Smoker, a cigar clenched between his teeth, looked up at Shirogai Yamikuro, who had turned into a mass of black smoke in mid-air. His expression grew solemn.
"Is this the ability of the Smoke-Smoke Fruit?"
But Smoker quickly dismissed that thought.
"No… two people can't possess the same Devil Fruit ability at the same time. Is this some kind of power similar to the Smoke-Smoke Fruit?"
A voice echoed from within the swirling black smoke.
"Smoker, don't bother guessing. This is your Smoke-Smoke Fruit's ability."
Smoker's eyes widened.
"What…?"
"I'm a Talent User who ate the Talent-Talent Fruit," Shirogai's voice continued, calm and indifferent. "I can perceive, mimic, and use the abilities of other Devil Fruit users."
Smoker's heart dropped.
"A God-level Devil Fruit like that exists…?"
In an instant, the entire dock was engulfed in the dense black smoke Shirogai had become.
[White Gale]
Modified Version:
[Evil Mist: Poisonous Entanglement]
"Smoker, you're too weak."
The voice reverberated through the black smoke, impossible to pin down.
"You've barely tapped into one-tenth of your Smoke-Smoke Fruit's potential. There are countless toxic particulates in smoke, yet you've never considered that, have you? You just use it to trap or suffocate people."
"What?! The smoke's poisonous!"
Panic swept through the Marines.
Cough.
The first cough sounded.
Then another.
Cough, cough, cough…
One by one, the Marines hacked violently, some even coughing up blood. Before long, several collapsed, groaning in agony as they struggled to breathe.
"Shoot! Fire at the smoke!"
In their panic, Marines fired blindly.
"You idiot! Shoot upwards, not across!"
The chaos worsened as bullets struck allies, adding to the cries of pain.
But it was useless. The bullets passed harmlessly through the black smoke without even touching Shirogai.
"This black mist's poisonous! Run! Get out of here!"
Some attempted to escape, but no matter how far they ran, they'd find themselves right back where they started — as though trapped inside some ghostly maze.
"What are you panicking for? I'm here!" Smoker growled, his voice steady as he transformed into white smoke.
"It's just a second-rate Smoke-Smoke Fruit user, nothing more."
At his words, the Marines' hope was rekindled.
Smoker's white smoke surged out, driving the black smoke back. The suffocating mist parted, revealing the clear blue sky and fresh air. The Marines gasped in relief.
"Colonel Smoker! Long live Colonel Smoker!"
"As expected of our Colonel!"
"Defeat him, Smoker-sama!"
The cheers rang out — but inside the swirling mist, Smoker felt a chill.
"Damn it… why can't I escape this space?"
An ominous pressure closed in.
The black smoke formed a barrier around Smoker's white smoke, rapidly rotating, generating immense wind pressure and compressing his space.
When Smoker tried to break free, the vortex crushed his dispersed smoke, forcing it back to the center.
Grinding his teeth, Smoker expanded his form, attempting to burst through the encirclement.
But the black smoke was too dense. Smoker's white mist was too light to penetrate it.
The space grew smaller and smaller, until Smoker was forced into a concentrated mass no larger than a meter wide. The surrounding air was sucked away, sealing the space in a near-vacuum.
"You never considered that smoke could trap other Logia types like this, did you?" Shirogai's taunting voice drifted in.
[White Gale]
Modified Version:
[Mist Prison]
The white mist space shrank further, but Smoker snarled,
"Ridiculous! As if a Marine officer would accept lessons from a pirate!"
"True," Shirogai replied lightly. "But since you're trapped, you don't have much choice now."
Smoker's frustration mounted.
"Even if you've caged me temporarily, what's the point? You can't hurt me."
Shirogai's voice turned amused.
"Oh? Is that what you think? Let me show you what it means for a superior ability to overwhelm an inferior one."
[Erosion]
The black smoke stopped its rapid movement for a moment, then surged inward, devouring the white smoke. More than half of Smoker's mist body vanished instantly.
An excruciating, searing pain tore through Smoker's senses.
The remaining white mist trembled violently.
It was agony — beyond anything he'd ever experienced.
He screamed,
"Damn it! It hurts! It hurts so much!"
A hoarse, agonized wail echoed across the harbor.
The Marines, pale-faced, exchanged horrified glances.
"Did… did I imagine that? Was that Smoker-sama screaming?"
"I-I heard it too…"
None of them had ever imagined their indomitable colonel in such torment.
Shirogai's voice followed, mockingly sincere.
"Oh, my bad. This was my first time using this move in a fight, so I didn't realize it'd hurt that much. As an apology, I'll let you off this time."
The black mist gradually thinned and dispersed.
Smoker, still wracked with pain, forced his battered smoke form to slip out of the encirclement.
He barely reconstituted his human form, landing on the ground and dropping to one knee.
His body trembled, ragged breaths escaping his lungs.
Though no physical wounds marked his body, Smoker knew the truth.
He'd been eroded down to less than half his body mass in smoke form.
The damage was real.
More than anything, he couldn't comprehend how — while in elemental form — he had still taken damage. A Logia user should've been untouchable in that state.
And yet…
Shirogai Yamikuro, coalescing into human form, stood before him, a faint smirk on his face.
"Are you alright?"
The question sounded more like mockery than concern.
Smoker forced himself up, breathing heavily.
"Thanks to you… I'm alive."
He glared at Shirogai, sweat dripping down his brow.
"Who… are you?" he demanded hoarsely.
"A monster like you wouldn't be some nameless pirate. Are you a hidden force under one of the Four Emperors? A secret agent from a world government faction? Or… something else?"
Such overwhelming combat power didn't simply appear out of nowhere.
A sense of foreboding gnawed at Smoker's gut.
Something big was about to happen in Loguetown.
Something terrifying.
---