"Roronoa, Black Leg Sanji."
Clutching the bloody wound that had pierced his chest, Smoker looked solemnly at the two before him.
After not seeing them for so long, had these two already grown this strong?
The group he had once chased through Loguetown could now make him feel threatened without even needing to deploy the two trump cards on their ship.
Sure enough, Headquarters had still underestimated them too much.
"Impel Down, which has never been breached, was attacked at a time like this. Your purpose could only be Ace, right?" Smoker understood inwardly.
He had thought the invaders were under Whitebeard's command, but he had not expected them to be the Straw Hat Crew.
A faint sense of foreboding rose within him. What worried him most now was whether the old man would go easy on his own grandson.
Shing!
Zoro spread his legs and stood straight. With a downward sweep of his two blades, he flicked the blood from them onto the snow and grinned.
"Our objective is none of the Marines' business. You only need to know that you'll be defeated here."
With that, he crossed his arms before his chest, Yubashiri and Onigiri standing at his sides with their tips pointed skyward.
His gaze turned cold as sword intent suddenly erupted. He bent his knees and launched himself forward like a cannonball.
"Don't get too cocky, pirate!"
Smoker charged forward in fury, drawing the two short Jitte from his waist. He spun them several times before gripping them tightly.
They were silver-white all over, their blade bodies blunt like clubs. One side had a straight hook, with an inward-facing edge.
He was accustomed to using Jitte as weapons, but the tips of these two did not contain Seastone. Instead, they were a pair of famed blades—