Crocodile Was Starting to Question Reality

"Eh!"

As Chaos sat drinking coffee and looking out at the street, he suddenly turned his head toward the rooftops in the distance.

When that patch of sand gathered into a person, Chaos was a little surprised.

Though he was still young, with that trademark slicked-back hair and the aura of a cigar-smoking boss, wasn't he Old Sand, Crocodile—the man who'd later carry an 81-million-Berry bounty and hold his own against just about anyone?

Right, at this point Crocodile was still a young man of eighteen or nineteen, but he'd already made a name for himself on the Grand Line.

His bounty was just a little hard to look at, though. Was it twenty million or thirty million?

What was this guy planning?

Chaos's gaze flicked back and forth between Crocodile and Dragon Horn Jax.

At this point in his life, Crocodile was like most young pirates: fearless, riding high on his passion, and brimming with the baffling confidence that he was the greatest man alive.

The guy had a bounty of only twenty or thirty million Berries, and he was already targeting a pirate in the three-hundred-million-Berry range.

Call it reckless courage or boundless confidence, but you couldn't deny that Crocodile had guts.

That was youth for you.

Who hadn't been young and arrogant once?

Chaos had originally planned to make a name for himself by showing off against Dragon Horn Jax, but now he decided to wait a bit.

Just as Chaos had guessed, the hot-blooded young Crocodile had indeed set his sights on Dragon Horn Jax's head.

"Whoosh!"

Sand burst into the air, and Crocodile vanished from the rooftop through Elementalization. When he reappeared, he was blocking Dragon Horn Jax and his crew.

"Dragon Horn Jax, I'm taking your head!"

Crocodile eyed the group, who had stopped in their tracks, with contempt, a cigar dangling from his mouth.

The entire street fell silent.

It wasn't just Dragon Horn Jax's crew—even all the other pirates stared at Crocodile in stunned disbelief.

"Y-you said what?"

It took one of Jax's men a long moment to recover. He picked at his ear, thinking he must have misheard.

"Desert Treasure Blade!"

As the pirates' smiles turned to sneers, Crocodile wasted no time. His right arm became a blade of sand, and he swung it. In an instant, the hard ground split apart as a surging slash swept toward Dragon Horn Jax and his crew.

"Fool."

A pirate flew into a rage, drew the twin swords at his waist, and charged out, crossing them in front of himself.

His feet dug into the ground, carving two long trails as he forced Crocodile's slash apart.

"What gave you the nerve to come after my head?"

Jax held back his eager subordinates and looked at Crocodile with a cruel gleam in his eyes.

"Hmph!"

"Desert Greatsword."

Crocodile looked cold and aloof. He didn't even bother answering Jax. Keeping his right hand in its sand-blade form, he drove it into the ground. The earth shook, and the next moment, a greatsword of sand burst up from beneath Jax, aiming for his waist in an attempt to slice him in two.

At the Summit War, this move had cut Sakazuki in half, though it hadn't done much good.

Clang~

There was no bloody dismemberment. A layer of black coated Jax's waist, and the sand greatsword only sparked against it, leaving not even a mark.

As captain of the Flying Pirates' 20th fleet and a man with a 330-million-Berry bounty, he couldn't possibly lack Haki.

In the New World, Haki was the bare minimum. Without it, no one could become a fleet captain.

And from the look of it, Jax's Armament Haki was no weak thing. Crocodile's attack could easily slice through the ground—even steel—yet it hadn't left a mark on Jax's waist.

Crocodile frowned. He clearly hadn't expected his attack to be useless.

"Kid, I don't know who gave you the nerve to come looking for trouble with me."

"I've lost count of how many fools like you I've killed!"

Jax stepped forward, his imposing figure looming over Crocodile like a shadow. Cruelty filled his vicious face. He loved tearing self-important fools like this to pieces.

"Desert Diamond Treasure Blade!"

Crocodile charged forward instead of backing away, not taking Jax seriously at all. His hands formed four enormous blades of sand, and he rushed at Jax with a whoosh.

Jax coated his fist in Armament Haki and threw a punch without dodging. A tremendous boom unleashed a shock wave that swept the sand blades aside and barreled toward Crocodile.

Bam!

Crocodile burst apart, sand scattering in every direction. But the next second, he re-formed five meters away.

"A Logia user!"

Jax looked surprised, as did the pirates across the street.

After all, Logia Devil Fruits were the strongest of all Devil Fruits.

"No wonder you're so arrogant. You're a Logia user."

After his initial surprise, Jax looked disdainful. He could tell at a glance that Crocodile was so cocky only because of his Logia powers. He didn't even know Haki.

He could only throw his weight around in the first half of the Grand Line and the Four Blues. If he went to the New World and picked a fight with the strong, he'd soon learn his place.

"Three hundred and thirty million. That's all?"

Crocodile had a cigar between his teeth, as arrogant as ever.

Since eating this Devil Fruit, no one had been able to hurt him. Even when they hit him, it didn't matter.

He was invincible.

On the open rooftop in the distance, Chaos lounged with one leg crossed over the other, watching Crocodile's boundless arrogance. He couldn't help shaking his head, feeling a little sorry for him.

Still too young.

Arrogance had to be backed up by strength.

Against ordinary pirates, Crocodile had every right to be arrogant.

After all, Elementalization let Logia users ignore physical attacks entirely.

Crocodile clearly didn't know Haki—not even that it existed.

Maybe he'd heard of it, but he hadn't taken it seriously.

Meanwhile, Chaos could sense the domineering Armament Haki radiating from Dragon Horn Jax even from a distance. Crocodile might be in for a rough time today.

But Crocodile wasn't ordinary either. Even against pirates with bounties in the hundreds of millions or billions, he could still hold his own for a few rounds!

That was a kind of talent and strength in its own right.

"Gwahaha!"

Crocodile's disdain made Jax laugh in fury.

The fool clearly thought Logia users were invincible.

Boom!

The ground exploded beneath Jax's feet, and he vanished. Crocodile, who had been looking down on him, suddenly went pale.

"Pfft!"

He doubled over and vomited blood, his arrogant face twisting as his bloodshot eyes filled with disbelief.

Rumble!

A string of buildings collapsed, and billowing dust clouded the street. Fifty meters away, amid the rubble, Crocodile lay at the end of a furrow, his face deathly pale and blood pouring from his mouth and nose.

He felt as though his innards had been twisted together. His slicked-back hair was a mess, and his cigar had flown off somewhere.

"How is this possible?!"

Crocodile was starting to question reality. He'd actually been hit.

Watching Jax approach with a savage grin, Crocodile braced himself against the rubble and stood up, then bent over and spat out another mouthful of blood.

"Desert Spada."

Grimacing, he thrust out his right hand. A small sandstorm spun in his palm. Crocodile hurled it at Jax, and it rapidly swelled in the wind into a fifty-meter-tall sandstorm, sweeping up the surrounding rubble with devastating force.