Chapter 152: Resonance (1)

Plop.

'And so, here we are, after a long, roundabout path.'

Smoker intensely focused on the Five Elders ahead of him as he thought to himself.

For how long did he watch helplessly as the World Government blatantly conducted many wrongdoings?

How many of his friends were sacrificed by their hands, only to achieve nothing but their selfish satisfaction?

Many things changed since then.

This time around, he wasn't late. This time around, he wasn't exhausted. The years of training—it was finally bearing fruit.

"Smoker,"

Landing by Smoker's side, Dragon informed him.

"Something about those Five Elders is strange. Father sank one of them into the sea, but he simply teleported back on the deck as if nothing happened."

"What?"

Narrowing his eyes, Smoker then sighted the approach of Marine Officers—ones whom he recognized as the faithful believers of 'Absolute Justice'.

Smoker knew they loathed him.

Doberman, with his sword drawn, rapidly flew toward Smoker. Tokikake too, was doing the same from a different direction.

From the back, Tensei was hovering in the air with his index finger aimed at Smoker.

CLANG!

Multiple clashes occurred at the next moment, as Smoker's friends interrupted their advance.

"It's finally here, isn't it, Smoker?!"

Bastille grinned as he pushed away Doberman's blade.

"The chance to set things right-dara!"

"Leave them to us, Smoker."

Hina countered Tensei's Tobu Shigan with her own, hitting the approaching wave of pressure with a scary precision.

Then, Hina dashed at Tensei, who seemed to have been surprised.

The one who blocked Tokikake's strike, on the other hand, was none other than Gion.

"Oh? Gion?"

"...Why it's been such a long time since we've last met, brown pig."

The proximity of the ship which Smoker and Dragon stood on was cleared as the marines were repelled. Engaging themselves in separate, battles of their own, Smoker now had the freedom to place his attention solely on the Five Elders, who stood silently with their eyes on him.

During this moment, Garp, not in a good state, landed by Smoker's side and wobbled.

"Go catch some sleep, Garp-sensei."

"Haah? How am I supposed to sleep when it's this noisy all around?!"

Smoker, having expected such an answer out of him, smiled knowingly.

"Bwahahaha!"

Garp laughed as he swung his lone arm in vigor. No one would have believed—not even Sengoku and Tsuru—that the man, who seemed close to death just a few moments ago, would move with such energy in him.

However, that was Monkey D. Garp for you.

"Focus, you two."

Standing by the side, Dragon said seriously.

Plop.

The three of them, standing side by side, were now ready to combat the mysterious individuals who trespassed the laws of the world.

It was akin to a storm of an eye. While the surroundings were filled with battles, they were silent and still.

"...You have done many things, White Hunter."

Saturn muttered darkly to himself.

"Four years ago... we should have got you back then."

Meanwhile, Smoker frowned as he looked at Shusui, the sword in Nusjuro's hand.

'So that's where Shusui went to upon my arrest four years ago.'

Shusui in Nusjuro's grip then trembled as if shaking in fear.

'Seems like that baldy's taken a liking to it.'

Nusjuro's eyes sharpened as he gazed at Smoker with his swords drawn out.

"...You probably felt it too by now."

Dragon said to Smoker and Garp.

"This feeling, the hostile intent that I am sensing through my Observation Haki... we are being watched by someone. Presumably,"

Dragon speculated astutely,

"that someone is the being named Nerona Imu."

The three of them then, all of a sudden, jumped from the ship.

Just then, the entire ship was engulfed by an enormous creature of shadow that arose from the depth of the sea.

"W-What?!"

Marines, Revolutionary Army—whoever was present close by cried upon noticing this sight.

However, none of the three expressed any surprise, as if having expected this moment to occur.

Afterward, said creature of shadow sank back into the sea.

"That thing feels similar."

Smoker noted,

"Feels just like the Five Elders over there."

As he said so, Nusjuro, as if having waited for this opportunity, launched himself at Smoker. With his bottom half having turned into a skeleton horse, the horse's hooves ran through the air as if stepping on a solid platform.

With both his Shodai Kitetsu and Shusui drawn, Nusjuro then slashed through the thin air as Smoker's figure disappeared at an unsightable speed.

"Dragon's,"

Immediately after, Dragon outstretched his right hand, which he shaped in a way that resembled a claw, toward Nusjuro's torso,

"Claw!"

Nusjuro's body was torn apart as the gust generated from Dragon's attack was blasted straight onto it. However, Nusjuro's body then reattached by itself, and Nusjuro himself seemed unfazed as if there was nothing unusual about his incomprehensible regeneration.

'Is this the supposed immortality that the Op Op fruit was said to grant?'

Dragon thought to himself, but denied this hypothesis as he crossed his arms, in a defensive position,

'No, there is no way. From what I found, the immortality given by Op Op fruit isn't tied to the complete resistance to death itself. Rather, it is an agelessness that it grants, allowing whoever received the surgery to live for an eternity as long as he or she doesn't receive a fatal blow!'

Nusjuro's blade struck Dragon's arms, attempting to slice the latter in half. Dragon, by generating a dense layer of concentrated air ahead of him, diminished the sharpness of the attack and was flown back without having anything cut.

"Galaxy—"

Garp threw his punch forth at Nusjuro but was intercepted by Warcury, whose body had inflated into an extremely muscular form and was rendered bigger than even Garp himself.

The air exploded as Garp's punch met Warcury's own.

"Tch,"

Garp frowned as he felt how tough Warcury's body was through the recoil on his arm. Retracting his arm back, Garp then quickly kicked his feet in the air to propel himself upward, dodging an incoming beam of air pressure that was shot by Peter, who morphed his head into a miniature form of Sandworm.

Plop.

Instead, Smoker, by holding Warcury by his neck, yanked the latter's body such that he directly received the beam of air pressure at its full impact.

"Unfortunately..."

However, Warcury withstood the attack without a single damage. Shifting his eyes to face Smoker above him, Warcury stated,

"We are resistant to each others' attacks. A petty trick like this won't work on us, White Hunter—"

"Is that so?"

With Warcury's neck still held by Smoker, Smoker calmly spoke as his other hand, clenched into a fist, was surrounded by a crackling black lightning.

Smoker's fist then landed right on Warcury's face, blasting it apart into pieces. Letting go of the headless body of Warcury, Smoker shrank his entire body into a dense smoke to dodge an incoming strike from Mars at his full Zoan form.

"As we said already..."

Mars said as he glared at Smoker whose body morphed back,

"Your attacks are futile, and your defeat is inevitable."

Warcury's body, while falling to the sea, regrew a head. Through the use of Geppo, Warcury easily flew back up before landing back on the ship where Saturn and Peter stood.

Simultaneously, the enormous creature of shadow erupted from the sea once more, attempting to engulf Smoker, Garp, and Dragon simultaneously—together with Nusjuro and Mars who were near them.

"Galaxy..."

Garp, who breathed rapidly in exhaustion, blasted his fist at the said creature.

"Impact!!!"

The dome of explosion arose below the air where Garp's punch was thrown. The huge hole appeared in the middle of the sea, and the enormous creature of shadow was no longer present—indicating that Garp's attack was successful.

In this state, Peter morphed his body to his Zoan form. The ship swayed from the weight but managed to withstand as Peter's growth of size stopped at a sustainable level.

Peter as the Sandworm, opened its mouth wide and initiated its suction, trying to pull anything in its sight toward it.

And Dragon, putting his two hands out, generated a huge gust of wind that flew away from the Sandworm to cancel out the effect of Peter's attack.

As this happened, Mars and Nusjuro were at Smoker's above and front, about to strike him.

"White Out."

Then, the entire area was flooded with a sudden burst of white smoke.

It not only rendered everyone blind, but also produced enough force to push Mars and Nusjuro away.

'Perhaps,'

Smoker formed a theory,

'They are something akin to "five-in-one". Unless all of them are killed at the same time, they will remain alive.'

Within this domain of white smoke, the dense and enormous arms of white smoke were formed before beginning its chase after the Five Elders.

In response, Warcury turned his head into that of Fengxi, his Zoan form. He then roared, immediately clearing the white smoke from his surroundings—including the arms that chased after him.

Simultaneously, Peter's suction reversed into a powerful blow of a wind that pushed the smoke away from the ship he stood on.

In the end, Smoker's 'White Out' only managed to blind their sight for a couple of seconds without bearing a fruit—

—or so Saturn thought until he felt two presences behind him.

"Dragon's Breath!"

Dragon, Placing his hand on the deck of the ship which Saturn and Peter in his Zoan form stood on, burst the ship into pieces in an instant.

Garp, on the other hand, was right in front of Saturn, with his fist cocked back.

"?!"

Saturn intentionally widened his eyes as he locked them on Garp.

As Saturn did so, Garp's body abruptly came to a stop. Finding that his body was surrounded by a red gleam, Garp realized that this was Saturn's doing—the supposed psychokinesis that Saturn showcased in the Tajine Kingdom.

Immediately upon realization, Garp let out a huge burst of Haki to dispel the resistance.

However, this split second was a sufficient time for Warcury and Peter to utilize Geppo to keep them afloat and recognize and target Garp.

Warcury was in front of Garp with his hands coated in Haki. Peter, back in his human form, was behind Garp with his finger outstretched, which indicated that he was about to use a Shigan.

Dragon, quickly reappearing, intercepted Peter with his hand. Garp, without turning around, met Warcury's fist with his own.

'Strange...'

Saturn frowned as he shifted his eyes toward Smoker who was holding Nusjuro and Mars on his own,

'It is evident that normal means won't be sufficient in defeating us, and yet, he isn't going all out. That awakened fruit ability of his, how come he isn't using it?'

Then, Saturn's eyes caught onto something.

The white smoke that briefly engulfed the site upon 'White Out', before being dispersed by Warcury's roar—it wasn't that they disappeared.

The hands made out of white smoke that chased after the Five Elders were just a decoy. No, the real deal was—

—the concentrated, miniature, pellet-sized smoke that was swirling around the side of each and every one of the Five Elders, which were collecting the smoke that was thinly spread throughout the area and increasing their densities.

"Arcane,"

Smoker's eyes revealed a crimson gleam.

Garp grinned and Dragon huffed. 

Noticing that intense glow from the pellet-sized smoke aside them, Five Elders widened their eyes.

"Bullet."

Simultaneously, the five concentrated pellets of smoke penetrated the heads of the Five Elders as if drilling through a soft tofu.

The blood splashed as they lost their balance and fell into the sea,

SPLASH!

The water erupted at five different sites.

Plop.

However, Smoker, Garp, and Dragon frowned instead of expressing joy.

"That feeling of someone watching us... it hasn't disappeared."

Dragon growled, and just when he said so, a gigantic circle filled with a pentagram appeared on the coast of Momoiro island, catching Smoker, Garp, and Dragon off-guard.

"Haven't we told you?"

The Five Elders, completely unscathed, appeared atop said circle and faced the three of them.

"Your defeat is inevitable."

'...Strange.'

Smoker's eyes narrowed.

'There is something that I am missing.'

For some reason, throughout the entire fight, this plopping noise—as if a droplet fell into the water—kept tickling his ears.

Yes, it was as if something was calling upon him.

This hasn't been happening up until now, when Smoker faced the Five Elders.

'What is happening?'

The residents of Momoiro islands ran away as the Five Elders all transformed into their full Zoan forms and roared.

Gyuki, Itsumade, Fengxi, Bakotsu, and Sandworm.

'They are the beings whom my sibling gave birth to.'

Smoker froze. He looked around but saw no one other than Garp and Dragon, who looked back at Smoker in confusion.

'Hm? What's with this reaction? I thought you already knew?'

Plop.

Smoker realized.

'Heh, it's been such a while since I woke up. Man, what a long sleep it was.

This enigmatic voice belonged to none other than the 'will' of the Smoke Smoke fruit.