Leo stepped forward with an excited grin, his eyes gleamed like a child who had just found the new experimental toy.
"Ready for round two, Smokey? This should be educational for both of us. I've never properly tested my ability on a Logia user before." He rolled his shoulders. "So do me a favor and stay sharp, I'd hate to accidentally turn you into a red mist."
Smoker's jaw clenched in frustration. He glanced back at Tashigi and his subordinates. "No one interferes, this is my fight."
Leo chuckled. "Smart move."
Smoker's sharp gaze swept across Leo's crew — lingering especially on Ace, Nojiko and Bon Clay while two more spectator soon joined them.
Smoker didn't hesitate. He transformed into a furious, coiling whirlwind of smoke and rocketed forward, seastone jitte raised preparing a decisive strike.
Leo dodged the jitte directed at his head using observation haki and punched forward.
His arm without the coating of the Armament Haki entered the smoke and he activated his ability.
Even without solid contact, his ability worked at the atomic level, A large portion of smoke suddenly destabilized and violently snapped back into solid flesh mid charge.
"Gah—?!" Smoker materialized awkwardly in the air, eyes wide with disbelief and fury. "What the hell did you just do?!"
"Interesting…" Leo muttered, genuinely impressed. "So I can forcibly reconstruct a Logia user's body. Your intangibility really is useless against me."
Furious at being toyed with, Smoker unleashed a relentless storm of punches and spinning jitte strikes. Leo weaved through the assault with fluid movements, his Observation Haki reading every twitch of moment.
"You're pretty fast for a walking cigarette," Leo taunted coughing and stopping the punch aimed at his face.
Smoker tried to pull away but was a tad bit late, his glove and fist skin disintegrated into dust instantly. "But if you do not wield Haki, this is just going to be a game of tag."
"Don't overestimate yourself kid." Smoker's temper exploded.
He expanded rapidly, creating a massive, howling smoke tornado that threatened to swallow the entire beach and everyone on it.
Leo smirked. "Let me show you a real storm."
He slammed both his palms onto the sand.
In an instant, he was swallowed inside and the entire desert shook.
Leo used his ability to disassemble and resemble countless sand particles, birthing a colossal and sharp sandstorm that completely devoured Smoker's little whirlwind. The swirling vortex acted like a grinder, trapping the Marine captain inside while tearing away at everything.
Leo's mocking voice echoed from every direction inside the storm.
"Is this really the best you've got, White Hunter?."
A blur shot out from the eye of the sandstorm.
Leo appeared right in front of the disoriented Smoker and delivered a devastating Armament Haki-coated uppercut to his jaw. The impact lifted Smoker clean off the ground, blood spraying from his mouth as he crashed hard onto the date tree in the distance.
During a brief lull, Leo asked while breathing steadily, "Tell me something, Smoker. Why are you so fixated on me when there are far worse pirates sailing these seas?"
Smoker spat a mouthful of blood. "You've killed two Marine captains, Destroyed half of Loguetown, Wrecked an entire island just yesterday, aren't you one of those worse pirates out there?!"
"Yeah, yeah," Leo cut him off. "Nezumi and Arlong were slaughtering civilians for years. They murdered Nojiko's mother and dozens of others while you Marines did nothing — all because Arlong had a Warlord backing him, and that disgusting Captain Clam? He was trafficking innocent people as slaves and planned to sell me too."
Smoker's gaze flicked toward Nojiko, and his expression wavered.
Leo continued coldly, "I damaged two cities, sure. But I haven't engaged in senseless slaughter yet. Can you really claim the same about Marines you serve?"
"I follow my own Justice!" Smoker roared, charging again.
"Your Justice still made you complicit," Leo replied flatly as his Haki coated fist and seastone baton met again. "You knew what was happening and chose to look away, Don't act like you're any different from us."
Smoker's final desperate charge came with half his body still smoke. Leo suddenly drew a strange, rough ivory dagger coated in a dark sheen.
Sensing the threat, Smoker tried to retreat but Leo used his ability on the ground, yanking the captain and the earth beneath him forward against their will.
Shiiing—!
The Haki-infused seastone dagger sliced cleanly through the metal jitte and carved a deep, bloody gash across Smoker's chest.
Smoker staggered back, staring at his broken weapon and the blood pouring from his wound in utter disbelief.
"Captain smoker?!" Tashigi and Marines cried in disbelief but a back hand gesture from smoker halted them.
Leo spun the dagger casually. "I wasn't sure this blade would work on a Logia fruit user… but Haki really does make everything a fair game."
He looked down at the battered Marine with calm eyes.
"Logia users aren't invincible, Smoker. I'm letting you live because your sense of justice seems slightly better than most of the dogs in the Navy."
With that, Leo delivered a powerful kick to Smoker's stomach, sending him flying toward Tashigi and the other Marines.
Tashigi drew her sword instantly. "Don't let them—!"
A towering wall of flames erupted, cutting them off.
In the distance, the massive form of Laboon rose from the sea like a moving island. Leo, Nojiko, Bon Clay, Robin and Jojo quickly jumped aboard.
Leo turned around one last time with a wide, smug grin.
"Hey Smokey! Get stronger before you chase us again! Even Laboon is stronger than your whole squad right now!"
The giant whale opened its cavernous mouth and fired a massive pressurized jet of seawater like a cannon. The blast extinguished Ace's flames and sent Smoker, Tashigi, and the rest of the Marines flying comically into the sky like Team Rocket.
"GYYYYYAAAAAHHHHHHHH—!!!"
Leo's loud, satisfied laughter echoed across the sea as Laboon carried them away into the horizon toward their next destination, Rainbase.
As the desert city of Nanohana slowly faded into the horizon, carrying with it the memories of their short but chaotic adventure, Leo exhaled softly.
With a casual thought, he activated his ability and healed all his wounds in an instant — cuts and bruises vanishing as if they had never existed.
Next he turned toward Robin and asked.
"I could have ended the fight fairly without any tricks," Leo said "But I used that dagger at the end on purpose. I wanted to show you what my current arsenal is capable of."
He leaned in close to robin whose attention was focused on the departing desert city.
"So be honest with me, Robin… Between me and Mr. 0, who do you think is stronger?"
Robin looked at him silently for a moment with her signature mysterious smile.
"If you wish to know… I believe you can beat him," she replied truthfully. "But be vary of him, he is quite an insidious, cunning man…"
Her blue eyes sparkled with teasing as she added, "…Much like a certain someone standing right in front of me."
Leo chuckled. It was the vague yet sharp answer he had expected — and it somehow satisfied him.