Crocodile had no reaction whatsoever to Mr.1 being instantly defeated.
Because he couldn't even spare a moment to observe what was happening on Yamato's side. Right now, if he let his guard down even a little, his defenses might be immediately breached.
Dozens of seconds earlier, he had been filled with killing intent, coalescing behind Sasuke, ready to deal with him just like he did with Fossa.
Four Desert Spada, like the pincers of a scorpion, 'clamped' towards Sasuke's head.
But the next moment, the Kusanagi Sword, imbued with Haki, sliced right through the sand.
If Crocodile hadn't reacted quickly enough and severed his control over that part of the sand, his arms would have been severed by Sasuke in that single encounter.
"Oh?"
Sasuke lightly brushed the sand dust off his clothes, then looked at Crocodile, who had reappeared not far away, still in shock. He seemed somewhat surprised that the other party had managed to dodge his attack.
Although his swordsmanship wasn't particularly outstanding, he had at least learned a hint of Patrick Redfield's essence in terms of drawing speed.
As for Crocodile, he was also filled with lingering fear.
If he hadn't trained his Observation Haki deeply during this period, which warned him frantically before the crisis arrived, he probably would have been finished.
Clearly, while he had grown stronger, this black-haired brat across from him had also grown stronger.
And... it had almost reached a point he couldn't comprehend.
Crocodile was very reluctant to admit this. In his impression, when Sasuke fought at Impel Down, he didn't seem to have this kind of effortless skill he displayed now.
"Bastard..."
[Sables!]
Crocodile quickly generated a sandstorm in his hand, which expanded within a few seconds.
Then he hurled the sandstorm, capable of blowing off rooftops. A fierce gale whipped up flying sand and stones all around. Many onlooking residents retreated into their houses, closing doors and windows tightly.
Sasuke, however, stood firm like a nail, rooted to the ground.
The sandstorm seemed to do nothing except lift the hem of his clothes.
Yet, this was only Crocodile's first move.
Seeing that a direct assault was no match, he adopted a roundabout tactic.
Using the dust raised by the sandstorm as cover, Crocodile's figure dissipated once more.
And because of the sandstorm, a thin layer of yellow sand had somehow spread across the ground.
"Just as Karin said."
"Really somewhat similar to Gaara."
"But—"
Clang!
The Kusanagi Sword was drawn, clashing with the golden hook wrapped in Haki.
"Compared to him, you seem rather inadequate."
Sasuke and Gaara didn't have much interaction, and they had only been teammates for a period during the same journey.
But he had also witnessed the upper limit of power Gaara could unleash when controlled by the Nature Will.
That [Sage Art: Shukaku's Spear], which seemed capable of piercing anything, would be hard for even the current Sasuke to withstand head-on.
Perhaps only Naruto... or someone with an outrageously powerful physique like Yamato could catch it barehanded.
"Tch, what nonsense are you spouting?!"
The moment Crocodile said this, half of his head was 'sliced off' the next instant.
"Reacted, huh?"
Sasuke, who had sheathed his sword once again at some point, looked at Crocodile, whose head had 'regrown'. A hint of seriousness finally entered his tone.
Originally, Sasuke didn't care at all about guys like Crocodile who escaped from Level 6 of Impel Down.
Aside from Redfield, Bullet, and Byrnndi World, the other Level 6 prisoners were just a bunch of scarecrows in his eyes.
So he chose to fight using swordsmanship rather than his fruit ability.
—After all, if he wanted to spar with Yamato, his current swordsmanship was completely insufficient.
He was using Crocodile as a training dummy.
As soon as his head regenerated, before Crocodile could continue with any more boastful words, a near-invisible sword light assaulted him again.
He could only rely on his Observation Haki, barely dispersing his body before being struck… a skill necessary for Logia users when fighting Haki users.
Otherwise, their heads would be easily sliced off by Haki.
Sword light enveloped Crocodile, leaving him no mind for words, only focusing entirely on dodging.
And Sasuke seemed to have gained some interest, gradually increasing his speed.
This made the pressure Crocodile felt even greater.
"Huff... huff... Finally caught up!"
At that moment, Baby-5's voice suddenly rang out.
The young girl had lost sight of Yamato and Sasuke halfway through her run. She could only continue chasing in the original direction until she finally arrived now.
At this moment, Baby-5 missed her old partner Buffalo a little.
As a user of the Guru Guru no Mi, he could rotate various parts of his body into propeller-like structures, turning into a human-shaped aircraft.
—Unfortunately, he was now a prisoner of the Beasts Pirates.
And it was the moment Baby-5's voice appeared that Sasuke's fierce sword net had a brief pause.
Crocodile seized the opportunity to instantly disperse, then reform in the distance.
"Damn it... how can this guy..."
Compared to Fossa, whom he defeated unscathed earlier, Sasuke was much more troublesome.
'Close combat wasn't feasible, so then—'
"Ground Death!"
Crocodile placed his palm on the ground, instantly sucking the moisture from the soil, plants, and other things underground.
The soil visibly turned into sand.
"Desert Spada!"
The sand surface suddenly caved in, turning into quicksand that could swallow everything.
Baby-5 was also caught in this attack, her figure tilting, about to fall into the sand.
Fortunately, Sasuke wouldn't just watch this happen.
"Sigh..."
'Still need to use fruit abilities, huh.'
Sasuke, now in a humanoid form with a wolf's head like some Egyptian's God of Death, floated in mid-air. In one hand, he held Baby-5, in the other, the semi-conscious Fossa, tossing them both toward an area not covered by sand.
Without using his fruit abilities, it really wasn't easy for him to deal with the quicksand.
But now...
He can just fly.
'Still not fast enough… well, time to end this.'
Sasuke, transformed into his beast-man form, looked down upon Crocodile on the ground like a god. He sheathed his long sword, while a flame of Haki and Chakra appeared on his palm.
In this state, the pressure he exerted on Crocodile was completely different.
When those swirling crimson eyes gazed at him, Crocodile felt as if someone had grabbed his throat-
Just like when he faced that man before.
"Don't screw with me! Die!"
A nerve in his brain was triggered, making the Desert King abandon his somewhat cowardly tactics and choose to attack head-on.
After letting out a roar, he swung his arm like a whip.
Blade after blade made of sand was flung out, assaulting Sasuke.
Whatever they touched along the way had all moisture sucked dry.
It looked utterly terrifying.
Yet all this was nothing before Sasuke's Calamity Flames merged with his flame clouds.
The sand was ignited rapidly before it even reached him, turning into smoke and dissipating.
"If that's all you've got—"
The first half of the sentence was still in the air, and when the second half sounded, Sasuke had already appeared in front of Crocodile, lightning suddenly crackling on his arm.
"Then lie down."
Crocodile wanted to react, but he seemed to suddenly lose control of his limbs.
He meant to block Sasuke, but his arm moved as slow as a snail.
It wasn't that he was too slow, but that Sasuke was too fast.
Crocodile's speed was simply not enough before Sasuke, whose body was activated and fruit ability was in use.
He could only watch as that lightning-imbued hand blade inched closer and closer. The aura of destruction on it made Crocodile's life flash before his eyes.
Yet the expected pain did not arrive.
Crocodile's eyes shifted, seeing Sasuke suddenly sharply look up behind him.
'What was there? Seemed like besides Mr.1 and the others, there shouldn't be anyone else.'
"This guy, crazy?"
Then, Crocodile was thrown aside without a care, like a bag of garbage.
Sasuke's figure then appeared as if teleporting between Yamato and Mr.3.
Mr.3 simply couldn't react.
He wasn't very good at close combat… his nerve reflex speed couldn't keep up.
"Raid—"
"Thunder Bagua!!"
Yamato's Thunder Bagua this time had no intention of holding back… it could be said she went all out.
The Conqueror's Haki wrapped around it was uncontrollably leaking out a bit.
And just this little bit of leaked Haki aura was enough to make everyone present feel their consciousness being assaulted.
"Idiot Yamato! Are you trying to destroy this island?!"
Different from the almost 'playful' way he fought Crocodile, Sasuke also used 100% of his strength when stopping Yamato.
He concentrated all his Haki into his fist, then wrapped it with Lightning Attribute Chakra, unleashing it fiercely using the principle of the Hasshoken.
Boom—
The moment fist met kanabo, all sound on the island seemed to vanish.
Replacing it was a muffled sound so oppressive it made one want to vomit blood.
As the person closest to the impact point, Buggy clearly saw that black-haired brat's punch actually deflect the white-haired monster's kanabo.
'Hey, hey, hey!'
'Don't screw around!'
'That's Conqueror's Haki Infusion!'
Buggy didn't realize at all how incredibly strong it was that he remained conscious after taking a Conqueror's Haki collision at point-blank range.
In contrast, Mr.3 had already fallen unconscious, his body toppling forward with the momentum.
Boom!!!!
The next moment, the deflected kanabo smashed down again, but this time the direction was shifted more toward the outer coastline.
A terrifying shockwave instantly plowed a channel through the entire land, wide enough for a large ship to sail through.
This channel extended all the way into the sea, directly destroying about one-twentieth of the small island.
—And this was only because Sasuke acted in time.
Otherwise, if Yamato had landed that blow, the island might not have completely sunk, but at the very least, the residents would have suffered heavy casualties.
However, this was also the limit of what Sasuke could do.
Without the [Karma] enhancement, his physical strength still couldn't match Yamato's. Being able to deflect the attack was already an improvement.
On the other side, Crocodile belatedly turned his head to look this way.
After the scene of mountain-shattering, sea-splitting destruction entered his vision, he suddenly fell silent.