"Spiral Daisy Slash!"
"Three-Sword Style: Tiger Hunt!"
The moment Daz Bones burst from the ruins, he charged straight at Zoro.
At the same time, Zoro launched himself forward as well.
One attacked with twin razor-sharp blades.
The other struck like a tiger pouncing upon its prey.
Boom!!
Their attacks collided with terrifying force.
A violent shockwave exploded outward, sending gusts of wind roaring across the battlefield.
Spiderweb-like cracks spread rapidly across the surrounding ground.
The two men crossed past one another.
After putting five or six meters between themselves, they both came to a halt.
Pfft!
Blood sprayed from both of them simultaneously.
Zoro's blood came from several deep cuts across both of his arms.
Daz Bones' blood came from his abdomen.
Across his torso stretched a set of deep claw-like wounds resembling tiger stripes.
Thud!
As blood continued pouring from his injuries, Daz Bones suddenly collapsed onto the ground.
His strength had finally been exhausted.
Zoro, however, remained standing.
Although both of his arms had been wounded, the injuries were clearly far from serious.
He removed Wado Ichimonji from his mouth before turning to look at the fallen Daz Bones.
"Devil Fruits really are incredible."
"They can actually turn someone's entire body into steel blades."
"If I hadn't mastered the ability to cut steel..."
"...I probably wouldn't have been able to hurt you at all."
Although he had won, Zoro couldn't help sighing inwardly as he looked at his defeated opponent.
Ever since joining the War Pirates, he hadn't devoted himself solely to swordsmanship.
Besides constantly sparring with Lafayette to improve his skills, he had also spent considerable time studying the world beyond East Blue.
One of those subjects was Devil Fruits.
Back in Shimotsuki Village...
He hadn't known any of this.
Compared to a straightforward ability like Daz Bones', many other Devil Fruits were far more bizarre.
Against certain abilities...
A careless mistake could easily cost someone their life.
...Next, I need to train even harder.
Especially Haki.
If I had mastered Armament Haki...
His slashes might not have been able to hurt me at all.
And with Observation Haki...
I probably could've avoided every attack outright.
After reflecting briefly on the battle, Zoro's thoughts naturally shifted toward his future training.
Throughout the fight, he hadn't used Haki once.
The reason was simple.
Ever since approaching his breakthrough, he had devoted all of his energy to comprehending the state of cutting steel.
He hadn't yet begun practicing Haki seriously.
Now that he had successfully broken through—and after personally experiencing a battle against Daz Bones—he had become keenly aware of his own shortcomings.
Especially Haki.
Having learned much about it from the War Pirates, Zoro looked forward even more to mastering that power.
The scorching desert stretched endlessly beneath the blazing sun.
The moment Crocodile left Rainbase and entered the open sands beyond the city...
He immediately reformed from his elemental state.
Without hesitation, he turned around and swung one arm.
"Desert Sword!"
A gigantic blade of compressed sand shot toward the pursuing Kaito.
The enormous sand blade was unbelievably sharp.
Wherever it passed, the desert split apart.
Even massive rocks were sliced cleanly in half.
Boom!!
Facing the incoming attack, Kaito showed no intention of dodging.
Instead...
He simply raised one foot.
Then stomped down.
A violent collision erupted.
Sand exploded in every direction.
Not only did the gigantic sand blade fail to cut Kaito's foot...
It was crushed beneath it.
At almost the same instant—
Kaito's other leg lashed outward.
Boom!!
He didn't use the Dragon-Subduing Leg technique.
It was merely a basic kick.
Yet the explosive force released from it condensed into a devastating shockwave.
The impact blasted straight toward Crocodile.
There wasn't even time to evade.
The shockwave struck Crocodile directly.
His body instantly exploded into countless grains of sand.
The attack continued unabated.
It tore a massive trench across the desert before finally striking a towering rock formation hundreds of meters away.
The entire stone pillar exploded apart.
Not far away...
The scattered sand gradually gathered together.
Crocodile's body slowly reformed.
The instant he returned to normal, another mouthful of blood burst from his lips.
His entire body was covered with tear-like wounds.
Blood soaked his clothes.
Clearly, even though he had attempted to use elementalization once again, he still hadn't completed the transformation before the Armament Haki-coated shockwave struck him.
Whoosh!
Without giving Crocodile any time to recover...
Kaito blurred forward.
Like a flash of lightning, he appeared beside him.
His leg whipped across the air.
Bang!!
Kaito's right foot slammed directly into Crocodile's face.
This time...
Crocodile didn't even have the chance to react.
His body flew away like a ball.
He bounced repeatedly across the sand before finally coming to a stop hundreds of meters away.
"Desert Sunflower!"
Using himself as the center...
The desert within a radius of over one hundred meters suddenly transformed.
The sand began rotating rapidly.
A gigantic whirlpool of quicksand swallowed everything nearby.
Even enormous rocks quickly disappeared beneath the surface.
Kaito, who had been pursuing him, calmly stopped at the edge of the swirling quicksand.
"You're pretty tough."
His expression remained completely unchanged as he looked toward Crocodile, who had climbed back to his feet in the center of the sand vortex.
Without another word...
Kaito lifted his leg once again.
Another Armament Haki-coated shockwave erupted toward his opponent.
"Desert Greatsword!"
Having regained his footing, Crocodile had been watching Kaito from the very beginning.
The moment he saw the incoming shockwave, his expression changed.
Immediately, both of his arms transformed into four gigantic blades of sand.
Boom!!
The shockwave slammed directly into the four enormous sand blades.
A deafening explosion echoed across the desert.
Violent shockwaves spread outward in every direction.
Sand filled the sky.
Although Crocodile had regained his fighting spirit...
His former strength couldn't return overnight.
Years of neglect had not only weakened his physical condition...
Even his Haki had declined considerably.
Even so...
His mastery over the Sand-Sand Fruit remained exceptional.
As enormous quantities of sand scattered through the air...
Crocodile finally succeeded in blocking the incoming shockwave.
"Sand Doppelganger!"
"Desert Crescent!"
Behind Kaito...
Another Crocodile suddenly emerged from the sand.
Without hesitation, the duplicate transformed its right arm into a giant crescent-shaped sand blade and slashed toward Kaito's back.
Boom!!
Before the crescent blade could even touch him...
It collided with an invisible barrier formed by Armament Haki.
The defensive Haki effortlessly blocked the attack.
The resulting impact instantly shattered both the sand blade and the clone itself into countless grains of sand.
So you've decided not to let me get close...
Using clones to attack instead.
It's a good idea...
Unfortunately...
They're still too weak.
Kaito never even turned around to look behind him.
Instead, he continued watching the real Crocodile with an amused smile.
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