Battle Smoker Again

On the training ground, the ninth-ranked recruit stepped out amid the crowd's shouts. He carried a sword and walked up to Zhong Hao. He looked like a swordsman.

Looking at the shorter figure opposite him, the ninth-ranked recruit felt his heart pound in fear. I'm only a little stronger than Doren at most. Even Doren couldn't fight back at all. What am I supposed to do? Damn it, he's obviously just a kid, so why can he use the Six Powers so easily? Why is he this strong? Am I really going to bear the title of the weakest?

Suddenly, he spotted Sea Fang stuck nearby, and his eyes lit up. He shouted at Zhong Hao, "Draw your sword. I can't bring myself to attack a swordsman who's fighting barehanded."

Zhong Hao glanced at Sea Fang and seemed to guess what the man was planning. With an amused smile, he said, "Are you sure? I've only trained in the Six Powers for half a year, but I've practiced swordsmanship since childhood. And this is a Grade Sword."

The ninth-ranked recruit's face stiffened. He screamed inwardly that he had miscalculated, but the words had already left his mouth, and he had no face to take them back. Swallowing hard, he forced himself to say, "That's right. Draw your sword already."

Zhong Hao pulled Sea Fang from the ground. He turned his upper body slightly, bent his knees, placed his left hand on the sheath, and held his right hand poised in the air, assuming the standard stance of an iaijutsu draw. "If you can take one slash from me, you win."

The ninth-ranked recruit felt utterly slighted, and his face turned pale with rage. He roared, "Kid, don't get too cocky! I'm not afraid of you." With that, he gripped his sword with both hands, drew a semicircle before himself, and charged at Zhong Hao with his blade. His swordsmanship fundamentals appeared fairly solid.

Iaijutsu: Iai Slash

With a soft utterance, Zhong Hao moved to meet him. He drew his sword, and the two passed each other, ending up with their backs turned.

Clang!

With a crisp ring, the ninth-ranked recruit's long sword snapped in two. A wound nearly twenty centimeters long appeared across his chest, blood spraying as he dropped to one knee.

Zhong Hao sheathed Sea Fang and planted it back into the ground. "Didn't I tell you? Swordsmanship is what I'm best at. Next."

"Damn it, another instant defeat! Go, go! We have to take him down!" Rather than being discouraged, the recruits surrounding them grew even more fired up. The later they appeared, the stronger the recruits were.

"Next."

"Next."

"Next."

From eighth place through second place, they fell one after another. Though there were no more instant defeats after sixth place, and the fights lasted increasingly longer, Zhong Hao remained uninjured, his strength still fully intact.

After the string of defeats, the recruits finally began to grow nervous. One of them shouted, "Smoke Man, you're the only one left! The honor of our class rests on you now! You have to win!"

Another shouted, "Of course! Smoke Man is a Logia-type Devil Fruit user. Physical attacks don't work on him. There's no way he can lose!"

Smoker roared with rolled eyes and bared teeth, "I'm sick of this! How many times do I have to say it? Don't call me Smoke Man!"

The recruits froze at his words and did not dare speak again. Normally, they would not have cared about Smoker's protests, but now he was the only one left. The honor of all of them was at stake, so they could not afford to offend him.

Smoker took a deep breath and strode solemnly toward Zhong Hao. Thick white smoke rose from his body into the sky. The two stared at each other, while everyone present barely dared to breathe. The atmosphere was heavy as he was about to say something dramatic when suddenly...

"Smoke Man, Hina's stomach hurts so much! You have to beat that brat up badly and avenge Hina!" Hina suddenly shouted.

"Idiot, don't suddenly start talking! You ruined all my momentum!"

The tense atmosphere immediately deflated, and the recruits shouted at Hina in unison, "Don't suddenly start talking!"

Seeing that she had drawn everyone's anger, Hina shrank her neck and said timidly, "S-Sorry... Hina will be more careful."

Zhong Hao clasped his hands toward Hina and smiled. "Sorry, Hina. I got carried away just now and hit a little too hard. My apologies."

Hina gave a delicate snort. "Hina won't forgive you. Hina will punch you back for that."

The recruits once again roared in unison, "Stop flirting, you bastards!"

Hina's brows shot up as she put her hands on her hips, ready to explode, when Zephyr's voice rang out. "All of you, quiet down. The final test begins now."

The scene fell silent once more, and everyone looked toward the two in the center.

Smoker said seriously, "Zhong Hao, even though I've eaten so many of your late-night meals, this time concerns our honor. I won't hold back, so be careful."

Zhong Hao waved a hand. "Don't worry about that. With that tiny appetite of yours, feeding you is like feeding a cat. One more of you makes no difference."

Smoker bared his teeth. "Bastard, every time I see you acting like you don't care about anything, it pisses me off. Anyway, I'm not giving up the advantage of my elemental form. You can't hit me, so you're guaranteed to lose."

Zhong Hao rubbed his forehead. "Mr. Zephyr was right. The Smoke-Smoke Fruit has boosted your strength rapidly, but it has also made you addicted to it and neglect the fundamentals. Besides, do you really think I came unprepared?"

Sea Fang slid from its sheath inch by inch. The sea-blue blade gave Smoker an inexplicable sense of unease.

"Be careful. This sword has Seastone added to it. Don't let it cut you."

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhong Hao vanished from the spot with a Soru. The flat of his blade slammed into Smoker's chest and sent him flying. He sneered, "If I had pressed the blade against your body instead of knocking you away, you would already have lost. Has bullying weaklings for so long made you lose yourself in your elemental form?"

"Damn it, I can't use my elemental form! White Fist!" Smoker grew anxious. He swiftly scrambled to his feet and threw a White Fist, a long stream of smoke surging toward Zhong Hao like a dragon.

Kami-e

Zhong Hao easily dodged the White Fist. Kami-e was the Six Powers technique he had mastered most thoroughly, and White Fist was the move he had dodged the most.

"Damn it, this kid's Six Powers are even stronger than they were half a year ago. White Fist can't hit him at all. White Smoke Launcher, White Vine!"

Smoker transformed into thick white smoke and rushed toward Zhong Hao. As he neared, the smoke condensed into vines, intending to bind him.

"Where did you get the courage to fight me at close range?" Zhong Hao was nearly laughing at him. Outside the ring, Zephyr's face had turned livid. He was already imagining the hellish training regimen he would put Smoker through. This performance was far too embarrassing.

Hundred Style: Cross Slash

The blade turned, its edge slashing toward the white smoke that Smoker had become.

Slash!

The white smoke dispersed, revealing Smoker's body. A sword wound now ran across his chest and abdomen. Since Zhong Hao had eased his strength at the last moment, the wound was not too deep.

One recruit watching from the side wore an expression of disbelief. He muttered, "How is this possible? Isn't Smoker the strongest Logia user? Why does he seem even worse than Hina, who ranked second?"

The person beside him roared, "Smoker, what are you doing?! You're a Logia user! How did you get beaten this badly by a kid? Pull yourself together! You absolutely can't lose again!"

The livid color on Zephyr's face swiftly darkened. This was exactly what he had been worried about. Everyone had become immersed in the power of Logia types. Perhaps because all three Admirals were Logia users, they had forgotten that the foundation of the previous generation of powerful Marines had always been physical arts and Haki.

Zhong Hao flicked his long sword, shaking the blood from it, and smiled. "Have you calmed down now?"

The two stood ten meters apart. Smoker took a deep breath and said in a low voice, "Yeah, I've calmed down. I'm carrying everyone's expectations. The pressure was too much, and I got impatient."

Zhong Hao shook his head. "Your problem isn't just impatience."

Smoker pursed his lips and snorted. "Beat me first, then try teaching me."

"As you wish. Soru." Zhong Hao gripped his sword in one hand and charged forward with blinding speed.

White Smoke Launcher

Having calmed down, Smoker would no longer fight Zhong Hao at close range. White smoke blasted from beneath his feet, launching him into the sky. In the blink of an eye, he stopped ten meters above the ground and looked down at Zhong Hao mockingly.

"You've gotten smarter. But Soru was never limited to horizontal movement. How high can you fly?" Zhong Hao crouched slightly. The ground boomed, and he launched himself upward in an instant, rushing toward Smoker.

Smoker was startled and hurriedly flew another twenty meters higher, hovering thirty meters in the air.

Zhong Hao could jump at most fifteen meters, so he truly had no way to attack someone thirty meters up. Sea Fang contained Seastone, allowing it to ignore Smoker's elemental form, but sword slashes could not do the same. This left him somewhat helpless as well.

"This is awkward. I may not be able to fly, but Smoker, can you attack me from that high up? Even if White Fist has that kind of range, I could dodge it with my eyes closed from this far away. If you have the guts, don't come down. I'll wait on the ground until you run out of stamina."

The advantage of flight was simply that great. You could fight whenever you wanted, and if you could not win, you could leave, leaving others completely helpless. Although Zhong Hao knew Geppo, his mastery only allowed him to change direction in midair to a certain extent and barely rise another three meters. He could not continuously leap upward.

Nor could Smoker truly fly away. Though no boundaries had been set, the recruit training camp had always treated the circle formed by the spectators as the arena. Thus, Smoker could only remain in the air, unable to advance or retreat.

For the moment, the situation had reached a stalemate.