Facing Jozu's charging assault,
Crocodile had no choice but to halt the construction of the National Transmutation Circle.
With his right hand, he swung a black Sand Blade crackling along its edge with purple lightning and Ryou.
At the same time, his left palm unleashed crimson Alchemical Lightning to meet Jozu head-on.
[Bang! Bang! Bang!]
The Sand Blade and Alchemical Lightning struck the diamond body in rapid succession.
Deafening explosions and dazzling flashes erupted.
Though they failed to break through his solid defense, they successfully stalled his charge.
However,
while Crocodile clashed with Jozu,
five clones composed entirely of sand grains silently transformed into sandstorms and departed in different directions.
They would construct the transmutation circle at key nodes across the continent in place of the original body.
Jozu's Observation Haki could naturally sense all five clones clearly.
But Crocodile had him tightly entangled, leaving him no way to stop them.
This was one of the advantages of a Logia Awakening user.
Absolute control over one's own element was enough to create clones indistinguishable from the real thing, capable of carrying out complex commands.
"Damn it!"
Jozu cursed inwardly, but there was nothing he could do.
He could only vent all his fury on Crocodile before him.
The fierce battle between the two erupted in full.
They fought from the center of the ring-shaped crater to its edge, then from the coastline to the inland regions.
Everywhere they passed—whether towering mountains, forests, swamps, snowfields,
or abandoned cities of steel and concrete—was utterly destroyed beneath their terrifying power.
"Awakening!"
Jozu pushed the power of the Diamond-Diamond Fruit to its limit and smashed his massive fists into the ground before him.
In an instant, countless incomparably sharp diamond forests glittering with cold light
burst from the earth like bamboo shoots after rain,