Defeating the Enemy in One Move, Two Plans

Seeing this, Kalifa shot Hina a fierce glare, then hurriedly warned, "Roya, Smoker's weapon is made of Sea-Prism Stone. Whatever you do, don't let it touch you!"

But Kalifa's warning came a step too late.

Smoker had already swung his jitte down hard onto Roya.

"Bang!"

Roya was sent flying by Smoker's strike, his figure vanishing in midair.

The moment Smoker saw that, he knew he had been fooled.

His fairly decent combat instincts prompted him to thrust his jitte behind him.

"Bang!"

Another illusion was pierced and shattered by Smoker.

But before Smoker could breathe a sigh of relief, Hina warned from the side, "Smoker, above you!"

"Armament Haki coating!"

Roya's illusion descended from the sky, its fist wrapped in Armament Haki as it smashed down fiercely at Smoker.

This completely nullified Smoker's elementalization.

Though the illusion's Armament Haki had only reached an intermediate level, it was already enough to deal with Smoker!

It was not over yet. Before Smoker could recover from his daze—

Another illusion appeared behind Smoker, likewise coating its fist in Armament Haki before driving a punch straight into his back!

Sending Smoker staggering forward.

Yet another of Roya's illusions appeared in front of Smoker, Armament Haki coating its knee before it slammed heavily into Smoker's abdomen.

"Pffft!!!"

Smoker felt a mouthful of blood surge into his throat.

Less than a second had passed since Roya began his attack.

The illusion suddenly shattered, revealing Roya himself.

He walked up to Smoker and looked down at him as he knelt on one knee before him. "You lost," he said softly.

Everyone on the training grounds stared at the scene before them in stunned silence.

What they had witnessed far exceeded their imaginations.

"Smoker is a Logia Devil Fruit user!!!"

"He lost just like that, without even getting the chance to use his powers?"

"This is way too strong!"

"That illusion is ridiculously powerful!"

"It appears and disappears without a trace—there's no way to defend against it!"

The surrounding soldiers whispered among themselves.

Hina clearly found the sight before her difficult to believe.

"Smoker actually lost just like that! How is that possible!"

With that thought, Hina stared at Roya in disbelief, as though she wanted to engrave his appearance into her heart.

The moment Kalifa saw this, she burst out laughing. "See? Roya is amazing!"

As if showing off to Hina, Kalifa raised an eyebrow at her.

Even Kalifa herself did not know why she was so happy.

Only then did the surrounding soldiers recover from their shock.

They immediately erupted into deafening cheers!

"Roya! Roya! Roya!"

"Roya! Roya! Roya!"

"Roya! Roya! Roya!"

The soldiers shouted Roya's name like mad, so loudly that the entire Marineford could hear them clearly!

On another training ground, Akainu defeated Vice Admiral Doberman before following the sound toward Roya's training ground. His stern face cold, he said, "Heh. A clown. He's only a captain. When you face me, let's see if you can still shout so happily!"

On the training grounds, Roya extended a hand toward Smoker. "Are you okay?"

Smoker looked at Roya and grinned. "I'm fine. I was just too weak. Next time, I'll definitely be the one who wins!"

"Let's work hard together."

Roya smiled faintly, and that smile immediately set the surrounding soldiers cheering again.

Yet for some reason, Kalifa felt a little sad at that moment.

Why could he smile like that at others, yet be so cold toward her?

Kalifa bit her lip, repeatedly pondering that question.

Time passed quickly, and another three days went by in the blink of an eye.

During those three days, Roya used the power of the Illusion-Illusion Fruit to toy with his opponents time and again, leaving them utterly unable to tell which one was Roya's real body.

Time after time, they were defeated easily by Roya while still completely confused!

His tremendous strength, coupled with that gentle smile, brought Roya immense popularity!

His popularity even surpassed that of the Navy's three monstrous admiral candidates for a time.

Inside Sengoku's office.

Garp sat beside Sengoku, constantly munching on rice crackers.

The number of vein marks on Sengoku's forehead kept increasing.

"Garp, do you really like eating my rice crackers that much?"

"Of course. If I lose the bet, I won't be able to eat them anymore. Naturally, I have to eat my fill now!"

"But why do I feel like you'd keep eating them even if you lost the bet?"

"Hahahaha, Sengoku, you really know me. But are you truly planning to arrange for Akainu and Roya to fight in the next match? You should know this is already a contest for the position of admiral!"

"Garp, I know what you're thinking. But from my observations during this time, Roya's temperament aligns most closely with our Dove Faction. Even if we cannot recruit Roya into the Dove Faction, it would still be better than letting Akainu rise to power!"

The Navy was not a monolithic entity. The factional struggles within it were exceptionally complicated.

Sengoku had now made two plans.

The first was to extend an olive branch after Roya was defeated by Akainu and recruit this extraordinarily gifted man into the Dove Faction.

The second was that if Roya could defeat Akainu, they would reach an agreement to develop together, all for the peace of the seas!

Garp naturally understood Sengoku's plan now, but precisely because of that, he was curious why Sengoku believed so strongly that Roya would defeat Akainu?!

After Sengoku finalized the list, he had his subordinates release it.

Everyone who saw the list was shocked.

"Hey, hey, hey, did you hear? Akainu is up against Roya!"

"No way, Akainu is actually fighting Roya!"

"How could that be fake? It's already been made public."

"I remember Akainu seemed to tell Roya before that if he ever ran into him, he'd make Roya regret it!"

"That does sound like something Akainu would say. That guy is far too ruthless!"

Compared to gentle Roya, Akainu and his ruthless methods genuinely made people loathe him.

Standing before the match list, Akainu looked at its contents, clasped his fists together, and radiated an imposing aura. "Roya, don't lose too miserably tomorrow! The Navy has no need for someone who suddenly forced his way in!"

"Shouldn't we wait until tomorrow to find out?"

Roya happened to be standing beside Akainu. Smiling, he spoke to him.

Akainu snorted coldly, turned, and walked away from the list.

Only then...