Capítulo 75: Chapter 71
"Ha, Baten?" Onigumo's expression broke out into amusement for the first time, "That wimp who quit the marines after failing his duty in G-11?"
"Quit?" Rowan's eyebrow quirked up in interest. "Nice, think he made the right decision. Maybe he quitted after remembering how your handsome face looks like."
Onigumo seemed to be mildly triggered hearing Rowan's sarcasm, as his grips on the swords tightened and his mouth shut stoically. Unknown to everyone, his appearance was his complex.
Crocodile looked at his watch as he faked a cool demeanour, "Are we going to stand here all day? I got no time."
Rowan slowly cracked his neck, and the atmosphere took a sudden turn, with Onigumo and Crocodile glaring at him.
"Let's dance, shall we?"
Under the watch of many, Rowan flicked two bullets out of his pocket.
*BOOM* *BOOM* With the booming noises resounding throughout the battlefield consecutively, the bullets, now imbued in the deep black-colour of Armament Haki, began to accelerate in circular motions atop of Rowan.
An insanely quick application of prolonged Armament Haki, even when an object left his contact; it sounded nigh impossible. And yet, Rowan was able to achieve such a feat. How?
Over the years of exploring and playing around with Haki, Rowan gained a deeper understanding of what it meant when Alfred described it as the use of one's 'spiritual energy.' His biggest catch was that wisps of energy, which originated from an ambiguous concept of 'will,' condenses into a black-coloured armour known as Armament Haki.
Based on this, Rowan essentially realized that Haki 'flows.' Then he theorized, can he transmit this Haki to flow outside of his body?
Standing in front of Crocodile and Onigumo, here lied the product of such thought, an ability to imbue the distant bullets with Armament Haki.
"For the Armament to be intact even after leaving his hand…" Witnessing such a sight in a stern manner, Onigumo raised his swords and warned to the Commodores behind him, "Prepare yourselves, here it comes!"
Similarly, Crocodile saw the use of Armament Haki, and raised his palm towards Rowan. The vast amount of sands all around began to swirl onto his hand, forming a large mass of compact sands in front of him, like a mini-sized planet.
All the marines and agents alike stood with fears engraved in their faces, as they watched the Grimheart pirates confront the Vice Admiral of the marines and one of the Seven Warlords. What was unfolding in front of them was a direct clash between the powerhouses within Paradise!
"W-what is that?! I thought Grimheart was the user of Bounce Bounce fruit!" One marine cried out in a mix of confusion and shock.
*Whoosh* With a sudden sound, the blindingly fast bullets, which were still becoming increasingly faster, caught on fire. Simultaneously, the two bullets' speeds and trajectory paths synchronized and continued to rotate with a blazing power.
Watching as Rowan was preparing for his strike, Carmen, Dan, and Cavendish all stepped back.
"Ever since we arrived at Alabasta," Rowan remarked as the fiery orange-coloured octagon rings continued to spin atop of him, "It has been Crocodile here and there. Been pestering us for days, and gotta say, that was irritating."
Watching as how the enemies in front of him didn't reply and stood in caution, Rowan said coldly, "Try using Observation Haki, but it won't matter."
At the next moment, all hell broke loose.
"Entropic Blast."
*BOOOOOOOOOM* Two beams of bullets, resembling that of a laser, shot toward Crocodile and Onigumo at a speed so fast, to an extent where their reflexes weren't fast enough to dodge.
Rowan's attack crumbled Crocodile's planet-like sand structure instantly and collided with his stomach. Although Crocodile managed to cover his stomach with Armament Haki at the last moment, he was sent blasting off from the ground, flying miles away before crashing into a dune, causing a large volume of sands to explode from a sheer force.
Simultaneously, Onigumo crossed his eight Haki-imbued sabers together as the other bullet collided against the middle point where all of the sabers met.
*BOOOOOOOM*
"Ughhhhh!!!" His eight arms shook violently, his feet skid backward, and his face showed an obvious sign of struggling as he sweated profusely and gritted his teeth tightly.
*Crack* The ground he skidded along cracked, reflecting how much force was packed behind the bullet.
"Vice Admiral Onigumo!!" Watching how Onigumo pitifully struggled against Rowan's attack, one Commodore cried out in disbelief.
*SNAP* All of a sudden, due to Onigumo's Armament Haki being unable to handle the combination of Rowan's own Armament Haki and force of the bullet, his eight sabers broke simultaneously!
"Tekkai!!!" Onigumo hurriedly cried out as he hardened his body and covered his chest with Armament Haki, and the bullet slammed onto his chest. Thankfully, it has lost the majority of momentum and fell down harmlessly.
"*Huff* *Huff* How can this be possible?" Onigumo huffed in exhaustion as he stared at the broken sabers and his shaking hands in disbelief. "My Armament Haki, *Huff* falls short against Grimheart?"
Everyone, who spectated such a display of power, stood on their positions, frozen. They previously witnessed how the man, who struggled against one attack from Rowan just now, slew Mr. 1 in a single strike. What just happened seemed unbelievable to them.
The marines felt their souls shimmering as their eyes gazed back to Rowan in fear.
"S-so this is 'Grimheart' Rowan..." Shu said with widened eyes, having nearly dropped his katana.
"What's your rank? Commodore?" Rowan began to walk towards Onigumo impassively, causing the latter to grimace while holding his fists up in guard. "Rear Admiral? Not even sure if the ranks are entirely based on one's strength."
Meanwhile, from the dune that Crocodile crashed onto, a huge volume of sand all around began to swirl once more, towards Crocodile, who was holding onto his bleeding stomach with sweat on his face.
"Come on captain," Cavendish complained from behind, "you stole my spotlight!"
Carmen snorted at hearing this, before levitating above the sky by using the propulsion of fire from the sole of her feet, with her eyes locked to Crocodile.
"*Cough* Desert Gigante."
At the same time, the sands swirling around Crocodile all rose at once, converging into a large mass of a giant humanoid-shaped figure. The giant towered over menacingly, as the sun fully set and darkness began to envelope the surroundings, further amplifying the shocks that lingered within the marine soldiers and agents.
Carmen, up in the air, glared at Crocodile's sand giant. The heat began to envelop the area and the flares flickered around her.
"Flame Empress: Sea of Flames." Carmen raised her hands up high, and a huge amount of flames gushed out of her, before filling the sky above with orange-coloured flames, that lit up the sky in red.
"Was Alabasta always this dangerous?" One Baroque Works agent whispered as his eyes couldn't believe what was unfolding in front of him. On one side, a torrent of flames swirled on the sky, while on the other side, a colossal sand titan stood with a height that touched all the way to the clouds above.
"Back out immediately!!!" Hina shouted to all the marines around as she began to dash off from Yuba, getting herself away from being in between Carmen and Crocodile. Shu followed suit and moved along with Hina.
"No way we can face off against something like that..." Miss Valentine weakly stated, before she was grabbed by Mr. 2 and pulled along. Similarly, the other officer agents all dashed off to the opposite side of where the marines were running away to.
"*Cough* That attack did catch me off guard. However... in the desert, I'm undefeatable." Wiping the blood off of his chin, Crocodile glared at Carmen who was floating some distance away from him.
"Flame against me, in a terrain full of sand? Talk about taking imaginations too far."
Crocodile said coldly as lifted up his left arm, which was attached to a golden-coloured hook, and hacked it in a downward motion, "Desert Gigante Espada!!!"
*SWOOOSHHHH* A giant wave of sand, resembling that of a Tsunami, erupted with sheer volume, encasing the whole Yuba as it flew towards Carmen.
Carmen gritted her teeth as she saw the domineering view of sand crashing over the whole area. Her arms moved down with the palms facing the overwhelming sand wave, and she cried out, "Flame Ediction: Calamity!!"
The flames that swirled above her suddenly blasted towards the sand wave like a huge tornado made of fire, creating a magnificent view that left the others speechless.
*BOOOOOOOOM* The huge volumes of flame and sand clashed against one another, creating a huge booming noise that vibrated across the whole area.
However, the flame was quickly overwhelmed by the sheer volume of sand that continued to pour in. Carmen was left surprised by how quickly her flame was dominated, but albeit retreated from her position as the sand kept crashing onto her.
Simultaneously, Dan, Cavendish, and the marine officers all dashed away from their positions as the sand gushed in without a stop—leaving only Rowan standing on his own.
"Desert King... makes sense. So in the end, contrary to what I believed, his title represented his ability." Rowan acknowledged Crocodile's strength as he cocked his right fist back, imbued with Armament Haki, ready to meet the huge wave of sand that towered over him.
Over the years, Rowan managed to master one of the most powerful techniques he could muster with the Bounce Bounce fruit: the blast produced through the convergence of many bounce forces, which was made possible by slightly tweaking the duration of each bounce. Three years ago, he only managed to succeed it once against Baten. Now, coupled with his arduously trained Armament Haki, increased physical prowess, and the improved control over his ability...
"Twenty-Five Layers Convergence: Juggernaut Blast." With his demeanour still calm, Rowan thrust his fist forward with an exploding strength.
*BOOOOOOOOOOM* One overwhelmingly loud noise thundered across the whole field. The ground all around Rowan cracked and broke as the vibrations produced from his motion rebounded.
Under the terrified gazes of everyone, the inconceivable force generated by Rowan's punch blasted through the sheer volume of sand in a straight fashion, demolishing Crocodile's attack like an air cannon.
Crocodile's eyes widened and his arms dropped onto his sides in stupefaction. What just happened seemed surreal to him. 'One of my strongest techniques, used in the most favourable environment for my ability, countered with merely one punch?'
Rowan stood on his spot with his gaze, completely serious without a speck of complacency. Turning back, he faced his crew members, "Leave Crocodile to me. It's not that you guys are weak, but fighting him within the desert... yeah, Carmen's clash just now proved what would happen."
"Aye aye captain." Dan said playfully, as his eyes shifted to Onigumo and his subordinates with a cold gleam.
"My hands are getting itchy, I need some action!!" Cavendish unsheathed his sword out of impulsiveness.
Carmen crossed her arms and turned her head away in response, while mildly blushing from an embarrassment.
"Vice Admiral Onigumo, what should we do?" On the other side, watching as the shocking scene unfolded, one Commodore asked Onigumo with a trace of anxiety within his voice.
Onigumo couldn't speak; Rowan's strength far surpassed his expectation. The report from the past specified that most of the damage within G-11 was caused by Carmen, and not by Rowan; he originally expected Rowan to have a similar level of strength as the past with only the capability to use Haki. Now, in his eyes, Rowan looked as huge as the three Admirals within the Marineford.
"So even this isn't enough to bring Grimheart down..." Onigumo said in a grim tone, clenching his fist in anger. "Forget Grimheart; leave him with Crocodile."
Onigumo turned his face to Carmen, Dan, and Cavendish, who were standing at some distance away from Rowan, "We will subdue them first, and wait for a right opportunity to strike Grimheart."
PENSAMENTOS DOS CRIADORES 
BravoBuds
BravoBuds Twenty-Five Layers Convergence: Juggernaut Blast. The best representation of this technique would be Serious Series: Serious Punch, from Saitama (One Punch Man).
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