August vs Crocodile(3)

"Sables!" Crocodile raised his hand, creating a miniature tornado of sand. Looking towards August, he threw the tornado, letting it expand and turn into a terrifying sandstorm that covered the entire field

'Let's see how you deal with an undodgeable attack with nowhere to run.' Thought Crocodile.

"Shatter Barrier!"

August repeatedly punched the open air, creating dozens upon dozens of barriers made of cracked air that stood between him and the attack.

The sandstorm and the set of barriers collided as Crocodile's sandstorm forced its way through the barriers that slowly crumbled under the pressure of the natural disaster.

The sandstorm slowly made its way through August's defences, making August grit his teeth. He punched the air faster and faster, his fits becoming a blur as the second line of defence was put up.

If only he had Haki, then he could strengthen these barriers and barely need to put up a tenth of the amount of barriers he had set up to stop the attack.

Eventually, August's effort bore fruit as the raging sandstorm managed to be stopped by the hundreds of barriers.

August let out a sigh of relief as he wiped the sweat from his brow. Although he managed to stop the attack, putting up all of those barriers certainly took a toll on him.

'What terrifying power, being able to create such power with the flick of a finger. If I didn't have my barriers, that attack would've been painful.' August internalised.

After exerting so much effort to stop Crocodile's attack, he wanted nothing more than a nice nap, but his opponent would not give him such a luxury.

A deep voice drowned out by the multitude of noises alerted him to the impending danger and a split second later the ground under August vanished and in its place was a gigantic hole which spanned over 100 metres in diameter.

Gravity took its toll on August as he started free falling down the giant hole made of quicksand. He recognised the attack and knew if the fall didn't kill him, the slow death of being consumed by the quicksand would.

However, August was a much stronger fighter than to die from this attack.

August kicked the air with powerful thrusts, slowly pushing him out of the hole and shortening the distance between him and the outside world.

With a final couple of kicks, he finally made his way to the surface. Looking at the spot Crocodile where Crocodile was, he tightened his guard even more, only to show an expression of confusion as the space was empty.

"Sables: PESADO!"

A sinking feeling slowly formed in August's stomach, and he turned around just as his stomach was shot with the heavily condensed sandstorm.

"BLEGH" August spat out a large mouthful of blood as the force of the attack sent him flying through the air.

The sandstorm continued to drill into him, damaging his stomach further as a cut formed on his chest.

August gritted his teeth through the pain as a small amount of mouth spilled from his mouth. Condensing his hands with the largest amount of Shatter energy he could muster, he grabbed the sandstorm with his hands and pushed into it.

He gripped and squeezed the sandstorm, attempting to crush the attack before it caused any lasting damage. He ignored the shallow cuts that formed on his palms and he put more and more pressure into his attack.

The sandstorm started shrinking, getting smaller and smaller until it was nothing but an atom of sand.

With no more force acting upon August, he naturally began to freefall through to the ground. He quickly stopped his grueling descent as he summoned Shatterbird and rested upon it.

'I really underestimated Crocodile, in hindsight it was a stupid mistake.' August's knowledge of the anime wasn't perfect, but he clearly recalled that Luffy beat Crocodile by exploiting his weakness of blood and water.

Although it took 3 tries, August was much stronger than Alabasta Luffy, so he believed he would have an easier time fighting Crocodile, but that couldn't be further from the truth. He scolded himself for such a stupid decision, Crocodile was fresh off his trip from the new world and hadnt grown rusty in the 4 years before canon.

He saw how strong Crocodile was at Marineford, so why didn't he take more precautions! In any case, he couldn't escape, not without Nico Robin. However, that option was immediately removed from his train of thought she realised he couldn't outrun Crocodile, especially if he was carrying Robin and he was injur–

"!"

"Desert: LA SPADA!" Crocodile's hand transformed into sand and then morphed into a set of 4 sharp blades shaped like a fan. Crocodile, who was flying in the air, thrust his arm forwards and expanded the 4 blades towards August. The blades picked up speed, and sliced through August and his bird of glass with ease.

*SPLURT*

Blood sprayed from the wound that had formed on August's collarbone, remoisturizing the area before it could turn grey. August clutched the wound with a grim expression as gsus injured body flailed through the air.

Crocodile was relentless in his pursuit of August, and although he foresaw the attack, August was too injured to do anything but watch.

'I'm going to lose…' August momentarily panicked, but he managed to calm down, realizing panicking would reduce his chances of survival even more.

'Even if I wanted to escape without Robin, which I don't, I can't escape. Crocodile's to hell bent on killing me already. If running isn't an option, then the only other option is to fight...'

August's body which flailed through the air picked up speed as his acceleration quickened towards the ground where Crocodile was waiting.

'I need to think of a plan to win, but what?' August didn't know, but he had a feeling he would have to pull something out of his ass if he wanted to beat Crocodile.