Bab 36: Sand vs... What was his power again?
...
-Puff...-
Puffing out an enormous chunk of smoke after putting his cigar away, Crocodile could be seen watching the dozens of Bananawani swimming across the underground lake where his secret base was located with a calm expression on his face, seemingly being in deep contemplation about something.
At the moment, he was completely alone inside his underground base, as the only person that used to be in there with him had left to deal with the strange fuzz that had happened on the upper floor where the casino was located.
He would have gone check by himself. However, since he had better things to do, he had just told that woman to go on his instead.
She was quite capable, after all.
However, even then, something seemed to be bothering Crocodile.
"... Why do I have this bad feeling...?"
Frowning heavily, Crocodile's intense gaze landed on the Bananawanis, who as soon as they felt Crocodile's deep gaze trembled in horror, and rapidly swam away at an incredible speed.
-Tap, tap, tap, tap...-
Tapping the chair with his finger, Crocodile's frown continued to grow deeper, until then he finally snapped and stood up from his chair. His face looked grim as if something was annoying him.
"Should I go and take a look?"
Turning around with a dead look in his eyes, Crocodile fixed his clothes slightly while putting on his furry coat, before he then picked up his cigar and placed it back in his mouth, prepared to leave right away and go take a look at whatever was causing such a ruckus up there.
However, just as he was about to do it, suddenly the sound of steps approaching reached his ears and made him relax his expression a little bit.
-Step-
-Step-
-Step-
"It seems like I was worried for nothing..." Grinning slightly, Crocodile puffed a big chunk of smoke, before he then turned around and prepared to go back to his seat.
"So, you are Crocodile..."
However, just as he was about to do it, an unknown voice called out to him and made him widen his eyes in surprise.
Turning around, Crocodile furrowed his eyebrows as soon as he noticed that a mysterious person had appeared at the entrance of the room, and was now looking at him without an ounce of fear.
"Who are you?"
"..."
Maintaining his cool while speaking, Crocodile glared coldly at the unknown intruder, as his hand rapidly started turning into sand, ready to attack at any possible moment.
After all, the intruder had seemingly managed to go through that woman. Thus, it was very probable that whoever this person was, he had enough ability to be considered a threat.
Probably not a big threat for someone as powerful as him, but still enough of a threat to consider killing him right away.
'Though, his appearance certainly isn't that impressive...'
Glancing up and down at the intruder, Crocodile sneered shortly in disdain, as the person in front of him was everything but threatening.
Especially with that appearance of his, that only made others look with pity at him.
A young man of no more than 18 years old, with black eyes and hair, wearing a dirty and ragged coat... That was what the intruder looked like.
'How did he get past that woman? If he was a normal person, it would have been very easy for her to deal with him... Did she allow him to pass? No, she would have come back with him if that was the case... Then, he killed her?'
Furrowing his eyebrows, Crocodile took a step forward, before he then yelled at the intruder with a more intimidating tone of voice than the first time, seeing that he wasn't answering his question.
"I asked you who you were!"
"..."
Hearing his question, the youth furrowed his eyebrows a little, before he then grinned and replied to Crocodile.
...Though, not in the way he expected.
"I'm your new dad"
Hearing his answer, Crocodile's gaze turned ice cold, before he then growled in a low voice as he looked at the young man in front of him.
"... What...?"
"I'm joking, I'm joking. No need to get so upset"
Waving his hands up and down as if telling Crocodile to calm down, the young man chuckled in a low voice, before he then sighed and walked towards Crocodile with a calm expression on his face.
-Step-
-Step-
-Step-
Then, as if he was challenging him, he turned his face upwards and looked straight into Crocodile's eyes. Not being intimidated in the slightest by the fact that he was facing a Shichibukai.
His corporal language expressed everything but fear... Like he was in front of something insignificant. Not worthy of his worry.
Then, without minding Crocodile's stupefied and cold gaze, the youth glared brazenly at him, before he then spoke in a demanding tone, making Crocodile's forehead have some veins bulge up in anger immediately after hearing him.
"I want to ask you a few questions... I hope you will answer them without lying"
"... You...!"
°
°
°
|Farid POV:|
...
"... You...!"
Seeing Crocodile grit his teeth in anger, I grinned slightly in amusement.
However, before I even had the chance to say anything else, I noticed him swinging his hand directly towards me, seemingly trying to grab my throat, and scoffed in disdain.
'He is quite an irascible guy...'
-Swoosh-
Thus, taking a step back and moving my head away, I easily dodged his grab by a hair's breadth, before then I immediately sent a quick kick to his face, ready to send him flying away.
However, just as my foot was about to hit his face, his entire facial structure changed out of nowhere and turned into sand, making my foot simply pass through his face and not cause any damage.
"...?!"
Widening my eyes in surprise, I rapidly jumped several meters away and distanced myself from him in case he planned to do anything strange.
I knew that he could control sand. However, I didn't consider the possibility of him being a Logia user... Though it was to be expected to some extent. After all, most of the top pirates these days have great Devil fruit powers that make them have a different level from normal pirates.
For a Shichibukai, maybe I should have expected it. Especially since he could control something as versatile as sand.
But well, Devil fruits are really ambiguous most of the time... who can blame me? There was even a pirate once who had the powers of the Window Window Fruit!
Guess what were his powers?
He could make any object transparent... Not create windows as the name said!
I was very confused at that time... Though, I still kicked his ass, but that didn't take away my confusion...
In general, devil fruits would always make me have a headache. After all, they always made very easy opponents tricky to deal with.
And in this case, it seemed like it was going to be a tricky fight as well.
"Hmph..."
Suddenly, as I was thinking about the fact that Crocodile was a Logia user, Crocodile looked at me after I landed several meters away from him before he then grinned arrogantly as if everything had gone according to his plan and created a small sand tornado on his hand.
"You seem to be stronger than what I thought. No wonder you managed to pass through that woman... However, in front of me, you are nothing but an annoying bug ready to be trampled upon!"
Then, moving his hand backward, as if preparing to throw something at me, Crocodile smiled wickedly, before he then spoke to me in a ridiculing tone as a few strands of hair fell on his face, making him have a slightly disheveled appearance.
"I don't know what a bastard like you thought was going to happen if you came here to interrogate me..."
His voice sounded more and more threatening as he continued...
"... However, I can't let you walk away without paying the price..."
Then, immediately after saying that, Crocodile swung his hand in my direction and shouted something as a murderous gaze appeared in his eyes.
"Sables... Pesado!"
-Swooosh!-
Then, out of nowhere, the small sand tornado on his hand flew towards me at a speed similar to that of a bullet.
Of course, something at that speed was not something hard to dodge with my enhanced senses... However, just as I was about to move away from the attack, suddenly I felt that something was wrong with it before then I immediately raised my guard and closed my eyes to brace for any impact.
-Boooooom!!!-
Then, as if the tornado had actually been a bomb all along, soon it touched the ground and immediately created a massive shock wave and destroyed everything around it, sending me flying away at a terrifying speed in the process.
The shock wave had been so powerful that a lot of things near it had been turned into rubble just because of the sheer pressure that it had created. Of course, that didn't mean that it had actually hurt me.
Though, it had still embedded my body in a wall because of the speed that I was sent flying away.
I felt like I had become part of the wall, for some reason.
Then, understanding that the attack had ended, I immediately looked downwards at my body, before then I frowned and shook briefly my head.
'There is a bit of muscular pain... but nothing really to worry about. Is this all that the attack of a Shichibukai can do?'
Scoffing a little bit inside my mind, I rapidly moved my arms and jumped away from the wall, landing on the floor once again completely unscathed from the attack just now, before then I massaged softly my neck and started stretching a little bit.
This, of course, didn't go unnoticed by Crocodile, who was standing several meters away from me with an angry expression on his face.
His eyes, for some reason, had an almost unnoticeable curiosity in them.
"... You... It seems like you are even stronger than I assumed... It seems like it will probably take me a little bit of time to deal with you..."
Growling in a low voice, Crocodile's hand suddenly turned into sand, before he abruptly swung it downwards, similar to a slicing motion, and shot two enormous sand blades in my way.
Of course, not without screaming the attack's name before that.
"Desert La Spada!!!"
-Swooooooosh...!!-
The blades had a similar dangerous feeling to the attack from before. Probably because they were much more dangerous than what they looked like, despite being only made out of sand.
Even if I was standing several meters away from them, I could feel just how sharp and dangerous they were... Maybe even more dangerous than full-powered slashes from swordsman masters.
However, in the end, something like sand was only destined to crumble in front of a powerful impact.
And what better impact than a fully Haki-coated fist?
Thus, without thinking about it twice, I shot myself forward with a kick to the ground, before then I shot my fist forward towards both blades.
-Tsssss!!-
-Tsssss!!-
And as I had expected all along, the two blades rapidly exploded as soon as they made contact with my fist.
Seeing that, Crocodile couldn't help but let out an astonished voice.
"What?!"
Then, not minding his confused and astonished state, I rapidly kicked the ground once again, before then I shot myself forward and rapidly appeared right in front of him.
His eyes didn't even have the time to follow my figure, as soon, before he was even able to react, I swung my Haki-coated fist right towards his face, and this time finally sent him flying away at a terrifying speed.
-Bam!!!-
The impact had been so fierce, in fact, that a hard and almost metallic sound was heard as soon as my fist connected with his face.
-Swooooosh...!-
-Boooom...!-
Because of that, soon, his body crashed into a wall and ended up making it crumble. Causing his body to be buried under all the debris and rubble because of that.
Though, one thing surprised me...
"You... What is a Haki user doing in this place...?!"
... Emerging from under the rubble, and standing up with a bit of blood running down his face, Crocodile looked at me coldly, before he then spat the blood that was inside his mouth and glared at me with murderous intentions as if unbothered by the grave wounds he had at the moment.
In fact, despite the blood running down his face, he was not showing even the slightest expression of discomfort or pain, even though his body clearly showed that he wasn't okay.
This was something that I had not seen even once in my many years of fighting pirates... To not flinch, even after sustaining those injuries... He probably had a lot of pain resistance.
Though, maybe because of his status as a Shichibukai, it was to be expected.
He had also managed to get back on his feet even after I had punched him full-out, which had never happened before with other pirates, as they would all lose consciousness after I hit them.
He was on a completely different level from them. Both his resistance, willpower, and strength...
However, in the end, that only meant that he was just a more persistent punching bag than the others.
"...You..."
After seemingly noticing my contemptive gaze on him, Crocodile's eyes turned dead cold, before he then grabbed the hook on his left hand and started taking it off.
That was what I had thought at that moment. However, soon I noticed that he wasn't actually taking the hook off, but instead, he was just removing the cover for what seemed to be the "Real" Hook.
"A secret weapon...?"
Unable to contain my surprise, I muttered with a curious tone of voice.
What appeared from inside the cover, was a much more vicious and ominous-looking hook, that seemed to be seeping a strange and dangerous-looking purple liquid from several holes around it.
'Poison... Huh?'
"-Cough!-...Impertinent bastard... Even if you know how to use Haki, it will not change anything..."
Coughing a little bit of blood, Crocodile fixed his clothes, before he then grabbed his coat and threw it aside, seemingly preparing for battle.
"... I planned to let you alive to interrogate you for your motives in coming here... However, I have changed my mind"
Turning half of his lower body into the sand, soon he flew high into the air before he then looked at me with a furious expression on his face, and roared.
"You are a danger to my plans, so I will kill you right now!!"
Then, without waiting for my answer, he launched himself toward me at an incredible speed.
'Let's see what a Shichibukai is like...'
Readying my fists as well, soon I kicked the ground and launched myself toward him.
And like that, what seemed to be the real battle finally began.
...
-To be continued-
(A/N: While MC is pretty strong right now, he is not at the level to take down Crocodile in just one hit just yet. Just in case you expected him to simply go full-out Saitama and end Crocodile with just one punch)
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone