Driiiiing!
Driiiiing!
Driiiiing!
The midday sun beat down upon the boundless desert. The scorching heat was like an oven turned on, and Kong Tai and his companions were the roast meat inside, about to be cooked.
"Ah... this darn weather, it's too hot!"
A Luo drooped his head, sticking out his tongue. He slumped over the camel's back, all the excitement from the morning long gone. To his left and right, A Hua and A Tao were like him, their bodies limp like salted fish just hauled ashore and hung out to dry.
"I heard the dream city of Alabasta, 'Rain Land', is just ahead. It's the only city unaffected by the drought; it must be very prosperous!"
A Tao straightened up, stretched out his hand, and wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve. He then took out a cigarette pack from his pocket, pulled out a cigarette, and placed it in his mouth. He put the pack down and fumbled for his lighter.
*Click—!*
A flame flickered to life. He lowered his head, brought the cigarette tip to the flame, and took a deep drag.
*Sizzle sizzle!!*
The tobacco and fire met, igniting with a bright flash. With an inflating sound, the cigarette was lit.
*Ding—!*
A Tao snapped the lighter shut, pocketed it, took another deep puff, extended his right hand, and held the cigarette between his index and middle fingers. Lowering his hand, he looked up at the firebird to his right, exhaled a smoke ring, and asked.
"Firebird, how much longer until we reach Rain Land!"
"Not much further, not much further."
Firebird turned his head and smiled at A Tao. "Brother Tao, the desert weather is indeed unbearable. We've been here a long time to get used to it, haha!!"
"Once we reach Rain Land, we can rest properly. It's the most prosperous place in Alabasta's inland cities, besides the capital, Arabasta."
"Oh!"
A Tao raised his hand, took a drag from his cigarette, turned to look at the distant yellow sand dunes, and said, "Tell me, how prosperous is it?"
"How prosperous..."
Firebird stroked his chin, pondered for a moment, and then said, "It has Alabasta's largest inland lake, and in the center of that lake, lies the 'Rain Banquet', the kingdom's largest casino."
"What's so fun about a casino!"
A Tao waved his hand, uninterested in casinos. He turned to look at Firebird and asked, "Besides the casino, is there anything else fun?"
"Uh!"
Firebird hesitated for a moment before replying, "It seems there's not much else to do besides the casino. After all, this country is just a desert nation. It's definitely not as colorful as other countries or islands. To have such a large casino, it was only established after the Shichibukai, Crocodile, arrived. Rain Land didn't have such a large casino before!"
"Oh!"
A Tao wasn't particularly interested in this largest casino.
Just then, everyone on the camels straightened up in unison, their gazes fixed on the front.
"Sandstorm?"
Firebird saw the several huge, orange-yellow sand pillars reaching into the sky in the distance. He quickly withdrew his gaze and shouted at the front of the camel train, "Brother Silver Hair, sandstorm, sandstorm."
He wouldn't be so nervous about an ordinary sandstorm, but the several sandstorms rapidly advancing towards them were clearly not small. Even from a great distance, he felt a strong wind relentlessly approaching them. Those tornadoes, connecting sky and earth, were kicking up an endless amount of sand, obscuring everything in front. The orange-yellow sand looked like an endless wall, rapidly advancing towards them.
"A welcome gift?"
"This level of sandstorm is truly terrifying!"
Kong Tai straightened up, gazed at the sandstorm in the distance, raised his gourd, and took a big swig. Although he already knew Crocodile wouldn't be as useless as in the anime, to achieve this level, he was indeed worthy of being a man who could fight Barrett to a draw in his youth and challenge Whitebeard. Even if this guy hadn't awakened his Haki, with this level of Devil Fruit development, ordinary Vice Admirals should be no match for him. He just wondered if this guy was truly vulnerable to water. Didn't his sand absorb water? How could he have been hit by Luffy's water-wrapped fist then? He couldn't understand it. He'd stop thinking about it; he'd test it with water when they met.
Kong Tai put down his gourd, turned around, and shouted loudly to the people behind him, "Gather around me, don't run around."
"Okay."
The group replied, shook their reins, and quickly gathered around Kong Tai.
"Space Domain!"
Kong Tai chanted inwardly. Countless layers of transparent space spread out from him in all directions, forming a transparent spatial shield with a diameter of forty meters around him. As his age increased, the range and layers of his space domain also grew.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!!
The group, watching the sandstorm rapidly sweep towards them, instinctively closed their eyes. After a while, the expected strong winds and sand did not arrive. They opened their eyes and looked at the sky in utter astonishment. The wind was still blowing, but as it reached them, it seemed to encounter something and was blocked by a transparent space in front of them. The oncoming storm was split in half by the space and glided past them on either side. Inside the space domain, they felt no wind at all.
"Truly magical."
Firebird's two subordinates looked at the yellow sand blowing past overhead, their faces full of shock. It was the first time they had seen Kong Tai's ability. They had known Kong Tai was powerful before, but they hadn't expected him to be so powerful. This was a natural disaster! And he had blocked it so easily.
"So strong!"
"What are you looking at?"
Firebird turned around and yelled at his two subordinates, who were standing frozen in place, "Hurry up, or do you want to go out and experience the sandstorm for yourselves!"
"Ah!"
The two subordinates snapped back to attention and quickly shook their reins, following the group. Listening to the continuous whistling wind outside, they looked at the figure on the lead camel, their eyes filled with even greater awe.
Firebird looked at the reactions of his two subordinates, shook his head, retracted his gaze, and looked at the wind and sand being blocked outside the domain. A flicker of excitement flashed in his eyes. Although he had seen Kong Tai's space domain on Ore Island last time and felt its magic, the domain he saw now was clearly more powerful. He remembered that the domain last time wasn't this large. This time... he estimated it was twice the diameter of last time. Twice... meaning the volume had increased eightfold.
"Truly terrifying!"
He withdrew his gaze, looked at Kong Tai's back, and his excitement intensified. The more powerful Kong Tai became, the more valuable his news reports would be, and the higher his status in their newspaper would be. Seeing Kong Tai's strength increase so much, how could he not be excited?
In fact, Kong Tai's domain expanded with his age. Although the domain had expanded, his control over it at this moment was not yet enough to truly freeze an Admiral. While he couldn't freeze an Admiral, freezing someone at the Vice Admiral level was more than enough. Therefore, Kong Tai's current strength, even without relying on his swordsmanship or teleportation, was enough to place him among the world's most powerful individuals. On this sea, apart from a few peak powerhouses, ordinary strong individuals were like fish on a chopping board or ants crawling on the ground within his domain; he could do whatever he pleased. And these people wouldn't even be able to resist.