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The battle ahead had intensified. White smoke now spread faster than before whether that was due to Smoker accelerating it or just the wind carrying it was unclear.
"Maybe Captain hasn't found the right opening yet. Smoker's a seasoned Marine he's nothing like the pushovers we've faced before. His experience alone puts us at a huge disadvantage," Dylan said after a thoughtful pause, analyzing the situation seriously.
"Maybe the captain's charging up for a big move, Dylan, look over there! Is that a Marine ship?!" Eddie said, snatching the binoculars back from Gin and peering past the smoke.
A blue-hulled warship had appeared on the horizon.
"It really is! Must be the Marines stationed at Loguetown. If they get involved, the captain's in even more danger," Gin added, peering into the distance, clearly worried.
"We should get ready to back him up. If Aero really gets caught… You guys take the ship and get out of here. Head back to Rubber Island. Forget all that talk about dreams," Dylan said grimly, handing the binoculars back to Gin after a glance at the encroaching ship.
"Whoa, whoa—Dylan, I don't like that kind of talk! If the captain's captured, what kind of crewmate would I be to abandon him?" Eddie shot back, clearly fired up.
Gin, holding both pairs of binoculars, looked at his crewmates and spoke sincerely: "We're all part of the same crew. The only reason we're watching from a distance right now is because we don't want to drag the captain down."
Dylan glanced at their determined faces, then looked away, laughing at himself. "Yeah… we're just too weak to help him."
He clenched a fist. "But I didn't join this crew for comfort. I bet my life on following this man I want to get stronger!"
Hearing that, Eddie and Gin smiled. They exchanged a nod and raised their arms.
Their hands came together in unity.
Dylan reached out and laid his hand over theirs.
"For the captain!"
They had no intention of following Aero's previous orders. He had told them to stay put until the battle ended.
But even if they couldn't interfere with the fight between two Logia users, they could still intercept that incoming Marine ship.
So the reinforced New Dove slowly turned toward the battlefield.
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Meanwhile, deep inside the thick fog of smoke, Aero was still locked in his unseen struggle with Smoker.
He hadn't seen his opponent once since the battle began.
Smoke engulfed everything, and Aero's wind-based abilities were severely limited especially after his [Domain] had been disrupted.
He'd thought of escaping upward, but that had already failed multiple times. The smoke would wrap around him and hurl him back to the deck like a puppet.
Two Logia users locked in a clash—it wasn't going to end quickly.
The turning point would have to come from the outside.
So Aero waited for the right moment, the instant Smoker revealed himself.
"If I can't go up… then I'll go down," Aero thought.
He raised his leg and smashed it straight through the deck.
The floor gave way, and Aero dropped into the lower levels of the ship.
Interestingly, the smoke didn't follow him at least, not immediately. It seemed to gather above, refusing to drift lower.
That meant one thing: he could still control the wind here.
At least for now.
Aero summoned the air in the hold. With the fog temporarily out of reach, he created a massive vortex, wind roaring through the broken hull.
The already-damaged ship began to crack apart.
From the Marine warship in the distance, sailors watched in awe as a sudden tornado spiraled into existence then vanished in an instant, taking the smoke with it.
With the battlefield now clear, Aero floated in the open air his eyes locking with Smoker, who now hovered opposite him in partial smoke form.
"You've been dragging this out from the beginning," Aero said, finally breaking the silence. "There's no way our powers can decide a winner so quickly."
"You're not dumb. Yeah, I just needed to stall you here," Smoker replied flatly.
Aero finally understood he was running out of time.
He needed to finish this now.
He reached into his cloak pulling out his last trump card: a shard of Sea Prism Stone.
"[Storm Break]!"
He raised both arms.
From beneath the sea, a massive spiraling waterspout shot upward, swallowing Smoker whole.
Aero ripped a strip of black fabric from his cloak and tossed it onto a floating plank.
Inside the deep-blue cyclone, Smoker's form turned pale then burst out as a plume of smoke. He charged at Aero, swinging his Jitte, the Sea Prism weapon, with precision.
But the water hadn't touched Smoker's real body only his smoke form. Like any Logia user, he remained unharmed unless his true body was struck.
Even seawater could be parted if you were fast enough, and Smoker was.
"[Wind Javelin]!"
Aero's next move was instantaneous a huge, spear-like arrow of compressed wind formed at his side.
Ironically, it was inspired by Smoker himself. Logia to Logia, you pick up a thing or two.
The wind lance shot forward.
Smoker didn't flinch. He puffed out smoke shaping it into a massive arrow of his own to clash with Aero's.
But this wasn't like earlier. Wind would always beat smoke.
Smoker's projectile was shattered.
He quickly dodged, but when he looked up Aero was gone.
Alert, Smoker scanned the area. He finally spotted something below.
Floating amidst the wreckage of the ship was a shredded piece of black fabric.
He descended cautiously, landing on a slab of wood just big enough for one person.
Picking up the cloak fragment, he stared in silence.
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