Crocodile's belief in male superiority wasn't born out of malice—it was shaped by his own limitations.
Because of his short-sighted perception, he was convinced that women were inherently inferior, which led him to abandon his own identity as one.
But in the world of Akame ga Kill and the realm of Campione, Esdeath and Luo Hao stood among the absolute pinnacles of combat strength.
Even Scathach, a warrior hailing from the Type Moon World, belonged to a class far beyond Crocodile's reach.
So the question wasn't whether being a woman made one weak.
The truth was crueler.
Crocodile wasn't weak because of his gender—he was weak because he simply lacked the qualifications to be strong.
Even in the original One Piece, where the author strengthened Crocodile multiple times post-timeskip, Jaeger didn't consider him top-tier on the sea.
And so, blaming gender was nothing but cowardice—an excuse made by a man who failed to surpass his own limits.
Logue Town.
Jaeger calmly retrieved Gungnir from Crocodile's pierced body, then used a Noble Phantasm obtained from the Okama King Ivankov to heal his injuries.
Crocodile sat in silence, face like stone, staring with barely concealed hatred at Hawkeye—now a beautiful woman thanks to Jaeger's earlier "treatment."
Yet, Hawkeye himself had already adjusted to the change.
Rather than panic, he was calmly inspecting his new body. To his surprise, though his raw strength had diminished, his speed, agility, and reflexes had significantly improved.
(Interesting... My power has lessened, but this might actually help refine my swordsmanship further.)
Hawkeye mused, his expression unshaken.
Jaeger watched both of them with interest. "Now that your injuries are healed, Crocodile, you still have the body of a man. Let's see—can you defeat a woman in battle?"
Crocodile sneered, still clinging to his crumbling beliefs.
"Hmph. She's just a woman. No way she can beat me."
With a sweep of his arm, his body turned to sand as he launched an attack.
"Desert Spada—!"
But—
Woosh.
Before he could even finish the name of his move, Hawkeye had already closed the distance. With speed akin to teleportation, he slashed forward.
Crocodile's eyes widened in disbelief—he hadn't even seen the sword move.
A clean gash tore through his chest, blood spraying into the air.
"W-What!? Her speed... completely crushed mine...!"
His confidence began to crumble.
"No! No way! That slash—!"
With his pride wounded, Crocodile lashed out in rage.
"Desert Knife!!"
Two massive blades of sand formed on his arms, crackling with Haki as he lunged to decapitate the "girl" who'd humiliated him.
But Hawkeye simply exhaled.
"Such a crude technique... I agree with Esdeath. Your problem isn't gender—it's that you're just not qualified."
With effortless grace, she parried the incoming sand blades and retaliated in one clean motion, carving another deep wound into Crocodile's side.
"Why!? I couldn't beat Hawkeye before, but now that he's a woman—how am I still losing!?"
Blood poured freely, but Crocodile's heart screamed louder than the pain.
"This can't be happening! If a woman can beat me this badly... then what was the point of giving up everything!? Am I just a joke?!"
Screaming, he conjured a violent tornado of sand and hurled it toward Hawkeye.
"Desert Grande Tornado—!!"
The massive twister split the earth and roared toward its target, far larger and more vicious than anything he used against Esdeath.
But—
"Even a storm has a breathing pattern…"
Hawkeye murmured softly.
With one elegant swing, she cleaved the tornado in half like paper. It disintegrated instantly, grains of sand scattering like dust.
"Out of tricks already?"
She stepped forward slowly, her calm composure a stark contrast to Crocodile's growing desperation.
"You made the first move. I've been holding back. But now... I won't."
What followed was a one-sided massacre.
Every move Crocodile attempted was effortlessly dissected by Hawkeye's blade. His attacks were blocked, deflected, or sliced apart before he could even finish forming them. Within minutes, he was left bruised, bleeding, and barely standing.
Watching the spectacle unfold, the chat group buzzed with excitement.
Uchiha Miyuki: "Too cute! Hawkeye's even prettier as a girl! I kind of hope she stays like this forever!"
Yamamoto Mei: "You degenerate. Are you going to try and 'date' her now?"
Miyuki: "N-No! I just... appreciate the aesthetics! The soul's still Hawkeye, anyway."
Kasumigaoka Utaha: "And Crocodile? A woman at heart, but looks like a thug. Ironic, isn't it?"
Miyuki: "OHHH! If Crocodile returned to her old female self, she'd totally have that yakuza-queen energy. I'm into it!"
Eriri: "Ugh... She'd be scary though."
Miyuki: "Scary... but hot!"
Esdeath: "Pathetic. He blamed weakness on his gender... only to be humiliated by someone stronger after turning into a woman. Disgraceful."
Luo Hao: "It's simple. Hawkeye, even as a woman, retained her years of talent and mastery in swordsmanship. Crocodile never had any of that to begin with."
Karuizawa Kei: "So... this battle's pretty much over, right? Mr. Jaeger's so powerful, he can even flip someone's gender like changing outfits."
Jaeger: "It's a Noble Phantasm I obtained from Ivankov. Enhances potential, heals, and yes—can switch gender. Consider it a turbo-charged Hormones Fruit."
Eriri: "!! Saint Jaeger can just... swap anyone's gender at will!?"
Utaha: "Be careful, Eriri. One wrong move and the 'golden retriever' turns into a golden... retriever bitch."
Eriri: "Please no!! I like being a pretty girl!"
Luo Hao: "Jaeger, what of the others you defeated? Bullet, Shanks, Buggy... Do you plan to enslave them like you did Hawkeye?"
Jaeger: "Hawkeye became my sword slave because I admired his spirit. As for Bullet and Buggy, their fruits interest me more. I won't let them go."
Miyuki: "What about Shanks? Doesn't it feel like a waste to kill him off early?"
Jaeger: "If I were confined to this world alone, maybe. But with access to the multiverse, I no longer need to wait for someone's 'peak.' I take what's useful when I want."
Miyuki: "...That's fair."
Miyuki: "Eh? Wait, Bullet's awake already!?"
Scathach: "My clairvoyance confirms it. Somehow... that monster's back on his feet."
Yamamoto Mei: "Of course. He's using the ancient pirate technique—Sit-Ups No Jutsu!"
Miyuki: "Pirates might lack divine power, but their ability to tank pain is on par with Hercules himself. Crocodile got clowned, but Bullet? He's built different."
Scathach: "Indeed. His vitality is nearly on par with a god-tier abyssal creature. Ludicrous."
In the pirate world...
Scathach silently withdrew from the chat group, her gaze fixed on Bullet—the monstrous mass of flesh barely recognizable as human.
He lay broken before her, thoroughly defeated. Despite having seen glimpses of the future through her clairvoyance—images of Bullet rising and confronting Jaeger—she held no expectations.
Even without knowing the outcome, she could tell.
This was not a battle between equals.
"Grrrlkk—"
From the pile of mangled flesh, a sickening sound gurgled forth. Bullet's body twitched, then began to convulse grotesquely, as if refusing to accept death itself.
"Life Return...!"
With a roar from deep within, his broken form began to swell—flesh bulged, bones cracked back into place, muscles surged with vitality.
Within moments, the hideous meat pile had reformed into a hulking, muscular giant, roaring with explosive power.
He looked decades younger, his body brimming with unnatural vigor.
"Hah... I burned 20 years of my life just to stand again—but it's worth it… if I can take you down, Jaeger!"
Veins popped. Blackened Haki and ghastly aura swirled around him like vengeful spirits. With a stomp that shattered the frozen ground, Bullet surged forward, aiming a titanic punch at Jaeger's head.
"BOOM—!"
The moment Bullet launched himself, the air screamed. The entire frozen town of Logue trembled violently. The sheer force of his lunge cracked the earth and echoed like a cannon blast.
From the sidelines, Kei Karuizawa and Gion's faces went pale with shock.
"M-Mr. Jaeger!?"
Even Hawkeye and Crocodile paused mid-battle, their eyes fixed on the unfolding spectacle.
Jaeger stood unfazed, expression calm.
"Twenty years of life... just to throw a punch?" he said softly, almost admiringly. "You truly are fearless. A warrior to the end... but bravery and delusion are not the same thing."
And then—he countered.
With equal force, Jaeger's own fist surged forward.
"KRA-KOOM—!!"
Their fists collided.
The resulting shockwave was apocalyptic.
A sphere of compressed air erupted, obliterating everything in a wide radius. Reinforced ice shattered like glass. Buildings collapsed. The sky itself seemed to ripple.
The ocean beyond Logue Town split apart, a scar stretching for kilometers. Icebergs shattered. The sea boiled at the edges of their power.
Even the mightiest onlookers were affected. Yamato, Hawkeye, and Gion were forced to retreat in panic.
Only Logia forms like Esdeath and Karuizawa escaped unscathed. Scathach, protected by divine runes from Odin himself, calmly observed within her enchanted barrier.
And Kaido—Jaeger's own father-in-law—stood tall, only to be blasted flat on his back, coughing blood and looking utterly humiliated.
In the eye of the storm...
"Crack!"
A sickening crunch echoed.
Bullet's massive arm had shattered on impact. Bone fragments tore through his flesh. His limb, once a weapon of war, now hung useless, a ruined mass of meat.
"Ghh... Hah... Hahaha!"
Blood dripping from his mouth, Bullet laughed. His arm twisted unnaturally, but he barely reacted.
"So strong... You're a real monster."
He looked up at Jaeger—not with hatred, but with something else entirely. Awe. Longing. Reverence.
"It's beautiful..." Bullet whispered, eyes glassy.
He wasn't referring to Jaeger's face.
He meant the power—the overwhelming, godlike force that had crushed him utterly.
"This is the power that toppled the Rose Kingdom... that slew the legends—Garp, Rayleigh... the strength that executed the Pirate King himself... If I'd seen you a decade earlier, maybe—just maybe—I wouldn't have lost my way..."
Jaeger stared silently, his expression... complicated.
If a stunning beauty had said that, maybe he'd be flattered.
But from a grotesque, musclebound meathead with blood dripping from his jaw?
Absolutely not.
Ugly characters don't get salvation. Not in anime.
"Die with your delusions, Bullet," Jaeger said at last, solemnly. "May you find Roger in the afterlife. Challenge him again. Chase your strength in the world beyond."
Jaeger's right eye shimmered—a golden sun sigil glowing within the pupil.
Then—
"FWOOSH—"
A flame of pure gold burst into existence.
The evolved solar fire, once born from Aizen's sun spirit and further enhanced by the Hōgyoku, now burned at over 30 million degrees—surpassing even the sunfire used in the Soul Society.
Bullet's body instantly ignited.
In the blink of an eye, he began to disintegrate.
"So this is solar fire... Not just lightning and raw muscle... Even your flames are divine..."
Despite the searing agony, Bullet didn't scream.
He smiled.
"If I could start over... I'd follow you. Saint Jaeger..."
And with that final thought—
He vanished.
Ashes scattered in the wind.
Jaeger exhaled softly, feeling a shift inside.
Bullet's legend—the remnants of his soul and conviction—was absorbed.
Converted into new treasures under Jaeger's will.
"...One Bullet down, and I gain four new treasures?"
He blinked.
"Huh. Feels like I just hit the gacha jackpot."
•••
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