This punch was unexpected, catching Crocodile completely off guard.
His entire face instantly twisted out of shape.
The tremendous impact sent him flying backward, his body still spinning rapidly in midair.
"How is this possible!"
Crocodile rolled violently across the sand like a leather ball, sand and gravel scattering everywhere, before finally stopping in a sorry state.
He raised his head, his face filled with disbelief and shock.
He thought Jotaro had already been buried by the quicksand, so his attention had all been focused below.
But what he hadn't expected was that, at some unknown time, Jotaro had already broken free, and had even appeared right above his head.
"You're wrong. This place is your grave!"
Jotaro landed gracefully from midair.
That cold voice made Crocodile's whole body go numb.
"Impossible, you were clearly swallowed by the sand, how could you possibly appear in the sky!"
Jotaro said coldly, "I have no need to answer your question."
Crocodile's gloomy eyes glared at him. The next second, he gritted his teeth and attacked.
"Desert Spada!"
Countless grains of fine sand gathered in Crocodile's hand, forming into a giant sword of sand.
He swung the huge sword down toward Jotaro.
"Star Platinum!"
Star Platinum rushed head-on, its fist like a rainbow piercing the sun, easily shattering the sand sword, punching Crocodile in the abdomen.
"F**k! Just what kind of Devil Fruit ability is this!"
Crocodile spat out a mouthful of blood, his expression ferocious, growling low, "Sables!"
All of a sudden, a storm of sand wrapped around Jotaro's entire body, the sand whipped up by the gale sharper than blades.
"Ora ora ora ora…"
Star Platinum swung its fists, the counter-force of its punches colliding with the sandstorm, tearing apart the gale, restoring calm in an instant.
Crocodile was utterly horrified.
The man before him was even stronger than he imagined.
He had already lost the will to fight. His body dissolved into fine flowing sand, wanting to merge into the vast boundless desert.
The same trick, how could Jotaro possibly fall for it twice.
"Where do you think you're going!"
Star Platinum's eyes were like a hawk's, firmly locking onto the sand.
Suddenly its hands wrapped with Armament Haki and stabbed straight into the sand.
"Ora!"
Crocodile was dragged out from underground.
He was already somewhat in despair.
"What kind of fruit did you eat!"
Naturally, Jotaro could never answer him, the only response was Star Platinum's fists.
"Ora ora ora ora ora!"
One of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, Crocodile, after fighting Jotaro for less than three minutes, met with the miserable outcome of complete defeat.
"Compared to that man, you're just far too weak!"
Jotaro looked at the immobile, already unconscious Crocodile and spoke indifferently.
When Jotaro first heard that Crocodile and Hawkeye both belonged to the Seven Warlords, he did feel some caution.
Perhaps Hawkeye's current strength wasn't on par with his, but the other's combat experience and instincts were still sharp.
If he really fought Hawkeye, even if he won, it wouldn't be an easy victory.
But Crocodile's performance left Jotaro bitterly disappointed.
Not only was his strength insufficient, his battle sense was also terrifyingly low, he simply had no qualities of a top-tier powerhouse.
If it were Hawkeye, he would never have asked a question like why Jotaro appeared in the sky.
When Jotaro was swallowed by the quicksand, the reason he didn't emerge immediately was because he had lost his target and didn't know where Crocodile was hiding.
He wanted to push himself into a desperate situation to force Crocodile to reveal himself.
The only thing commendable about Crocodile was perhaps his cautiousness.
His strength was lacking, yet he still managed to become one of the Seven Warlords, without some extraordinary quality, it really wouldn't make sense.
Jotaro had displayed astonishing acting skills, creating the illusion of being trapped in crisis.
But Crocodile still wasn't fooled, refusing to show himself or attack.
Only when Jotaro was completely buried in sand, after more than a full minute passed, did he slowly emerge.
What Crocodile hadn't expected was that, the moment the sand swallowed Jotaro, the latter had already used time-stop to escape.
And he had immediately moved high into the sky, avoiding Crocodile's detection.
If it were Hawkeye, after taking that punch from Jotaro, perhaps he would have already considered the possibility of time-stop, and then sought to confirm it in the following battle.
But Crocodile, from start to finish, never once realized Jotaro could stop time.
Jotaro counted the numbers.
The Baroque Works members he had defeated altogether numbered five.
According to Vivi's intel, there were still five unaccounted for.
"Yare yare…" He knew clearly those people must have other missions to carry out, or else they had gone to pursue Vivi and the others.
"I'd better catch up to them first."
"Oi! Mr. 9! Tell me the position where they left from!"
"Zzz zzz zzz…"
The noisy static coming from the communicator made Jotaro frown slightly.
'Why was the signal interrupted?'
———
"Hahaha, I also had a big fight."
Mr. 9 had wiped out the last Navy squad and couldn't wait to share the good news with Jotaro.
But he knew Jotaro was in battle, and now wasn't the time to disturb him.
So he controlled the drone again to scout the surrounding area.
"That is!"
The scene before him made Mr. 9's eyes widen. He hurriedly zoomed in on the footage captured by the drone.
"Boss? Impossible… no! I must quickly report to him! Miss Wednesday is in danger!"
But the moment he activated the communicator, only the sound of a broken signal came through.
At the same time, the drone also lost control, its screen turning blurry.
Mr. 9 broke out in a cold sweat.
He remembered Jotaro once said that their long-distance communication relied on something called electromagnetic waves.
The sending and receiving of electromagnetic waves depended on antennas, without antennas, the signal would weaken.
"How could this happen?"
He didn't need to think about it, because soon enough, he would know the answer.
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
patreon.com/XenosX
🥳Joining Patreon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰