stop you for my friend," Nojiko said.
Crocodile launched his golden hook with sand towards Nojiko impaling her.
"Kuahahahaha," Crocodile laughed.
"My men are already on the way to frame your King and start this civil war truly," Crocodile said.
"Is that so?" Ben said and added, "My crew have caught half of them on their way and have finished them."
Nojiko changed into clouds and reappeared next to Ben.
"Vivi and the rest will stop the rest," Ben said.
"They will never lose to the likes of you," Crocodile said.
"You sure about that," Ben replied. Crocodile was not too sure The Strawhat pirates were one issue and the Marines however they seem different, a wildcard, they have powerful devil fruits.
Honey got up and from the attack, "Renergy blast," she said as she fired a golden liquid at herself, Ben and Nojiko and Luffy.
"Thank you Honey," Ben said.
"Who are you?" Crocodile said.
"Your crew has two more logia devil fruits which are rare for this sea and on the same crew," Crocodile said.
"You have a mythical zoan, from the looks of it, incredibly rare," Crocodile added.
"We are going to beat you," Ben said. Nojiko and Honey nodded. Crocodile looked cross as he was being ignored.
"Why don't you join me and I will give you half," Crocodile offered.
"You pirates are all the same," Nojiko said.
"You take and steal from others and leave everyone in pain," Nojiko added. She remembered the days of Arlong.
"Be realistic, the strong take from the weak," Crocodile said.
"You," Honey replied, feeling Nojiko`s pain.
Ben smiled, "It looks like you are going to lose."
"We will see about that," Crocodile replied.
"MEAT," Luffy shouted.