Crocodile Fled in Defeat

"Armament Haki, and these blue flames... you're not from the first half of the Grand Line at all!"

As one of the Shichibukai, Crocodile naturally knew about Haki, even if he was not particularly skilled at using it.

It was not that people in the first half of the Grand Line could not use Haki. Rather, users were exceedingly rare in those waters, which were essentially a beginner zone.

An ordinary rookie in the first half of the Grand Line could not possibly know about Haki, much less use it, unless they had been to the New World.

Besides, the blue flame chains wrapped around his ankles were clearly another Devil Fruit ability, but not the one belonging to that sword.

In other words, this was Yang Cheng's own Devil Fruit ability. He was a Devil Fruit user too!

Judging by those eerie blue flames, Crocodile could even say with certainty that the Devil Fruit Yang Cheng had eaten was no ordinary fruit!

As the sword drew ever closer to his head, his legs remained bound by the Azure Flame chains, preventing him from turning into sand. Crocodile immediately unleashed a powerful move.

"Erosion Cycle!"

An enormous mass of sand formed a dust tornado, surrounding Crocodile like a wall of wind and sand.

The vegetation around the ground beneath his feet rapidly withered and died. Wide cracks spread across the earth, which crumbled into decaying sand as every last drop of moisture was sucked dry.

He had no idea what ability those Azure Flame chains belonged to, but they prevented him from transforming into sand to escape.

In that case, he just had to turn all the ground beneath his feet into sand!

Boom!

"One Sword Style: Explosive Blade!"

As the sword slashed toward the dust tornado, the Bomb-Bomb Fruit's power unleashed a massive explosive shock wave.

Light and heat erupted, and the blast instantly scattered the sand in every direction.

As the explosive slash broke through his protective tornado, Crocodile finally finished turning the surrounding ground into sand and broke free of the blue flame chains.

But just as he prepared to retreat, a fist gleaming with a metallic sheen loomed ever larger in his vision.

Thud!

The Friendship Face-Breaking Fist struck Crocodile squarely in his Frankenstein-like face.

The cigar he had been clenching between his teeth was flattened by Yang Cheng's punch and even driven into his face.

Then, amid a ring-shaped shock wave, his body-at least half again as tall as Yang Cheng's-was hurled backward by the bursting air, smashing straight through two wooden buildings in Whiskey Town.

Watching Yang Cheng send Crocodile flying with a single punch, Nico Robin, Vivi, and the others, who had been spectators throughout, were completely dumbfounded.

Vivi was one thing. She was only fourteen, had spent most of her life in the palace, and had little contact with the outside world, so she did not have a clear understanding of just how strong Yang Cheng and Crocodile were.

But Robin and Miss Valentine were different. They had some understanding of the Shichibukai Crocodile's strength.

As a legally sanctioned pirate whom the World Government used to intimidate the seas, Crocodile was undoubtedly a powerful figure who could decide other people's fates with ease in their eyes.

Yet that very man was now being overwhelmed by a bounty hunter from the first half of the Grand Line!

"Brat, who the hell are you?! Someone like you couldn't possibly come from the first half of the Grand Line!"

Armament Haki could indeed deal painful blows to Logia Devil Fruit users, but defeating Crocodile with a single strike was clearly unlikely.

Wind and sand surged upward, lifting the wreckage of the buildings into the air, and a somewhat bedraggled Crocodile emerged once more.

Unlike before, however, he clearly no longer regarded Yang Cheng as an ordinary brat.

Armament Haki, a bizarre Devil Fruit ability, and information about Pluton.

Yang Cheng was now shrouded in mystery in Crocodile's eyes, and he firmly believed that Yang Cheng could not possibly be a rookie from the first half of the Grand Line.

That would be a joke. With the strength Yang Cheng displayed at his age, he would have been someone of note even in the New World.

If the first half of the Grand Line were full of monsters like this, where would that leave Crocodile?

"You don't have to come from the New World to master Haki.

"You might not believe me, but the truth is, I've never been to the New World.

"As for why I know so much, bounty hunters travel far and wide. You can think of it as me having my own special sources of information."

Naturally, Crocodile did not believe a single word Yang Cheng said.

But as he looked at Yang Cheng, he found himself in something of a bind.

He had originally assumed Yang Cheng was just an ordinary brat whom he could easily dispose of himself.

Only after they started fighting did he realize that his opponent was a tough nut to crack.

If they had been in a desert kingdom like Alabasta, Crocodile felt confident he could kill Yang Cheng. Here, however, all he could guarantee was that Yang Cheng would not kill him.

"Super Sables!"

"One Sword Style: Nuclear Explosion Blade!"

The enhanced Sables collided in midair with an explosive slash coated in azure flame.

The ground shook violently, and under the impact of raging sand and searing heat, all of Whiskey Town was instantly reduced to ruins.

Yang Cheng and Crocodile fought from daylight until nightfall, and the battle finally ended with Crocodile fleeing, wounded and defeated.

Yang Cheng had considered finishing Crocodile off cleanly, but unfortunately, his opponent was both one of the Shichibukai and a Logia Devil Fruit user.

He could defeat Crocodile, but completely killing him was far too difficult with his current strength.

If he pursued him all the way to Alabasta, Crocodile could use the Sand-Sand Fruit to control the vast expanses of windblown sand there. Yang Cheng might well end up being the one who died.

There was no questioning Crocodile's strength. After the Seven Warlords of the Sea system was abolished, his bounty skyrocketed from 81 million Beli to 1.965 billion Beli.

If Luffy had not been protected by his protagonist's plot armor, escaping death at Crocodile's hands several times, along with the fact that the plot demanded

his defeat.

Without Haki, and before he had even developed Gear Second, Luffy was not fit to carry Crocodile's shoes.

Crocodile had fled in defeat. He had even left his secretary, Nico Robin, behind in his haste.

Seeing that even Crocodile was no match for Yang Cheng, Vivi and Miss Valentine were both overjoyed.

The former begged Yang Cheng to help Alabasta, while the latter figured that, since even the secret boss of Baroque Works was no match for him, they could now do whatever they pleased in the first half of the Grand Line.