The white mist filling the sky seemed to blot out the heavens and the sun.
The navy soldiers who had followed Smoker also rushed out from the shadows.
The daggers-drawn atmosphere set everyone's nerves on edge.
Every gaze swung around at once, fixing on the youth before them, hailed as the strongest rookie in the East Blue.
"Bai Yu, I'll ask you one more time. Are you really going to kill him?"
Smoke coiled around Smoker as he spoke in a deep voice, a cigar clenched between his teeth.
"If you want to kill him, you'll have to get past me first. I'll protect him."
"Nezumi, get the hell out of here already."
"Y-yes, sir. I'll leave right away."
Captain Nezumi scrambled unsteadily to his feet.
The navy soldiers following him had completely panicked too, hurriedly following him to escape this hellhole.
As they did, none of them could resist subconsciously glancing back at Bai Yu, who seemed to stand amid an asura's sea of blood.
But the moment they glanced back, the first thing they saw was that bloodthirsty smile.
"Sorry, I told you. You can't save anyone I want to kill."
Ding! Congratulations, host. The subordinate template for Scissor Seven has successfully fused.
The ethereal notification echoed in his mind.
As a trace of scarlet flashed through his pupils,
the earth-shattering killing intent unique to Scissor Seven, lying dormant within his body, erupted like a volcano.
Boom!
Endless killing intent swept across heaven and earth like a raging tide.
At that instant, the world itself seemed to darken.
An inexplicably oppressive aura became an invisible hand that squeezed everyone's hearts.
The flowing air seemed to grind to a halt.
Everyone within that space, Smoker included,
felt as though they had plunged into an ice cellar, chilled to the bone.
Captain Nezumi and the others, who had been fleeing in haste, froze on the spot, their bodies no longer obeying them.
"Such powerful killing intent. Just how many people has he killed to possess killing intent this tangible?"
Smoker's expression changed drastically. He quickly bit his tongue, using the pain to break free of the restraint on his body.
Looking at Bai Yu, who still stood where he was, he hurriedly prepared to dart in front of Captain Nezumi.
Unfortunately, the thought had barely formed in his mind.
Bai Yu flicked his right hand upward from a distance, and the saber at Nezumi's waist let out a piercing ring.
Clang!
The saber flew out of its sheath on its own.
Under everyone's astonished gazes, it twirled through the air, then swept across Captain Nezumi's throat.
Spurt!
Scarlet blood bloomed as brilliantly as fireworks.
The instant his large head flew into the air,
Captain Nezumi's face was filled with disbelief.
No!
Rather, the same expression filled the face of every single person present, without exception.
None of them had imagined that Captain Nezumi, whom Smoker had vowed to protect, would be killed by his own saber.
Thud!
The corpse struck the ground heavily.
As he watched the head roll like a wheel to his feet, Smoker's face darkened to the extreme.
"Bai Yu, have you gone mad? Killing a navy officer without authorization-don't you know what charges you'll face?"
Charges?
Bai Yu glanced indifferently at Captain Nezumi's corpse and said,
"Did any of you see me kill him with my own hands?"
"He was killed by his own saber."
"Besides, even if I really did kill him, so what? My grandpa is Garp."
As far as Bai Yu was concerned, scum like Captain Nezumi was dead, and that was that.
He couldn't be bothered to explain, either.
If there really was a problem, they could go to Garp.
If they insisted on pursuing it, he could always run off and become a pirate.
"You!"
Smoker choked with anger. Tightening his grip on his Jitte, he said coldly,
"Fine. Very good. Today, I'll see just how strong the strongest rookie really is."
"White Smoke Domain!"
Bang!
Vast quantities of white smoke surged out of Smoker's body.
It became a tidal wave, sweeping straight toward Bai Yu to engulf him.
In an instant, the vast Arlong Park became an ocean of white mist.
Floating in the sky with a cigar between his teeth, Smoker's expression darkened, and he plunged straight down through the smoke filling the air.
"White Smoke Launcher!"
"Bai Yu, I'll show you how small the East Blue is, and what it means for there to be heavens beyond the heavens and people beyond people."
Bang!
As Smoker entered it, the smoke filling the air began to churn rapidly.
The swirling white mist completely blocked everyone's sight.
The navy soldiers who followed Smoker instantly lit up with wild delight.
"Look, that's Captain Smoker's White Mist Domain! Back in Loguetown, once he unleashed it, no one could escape. The winner will be decided soon."
"Whenever the pirates who barged into Loguetown encountered the White Smoke Domain, they all fell to their knees and begged for mercy. They couldn't even tell north from south."
The scene erupted with excitement.
Hearing these all-too-familiar words of praise, Smoker couldn't help smiling around his cigar.
He darted rapidly through the white mist, moving faster and faster.
Finally, he appeared behind Bai Yu and charged straight at him.
After all those frantic changes of direction, Smoker believed this move would remain infallible.
Twenty meters, ten meters, five meters!
Smoker tightened his grip on his Jitte.
He would make this arrogant fool understand how small the East Blue was, and what it meant for there to be heavens beyond the heavens.
"Heh, Smoker, you're absolutely right. The East Blue is small, and there are heavens beyond the heavens."
"Only, I'm that heaven above you."
"Come on. Let's start killing each other!"
Bai Yu abruptly turned around. The cruel, bloodthirsty smile on his face made Smoker freeze.
Without the slightest flourish, the wooden sword in his right hand cleaved straight down at him.
He saw me!
Smoker was dumbfounded.
For the first time in the East Blue, his White Mist Domain had been broken.
Watching the wooden sword rapidly grow larger in his pupils, he had no time to think and roared urgently.
"Elementalization!"
Bang!
The wooden sword crashed down.
As the dull sound of the collision echoed through the clouds,
the white mist shrouding all of Arlong Park was instantly scattered by an immense wave of Sword Pressure.
The navy soldiers who had still been cheering finally witnessed a sight they would never forget.
They saw Smoker taking that wooden sword with his face, its entire length pitch-black, as though coated in steel.
As they watched Smoker's twisted, distorted cheek and the speed at which he flew backward like a cannonball,
only one thought flashed through their minds.
Damn, that slap to the face hurt like hell!
Boom!
A deafening crash rang out.
Smoker slammed headfirst into the forest.
After snapping the trees in his path in half, he finally crashed into a massive rock, barely coming to a stop.
But as the tremendous force of the impact discharged, the rock, over ten meters tall, shattered with a crash, cracks spreading across it like a spiderweb.
He was forcibly embedded in it.
That immense force made quite a few navy soldiers swallow and subconsciously touch their own cheeks.