Inside the throne hall, yellow sand gradually spread, rolling across the floor like waves.
The ember of the cigar between Crocodile's fingers flickered as he watched the woman before him, who "didn't know her own limits."
She has some brute strength, and her Haki isn't bad. But I've fought opponents with strong Haki before.
It was only natural for Crocodile to think that. After all, he had fought a young Bullet to a draw. He had even been stubborn enough to challenge Whitebeard in his prime.
"You villain!"
Yamato swung her Kanabo in an arc, metal scraping against the airborne sand with a piercing screech.
"Crescent Moon Sand Dune!"
Crocodile swept his arm, sending a massive crescent-shaped sand blade straight at Yamato.
Anyone struck by that blade would have all the moisture sucked out of them.
Thanks to the information Sephiroth had provided, Yamato knew Crocodile's moves and what his abilities did.
Armament Haki could certainly block this attack, but defending against it would probably consume quite a bit of Haki.
"Thunder... Bagua!"
The instant the sand blade sliced through the air, her Armament Haki-coated Kanabo had already cleaved through the grains.
Crocodile immediately turned himself into sand. A sandstorm abruptly rose from the ground, whipping up a tidal wave of grit.
Yamato's vision was obscured. When she spread her Observation Haki, however, she discovered that the fully elementalized Crocodile had already merged with the enormous mass of sand.
"Then I'll just hit all of it!"
Her Kanabo broke through the curtain of sand, wreathed in purple lightning.
Left with no choice, Crocodile broke down the parts that might be struck even further, deliberately evading her attack.
The sand wave dissipated with it, and the shock wave cracking the floor flung sand ten meters into the air.
Both leaped backward.