Upon seeing the csh between two Logia users about to erupt, the onlookers swiftly cleared the area.

  When Logia users fight, the only certainty is destru.

  "Keep your distance, or you'll definitely get caught in the crossfire," someotered, stepping back.

  Jakie g Hina with mild . "Hina, Smoker's about to go up against a future admiral. Aren't you worried?"

  Hina shook her head fidently, her gaze full of trust. "Not at all. Smoker is strong. He ha!"

  Jakie, Zephyr, and Tsuru exged surprised looks.

  She really trusts him, doesn't she?

  Hina raised her slightly, proud and resolute. "Besides, I don’t believe Akainu would actually kill him!"

  The trio collectively fell silent at her unwaveriion.

  Akainu, warming up, began exuding intense waves of heat, his body releasing molten magma. The va didn’t glhtly but carried an ominous dark hue. As it dripped to the ground, the rocks and sah instantly liquefied, and the air wavered uhe immense heat.

  “Last time we cshed, it was always on a ship, limiting what we could do,” Akainu remarked casually. “But this time, you go all out. Of course, if you’re afraid, I refrain from using Haki.”

  Against any ia user, not using Armament Haki would have been a signifit handicap—a gesture of immense leniency.

  But Smoker wao curse aloud.What’s the point? My powers don’t care about Haki!

  Naturally, retreat wasn’t an option. Smoker nodded calmly. “o hold back. Please, feel free to fight at your full strength.”

  With those words, Smoker’s body began to transform, dark tendrils of shadow-like energy spreading from his feet across the battlefield. From a distahe visual iy rivaled Akainu’s fiery dispy.

  Akainu chuckled. “fident, are we? Let’s see how you hahis. Hound Crimson Lotus!”

  His arm morphed into a massive, molten hound that lu Smoker with a deafening roar.

  Smoker raised an eyebrow. Opening with a signature move? Bold.

  Despite its ferocity, the magma hound was still a straightforward elemental attack. Smoker knew better than to be intimidated by its sheer size or speed.

  He exhaled, grounding himself as his dark energy intensified. The ground under him darkened, an oppressive gravitational pull emanating outward.

  “Dark Pit!”

  A surge of darkness rose up, its massive pull dragging the magma hound downward mid-luhe fiery beast writhed, howling in defiance before being swallowed entirely, dissolving into the shadows.

  Akainu’s expression shifted slightly.

  “Just as they say,” he muttered. “Your abilities are strange... and powerful. But let’s see how you hahis.”

  He raised his hands, and a series of massive molten orbs formed around him, glowing ominously.

  “Volic Meteor Shower.”

  The magma orbs unched into the sky, arg down like fmieors. Each orb exploded in midair, splitting into smaller fiery fragments that spiraled down uably. The night sky lit up with streaks of burnihe ground quaking uheir impact.

  Smoker locked his gaze on the ining barrage.

  “Tempest Kick!”

  With a swift motion, razor-sharp air bdes shot upward, colliding with the magma orbs and causing a of explosions. However, the fragmented magma spheres tiheir dest, smaller but no less deadly.

  Akainu smirked, watg from a distance. Let’s see how he hahis.

  The smaller orbs darted toward Smoker with relentless precision, their paths erratid impossible to predict.

  Smoker cursed under his breath, dodgi and right. The heat was suffog, and even with his enhanced speed, the orbs seemed to anticipate his every move.

  “Shave!”

  Smoker blurred to the side, evading one cluster of magma balls before releasing a trated burst of dark tendrils.

  “Dark Lash Barrage!”

  Whip-like strands of darkness shed out, intercepting the molten spheres midair and scattering them. The fiery remnants rained down, igniting patches of the ground in a molten inferno.

  Despite his terattack, a few magma spshes nded on Smoker’s arms and chest.

  “Ah! Damn it, it burns!” Smoker yelled, gritting his teeth as the searing pain overwhelmed him.

  Hina gasped audibly, taking a step forward, but Tsuru held her back with a calm hand. “Don’t worry. Smoker’s tougher than he looks. And besides, magma has its limits.”

  Before Tsuru could finish, Smoker’s agonized scream echoed across the battlefield.

  “Ahhhh! It’s too hot!”

  The group watched in silence as Smoker staggered, dark energy swirling around him in an attempt to absorb the magma. While it stopped the burning, the pai him drenched i.

  Akainu raised an eyebrow. “What’s wrong? A Logia user should find this easy to handle.”

  Smoker shot him a gre, panting heavily. “I’m fine. Let’s tinue!”

  Akainu’s response was immediate. “Great Eruption!”

  A massive, molten fist shot flowing ominously as it tore through the air toward Smoker.

  Smoker’s own hand transformed, darkness densing into a massive shadowy fist that met the magma head-on.

  The collisio shockwaves through the air, va spttering in all dires while Smoker’s darkness surged violently. The resulting explosion turhe night into day, the ground shaking uhe force of their csh.

  As Smoker prepared his move, he felt a sudden shift beh him a instinctively to the side.

  The groued in a fiery n, magma shooting up like a volic geyser.

  “Akainu! Are y to kill me?!” Smoker shouted, barely dodging the searing bst.

  Akainu’s face remaioic. “If you ’t hahis, you’re not ready to bear the weight of true justice.”

  Smoker’s expression darkened. “Fine, if that’s how you want it—Dark Pull!”

  With a surge of gravity, Akainu was dragged toward Smoker, who delivered a swift kick to his face, sending him tumbling backward.

  Akainu stood slowly, wiping the blood from his mouth.

  He smirked. “Not bad. But it’ll take more than that to win.”

  Smrowled, realizing that this fight was far from over.

  Molten va burns far worse than ordinary fire, and for the first time, Smoker was experieng such pain.

  He k on the ground, veins bulging on his forehead, sweat dripping steadily.

  Only when he used the powers of darko absorb the damage could he shakily stand back up.

  Sakazuki, showing a rare sense of fairness, did not pursue him. He waited for Smoker to rise before speaking.

  "You didn’t use Haki just now, did you? How did you mao hit my real body?"

  Inwardly, Sakazuki marveled. A few years ago, Smoker couldn’t even touch him, no matter how hard he tried.

  He hadn’t scked off in his own training and had grown much stronger. Yet, this guy had improved even more!

  Smoker nodded, not intending to hide the truth.

  "Yes, the Dark-Dark Fruit eutralize your powers. The moment we make tact, you ’t activate your abilities."

  Sakazuki touched his still slightly numb face. "An impressive ability. Let’s tinue. Corroding Crimson Rain!"

  Raising his hand, Sakazuki fired several massive magma fists into the sky, disappearing into the dark clouds above.

  The clouds ed, thunder rumbled, and fshes of red light flickered ominously.

  The light intensified until magma rained down, scorg the earth.

  Whether it fell on rock or sand, the magma corroded everything, leaving deep pits behind.

  Even though Hina, Jakie, and Gion stood far from the battlefield, they were still affected.

  Jakie and Gion were ready to intervene, but Hina stopped them.

  "I’ll hahis," she said calmly.

  With a wave of her hand, the magma rain stopped mid-air, just a few meters above everyone, as if it had hit an invisible barrier.

  Hina was stunned.

  This was exactly what Smoker had described—the invisible armor!

  This was an advanced level of Armament Haki, beyond simple hardening.

  She had thought such a teique only protected the user’s body, but Vice Admiral Tsuru had casually used it to shield multiple people.

  Not only that, judging by her posed expression, the effort seemed to cost her nothing.

  Was this the true strength of the eion?

  Hina g Smoker and froze.

  For some reason, he her dodged nor resisted the falling magma.

  Instead, he closed his eyes and stretched out his arms, weling the rain with his body.

  Each drop of magma burned a bloody hole into him, only to be immediately healed by the darkness.

  Sakazuki frowned.

  "What are you doing?"

  After for a moment, realization dawned on him.

  "I see... Let me help you!"

  He sent more magma into the sky, intensifying the rain.

  Smoker Sakazuki and closed his eyes again, enduring the fiery deluge.

  He was repeatedly injured and healed, the smell of burnt flesh lingering in the air.

  Yet, he stood unmoving, silently bearing the searing pain.

  Hina, Jakie, and Gion were baffled, watg anxiously.

  Tsuru, seemingly uanding everything, remained silent and calm, simply .

  Suddenly, her eyes gleamed.

  "It’s happening!"

  The three turheir attention to Smoker.

  At first, there was nothing unusual. But soon, they noticed a ge.

  Some magma drops no longer hit Smoker. His body instinctively transformed into smoke, avoiding them just before impact.

  The frequencreased.

  What started as a few drops became a steady stream of avoided attacks.

  Jakie stared in shock.

  "This guy... is using magma to train himself?!"

  Gion nodded. "Exactly. He’s practig dodging attacks with Logia transformation. But..."

  She g Hina, remembering that Hina had mastered this teique years ago.

  Hina didn’t look away from Smoker, but she expined.

  "The Dark-Dark Fruit is unique... Its gravitational pull makes it difficult to use elementalization to evade deacks."

  "This means he’s gained a deeper level of trol over his fruit’s abilities."

  Jakie and Gion exged looks of uanding, their view of Smoker subtly shifting.

  Time passed.

  Smoker was now able to avoid most of the magma.

  Finally, he spoke. "Vice Admiral Sakazuki, you stop now..."

  Sakazuki nodded, raising his hand to halt the rain.

  He approached Smoker.

  "gratutions, Smoker. Let’s end it here for today."

  Smoker looked exhausted but managed a smile.

  "So, did I pass?"

  Although Sakazuki found it odd that Smoker had only now mastered a retively basic teique, he aowledged Smoker’s overall strength, Haki, and abilities.

  He simply nodded.

  "Thank you," Smoker said gratefully.

  Out at sea, a warship with a dog-head figurehead floated quietly.

  Onboard, Zephyr, Garp, and Sengoku stood with telescopes, watg the battle.

  As the fight cluded, Zephyr put down his telescope and smiled smugly.

  "So, what do you think? My student isn’t bad, huh?"

  Garp picked his nose and flicked the debris at Zephyr’s face.

  "What are ying about, you purple-haired idiot? I’m the one whht him into the Navy!"

  Zephyr grabbed Garp by the colr.

  "Say that again, you donut-mung moron! I dare you!"

  Unbothered, Garp sneered. "Bring it on, purple fool! You think I’m scared of you?"

  Sengoku had enough.

  "Both of you, shut up!"

  He tossed aside his telescope and smacked both of their heads.

  The kind of punch that could ftten an average Vice Admiral’s skull only made them yelp in pain.

  "Ow! Damn you, Sengoku!"

  "You golden-headed old goat!"

  The two gred at Sengoku’s head, clearly plotting revenge.

  Veins bulged on Sengoku’s forehead as he shouted, "Knock it off, you idiots!"

  "The future of the Navy—our geion, even the oer—is right there on that isnd!"

  His voice softened.

  "Garp, Zephyr..."

  "Hmm?"

  "Yeah?"

  "We ’t let what happened with Drago itself."

  Hearing that name, both men’s expressions darkened.

  Garp, especially, had a murderous glint in his eyes.

  "Yes. I had such high hopes for him, gave him everything I could, ahrew it all away!"

  "All because of those so-called leaders, ging to their illusion of bance..."

  "Enough!" Zephyr snapped.

  Garp froze, the out a frustrated grunt, falling silent.

  Sengoku pced a reassuring hand on Garp’s shoulder.

  "The past is the past. At least he’s living his own way."

  "But the rising stars we see now—they need our prote."

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