The Ending Was Set in Stone

Excitement flashed in Rogge's eyes. He had finally found an opening. Sure enough, under the pressure of the wind, Smoker could not transform his body into smoke.

Seizing that moment, Rogge charged forward. His speed outpaced the gust of wind he had sent out, and by the time Smoker came to his senses, Rogge was already standing before him.

Watching the fist draw closer and closer, Smoker's eyes widened in shock. He had never expected Rogge to find a method like this to deal with him.

"Bang!"

Blood sprayed from Smoker's mouth and nose. His eyes were wide as he stared at the scene before him, unable to believe that he had actually been hurt. Since obtaining his Devil Fruit, he could count the number of times he had been injured on one hand. If this had been the New World, he would not have been surprised. But this was not the New World—it was the first half of the Grand Line, and he had actually been injured.

Rogge's smiling face was right in front of him. Smoker felt his face burn. He had never imagined that he could be reduced to such a sorry state.

"White Vine."

More than ten streams of white smoke burst from his body, turning into tentacle-like coils that wrapped around Rogge.

"It's useless. The smoke created by your Devil Fruit can't hurt anyone at all. This fruit was trash to begin with," Rogge mocked.

"Shut up!" Smoker roared, controlling the white smoke to bind Rogge before raising his fist and swinging it at him.

"You're mad now, aren't you? How long has it been since someone last beat you up? Are all you Logia users this touchy? Hahaha!" Rogge laughed. Now that he was truly fighting Smoker, Rogge realized his earlier fear had been completely unnecessary.

Smoker was only strong compared to other people. Against Rogge, he posed no pressure whatsoever. This guy's strength was nothing more than this. The Smoke-Smoke Fruit was indeed a Logia, but it was nowhere near as powerful as Rogge had imagined.

On the contrary, in Rogge's eyes, this fruit was trash among trash. Logia users were still difficult for ordinary people to handle. If Smoker's opponents had been Jelly and the others, they would probably have been worn to death by him.

But Rogge was different. He had already awakened Observation Haki. Though he still could not foresee the future over a wide area, it was more than enough to deal with Smoker. And Smoker's Smoke-Smoke Fruit simply could not harm him.

Rogge had also destroyed Smoker's weapon, leaving him with only physical techniques to attack. But physical combat was what Rogge feared least. Unless Smoker could utterly crush him in physical skill and Haki, Rogge's fruit ability could break through any physical attack.

Smoker clearly had not realized this yet. He had indeed trapped Rogge and caught him, but then what?

That was all. Before his fist could even come down, Rogge had already broken free of his restraints.

Rogge casually evaded the attack, then threw a counterpunch that dispersed Smoker's arm.

Smoker gritted his teeth. His body had transformed into smoke, or that blow really would have snapped his arm.

He had just experienced Rogge's ability firsthand, and it felt truly awful. If not for his body being tempered through long-term training, an ordinary person would have died from that punch long ago.

"Damn it." Smoker clenched his teeth. Losing an arm was not much of a problem. Instead, it became a launcher for his next attack. The only way he used his fruit was to treat smoke as propulsion.

Rogge truly wanted to laugh at that level of fruit usage. Was the person who created this world stupid, or was Smoker simply stupid to use a Logia fruit like this?

Even if the fruit itself was not trash, it had been used as trash.

A fist shot toward him like a cannonball. It seemed Smoker had no other moves besides this.

"Bang!"

Even if Rogge might not have surpassed Smoker in raw power, Rogge's ability was simply too strong. It was like a baby who had trained for a long time standing before an adult—the difference was still worlds apart.

Devil Fruits themselves were unfair. If every fruit ability could be equally powerful, Oda would not have needed to give Luffy so many plot buffs.

Crocodile, Enel, Lucci, Shiki, Byrnndi World, Zephyr, Donquixote Doflamingo, Katakuri, and even future opponents like the Four Emperors—which one of them could Luffy truly crush and defeat through strength alone?

To Rogge, that was simply a joke. Crocodile had once dominated the seas in his youth. He had merely appeared too early. He had fought Bullet, who possessed near-Four Emperors strength as an apprentice aboard Roger's ship, to a draw. A man known as the Crocodile who could go fifty-fifty with anyone in the pirate world had been defeated just because Luffy bled a little. That was a bug.

Enel was the same. Lightning could melt metal and alter its shape, yet it could not melt rubber? Enel had it rough.

Lucci was a genius of CP9, a master of Rokushiki who had even vaguely touched upon high-level Armament Haki. He fought Luffy for half a day, only for Luffy to suddenly rise again on the verge of collapse after hearing one sentence from Usopp and smash Lucci to pieces.

There was even less need to mention Shiki, Byrnndi World, and Zephyr. They were figures from the era of Roger and Whitebeard, people who had once stood at kingly heights upon the seas, yet they lost too?

Donquixote Doflamingo had awakened the String-String Fruit and possessed top-tier Shichibukai combat power, yet he was still beaten down when Luffy erupted for the second time in Fourth Gear. When Rogge watched the Dressrosa arc, he had truly hoped Doflamingo would kill Luffy.

In Rogge's mind, pirates should have been ambitious villains like Donquixote Doflamingo. He had the wickedness, evil, and cruelty a pirate ought to possess. Unfortunately, his ability limited his strength. Doflamingo was strong, but he still could not beat someone with plot buffs.

And then there was Katakuri—there was no need to mention him. Katakuri had held back.

Back to the point: the strength of a Devil Fruit determined one's future achievements. Genes could determine whether someone could accept cilantro. Whitebeard might still have been strong without the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, but he definitely would not have reached the point where even the Marines and the World Government feared him.

Likewise, powerful physical skills and swordsmanship could establish a foothold on the seas. Why did Rogge still undergo harsh and brutal training after obtaining his fruit? Because he knew that Devil Fruits alone were absolutely not enough in this world. A powerful body was even more important.

Especially before entering the New World, Rogge had set himself a goal: he had to master two types of Haki before he entered it. As for Conqueror's Haki, that depended on fate.

Smoker could no longer affect him in any meaningful way. Unless a powerhouse at the level of Marine vice admiral or above made a move, Rogge feared no one. And even against a vice admiral, Rogge wanted to fight.

There was no need to elaborate further on the outcome of the battle. Looking at Smoker, panting heavily with blood dripping from his fists, Rogge smiled. He had no intention of killing Smoker. Instead, he shouted to Jelly and the others, "Brothers, let's go!"

"Despicable!" Smoker gritted out.