"A good opportunity."
Watching Kuina turn, Smoker clenched his Jitte in his right hand, pulled it back, and then, at even greater speed, thrust it towards Kuina's back.
Kuina, sensing the sharpness behind her, had no time to turn. She stamped her feet on the ground and, with a "whoosh," vanished from her spot, reappearing to Smoker's side.
"Don't underestimate me, I know Soru too!"
With that, Smoker flickered, his Jitte still aimed at Kuina.
Facing the oncoming Jitte, Kuina didn't dodge.
Her previous dodge was primarily to confront him head-on.
A red glow flashed in her eyes, and she sidestepped, her arm grazing the Jitte.
Then, she swiftly raised her sword, her blade imbued with Armament Haki, and slashed towards Smoker's exposed chest.
A cold, moon-like blade light flashed.
Bang—!
This time, it connected with flesh.
Smoker's chest was covered with Armament Haki, and in that brief instant, he quickly elementalized. However, Kuina's blade was too fast, easily slicing through his Haki defense.
His Armament Haki was only at the awakening stage; it could harden but not even coat.
Therefore, it couldn't withstand Kuina's fierce slash.
Puff—!
Although he elementalized to avoid most of the damage, he still received a massive wound on his chest from the blow.
The wound wasn't deep, but blood beads continued to well up from it.
Smoker retreated a few steps, his entire body elementalized except for his head.
He stared at Kuina, his expression grave, "Kenbunshoku Haki!"
"Truly remarkable! Kenbunshoku Haki is something he hasn't even comprehended yet."
This was not the New World, where Armament Haki was as common as dogs and Kenbunshoku Haki was everywhere.
This was just the East Blue.
Ever since he was assigned to Loguetown, possessing the Logia-type Smoke-Smoke Fruit, which was almost invincible in the first half of the Grand Line, he had rarely used Armament Haki.
This led him to neglect his Haki training.
Even Kenbunshoku Haki, something that high-ranking Marine officers could comprehend, he hadn't bothered to learn.
But as he felt the dull ache in his chest, he regretted it.
He shouldn't have become complacent in the illusory invincibility of his Logia ability and neglected strengthening his Haki.
If he had Kenbunshoku Haki, Kuina wouldn't have been able to hit his true body.
He stared at Kuina and put away his Jitte.
Then, his arms and legs all transformed into fists as he charged at Kuina.
"White·Punch!"
Facing a swordsman with Kenbunshoku Haki, he now only had long-range attacks to try and defeat Kuina.
His Haki defense couldn't withstand the opponent's slashes, so close combat was a guaranteed defeat.
Watching the rapidly approaching white fists, a red glow flickered in Kuina's eyes. She swayed left and right, easily dodging the fists.
Then, she sheathed her sword, leaned forward, her right hand resting on the hilt, her eyes fixed on Smoker floating in the air.
She pushed off the ground.
She vanished instantly, appearing behind Smoker in the blink of an eye.
Clang—!
"Ittoryu·Banshō Zan!"
A flash of blade light easily cut through Smoker's body.
"That was close, just a little more, and he would have been cut in half."
Smoker looked at Kuina, cold sweat streaming down his face. The moment the blade light arrived, he felt the aura of death.
He quickly elementalized his entire body, engulfing the entire street in smoke.
His smoke had no offensive power; it could only confuse the enemy.
Although Logia users could avoid any attack by elementalizing their entire body, achieving illusory invincibility, they couldn't attack the enemy once elementalized.
Furthermore, fully elementalizing consumed a lot of stamina.
Therefore, Logia users rarely used full-body elementalization; they usually elementalized the attacked part just before the attack landed.
Of course, for those who had highly developed their Devil Fruit abilities, they could passively elementalize to dodge attacks.
These individuals might not even need Kenbunshoku Haki.
However, for those with exceptionally high-level Kenbunshoku Haki, passive elementalization was useless.
Because the opponent could see further ahead than you.
For Logia users to attack enemies, they had to solidify their bodies first.
Therefore, the best way to fight a Logia user was to remain still and let them come to you. If you didn't attack them, they would have to engage in close combat to attack you.
Of course, this was only applicable against fruits like the Smoke-Smoke Fruit, whose elementalization caused no damage.
Against fruits like magma, fire, lightning, or ice, which truly represented the power of nature, this strategy was useless.
Because these fruits not only possessed extremely high and long-range attacks, but their attacks could even alter the weather, and their elementalization carried real damage.
Hmm... no damage?
It seemed, perhaps, only the Smoke-Smoke Fruit!
This was quite laughable.
It deserved its reputation as the most useless Logia fruit.
It felt like even if Smoker had the "Swamp-Swamp Fruit," it would be better than the Smoke-Smoke Fruit.
His Devil Fruit ability seemed to be the only one where elementalization dealt no damage.
In the first half of the Grand Line, it could be said to be invincible.
This was because the pirates in the first half hadn't awakened Haki yet and couldn't harm the true body of a Logia user.
Furthermore, Smoker's Devil Fruit development hadn't reached the point where he could passively dodge Haki.
Coupled with his lack of Kenbunshoku Haki, he wouldn't be able to react to fast attacks, especially from strong opponents with Kenbunshoku Haki, and proactively dodge them.
Kuina, however, possessed both.
Therefore, Smoker could easily face a truly disastrous defeat.
Looking at the smoke surrounding them, a red light flashed in Kuina's eyes.
"Found you."
She quickly unleashed two silver-white slashes to her front left, then pushed off the ground and advanced rapidly with the slashes.
Hidden within the smoke, Smoker looked at the incoming slashes, a hint of disdain in his eyes.
"She's not a great swordsman yet."
He was basically immune to the slashes of swordsmen.
"Hmm!"
Just as the two slashes pierced through the smoke, revealing his humanoid form.
Suddenly, Kuina emerged from behind the two slashes.
Her sword, without pause, was coated in black-purple Armament Haki, flashing with a faint, ethereal cold light. To Smoker's horrified eyes, it quickly slashed into his chest.
"Soru·Ittoryu·Kami Giri!"
She knew all the sword techniques that Kōta knew.
Puff—!
Smoker's elementalized body was directly torn from his true form by this slash, and under a powerful impact, he was sent flying backward.
With a "bang," he crashed through a building and landed on another street.
"Captain Smoker."
Tashigi, unaffected by Kōta's Conqueror's Haki, stared at the giant hole in the wall of the right building.
Her face was filled with horror.
Smoker was the epitome of invincibility in her heart. To think he would be hit by "Blue-Haired Kuina" and possibly severely injured.
"How could she be so strong?"
"Is this the person I'm supposed to chase after?"
She had just arrogantly declared her intention to steal the opponent's sword!
She shook her head and looked at Kuina with determination.
"No matter how strong she is, my conviction will not lose to anyone!"
On another street, Smoker sat up, clutching his chest.
"Is this the strength of a true swordsman?"
"Terrifying!"
He glanced at the blood on his hand, pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and took a deep puff. He then placed his hands on his knees and stood up.
"It seems I have to fight with everything I have!"
He couldn't remember the last time he had to fight for his life. Ever since he came to Loguetown, he had become the king of this place.
No pirate feared him. He was the hardest gate from the East Blue to the Grand Line, and the sturdiest shield for the civilians here.
He couldn't lose, at least not so easily.
He glanced at the fallen civilians in the street, looked up at the white clouds in the sky, and remembered what his teacher, "Zephyr," always said.
If a person relies too much on their Devil Fruit ability, they will never become a true powerhouse in the end.
Because every powerhouse should believe in themselves the most, believing they can overcome anything.
This belief can empower a person, even an ordinary one, to become strong.
With this thought, he gripped his Jitte, raised it in front of him, and squeezed it hard.
A wave of black Haki erupted from his arm and wrapped around the Jitte.
"Armament Haki·Coating?"
He looked up through the giant hole in the building at Kuina across the way.
"Thank you, Blue-Haired Kuina! Thank you for waking me up and helping me rediscover my long-lost fighting spirit!"
He was once a genius student in the eyes of his teachers and others!