"As expected, she's Logia Sand-Sand Devil Fruit User. Ordinary attacks are completely ineffective. How about this?"
After Rebecca threw several punches with both hands, all of which pierced Crocodile's body, she directly covered her fists with Armament Haki and punched Crocodile in the chest. This time, she met a solid object, and the unethical strike was effective.
"Ah! Pfft!"
Crocodile never expected such a young girl to possess Armament Haki. He was careless and failed to dodge, and was sent flying by Rebecca's punch, spitting out a mouthful of blood in the process. Vic, watching from afar, burst out laughing. Rebecca's attack was fueled by a month's worth of rage, and the damage was considerable!
"You... you...! Cough cough cough! How do you know Armament Haki? Who exactly are you?"
Crocodile lay on the ground, clutching his chest and coughing up blood. He truly couldn't believe it. A random girl from Alabasta possessed strength comparable to his, and even knew Armament Haki. This was the first half of the Grand Line!
"I am Rebecca, Marine Headquarters Colonel. I came to Alabasta specifically to find you. I'm not a weakling!"
After Rebecca punched Crocodile so hard he vomited blood, she felt much better and didn't hide her identity anymore. Of course, she was still a little resentful that Crocodile hadn't recognized her.
Vic's brilliance was so overwhelming that it overshadowed everyone around him. Now, just announcing his name was enough to make many pirates tremble in fear. If he were to approach them, those whose legs didn't tremble would be considered to have a promising future.
"Are you the little girl by Dark Dragon's side? Has Dark Dragon also come to Alabasta? Did you come here specifically to find me?"
Rebecca's words surprised Crocodile. He, of course, read newspapers regularly, but he only paid attention to major events and important people. He had seen Rebecca's name in the newspaper, but he felt there was no need to remember her face.
So he didn't recognize her at first, until he heard Rebecca introduce herself.
In the past two days, he had also heard news of Dark Dragon in the capital Alubarna in the Rainbase. However, communication between cities in desert countries is not very convenient. Occasionally, caravans would travel between the two cities, and some news from the capital Alubarna would be spread over, but the number of people who heard it was not large.
A character like Dark Dragon would be wasting his strength if he didn't go to the New World, so Crocodile dismissed it as a rumor. Now it seems Dark Dragon really has come to Alabasta, and his purpose is to find him. Crocodile is starting to panic. His old rival, Bullet, has already been sent to Impel Down Dark Dragon. What more could he possibly gain? If he gets targeted, he'll be the next victim!
"What? Scared? Don't worry, he's not here. If you can't even get past me, you might as well go to Impel Down and eat in jail!"
Rebecca didn't say "the position of Shichibukai is not suitable for you" to avoid Crocodile having any inappropriate thoughts. She wanted to fight with all her might right now because Vic said that actual combat was the fastest way to improve strength!
Although Rebecca didn't finish her sentence, the highly intelligent Crocodile still noticed the flaw in her words: Dark Dragon wanted to see him, and this girl was there to test him. Only by defeating this girl could he meet Dark Dragon and learn what was to come.
Moreover, he could only defeat, not kill, otherwise the outcome would be different. Crocodile didn't ask anything more, silently got up from the sand, and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with his sleeve.
"Since you're from the Navy, there's nothing more to say, Sables!"
Crocodile knew he had to win this battle, or he would be doomed. So, as soon as he finished speaking, he took the initiative and created a mini sandstorm in his right palm, which quickly grew larger and was thrown at the opponent.
"Snort!"
Rebecca snorted coldly as she watched the desert storm swirling towards her. She quickly drew Aizen from her waist and vanished from her spot in a flash. When she reappeared, she was already above the sandstorm, Sword Qi emanating from her, and a huge phantom of a longsword appeared.
Rebecca cleaved the sandstorm in two with a single sword strike, causing it to vanish completely. Crocodile's sandstorm has a growth potential; the farther the target is, the stronger it becomes. However, the two were too close, and the sandstorm was cut down by Rebecca before it could fully develop.
Rebecca didn't stop after cutting down the sandstorm; she swung Aizen in mid-air, unleashing several Flying Slash towards Crocodile.
Crocodile didn't sit idly by and immediately unleashed the Desert Grande Spada, his right hand transforming into sand grains that clashed with Rebecca's Flying Slash. As the sand grains flew, they transformed into four sharp blades that collided with Rebecca's Flying Slash.
The sand blade was cleaved in two and turned back into sand. Rebecca's Flying Slash were also almost gone, but the few remaining ones quickly slashed across Crocodile's body and into the sand behind him. As the sand was whipped up into waves, Crocodile's body was also cut into several pieces!
Except for his two feet, which were still standing, the rest of his body fell to the sand in several pieces. However, Crocodile's face, which was now just his head, did not show any change in expression. Soon, the severed limbs and fragments seemed to weather away and turned into sand particles that flew around.
Rebecca's slash wasn't imbued with Haki, so Crocodile, being a Logia Fruit user, didn't suffer any real damage. After his body turned into sand, it grew back on his remaining legs. Rebecca knew that ordinary attacks were useless, so she didn't continue her attack and instead wrapped her Haki around Aizen.
In terms of speed, Crocodile is inferior to Rebecca, and Rebecca also has the advantage of the Float-Float Fruit, making her speed unmatched by Crocodile, who relies on his Devil Fruit ability.
Crocodile had already seen this from their previous exchanges. So, one of them wanted to break through the Logia's elemental transformation in close combat, while the other tried to use elemental transformation to avoid the longsword wrapped in Haki. Both of Observation Haki to the extreme. However, Observation Haki alone could not completely defend against Rebecca. Rebecca could still fight by relying on her body's instincts.
Rebecca, relying on her speed, managed to strike Crocodile several times with Aizen's Aizen, but Crocodile's pre-formed elemental body managed to dodge the attacks.
Crocodile's various attacks were also frequently launched at Rebecca, including Desert Prison, Sables, Sand Dune, and Desert Spada. Some of these attacks were broken by Rebecca, while others were dodged by her. The battle between the two was evenly matched, and neither of them was able to harm the other.
However, the prolonged stalemate, combined with the anger she had accumulated while searching for someone, caused Rebecca to stop using Observation Haki to predict Crocodile's attacks and elemental transformations. She was always one step behind him, and he had predicted her moves. So she simply abandoned Observation Haki and fought with her own combat instincts.