Battle Against a Logia

Though he was frustrated, Garen did not dare let his guard down in the slightest.

Because he had already seen clearly that the thing flying down from the giant warship was not smoke at all, but a man.

The man's lower body was a mass of smoke jetting backward, while his upper body was a normal, heavily muscled torso. In his hand, he held a strange long weapon with a crossbar along its side.

Smoke continuously blasted out behind him, granting the man the ability to fly freely through the air.

"His body turns into smoke. A Logia Devil Fruit?"

Garen immediately thought of a familiar name: Smoker, the White Hunter!

Garen looked up again at the flag flying from the giant warship. Sure enough, it was the Marines' flag.

And while Garen was thinking, Smoker had already charged toward him at an astonishing speed.

"Wait!"

Garen instinctively shouted, "I'm not a pirate!"

But Smoker paid him no heed and simply rushed forward, swinging the Jitte in his hand.

As a hot-tempered Marine devoted to justice, Smoker would not listen to a pirate's explanation.

Even if there really was some misunderstanding, they could discuss it slowly after he had subdued the other man.

"Damn it!"

Garen grew even more frustrated. He could no longer spare attention for Buggy the Clown beside him and could only calm himself to focus on Smoker's attack.

Smoker moved quickly, his charging speed far surpassing Garen's at the moment.

As a highly esteemed Marine Headquarters colonel, his strength was not something Garen, a mere level-four rookie, could compare to.

That half-man, half-smoke body swiftly descended from the air before Garen, and then the Jitte came crashing down with tremendous force.

"Fatal Strike!"

"Courage!"

Words had failed them, so Garen truly activated his skills and swung his sword to meet the attack.

The Greatsword in Garen's hand, blazing with dazzling light, collided heavily with Smoker's unadorned Jitte, erupting with a sharp metallic clang.

In that frontal clash, the physically stronger Smoker firmly gained the upper hand, forcing Garen back two steps.

"No silence?"

Garen was somewhat surprised.

The Greatsword in his hand was still glowing with the sustained effect of Fatal Strike, while Smoker, whose body was partly smoke, continued using his Devil Fruit Ability.

Did it have to hit his body to work?

Garen recognized the weakness in his skill and focused his gaze on Smoker's upper torso, which still retained its human form.

He bent slightly to gather strength, then suddenly lunged forward with his sword, aiming directly for Smoker's body.

Smoker looked at the charging Garen, a disdainful smile appearing on his face.

Trying to injure the body of a Logia user?

The contempt on Smoker's face deepened. He swung his Jitte straight at Garen without hesitation, making no effort at all to guard against Garen's attack.

As they crossed paths, Garen's glowing Greatsword reached Smoker's body first.

Just as the sword was about to strike his physical form, that section of Smoker's torso abruptly turned into insubstantial white smoke before the blow could land.

Garen's Fatal Strike missed, passing straight through the drifting smoke.

For the first time, his guaranteed-hit Normal Attack had missed.

The elemental transformation of a Logia body gave Smoker a special state before Garen, one the system judged as "untargetable."

Garen's attack missed, but Smoker took the opportunity to smash his Jitte solidly into Garen's shoulder.

The heavy Jitte collided with Garen's sturdy shoulder armor, sending bright sparks flying. Garen was blasted backward several meters by the force far greater than his own before crashing heavily to the ground and gouging out a large crater.

He could not beat him.

Not only were his physical abilities far inferior, but the enemy could practically ignore his Normal Attacks.

That was Garen's clear assessment of the battle.

With his current strength, he simply could not face Smoker head-on.

But that was only in a "head-on" fight.

Garen's expression sharpened as he silently used the new skill he had just learned: "Mirror Image!"

Garen's body suddenly became illusory, while a dull-eyed fake body identical to Garen himself remained where he had just collapsed.

Taking advantage of his invisibility, Garen quietly rose to his feet and stood off to the side without making a sound.

At that moment, Smoker pursued his victory and flew over to the collapsed "Garen."

"It's over!"

Smoker pointed his Jitte at the helplessly sprawled body of "Garen" on the ground, preparing to place the weapon against his neck and complete the capture.

Bang!

A dull impact sounded.

The knight of justice raised his Greatsword, covered in the light of justice, and delivered a righteous backstab to Smoker.

Smoker's face instantly filled with shock. Intense pain rapidly spread from his back, causing his heavily muscled body to briefly go numb.

Normally, a Logia body could directly ignore this kind of purely physical attack.

But in order to use the Jitte for close combat, Smoker had deliberately kept his upper body solid, giving Garen a target that could be selected.

And after that heavy blow landed on Smoker, the elemental transformation of his lower body was completely dispelled in an instant.

The huge mass of smoke gathered together in the blink of an eye, revealing his complete human body. Smoker, who had been hovering with the aid of smoke, immediately plummeted heavily from the air.

Where did my ability go?

This feeling was completely different from the helplessness caused by Sea Stone. It was as though the Devil Fruit Ability he relied on had vanished outright.

A fear of the unknown suddenly rose in Smoker's heart, leaving him briefly stunned.

"Get down there!"

Garen seized this hard-won opportunity perfectly. While Smoker was distracted, he swung his sword fiercely at him once more.

But Smoker truly was a powerful Marine Headquarters colonel. He reacted in an instant and hurriedly raised his Jitte to block Garen's sweeping Greatsword.

But Garen's goal had never been to directly injure him.

This lifeboat was not large to begin with, and the fierce battle had already brought Garen and Smoker to the very edge of the boat.

Garen swung with all his strength because he wanted to smash this Devil Fruit user into the sea.

Smoker's body shot into the air like a cannonball before rapidly falling toward the vast ocean.

Seeing the water surface rushing closer, Smoker instinctively tried to use his Devil Fruit Ability to transform into smoke and fly away, but—

A splash erupted.

The silence effect on him had not yet ended.

Smoker had been beaten into a drowned dog by Garen.

As a Devil Fruit user, Smoker's powerful abilities could not be used in seawater at all. Even his large, knotted muscles felt as though they had been soaked soft, utterly unable to exert any strength.

The Marine colonel who had made such a domineering entrance became a weakling struggling helplessly in the water after only three brief exchanges.

He had already lost this battle.

"Ugh!"

Standing on the boat, Garen looked indignantly at Smoker, who was helplessly floundering in the water, and said:

"I told you, I'm not a pirate!"

"Do you have to get tossed into the sea to cool down before you'll listen to someone?"

"You..."

Because his feet had been thrown into the sea by Garen, Buggy lay limp and powerless on the lifeboat, having watched the entire short but intense battle.

He could not help saying to Garen in astonishment:

"You can actually defeat a Logia user?!"

With Buggy's experience, he naturally recognized that Smoker possessed a Logia Devil Fruit Ability considered nearly invincible in the first half of the Grand Line.

Yet such a powerful, irresistible Devil Fruit user had actually suffered at the hands of that obscure Pirate Hunter?

Buggy was utterly dumbfounded.

"Hmph!"

Faced with Buggy's shock, Garen merely gave a restrained snort.

"A Logia Devil Fruit is nothing special."

Garen planted his Greatsword firmly on the deck and stood tall with pride.

"Pah!"

Though his whole body was limp and weak, Buggy could not help mocking this arrogant fellow.

"You ignorant brat!"

"The Marines' highest combat force, the admirals, are all Logia Devil Fruit users!"

But Garen turned a deaf ear, silently maintaining his lofty, otherworldly pose before Buggy.

"Hahaha..."

A hearty laugh suddenly rang out behind Garen.

Then a broad hand abruptly settled firmly on Garen's shoulder.

With just that light movement, Garen felt a helpless terror, as though his entire body had fallen under someone else's control.

"Young man..."

That voice sounded beside Garen's ear again. "You've got quite a mouth on you."

I suddenly noticed that this book had received so many more donations, and there was even a sect leader... Thank you all for your support and donations! Special thanks to sect leader Zhu Han!