Smoker

By then, Locke had finished attacking the Marine base and begun searching for their target in this trip to the 16th Marine Branch: Colonel Nezumi.

"Ha! Ha! Ha! Found you!" After circling around some ruins, Locke spotted a Marine wearing a cloak of justice, yet looking nothing like a good person.

"Who are you?" Colonel Nezumi asked strangely as he looked at Locke blocking his path.

"The one here to kill you!" Locke drew his Tang Dao and charged at Colonel Nezumi.

"Y-You... don't come any closer..." Nezumi was so frightened by Locke rushing toward him that he collapsed onto the ground.

Just as Locke's blade was about to strike Nezumi, it was suddenly blocked by a Jitte.

"So you're the brat causing trouble on this island?" Smoker slowly returned from his smoke form and stepped in front of Locke.

Seeing the man blocking him, Locke did not rush to attack. Instead, he said, "That's right. It's me."

However, the moment Smoker blocked Locke, Nezumi, who had been frightened to the ground, immediately got up and ran away.

"Annie, go catch him!" Locke called to Annie on his shoulder as he watched Colonel Nezumi run farther and farther away.

"Okay!" Annie immediately leaped off Locke's shoulder and chased after Colonel Nezumi.

"Where do you think you're going?" Although Smoker had no idea what the puppet flying behind him was, he still wanted to stop her.

"Where do you think you're going?" But before Smoker could attack, Locke struck first, interrupting his attempt to stop Annie.

"Looks like I'll have to deal with you first." Smoker could only turn back helplessly toward Locke standing before him.

"Deal with me?" Locke looked Smoker up and down before continuing, "I don't think you can beat me right now."

"Looking down on me, huh? Fine. Once I knock you down, you'll know." With that, his legs turned into smoke as he charged at Locke.

"Looks like I need to show you the difference between us." Locke raised his Tang Dao and met him head-on.

Although Locke had not practiced internal cultivation for long, he had accumulated some True Qi in his body. He could not cover his entire body with it, but he could simply coat his weapon in a thin layer. It did not possess the absolute suppressive effect Haki had against Devil Fruit powers, but it could at least injure their users.

And for the current Smoker, as long as his Devil Fruit ability could be countered, Locke felt he would have no trouble dealing with Smoker's rudimentary physical skills.

After Locke infused his Tang Dao with True Qi, a faint white glow appeared over its blade. He dodged Smoker's incoming Jitte and slashed at him.

Seeing the Tang Dao coming toward him, Smoker did not dodge. He intended to turn elemental at the last moment and evade it. Yet at that instant, a feeling of dread rose in his heart, and he instinctively shifted to the side.

Fortunately, Smoker had moved. Otherwise, Locke's strike would have cut him in half. Even so, he had reacted a little too slowly, and a long wound opened across his chest. It was not very deep, though.

"You know Haki?" Smoker asked in confusion as he looked at his wound.

"No, that wasn't Haki!" Smoker quickly rejected that idea himself. He knew what Haki looked like after being cultivated. What had been on that blade clearly had not been Haki, but a faint white glow—so faint that he would not even have noticed it if he had not been curious about how Locke had injured him.

"That's called True Qi. You wouldn't understand," Locke said from the side, looking at Smoker as if he were some country bumpkin.

"True Qi? How amazing. It can actually injure Devil Fruit users just like Haki." Smoker was stunned.

"There's plenty more in this world that you don't know!" As he spoke, Locke created a clone that attacked Smoker.

"You think this is enough to defeat me? Naive!" Smoker said as he watched Locke approach.

Smoker's physical skills truly were somewhat lacking. Under Locke's relentless attacks, he was struck several times. Locke did not know whether Smoker had figured out which one was the clone or something else, but among those hits, only the first strike—when Locke's Tang Dao cut his shoulder—had come from Locke himself. The other times, he had been struck by the clone.

Because Locke had practiced True Qi for too short a time, he simply could not use True Qi and his Devil Fruit ability together. As a result, during the later attacks from Locke's clone, Smoker evaded them by turning elemental.

"Looks like your physical skills aren't as bad as I expected." After another attack was blocked by Smoker, Locke retreated, dismissed his clone, and spoke to Smoker.

"How do you know my physical skills are poor? Do you know me?" Smoker froze upon hearing Locke's words. Why did it feel as though Locke knew him so well?

"I suppose you could say that. You're one of the Marines I admire most." Locke's meager True Qi was nearly depleted by now. Since Smoker wanted to talk, Locke was more than happy to oblige.

"Admire?" Smoker asked strangely.

"Yes, admire. You're one of the few Marines who can put the word 'justice' into action." Locke spoke while recovering his True Qi.

"Every Marine is just." Smoker suddenly became agitated.

"Are you sure?" Locke looked at Smoker with amusement.

"Although there are some rotten apples among the Marines, most Marines are just," Smoker said after hesitating for a moment.

"The Marines today are like a tabletop—no, more accurately, the World Government. It's already riddled with wormholes. The only thing to do now is get rid of it and replace it with a new one." Locke spoke with a smile.

"What? What exactly are you trying to do?" Smoker demanded loudly.

"Nothing. Just what you think I'm trying to do."

"Then I have to keep you here today!" Smoker raised his Jitte again and attacked Locke.

Locke looked at the charging Smoker without the slightest fear.

Soon, the two clashed once more. This time, Locke abandoned the use of his Devil Fruit ability and relied purely on swordsmanship. He had learned his lesson now, only coating his Tang Dao in True Qi when it was about to strike Smoker.

At this point, Smoker had fallen completely into a disadvantage. Although he did his best to evade Locke's attacks, he was still cut from time to time.

Yet amid their continuous battle, Smoker also realized that Locke's Righteous True Qi could restrain his Devil Fruit ability. If he turned elemental the moment Locke's attack hit him, he could reduce most of the damage, though he would still be injured.