"Perfect opening."
Seeing Kuina turn, Smoker drew back his jutte, then thrust it toward her back with blistering speed.
Sensing the incoming strike, Kuina couldn't turn in time. Her legs stamped the ground, and with a whoosh, she vanished, reappearing at Smoker's side.
"Don't underestimate me! I know Shave too!" Smoker flickered, his jutte still stabbing toward her.
Facing the oncoming prongs, Kuina didn't dodge.
Her earlier sidestep was to face him head-on.
Her eyes flashed red, body tilting right, arm grazing past the jutte.
She raised her blade, cloaked in Armament Haki, and slashed at Smoker's exposed chest.
A cold, moonlight-like blade gleamed.
Thud—!
This time, it hit flesh.
Smoker coated his chest in Armament Haki, elementalizing just in time, but Kuina's blade was too swift, slicing through his hardening defense.
His Armament Haki, newly awakened, could only harden—not wrap—useless against Kuina's ferocious strike.
Shff—!
Though he elementalized to dodge most of the damage, a wide gash opened across his chest, blood beading out.
It wasn't deep, but it bled steadily.
Smoker staggered back, elementalizing everything but his head.
Staring at Kuina, he said gravely, "Observation Haki!"
"Impressive. Observation Haki—a skill even I haven't grasped."
This wasn't the New World, where Armament Haki was common and Observation Haki widespread.
This was just the East Blue.
Since being exiled to Loguetown, Smoker had relied on his Smoke-Smoke Fruit's near-invincibility in the Great Line's first half, neglecting Haki training.
Even Observation Haki, standard for senior Marines, eluded him.
Feeling the sting of his wound, he regretted it.
He shouldn't have basked in the false invincibility of a Logia, ignoring Haki's power.
With Observation Haki, Kuina's blade wouldn't have touched him.
Fixing his gaze on her, he holstered his jutte.
His arms and legs morphed into smoky fists, charging her. "White Fist!"
Against a swordmaster with Observation Haki, ranged attacks were his only shot at victory.
His Haki couldn't block her slashes—close combat meant defeat.
Kuina's eyes flared red, swaying left and right, dodging the smoky fists with ease.
She sheathed her blade, leaning forward, right hand on the hilt, eyes locked on Smoker, now floating in the air.
Her feet pushed off the ground.
She vanished, reappearing behind Smoker in a blink.
Clink—!
"One-Sword Style: All-Cutting Slash!"
A blade of light sliced through Smoker's body.
"Too close—I nearly got bisected," Smoker thought, cold sweat dripping. At the slash's peak, he'd felt death's breath.
He fully elementalized, blanketing the street in smoke.
His smoke lacked offensive power, useful only for confusion.
Logia users could elementalize to dodge attacks, achieving false invincibility, but couldn't attack while fully elementalized.
Full elementalization drained stamina fast.
Most Logia users elementalized only targeted areas at the moment of impact.
High-level users could passively elementalize against attacks, bypassing Observation Haki.
But against top-tier Observation Haki, even passive elementalization failed—the opponent saw one step ahead.
To attack, Logia users had to solidify their body.
The best counter to a Logia was patience: stay still, force them to close in for melee.
This worked against the Smoke-Smoke Fruit, whose elemental form dealt no damage.
Against magma, flame, lightning, or ice—fruits wielding nature's wrath—it was useless.
Those fruits boasted long-range, high-damage attacks, even altering weather, with elemental forms that hurt.
No damage?
Maybe… just the Smoke-Smoke Fruit.
It was almost comical.
No wonder it was dubbed the weakest Logia.
Even the Swamp-Swamp Fruit might outshine it.
Smoker's fruit was the only Logia whose elemental form dealt no harm.
In the Great Line's first half, it seemed invincible—most pirates lacked Haki to hit his true body.
But Smoker's fruit mastery hadn't reached passive Haki-dodging levels.
Without Observation Haki, he couldn't react to fast, Haki-wielding foes.
Kuina excelled at both.
One misstep, and Smoker faced crushing defeat.
Amid the smoke, Kuina's eyes blazed red. "Found you."
She slashed two silver-white arcs leftward, then stamped the ground, charging behind them.
Hidden in the smoke, Smoker eyed the incoming slashes with a flicker of disdain.
"Not a Great Swordmaster yet."
He was immune to most swordmaster slashes.
"Hm!"
As the slashes parted the smoke, revealing his form, Kuina burst through.
Her blade, cloaked in purple-black Armament Haki, flashed coldly. In Smoker's shocked gaze, it struck his chest.
"Shave: One-Sword Style: God Slash!"
Every sword technique Sora knew, Kuina mastered.
Shff—!
Smoker's elementalized body was forced solid, the slash's impact hurling him backward.
Crash! He smashed through a house, landing on another street.
"Colonel Smoker!" Tashigi, unknocked by Sora's Conqueror's Haki, stared at the gaping hole in the house.
Shock gripped her.
Smoker was invincible in her eyes, yet "Blue-Haired Kuina" had landed a solid hit, possibly a grave injury.
"How can she be this strong?"
"Is this who I'm chasing?"
She'd just boasted about stealing Kuina's sword!
Shaking her head, she fixed Kuina with resolve. "No matter how strong, my conviction won't lose to anyone!"
On the other street, Smoker clutched his chest, sitting up.
"This is a true swordmaster's power?"
"Terrifying."
Glancing at the blood on his hand, he lit a cigar, took a deep drag, and stood, hands on knees.
"Time to get serious."
He couldn't recall the last time he'd fought for his life.
Since arriving in Loguetown, he'd been its king.
No pirate defied him. He was the East Blue's iron gate to the Great Line, the people's stalwart shield.
He couldn't lose—not this easily.
Looking at the unconscious civilians, then at the white clouds above, he recalled his teacher Zephyr's words:
Rely too much on a Devil Fruit, and you'll never be a true strongman. Every strongman trusts themselves, believing they can conquer all. That faith can make even an ordinary person mighty.
Gripping his jutte, he raised it.
Black Haki surged from his arm, wrapping the jutte.
"Armament Haki: Wrapping?"
Through the house's hole, he eyed Kuina. "Thank you, Blue-Haired Kuina, for waking me up and reigniting my long-lost drive!"
He was once a genius student in his teacher's and others' eyes.
(End of Chapter)