Outside the ring—
The trainees had completely forgotten to breathe.
Nearly seventy pairs of eyes were locked on the battlefield, faces frozen somewhere between disbelief and pure horror.
"Wh-What the hell did I just see…?"
"That brat just pushed Smoker in close combat?"
"Am I hallucinating?"
"If I'm not blind…"
"He was using our Rokushiki…"
"Wait. That was definitely Soru."
"A four-year-old using Rokushiki—have we all gone insane?!"
One trainee grabbed his hair in frustration, eyes popping.
Even Tina's mouth had fallen open slightly.
"S-Soru…?"
"That little brother…"
"Really knows Rokushiki?"
She'd been in the camp training for half a year.
Even now—
She'd only barely managed to grasp a few basic moves.
A lot of trainees hadn't even learned all six forms yet.
Some only had one or two.
Yet this four-year-old—
Had just used Soru with more fluid precision than half the camp.
Some of the sharper-eyed students had even seen a hint of Tekkai-based hardening in his earlier punch.
"Did he… completely master Rokushiki?"
"Impossible…"
"Right…?"
"That kid is way too strong."
Tina's eyes shimmered with shock. "He's like a little monster…"
Around her—
The chatter exploded again.
"I must be dreaming."
"I spent six months grinding just to get Finger Gun working, and that kid's out there chaining Soru and Tekkai like it's nothing."
"Just now, when he moved behind Smoker—his Soru looked better than Smoker's!"
"If I hadn't seen it, I'd call it a lie."
"And if Smoker hadn't used his Devil Fruit…"
"He might've been K.O.'d in a single punch."
"Yeah, that punch… If that hit his real body, I'm not sure Smoker'd still be standing."
Everyone had seen it—
Kai's fist had slammed down with ridiculous power, the air itself cracking and humming around it.
If Smoker hadn't gone smoke in time—
He would've eaten that hit clean.
And whether he'd still be breathing afterward—
Wasn't a question anyone dared answer out loud.
On the field—
A fine sheen of sweat glistened on Smoker's forehead.
He stared at Kai with a serious, heavy gaze.
In his mind—
That punch replayed again and again.
"If I hadn't gone intangible…"
"I really might've died there."
He took a long, steadying breath.
"You're strong," he said at last.
"I admit it."
"At the start, I underestimated you."
"But from here on…"
"I won't hold back anymore."
"Watch yourself."
His whole body pulled tight like a drawn bowstring, every nerve firing.
Just from that brief exchange—
He understood one thing clearly.
If he didn't use his Devil Fruit—
He would lose.
He had zero chance.
Going all out with your fruit? Kai grinned. Good.
"Let me get a proper feel for what a Logia can really do."
He still hadn't used the dagger in his hand.
That punch just now?
He'd thrown it with nothing but his bare fist.
If he'd put that power behind the seastone blade instead…
He was pretty sure Smoker's body would already be bleeding out on the ground.
"Logia's elementalization can't stop seastone."
"For a Devil Fruit user…"
"Seastone is the absolute nemesis."
Smoker moved again.
Smoke erupted from his body in thick, rolling waves, pouring over the field like a living fog.
In an instant—
The battlefield became his domain.
"White Fist!"
His arms broke away from his shoulders—
Turning completely into dense, cylindrical blasts of smoke.
Under explosive propulsion—
Those two "smoke fists" tore across the air toward Kai like cannon shells.
Kai didn't panic.
His body tilted just enough—
And the two smoke fists screamed past him, bulldozing through the air where he'd been standing.
"—Soru."
His foot tapped the ground once—
And he vanished again.
A heartbeat later—
He reappeared behind Smoker.
"So fast—!"
Smoker's pupils shrank.
His body exploded into smoke again as he spun, tendrils of gray-white mist whipping out in all directions, trying to coil around Kai.
"If I can trap him in smoke…"
"And cut off his air…"
"I win."
He pushed his fruit to the limit.
But before that smoke could fully close around Kai—
Kai blurred with Soru once more and slipped free.
Smoker's grasping fog grabbed at nothing.
"Tch… where—?"
His heart sank.
He'd already realized something painful.
When it came to Rokushiki alone—
He was completely outclassed by this four-year-old.
Without the Logia—
He was absolutely, undeniably outmatched.
"Where the hell did Teacher Zephyr find this little freak…?"
He clenched his jaw, senses straining.
Above—
A shadow flickered.
Kai stepped lightly on the air—
Moonwalk.
He hung there in the sky, looking down.
Then his leg whipped out.
"Rankyaku."
Compressed blades of air flew down like a rain of pale blue crescents.
Each kick—
Spawned a roaring slash.
They fell from the sky in a dense barrage, all converging on Smoker's position.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Every strike that hit the ground blew a crater open.
The entire field shook, dust and debris spraying everywhere.
Cracks spiderwebbed across the stone, the earth groaning under the bombardment.
When the smoke and dirt finally cleared—
Smoker was still there.
Untouched.
His body reformed lazily from drifting smoke as he looked up at Kai.
And then—
He surged upward, turning into a thick plume of smoke that rocketed into the sky after him.
Kai watched him come, lifting the seastone dagger in his hand.
"Looks like…"
"I really can't beat you without this thing."
He sighed softly.
"What a shame."
"If I had the choice…"
"I really, really wouldn't want to use seastone."
"To me, relying on something like this to win…"
"Is just cheap."
But right now—
He didn't have a choice.
Without Armament Haki—
There was no other way to deal with a Logia.
"I don't have Haki yet…"
"So against a Logia…"
"Seastone is the only answer."
"Until I master Armament—"
"Natural-type users like you are just walking cheats."
He tightened his grip on the dagger.
His gaze turned razor-sharp.
"All right then, Smoker…"
"Let's end this properly."
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