Chapter 130: The Sand Trap
The tension in Crocodile's office was suffocating, thick with the weight of impending violence. The Saiyan Pirates stood firm, their eyes locked onto the Warlord lounging on his throne, his golden hook glinting under the chandelier's light. Miss All-Sunday, Robin, stood beside him, her expression unreadable, but her fingers twitched ever so slightly, ready to act.
Goku cracked his knuckles, his tail flicking behind him with restless energy. "Alright, Crocodile. Enough talk. Let's see what a Warlord's made of."
Crocodile's smirk was venomous. "Cocky little brat. You really think you can challenge me? A rookie who barely knows the Grand Line's dangers?"
Goku didn't answer. Instead, he vanished.
The air shattered as Goku reappeared in front of Crocodile, his fist already mid-swing. The punch connected, or it should have. Instead, Goku's fist passed straight through Crocodile's face, scattering his head into a burst of swirling sand. The grains reformed instantly, Crocodile's mocking laughter echoing through the room.
"Pathetic," Crocodile sneered. "You can't even touch me."
Goku's eyes narrowed. He'd fought this devil fruit fools for a while now, he was getting annoyed by it once again. His fists, his kicks, none of it mattered if they couldn't land. But that didn't mean he'd stop trying.
Goku lunged again, this time aiming a spinning kick at Crocodile's torso. The Warlord didn't bother dodging. The leg swept through him, dispersing his body into a storm of particles before he reassembled, already countering with a swing of his golden hook. Goku barely twisted away in time, the sharp metal grazing his shoulder.
"Damn it!" Goku growled, skidding back.
Crocodile chuckled. "Frustrating, isn't it? No matter how strong you are, you can't hurt what you can't hit."
Goku gritted his teeth. He wasn't used to this. Normally, if he hit something, it stayed hit. But Crocodile was like smoke, like that marine bastard Smoker he couldn't touch, every strike just passed through him.
So he changed tactics.
Instead of aiming for Crocodile directly, Goku pivoted and slammed his fist into the marble floor. The impact detonated like a bomb, sending shockwaves rippling through the casino. The ground split apart, fissures racing up the walls, shattering chandeliers and sending tables flipping into the air. Crocodile staggered as the room itself seemed to rebel against him, the force destabilizing his sand form for a split second.
Goku saw the opening.
He blurred forward, this time driving his knee upward in a brutal strike, but Crocodile dissolved again, reforming a few feet away with a dark chuckle.
"Clever," the Warlord admitted. "But not clever enough."
He raised his hand, and the air itself seemed to dry out. A swirling vortex of sand erupted from his palm, barreling toward Goku like a desert storm given life. Goku crossed his arms, bracing as the sandblast hammered into him, the force sending him skidding back, his boots carving trenches into the ruined floor.
While Goku and Crocodile tore the casino apart, the rest of the Saiyan Pirates weren't idle.
Robin had already made her move.
"Mil Fleur: Clutch."
Zoro's arms suddenly sprouted extra limbs, Robin's limbs, locking around his biceps in a vice-like grip. He snarled, muscles bulging as he strained against them. "Tch, annoying!" With a grunt, he flexed, veins popping as he ripped through the restraints, the phantom arms dissolving into petals.
Robin's eyes widened slightly. "Hm. Stronger than expected."
Usopp wasn't as lucky. Multiple arms coiled around his legs and torso, yanking him off balance. "Ack, HEY! Let go, !" He flailed, but Robin's grip was relentless.
Nami, meanwhile, had no weapon, but she wasn't helpless. When Robin's arms materialized around her wrists, she twisted sharply, using the momentum to slip free. "Nice try!" she spat.
Chopper and Vivi were less successful. Robin's limbs coiled around them effortlessly, locking them in place.
"Damn it!" Chopper whined, struggling. "I can't!"
Robin sighed. "You've all improved… but not enough."
She flexed her fingers, and more arms erupted from the ground, this time targeting pressure points. Zoro dodged the first few, but a well-placed grip latched onto his ankle, yanking him down. Nami barely rolled away, but another set of hands snagged her waist.
"You're really starting to piss me off," Zoro growled.
Robin smirked. "Then do something about it."
Back in the ruined heart of the casino, Goku was getting more angry and frustrated.
Every punch, every kick, thing worked. Crocodile just laughed, reforming after every strike, his sand body untouchable.
"You're wasting your time," Crocodile taunted, lazily dodging another earth-shaking blow. "You could level this entire building, and it wouldn't matter. You can't beat me."
Goku's fists clenched. "Fuck this shit!"
He vanished again, this time appearing above Crocodile in a flash. Instead of striking, he slammed both fists downward like a hammer, the force cratering the ground beneath them. The shockwave destabilized Crocodile's form again, but the Warlord merely dispersed into sand, reappearing near the shattered remains of a slot machine.
"You're persistent, I'll give you that," Crocodile mused. "But persistence won't save you."
Goku wiped his brow, breathing hard. He wasn't tired, not yet, he was frustrated. He needed a new plan.
Crocodile's smirk widened. "You know… I should thank you."
Goku frowned. "Huh?"
The Warlord gestured around them, at the ruined casino, the collapsed walls, the shattered floors. "Look at what you've done. You've torn this place apart. And that…" His grin turned vicious. "That was exactly what I wanted."
A cold realization settled over Goku.
Crocodile raised his hook, and the walls melted.
Not collapsed, melted. The very structure of Rain Dinners turned to sand, the grains surging like a tidal wave, rising higher and higher until the ceiling itself began to crumble.
"You see," Crocodile said, his voice dripping with triumph, "I never needed to beat you in a fight. I just needed you to destroy this place… so I could bury you in it."
The sand roared downward, an avalanche of crushing weight.
The last thing Goku saw before the world went dark was Crocodile's smirk.
And then...
Everything collapsed.
The avalanche of sand swallowed the Saiyan Pirates whole.
For a moment, there was nothing but suffocating darkness and the crushing weight of a desert pressing down on them. Goku's muscles strained as he fought to push against the tidal wave of grains, but it was futile—the more he struggled, the tighter the sand compacted around them. He could hear Nami's muffled curses, Zoro's growls, Usopp's panicked squeaks, and Chopper's whimpers. Vivi's voice cut through the chaos, sharp with desperation: "Don't waste energy—*breathe slowly*!"
Aboveground, Rain Dinners was gone. In its place stood a mountainous dune, its slopes shimmering under the moonlight. Crocodile stood atop a nearby rooftop, Miss All-Sunday at his side, surveying his handiwork with cold satisfaction.
"Pathetic," he muttered, turning away. "Let the desert claim them. Come, All-Sunday. We have a kingdom to topple."
Robin lingered for a moment, her eyes narrowed at the sand mound. "…They're stronger than you think," she said quietly.
Crocodile scoffed. "Not strong enough."
With that, the two vanished into the night, leaving only a scattering of sand in their wake.
---
The streets of Rainbase were eerily silent. Smoke curled from collapsed buildings, and the air reeked of burnt wood and ozone. Sanji and Gin sprinted through the debris, their clothes torn and bloodied from their earlier skirmish with Baroque Works' billions.
"Damn it, where the hell are they?!" Sanji snarled, kicking aside a chunk of rubble.
Gin's sharp eyes scanned the horizon. "There." He pointed to the colossal sand dune where Rain Dinners once stood. "That's… new."
Sanji froze, his cigarette slipping from his lips. "They were inside."
The two bolted toward the mound, their boots sinking into the unstable sand. Gin slammed his fist against the slope, grains cascading down uselessly. "How the fuck do we dig them out? They'll suffocate in minutes!"
Sanji's hands trembled as he lit another cigarette, the flame flickering in his rage. "We'll tear this damn desert apart brick by..."
A low rumble cut him off.
The ground quaked, vibrations humming through their bones. The sand mound began to shudder, cracks spiderwebbing across its surface.
"Move!" Gin roared, yanking Sanji back.
The explosion was cataclysmic.
A beam of pure blue-white energy erupted from the heart of the dune, tearing through the sand like a supernova. The shockwave flattened nearby buildings, sent palm trees hurtling into the sea, and blasted the desert into a swirling tempest of glass-like particles. Sanji and Gin shielded their faces as the force of it nearly knocked them off their feet, their shouts drowned by the deafening roar.
When the dust cleared, the sand was gone, vaporized.
At the epicenter stood Goku, his boots planted wide, arms still extended in the aftermath of the Kamehameha. His clothes were singed, his breath ragged, but his eyes burned with unyielding resolve. Behind him, the crew coughed and staggered to their feet, coated in dust but alive.
Nami spat out a mouthful of sand. "Never doing that again."
Zoro smirked, sheathing his swords. "Took you long enough, Captain."
Usopp wobbled, knees buckling. "I-I've decided… I hate deserts…"
Chopper clung to Vivi's leg, tears in his eyes. "W-we're alive! Sniff… Goku, you're amazing!"
Goku lowered his arms, the residual energy crackling around his fists. "Had to think outside the box," he said, grinning despite the fatigue. "Turns out, sand doesn't like getting vaporized."
Sanji and Gin skidded into the crater, relief and fury warring on their faces.
"What the hell were you thinking?!" Sanji barked, grabbing Goku by the collar. "You nearly got us killed!"
Goku shrugged, still grinning. "Worked, didn't it?"
Gin crossed his arms, surveying the devastation. "…You blew up a casino. With a laser beam."
"Energy wave," Goku corrected.
Nami punched his arm. "Who cares what it's called?! You obliterated the town!"
"Don't worry about it, the citizens were evacuated by the marines." Goku calmed her.
Vivi stepped forward, her voice steady. "We need to move. Crocodile's still out there, and he's heading for the palace."
The crew fell silent, the weight of her words settling over them. Goku cracked his neck, tail flicking defiantly. "Then let's go kick his ass properly this time."
As they marched out of the crater, the ruins of Rainbase smoldering behind them, Sanji muttered under his breath: "Remind me to never piss off the guy who shoots lasers."
Gin snorted. "Too late for that."
[A/N: Can't wait to see what happens next? Get exclusive early access on patreon.com/saiyanprincenovels. If you enjoyed this chapter and want to see more, don't forget to drop a power stone! Your support helps this story reach more readers!]