"That's... Captain Smoker!" Isuka cried out, a spark of hope rekindling in her eyes.
Lin Xuan, however, sighed almost imperceptibly.
His courage was commendable, but anger alone could not bridge that gap.
The Golden Lion in midair did not even spare the charging white smoke a proper glance. He merely curled his lips in contempt and raised his right leg.
"Too slow."
Those three words seemed to ring directly inside his head, dripping with undisguised mockery.
The Golden Lion in midair did not even pull his hands out of his loose, striped haori.
He merely raised his right leg listlessly-the prosthetic limb formed by the Famous Sword Oto-and casually traced a golden arc through the air.
There were no fancy movements, just a simple slash.
Yet that slash cut through the cloud of white smoke without the slightest resistance. The Logia elemental transformation Smoker took such pride in crumbled before this monster from a bygone era.
Bam-!
A dull crash rang out, like a truck loaded with cement slamming into the ground.
The white smoke scattered, and Smoker flew backward, crashing hard onto the stone paving of Loguetown's central square.
The hard granite tiles cracked instantly, spiderweb fractures spreading outward and kicking up a ring of dust.
"Cough... cough, cough!"
Smoker struggled to prop up his upper body and violently spat a mouthful of blood mixed with fragments of his organs onto his pristine white "Justice" coat.
He felt at least three broken ribs in his chest, and the agonizing pain briefly blurred his vision.
The gap was too vast.
Was this the man who had once fought Roger for supremacy over these seas?
Just one casual lift of his leg...
"Captain!" Isuka screamed, instinctively starting toward him.
"Stay back!!"
Smoker gritted his teeth and roared through a mouthful of