"Which do you choose, you adorable little Marine?"
Iron Whip Garselon's voice, dripping with mockery and condescension, echoed across the vast sea like a venomous snake's hiss.
He toyed with the black iron whip in his hand, looking down at the solitary white figure a hundred meters away as though appraising a beast trapped in a cage.
To him, this hunting game was already over.
That fool Bloodjaw Carlos had been nothing more than a scouting pawn he had casually placed.
And now, the real hunter had arrived.
The Logia-type Smoke-Smoke Fruit.
This was a top-tier power, exceedingly rare in the first half of the Grand Line and even at the entrance to the New World.
Against anyone who could not use Haki, a Logia user was an invincible god!
Even if this little Marine had happened to learn some rudimentary Armament Haki, he could never stand against an experienced Logia user.
Besides, Garselon himself was here.
Iron Whip Garselon, captain of the Rocks Pirates' Eighth Division, with a bounty of 130 million Beli!
These waters were his hunting grounds!
The two choices he offered were not a threat, but a statement of what was about to happen.
"A Logia... the Smoke-Smoke Fruit?"
Inside the Leviathan's bridge, the atmosphere was unbearably oppressive.
Every Marine stared fixedly at the humanoid creature made of smoke on the screen, despair written across their faces.
"It's over... we're really finished this time..."
"That's a Logia! Physical attacks don't work on him!"
"No matter how strong Captain Yas is, he can't possibly defeat a Logia user, can he?"
The confidence Yas's strength had only just built up crumbled instantly before the word "Logia."
Such beings were like gods, opponents ordinary soldiers could never defeat in their entire lives!
"Shut up!"
Brannew abruptly bellowed, forcibly silencing the crew's commotion.
His face was equally pale as paper, his palms slick with cold sweat, but he still gritted his teeth and forced himself to remain calm.
He remembered Yas's unfathomable Black Lightning, remembered that terrifying strength capable of punching through a warship.
Perhaps... perhaps Captain Yas really could work a miracle?
But reason told him that possibility was vanishingly small.
Logia users were far more difficult to deal with than ordinary people could imagine.
"Captain Yas..."
Even Brannew's voice trembled. As he watched that still-motionless figure's back on the screen, the thought of retreat rose in his mind for the first time.
Yet Yas simply stood quietly on the slowly sinking ship, as though he had not heard Garseron's words at all.
His Mantra·Observation Haki clearly picked up the emotional fluctuations of everyone aboard the Leviathan.
From panic, to fear, to despair.
He also clearly sensed Garseron's almost tangible malice and greed aboard the ghost ship opposite him, along with the insubstantial, arrogant presence emanating from the Smoke-Smoke Fruit user.
Weak.
In his mind, Yas gave the simplest, most direct assessment.
Although this Smoke-Smoke Fruit user was a Logia, the strength of his presence was not even equal to that of Chain Boy, whom Yas had just killed with a single punch.
He was merely a fool sitting on a mountain of treasure without knowing how to mine it.
As for Garseron...
His presence was considerably stronger than Carlos's, and he had even vaguely approached the threshold of projecting Haki outward.
But that was all.
In Yas's eyes, they were no different from Carlos before them: merely slightly stronger ants.
"Hey, brat, are you deaf?"
When Yas still did not respond, a flicker of impatience crossed Garseron's face.
He flicked the iron whip in his hand, producing a sharp crack through the air.
"My patience has limits. If you don't make your choice, I'll have to assume you've chosen death."
He shot the smoke man beside him a look.
"Smoker, go play with this adorable little Marine. Remember, don't kill him. His body would make an excellent addition to my collection."
"Tch, got it, Boss Garseron."
The smoke man named Smoker gave a disdainful snort.
His body suddenly dispersed into a dense cloud of gray smoke that swept toward Yas like a specter.
"White Snake·Smoke Bind!"
Smoker's voice came from within the smoke, carrying a hint of cruel mockery.
The dense smoke transformed in midair into dozens of ferocious giant smoke snakes, their mouths gaping as they lunged at Yas from every direction to bite and coil around him!
Though the smoke appeared intangible, it possessed tremendous binding force. Once caught in it, even immensely powerful Sea Kings could not hope to break free!
This was one of the moves he took the most pride in!
He could almost see the arrogant little Marine struggling painfully within his smoke, suffocating and losing consciousness.
Yet the scene he imagined never appeared.
Facing the smoke attack that filled the air, Yas did not even move his feet.
He merely raised his right hand slowly and clenched it into a fist.
Then, before Smoker's and Garseron's startled eyes.
A layer of hard, ink-black substance that seemed capable of devouring all light instantly coated his entire fist!
Hum!
An almost imperceptible tremor passed through the air.
"That's... Armament Haki?!"
Garseron's pupils abruptly contracted, and surprise flashed across his face.
"Oh? So you're not some fledgling who knows nothing? You've actually mastered Armament Haki... no wonder you managed to deal with that fool Carlos."
But the surprise on his face quickly turned into even deeper contempt.
"But so what?"
"Smoker, stop playing around! Finish him off!"
Garseron barked coldly.
To him, even if his opponent could use Armament Haki, that only made him slightly more troublesome.
Smoker was a Logia! As long as his vital points were not struck, any attack against him was meaningless!
"What a killjoy."
Within the smoke, Smoker curled his lip.
He controlled the giant smoke snakes, no longer trying to bind Yas. Instead, they transformed directly into countless sharp smoke spikes that stabbed viciously toward every part of Yas's body!
He would cripple this brat's ability to move first!
Yet, in the instant before those smoke spikes were about to strike Yas.
Without any warning, Yas vanished.
"What?!"
Smoker reeled inwardly. His Observation Haki had not detected any sign of movement!
The next second, an icy sense of danger that made his scalp prickle came from directly behind him!
"Here!"
Without a second thought, Smoker moved to turn his body into smoke again and merge with the smoke around him.
But an iron fist coated in jet-black Armament Haki was faster than his reaction!
As though appearing out of thin air, that fist silently pressed into his smoke-formed back, directly behind his heart!
Thud!
A muffled impact sounded.
Smoker's smoky body shuddered violently. He felt a brutal, overbearing force of will punch straight through his elemental form and slam viciously into his physical body!
"Urgh!"
Smoker's physical body was instantly punched out of the smoke. He spat a mouthful of blood and flew backward like a cannonball, crashing heavily onto the deck of the sinking Razor.
"H-how is that possible?!"
Smoker struggled up from the deck, staring in disbelief at Yas, who had appeared behind him at some unknown moment.
"My elemental form... how could you possibly... locate my physical body?!"
His body had clearly turned completely into smoke, so why could his opponent's attack still strike his vital point so precisely?
"Too slow."
Yas slowly withdrew his fist and looked at him as though he were an idiot.
"Your speed, your reactions, your use of your Devil Fruit ability-it's all too slow, and too weak."
"Your smoke stands out to me like fireflies in the night."
Yas's Mantra·Observation Haki had long since taken in every movement and every fluctuation in this smoke man's presence.
In the world of his senses, this so-called Logia was full of openings from head to toe.
"You..."
Smoker trembled all over, enraged by Yas's contemptuous gaze and words.
He was a Logia! A god! How could a mere mortal humiliate him like this?!
"Bastard! I'll kill you!"
Smoker roared, his body once again turning into smoke that filled the sky, but this time, he held nothing back.
"Smoke·Hell Prison!"
He pushed his ability to its limit, instantly shrouding the entire stretch of sea in gray smoke so dense that no one could see their own hand in front of their face!
This smoke did more than obscure vision. It was highly poisonous and continually drained the oxygen within it!
Any creature trapped inside would die an agonizing death from suffocation and poisoning within minutes!
This was his ultimate trump card!
He would turn this arrogant brat into a skeleton amid endless pain and despair!
"Oh my, are you angry?"
Watching from a distance, Garseron smiled even more cruelly.
"Fine, then. Before this ignorant brat dies, let him get a good look at what true..."
Before he could finish, the smile on his face abruptly froze.
Because within that dense smoke, which should have been a realm of certain death.
A point of light suddenly appeared.
A deep, cold point of blue light... seemingly capable of devouring everything.
Then there were two.
They were Yas's opened eyes!
There was not the slightest confusion or pain in them, only a cold indifference that saw through everything.
"Do you think hiding in the smoke will help?"
Yas's utterly emotionless voice pierced the layers of smoke, echoing clearly in everyone's ears.
"How... laughably naive."
The next second.
Yas raised his right hand.
This time, he extended two fingers.
His index finger and middle finger.
An energy more terrifying and more concentrated than ever before began gathering at his fingertips.
Blue lightning and jet-black Haki intertwined wildly at his fingertips, compressing!
"You're not even worthy of making me use Three-Finger Nukite."
"So I'll use these two fingers..."
Yas's voice was like the final judgment of the god of death.
"To send you on your way."
"Hell Stab-Finger Nukite!"
The instant his words fell, Yas plunged fearlessly into that endless hell of smoke, carrying those two points of destructive light powerful enough to pierce heaven and earth!
Before you continue