Chapter 337: Home field advantage

The residents of Alubarna looked at the suddenly disappearing pub and the sudden appearance of the three fellows, they all pointed in their direction, but some people who knew Crocodile’s abilities have faintly sensed the danger.

“Let’s leave, I’m not staying here!”

Some smart people shouted and moved away from them as far as possible. At the same time, in order to prevent accidents, some people even ran to inform the Royal Guards.

“Haha, look at these people!” Crocodile mockingly looked at the panicked crowd and said with opened arms: “The so-called weak are destined to be ruled by the strong, then, don’t you dare think that I’m weak because I can’t dye my hook black?”

Ian looked at him and didn’t speak, because he didn’t know how to reply to such a sentence.

In fact, when he thought about it carefully, Ian remembered that Crocodile was the only Shichibukai with a Logia Devil Fruit! The other Shichibukai, whether it was Boa Hancock or Gekko Moria, or Doflamingo and Kuma, these four had eaten Paramecia fruits, while the rest, such as Mihawk and Jinbe, were not devil fruit users.

Only Crocodile had a Logia fruit!

And Logia Devil Fruit is recognized as the strongest among the three types…

Crocodile may not have awakened his Haki, but this doesn’t mean that he’s weak. Being able to get the title of Shichibukai is itself the biggest recognition of his Strength.

At the thought of this, Ian’s eyes got much more serious.

“It seems that you understand it too, now!” Crocodile bit his cigar and grinned: “Being lucky enough to awaken your Haki doesn’t mean that you can defeat all Devil Fruit Users, not to mention that in this desert country, you are fighting me in my home!”

After that, Crocodile’s power broke out again. He touched the ground and used “Ground Secco”, which is a dehydration ability, drying out a huge area around him, and then it started cracking the street. When this dryness reached its limit, the surrounding objects also entered the process of desertification.

Two houses near the pub began to collapse, from a sturdy building to instantly turning into piles of sand… then it went on, one after another!

If it weren’t because of the appearance of these three, and that people nearby felt the heat of the moment and fled the scene, Crocodile could have killed many people in the process…

In addition to the buildings, some of the few plants on the street weathered and withered away. After Crocodile stimulated his Devil Fruit Ability, there was no grass left within a hundred meters!

At this point, Ian confirmed that the sand-sand fruit of Crocodile is very dangerous.

After a large number of buildings have turned into dust, these piles got mixed with the sand around, then Crocodile controlled the whole area. With that done, the large amount of sand started slowly rotating with the wind, and it was getting faster and faster, not too long after, a huge sandstorm was formed around the three people. Although the scale of the sandstorm was not enormous, it shrouded the three fellows.

The area around Ian started getting dark due to the storm, and it almost felt that it was sunset, but at this moment, Ian’s attention shifted from the sandstorm, because he noticed that his shoes showed signs of decaying…

Although the shoes worn by Ian were not sandals like Luffy’s, but leather boots, which are not of a decaying matter, but the problem is that any object has a certain amount of moisture… Crocodile’s erosion cycle was initiated from the ground, and Ian’s leather boots touches the ground, so they were affected.

Ian suspected that once his boots were dried and decayed, his feet will touch the sand, his body’s water might get sucked away by Crocodile’s ability.

This ability must stop now!

Ian thought so, pulling the bandage on his right hand, and with the bell’s crisp sound, the Black Dragon wave emerged from Ian’s wrist!

The scorching heat burned the air near his arm as he untied the magical bandage.

As soon as he saw Ian’s action, Crocodile knew what Ian was going to do, and couldn’t help but lock his eyes on him… Ian raised his hand and unleashed his dragon into the sandstorm.

The sandstorm was rotating at high speed and it began to shrink.

The lower part of the sandstorm was connected to the ground, while the upper part has already reached the sky. People living in desert countries are well aware of the dangers of sandstorms.

Some people may say that sandstorms are just tornadoes mixed with sand? That they couldn’t be lethal…

In fact, it’s wrong to think so. Although sandstorms have no direct attacking ability, people can’t breathe normally in strong sandstorms. Even if they don’t get blown away by the violent wind, once they breathe, their mouths and noses will be filled with sand, which will block people’s respiratory tract and suffocate them.

“Incendiary Black Dragon Wave!”

When Crocodile launched the sandstorm, Ian also pointed to the location of Crocodile, and released the black dragon wave, baring fangs and brandishing claws, with extremely deadly heat, rushing towards Crocodile.

Crocodile saw it coming, and his body immediately turned into elements of sand, getting mixed with the storm, then the Black Dragon wave swept past the position he was standing in…

Although he escaped the blow, he still saw the horror of the Black Dragon wave, and the sand within the thermal range of the black dragon wave was instantly vaporized!

Every Logia user’s body has fluidity, but Crocodile doesn’t want his elemental body to be touched by this Black Dragon wave, because it will still hurt him.

Crocodile does not know whether such damage would be fatal to him…

After the Black Dragon wave passed by, under the control of Ian, it turned around and flew back again. Ian firmly fixed his body in the sandstorm, not letting the wind move him, at the same time, he held his breath, and tried his best to control the black dragon wave and attack Crocodile.

However, Crocodile didn’t let his guard down. After he found that the Black Dragon was coming back, he immediately turned his body back to sand elements and hid within the storm!

This time, Ian was a bit troubled, because he can’t distinguish his position clearly in the sandstorm, and didn’t know where to attack exactly.

This is the so-called home advantage! These Logia Users, if they can create a favorable battlefield environment, their combat effectiveness will not only soar, but will also evolve their tactics.

Imagine what it would be like if Aokiji was fighting people in a glacier environment, or if Akainu was fighting in a volcano…

“Damn it! This Crocodile guy is really devious!” Ian scolded, turned back, narrowed her eyes and looked at Nico Robin not far behind. Because Ian launched a powerful projectile in the opposite side, and Crocodile’s technique started from his location and didn’t reach her, so she didn’t have to worry about being cocked alive or getting dried into a mummy. Therefore, she just laid down on the floor and covered her head with her vest.

This is a common method used to deal with sandstorms in the desert. Ian saw that she was not in danger for the time being, so he was relieved. Now, he looked up and around, then found that it was really difficult to find Crocodile’s trace, so he gritted his teeth and injected more Nen into his right hand.

A black dragon pattern appeared on Ian’s wrist, then he released another wave.

“Double Dragon Waves!”

This was the first time using this Awakening ability, which he unlocked after reaching level 20 and fully upgrading Hiei’s five-star card, allowing him to launch two Black Dragon waves at the same time, and the energy consumed by each Black Dragon wave is reduced by 25% and the existence time of the dragon is increased by 50%!

After seeing this awakened ability, Ian thought of a saying, if one shot can’t be solved the problem, then two will do the job!

However, he did not expect that he will need this ability in Alabasta!

When the second Black Dragon wave was released, Ian began to control the flight path of two scorching Dragons. This time, the second wave did not fly aimlessly, but it came over Ian’s head, and intertwined with the other Dragon, forming a double-helix posture, flying upwards, and emitting their Incendiary flames.

“Burn all this sand!” Ian raised his head, staring at the flying Black Dragon waves.

Countless raging sand in the storm began to vaporize rapidly by the scorching flames, and their heat also affected the air, which caused Crocodile’s sandstorm to soon collapse and stop rotating.

After dealing with the storm, Ian was finally able to breathe, then he suddenly found that he was sinking.

“Desert Sunflower!”

A huge round pit suddenly appeared under Ian’s feet. This ground has been affected by Crocodile’s drying ability, forming a pit of quicksand in the area around, and it started swallowing Ian.

Ian tried to struggle out of it, and found that he was sinking deeper and deeper in the pit. He was stuck in a bad situation…

The upper half of Crocodile’s body appeared at the edge, looking down at the pit, and said: “Boy, did you think that I was mixed with the sandstorm? Wrong!!! I told you, we are fighting in my home!”

Ian then realized where he went, Crocodile was hiding in the ground!

The heck, are you a Shinobi!? Hmm… this is troublesome!

Ian didn’t pay attention to him. He was thinking about calling the Black Dragon waves down, and then flies out with their energy. Suddenly, he sensed two arms holding him under his armpit and pulling him from the bottom of the sandpit.

These two hands looked delicate and slender, which made Ian understand what was happening and smiled, but when he turned around, he got shocked.

Because he found Nicole Robin was in the sandpit with him! At this time, half of her body was buried in the quicksand, she crossed her hands in front of her, unleashing the ability of her Flower-Flower Fruit, lifting Ian out of the pit.

“You don’t need to…” Ian just wanted to speak, but he was disturbed by a few more hands stretched out in a line and started rolling Ian’s body out of the quicksand pit.

Robin used her ability to help Ian out…