On Crocodile's pale forehead, a vein popped. "What are you looking at?" Just a pair of legs, and he was staring?
WHOOSH!
She extended a hand, and with a gust of wind, lifted the massive Krieg, who weighed several hundred kilograms, into the air.
"My... my lady, please don't kill me!" Krieg, desperate to survive, begged for mercy. "The gun just went off by accident! I swear! Just let me go, and I'll do anything!"
"Do you think we're fools?" Rodin walked up from behind her. "Besides, what good are you? You'd just be a burden."
Krieg's body was rapidly drying out. In a final, desperate attempt, he blurted out, "I have information! A Seven Warlords of the Sea... Hawkeye, is following us into the East Blue!"
His voice was cut off as his body shriveled. His thick golden armor now hung like a decoration, doing nothing to protect him.
"Sorry, I already know that," Rodin said, glancing at the pathetic sight and then looking away. In the original story, Hawkeye had followed the Krieg Pirates all the way to the Baratie, where Zoro challenged him.
Rodin put his hands in his pockets. "Turn the rudder. Let's take the long way around this foggy area."
"Are you scared?" Crocodile squeezed her hand, crushing Krieg's neck to the size of a toothpick. She then casually tossed his lifeless body aside like trash.
She raised her head, a confident smirk on her face. "Since I'm here, you don't have to be afraid of that guy." In her parallel world, Hawkeye was just a 17-year-old swordsman who had just debuted. He was not very famous. In her eyes, he was just a swordsman with a bit of talent.
"You?" Rodin scoffed. "He's the world's number one swordsman. He would probably destroy you."
"The world's number one swordsman?" Crocodile frowned, the system not having given her that information.
As if on cue, a ship sailed out of the fog. A coffin-shaped boat, with two green candles flickering eerily on the sides. A man in a black coat and a large black hat sat on the boat, his legs crossed, exuding an aura of utter superiority.
"That's him, right?" Crocodile's eyes narrowed. She felt a sense of danger, but a smirk crept onto her face. She had challenged Whitebeard; she wasn't afraid of the world's number one swordsman.
"Your thoughts are dangerous," Rodin said, exhaling slowly. Hawkeye was right there. It would be too obvious if they changed direction to avoid him, but that didn't mean Rodin wanted to pick a fight. He didn't want to die before he had even started his journey.
In the distance, Mihawk seemed to notice something and lifted his head, his eyes meeting Crocodile's.
"Don't look at him!" Rodin reached out and pressed down on Crocodile's black hair, pushing her head down. It was a bad idea to pick a fight when their strength was still weak. He didn't want to get killed before they even started.
Crocodile was aggrieved, but she didn't resist. Bad thoughts made her whole body ache.
Mihawk, on the other hand, had no such reservations. He drew the long cross-shaped knife from his back and swung it lightly. A light-blue flying slash shot out.
"He's actually doing it?!" The Marines on the warship panicked. "Doesn't he know this is a warship?!" Even if he saw something, he should have been cautious about the hostages and the safety of the crew!
"Unlucky," Rodin sighed, letting go of Crocodile's head.
"Hmph, typical man." Crocodile straightened up, her expression serious. She was conceited, but she also had a basic sense of danger. She focused all her energy. "Desert Sword!"
Her slender arm turned into a lavender sand blade, crackling with the color of her Haki. As she used the ability, a look of surprise crossed her face. Her Haki seemed to have gotten much stronger. Without a moment's hesitation, she threw the sand blade, and it grew several times larger as it flew toward the blue slash.
The two attacks, one blue and one purple, tore through the waves and collided with a loud BOOM! The slashes and sand dissipated into nothingness.
"These stockings… they actually raised my Haki level?" Crocodile stared down at the fishnet stockings, utterly baffled.
"I told you, didn't I?" Rodin said with a smirk. He checked her stats. Her Haki level, thanks to the stockings, had been upgraded her from two and a half stars to three.
"The challenge to Whitebeard will have to wait," Crocodile said, a hungry look in her eyes. "Let's use this guy to make up for it."
She charged forward. Rodin didn't stop her. A fight was inevitable, and he was curious to see how a three-star Haki user would fare against the world's greatest swordsman.