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"Hmph! So you're the helper Princess Vivi found! I've already arranged for super bombs to be buried in the plaza!"
"The blast radius reaches 5 kilometers! If you don't want to die, then let me go."
"I promise to leave this country immediately and never return!"
Crocodile's expression darkened when he heard that Kaito was the helper Vivi had found.
He had originally planned to detonate the bomb when the Royal Army and the rebels gathered in the plaza and started fighting, but the situation was now completely out of his hands.
Left with no other option, he fell back on the super bomb as a bargaining chip, grasping for any sliver of hope he could find.
Clap, clap, clap!
Kaito couldn't help but raise his hands and applaud.
'As expected of one of the smartest people in the era of the Pirate King. The moment things turn against him, he drops everything without hesitation. A man like this would be endless trouble if he were let go.'
Though, with Crocodile's strength, he couldn't cause the slightest damage to the Jura-Tempest Federation. Thinking that far, Kaito turned a brilliant smile on Crocodile.
"Good! Since you've said so, I'll believe you this once. But I'm warning you! If we meet again, you're dead!"
Disbelief flickered across Crocodile's grim face. He hadn't actually expected Kaito to agree.
Judging others by himself, he never would have let a threat like this walk free. If their positions were reversed, he would have snuffed out the trouble right then and there.
"Good! Since Your Excellency is so straightforward, I promise to leave at once. If I ever cross paths with anyone from your Jura-Tempest Federation again, I will go the other way!"
Crocodile said it with an expression that made it very clear he expected Kaito to believe none of it.
"That! Boss! I..."
Nico Robin looked at Crocodile, who was apparently about to be set free, and spoke up in a hurry. Before she could finish, Kaito cut her off.
"Don't even think about it. I said I'd let him go. That doesn't include you."
Hearing that, Crocodile, who had paused at Robin's shout, changed his expression and kept walking.
He could only give up on Nico Robin. The ancient weapon Pluton was tempting, but what use was Pluton if he was dead?
Just as Crocodile reached the steps, Rimuru's voice rang out from behind him.
"Hey! Crocodile!"
He turned his head on instinct toward the sound.
He saw Kaito looking straight at him with a brilliant smile, and then he heard the words that made his blood run cold.
"Yo! We meet again! I told you, if we meet again, you're dead! Get him!"
At those words, every Academy City Guard present surged forward at once. As for fighting one-on-one, that concept did not exist here.
Why bother with a fair fight when you could just swarm him?
"Bastard! You broke your word! [Desert Spada]!"
Crocodile, furious beyond words, dodged a slash and roared at Kaito.
Pfft!
His right arm was cut, and blood ran freely down to his hand.
"How is this possible! You didn't even use Armament Haki! How can you hurt me!"
"Oh my! Of course you've never seen high-end stuff like magic! Pfft!"
At some point Kaito had set up a table. He and the other three idlers sat around it cracking melon seeds, watching the whole scene with great entertainment.
"Damn it! How dare you ignore me like this! [Ground Death]!!"
Crocodile dropped to one knee, his bleeding right hand pressed flat to the ground. Everything around him began turning to sand, outward from that point. Even the solid rock beneath them crumbled to dust in an instant.
"Hmph! Not a chance! [Magic Release: Trample]!"
A Security Force member's body flared with a surge of terrifying purple magic. He stamped his right foot down hard, and a wave of invisible force tore along the ground straight toward Crocodile.
Seeing it coming, Crocodile scrambled to his feet and threw himself aside.
Bang!
Thump!
Crack!
Under the relentless assault, Crocodile was driven to his knees, covered in blood. Even the golden hook on his left hand had been bent out of shape.
"Hoo hoo hoo! To think that I, Crocodile, would end up like this! I refuse to accept it!"
Surrounded on all sides, Crocodile threw his head back and howled at the sky, his face twisted with rage and grief.
Watching this, Rimuru leaned toward Kaito, who was spitting out melon seed shells.
"Kai-chan! Why do I feel like we're the villains and he's the protagonist? Isn't this a little too cruel?"
Kaito blinked, then turned to Milim and Veldora.
"Cruel?"
Both shook their heads without hesitation. To them, this barely even registered.
Kaito nodded, his expression settling into one of complete understanding, and called out to the Security Force members surrounding Crocodile.
"Then be even more cruel!"
"Yes, Kaito-sama! *n"
At the order, everyone dropped their weapons and piled in at once, punching and kicking the now-defenseless Crocodile with great enthusiasm.
"Hey! Leave me a gap, I can't kick him!"
"Get out of the way, let me get another one in!"
"Screw you! Take this!"
"How dare you threaten Kaito-sama! You won't even know what hit you!"
And so Crocodile, one of the formidable Seven Warlords of the Sea, was beaten to within an inch of his life by a mob, one punch and one kick at a time.
"Hey, hey, hey! Stop, stop, stop! He's not breathing!"
"No way, seriously? That's your fault for hitting so hard!"
"It's so rare we get to do this, and now there's nothing left to play with!"
Everyone was devastated.
Off to the side, Nico Robin had been watching the entire spectacle. She was already on her knees, paralyzed with terror.
The thought that she might be next was enough. Robin had already made up her mind to end it herself. Being tortured to death like that was not how she intended to go.
"Alright, dead is dead! You lot, deal with the body!"
Kaito glanced at the motionless Crocodile and waved a hand, telling them to clean it up.
Then, as an afterthought, he took out his trusted Conqueror's Banner and absorbed the corpse with a single pull.
He looked at the soul now inside the Banner, rated at ten thousand, and felt a wave of admiration rise in his chest.
'Goodness, Crocodile is something else! One of him is worth ten thousand! If I absorbed all the other Seven Warlords of the Sea... tsk tsk tsk!!!'
Crocodile: Are you even human?
The thought was so delightful that Kaito let out a long, cackling laugh. Nico Robin, watching this, became even more resolved to commit suicide.
"Alright, Crocodile is dealt with. Next up is you, Miss Nico Robin..."