Chapter 86: The Straw Hat Girl and the Nameless Swordsman
"We meet again, Straw Hat Girl."
Smoker announced his identity, "I am Smoker, Navy Headquarters Captain. By the authority of the Navy, I hereby formally arrest you."
Lufia froze for a moment, then blinked, her face lighting up with sudden realization.
"Ah! It's the white-haired uncle who asked for directions earlier!"
She laughed, "So you're with the Navy? I didn't notice at all before!"
A vein bulged on Smoker's forehead.
This girl... is she genuinely foolish or just pretending?
"I won't let you reach the port!"
Smoker growled, deciding to waste no more words.
His hands suddenly transformed into two dense, churning masses of white smoke.
The smoke rapidly extended like two living giant serpents, piercing through the rain curtain as they shot toward Lufia and Sanji!
Ralph, still "unconscious," felt his heart tighten.
He was just about to "conveniently wake up" and intervene—
But the next moment, he realized it wasn't necessary.
Lufia's reaction was unexpectedly fast.
She immediately dropped Ralph and nimbly dodged the smoke's attack.
It seemed that through their recent sparring sessions, in her efforts to keep up with Ralph's speed, Lufia's agility and reflexes had improved significantly.
"Wow!"
Lufia jumped up from the ground, her eyes sparkling as she stared at Smoker's smoke-transformed hands, "Is this the Logia Devil Fruit ability Ralph mentioned? The one that lets you turn your body into things that can't be hit! So cool!"
"Gomu Gomu no..."
Her arm stretched backward, compressing like a spring to its limit.
"—Pistol!"
Her fist shot out, fast as a bullet, straight toward Smoker's chest!
Smoker stood in place, not moving at all.
He didn't even assume a defensive posture, merely watching the fist approach.
Then—
The fist passed right through his chest.
The moment it made contact, Smoker's chest transformed into white smoke.
The fist pierced through the smoke without encountering any resistance, until her entire arm had passed through his body.
The smoke rapidly closed back together after the fist passed through, trapping Lufia's arm.
Seeing this, Sanji kicked toward Smoker's head, but Smoker's head also turned into smoke, ensnaring Sanji's foot.
"Don't interfere, small fry."
With a twisting distortion, Sanji was lifted into the air by the smoke and thrown harshly aside.
"Logia users can elementalize our bodies. Physical attacks are ineffective against us. Your fists can't hit smoke."
Smoker turned his attention back to Lufia.
"Surrender quietly! Your abilities are useless against me, while mine can easily capture you. This battle was never in doubt from the start."
But Lufia suddenly spoke up, "Sanji, take Ralph and go first."
Her tone turned serious, "I'll handle this smoking guy."
Seeing the expression on Lufia's face, Sanji quickly made a decision.
"Understood."
Sanji nodded, "Be careful."
He quickly moved to Ralph's side, bending down to pick him up.
Just as Sanji's hand touched Ralph—
He looked down and met a pair of eyes.
A pair of dead-fish-like eyes.
The next instant, Sanji went "thud" and dropped Ralph, who he'd just halfway lifted, back onto the ground.
Then he pounced, grabbing Ralph by the collar, grinding his teeth:
"You bastard—! You've been faking unconsciousness this whole time just to enjoy being carried by Miss Lufia, haven't you?! Haven't you?!"
Ralph refused to back down, grabbing Sanji's collar in return and lowering his voice:
"How did you guess so quickly? Have you been considering this too?! Confess!"
"Who would be as shameless as you!"
"Then why did you react so fast? You noticed just by looking at my eyes? You must have a guilty conscience!!"
The two grabbed each other's collars, tussling in the rain.
While they were fooling around, Lufia threw her second punch.
Smoker completely disregarded Lufia's attack.
Probably pirates from the weakest sea haven't seen much of the world!
They don't understand how terrifying Logia abilities can be.
By the time Smoker noticed Lufia's second punch aimed at his head had turned black and glossy, it was too late.
With a bang, Smoker was sent flying backward.
Clutching his dizzy head and the large bump forming, he struggled to his feet and stared at the rubber girl with utter disbelief.
"How is this possible? Someone from the East Blue, known as the weakest sea, actually mastered Haki!"
Meanwhile, Lufia was looking at her fist with pure delight.
"I finally succeeded!"
Lufia laughed joyfully, "Ralph was right! Channeling willpower into your fist makes it stronger! I can even hit the uncle who turns into smoke!!"
She clenched her fist and threw a few more punches at the air, seemingly savoring the sensation.
"Hehe, this is so fun!"
Sanji stopped wrestling with Ralph.
He stared at Lufia, his eyes filled with shock.
Then that shock transformed into admiration.
"Miss Lufia..." Sanji murmured, "So amazing..."
Ralph also got up from the ground, watching Lufia with inner emotion: Is this what talent looks like?
She couldn't grasp the essentials no matter how much she practiced.
Yet in actual combat, she comprehended Armament Haki with a single punch.
"Lufia..."
Ralph suddenly called out to warn her,
"Don't get carried away. The Grand Line is still waiting for us!"
Indeed, simply telling Lufia to stop would be useless.
But just mentioning "Grand Line" immediately brought Lufia back to her senses.
"Ah! You're right!"
She giggled, turning to run toward the port,
"I almost forgot! We're going to the Grand Line! Let's go, let's go!"
Sanji and Ralph quickly followed.
Smoker held his swollen head, "Trying to run?"
Smoker's body transformed into smoke once again.
This time, not for attack, but for movement.
"White Blow!"
His feet emitted massive white smoke, acting like rocket thrusters to propel him forward at high speed!
Extremely fast, creating a white trail through the curtain of rain.
Within seconds, he caught up with the three running figures.
Smoker appeared behind them, raising his arm as the Seastone Jitte gleamed coldly in the rain.
"I won't let you leave Loguetown."
Smoker's voice was icy, "Especially you, Straw Hat Girl. A rookie who's mastered Haki... far too dangerous."
In that instant—
Ralph turned back.
Drew his sword.
"Can you hear the whisper of the gentle wind?"
His voice was soft, yet clear to everyone's ears.
"Nameless Sword Style: Killing Blade—"
Ralph's sword left afterimages in the rain.
White light.
Dazzling white light erupted from the blade.
The white light enveloped Smoker.
And covered this area near the port gates.
Smoker's movements completely froze.
His eyes were fixed ahead, but his pupils had lost focus.
He stood there motionless, as if someone had pressed pause.
His jutte remained raised mid-air, but advanced no further.
The rain continued to fall.
The wind continued to blow.
When Smoker regained his senses, he noticed that besides Lufia and the other two, there was now a three-sword style swordsman in the distance.
They had already boarded the pirate ship flying the straw hat Jolly Roger.
The sails were hoisted, catching the sea breeze.
Unnoticed by anyone, the wind had grown strong and favorable.
The Going Merry shot out of the harbor like an arrow from a bow, charging toward the open sea.
"Colonel! Are you alright?"
Tashigi came running over.
"I watched Roronoa Zoro run right past you, but you didn't react at all... Were you injured?"
"I... don't know what happened."
Smoker said, "It felt like I was trapped in an illusion."
Tashigi's eyes suddenly lit up.
"That's it!"
Tashigi grew excited, "That white light earlier... it must be that legendary technique! The 'Nameless Sword Style: Killing Blade' unleashed by the nameless swordsman Ralph! I've heard descriptions of this move in swordsmen circles."
She looked toward the sea, at the sailing ship that had now shrunk to a dot.
"To think... Mr. Ralph is also a member of the Straw Hat crew. No wonder..."
Smoker repeated the two names.
"Nameless Swordsman, Ralph."
"Straw Hat Girl, Lufia."
His voice was low, as if carving these two names into his heart.
Tashigi nodded, then suddenly noticed something glinting on the ground.
She bent down to pick it up.
It was a broken sword tip.
"..."
Tashigi examined it carefully, then looked up in surprise.
"Colonel! This is the sword tip that just broke! Is it Mr. Ralph's sword? Did you break it?"
She handed the tip to Smoker.
Smoker took it, staring at the broken fragment with a furrowed brow.
"I... don't know."
Smoker admitted honestly,
"I had no idea what was happening earlier."
But Tashigi grew even more excited.
"That was your instinctive counterattack!"
Her eyes shone, "You're incredible too! You actually broke the nameless swordsman's blade!"
But Smoker knew there had been no possibility of him counterattacking!
Letting such a dangerous individual escape from Loguetown into the Grand Line was his failure!
"Prepare the battleship."
He said, "I'm requesting transfer to the Grand Line."
...
Meanwhile, Ralph stood at the ship's stern, watching Loguetown grow increasingly distant.
He could hear the crew celebrating Lufia's narrow escape and their successful breakout from the Navy's encirclement.
In his heart, he smiled bitterly.
Then, he looked down at the ornate sword in his hand.
The tip was broken, missing a small segment.
"Shouldn't have tried to show off..."
When he used Killing Blade to trap Smoker in an illusion, Ralph had confirmed two things!
First, without Haki coating the blade, he truly couldn't harm a Logia user!
Second, Seastone was indeed incredibly hard!
From the current situation, if he really wanted to kill someone, using his hand blade coated with Armament Haki would be more lethal than using a sword.
Was he destined to follow the "No Sword Style" path?
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