Crocodile Water-Counter Wastes-My-Energy Cost-Tell

Status: pending · Technique: chekhov-explicit

The seed

Earliest known caller

(Unknown.)

Why this matters

The “wastes my energy” admission is the structural midpoint of a power-counter arc: the villain concedes the counter is real but not yet sufficient. Oda uses this beat to keep the duel tense (the weakness isn’t a one-shot win) while pre-loading the eventual decisive payoff.