Chapter 339: Suffocation

As long as he still plans to translate the Ancient text on these Poneglyph, and as long as he wants to get his hands on the ancient weapon Pluto, Crocodile won’t kill Robin!

Robin depended on this to save her life… she thinks Crocodile won’t let her die before he gets what he wants.

But… Robin still misjudged Crocodile’s character, the most intolerable thing for him is betrayal.

He was grabbing on Robin’s neck and suddenly loosened it, completely releasing her, then reached out and pressed her head and said: “Do you really think I can’t find Pluto without you?”

Robin raised her head in surprise and looked at Crocodile.

Looking at Robin’s eyes, Crocodile said with a big smile: “Let me tell you! From the start, I have never believed in you, because I only believe in myself! From the day you joined the organization, I felt you would betray one day… Isn’t this the case? Nico Robin, the Devil Child, hasn’t you always survived by betraying others?!”

Robin’s eyes fell down, and she knew that Crocodile was right.

“Goodbye, Nico Robin!” Crocodile started pressing on Robin and pushing her down into the pit!

The quicksand bit by bit submerged Robin’s chin and her whole head, then she went completely into the pit. Crocodile looks at her black hair, and couldn’t help laughing.

However, at this time, a cold voice came from above: “If she suffocates, I promise that you won’t live another day in this world!”

Crocodile was got off guard, looked up to the sky, and saw a figure with a set of huge black flaming wings behind. He was floating in midair and looked down at him.

Who else would it be if it wasn’t Ian?

A moment ago, he was pushed to the edge of the pit by Robin’s hands, but Crocodile suddenly appeared near her and grabbed Robin’s neck, which made her ability unsustainable, causing the hands rolling Ian out to disappear.

Due to his “great” luck, when Ian was about to get out, Robin’s mysterious hands vanished, and Ian started falling down again…

However, he has already told Robin to help herself and release him. He could have dealt with this pit his way. As a result, Robin didn’t listen, which made him eat a mouthful of sand.

When he rolled down, due to the characteristics of quicksand, he could not stand up, and got stuck in the sand, however then, the Black Dragon waves fell in his direction.

After swallowing the energy of the Black Dragon waves and converting it to his flight Ability, Ian was able to break free from the shackles of the quicksand, and flew out. At this time, he saw the scene where Crocodile pressed Robin into the bottom of the pit.

Ian started raging at the moment, no matter whether Robin’s intentions were good or not, she just wanted to save Ian in the end. He didn’t even know why her attitude had changed like this all of a sudden, but for Ian, seeing a person who wanted to rescue him is getting pushed into a pit made him agitated.

The Senbonzakura in his hand suddenly picked up black flames, and Ian held it tight and swooped down towards Crocodile in high speed!

“This can’t be good!” Crocodile’s heart startled, then his body dissolved into sand.

However, Crocodile didn’t think that Ian’s goal was actually not to attack him. Seeing the disappearance of Crocodile, Ian did not reduce his speed, and even plunged into the quicksand!

Crocodile glanced from afar, but then got shocked, Ian went on to save Nico Robin!

Sure enough, after about two or three seconds, Ian’s figure suddenly burst through the quicksand and flew out again, but this time, she was carried between his arms.

When Robin was drowned by the quicksand, she held his breath out of instinct, which actually saved her, preventing her from suffocating under the sand layers, until finally, Ian fished her out.

Ian put Robin in his right arm, spread his flaming wings, and float in midair. At this time, he cleaned the sand in her mouth and nose, after that, Robin coughed immediately and took a deep breath.

She opened her eyes to find that she was hanging in the air, so she turned her head and looked at Ian in surprise.

“Why did you save me?” Robin asked Ian.

Ian gave her a blank look and couldn’t help but poke her forehead: “Why did you do that to me, you made me eat a lot of sand while rolling me with your hands!”

“I wanted to save you…” Robin blinked repeatedly while being poked.

“You wanted to save me!?” Ian was a bit annoyed and said: “Don’t you know I can fly?”

Robin didn’t say a word after that, it seemed that her effort went in vain.

“Hum! See, as I said, Crocodile never believed you!” Ian told her.

“I know…” Robin lowered her head and stopped looking at Ian. She whispered: “I was just thinking, maybe it’s a good thing to end my life here… it’s difficult to find a place in this world for a woman like me who always betrays others…”

“Stop it!” Ian suddenly interrupted her. “Don’t say this… If you really want to die, then why did you hold your breath when you were submerged by the sand?”

Robin didn’t know how to answer this question. Ian saw her lowering her head, so he held it up, and couldn’t help sighing: “Survival is human instinct! After I’m done kicking Crocodile’s a$$, you will come with me!”

Then, no matter what she would think, Ian slowly landed on the ground, put Robin on the ground, and told her: “You need to get away!”

Crocodile re-emerged at the opposite side of the pit, looked at Ian from a distance, and then he opened his mouth and laughed at Ian: “Do you really want to take that woman with you? Didn’t you just see what happened? Since she can betray me, then one day she will betray you, too!”

“Huh, what does it matter to you?” Ian puckered out his ears and said disdainfully: “And since when did you become an elder lady, talking too much nonsense?”

On Crocodile’s forehead, many blue veins bulged out, and countless sand particles flew out of his body, then he totally dissolved into sand. He rushed through the air and came to Ian, waving his right hand violently.

“Crescent-Shaped Sand Dune!”

Crocodile moved his right arm forward while leaving a crescent-shaped trail of sand behind it, and went to cut Ian.

Although the shape of this move is a blade, it does not actually cut anything. Once the sand that is brought up passes through the human body, it will absorb all moisture of the parts it hits, then directly turns the victim into a mummy. It is an extremely terrible move.

Ian was certainly aware of Crocodile’s dehydration ability, so when he appeared near him, he had already waved his blade, and launched the awakened move of “the Sword of the Darkness Flame” towards Crocodile.

His Nen field has been open a long ago, and now Ian’s range of perception has been expanded. So as long as Crocodile uses close-raged attacks, he can predict them in advance.

However, what Ian didn’t expect was that Crocodile was so cunning, the Crescent-Shaped Sand Dune was just a feint!

At the moment Ian counterattacked his swing, the guy suddenly drifted away again, knelt on one knee, and trusted his right hand into the ground.

Voosh! The sand under Ian’s feet suddenly turned into a thin sharp blade, rising straight from the ground toward his chest.

Fortunately, this attack was in the scope of Ian’s perception, so when he sensed the danger, he immediately leaped backward, and the sand blade passed near his face.

“Hahaha!” Crocodile didn’t succeed, but he still laughed wildly. “You thought I didn’t know that you would use Kenbunshoku Haki (Observation Haki)? I said, this is my home! Even if I don’t get close to you, I can still find ways to finish your miserable life!”

“Sh!t!” Ian couldn’t help but curse. His battle with this Crocodile guy showed how savvy he really was. He knew that he might use Kenbunshoku Haki to locate his whereabouts. So he didn’t plan on engaging in close-range combat.

In this desert environment, once this guy turns into sand and hides around, Ian won’t be able to distinguish his location.

Although the Observation Haki is a kind of power similar to listening, when all the sand around starts flowing and getting blown, it will also make a similar sound, which naturally interferes with Ian’s Nen field… even if Fujitora was here, and Crocodile hid among the piles of sand, he won’t find him easily.

This is the so-called home court advantage. If they swap terrains, Crocodile won’t find places to hide and boost his abilities, he would only merge with his sandstorm, but this is not the case here. This block of the street has been desertified by his wither ability… This may feel confusing, but it is really effective!

Ian ignored Crocodile’s clamor and concentrated on using Kenbunshoku Haki to capture his movements, waiting for Crocodile to make mistakes and reveal his flaws, but Crocodile probably guessed Ian’s intention. He didn’t go along with his plan, and threw another Desert Spada in his direction.

Voosh! Ian gathered out a lightning bolt in his palm, shot a lightning strike toward Crocodile, and passed over Crocodile’s sand blade.

Ian used Busoshoku Kōka to resist Crocodile’s blow, similarly, the bright lightning strike pierced through Crocodile’s body…

However, to his surprise, the lightning strike was useless against Crocodile!

Then he realized that sand is non-conductive!

Ow, FFS! I am going to learn how to fight from Luffy… bleeding on my fist to be able to beat Crocodile? Or, should I look for some water… in the city, where the heck will I find water?

But then again, this guy won’t dare getting close, he likes fighting from afar like guerrillas, it seems that even with water, he can’t beat him…

Crocodile is so crafty and he’s worthy of being called a mastermind. He may underestimate his enemy when dealing with younger fellows, but Crocodile was going all out this time.

Sure enough, no one who got the title of Shichibukai is from the weaklings. Ian used to think that Crocodile is perhaps the weakest Shichibukai, but now while fighting him, Ian’s head started aching.

Do you really want me to bring that beast!?

Ian’s consciousness shifted to the System Inventory Interface, where a red border card is placed quietly at the bottom.

On this card, there is the image of a white cold-faced man with open arms, a bare upper body, and a circle of strange patterns on his chest.

Yamata no Orochi!