Crocodile = Dugu Bo

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"

Blades formed from sand appeared one after another beneath Brando and his Shadow Clone, shooting upward at incredible speed, trying to cut Brando in half.

But to the Sharingan, those changes were still far too slow.

He was not like Akainu, who would get hit by a move like that. He dodged it with ease.

Crocodile had calmed down by then. With his life at stake, he did not dare let his emotions get the better of him again. Even after hearing Brando's words, he would not lose his cool.

With his temperament, he definitely would not have endured this from anyone else. But after speaking with Brando for only a short while, he knew this guy was a bastard. Arguing with someone like that was what made a person stupid.

Just the aftershock of the Rasengan had made him cough up blood. If he took another hit, Crocodile felt that he would die.

At the same time, Crocodile did not understand why that attack had directly affected his internal organs.

If Brando knew what he was thinking, he would probably say, "The Rasengan causes internal damage, kid!"

"My chakra still isn't enough. Even though it's at the Shadow Level, it's only around where Naruto was when he first started practicing the Rasenshuriken. I can release at most four or five Rasenshuriken in a short period before running out of chakra."

"Otherwise, I'd use Rasenshuriken to plow through this whole desert today."

Watching the surrounding sand continuously churn and sink, Brando could only slowly widen the distance between them.

At this pace, if Crocodile wanted to kill him, he would probably have to wait until Brando died of old age.

Relying solely on his ability to control sand, Crocodile was simply not qualified to become one of the sea's top powerhouses, because the sand was too slow.

This guy was basically like Dugu Bo, the Poison Douluo from Soul Land I. His ability was excellent at killing large numbers, but in a one-on-one fight, he was far too weak.

Against Akainu's Magma-Magma Fruit, he would be countered as thoroughly as a father beating his son.

What Zephyr had said to Kizaru felt even more fitting for Crocodile. This guy relied far too heavily on the power of Devil Fruits.

Boom!

Crocodile stirred up Sables once more, trying to create an even larger sandstorm.

"You're really pathetic, Crocodile."

Watching Crocodile keep hiding like a turtle, Brando felt the same helplessness the reanimated Second Hokage must have felt when facing ninjas who could fly.

Although he had prepared some dirty tricks for Crocodile, there was nothing he could do if the guy refused to show himself. He had not used them from the start because he wanted to break Crocodile's resolve with words first.

If he had known, he should have used the dirty trick to instantly kill Crocodile the first time he used Water Cannon Bullet.

Brando did not attack to destroy the sandstorm either, because that would turn it into a battle of attrition, which put him at a disadvantage.

"You came here for the ancient weapon Pluton, didn't you?"

Brando entered information-king mode and began drawing aggro.

Sure enough, the moment those words came out, Crocodile could not hold it together anymore.

"How the hell do you know so much?!"

"According to the intelligence, you're just some country bumpkin from the East Blue!"

Crocodile's voice came from all directions, and the shock in his tone was impossible to conceal.

However, his words also contained a bit of personal insult. Crocodile's mouth was not clean either.

"Does your scheme include this country as well?"

Brando did not answer. Instead, he began running farther and farther away.

Crocodile felt as if someone had seen through him completely. He immediately began suspecting several of his core subordinates, believing they had betrayed him.

People knew that he was plotting to seize Alabasta, but Pluton was something only he knew about. No one else knew anything about it; they only understood that he intended to take over a country.

"Damn it!"

Crocodile understood that if this matter was exposed, his plan would definitely fail.

The World Government would certainly intervene to stop him.

Alabasta would also guard against him.

His plan would fail, and he would be unable to defeat Whitebeard.

So that blond brat had to die here.

The full-scale sandstorm finally formed, a scene like an apocalyptic natural disaster chasing after Brando.

But there were two Brandos. One was a Shadow Clone, and they ran in two different directions. Crocodile was nearly frantic before finally choosing to chase the one running toward the sea.

He believed Brando would choose the coast, an environment favorable to him, because he could use water-based abilities.

But the sandstorm moved too slowly, only around one hundred and twenty kilometers per hour. It was merely a little faster than an ordinary ninja running, and it simply could not catch the current Brando.

And one Brando had disappeared. The one he was chasing was only one of them.

Crocodile's mentality was nearly being shattered by Brando's games.

Suddenly, the Brando running ahead slowed down. Crocodile's face lit up, thinking Brando's body could no longer hold on. He had been draining the moisture from the surroundings precisely to dehydrate Brando.

"Die!"

"Desert Vajra Blade."

Crocodile controlled his elementalized right hand, condensing it into a sturdy blade and slashing toward Brando's waist.

He was certain that this was the fastest attack of his life. The blade sliced Brando in two with ease, and Brando then turned into a cloud of smoke. Brando's upper body even wore a mocking smile.

Crocodile fell silent amid the sandstorm.

Clearly, it seemed he had chased a fake body.

"Ah!!!"

Crocodile let out a roar of impotent fury.

He had been insulted and toyed with. Proud and arrogant as he was, Crocodile simply could not accept it.

It was as unbearable as being defeated by a three-year-old Konohamaru army, and it filled him with humiliation and rage.

The surrounding sandstorm grew even more violent. Crocodile was unwilling to accept it, but he knew that if that blond brat was determined to flee, it was already too late to chase him.

Thus, the surrounding sandstorm gradually subsided as well.

But suddenly, Crocodile's entire body tensed. Brando's figure had appeared in his line of sight again.

Although he had wanted nothing more than to kill Brando just moments ago, he knew exactly how troublesome Brando was.

"Hey, this is the second round."

Brando held a pile of standard long swords he had just bought.

He had said he would not run away again, so how could Brando possibly flee when facing someone like Crocodile?

"Heh heh!"

"Looks like you have a bit of a strong person's pride after all!"

Hell Tempest!!

Crocodile entered a full-power state. His entire body directly elementalized as he sought to raise a sandstorm at the fastest possible speed.

The sandstorm that had just subsided rapidly rose again, like a vision of hell descending.

Meanwhile, Brando unhurriedly created a Shadow Clone, each of them gripping a long sword.

Then they gathered strength and swung their swords together.

"Supreme Kingdom!"

A shockwave far surpassing Hakoku slashed straight ahead.

It directly punched through the center of the sandstorm that covered several kilometers, destroying its spinning hurricane.

The skies around them instantly cleared.

The destroyed sandstorm caused Crocodile's body to reform in midair. With only his lower body elementalized, he floated in the air.

He stared down at Brando in disbelief.

He had only seen such horrifying power in that one man.

But suddenly, Crocodile jerked his head up.

"Why is there a third one?!"

He saw a third Brando, using Geppo as he appeared directly above him.