No Longer What They Once Were

"Is it settled?" Ham looked at Rogge in surprise.

"No, but there's no need to keep this up, is there, Captain Smoker?" Rogge glanced at Smoker.

Smoker gritted his teeth. How could he just let this go? If Rogge had not taken a Marine soldier hostage earlier, he would not have fallen for it. How could he accept this? He stepped forward again and charged in with a sweeping kick.

"Bang!"

Rogge raised an arm to block Smoker's attack, activating the Chop-Chop Fruit at the same time. Smoker's leg shattered into a cloud of smoke and dispersed.

"I told you, you don't have the strength to take me down now," Rogge said bluntly.

"Justice will never allow scum to roam the seas!" Smoker shouted as smoke billowed from his body and wrapped around Rogge once more.

Seeing Smoker stubbornly refuse to give up, Rogge's expression grew serious. Smoker was undoubtedly stronger than Hina, but he relied too heavily on his Devil Fruit ability. He was just like Ace, completely dependent on his fruit powers, while his physical skills and combat techniques had not reached a level worthy of those abilities.

If there was anyone in this world who had taken Devil Fruit abilities to their absolute peak, Rogge believed it was the Marine who had truly earned the rank of admiral through his fruit power—the most mysterious Marine admiral, Kizaru.

Kizaru's physical skills might have been slightly inferior to those of the other two admirals, but the power of his Glint-Glint Fruit was terrifying. Just as Zephyr had said, Borsalino's hand-to-hand combat was lacking, but no one could deny that he had developed his Devil Fruit ability to its limit. Even upon hearing that two Four Emperors, Kaido and Charlotte Linlin, had joined forces, he had dared to ask Akainu whether they should go to Wano Country.

An admiral's strength was never as simple as it appeared. Even Blackbeard, despite possessing two Devil Fruit abilities, had chosen to flee when facing Akainu. That was not without reason.

But compared to the Logia abilities of the three admirals, Smoker's Smoke-Smoke Fruit possessed no offensive power to begin with. What offensive ability could smoke possibly have? Put out fires? At least the flames of the Flame-Flame Fruit could burn.

The Smoke-Smoke Fruit was just a mass of air. It was utterly useless in fights against opponents of the same level. No wonder that a few years later, after becoming a Marine vice admiral, he got beaten down the moment he appeared.

Rogge sneered at Smoker's words. "Justice? Justice is bullshit. In this world, fists are justice. Only the weak keep words like that on their lips."

With that, Rogge threw a crushing punch. Faced with countless streams of white smoke, his fist crushed through them along with the air itself, forcing Smoker's body out of its elemental form.

"Smoker, can't you see it yet? I don't even consider you an opponent anymore." Rogge stood beside Smoker, hooking an arm around his neck and trapping him beneath it.

"So fast!!" Smoker's eyes widened. He had not noticed Rogge's movement at all. Almost at the same instant Rogge's punch created a gust of wind, Rogge had already appeared at his side.

"Shark Bite!"

With Smoker's neck trapped in his arm, Rogge rushed toward a tree and slammed Smoker's body against the trunk, then tightened his arm and drove him into it with all his strength.

"Bang!"

The tree trunk snapped. Smoker spat out blood, clutching his neck as his eyes rolled back in pain. His throat had nearly been crushed by Rogge.

Looking at Smoker writhing on the ground with a pained expression, Rogge shook out his arm. No wonder the Raikage needed a B to coordinate this move. With two people using it at once, they could easily snap someone's neck.

"Smoker!" Hina saw what had happened, cast Jelly aside, and rushed over. Seeing Smoker clutching his neck in agony, she immediately created iron bars to brace his neck. She could not let him keep moving it around, or if the nerves were compressed, Smoker might truly be crippled.

"Goodbye, Marines. Honestly, I don't want to see you Marines. Nothing good ever comes from running into you." Rogge smiled as he walked toward the shore.

With Smoker down, the Marine soldiers also stopped fighting. Their casualties were not small. Though the Asura Pirates did not have many members, every one of them was a powerhouse capable of taking on a hundred men. How could ordinary Marine soldiers stand against them?

"A Logia user doesn't seem all that special," Jelly said as he looked at the defeated Smoker.

"Don't get ahead of yourself. If you faced him, you'd only get crushed," Rogge said with a faint smile.

"What a joke! I'll fight him right now if you want!!" Jelly said unhappily.

"Even if you beat him in his current state, it wouldn't mean much. Let's go. There's no need to stay here," Ham said.

Cook spoke up. "We can't leave yet, can we? Our Log Pose hasn't finished recording. They should be the ones leaving."

"That makes sense." Rogge laughed. They still needed to let the Log Pose record the island. How could they leave? They could only turn their attention toward the Marines.

Hina supported Smoker and glanced at them before helping him aboard the warship. The other soldiers carried away the wounded, and the ten warships departed from the island.

"It's kind of unbelievable when you think about it." Watching the warships leave, Ham lit a cigarette and exhaled smoke.

"What is?" Simon looked at Ham.

"A few months ago, we were just a bunch of street punks." Jelly laughed.

"No, only you were a street punk." Rogge shook his head.

Jelly shot Rogge a sidelong glance and spat out three words.

"Idiot. Get lost."

Rogge ignored Jelly. He knew what Ham was lamenting. Back in the West Blue, they had served under someone else's pirate crew. Then, because of Rogge's instigation, they had killed their own captain, violating the rules of a pirate ship. If they had been in the Whitebeard Pirates, they would not know how many times they would have died for that.

Killing one's own captain was a great taboo, but in a place like the West Blue, who would know?

The Heavenly Tribute Incident had been the turning point of their lives. Rogge had traded his life for the abilities they possessed now. Though their pirate crew had only seven members, they had just faced thousands of Marines and a Logia user. Yet they had still won, successfully forcing the Marines to retreat.

"The next island is Alabasta, right?" Rogge said with his hands on his hips.

"Captain, we..." Simon began.

Rogge waved a hand. "Crocodile is a Logia user too. It's not like there's no way to deal with him. If he really wants to fight, then we'll clash with him. What are we afraid of? There's nothing to fear. If we're going to be timid and cautious, then what kind of sailing is that? Enjoy our voyage. This is only the beginning. A Shichibukai can't stop us."

Simon nodded heavily. He had now completely submitted to Rogge because Rogge possessed that fearless, unstoppable spirit. That single punch had shattered all his former thoughts, leaving him with only one idea: follow Rogge to the very end.