After re-entering the dimensional rift, what they didn't expect was that even time seemed to get pushed forward.
The Thousand Sunny arrived at Loguetown.
Here, Luffy ran into his sworn enemy, Smoker. When enemies meet, their eyes turn red with hatred.
In the central plaza of Loguetown, beneath the execution platform, everything had already devolved into chaos.
Luffy's fist whistled through the air as it slammed toward the man with a cigar in his mouth—only to pass straight through him, hitting nothing.
Just like before, there was no suspense at all.
"Damn it… even doing it again, it's still like this?" Luffy complained.
Zoro swung three blades in sharp slashes that were just as useless. The cutting edge carved through white smoke without even the slightest sense of resistance.
"Gum-Gum Gatling!"
"Whatever—if it's a fight, I'm fighting!"
Luffy's arms became countless afterimages, a dense rain of fists blanketing Smoker's position.
Every punch passed cleanly through Smoker's body.
Smoker stood in place, letting the attacks flow through him.
Two cigars hung from the corner of his mouth, and his face was full of undisguised contempt.
"Useless."
His voice came from all directions, carrying the muffled heaviness unique to smoke.
"In Loguetown, you East Blue small-fry pirates don't even have the qualifications to make me get serious."
Before the words even finished, his lower body completely turned into rolling smoke that surged along the ground, instantly circling behind Zoro.
A gigantic arm made entirely of white smoke shot up from the ground and seized Zoro's sword wrist.
Zoro reacted lightning-fast, twisting to slash back at the smoky arm.
The blade passed through again—but the arm's grip didn't weaken at all. Instead, it tightened.
On the other side, Smoker's upper body surfaced from the smoke, facing Luffy head-on.
"White Blow!"
His right arm transformed into a thick white smoke pillar, the front condensing into the shape of a fist as it blasted toward Luffy at frightening speed.
Luffy crossed his arms to block, but the sheer force launched him backward. He slammed hard into a distant building wall.
"Luffy!"
"Zoro!"
Usopp and Sanji cried out, but they couldn't even get close.
Sanji's kicks were just as incapable of harming smoke.
Smoker walked toward Zoro, who was bound by the smoke arm. In his hand was a jitte, and at its tip was embedded a strange stone.
"This is Kairouseki, the natural enemy of Devil Fruit users."
"It ends here, Straw Hat," Smoker's voice was filled with absolute confidence. "In front of my smoke, you have no chance of winning."
He controlled the smoke, turning it into several white chains that bound Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, and Usopp—tying them up so tightly they couldn't move.
The Straw Hats—a rookie pirate crew that had made a fierce name for themselves in the East Blue—were effortlessly wiped out by a Marine Captain at the very entrance of the Grand Line.
The Marine soldiers around the plaza erupted into thunderous cheers.
In the distance, Shinju's group watched quietly.
"Shinju, that Marine's ability is strange," Tobirama frowned. "Physical attacks are completely ineffective, his body can become smoke… that isn't reasonable."
Inside Shinju's mind, the system's prompt sounded clearly.
[Ding. Analyzing target ability…]
[Target: Marine Captain Smoker.]
[Power System: Devil Fruit · Logia · Smoke-Smoke Fruit.]
[Essence: Converts the user's body into the natural element 'smoke,' freely manipulates smoke, and is immune to physical attacks except those involving Sea-Prism Stone and Busoshoku Haki.]
So that's how it is.
Elementalization.
Shinju felt that this world's power system really was interesting.
"Hashirama-sama, what do you think?" Shinju's tone was relaxed, completely unaffected by the Straw Hats' predicament.
Hashirama crossed his arms and watched Smoker with amused interest.
"Oh? Turning your body into smoke? That's a fun ability."
Smoker's movements stalled. He turned toward the voice.
He saw a few men whose clothing and aura didn't match anyone on this island at all.
The black-haired man at the front was looking at him like a curious new toy.
"Who are you?" Smoker's tone turned wary. "Straw Hat's accomplices?"
Hashirama didn't answer. He just continued speaking to himself.
"But in front of me, any element is nothing more than nourishment."
That sentence offended Smoker.
Nourishment?
This ignorant fool was calling his ability nourishment?
"Arrogant brat! I'll show you the terror of a Logia user!"
With a furious roar, Smoker abandoned his suppression of the Straw Hats and pulled all his smoke back to himself, forming it into a massive white smoke dragon that blotted out the sky.
It opened its maw and swallowed toward Hashirama's position.
Facing that terrifying assault, Hashirama didn't even move his feet.
He simply raised his right hand and lightly clenched it toward the enormous smoke dragon.
No hand seals.
Just that simple motion.
In the next moment, the entire ground of Loguetown began to quake violently.
Vines burst up.
And their target…
Was the smoke dragon itself.
Dozens upon dozens of vine tips stabbed straight into Smoker's smoky body.
A bizarre scene unfolded.
In Smoker's consciousness, pain and weakness surged at the same time.
Those vines embedded in his body were crazily absorbing his power.
"W-What is this?!"
He frantically pushed his ability, trying to fully disperse into mist and slip away through the gaps between the vines.
But no matter how he transformed, he couldn't shake them off—not even a little.
"AAAAAAH!"
Smoker screamed in agony.
He could clearly feel it—his body was being eaten.
That invincible feeling of elementalization vanished completely in this instant.
The Marines and pirates all around stood frozen, stunned.
The once-ferocious white smoke dragon rapidly shrank under the vines' entangling absorption.
In just a few breaths—
The smoke collapsed, forced back into human form.
Smoker was drenched in sweat, completely drained, and collapsed on the ground, bound tightly by multiple vines.
A Logia user… defeated head-on.
Not with Sea-Prism Stone.
Not with Haki.
But with an absurd power that forcibly sucked him back into a tangible body from his elemental form.
The entire plaza fell dead silent.
Inside Shinju's mind, the system sounded again.
[Ding! Successfully collected first-hand combat data of the Logia Smoke-Smoke Fruit!]
[Hypothesis verified: Mokuton (Wood Style) contains immense life energy capable of directly absorbing and converting elemental-type natural energy. Against most Logia users, it possesses overwhelming suppression.]
Shinju nodded in satisfaction. The experiment's results were excellent.
"Let's go. Marine reinforcements will arrive soon." He spoke, breaking the plaza's silence.
Luffy and the others snapped back to their senses, quickly propping Zoro up as they followed Shinju's group, sprinting toward the port.
No one dared to stop them.
The Marine soldiers stared at Captain Smoker, still pinned to the ground by vines—none of them even had the courage to step forward.
They reached the harbor smoothly. The Thousand Sunny was docked not far away.
As long as they got on the ship, they could leave this town of beginnings and endings behind.
Just then—
A figure carrying an enormous black sword appeared, blocking their path.
"So we still couldn't avoid it… what a headache," Zoro muttered helplessly.
(End of Chapter)
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