The appearance of the sand wall blocked Blueno's Rankyaku, but Blueno's attack did not stop.
After the failure of Rankyaku, he used Soru again to appear behind Preta Path, striking him with a Shigan that created a sand hole in Preta Path's body, which instantly recovered.
Blueno looked at the Move used by this somewhat familiar figure, feeling it was very similar to Crocodile's Moves, and couldn't help but feel puzzled.
He quickly used Soru to flash back to his original position, then looked at the figure blocking Pain's front.
Although his face was covered with strange 'jewelry' and his eyes were somewhat abnormal, the information matched Crocodile in every way.
"A body that can turn into sand... a somewhat familiar face... isn't this Crocodile?... What's going on?..."
"Didn't Crocodile die? Could the intelligence be wrong?" Blueno's mind raced.
Blueno felt that their previous intelligence seemed to have serious errors; Crocodile had not died but defected.
Blueno made a judgment in an instant.
Thinking of this, Blueno felt he had to end the battle quickly and bring the intelligence back; this intelligence was too important.
These thoughts flashed through Blueno's mind the moment he used Soru to return to his original position.
Now that he had obtained important intelligence, Blueno wanted to return early.
Pain did not take the initiative to attack; he wanted to see what level of strength this enemy possessed and what extent he could achieve.
After all, Pain had too few encounters with people from this world and still needed to observe, understand, and verify his internal judgment of their strength.
He also wanted to see the current limit of Preta Path's Sealing Technique Absorption Seal as its Chakra increased, so he just let Preta Path passively defend.
Blueno moved again, activating Geppo, his feet rapidly stomping, his body quickly rising into the air.
"Rankyaku: Tekkai Kenpo!" Blueno roared.
Blueno used his high-speed airborne body, then his foot, reinforced by Tekkai, to smash directly down on Preta Path from above.
Facing Blueno's powerful incoming kick, Preta Path did not counterattack, instantly sandifying his body to evade the kick.
After solidifying his body, Preta Path reappeared, already outside Blueno's attack range.
Although Blueno's kick did not hit its target, it directly smashed a large pit about three meters deep where Preta Path had stood.
His gaze fixed on the sandified body of Crocodile, Blueno became even more convinced of his conjecture, and he launched another continuous attack after missing.
Rankyaku, Shigan, Tekkai, Geppo, Soru—these were combined to attack the Sand Preta Path.
Under Pain's control, Preta Path sometimes sandified his body to dodge and sometimes endured the attacks, but he never counterattacked.
Several minutes quickly passed.
Pain, seeing that the enemy kept using the same Moves and couldn't do anything to Preta Path, gradually lost his patience.
"Is this all you've got?... If this is your limit... then it's about time to end this..."
Alabasta, Marine Joint Defense Department.
Knock knock, a knock sounded, and Kalifa's voice came from inside the office, "Come in."
The person outside entered in response; it was a Marine soldier, who stood at attention with his feet together and saluted, "Report... sustained sounds of fighting are coming from near the enemy's ship.
The battle appears to be very intense, but the specific situation is unknown.
Please give instructions."
Before sending out the Joint Defense Team, Kalifa had instructed the team leader to constantly observe the battle on the enemy's ship and report immediately if Blueno was at a disadvantage.
Now the situation had deviated; the battle was not on the ship but at a location not far from it.
That area was somewhat empty due to Oden's previous actions, and the Marines on the warship could get a general view through binoculars but were unclear about the actual situation, hence the direct report requesting instructions.
"Kalifa... should we provide immediate support?..."
Kaku was somewhat uneasy upon hearing the intelligence and originally wanted to provide support.
"The warship can approach a bit closer and observe from a safe distance... to ascertain the actual combat situation..."
Kalifa did not directly answer Kaku's question but conveyed her decision to Kaku through her command to the soldier.
"Yes," the soldier acknowledged and turned to leave.
Kaku was actually very worried inside, after all, the enemy's strength was unknown, and they could quickly kill a Logia Ability User like Crocodile.
Kaku was very uneasy about Blueno going on such a mission alone with such strength, but due to Kalifa's insistence and the fact that Kalifa was the team leader for this mission, Kaku said no more.
Blueno had been conducting probing attacks; he understood after a brief exchange that ordinary Navy Six Styles could not defeat his opponent.
But facing Crocodile's 'no retaliation' still brought him considerable confusion, and he even had other thoughts in his mind.
"Is this guy being coerced?... Is his not attacking me a way of revealing his unwilling state?..."
With such a conjecture, Blueno could not directly deliver a killing blow under these circumstances, which led to the awkward battle situation earlier.
But as Pain released his killing intent, this situation was instantly broken.
Pain was gradually losing patience; since the opponent was not using full power or their combat strength was not high, he would directly use a killing Move to see the opponent's situation.
With a thought, Pain controlled Preta Path to endure one of Blueno's Rankyaku, and the killing Move was ready.
Preta Path sandified his body, forming scattered sand, and reappeared next to Blueno, reaching out to grab Blueno, intending to control Blueno's body with 'Sand Coffin' and drain Blueno's body of water.
Blueno was also a very keen type in battle.
When Preta Path appeared and tried to grab him, Blueno used Paper Art to dodge Preta Path's grab, then countered with an enhanced Shigan aimed at Preta Path's head, attempting a headshot with Shigan.
If Preta Path insisted on using 'Sand Coffin' to grab Blueno, he would be hit in the head by Shigan.
However, Preta Path was now a Suna Suna no Mi Ability User, completely fearless of such physical attacks.
Pain chose to let Preta Path endure Blueno's attack, and Preta Path's head, which endured the Shigan, was instantly pierced.
Half of Preta Path's face was shattered but recovered in less than two seconds.
Blueno was not surprised; he had already used Soru to escape 'Sand Coffin' when he released Shigan.
Preta Path sandified his body again and pursued closely, engaging in close combat with Blueno.
Against a Logia Ability User, Blueno knew very well that only Armament Haki could be effective.
In the past two years, besides continuously strengthening his cultivation of Navy Six Styles, Blueno had also diligently cultivated Armament Haki through various methods.
Although he eventually succeeded, he only managed to activate his potential and Cultivate Elementary Armament Haki.
Blueno had been waiting for an opportunity, an opportunity to deliver a fatal blow to the enemy using Armament Haki.
Haki is a latent power that all humans in this world possess; this power is an innate ability, similar to Aura and deterrent force.
It exists like an instinct; however, most people cannot realize this power, or they will never be able to unleash it throughout their lives.
Haki is divided into Haoshoku Haki, which possesses the 'Aptitude of a King' and can intimidate or knock out enemies with one's own 'Aura'.
Armament Haki, which can increase defense and attack power and can touch the physical body of Logia Fruit Ability Users.
And Observation Haki, which can predict the opponent's next Move and position.
Haki is divided into three types: Observation Haki, Armament Haki, and Haoshoku Haki.
Except for Haoshoku Haki and the highest level of Observation Haki, ordinary people can obtain the power of Armament Haki through Cultivate, and can continuously Cultivate and enhance it.
Haoshoku Haki and the highest level of Observation Haki are both innate and cannot be obtained through Cultivate, and the highest level of Observation Haki is even rarer than Haoshoku Haki.
Observation Haki and Haoshoku Haki can only grow through one's own development after Awakening and cannot be strengthened through Cultivate.
Armament Haki, however, is obtained and strengthened through Cultivate.
Armament Haki is divided into Elementary, Intermediate, and King-tier.
Those who reach King-tier Armament Haki are all 'Four Emperors' level figures in this world.
The difference between Elementary, Intermediate, and King-tier is as follows:
Elementary Armament Haki is black-gray, can attack Ability Users, but will be suppressed and injured when encountering higher-level Haki, and can only be applied to the hands.
Intermediate Armament Haki is black-purple, can suppress lower-level Haki, injure the opponent's hands that are in a Haki state, and can be applied to the head and limbs.
King-tier Armament Haki is black-red, can break through lower-level Haki states, rendering the opponent unable to use Haki against enemies for a short period, and can be applied to the entire body.
For Pain, killing Blueno was a very easy task; he only needed to use Almighty Pull to hold Blueno, and then have Preta Path unleash the ultimate Move, Devour: Sandification World (a combination of Suna Suna no Mi ability and Preta Path's technique), which would instantly kill Blueno beyond recovery.
Although his patience was gradually fading, the strength Blueno was now displaying and the methods he used to attack Preta Path were vastly different from before, making him very suitable for testing Preta Path's abilities.
If Pain did not want Blueno to live, then Blueno would have no escape, which is the freedom that comes with strength...