Watching Smoker charge furiously through the sky toward him—despite the fact that Darian had literally been framed by a corrupt Marine rat in the first place—Darian felt that he was the one who ought to be angry.
After Smoker accused him of underestimating the Navy, Darian, thoroughly provoked, angrily retorted:
"Damn it, Smoker! I didn't do a fucking thing to earn that bounty, so why won't you get off my back? Go chase some real pirates!"
Roaring as he spoke, Darian manipulated the vibrating sword of black iron sand and slashed it straight at the oncoming Marine.
Smoker, refusing to back down in the slightest, swung his heavy jitte staff right back at him.
The vibrating iron sand sword clashed against the steel jitte—CLANG!
The jitte—a weapon usually invincible in Smoker's hands, specifically designed to withstand immense punishment—was instantly severed in two near the middle.
Fast. It was too fast.
Smoker, who had been charging forward with such fierce momentum, saw his pupils constrict in shock. The black, buzzing longsword that had just effortlessly severed his weapon didn't stop; it sliced diagonally straight through his body.
The two men crossed paths in mid-air. Struck by the slashing attack, Smoker's torso burst apart into a cloud of thick white smoke from the sheer force of the impact.
Turning back to look over his shoulder, Darian saw Smoker—who had dissolved into smoke—recoalesce back into his physical form a few yards away, completely unharmed.
Seeing Smoker emerge unscathed, Darian couldn't help but grumble aloud: "Without mastering Haki, dealing with the elementalization of a Logia-type user is such a pain!"
While Darian was busy complaining, Smoker was utterly stunned, looking down at the cleanly severed half of his weapon.
Aside from its tip, the rest of his *jitte* wasn't made of Seastone, but it was crafted from a specialized marine-grade alloy—one with a hardness rating equal to naval steel. However, the moment it clashed with the humming black sword in Darian's hand, it snapped like a twig.
"What kind of sword is that?" Smoker asked in shock. "How can it be so sharp?"
In the world of pirates, aside from consuming Devil Fruits, training in physical combat, or utilizing Haki, scientific technology also served as a viable path to boosting one's combat prowess.
Naturally, as a brawny brawler whose fists did most of the talking, Smoker had absolutely no grasp of the physical principles behind Darian's "High-Frequency Iron Sand Blade"—a weapon forged by combining dense electromagnetic fields with high-frequency vibrational energy, creating an edge that cut on a molecular level.
"Ignorance truly is terrifying," Darian scoffed, hovering on his magnetic wings. He offered no further explanation.
Hearing Darian's taunt, Smoker's face instantly flushed crimson with rage.
"Don't you look down on me, you bastard rookie!"
Since his primary weapon was broken, Smoker was left with only his Devil Fruit abilities. Transforming his arms into twin serpentine plumes of thick smoke, he launched a long-range grapple at Darian.
"White Snake!"
Smoke possesses virtually no inherent offensive physical power. Confronted by the incoming "White Snakes," Darian didn't even bother swinging his sword.
With a powerful flap of the heavy iron sand wings on his back, Darian generated a massive gust of wind pressure that completely dispersed the white smoke before it could reach him.
Having effortlessly neutralized Smoker's attack—and realizing he was currently unable to inflict actual, fatal injury without resorting to a massive area-of-effect electrical shock—Darian nevertheless saw no reason to hold back his verbal taunts.
"It seems that 'smoking' ability you take such pride in is nothing special after all," Darian smirked beneath his mask. "It truly lives up to its reputation as a completely useless Logia-type power."
Seeing the smug look in Darian's eyes, Smoker's expression grew even darker. He realized that his physical abilities were currently being thoroughly suppressed by his opponent's mobility and wind generation.
Yet, still unwilling to accept defeat, Smoker launched another attack.
"White Fist!"
His right wrist dissolved into billowing smoke, propelling his solid fist forward like a guided missile aimed straight at Darian's chest.
Faced with the incoming projectile, Darian responded in kind, cleaving Smoker's fist cleanly in two with a single stroke of his buzzing blade.
However, without infusing his attack with Armament Haki—the only means to strike the true physical form of a Logia-type user—Darian's strike was utterly futile. The fist simply turned to smoke around the blade and reformed a second later.
Standing at the bow of the warship below, Captain Hina watched in astonishment as Smoker struggled in aerial combat. Seizing the moment while Darian had his back turned to the command ship, she launched a sneak attack.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The sound of heavy objects slicing through the air rang out from beneath him. Darian turned his head, only to see several long, black iron spears hurtling straight toward his back.
Faced with this sudden assault, Darian made no attempt to dodge with his wings. Instead, he simply allowed the heavy iron spears to slam directly into his torso.
THUNK. THUNK.
The spears hit him, causing the faint, translucent aura radiating from his skin to ripple ever so slightly.
"Hungry Ghost Path."
Darian's Devil Fruit absorbed the kinetic energy of the spears completely, leaving them to lose all momentum and fall limply from his body.
The moment these rigid iron spears dropped into the churning seawater below, they shattered and dissolved, vanishing without a trace.
Seawater truly was the ultimate counter to Devil Fruit abilities. Hina's iron bars—created by her Bind-Bind Fruit—melted away the instant they touched the ocean, dissolving as easily as foam.
Watching Darian casually take the full, unimpeded impact of the iron spears—weapons powerful enough to pierce a galleon's wooden hull—Hina couldn't help but gasp. "Hina is shocked! How could anyone possess a body that durable?"
It wasn't just Hina who was astonished; Smoker was equally dumbfounded. Smoker had been somewhat annoyed by Hina's sneak attack, as it made him appear incompetent, yet seeing Darian withstand the full force with nothing but his bare body left him even more astounded.
Darian hovered in the air, looking down at the pink-haired Captain.
"My dear lady, launching a sneak attack is quite unethical," Darian remarked with a hint of displeasure.
Facing Darian's reproach, Hina pushed her sunglasses up and replied, "Hina would like to point out that when dealing with a vicious pirate like you, resorting to unconventional methods is perfectly acceptable."
Hina's self-righteous words rubbed Darian the wrong way.
"Is that right?" Darian muttered.
Abandoning his aerial duel with Smoker entirely, Darian tucked his iron wings and dove straight down toward the deck of the command ship, aiming directly for Hina.
Seeing Darian abandon him to rush headlong toward Hina, Smoker roared in fury. "You bastard! What do you think you're doing?"
As he spoke, jets of smoke erupted from Smoker's legs, propelling him downward in pursuit. Darian chose to completely ignore the commotion behind him. Without a Seastone weapon, Smoker posed no immediate physical threat to him.
Facing the diving Emperor, Hina assumed a combat stance.
"Darian, the 'White Emperor'! You are indeed powerful—Hina is quite impressed—but having murdered a Marine Branch Colonel in the East Blue, you still dare to venture into the Grand Line? Then allow Hina to test your true mettle! In the name of Justice!"
"Black Cage!"
As Darian closed in, Hina extended both hands, causing rows of thick black iron bars to manifest from her palms and lash out toward him like a net.
Realizing that a direct physical attack against his bizarre durability would be futile, Hina was clearly attempting to restrain him instead.
Confronted by the iron bars closing in to encircle him, Darian manipulated the twin wings on his back. He brought the magnetic wings forward, transforming them into two massive, vibrating shields of iron sand that emitted a grating, high-pitched hum.
SCREEECH!
He swept the two massive wings of iron sand outward. The high-frequency sand collided violently against the iron bars. The ear-splitting clang of metal rang out incessantly as bright orange sparks flew in all directions.
Yet, the iron sand proved superior in cutting power. The heavy iron bars—each as thick as a human arm—were sliced cleanly in two, as effortlessly as cutting through bamboo.
Having severed the net that sought to encircle him, Darian landed heavily on the wooden deck of the warship. He lunged forward, reaching out to seize Hina—determined to teach her a lesson in close-quarters combat.
Confronted by Darian's grasping hand, Hina executed a swift, high kick with her right leg, aiming straight for his wrist.
However, the expected physical impact never occurred. Instead, as Hina's lower leg made contact with Darian's left forearm, a ring of iron suddenly manifested around his wrist, shackling Darian's left arm directly to her leg.
As Hina completed her kicking motion, the sudden, unbreakable tether actually caused Darian to stumble backward. He had to stomp his boot down hard on the deck to regain his balance.
With her right leg now locking down Darian's left arm, Hina demonstrated her immense flexibility. Twisting her torso in the opposite direction, she conjured a long black iron bar from her hand and whipped it toward Darian's head, intent on ensnaring his neck.
"Black Bars!"
With his left arm already shackled to her leg by her Devil Fruit ability, Darian realized that if he were to be bound by these "Black Bars" as well, he would be at a severe disadvantage.
Hina's ability was far more complex than it appeared on the surface. The black bars she generated imposed not only physical restraint but also a form of magical confinement; Darian could distinctly feel that his shackled left arm was growing sluggish, its physical strength inexplicably suppressed by the iron ring.
If a Logia user were ensnared by her cage, would they be unable to escape even by shifting into their element? Darian wondered.
As the black bar whipped toward his neck, Darian finally began to take her seriously.
"Wall of Iron Sand!"
With a mere thought, the black sand currently hovering around him instantly coalesced into a solid block, shielding his right flank and completely blocking Hina's incoming strike.
Immediately thereafter, Darian exerted a sudden, powerful, superhuman tug with his shackled left arm.
Caught off guard by his raw physical strength, Hina was thrown completely off balance, stumbling forward until she was forced into a painful full split on the deck.
At the exact same instant, Darian lunged forward, reaching out with his free right hand to seize Hina by the throat.
Just as Darian thought he had her within his grasp, Hina executed a drastic, desperate maneuver.
She arched her back. The fabric of her suit burst open as a dozen razor-sharp iron spikes erupted directly from her chest.
Simultaneously, Hina decisively severed the connection between her lower leg and Darian's arm. Consequently, Darian lost his balance, and the hand he had intended to clamp around her neck ended up slamming directly into the sharp iron spikes instead.
CLANG.
With a jarring metallic impact, both combatants recoiled and sprang apart.
The iron spikes protruding from Hina's chest retracted, leaving her white blouse and burgundy jacket—which had been ripped apart by the sudden eruption—in tatters. This exposed the alluring, plunging cleavage beneath. Based on Darian's expert visual estimation, she was at least a full cup size larger than Nami.
Regrettably—at least from Darian's perspective—Hina was wearing a sturdy black bra underneath.
Observing Hina's exposed state, Darian couldn't resist a bit of lecherous teasing, adjusting his white mask.
"My, my, Captain Hina," Darian chuckled. "Those iron cage bars of yours actually grow right out of your body, don't they? Does that mean those spikes that just popped out actually sprouted from your cleavage?"
Upon hearing this deeply inappropriate taunt, Hina fixed Darian with a murderous, humiliated glare.
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