As the meeting was held in an indoor room, the water quickly filled the room, and drowned everyone inside, especially those who had eaten the Devil Fruit!
The weakness of the Devil Fruit was water, especially sea water, but as long as their bodies were submerged in water, they would be weakened and unable to use their ability.
Most of the executive members and even the leader of the Baraque Works were Devil Fruit users, but even if they didn't eat a Devil Fruit, with such an intense and powerful water vortex that suddenly appeared, and swallowed all of them, no one could do anything except wait for death!
Yet, fortunately, their luck was good as the building where they had their meeting burst open, especially the window parts, as the water from Shinra's jutsu was too much to bear and caused some of those who had prepared to run away from the assassination to be pushed out and left the water-filled room.
Unfortunately, when they thought that they were alright, they saw the face of Miss All-Sunday, who had been waiting for them, using her powers to lock their joints!
Crack!
"AAAAAAHHHHH!!"
Yet, Robin ignored their screams and focused all of her attention on the building inside, where Shinra planned his assassination.
Yes, while some of them were able to escape, some of them were still trapped inside, including Crocodile!
After Shinra received an assassination attempt from Bonez, he didn't waste his time and quickly got ready to kill Crocodile, and rob Crocodile's Suna Suna no Mi, talents, knowledge, and everything.
Suna Suna no Mi might not be the Devil Fruit that he sought the most, but it was far better than most Devil Fruits that existed, and it had a lot of potential.
More importantly, as he needed to grow stronger faster, as he wanted to go back to the world of Naruto to evolve his Mangekyou Sharingan to the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan, having a Logia type of Devil Fruit was a good choice since unless his opponent had a special ability, it was impossible for them to attack him.
As for the weakness of the Suna Suna no Mi, while it existed, it was still a powerful Devil Fruit, and he believed he could develop it further.
However, before that, he had to defeat Crocodile first, and as he was on his way from Jaya Island to the Arabasta Kingdom, he had made up all of his assassination plan by disguising himself as one of the members of the executives of the Baroque Works.
With Robin's information, Shinra quickly chose Miss Doublefinger or Zala as a target since her partner was killed by him, and among all of the members of the Baroque works, she was the most normal among many, so it was easy to act like her.
"..." Everyone in the Baroque Works.
So, Shinra defeated Doublefinger after he arrived at the Arabasta Kingdom, locked her up, then disguised himself as her after he hypnotized her, gaining all the necessary information, which led him to this meeting.
His plan was successful; no one discovered his real identity, and everyone thought of him as Zala, but to defeat Crocodile, it was far from that.
To defeat Crocodile, he had to do it swiftly, so Crocodile wouldn't react and be able to awaken the latent power within him.
Yes, Shinra was extremely wary of Crocodile, considering Crocodile was one of the most noticeable characters in the story, and if he took his time on this assassination, he was afraid that Crocodile might awaken his Suna Suna no Mi, which was dangerous, especially when they were in the Arabasta Kingdom, which was more or less a desert kingdom, giving Crocodile a terrain advantage, and if Crocodile ran away, even Shinra was unable to chase him since this kingdom was one of the largest kingdoms in the world.
Swift, deadly, and instant.
Shinra, who didn't have a special power to attack the Logia type of Devil Fruit, knew that he had to rely on a special method, but fortunately, he knew that the weakness of sand was water, but as it was impossible to prepare water by his side without being noticed by Crocodile, and to use water type of jutsu took much of his time, he decided to wet his dagger with his own blood, covered them thoroughly, and as expected, his first attack was successful.
However, this was far from the end, and to guarantee his victory, he quickly used the water release jutsu to strip away the power of the Devil Fruit from Crocodile.
The third and final step was to fully end Crocodile.
Yet, as Crocodile was attacked by Shinra and almost died, all the memories of his life flashed before him.
In the past, he was ambitious, and upon hearing the declaration of Gold Roger before his death, he thought of becoming the Pirate King, like most pirates and young people during that time, and conquering the entire sea for himself.
Unfortunately, when Crocodile thought that he could reach that ambition, it was broken by Whitebeard. He lost one of his arms, and he retreated, feeling bitter, hatred, and anger, thinking that the power was too much for him to handle, and he didn't think he could match that legendary pirate until he heard about the legendary ancient weapon!
Everything was in place; he carefully set up his plans one by one without a single mistake. However, to obtain that ancient weapon, he needed someone who could read history, and that person was Robin.
Naturally, he didn't think that Robin would betray him since he was stronger, and he also knew that she needed his protection for her life.
However, it didn't mean that he let his guard down, and when he noticed her change a few months ago, he thought that she tried to betray him, or even if she didn't, he had to make sure that she wouldn't be able to leave him!
Unfortunately, he had underestimated her, and he was about to die at the hands of nobody.
Yes, even now, he wasn't sure who had killed him, yet... was he willing?
Would he really die like this?
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
Crocodile didn't want to die!
Not until he reached his ambition!
He would become the Pirate King and conquer this world, bringing everything under his rule!
As he thought so, his eyes grew fierce and cold, trying to reach his arm up, reaching the surface of the water, and escaping from the water.
Just a moment!
Only a moment!
As long as the tip of his finger could escape from the water, Crocodile believed that he could reverse the situation!
Even if his heart was stabbed, his body was drowned deep inside the water, he wouldn't give up!
"I AM GOING TO BECOME THE PIRATE KING!"
Everything else was bullshit!
Crocodile would rely on its own power to get up!
The tip of his finger was about to leave the water, and by then, he would use the unique trait of his ability, which allowed him to scatter his body into sand and absorb any liquids, drying everything into sand!
Yet, as Crocodile thought that hope was before him, his neck was stabbed before he was pulled deep inside the water once again, as his dream was destroyed, and he lost everything.
Meanwhile, on the outside, Robin, who was waiting outside, was so nervous, waiting for Shinra to succeed, but this also made her ignore the others, who had awoken despite and calmed down despite their twisted joints.
"Miss All-Sunday, why did you betray us?!"
Mr. 2 asked angrily, to which Robin replied, "Crocodile wanted to kill me first."
"..." Everyone.
"Even so, do you think your partner can defeat our boss?" Miss Valentine snorted at Robin's naivety. "Our boss is a user of the Logia Type! Do you think that he can be defeated?!"
As her voice fell, the world was covered in a sandstorm!
At that moment, all of those followers of Crocodile were happy, thinking that their boss had won!
Only—
"Eh?"
Whether it was Mr. 2, Mr. 3, Miss Valentine, and all others, who had escaped from the water and had their joints twisted by Robin, felt all the moisture on their bodies disappear, and their skin became dry, cracked, and thin, making them ugly like a mummy!
"B-Boss?!"
Their hearts were filled with fear, thinking that they were about to die, but at the same time, their confusion was even bigger as they wondered why they were the ones that was attacked, yet Robin was okay?!
"I am not your boss, but do you want to become my subordinate? If so, then I can let you live."
An unfamiliar voice was heard, and with their hazy vision, they couldn't see his figure properly, especially when it was hidden by the sand; yet, they could see that Robin appeared so happy and hugged this man so intimately.
Yet, facing this question of his, all of them only had a single answer.
So, with their hoarse voice and dry throat, they shouted with all of their might!
"WE WILL FOLLOW YOU TO DEATH, BOSS!"