"What? You don't know Portgas D. Ace?" Smoker asked, narrowing his eyes to discern if they were telling the truth.
"Do you have smoke in your ears?" Leo shot back, "I've never met the guy. Just because we share a same name doesn't mean—"
"Oh… you mean Ace?" Luffy cut in brightly. "Yeah, he's my brother. You know him?"
A vein throbbed on Leo's forehead.
'Damn idiot… you had to say that.' Leo growled.
"Luffy, you moron—!" Zoro and Sanji both smacked their captain at the same time.
"You think you can fool me…" Smoker muttered. "I was going to arrest you filthy pirates regardless of your answer. Being related to Ace just makes it more fulfilling."
His body dissolved into smoke, vanishing into the thickening smoke wall around them.
"White Out"
Within seconds, the smoke wall closed in from all directions, collapsing into a dense fog that swallowed the entire area. Inside the fog the visibility dropped to Zero.
Taking advantage of the situation, Smoker attacked them.
White fists attacked them from every direction.
A baton sliced through the smoke from the left which Leo ducked, only for another strike to snap in from behind. He twisted mid-step, barely avoiding it as the seastone tip cracked against the ground, splintering the stone.
The smoke wasn't just hiding Smoker, it moved with him as if it was part of his body, at least that is what his observation haki told him.
A fist formed out of the smoke and shot toward Luffy's ribs.
Luffy blocked it but the force behind the impact sent him skidding across the street while Zoro and Sanji struggled on their own.
Leo clicked his tongue, devising a battle strategy.
The streets of Loguetown were too cramped, riddled with blind spots which Smoker knew well and exploited to its full advantage.
"This is getting annoying…" Leo shouted, gathering everyone's attention.
He saw two columns of smoke moving toward Zoro and Sanji like a snake and moved before it could reach them.
"Not happening."
He stepped in, grabbed them by the collar, and with a sharp pull, flung them straight up into the air.
They shot past the thick smoke and burst into open air, cleanly out of Smoker's reach.
"Get to the port! we will be right behind you" Leo barked.
Smoker didn't chase them, instead the fog cage grew tighter around Leo and Luffy.
"You think you've saved them?" Smoker's voice echoed, directionless. "There's something worse waiting for them at the port." Luffy's expression hardened at that.
"Don't you dare touch my crew!" His arms blurred and shot forward.
"Gum Gum gatling!"
Dozens of punches tore through the smoke, shredding chunks of it apart but none of them connected with the real body of smoker.
"Shave."
The ground beneath him cracked as he reappeared inside the fog, striking at the faintest presence he'd sensed but his fist passed straight through the air.
"White Blow."
A massive fist condensed out of the haze shot forward and slammed into Luffy point-blank, launching him straight into a wall with a thunderous crash.
Leo pivoted meeting the seastone baton, which was already descending toward his head with his seastone bound arm just in time.
Clang—!
The seastone tip smashed against the cuffs, sending a shock through his entire arm. His footing slid back half a step.
"Got you…" Leo lunged forward, Haki gathering into his free hand but the smoke split.
A leg formed mid-swing and crashed into his abdomen, the impact lifted Leo off his feet and hurled him back across the street, his body skidding before he forced himself to stop.
Leo's eyes narrowed as he observed the experienced Marine.
This wasn't just a Logia user hiding behind intangibility.
The man was timing every strike, attacking their blind spots, reading movement in advance and even physically… he wasn't any weaker than him and Luffy.
"Gum Gum Spear—!"
Luffy's legs shot forward, drilling through the smoke and forcing it apart. The pressure blasted a brief opening, letting him land cleanly on his feet.
Luffy had just enough time to breathe when Smoker reformed behind him, his seastone baton was already mid-swing, aimed straight for Luffy's skull.
—Crack!
A stone slammed into the weapon from the side, knocking it off its path. The impact shattered the rock into fragments.
Before Smoker could recover Leo appeared in front of him with.
"Shave"
One foot planting forward, his fist drove straight toward Smoker's chest, already coated in Haki.
Smoker didn't retreat, he flipped the baton into a reverse grip and angled it diagonally across his body.
Leo's punch slammed into the shaft but instead of deflecting, it wedged between two ridges along the metal.
Next Leo's arm was dragged along with his body.
Using that opening, Smoker drove his shoulder into Leo's side and in a completed motion smashed his body into a stone building in the distance with full force.
The wall caved in on impact and Leo tore straight through it, bursting out of the other side before leaving a long trail of broken planks and dust.
"Bastard—!"
"Gum Gum Jet Pistol!"
Luffy's fist shot forward but passed straight through Smoker's head as it dissolved into smoke.
Smoker reformed behind him again.
The seastone baton drove into Luffy's Neck with a dull thud and forced him face-first into the ground.
Before Luffy could push himself up his body was drained of its strength, Smoker planted his boot firmly between his shoulders, pinning him down.
"You're not going anywhere." Smoker threatened and looked ahead.
"What are you staring at, Tashigi? Move. Bring the seastone cuffs."
"Y-Yes, sir!" She snapped out of her trance and ran.
Smoker didn't take his foot off Luffy, his eyes lifted, scanning the surrounding area for a sudden attack from Leo but it never happened.
Leo was gone.
"Bastard, let me go!" Luffy shouted as the storm grew harsher.
Time stretched, and when nothing happened, Smoker tightened his hold, convinced Leo had slipped away until the ground beneath his boot gently rotated, the street stones slid over each other and realigned, locking into new angles without cracking.
The buildings reacted next... not collapsing, but shifting. Walls slid aside, structures realigned, and the cramped street of Loguetown opened up smoothly, clearing into a circular arena as everything moved into place like pieces on a board.
The motion stopped as suddenly as it began like magic. Everything settled intact just repositioned. From the far end of the cleared stretch, Leo stepped forward while Smoker's gaze dropped to his wrists.
'Fuck… how did he get rid of those Seastone cuffs?'