"White Snake!"
Smoker roared as his fist, wrapped in thick white smoke from the Moku Moku no Mi, shot up toward Kai like a cannon shell.
Up in the air, standing on Geppo, Kai's figure flickered.
"Soru."
He vanished.
The smoke-fist streaked past where he'd just been—
Then twisted midair like a living thing, curving around and lancing straight toward Kai's new position.
"Hm?"
Kai raised a brow.
He tilted his head with a lazy half-step; the fist howled past his cheek.
But it still didn't stop.
Like a snake changing direction, the fist folded once more, whipping around behind him, barreling straight toward his exposed back.
"…So it tracks now?"
Kai's eyes narrowed briefly.
Then he smiled.
Instead of dodging a third time, he calmly raised his right hand, fingers spread, and reached straight for the incoming blow.
The moment the thought moved—
Boom.
Power surged through his body like floodwater breaking a dam, rushing down his arm to his palm.
"Tekkai."
Iron Body flared to life.
Every muscle in his arm locked down, turning his hand into living steel.
He grabbed.
His fingers clamped around Smoker's smoke-clad fist.
The impact that followed felt like a battering ram smashing into a fortress gate. The violent force raced along his arm, hammered his shoulders, then drove straight down his spine into the ground beneath his feet.
Rumble—
The earth buckled.
Cracks spiderwebbed out from under his boots with sharp snapping sounds.
Crack. Crack. Crack.
The floor sank nearly half a meter. Dust exploded outward in a ring. Stones split and flipped. The entire training ground shuddered.
In the center of that new crater, Kai stood with his right hand still wrapped around Smoker's fist, expression calm and relaxed—like he'd just caught a tossed pebble.
Only the hole under his feet proved how terrifying that punch really was.
"That's it?"
He chuckled softly.
Then he squeezed.
Veins rose on the back of his hand as he tried to crush the fist outright—
Puff.
Before his strength fully clamped down, the fist dissolved into thick smoke in his grip, scattering apart as if it had never existed.
"Elemental again, huh," Kai muttered.
He shook his hand once, then looked across the ruined ground.
Not far away, the smoke gathered and reformed. Smoker's body took shape again, shoulders heaving slightly, eyes wide with shock.
Around them, the seventy-odd trainees went dead quiet.
A moment later—
"D-Did he just… catch Smoker's attack with his bare hand?!"
"That was a Logia-boosted punch!"
"I saw the ground— it caved in like it got hit by artillery!"
"And he didn't even wobble…"
"Is that kid really only four years old?!"
"He's a monster…"
Disbelief rippled through the watching crowd.
Even Tina, usually composed, couldn't hide the way her eyes widened. Her heart skipped as she stared at the small figure standing alone in the crater.
So strong…
She'd always seen Smoker as the benchmark of their class—a wall no one could casually climb over. Even using her own Paramecia Cage-Cage Fruit, she'd never felt confident she could suppress him in a straight fight.
Yet this little boy, who looked like he should still be in preschool, had forced Smoker to rely on his Logia powers in a single exchange—
Then stopped that Logia-boosted punch with one hand.
On the sidelines, Zephyr watched with arms crossed.
His sharp gaze followed every movement in the arena, then slid over the stunned faces of his students.
He exhaled slowly.
"That's enough," he said under his breath. "If this keeps up…"
"Smoker's going to lose."
The single, flat verdict hit the watching trainees like a thunderbolt.
"Lose?!"
"To a four-year-old?!"
"That's impossible—he's a Logia user!"
"Even if he's on the back foot, as long as he keeps elementalizing, that brat can't hurt him!"
"Yeah—he just has to drag the fight out. Once the kid runs out of stamina, it's over."
"To say Smoker will lose… isn't that a bit much?"
To them, "Logia" might as well have meant "immortal." That was the level of fear and respect they had for that power.
Zephyr glanced over, expression unreadable.
"Did you all forget what I sent someone to fetch just now?" he asked evenly.
The trainees stiffened.
Then several people paled at the same time.
"…The armory."
"The seastone."
"The seastone weapons…"
Their faces changed.
"Right. The natural enemy of Devil Fruit users…"
"If that kid really uses seastone, Smoker can't rely on elementalization at all."
"And without elementalization, Smoker loses his biggest edge."
"No, not just loses it—he'll be in serious trouble."
This time, even the loudest doubters shut up.
They had all seen Kai's raw physical power.
If Smoker had to take those hits without a Logia body to disperse them…
Just imagining it made their scalps go numb.
No wonder Zephyr-sensei said Smoker would lose.
In the crowd, Tina's eyes shone as she stared at Kai, admiration quietly blooming in her chest.
Four years old—and already this strong.
If he ever awakened Armament Haki on top of this…
She honestly didn't dare guess how far he could go.
In the arena—
Smoker's gaze finally settled on Kai's left hand.
On the small, pitch-black dagger there.
Even from a distance, he felt it—
That familiar, suffocating oppression.
"…Seastone."
His pupils contracted violently.
That chilling sensation—
He knew it all too well.
As a Logia user, he understood better than anyone just how dangerous that material was.
With that dagger in play, one thing became painfully clear:
He could no longer treat elementalization like an absolute defense.
If that blade touched him—
Even for a moment—
His smoke would be dragged back into flesh and blood.
His greatest advantage would disappear.
"Damn it…"
His jaw clenched.
But the fire in his eyes didn't dim.
If anything—
It burned hotter.
Fine.
Logia or not—
Advantage or not—
A fight is still a fight.
Losing your nerve comes last.
He sucked in a deep breath.
"Soru!"
His figure blurred, exploding forward like a bullet. A tail of smoke trailed behind him, fueling his acceleration. In a heartbeat, he closed the distance with Kai.
"Too slow."
"And your guard is full of holes."
Kai's calm voice brushed his ear.
Smoker's heart lurched. He tried to retreat on instinct—
Too late.
Kai's figure vanished.
When he reappeared, he was already behind Smoker's shoulder.
His left hand, holding the seastone dagger in a reverse grip, slid along Smoker's back. The blade never stabbed in—
It simply pressed flat against his uniform, edge turned sideways against Kai's palm.
That was all it took.
The moment seastone touched him—
The curse of the sea surged into Smoker's body.
In an instant—
The lazy smoke constantly drifting off him collapsed, his elemental form snapping back to solid flesh as if someone had thrown a switch.
His body turned heavy.
Slow.
Utterly human.
"Got you."
A low murmur sounded behind him.
Then—
A terrifying force erupted.
Boom!!
It felt like a giant hammer smashed into his spine.
Smoker's body went stiff.
The world flipped.
He was driven straight down, slamming into the ground like a falling star.
The training ground shook violently.
The earth exploded, stone and dirt flying as a huge pit was blasted open at the point of impact.
Cracks spread in jagged lines from the center.
When the dust finally cleared—
Kai stood calmly at the edge of the crater.
His small right hand was still wrapped around the back of Smoker's neck, holding him down.
The seastone dagger lay flat between his palm and Smoker's back, quietly suppressing the Logia's power.
Smoker's face was half-buried in shattered stone. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. His limbs felt limp, every bit of strength sucked out of his body.
He tried to move—
His body barely twitched.
He tried to elementalize—
Nothing.
Every nerve screamed the same thing:
As long as that cold, hateful seastone was touching him—
He was just an ordinary, exhausted man.
"Using seastone is a bit cheap," Kai said lightly, looking down at him. "But right now, I don't have Armament Haki."
"So if I want to beat a Logia…"
"This is the only way."
He released his grip and stepped back, casually withdrawing the dagger.
Smoker, the Logia user—
Had been pinned with one hand.
And completely defeated.
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