【First, he was blown up by Deidara, then he felt the naked gaze of Sasori of the Red Sand again. Crocodil, who was already in a bad mood, was instantly furious……】
【‘You two bastards, die for me… Desert Sabre…’ Furious, Crocodil's right arm instantly turned to sand, transforming into a huge sand blade that slashed towards the two…】
【‘Whoosh…’ Suddenly, a giant beam of sword energy, sliced through the sand, attacking the two…】
【Sasori of the Red Sand and Deidara reacted incredibly fast, leaping back easily to dodge the attack. At the same time, they quickly counterattacked…】
【‘Look at my Explosion Art…’ Deidara waved his right hand, and countless exploding spiders began to jump onto Crocodil…】
【‘Heh…’ All the exploding spiders detonated instantly. The violent explosion directly blew Crocodil to pieces, turning him into countless grains of sand…】
【However, as a Logia-type Sand-Sand Fruit user, this attack was useless against Crocodil…】
【The shattered yellow sand reassembled, and Crocodil, completely unscathed, reappeared there, continuing to attack Deidara…】
【‘Damn it, Logia-type Devil Fruit user, you’re such a pain…’ Deidara stood on a clay bird, quickly leaping into the sky. He frowned as he looked at the reassembled Crocodil…】
【‘Deidara, it seems your Explosion Art is no good… Now witness my Eternal Art of Immortality!…’ Sasori of the Red Sand took out a scroll, then slammed it hard, revealing a dozen puppets in front of him…】
【‘These are puppets… Baroque Works’ executives!? What did you do!?…’ Seeing the appearance of these dozen puppets, Crocodil furrowed his brows…】
【Because the appearance of these dozen puppets were exactly the same as the executives of Baroque Works… To be precise, these were puppets made with the corpses of Baroque Works’ executives. In addition, there was the murdered Marine officer…】
【‘That’s right, they’re all your subordinates. But now they’re all part of my collection… Don’t worry, you’ll soon be just like them…’ As Sasori of the Red Sand’s voice fell, all the puppets simultaneously charged towards Crocodil…】
【‘Humph, naive! Do you think you can defeat me with these things!?…’ Crocodil said scornfully. Obviously, Crocodil didn’t take these puppets seriously…】
【In Crocodil's view, even if these puppets were made from his own executives, they were still nothing but dead objects. These puppets couldn’t possibly harm him…】
【‘Crescent Sand Dune’ Crocodil's right arm turned to sand, forming a crescent-shaped sand blade that slashed toward Akatsuki…】
【Facing Crocodil’s attack, Sasori of the Red Sand moved his hand, and all the puppets charged towards Crocodil as well…】
【At the same time, all the puppets activated their abilities…】
【Explosion Fruit… Boom boom boom… A deafening explosion erupted…】
【Chop-Chop Fruit… Whoosh whoosh whoosh… Their bodies transformed into countless blades, attacking Crocodil…】
【Wax-Wax Fruit… Plop plop plop… Countless wax candles condensed into weapons, shooting toward Crocodil…】
【…】
【Facing these puppet attacks, Crocodil’s face showed a shocked expression】
【‘What!? This is impossible! How can they use Devil Fruit powers…’】
【Crocodil couldn’t help but be shocked. Because Crocodil was very clear that his subordinates were all dead, according to the rules of this world, dead people would lose their Devil Fruit powers, and their Devil Fruits would be reborn in the sea…】
【It was precisely because of this, seeing these puppets made from his subordinates, who could still use their abilities from when they were alive, that Crocodil was so surprised!…】
【‘Did you see that!? This is my art! The Eternal Art of Immortality…’ Sasori of the Red Sand said with a fervent expression. At the same time, he continued to control the puppets, attacking Crocodil…】
【Sasori of the Red Sand, the puppeteer of Akatsuki, possessed the art of creating ‘human puppets,’ which could be made using living people. These puppets retained all the powers of the deceased…】
【And the puppets in front of him were precisely Sasori of the Red Sand’s human puppets…】
【Under Sasori of the Red Sand’s control, these human puppets cooperated with each other, continuously attacking Crocodil…】
【Facing these dense attacks, even Crocodil, a Shichibukai with incredibly rich combat experience, was overwhelmed. Countless powerful attacks slammed into Crocodil’s body…】
【While Sasori of the Red Sand attacked, Deidara was not idle. He created all sorts of exploding clay creatures, continuously attacking Crocodil…】
【Countless exploding clay explosions also created a powerful shockwave that attacked Crocodil…】
【Although Crocodil was a Logia-type Devil Fruit user who could elementally transform in crucial moments to dodge various attacks, even so, Crocodil was already falling into a disadvantage…】
【‘Damn it, who are they!? Akatsuki!? Why have I never heard of them? When did such powerful individuals appear in the sea…’】
【‘No, this can’t go on…’】
【Crocodil was very clear that although he was temporarily relying on his Logia-type Devil Fruit elementality to withstand their attacks, if he continued fighting, he would eventually lose. He had to change the situation immediately…】
【‘Erosion Reincarnation…’ Crocodil slammed his right hand against the ground, immediately unleashing the powerful ability unique to Logia-type Devil Fruit users…】
【A terrifying wave of yellow sand spread rapidly outwards, centered on Crocodil…】
【Anything that came into contact with the yellow sand instantly lost its moisture, turning into sand…】