Defeated Once Again

A tall building near the execution platform.

Smoker looked at the sprawled figures below. Only when the cigar slipped from his mouth did he suddenly clench his fist, his knuckles cracking.

"Damn pirates! They actually did this to my men—"

It was not hard to understand why he was so furious. Not only did that pirate possess the rare Armament Haki of the Grand Line, but he also had such terrifying destructive power. Where in the world had he come from?

As a former student taught by Marine Admiral Zephyr, Smoker naturally knew of the power called Haki. But for a pirate from a barren place like the East Blue to know it as well was simply absurd!

"Listen up! Pursue the Straw Hat Pirates immediately! Make sure every last one of them is captured!"

The Marines beside him could sense Smoker's intense anger and hurriedly straightened up to acknowledge his order.

Just as they regrouped their forces, they spotted Buggy the Clown waking up below. He, Alvida, and the few remaining pirates were preparing to chase after Luffy. Still fuming, Smoker directly used the powers of the Smoke-Smoke Fruit to capture them. They really were terribly unlucky.

As the Marines used Prison Balls to detain Buggy the Clown and the others, Dragon, standing on a rooftop not far away, burst into laughter. "Interesting, what an interesting man. He even possesses Conqueror's Haki. The World Government is going to have quite the headache next. Hahahaha!"

Then, another bolt of lightning fell from the sky. Once the light faded, Dragon had vanished from where he stood.

The rain grew heavier and heavier.

When Luffy and the others saw the Marines catching up from behind, they wished they could grow wings just to run faster.

Zero could only sigh that his level was still too low.

Although he had affected the Marines somewhat with his max-level Conqueror's Haki, its range was too small. At most, it could cover half the execution grounds. Even that had only worked because most of them had been gathered together. Even so, they quickly regrouped and resumed hunting them down.

If he could level up a few more times, perhaps they would not be in such a miserable state. One blast of Conqueror's Haki should have knocked out every Marine in Loguetown—that was how it was supposed to be used!

But Zero was only thinking about it. In the end, he simply was not strong enough!

As they ran, they noticed a short-haired woman standing ahead of them: Tashigi, a Marine swordswoman.

From Zoro, they learned that he seemed to have some history with Tashigi, and that she was after his Wado Ichimonji. So Zoro told the other three to leave first while he stayed behind to duel Tashigi as a swordsman.

Luffy and the others did not object. They trusted Zoro's strength and urged him to finish quickly before taking off running again.

Just as the three of them were about to reach the harbor, a man and his vehicle suddenly appeared before them.

"Straw Hat, you know this already. If you don't defeat me, you won't be able to enter the Grand Line!"

Smoker stood with his arms folded. Seeing his confident expression, Zero was momentarily speechless. Had Smoker forgotten that he had already lost once?

"Sanji, Zero, go on ahead! I'll defeat this guy!"

Luffy had barely assumed a fighting stance when Smoker shouted, "Straw Hat, you're far too confident in your own strength! Do you really think you can defeat me alone? The other two, stay here as well!"

With that, he activated the Smoke-Smoke Fruit. Three enormous arms surged from his body and shot straight toward the three of them.

Luffy and Sanji were caught before they could evade. Zero leaped away first, but the arm curved around and caught him from below, leaving him in the same predicament as the other two!

"This smoke!"

"Damn it, I can't break free!"

After the smoke arms seized the three of them, Smoker raised them high into the air!

"Gum-Gum—Pistol!"

Luffy stretched out his rubber arm to attack Smoker, but it passed straight through him and could not inflict any damage. Even when he attacked with both arms afterward, it was completely useless.

As for Sanji, his techniques were mainly close-range attacks. Once bound by smoke, his fighting strength was greatly reduced. Even if Sanji could use his kicks, he likely could not harm Smoker any more than Luffy could. After all, their Armament Haki was still at the stage of only just understanding it!

At this moment, the only one who could affect the battle was Zero.

So he drew Startled Dragon and said to Smoker, "Smoker, using the same move a second time is no fun."

Buzz!

Armament Haki coated Startled Dragon, and a blade of light flashed out, instantly severing all three smoke arms!

Luffy and Sanji landed first and attacked Smoker again, only for him to seize them with smoke once more and smash them into a nearby wall.

The two of them felt a deep sense of helplessness. Was this the strength of a Logia Devil Fruit user?

Now, only Zero and Smoker remained on the field.

"Your turn!"

Smoker flew over on smoke, drew his weapon, and swung it down at Zero. Zero blocked it with Startled Dragon. Then Smoker flew high into the air, and one smoke arm after another descended, raining attacks down on Zero.

"Pirate, stay here!"

The moment his words fell, a blade of light shot up from below and slashed at Smoker with tremendous speed. He could not dodge in time, and his right arm was cut. Blood immediately gushed out!

"Damn it!"

Even after being cut, Smoker only paused briefly before once again using smoke arms to attack Zero's position. Luffy's eyes nearly split with fury at the sight. He called Zero's name as he stretched his rubber arm toward Smoker in the sky again.

"Luffy, calm down. Look!"

Hearing Sanji's words, Luffy retracted his extended arm. Only then did he see that Zero had already appeared behind Smoker!

"Though you're trying this hard, we have to set sail. So, sorry!"

Zero's voice came from behind him. Smoker turned around, only for red light to suddenly fill his vision.

Luffy and Sanji saw only a flying dragon wreathed in flames emerge from Zero's blade. It struck Smoker, completely swallowing him, then descended before the two of them with unstoppable force!

Boom!

In an instant, with the flying dragon's landing point at the center, the surrounding bricks and tiles shattered continuously. The terrifying shockwave even split several nearby houses cleanly in half!

Once the commotion subsided, Zero slowly descended to the ground. Standing at the edge of the crater, he looked at Smoker, who had fallen unconscious.