Neither dodging nor blocking—in Yamato’s eyes, that was enough to classify someone as an idiot.
After all, who would use their head to take the kanabo head-on? Forget humans, even wild beasts knew to dodge when someone tried to attack them.
In truth, Crocodile had not expected things to turn out like this either.
Aside from the Dark-Dark Fruit, which caused its user to suffer twice the pain, the common trait of all Logia-type fruits was their ability of elemental transformation. This passive ability made conventional attacks completely incapable of harming Logia users.
According to Crocodile’s expectations, Yamato would swing her kanabo at him, his body would instantly transform into sand, and then, accompanied by a mocking laugh and the reformation of the scattered sand, he would ridicule the young woman’s powerlessness.
But despite looking so young, she actually knew how to use Armament Haki!
“An attack imbued with Haki… It’s been a long time…”
Haki was hardly common in the first half of the Grand Line. Aside from a small number of powerful individuals, most people had never even heard of it.
Even those who could use it did not necessarily know what it was called on the seas.
It was only starting from the Kuja that Haki gradually became more widespread.
His battle with Whitebeard had already taken place several years ago. Since then, Crocodile had barely used Haki at all, because there had been no need.
There was no need to evade with Observation Haki. With elemental transformation alone, combined with Alabasta’s vast desert terrain, Crocodile was already practically invincible.
After years of complacency, the cruelty of the New World had grown unfamiliar to Crocodile.
Still, even in the New World, Crocodile might not have been this wary. His opponent simply looked far too young. Mastering Haki at such an age was rare even in the New World.
Even many powerful individuals had been much older when they mastered Armament Haki. Zephyr had only mastered Armament Haki hardening at the age of thirty-four, which already made him a late bloomer among Haki practitioners.
For twelve-year-olds like Yamato and Chloe to be proficient in Haki, they either had an exceptionally powerful parent or teacher, or they were the even rarer kind of natural-born monster.
“It’s been a long time since I felt this. The last person who made me feel pain was that b*stard Whitebeard…”
The pain in his face seemed to remind Crocodile of days gone by, but Yamato had no intention of waiting around while he reminisced about his life.
Her experiences living in Wano Country and Fishman Island had taught Yamato that some people who looked like idiots were often extraordinarily durable. Attacks that seemed effective would feel as though they had struck cotton.
Before long, they would stand back up as though nothing had happened, such as Big Pan, Jack, or Kaido.
Yes, in Yamato’s eyes, even her own father was an idiot sometimes. The things he did were always so abnormal.
And when dealing with people like that, the answer was to keep attacking.
“Thunder Bagua!”
One good move could carry you through anything. As Kaido’s most fundamental technique, Thunder Bagua had given rise to most of his combat system. Even some of the techniques Yamato had developed herself were derived from it.
“Hmph, brat. I was merely careless just now. Do you think the same move will work a second time?”
Looking at the kanabo Yamato swung toward him, Crocodile repeated his previous action and stood perfectly still.
‘Even if she knows Armament Haki, so what? As long as I use Observation Haki to sense where she intends to strike and transform that part of my body into sand beforehand, the attack naturally won’t hit me.’
In addition to the passive elemental transformation triggered when they were struck, Logia users could also expend stamina to transform voluntarily, allowing them to evade even more attacks.
‘Blocking with Armament Haki might not be a bad choice either. There’s no way this brat’s Haki could be stronger than mine.’
While Crocodile considered how he should deal with Yamato and restore his dignity, her kanabo had already arrived in front of him.
It was at that moment that Crocodile realized something seemed to be wrong with his body.
‘Why… can’t I use my Haki?!’
Whether it was sensing with Observation Haki or defending with Armament Haki, the abilities Crocodile remembered being able to wield as naturally as his own limbs seemed to have abandoned him at this moment.
It was like seeing a familiar type of question during an exam and remembering every detail of the lesson, yet being unable to recall what the formula on the blackboard had looked like.
That brief hesitation brought severe consequences. Yamato’s second strike hit the mark once again, sending Crocodile flying for a second time.
“Um… He seems like more than just an idiot. Am I bullying him a little?”
Even Yamato was beginning to doubt reality. After all, even an idiot would dodge or run after being hit once. How could anyone stand still and take two consecutive blows?
“Desert Grande Espada!!”
Whoosh!
The yellow sand beneath Yamato’s feet began to surge, instantly forming a broad blade that stabbed toward her waist, seemingly intending to cleave her in half.
On these seas, saving face could be considered more important than anything else. As far as Crocodile was concerned, he had lost more face today than in all thirty years of his life combined.
No one would think him weak for losing to Whitebeard. They would even consider it perfectly natural. After all, Whitebeard was now known as the world’s strongest pirate, the undisputed strongest among all living pirates.
But if word of what happened today got out…
Forget his title as the national hero, even the intimidation carried by his status as a Shichibukai would diminish.
Crocodile had already cast his earlier thoughts aside. All he wanted now was to regain his dignity. Even if his Haki had failed him, he still had his Devil Fruit ability.
“Phew… That was close, that was close… If you know how to fight back, then I don’t have to feel guilty about beating you up.”
Yamato narrowly avoided Crocodile’s attack. Rather than feeling upset that he had attacked her, she instead felt considerably more at ease.
Moreover, Yamato did not retreat backward. She charged forward instead. Against a Logia user like this, creating distance would only give the opponent opportunities to wear her down.
This time, Crocodile did not arrogantly remain where he was. Those two club strikes had landed squarely on him, and the bruising around his eye and blood at the corner of his mouth both testified to that reality.
However, Crocodile seemed to have forgotten that his opponent had someone with wings on her side.
Just as he flew into the air, a scorching sensation came from beside his ear. Accompanied by a searing wave of flames, a strange blade flashed past his ear.
Crimson flames burned along the eerie purple blade, and a few strands of hair turned to ashes the moment they fell.
The Sandai Kitetsu brought back years ago had ultimately become Chloe’s own weapon. The surging flames resembled a phoenix spreading its wings as they rushed straight toward Crocodile’s face.
“Blazing Phoenix: Scorching Wave!”
“Namuji Glacier Fang!”
At the same time, Yamato below breathed frigid cold air upward. Crocodile’s body transformed into scattered sand, allowing him to evade the combined attack, but the cold air and flames collided in midair, producing a large amount of water vapor.
With a kick from Chloe, the vapor condensed into countless water needles that flew toward Crocodile who was transformed into sand.
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