# Chapter 340: A Desperate Gamble
From leaving Travira Island in the New World, traveling to the North Blue, then returning to the East Blue, and finally re-entering the Grand Line, this journey had already taken Ian about a month or two.
During this time, Ian naturally hadn't been idle. The card fragments for Great Serpent were finally collected during this period.
Since the initial first-time recharge gift pack had given him 60 Great Serpent fragments, this native five-star red card had become the easiest card to collect. Even so, constantly refreshing the fragment shop had not only cost Ian a large amount of diamonds but had also made his eyes blurry from staring at the screen.
However, after successfully synthesizing the Great Serpent card, Ian discovered that spending so much time and money had actually been worth it.
The Great Serpent card was Ian's first native five-star card, so only after fully synthesizing it did he finally realize why native five-star cards were so rare.
Aside from higher base stats and growth stats, Ian discovered that native five-star cards actually had two ultimate skills!
And even the bond attributes were more numerous than four-star cards!
**[Great Serpent]**
Card Star Rating: Five Stars (Each level: +5 Strength, +5 Speed, +5 Life, +5 Nen)
Title: Will of the Earth
Level: 1
Strength: 300
Speed: 300
Life: 450
Nen: 450
Skills: Release·Purification: Releases flying spatial force to attack opponents. (Activatable with Master-level Nen Training)
Flame Cascade: Releases thunder-fire force, attacking opponents at long, medium, and close ranges. (Activatable with Master-level Nen Training)
Manifest·Mirror Prayer: Shatters the space in front of opponents. (Activatable with Master-level Nen Training)
Press·Correct: Reflects opponent's attacks. (Activatable with Master-level Nen Training)
Ultimate: Great God: Seizes one-tenth of the opponent's soul power/life force. (Activatable with Master-level Nen Training)
Chaos: Let everything return to nothingness! (Activatable with Grandmaster-level Nen Training)
Bonds: Obtain Chris: Life +35%
Obtain Chamille: Speed +40%
Obtain Yashiro: Strength +4%
Obtain Storm Gaenitz: Strength +33%
Obtain Iori Yagami: Speed +36%
Obtain Kyo Kusanagi: Strength +34%
Obtain Chizuru Kagura: Nen +38%
These were the initial stats of the Great Serpent card. At the time, after obtaining this card, Ian wanted to test it immediately. However, he discovered that although most of Great Serpent's abilities seemed usable with Master-level Nen Training, the consumption of Nen was simply exaggerated!
The thunder-fire attack of the Flame Cascade skill was relatively manageable, but the skills involving spatial force felt like they could drain him dry.
Ian's abilities all came from the system's endowment. It seemed that the more advanced the power involved, the greater the Nen consumption, especially when using spatial force as an attack.
As for Great Serpent's two ultimate skills, Ian hadn't had a chance to test them yet. The only one he could currently use was the Great God ultimate (Soul Extraction), but he imagined the consumption wouldn't be low either.
Ian had originally planned to wait until he had more card slots and higher levels before using this native five-star card. That way, with his Nen and other attributes greatly increased, the consumption would feel smaller. But now, he wanted to teach Crocodile a lesson.
Normally, against Crocodile, using a card that could manipulate water would be better. But for some reason, Ian had never managed to draw such a card. Although the Samurai Spirits series cards had appeared, he hadn't drawn the Kazama Sogetsu card, and it rarely appeared when refreshing the card shop. If he had that card, defeating Crocodile would be like child's play.
Sometimes, Ian felt that his path was becoming more and more deviant. Although he used swordsmanship, he could no longer be considered a proper swordsman.
But since he had the card system, he couldn't just abandon it and pursue some kind of sword path. That would be the real wrong path, right? In this pirate world, strength was everything, so naturally, he should do whatever made him stronger.
"Strange, what is he doing?"
When Ian switched to the Great Serpent card, Crocodile on the ground looked at him standing still in the air and felt somewhat puzzled.
However, despite his confusion, Crocodile still attacked Ian.
"Desert Royal Saber!"
Crocodile's arms suddenly transformed into four massive sand blades, interweaving in a cross pattern as they flew toward Ian in the sky.
Throughout their battle, Crocodile had mostly used this long-range attack mode. Although this tactic was clever, it also had a weakness: under Observation Haki perception, Ian could easily dodge.
However, the moment Crocodile launched his attack, Ian also moved!
He didn't rely on his flight ability to dodge Crocodile's attack. Instead, after sheathing Thousand Cherry Blossoms, a sinister eye illusion suddenly flashed on his forehead.
"What is that!? A third eye!?" Crocodile was shocked when he saw this.
Then he saw Ian holding Robin with his right hand while spreading the five fingers of his left hand toward the incoming Desert Royal Saber.
A ring of pitch-black light emitted from Ian's hand. This ring took the form of a flat disc, moving at extreme speed, leaving a trail of identical afterimages behind it as it directly collided with Crocodile's sand blades!
Without any warning, Crocodile's sand blades simply vanished. Then the ring continued undiminished, shooting straight toward Crocodile.
"Not good!" Crocodile was startled and quickly turned into wind-blown sand to escape from his position, while the ring struck the ground where he had been standing.
Silently, the ground where Crocodile had been standing now had a cylindrical pit, so deep that its bottom couldn't be seen, as if the ground at that spot had simply disappeared!
Release·Purification! Commonly known as Black Particle. This was essentially a technique that used spatial force as an attack. That pitch-black ring was actually a kind of hyperspace that could devour and erase objects along its path. Because even light was devoured, it appeared completely black. Although this technique could only fly in a straight line, making it easy to dodge, its power was astonishing.
Crocodile's form solidified as he stared in horror at the pitch-black hole Ian had created in the ground, completely unable to understand what had just happened.
He had always thought that what Ian had shown during the Salamis battle was his full capability. But who knew Ian had been holding back? He actually had other abilities!?
Nico Robin, held in Ian's arm, was the same. She also didn't know what Ian had just done, only seeing him gently push his palm forward...
This kind of silent yet devastatingly powerful technique looked extremely eerie, so both Crocodile and Nico Robin were somewhat frightened.
But as the one who had used it, Ian was inwardly wryly smiling.
If this were in a game, Great Serpent's Release·Purification technique would be equivalent to Iori's 108-Style·Dark Hand. But when actually using it, he realized it was completely different. This seemingly casual attack had directly consumed three thousand points of Ian's Nen!
Almost as much as the Black Dragon Wave!
This gave Ian the feeling that so-called native five-star red cards were simply energy guzzlers! It probably wasn't just the Great Serpent card; other native five-star red cards would be the same.
This somewhat fit the principle of card games, where such rare top-tier cards were usually only used by players in the late game...
Ian had now devoured the Black Dragon Wave and activated the Evil Eye skill, so his Nen value was skyrocketing. But if this continued, no matter how much Nen he had, it wouldn't be enough to sustain the consumption!
Finish this quickly!
With this thought, Ian's mind moved, and suddenly, a pale thunder-fire erupted from the ground where Crocodile was standing!
This was Flame Cascade. In essence, it was still pale flames, but they descended with the speed of lightning!
Pure lightning would have minimal effect on Crocodile, but flames were different. Under high temperatures, even sand could be melted.
This thunder-fire came so abruptly that Crocodile, caught off guard, finally took a hit!
The thunder-fire struck down, grazing his shoulder and sweeping across his right chest. Crocodile let out a painful scream as his entire body became visible, rolling on the ground.
On his chest, a straight, massive wound appeared, still smoking from the pale flames that had burned him.
"Damn it! What did he just do!?"
Crocodile was drenched in sweat from the intense pain. His usually slicked-back hair was now disheveled. Flame Cascade had the speed of lightning and the attack power of flames. Even though Crocodile tried to dodge, maintaining his sand form, the flames had directly melted his sand body, causing direct damage to his real body.
This situation was very similar to when Ian had injured Aokiji before.
Amidst the intense pain, Crocodile remained relatively calm. He knew that if there was one thunder-fire, there would be a second and a third. So after recovering slightly, he immediately turned his body back into sand and dispersed, merging into the surrounding wind and sand.
This way, Crocodile felt safer.
Then, he began to think about how to attack Ian.
After a moment's thought, Crocodile had an idea. He decided to take a risk.
To be fair, the Sand-Sand Fruit's direct attack methods weren't that numerous. Attacks like sand blades wouldn't have much effect on Ian.
However, the Sand-Sand Fruit had a rather deadly ability: desiccation!
"Whatever! Even if he senses it with his Observation Haki and attacks me, as long as I can endure some injury and grab hold of him, then I'll be the one to win!" Crocodile thought this amidst the wind and sand.
So, he immediately controlled his sand body and began moving toward Ian...