"Go! Biscuit Soldiers!"
Cracker waved both hands, and the ugly biscuit army surged toward Crocodile. Dozens of soldiers charged in unison, their hollow eyes fixed on their target, weapons raised high.
"Twirl Pretzel!"
The weapons in the biscuit soldiers' hands spun like screwdrivers, drilling through the air as they thrust at Crocodile!
During his time in Paradise, Crocodile would have simply tanked such an attack with his body. But now that he understood Armament Haki, he would never do something so foolish.
He retreated immediately, intending to dodge, but the spiraling airflow on the spinning blades suddenly spread outward like a cyclone!
SHRRK!
Crocodile had not expected this extra trick and failed to avoid the whirling blade energy in time. His shoulder was instantly torn open!
Flesh and blood sprayed everywhere!
"Damn it! Desert Prison!"
Crocodile paid the minor wound no mind. He thrust a hand toward the biscuit soldier, and the desiccating power of the desert washed over it instantly.
"Dry out every drop of water and crumble to dust!" he said with a smug grin. Dealing with these little biscuits should have been as easy as raising a hand.
What the hell? What just happened?
Crocodile's smug expression froze on his face. After being hit by his Desert Prison, the target should have had all its moisture drained.
But this biscuit soldier was completely unaffected.
"Is my power not strong enough?"
"Then how about this! Crescent Sand Dune!"
His arm extended and swept horizontally, the sandified limb forming a crescent-shaped dune that sliced through the biscuit soldiers' bodies.
But what shocked Crocodile was that even this technique had no effect whatsoever. The biscuit soldiers did not crumble to dust as he had imagined.
"Hahaha, it's useless! Your techniques have zero effect on my biscuit soldiers!" Cracker laughed triumphantly.
"You. That last move was meant to drain the moisture from my biscuit knights, wasn't it?"
"You thought my biscuit knights would dry up and crack apart like the earth? How naive!" Cracker taunted. "Let me tell you something wonderful. My biscuit knights are compressed biscuit, harder than steel after countless rounds of compaction! They never had a drop of moisture in them to begin with!"
No moisture meant there was nothing to absorb.
Cracker's ability had a natural counter to Crocodile's powers. The most terrifying capability of the Sand-Sand Fruit was completely useless against these things.
The crocodile's expression was grim, but the battlefield did not care about his feelings. This was a realization that stung more than any wound.
The biscuit knights charged from every direction, their spinning blades cutting like meat grinders that could smash through rock and bore holes in an instant! They moved with mechanical precision, showing no hesitation and no fatigue.
"If there's no moisture, then I'll just chop these things to pieces!" Crocodile growled in his hoarse voice. His arm expanded and transformed into a high-frequency vibrating sand blade, slashing fiercely at the incoming biscuit knight!
"Desert Saber!"
CLANG!
The two collided with a metallic ring!
If the biscuit knights' blades were like drills, then Crocodile's Desert Saber was like a buzzsaw!
Fine grains of sand flowed at a speed barely visible to the naked eye, hammering into the biscuit knight and sawing through its blocky body in an instant!
If these were the biscuit knights Cracker would make twenty years later, perhaps they would not have been so easily cut apart by Crocodile's attack. But the Cracker of this era was clearly not yet that powerful.
Still, he was not flustered by this.
After all, biscuit knights were something he could summon casually.
CLAP. CLAP!
From his hiding spot, Cracker clapped his hands with casual ease. In an instant, biscuit crumbs materialized from the dust and debris, coalescing together to form yet more biscuit soldiers. Each one stood tall and featureless, a faceless puppet rebuilt from the remnants of the last wave.
"Go get him!"
Dozens of biscuit soldiers surrounded Crocodile in an instant and lunged at him. They came in a coordinated wave, some striking low at his legs while others aimed for his head, leaving no gap in their formation.
Crocodile scanned his surroundings with cold eyes and found himself fully encircled. There was no escape route, no opening. Biscuit soldiers wielding swords thrust at him from every angle. He swung his arm with full force!
"Sandstorm!"
At that moment, a violent sandstorm erupted with him at its center!
The sandstorm rose like a tornado, lifting every single biscuit knight into the air!
Sand grains flying at tremendous speed within the storm battered the biscuit knights like a particle collider, punching countless holes through their bodies.
CRASH. CRASH!
When the storm subsided, biscuit fragments rained from the sky like garbage.
Desiccation was not the only power of the desert. Wind erosion was not to be underestimated either!
But before Crocodile could celebrate, he saw Cracker clap his hands again in the distance, conjuring even more biscuit soldiers.
"With your stamina, how many more sandstorms like that can you produce?" Cracker sneered. No matter how formidable Crocodile was, he had not even touched Cracker's sleeve. Meanwhile, the fight involving big brother Katakuri had Cracker somewhat worried.
In the distance, Katakuri had finally caught hold of Enel and was about to slam him into the ground. The mochi clung to Enel's limbs and torso like living chains, pinning him in place with suffocating pressure.
Once his mochi grabbed someone, escape was nearly impossible. Even Luffy in Gear Fourth had struggled to break free.
But Enel had his own answer.
"Big Bang!"
He detonated his entire body!
The force of the explosion instantly tore the mochi clinging to him to shreds!
As a bomb-man, Enel was immune to explosions. After blowing apart Katakuri's Buzz Cut Mochi, he planted his right foot on the ground, and the air beneath it detonated!
With the recoil from the blast, Enel shot toward Katakuri like a rocket! His body blazed with explosive energy, leaving a trail of fire in his wake.
The principle was similar to Moon Walk and Soru, but thanks to his Devil Fruit ability, both the power and speed were far greater!
Seeing Enel hurtling toward him at high speed, Katakuri was not alarmed but delighted. He transformed his arm into mochi, inflated it into a spiked club shape, reinforced it with Armament Haki, and spun it at high velocity before smashing it like a meteor hammer straight at the cannonball-like Enel! The air screamed as the massive weapon carved a destructive arc toward its target.
"At this speed, even you can't dodge, can you?" he roared, baring his fangs and pouring every ounce of strength into his shout. The clash of their ultimate techniques lit up the sky above the island.
"Slashing Mochi!"
"Bomb Launcher!"
BOOM!!!
[
Dear Readers,
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