99: Chapter 99 The sandstorm dissipates, leaving everyone stunned.

Alubarna Royal Palace Plaza, the entire venue instantly plunged into dead silence.

Everyone present, without exception, froze in place with their minds going completely blank.

The giant sandstorm that had blotted out the sky just moments ago, casting a dim and lightless shadow over the entire world, had clearly descended right above their heads, leaving only moments before it would completely crush the entire royal city.

Yet, just the second before destruction arrived, that natural disaster capable of swallowing everything abruptly stalled.

There was no roaring, no explosion, only a silent disintegration.

The giant curtain of yellow sand hanging high in the sky, like a fragile sandcastle crushed from the inside by an invisible giant hand, began to collapse layer by layer starting from its core.

The sand grains that had originally rotated violently and raged and whistled completely lost momentum, no longer churning and rampaging, and fell down rustlingly just like ordinary fine sand.

Fine yellow sand fluttered down, landing on the dilapidated plaza ground, on the broken eaves, and on the shoulders of countless panicked soldiers and civilians.

The heavy dust barrier quickly faded away, and the bright sunlight once more pierced through the clouds, spilling over the entire scarred royal city.

The light of survival illuminated this millennium-old ancient city that had nearly been destroyed.

Everyone slowly raised their heads, staring dazedly at the rapidly clearing sky, their faces filled with extreme bewilderment and disbelief.

The Royal Army soldiers all widened their eyes, most of them loosening their tightly gripped weapons, and the crisp clanging sounds of them hitting the ground rose one after another.

Their tightly strung nerves suddenly relaxed, and many people felt their legs go weak, nearly collapsing to the ground.

The Rebel Army soldiers who had originally been fighting and entangling all stopped, and the people confronting each other in pairs successively let go of their weapons, staring blankly up at the sky, in a trance thinking they were in a dream.

The civilians who had been running around fleeing from the natural disaster stopped their flustered steps, stood stiffly in place, and looked up at the dissipating sand mist.

Some panted heavily with lingering fear, some knelt on the ground with weak legs, clasping their hands together and murmuring softly, grateful for surviving a catastrophe.

The rising and falling murmurs of discussion slowly spread across the plaza.

It disappeared.

How did that world-destroying sandstorm from just now suddenly vanish?

No one knew the reason; it was too bizarre. It was clearly about to crash down the very next second.

Is heaven blessing us, or did a hidden expert secretly intervene to save the entire royal city?

There were various opinions and countless guesses, yet no one could give an accurate answer.

Right in the center of the plaza, Crocodile stood in place, the originally arrogant and haughty smile on his face completely freezing.

Replaced by intense astonishment and puzzlement.

He looked up and stared at the rapidly dissipating yellow sand, an indescribable sense of bizarreness welling up in the depths of his heart.

He could clearly perceive that his ability link with the sand all over the sky had been forcibly and abruptly cut off by an unknown force.

That feeling was just like an inescapable net he had spent painstaking effort to weave being severed at all its veins from the outside with a single slash, rendering it completely useless.

"My Sables, how could it vanish into thin air?"

Crocodile muttered to himself, his voice filled with unbelievable shock.

He immediately tried to urge his Sand-Sand Fruit ability, wanting to gather the yellow sand again and reshape the sandstorm.

Yet the ability that had always been as he wished and operated smoothly now became incomparably sluggish and rigid, the yellow sand responding slowly as if its power was firmly suppressed by invisible shackles.

Bone-deep vigilance instantly crawled all over his heart.

The expert intuition honed from years of fighting and campaigning told him that someone had definitely made a move in secret.

Furthermore, the opponent's strength was unfathomable, definitely not below his own.

His sharp eyes quickly swept across the entire field, carefully sensing the surrounding aura.

Yet everywhere his line of sight reached, there were only panicked civilians, weary soldiers in a standoff, and the Straw Hat boy staring fixedly at him from opposite.

There was no aura of any unfamiliar expert, nor the slightest abnormal fluctuation.

"Who is it?"

Crocodile clenched his teeth tightly, killing intent surging in the depths of his eyes, his low questioning suppressed in his throat, yet no one answered.

Opposite him, Luffy was also briefly stunned, looking at the sandstorm that had vanished into thin air with a face full of puzzlement.

But his reaction was far faster than anyone present.

He never obsessed over unknown reasons, only recognizing the combat opportunity right before him.

When the enemy is dazing, that's the best opportunity to strike.

"Gomu Gomu no... Gatling Gun!"

Luffy let out a low shout, his arms instantly stretching to the limit and transforming into afterimages all over the sky.

Countless fist shadows wrapped in the sound of breaking wind pounded densely toward Crocodile's head and chest.

His fists were still stained with the clear water that countered the Sand-Sand Fruit, every strike locked onto his physical body, leaving no room to miss at all.

Crocodile's mind was in utter chaos; he simply didn't have time to adjust his state or steady his figure.

Facing the sudden, storm-like onslaught, he instinctively urged his ability wanting to turn elemental to evade the damage.

Yet the moistened fists firmly restrained his fruit ability, rendering his sanded body completely ineffective.

Dully echoing impact sounds exploded densely above the plaza.

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

Countless iron fists landed solidly upon his flesh, their force fierce and tyrannical.

Crocodile's figure staggered backward repeatedly, qi and blood churning in his chest, a wisp of crimson blood overflowing from the corner of his mouth.

The menacing scar spanning across his entire face on the bridge of his nose slightly twisted due to the extreme pain.

"Damn Straw Hat!"

Crocodile endured the severe pain and shouted angrily, his right arm instantly condensing yellow sand to transform into a sharp giant sand blade, slashing horizontally out with biting killing intent.

Luffy retracted his fists and took to the air, executing a nimble backflip and landing steadily to avoid the slash.

Wiping away the faint bloodstain at the corner of his lips, he revealed a purely brilliant smile.

"Your sandstorm doesn't seem to listen to you anymore, huh?"

Crocodile's complexion turned gloomy to the extreme, his fierce aura soaring. His gloomy eyes locked onto Luffy, churning with intense killing intent and fury, yet he couldn't be bothered to waste breath arguing.

The noisy murmurs around the plaza gradually quieted down as the two entered a standoff once again.

Everyone was still full of doubts, unable to figure out why that city-destroying natural disaster had vanished into thin air.

But everyone had seen one thing clearly.

It was this unremarkable Straw Hat boy who had been fighting with all his might against the powerful Shichibukai, and fighting with all his might to protect everyone in this city.

Not knowing who shouted out first, the silence was broken.

"Hang in there, Straw Hat!"

The next second, rising and falling shouts erupted resoundingly.

"Defeat him!"

"Don't lose!"

"We all believe in you!"

The cheering voices of countless citizens converged together, resounding through the entire Alubarna Plaza.

Listening to the surging cheers by his ears, the smile on Luffy's face grew even more brilliant and dazzling.

He clenched his fists tightly, locking his burning gaze onto Crocodile ahead, the raging fighting spirit in the depths of his eyes completely igniting.

Several kilometers outside the city, beneath the abandoned watchtower.

Lin Han led Kuina walking along the dried-up ancient riverbed, their steps composed, advancing all the way toward the disaster-stricken village in the northwest direction.

The earth-shaking shouts coming from the distant royal city drifted over faintly. His steps paused slightly, a faint smile hooking the corner of his lips, and then he continued walking forward unconcernedly.

Kuina followed closely behind, unable to help turning her head to look toward the royal city direction, a hint of curiosity in the depths of her eyes.

"Master, do you think that Straw Hat boy will be able to defeat Crocodile in the end?"

Lin Han did not turn his head; the wind and sand ahead were gentle, and his tone was calm and resolute.

"He can. He is the man who will become the Pirate King in the future, after all."

Kuina was slightly startled, then smiled knowingly, quickly catching up to the figure ahead.

The long wind of the great desert slowly blew past, whipping up fine yellow sand, smoothing away the footprints the two had left behind bit by bit.

Quietly burying all traces within the boundless sea of sand.