Crocodile took that blow squarely.
Unlike his earlier carelessness, even though his Observation Haki had sensed the danger, Crocodile still failed to evade the attack.
Moisture was Crocodile’s nemesis. Although there was little water vapor in the desert, nearly all the vapor created when Yamato’s ice evaporated had been struck onto him by Chloe.
After being kicked away, Crocodile could not use elemental transformation to cushion the impact. His entire body was buried in the yellow sand, and he did not climb back out for quite some time.
“Mom? We could’ve handled him! You stepped in too soon!”
“Our purpose here wasn’t to fight him. We’ve already caused enough commotion that the people in Nanohana have noticed what’s happening here. Dragging this out any longer serves no purpose. It’s time to leave.”
Amphitrite had not appeared because Crocodile had injured Chloe. In Amphitrite’s eyes, a superficial scratch like that meant nothing.
Lunarians did not need to worry about wound infections or poisoning. Suffering minor injuries was perfectly normal for them.
Although something about Crocodile was rather strange—after taking several solid beatings, he had inexplicably grown stronger—this level of Crocodile was what Amphitrite considered a suitable sparring opponent.
Someone who only relied on a Logia-type ability to bully rookies in the first half of the Grand Line was not worth fighting at all.
Once they reached the New World, the cruelty of the sea would naturally teach them a sufficient lesson.
As for Crocodile, killing him would not be difficult for Amphitrite, but there was no point. Eliminating a Shichibukai here would bring them no benefit.
The most likely result would be that the World Government used it as an excuse to continue haggling with Nereus over other matters.
This trip was merely to gather some Dance Powder as part of their usual routine and give the two children some experience. There was no need to cause trouble for Fishman Island.
Perhaps even Crocodile had never imagined that the title of Shichibukai did more than merely bring him convenience. Sometimes, it could even save his life because others found killing him too troublesome.
“There’s no need to be dissatisfied. This guy is still a Shichibukai, so he can’t die here for no reason. Once you’ve grown stronger, you can come back and defeat him yourselves.”
Amphitrite picked up the Dance Powder nearby, grabbed Yamato, and told Chloe to follow. She then left with the two of them without even bothering to look at Crocodile, whom she had kicked away.
Of course, if Crocodile had still intended to pursue them, the outcome might have been very different.
However, Crocodile did not continue chasing them. He could not quickly defeat even those two little girls, so the adult who had appeared from nowhere would be even more troublesome to deal with. One careless move, and he might lose his life here.
Crocodile was not the kind of person who would fight to the death solely for the sake of pride. Otherwise, he would not have survived his clash with Whitebeard; he would have become one of the unlucky fools who died at Whitebeard’s hands.
…
A wisp of Flames of Regeneration was placed over Chloe’s arm. The wound, which had already stopped bleeding and begun to heal, vanished completely, leaving her skin smooth without even the faintest scar.
The other crew members were gathering the Dance Powder and the other supplies they had purchased. The scattered nature of the islands meant that many countries had their own specialties, while conditions on the Grand Line made transportation and trade inconvenient. Some neighboring countries did not even have contact with one another.
Supplies that were commonplace here might sell for an exorbitant price on another island.
Chloe did not take the earlier battle too seriously. She merely felt that her Haki was not strong enough yet and that her body was still insufficiently durable once she deactivated her defensive mode.
Yamato, however, sat gloomily at the bow of the ship, seemingly lost in thought.
Chloe found this very unreasonable. In her understanding, Yamato was supposed to be an optimist. Even when Kaido was mentioned, she would only use an extensive vocabulary to complain about him over and over, rather than hide in a corner and sulk.
Of course, if Kaido were standing in front of her, she might behave differently.
“What’s wrong?”
“That blow should’ve landed on me, right?”
“What are you talking about?”
“I mean that Sir Crocodile’s hook! He was clearly aiming at me! If you hadn’t extinguished your flame to pull me away, he never would’ve been able to hurt you!”
“That’s what you’re upset about? My defenses are stronger than yours to begin with. Besides, there was scorpion venom in that guy’s hook. Looking at it that way, taking the hit for you was actually the best option, since poison barely affects me.
Uncle Wobbegong conducted antibody experiments in the laboratory. Even the deadly venom of a blue-ringed octopus Fish-Man doesn’t work on me.
And look, you can’t even tell I was injured, can you?”
Chloe waved her arm in front of Yamato, once again demonstrating that she was perfectly fine.
“But you still got hurt because of me…”
“Aren’t we friends? If I were in trouble, would you just stand by and do nothing?”
Chloe rubbed her chin, looking as though she were analyzing what strange ideas were going through Yamato’s head.
“Of course not!”
Yamato jumped from the bow back onto the deck, her tone more resolute than ever.
“Then that settles it. Instead of wasting time worrying about this, you might as well train more. Once we both become stronger, problems like this won’t happen anymore, right?”
Chloe dragged Yamato onto the deck and began another round of sparring. Yamato looked as though she wanted to say something, but after thinking it over, she swallowed the words.
In truth, that was not the only thing she had been thinking about. Although Amphitrite had said they could deal with Crocodile themselves in the future, the fact that Crocodile had used her as bait to injure Chloe still left Yamato feeling deeply uncomfortable.
At that moment, she had even felt an urge to call Kaido.
Although Kaido could never shake off labels such as violent b*stard and lunatic father in her eyes, thinking about it carefully, aside from being extremely unconventional, he did satisfy quite a few of her requests. Hadn’t he even entrusted her to Nereus?
If she cried a little and played up her suffering, Kaido might fly into a rage. The result could be that he beat her as well for being useless, but he would probably also stop by and deal with Crocodile.
Before Chloe talked her out of it, Yamato had been considering whether to summon Kaido through this method of inflicting a thousand points of damage on the enemy while suffering eight hundred herself.
However, Chloe dispelled that idea. Compared to calling Kaido over, taking revenge with her own hands would be far more satisfying.
Crocodile, who was still in Nanohana, had no idea that someone had just repeatedly written and erased his name in the Book of Life and Death. [TN: The Book of Life and Death is a mythical underworld ledger in Chinese folk religion and mythology that records the birth times, lifespans, and exact death dates of all living beings.]
At this moment, his head was wrapped in an enormous amount of bandages, with several loops even wound around his neck. Holding a Den Den Mushi, he was questioning his entire existence.
“What exactly do you mean by this?”
“What we mean is that you mistook her for someone else. She wasn’t a Lunarian, she merely happened to look very similar. Is there a problem?”
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