Pirate: I, Buggy, am the Emperor, the Emperor of the Clown King!

Chapter 68 won't waste too much time.

night.

This city is located at the border of the desert.

Crocodile transformed into a swirling cloud of dust, bursting out of the hotel's top-floor window and flying towards the inland desert.

Crocodile didn't know exactly how strong Buggy was, but he couldn't afford to fight him in the city.

Crocodile hasn't fully launched his plan yet. He was once a hero protecting the country, and if he and Bucky get into a fight in the city and make a mess of things, then his plan will be ruined.

Therefore, battles can only take place in the wild.

Bucky watched from the window as Crocodile turned into dust and flew away.

The corners of his mouth beneath the mask were slightly upturned.

Then he stepped onto the windowsill and leaped into the night sky.

The hem of her clothes fluttered in the wind, and the black and white mask gleamed coldly in the moonlight.

Bucky had already changed into the Clown King costume.

Blue hair, red clothes, green pants, yellow shoes, white gloves.

He carried four ace throwing knives on his back.

The city lights spread out beneath Pakistan, and flying in the night sky was actually quite an experience.

Bucky's gaze remained fixed on the ever-receding cloud of dust, then he leaned forward and sped off in that direction like an arrow released from a bow.

Both were flying quite fast, and both had a clear destination.

The vast desert outside the city, undisturbed by anyone, is perfect for a battle that needs no spectators.

The sand and dust ahead began to descend, swirling and swirling like a miniature tornado.

The sand and dust fell to the ground, exploding in all directions the moment they hit the ground, like an earthy yellow flower blooming in the night.

Then the sand and dust began to condense, gather, and coalesce into human shapes.

Crocodile stood there, his dark brown fur coat billowing in the night wind, a cigar dangling from his lips, his right hand in his pocket, and the gold hook on his left hand gleaming dimly in the moonlight.

Bucky descended slowly from the air, his feet landing on the sand with a soft "shh" sound.

The two were about twenty paces apart, and the night wind blew between them, stirring up a few wisps of fine sand.

Crocodile's gaze fell on Buggy, scrutinizing him from head to toe—from his previous posture in the air, to the four silent swords behind him, to the slightly upturned corners of his mouth beneath the mask.

He had a cigar in his mouth, and the smoke spilled from the corner of his mouth, only to be blown away by the wind.

"I didn't expect you could fly." Crocodile's voice was exceptionally clear in the empty desert. "Not one of those Marines' Moonwalk tricks—it's real flight—a Devil Fruit ability? Or something else?"

Crocodile's investigation into Buggy revealed that he was increasingly confused about Buggy's abilities.

There seems to be little correlation between the various abilities they exhibit.

Bucky's lips curled up slightly: "There are many things in this world that you haven't seen yet, Crocodile."

"Flying is definitely a hassle." Crocodile put his hands in his pockets, his gaze never leaving Bucky.

Crocodile has some techniques similar to quicksand, which obviously cannot be effective against targets in the air.

He grinned, a smile that held a hint of malice. "That doesn't mean you can win."

"You're in too much of a hurry, Crocodile," Bucky's voice was calm. "We haven't even started yet."

Although it was the truth, just a simple statement, it sounded rather sarcastic at this point.

Crocodile did not respond.

He pulled his right hand out of his pocket, fingers spread, palm down.

A strand of fine sand slipped from my fingertips, fell to the ground, and then disappeared.

Bucky looked at him, his gaze passing through the black and white mask and landing on the man in the desert.

The Sand-Sand Fruit is a Logia-type Devil Fruit that allows the user to turn their body into sand, making them immune to all physical attacks. It can absorb moisture, create sandstorms, and move freely underground.

weakness?

water.

Any contact with liquid will cause the sand grains to clump together, rendering the elemental composition ineffective.

This was something Bucky already knew.

Knowing something is one thing, but knowing how to use it is another.

Crocodile is not Smoker, and the Sand-Sand Fruit is not that useless Smoke-Smoke Fruit.

Although theoretically the Sand-Sand Fruit is afraid of water, its ability includes water absorption. In other words, the supposed fear of water only works when Crocodile is caught off guard and attacked with water.

Once Crocodile knows you're attacking with water, he can simply use his Devil Fruit power to absorb the water.

Although there is an upper limit to this water absorption, it is sufficient for normal defense against water attacks.

After all, what needs to be guarded against is only a sneak attack by a small amount of water; attacks by a large amount of water are easily detected due to their size.

This flaw in the Devil Fruit ability wasn't a flaw before, because Crocodile at that time possessed Observation Haki—the user compensated for the weakness of the Devil Fruit ability.

However, for Crocodile now, this is a rather serious flaw.

Bucky did not underestimate Crocodile.

Crocodile is a pirate who will stop at nothing to achieve his goals, a man who once challenged Whitebeard, and an ambitious man who rose from defeat.

Such people are not easy to deal with.

The night breeze stopped.

The desert became exceptionally quiet at that moment.

"Let's begin," Crocodile said directly. "It won't take up too much of your time."

"————" Bucky suppressed a laugh, thinking of a joke, "This guy is really covered in flags from head to toe."

Both Bucky and Crocodile are quite particular about this. They are both people who value style and fashion, and they both like to show off, so they didn't unleash their ultimate abilities immediately.

They would even inform each other before starting a fight.

As soon as he finished speaking, the two swords behind Bucky silently slid out of their sheaths.

The square sword and the plum blossom sword tore through the curtain of night and shot towards Crocodile.

—Skill: Ace Throwing Knife.

fast!

Extremely fast!

too fast!

The blade tore through the air, emitting a sharp whistling sound, like the cry of a hawk.

Crocodile did not retreat.

He spread his five fingers on his right hand and waved them forward.

The sand beneath their feet seemed to be lifted up by an invisible hand, forming a sand wall that blocked the two swords.

The square sword and the plum blossom sword collided with the sand wall, their blades sinking into the sand wall as if piercing water, leaving only two tiny holes.

Then the sand wall collapsed, and sand grains fell from the sky and landed on the ground with a "rustling" sound.

The two swords had already pierced through the sand wall and continued flying towards Crocodile.

Crocodile frowned slightly. He had just been testing the waters, trying to gauge the power of the flying sword.

It appears that this flying sword has a very high attack power.

His body turned into a cloud of dust the moment the blades made contact. The square sword passed through his "body," and the plum blossom sword followed closely behind, also passing through the cloud of dust and flying directly into the distance.

The dust reformed into a human shape, and Crocodile stood there unharmed.

"It's useless." Crocodile's voice carried a hint of sarcasm. "Ordinary blades can't hurt me."

After the initial probing, Crocodile discovered that while the two swords were very sharp, they were not unusual in themselves and were not made of Seastone—meaning they didn't need much attention.

Simple flying sword attacks cannot harm Logia-type Devil Fruit users, but it's hard to say if they are inlaid with Seastone.

"I know," Bucky said, his voice tinged with a hint of amusement.

He held a spade sword in his left hand and a heart sword in his right, both swords shimmering with a black sheen.

It's Armament Haki.

The blade gleamed coldly in the moonlight, its black sheen seeming to coat the sword with an additional layer of ink.

Bucky leaned forward, his feet creating two shallow craters in the sand, and he lunged at Crocodile like an arrow released from a bow.

Crocodile certainly recognized that black sheen; he had once possessed that power himself.

After all, Armament Haki is practically a standard skill in the New World of the Grand Line. You need to know at least a little bit of it, otherwise you can't play at all.

—But now he doesn't need it anymore; the Sand-Sand Fruit's power is enough to make him immune to most attacks.

Armament Haki is no longer important to him; Whitebeard became the world's strongest man because of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit.

—It doesn't matter anymore.

Crocodile repeated the word to himself, then raised his left hook to meet Buggy's spade sword.

clang-!!!

The sound of the collision exploded in the desert, causing sand grains to jump up from the ground.

The golden hook caught the spade sword, and the blade and hook rubbed together, sparks flying.

Bucky used his right arm to thrust the Heart Sword at Crocodile's ribs from the side.

Crocodile's right hand was covered with a thick layer of high-density sand, which blocked the sword strike, and the blade was deflected.

The two people were less than a step apart.

The sword and the golden hook clashed, producing a dense metallic clanging sound.

Each sword strike was imbued with the black sheen of Armament Haki, and each strike was blocked by Crocodile.

"Your Armament Haki is not bad—but it's not enough." Crocodile's right hand materialized from the sand, its five fingers spread, and slapped towards Buggy's chest.

"The Vajra Sword!"

There was a swirling ball of sand in my palm, like a vortex.

—If it weren't for the off-screen atmosphere, Buggy would have said Rasengan.

Bucky did not back down in the face of Crockel's attack.

He released the spade sword with his left hand, the sword spun in the air, and then he caught it with his right hand, while simultaneously abandoning the heart sword.

The two swords were exchanged in their hands, and then slashed out simultaneously.

bite-!

Crocodile's left arm was blocked by the Spade sword, and his right arm was blocked by the Heart sword.

The golden hook clashed with the twin swords, sparks flying.

"You don't have Armament Haki," Bucky said.

Crocodile did not answer.

"And he doesn't have Observation Haki either," Bucky added.

Crocodile narrowed his eyes; Bucky's emphasis on this annoyed him.

A slight smirk played on Buggy's lips beneath his mask: "Crocodile, have you lost your fighting spirit?"

In that instant, Crocodile clenched his teeth.

It wasn't anger, it was humiliation.

Because what Bucky said was true.

He has neither Observation Haki nor Armament Haki.

Or rather, it used to exist, but it no longer does.

Back in the day, Crocodile was full of vigor and ambition on the Grand Line, and he believed that his power could conquer everything.

Then, overestimating his abilities, he went up against the Whitebeard.

That man's fist made him experience true power for the first time, and also made him realize his own weakness.

From then on, he no longer believed in his own power and instead pursued external forces.

—Has he truly lost his will to live?

He didn't want to admit it, but he couldn't deny it.

"My affairs are none of your business." Crocodile spoke like an enraged beast, revealing a sensitive point in his mind.

Bucky didn't continue speaking. Instead, he used both hands to deflect Crocodile's golden hook with his twin swords, widening the distance between them by a few steps.

The night wind picked up again, stirring up the fine sand on the ground and forming a thin curtain of sand between the two of them.

Crocodile did not use Sandstorm in tonight's battle.

Using the Sand-Sand Fruit to create a large-scale sandstorm is very useful when you're easily defeating weaker opponents, but it's almost useless against skilled players of the same level.

Because although sandstorms are overwhelming and have strong destructive power over a wide area, their single-target damage is too weak.

As for blocking sight and hearing, it's too ineffective for those with Observation Haki; it's just a waste of their energy.