August vs Crocodile(4)

'I need to think…What can I do?' August's mind began working in overdrive as he tried to think off a plan to beat Crocodile. He soon arrived at the conclusion that if he wanted to have any chance to beat Crocodile, then he needed to use his devil fruit.

'Come on…Think…THINK!'

His eyes glimmered with a slimmer of hope as after a moment of thinking, finally had an idea. In reality, this idea seemed so absurd and shouldn't work, but he was in a dire situation, and dire situations called for dire solutions. This idea was something that would never cross his mind normally, and only in the heat of battle would he think of something like this.

'I can apply the effects of my fruit around my body and to the environment…but what if I could apply it to my body…' He momentarily stopped his trail of thought, changing his trajectory as he dodged a hail of sand bullets that Crocodile sent his way.

Another sandstorm appeared in the palm of Crocodile's hand as he sported a maniac grin, forcing August to stifle a grimace. His previous approach to counteract the sandstorm was to create hundreds of barriers, but that wouldn't work anymore when he was so exhausted.

'This would be bad if the sand gets in my wounds…Wait!' Building on his previous statement, August wondered if he could possibly apply the effects of his Shatter energy to his wounds, effectively 'shattering' or 'breaking' them and healing his body.

If August's hypothesis was correct, then that meant had the ability to Shatter such abstract concepts like 'wounds' or 'cuts', then he could do so much more with his fruit!

It excited August, knowing that he finally had another creative way to use his fruit and open more avenues of power.

The sandstorm approached rapidly, so he needed to do this quickly. Certain people thrived under pressure, and he believed he was that type of person, but he needed to put that statement to the test.

August started to test his hypothesis, praying to whatever deity out there it would work. He activated his Shatter energy, but instead of coating and condensing it around areas of his body, he applied it to his wound, more especially the inside of the cut skin.

"Haha!" He smiled in glee as he watched the shallow wound close shut. The area where the damage previously was looked like it hadn't even been there before, it was a great success!

He had no time to celebrate as the sandstorm slowly inched closer and closer towards him. He continued, closing each wound he had on his body. With each wound he shut, he would get faster and more precise at doing them, but he also felt his stamina drop in much higher quantities than before.

The timing proved crucial as just as he closed the last wound shut, the sandstorm hit. August curled his body into a ball, using every defence mechanism he had in his arsenal to prevent any lasting damage.

The muscles around his body tensed and hardened as parts of the sandstorm were destroyed before it could make contact with it's target.

August sustained the attack, and without his gaping wounds he sustained minimal damage. By the time the sandstorm vanished, August was mostly fine and he resumed his freefall back to the ground.

Crocodile let out an audible tch as he sensed that August was still alive from his attack. Crocodile believed he was out of commission and sent a powerful sandstorm to finish him off, but that seemed to not be the case.

Crocodile raised his hand, preparing to send a plethora of sand bullets to finish this vermin off, but to his immediate surprise, instead of falling normally, he began kicking the air, speeding his descent downwards!

August kicked downwards faster and faster, not wanting to be caught in any more of Crocodile's attacks, and also because he had a plan.

'If I can Shatter my wounds, then I should be able to do this…'

Now that his theory of being able to Shatter wounds was confirmed, he had another hypothesis in the forefront of his mind that he was eager to test. All he had to do was have 1 minute to himself to test it, but Crocodile wouldn't give him that amount of time…so he had a plan to distract him.

He picked up his speed even more, turning into a bullet as his acceleration increased by the second and he slowly approached the ground.

He reared his fist back, punching the ground with extreme force as both gravity and all the kinetic energy build up contributed to the following destruction of the punch.

*BOOM*

From where he punched, a massive shockwave exploded, spanning in all directions for miles upon miles. The ground shook and trembled at the force of the punch as chunks of earth flew in all directions. The force of the punch even managed to form crevices which slowly expanded outwards, making humongous hollow spaces of earth.

To put it simply…it was chaos.

'That should be enough to distract him…' Thought August as he hid behind one of the rocks. With the large amounts of rock and dust obstructing his vision and making him cautious, August could finally test out his hypothesis.

"Hahh…Hahh…Hahh…Just one last push of strength." August said between heavy breaths, resting on the rock slightly.

He felt the exhaustion slowly seep into his bones, and he promised if he made it out of his fight then he would add lots more stamina training to his routine, as it clearly wasn't enough against opponents of Crocodile's caliber.

'This is the moment of truth…'

August closed his eyes and concentrated on everything inside his body. He dimmed out the sounds of the battlefield and his heavy breathing and focused on himself.

He listened to his loud, thumping heartbeat and felt the blood pump through his body. He focused on his muscles, feeling their slight twitch of pain as he relaxed them. He moved onto his brain, feeling the blood rush there and sending pain signals to most of his body.

He activated his powers, slowly applying the energy everywhere across his body. His muscles, his organs, vessels, and brain, everywhere he believed would be safe.

He felt his body screech and cry in distress at the gruelling process, but he prayed and pleaded for his body to hang on, otherwise they wouldn't survive. If this worked, then this powerup would give him a fighting chance.

Even in the one piece world, bodies had current limits. These limiters are like barriers and placed on the body to not damage it. Through things like extraneous training, aging, or genetic modification, these limiters could be passed through. If August was right, then he believed he could Shatter his body's limits and take him to the next stage.

August tensed his body, feeling something activate. He felt the power slowly spread throughout his body as his body cried in pain. Eventually his entire body sparkled a bright yellow, and his veins were covered with a bright glow of red.

[Image here]

HIs body felt invigorated with power, and despite the pain he felt throughout his entire body, he couldn't be happier.

He had Shattered his body limits!