Chapter 70: King vs. King, Lister VS Crocodile
Thump!
Daz Bonez fell, kicking up a cloud of sand.
Zoro didn't turn back to look at Daz Bonez's miserable defeat.
He muttered to himself, "If I hadn't comprehended the Breath of All Things and mastered the art of cutting steel, perhaps you would have been a truly powerful opponent!"
Clearly, there was a hidden meaning in Zoro's words; the implication was obvious: after I comprehended the Breath of All Things and mastered the art of cutting steel, you didn't even have the qualification to last more than one move against me!
"Mr. 1 is defeated?"
The nearby members of Baroque Works were greatly shocked by this scene.
In their eyes, Daz Bonez, who had eaten the Chop-Chop Fruit, was undoubtedly very powerful. Besides BOSS Crocodile, they really couldn't think of anyone who could defeat him.
And yet, such a powerful individual was defeated so unexpectedly.
It was too far beyond their expectations, too shocking.
In that moment of distraction, Jango seized the opportunity and defeated Daz Bonez's partner, Paula.
A miserable scream rang out, once again attracting the attention of everyone around.
Quickly, everyone saw the scene of Paula being cut down by the ring blades and falling to the ground.
"Even Miss Doublefinger is defeated!"
This was just the beginning.
From the moment Daz Bonez was cut down, it was as if a domino effect had started.
The officers of Baroque Works fell one after another.
At this time, the okama Bon Clay was also taken down by Gin.
Bon Clay's real strength lay in his ability to transform into anyone he touched.
His own combat strength was not that great.
In the original story, the reason Sanji was beaten so badly was because Bon Clay had grasped his weakness, constantly transforming into Nami to attack him.
At this moment, Bon Clay had not grasped Gin's weakness and couldn't deal with him the way he dealt with Sanji.
So, he was quickly crushed by Gin.
The Mr. 4 pair was also defeated by the combined efforts of Johnson and Rocky.
Although Johnson and Rocky were initially of average strength, after following Lister for so long, they had naturally learned some useful things.
They used those things to defeat the two.
With the successive defeats of these officers, the morale of Baroque Works plummeted.
They were being completely suppressed by the Money Pirates.
Crocodile watched all this, and he could no longer remain calm!
"A bunch of trash!"
He never thought that the highly anticipated Daz Bonez would be so vulnerable in front of Zoro, even triggering a chain reaction that directly revealed Baroque Works's impending defeat.
Therefore, Crocodile prepared to enter the fray himself.
"Sandstorm!"
He saw a miniature sandstorm forming in his hand!
"Overclock Mode!"
At this moment, Lister also moved.
After entering his Overclock state, he held a sword in one hand and a Seastone jitte in the other.
With a whoosh, he shot towards Crocodile with a sound of breaking air.
The two were hundreds of meters apart, but it only took Lister less than two seconds to appear in front of Crocodile.
Without another word, Lister directly swung the Seastone jitte in his hand, smashing it fiercely at Crocodile.
Crocodile's expression changed slightly.
He hurriedly raised his golden hook to block.
Clang.
A crisp sound of metal colliding rang out.
A circle of air pressure rapidly spread out with the two at the center.
Crocodile successfully blocked Lister's attack.
"A Seastone weapon?" Crocodile's expression changed slightly.
"Observation Haki!" In an instant, Lister also sensed a familiar aura on Crocodile.
It was Observation Haki, no doubt.
It seemed Crocodile was not as incompetent as he appeared in the original story.
Although his Observation Haki had not reached a profound level, he was very skilled with it.
Now that he had shown Observation Haki, did that mean he also had Armament Haki?
Lister pondered.
"You know about Observation Haki? It seems you're not as ignorant as I thought!" Crocodile was a little surprised to hear this.
He didn't expect Lister, who had just come from a small place like the East Blue, to also know about Observation Haki.
"I just entered the Grand Line and met Hawkeye. Not only did I fight him, but I also learned Observation Haki from him. I have it too, so how could I not know?" Lister said with a faint smile.
"You fought Hawkeye and lived?" Crocodile looked at Lister with some surprise.
"So, now you understand why I have the confidence to declare war on you, right?" Lister smiled faintly.
"You dare to challenge me just because you survived an encounter with Hawkeye?" Crocodile sneered.
"Should I call you reckless, or should I call you stupid!"
"Rather than calling me reckless and stupid, it's better to say that Crocodile's strength is too weak to be a threat to me at all! Although the Seven Warlords of the Sea have the same status, their strengths are not on the same level at all. Hawkeye is undoubtedly in the strongest tier. Doflamingo, the Empress Hancock, Tyrant Kuma, and Jinbe, although there are some gaps between them, they are at least in the same tier. Only you and Gecko Moria, the two losers who returned from the New World, have become the weakest of the seven. I may not be able to beat Hawkeye now, but beating you shouldn't be much of a problem!" Lister said.
"How dare you!" Crocodile's face turned livid with anger, and he gritted his teeth.
"Good! Next, let's see how you're going to beat me! If you can't beat me, not only will you die, but I will sell all those women of yours to the pleasure district and let them entertain all kinds of different men!"
Lister's gaze turned cold, and he swung the katana in his hand at Crocodile's neck.
With a puff, Crocodile's neck instantly turned into sand.
Not a single drop of blood flowed out.
Lister was not surprised by this. After all, a katana was not a Seastone weapon, and he didn't have Armament Haki yet.
Naturally, it was difficult to harm Crocodile with a katana.
However, after cutting off Crocodile's head, Lister's blade suddenly changed direction and slashed at Crocodile's left hand, which was wearing the golden hook.
He cut off the entire hand.
Although Crocodile could turn into his element, and Lister's blade couldn't harm him, it successfully cut off the golden hook on Crocodile's hand.
Without the golden hook to block, the jitte instantly smashed into Crocodile's body, sending him flying!
"Sandstorm!"
The moment Crocodile was sent flying, he also threw out the rotating sandstorm that had formed in his right hand.
With a whoosh, Lister instantly disappeared from his original spot.
At this moment, Lister had not only awakened his Observation Haki but was also in his Overclock Mode.
His perception was stronger than anyone else's here.
Coupled with his superhuman speed, it was impossible for him to be hit by Crocodile's attack.
After Lister disappeared, he once again launched an attack on Crocodile from another direction.
The sharp blade stabbed at Crocodile, fast and urgent.
However, with the help of his Observation Haki, Crocodile was not completely unable to track Lister's movements.
But because Lister had a Seastone weapon in his hand, and his golden hook had been cut off, he didn't dare to let Lister get close.
After capturing Lister's figure with his Observation Haki, he directly launched a long-range attack!
"Crescent Cutlass!"
"Desert Spada!"
"Desert Grande Spada!"
"Desert Girasole!"
In just a few breaths, Crocodile launched countless attacks at Lister.
But not a single one touched him.
Lister dodged one attack after another, and several times he almost hit Crocodile.
But each time, Crocodile was able to turn into his element at the crucial moment and escape.
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