Chapter 56: Final Strike Morning Peacock
"It seems like my captain truly injured you to such an existent. But, it is remarkable indeed. A man who was once said to be Bullet's Equal was heavily injured by my captain who just arrived in the sea for a few months."
"No wonder, you wanted the Ancient Weapon so bad. You never believed that you could win against those people with your strength. If so, even if I tell you the location of Pluton."
"You can never get it from the territory of that man."
But got an unexpected reply from crocodile
"Haaaaaaa Haa Haaaa I have been waiting for you brat , although straw hat is strong for rookie in East blue he is still weak to give me a fight . Now that you arrived entertain me , Mr. 6 why don't you give me a show with him while I deal with some serious matter." ( Can't replicate Crocodile laugh)
[Croco D Ile - Bottom Yonko crew (???- High Yonko commander)]
His voice getting cold
Crocodile quickly got up and his ears picked up Zack's previous words. There was disbelief on his face but soon composed as he looked at Zack and asked.
"Before we start ,What do you mean? You know about the location of Pluton."
"Of course, I know. But it isn't something you can use. Three Ancient Weapons. Among them, I know the location of all three or maybe just two. At least, I believe Government too know atleast about one. So, this is something I am not sure about."
"Anyway, even if I tell you the location of Ancient Weapon, you can never get it. Even the strongest man in this world can't use it. Only when the drums of liberation resound in this world, only when that man awakens, those three weapons will be used."
"Hehe! So, your goal to get those weapons and use them against Whitebeard was doomed to be a failure from the beginning." Zack looked at him with a mocking tone and said.
Crocodile's eyes were full of anger but his mind was still calm. He looked at Zack and said.
"It seems like you know the history quite a lot. But, who are you? Why is there no trace of you before? A person with such information shouldn't be a newcomer."
"Is it? My information gathering is quite powerful. You can say that I have a unique power called Breaking the Fourth Wall." Zack joked and answered.
"No matter what kind of power you have, you still don't have the strength to defeat me. But, thanks to your blabbering mouth, I finally learned that I don't need Nico Robin."
"As long as I defeat you and force you to tell me the information, I will not only get the location of Pluton but also another weapon." Crocodile showed a smug expression on his face as he took out the golden hook and showed the poison inside it. Mr.6 came out of shadow right beside him.
"Tsk! Tsk! You are quite a despicable person for someone who was once compared to Bullet. No wonder, you would shrink to this kingdom while Bullet would dare to face the entire Buster Call by himself."
"I don't think you can be compared to him. No, you can't even be compared to one-third of him." Zack clicked his tongue and looked at him with disdain.
" Hahaha,quite the comedian are you, unfortunately I won't entertain a fry. Mr.6 and miss mother's day you know what to do , don't you?"
Giving a nod, Mr.6 and miss mother's day soon engaged Zack in combat. Mr 6 possessing the wave wave fruit vibrated his palm at hypersonic speed and sneak at him using his assassin while miss mother's day using her needle needle fruit to send barrage of poison needle at him . Zack was suprised by this as in manga or anime both of them never appeared. Thought in SBs oda did mention that both of them being skilled ruthless assassin, but weren't they support to be dead prior to them coming. Also wasn't crocodile weak at this point of the story .Evading the attacks he got in a close combat.
"Needle burial"
"Shockwave impact"
Both the duo called out in sync . Zack was impressed by their team work but noticed crocodile approaching cobra and robin from the corner of eyes.
Jumping out of the range of attack, he counter it with his own attack.
"Demon chop"
In the mist of it he threw a chill smoke at both crocodile and the duo.
With Crocodile
Today one of his worker has betrayed him , so he is going to extract the information and kill her. This got robin at quite the problem.
Using her devil fruit Hana Hana no mi , robin tried to defend and attack as much as possible but its of no use against her enemy. The more she tried, the more she got bruised due to crocodile 's armament haki. Picking the cobra on her hands , she decided to run away only to be chased by him . Crocodile treat the whole ordeal as some sort of walk in amusement park , a play or cat and mice. Catching her by the neck using his sand ,he was about to give her a last chance to tell him the location of pluton.
Suddenly he noticed a ball was coming at his direction.Crocodile who casually evaded the bomb with his observation haki , but got caught in its smoke after explosion
"Bastard!" Crocodile's eyes blazed in the fire both in anger and chill powder . Quickly using his sand to recover, he turned his hands into the desert ready to end robin and cobra 's life . But just before he could attack, Zack spoke.
"Wait, wait, I almost forgot to tell you something important. I met Ivankov a while ago. Tsk! Tsk! I didn't expect you to have such a relationship."
"You bastard, die!" At this moment, Crocodile couldn't hold his anger anymore as directed his sand from robin and cobra to Zack .He turned into sand and dashed toward Zack.
But, suddenly, Zack kicked the bucket in front of him and slammed it on Crocodile's body. Through it didn't work on him, it was a distraction from Zack something both of them knew .
Splash!
[God Style- Double Hammer Fists]
Bang!
Without any hesitation, he charged toward Crocodile when his body got wet and slammed his fists against Crocodile. Only for crocodile to evade , the ground beneath cracked and rock piece flew apart.
Bang!
Looking at Crocodile who was unharmed by the impact , Zack's expression froze.
'Damn it! My wounds haven't healed yet. I can't use my luck anymore to increase my strength. Luffy, Luffy, where are you? If you don't hurry up, I will die.'
In fact, Zack knew this for a long time. That's why he revealed so much information otherwise he would directly shoot Crocodile to the ground. After all, there was a whole bucket of with him.
Knowing that Crocodile has poison and using haki along with two more agents at the back, Zack was even more afraid of facing him. After all, he was already suffering from a powerful wound, he didn't want to suffer more.
But suddenly, he sensed something, and the corner of his mouth rose.
"Argh! I found something interesting." Crocodile slowly stood up and glared at Zack.
"You don't have the strength to kill me, do you? Even when you stop me from turning into sand, you couldn't heavily injure me. The punches from your captain were much harder than yours."
"So, all this time, you were just fooling me to buy some time. Although I don't know how you got so much information, I am pretty sure that you don't know the location of Three Ancient Weapons nor did Ivankov tell you my secret."
"Your intelligence is indeed surprising but you can't read Poneglyph, can you? You only came out to fight me because you wanted to keep her safe. And, used that information to buy your captain some time."
"But none of that matters anymore. I will kill you, your captain, your entire crew, and even her. Since I can't get the information, there is no reason for you to exist."
"Desert Sword"
He changed his arm into the sand and slashed forward. But, his attack was quite slow. Even though Zack was weakened, he easily dodged the attack.
"La spada"
But, Crocodile quickly released another attack without giving him a chance to dodge. Zack gritted his teeth and decided to face it. At least, this way he could minimize the damage otherwise he might miss part of his body.
But just when he was raising his arms to block the attack, he paused.
"Gator you bastard, I am going to beat you down."
Suddenly, an red hot arm extended next to Zack, and a blazing fire emerged around it. It moved toward the sharp blades made out of the sand and collided.
Bang!
Sand and flames collide. The arm extended forward, piercing through the sand blades, and struck Crocodile.
[Red Hawk]
Few minutes ago,
On the surface of the Albaurne, Luffy slowly woke up from a short nap and looked around.
"Damn it! That Gator Bastard hasn't gone down. I slept too easily." Luffy's instinct told him that the battle wasn't over. That's why no matter what he must leave right now.
He just randomly started running but while he was running, he couldn't help but mutter.
"Using water to hit that bastard is too much of a problem for me. I want to hit that bastard without using water. But, Zack said only Armament Haki can do that."
"But, I haven't learned Armament Haki so how can I attack him?"
This left Luffy in a confused state. He didn't understand how he would be able to use Armament Haki but at this moment, he couldn't help but remember Zack's words.
"Remember, Haki is simply the manifestation of Spirit. But, in the case of Armament Haki, it is the physical manifestation of the spirit. This is physical because it consumes your strength and if you consume too much, you can't use it for a while."
"Normally, you need to go through several battles to thoroughly burst out the Armament Haki. But, there might be a way to release Armament Haki if you have enough Willpower."
"Listen! Spirit is basically your Willpower. If you have enough of it, you can directly merge it with your physical energy and manifest it into your body."
"Of course, I could be wrong. This is basically my own understanding of how Armament Haki came to be. If you are in a desperate situation, focus all of your Will and forcefully release your Spirit into your body, not outside but into your body."
"And, if you think about how can you release your spirit then just think of it as releasing your momentum. But, don't release it outside."
Luffy murmured for a while and suddenly, he stopped. He gritted his teeth and said.
"I have no other choice. I need to try it now."
Luffy closed his eyes and gritted his teeth, trying to burst out a powerful momentum. He was fully focused on releasing the momentum and while doing so, he suddenly found a strange sensation in his body.
He found his spirit slowly coming out of his soul but instead of releasing out, he tried to keep it inside. Originally, he thought he wouldn't be able to keep it inside on his first try but his body suddenly reacted to it.
The Spirit coming out of him directly merged with his body on a cellular level. This was something that Luffy couldn't comprehend but he didn't stop it.
While this was happening, he sensed another strange energy coming out of his body. This energy was coming out of every part of his body. And, suddenly, his heart started reacting weirdly.
Dum! Dum-Dum! Dum!
"Heehehe! What's going on? My heartbeat sounds weird." Luffy couldn't help but feel amazed. He giggled as he realized that this strange energy was merging with his heart.
"Did I succeed?" Luffy's eyes widened as he clenched his fist and tried to release the Armament Haki. But unfortunately, the Armament Haki didn't harden.
Suddenly, he realized that the heartbeat had returned to normal. Luffy scratched his head and muttered.
"It seems like I can't use Armament Haki. But, I need to find a way to punch that gator. Maybe if I use Gear Two and punch before he could turn into sand."
Thinking about it, he speed his blood and the steam started coming out of him. At the same time, his body turned red. He raised his fist and thrust his fist forward.
Suddenly, fiery red flames burst out of his fist. It only remained on his fist and when he retracted his fist, it disappeared.
"Wow! Zack wasn't lying when he said I could produce Flame in Second Gear with Armament Haki. Though he didn't expect that I could do it so soon. Hehe! Am I great or what?"
Luffy giggled as he proudly stared at his fist. Then, he raised his fists and said.
"Alright! Let's kick that gator's ass."
Saying so, he ran around following the sand. After running for a few minutes, he eventually reached in front of a strange stair that was leading to the bottom of the ground.
Although there was no longer any sand around, Luffy was sure that Crocodile had gone inside.
But, it wasn't just his guts or smell of gator. Because the mark of sand ended nearly twenty meters away and from then on, there was no other path except a straight road.
Of course, Luffy didn't care about it.
"Sure enough! It seems like that gator bastard." Luffy snorted and rushed inside. Because he wasn't injured, Luffy woke up much earlier and reached this place much more quicker.
Just when he walked in, he saw a lady on the ground and Zack standing next to her. At the same time, there was a middle-aged man was on the ground, leaning against the wall while Crocodile standing in front of Zack.
Before he could call Zack, he saw a desert sword. He expected Zack to make a move but suddenly, he realized something. And, without any hesitation, he entered Gear Second.
He stretched his hand and released Armament Haki. Although his hand didn't turn black, it was enough to give him the power of Armament Haki.
"Gomu-Gomu No"
A voice rang as his fist thrust forward while passing next to Zack. The fiery blazing fire burst out of his fist and collided against the desert sword.
["Red Hawk!"]
Bang!
The flames scattered the sand while his fist easily pierce through it and struck Crocodile on his chest.
"Gah"
Crocodile felt like his chest bone was cracking but was able to avoid it due armament haki.
Getting up , he and luffy got in a serious battle. Sand and punches flew here and there . Debires and floor scattered due to their armament haki clashes. With time,both crocodile and luffy began improving. Crocodile who had been rusty began to feel his skill getting polished while luffy started to get a hang of haki and improve it. Meanwhile Zack along side robin began their own fight with Mr 6 and miss mother's day successfully capturing them. Laying Robin near the wall, he used his card to heal her and cobra.
"Why did you save and heal me?" asked robin
" Its because I wanted too and I know even after reading it , you won't give the knowledge to Crocodile."
Luffy and Crocodile continued their fight for hours both not wanting to give up and let their opponents get a greater hand. After multiple red hawks and sand burials both sides were covered in bruises. With a final red hawk covered in both both tenkai and haki , Luffy planted crocodile on the wall.
Crocodile knees gave up and he fell to the ground while coughing blood. But, he was also someone who once fought Whitebeard.
His endurance was quite tenacious. He gritted his teeth and stood up. He tried to use his poison hook to attack Luffy's arm but it retracted at a great speed.
Zack was stunned seeing the battle. He turned around and looked at Luffy who was using Gear Second. Although it was possible for him to create a flame, it shouldn't be this early.
He thought Luffy would rely on his blood to defeat the crocodile. But, now looking at his fist, there was obviously no trace of blood or water.
His eyes widened even more.
'Armament Haki….. He managed to use Armament Haki all this time. But, wait, why isn't it Hardened? Wait, wait, does this prove my theory? So, Haki isn't just the Spirit Manifested out of the body.'
'It is an energy that is produced after Spirit merges with the body. Of course, this also means the more Haki he can generate, the more he could use it on.'
'Right now, his physical strength has barely reached the level where he could draw out some level of Armament Haki but it shouldn't be enough to use Hardening. It was close enough in beganing but now he do can harden for a limited time . And thanks to Crocodile's rustness inability,he isn't in top condition and is only 1/7 of it .'
'No wonder it required me to surpass my physical and spiritual limits in order to use Armament Haki. But this is good. Hardening is more important against people with Armament Haki since it increases offensive and defensive ability which needed to defeat crocodile.'
Just as he thought, Luffy instantly appeared above Crocodile and gave him a Jet Pistol, slamming his head on the ground.
"Gator, let's end this."
Luffy shouted as he pulled both of his fists. Hearing his words, Crocodile used all of his Willpower to stand up. But, his body was still injured a lot. He slammed his palms on the ground and roared.
"Desert Grande Espade burial"
A massive blade of desert burst out of the ground and moved toward Luffy ready to bury him. Seeing this, Luffy not only didn't dodge but instead closed his eyes.
'Luffy, if one day you can use Flame, how about merging flame with your Gatling Gun? That way, you can create another powerful move. And, alone, just call it Morning Peacock.'
The next moment, he opened his eyes and thrusts his punches forward with extreme speed.
"Gomu-Gomu No"
"Morning Peacock"
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
His fist moved so fast and created the fireballs through sheer friction. It was not just fast but also powerful. His attack literally burst out Desert blade burial and struck Crocodile.
Before Crocodile fell, the last scene he saw was Luffy surrounded by the fireballs which led him to think.
'It's obviously a Rubber Body. Why can you generate fire?'
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
But he couldn't get the answer. The flames and Fist merged with Armament Haki struck him constantly, thrashing him on the ground and burning his body.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, Zack flashed forward and jumped as he caught Luffy in his hands and landed several meters away from the burned Crocodile.
"Hehe!" Luffy giggled with tired eyes. He was no longer in his Gear Second form. He looked at Zack and said.
"I did it. I beat that gator bastard."
Zack smiled and nodded his head.
"Yes, you did it, Captain."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone