Utter disbelief and shock were plastered across Crocodile's face.
The eyes of some of the Baroque Works senior agents around them were practically popping out of their sockets.
"Hey, the boss got sent flying?"
"He was just dominating, wasn't he?"
"Just who is this Straw Hat kid?"
Crocodile desperately wanted to know the answer to that himself. Clutching his agonizing stomach, he struggled to lift his head, his face a mask of utter disbelief as he stared fixedly at Luffy's blackened fist.
That was Armament Haki.
He, of course, recognized Haki!
He had once possessed it himself!
What was Haki? It was connected to intangible things like a person's aura, killing intent, willpower, and ambition.
After his defeat in the battle against Whitebeard, Crocodile's ambition was crushed, his willpower sapped. His thoughts turned to finding an Ancient Weapon, using its power to rule the world.
For many years after that, he had been entrenched in schemes in a place like Alabasta. Over time, his will was eroded, and his Haki vanished.
In other words, staying among the weak for too long will naturally make you weak.
He never could have imagined that a rookie pirate, fresh from the weakest of seas, the East Blue, had already mastered this high-level power.
Had the world changed into something he no longer recognized?
"Is Haki supposed to be difficult?"
Luffy retracted his fist, asking in a tone that was both matter-of-fact and slightly dubious: "You mean you don't know how to use it?"
Wasn't this guy a Warlord of the Sea?
A so-called 'great pirate' of these seas couldn't even use Haki?
Ptui!
The mental damage from those words far outweighed the physical blow from the punch. Crocodile was so enraged he nearly spat blood again, his face turning from pale to purple.
Too arrogant!
This damn brat is just too arrogant!
"Straw Hat brat, what are you so cocky about?"
Crocodile steadied himself and stood up, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth, sneering in a blustering manner:
"So what if you know Haki? Using Haki drains stamina tremendously. Let's see how long you can keep it up!"
"Knowing Haki only means you qualify to cross swords with me."
He pointed at the considerable number of senior officers and remaining agents around them, trying to regain some ground:
"Look around you! These are all my subordinates. Even if they stood still and let you kill them, they'd exhaust you to death! I could wear you down just by attrition!"
He brushed the dust off his expensive suit, his mouth still twitching.
Clearly, Luffy's earlier comment and the following attack had made him feel an unprecedented level of humiliation and rage.
But Crocodile was adept at using everything around him. His thousands of underlings were his license to do as he pleased.
Even if they were just pigs, having thousands of them would be enough to tire Luffy to death.
"You've got a point. I hadn't considered that."
Luffy grinned at Crocodile. "Having too many underlings could make things a bit troublesome for my friends."
Seeing Luffy's confident smile, Crocodile felt an inexplicable sense of foreboding.
"What can you possibly do?!"
Hearing this, Luffy seriously scanned his surroundings.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of Billions and Millions agents held the numerical advantage. With the officers holding the front line, Zoro and the others had to fight while worrying about getting shot in the back.
At Crocodile's command, the agents began to stir, closing in. The battle cries started up again.
"You tell me?"
Luffy took a deep breath. His eyes suddenly grew incredibly sharp as an overwhelming, kingly aura began to coalesce around him.
Luffy's targets were precisely those troublesome-looking but non-officer-level ants.
Whether it was glaring Miss Goldenweek into unconsciousness on Little Garden or intimidating the Dubans on Drum Island into fainting, it all seemed like the latent awakening of Conqueror's Haki.
Having mastered Conqueror's Haki before arriving in Alabasta, Luffy had been itching to test it out.
This was the perfect stage.
Luffy looked at the Baroque Works agents, their battle cries shaking the heavens.
"Trash like you, just stay down!"
His gaze focused.
Hum!
An invisible pressure, like a tidal wave, erupted from Luffy with earth-shattering force, instantly sweeping across the entire battlefield!
Conqueror's Haki!
Immediately after, visibly, the expressions on the faces of the charging agents froze solid. Their eyes lost all light, rolling back to show the whites as they collapsed in waves, like stalks of wheat being cut down, falling soundlessly to the ground!
The sound of bodies hitting the ground rattled on and on without cease. In the span of a few breaths, the once-raucous battlefield fell into a deathly silence.
Of the so-called thousands of subordinates Crocodile had just boasted about, only a scattered few remained standing.
Those were the officers Crocodile relied on.
Oh?
The effect looked pretty good.
At the very least, Luffy was quite satisfied with the current scene. This way, Zoro and the others could focus on their own opponents.
Mr. 1, who had just questioned Zoro's choice of captain, now wore a slightly pale face, cold sweat beading on his brow, looking at Luffy as if he were a monster. What kind of monster was this Straw Hat kid? Was he on the same level as his boss?
Even Nami and the others felt a bit dizzy.
Because Luffy's control over his Conqueror's Haki wasn't yet precise enough, even though he'd tried to avoid affecting Nami and the others, they still felt a slight impact.
The battlefield, which had been teeming with noise just moments ago, was now so quiet you could hear a pin drop, save for the mournful whistle of the desert wind over the dunes.
Crocodile's jaw hung open, his cigar falling from his lips unnoticed as he stared at the scene in utter disbelief.
The sight before him was filled with absurdity.
"C-Conqueror's Haki? How could you possibly possess Conqueror's Haki?! That's impossible!!"
Crocodile pointed a trembling finger at Luffy, his voice growing shrill and distorted from extreme shock.
Luffy was still in Gear Second, his expression unchanged. "Why wouldn't it be possible? Don't tell me you don't have it?"
Crocodile nearly vomited blood. "Can't you use any other words?!"
The three-word question was perhaps even more damaging than the Conqueror's Haki.
But Crocodile, more than anyone, understood what Conqueror's Haki signified.
It was the quality of a king, possessed by only one in several million! It was proof of being born to stand upon a throne!
This brat was just some no-name pirate from the East Blue. How could he possess such caliber?
It defied all reason!
Armament Haki, Conqueror's Haki... and come to think of it now, that earlier prediction of his attack—hadn't that been a sign of already having mastered Observation Haki?
A freshly-bountied brat had mastered all three types of Haki?
If he were blindfolded, Crocodile would have thought he was fighting... Barrett.
Even Barrett wasn't this outrageous.
Wasn't this guy a bit too strong?
"Just who are you?" Crocodile looked at Luffy with genuine attention for the first time.
"Monkey D. Luffy, the man who will become the Pirate King... are you ready?"
Luffy clenched his fist.
***
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