Smoker unleashed his power, dark smoke rising around him. The darkness rippled and surged, spreading across the bea an instant.

  The sight made both Pid Trebol feel a chill down their spines.

  Still, with their extensive bat experiehe two reacted quickly, deg to strike first.

  "Sticky Tides!"

  Trebol released a torrent of sticky mucus, surging toward Smoker like a wave.

  The bck smoke and mucus cshed, each holding its ground in a tealemate.

  Smoker remained calm. "Dark Pit!"

  Suddenly, the darkness unleashed a powerful gravitational pull, instantly swallowing the mucus.

  "What?!" Trebol shouted in arm. "My mucus!"

  Pica partially merged his body into the ground and screamed, "Trebol, move!"

  A massive stone fist emerged from the earth, aiming straight for Smoker.

  Unfazed, Smoker intensified the pull of his Dark Pit.

  The stone fist froze mid-air before crashing heavily to the ground.

  Pica panicked and tried to withdraw his real body, but Smoker was faster.

  "Dark Lash!"

  A whip of darkness shed out, slig the stone arm ly in half.

  The cut wasn’t like that of a bde—it was as though the darkness had devoured the stone, leaving nothing behind where it touched.

  "Ahh! My arm!" Pica screamed, clutg his now-severed arm as he erupted from the ground.

  Blood gushed from the wound like a torrent.

  The power of the Stoone Fruit allowed Pield into and manipute stone freely.

  When fully submerged in stone, physical attacks on the rock would leave his real body unharmed.

  But if his body wasn’t fully merged, any atta the active stone could damage him.

  This weakness had been exploited in the past—Zoro had used it to deliver a devastating blow to Pica.

  Smoker’s attack had targeted the animated stone arm while Pica’s real body artially exposed.

  As a result, the damage had transferred, severing his arm entirely.

  "Lord Pica!" Trebol cried in shock. He sprayed more mucus over the wound to staunch the bleeding.

  "You... what kind of monster are you?!" Pica’s voice quivered with a mix of fear and pain.

  Smnored him, speaking coldly instead. "Your Devil Fruits are iing. I’ll take them."

  "Dark Vortex!"

  A tremendous gravitational force pulled Pid Trebol toward Smoker.

  "Watch out, Pica!"

  Trebol released a massive glob of mucus, anch Pica to the ground while ung himself toward Smoker to intercept.

  Trebol's gamble didn’t pay off. Smoker swatted him aside with a single elementalized blow, knog him unscious.

  Smoker’s intangible, shadowy hand gripped Trebol’s neck. With his fruit ability nullified, the sticky mucus coating his body melted away, revealing his thin, frail figure—and a box strapped to his waist.

  Trebol’s appearance shocked Smoker. Though Trebol had always appeared bloated, his true form was emaciated, his bulk entirely made of mucus.

  But what caught Smoker’s attention was the box.

  As one of the top executives of Dofmingo's crew, anything Trebol kept so closely must be valuable.

  Without hesitation, Smoker absorbed Trebol and the box into the darkness.

  With Trebol’s ability gohe mucus binding Pica dissipated.

  Seizing the distra, Pica dove underground.

  "Hmm?" Smoker frowned, quickly increasing the gravity t him back out.

  But the ground blocked the gravitational pull. Though the earth cracked and tore uhe strain, Pica mao escape.

  **How careless... I let him slip away,** Smoker thought, his frustration mounting. **The Stoone Fruit is such a waste in his hands.**

  **So, the Dark-Dark Fruit’s pull be evaded underground... iing.**

  Even so, there wasn’t time to dwell on his ht. Smoker turned his attention toward Dofmingo's pirate ship in the distance.

  "If I ’t catch Pica, I’ll settle for taking a little i!"

  Smoker approached the pirate ship, summoning a gravitational force that yahe entire vessel onto the shore.

  The crewmates scrambled to take trol of the ship, trying desperately to escape, but their efforts were futile.

  The smarter ones jumped into the sea, leaving Smoker to deal with the rest.

  Those who g to the ship were dragged along with it toward Smoker.

  Without sparing them a gnce, Smoker enveloped the ship and its remaining crew in his darkness, ing them all.

  Dofmingo would never have imagined his ship being stolen so brazenly.

  ---

  Meanwhile, Hina faced off against the remaining executives.

  The tension was thick as the executives hesitated, unwilling to risk Diamante’s life.

  Suddenly, a stone wall rose between Hina and Diamatempting to separate them.

  Hied swiftly, swinging her bde toward Diamante’s head.

  But she was a moment too te. The wall deflected her attack, leaving only a gash on Diamante’s forehead.

  At the same time, sharp stone spikes erupted from the ground, skewering Hina like a pincushion.

  The remaining executives cheered. "Lord Pica!"

  Gdius, still seething with rage, smmed his hand to the ground. The spikes pierg Hina exploded, shattering her into pieces.

  A sinister grin spread across Gdius’s face.

  "Foolish woman. That’s what you get for opposing the Donquixote family!"

  But before he could finish gloating,

  a wisp of white smoke gathered before him, ref into Hina’s figure.

  "You..."

  Gdius was stunned, uo react before Hi him flying with a powerful punch.

  After years of training, Hina’s punches were as strong as a sledgehammer.

  Gdius coughed up blood, crashing heavily to the ground. He clutched his chest and struggled to get up, fear in his eyes. “Damn it! Be careful! This woman is a Logia type!!”

  “Master Pikra, you take Diamante a out of here! We’ve got this!”

  Pikra gnervously in Smoker's dire but said nothing. He only yelled, “Be careful!!” before using his ability t Diamante underground.

  Pikra old ahat he and Torrepoll had beeed—he’d barely escaped with his life.

  In the Donquixote family, lower-ranked members were expected to sacrifice themselves for their superiors. To Pikra, only Donquixote and the top executives ted as true allies. The others were expendable. If he could use them to buy some time, that was good enough.

  The other executives moved in.

  “Huhousand Ton Pressure!”

  Maharbis jumped high and smashed down at Hina.

  Hina effortlessly dodged with her elemental powers. Just as she was about to terattack, she sensed danger and quickly raised her hand to block a surprise whip kick.

  The kick owerful, sending Hina skidding back several meters.

  Looking up, she saw a musan.

  “Don’t think just because you’re a Logia you act cocky, girl! I use Haki too!”

  “Take this! Earth Elder Fist!”

  Lao G charged at Hina, fists raining down like a storm.

  Hina didn’t let her guard down, blog and dodging the attacks.

  “Such strength and speed... So, this is Lao G?” Hina thought.

  She leapt into the air. “If you think I’m just some useless fruit user, you’re mistaken!”

  “Storm Kick, Rain!”

  Wind bdes fell like a torrential downpour, f Lao G and the others to dodge.

  From their movements, Hina realized that only Lao G was using Haki, which made things easier. Now she could focus on him.

  “Shave!”

  Hina vanished and reappeared in front of Lao G, throwing a punch. Lao G blocked with his arm, but his terattack erfectly avoided by Hina’s observation Haki.

  The two exged blows, her giving an inch.

  Meanwhile, the other executives—Gdius, Maharbis, and Senor—joihe fight. They couldn’t use Haki, so they couldn’t inflict much damage, but they helped distract Hina.

  After a while, Hina found an opening and nded a punch to Lao G’s face.

  Lao G staggered but didn’t fall. Instead, he grabbed her wrist tightly.

  “Not bad, little girl. Your speed is impressive. But your attacks don’t have enough force. Against my Haki, they’re useless!”

  Hina frowhen smirked. “I know my weaknesses better than you do. Since you’re so fident, take another punch!”

  With that, she lifted her other fist and smmed it into Lao G’s face.

  Lao G didn’t dodge, c his face with Armament Haki to absorb the blow.

  “Waste of effort…” he started, but before he could finish, there was a loud explosion, and Lao G was bsted back.

  Lao G struggled to get up, blood dripping from his nose and mouth. “What... What was that move?!”

  Hina grinned and raised her milky white fist.

  Lao G muttered, “Elementalization?!”

  “No, it’s more than that. It’s pressed smoke. I release it upon impact to create an explosion.”

  “How’s that? Does it pack a punch?”

  This teique was inspired by Smoker’s owion, based on the idea of Kuma’s air pression, though it wasn’t as powerful. Still, it could be used almost instantly, making up for the retively low physical damage of the Smoke-Smoke Fruit.

  “I see... A genius move!” Lao G said, shakily getting bato stance.

  “But I’m aive in the Donquixote family, and I won’t give up so easily!”

  Suddenly, Smoker desded from the sky.

  With one foot, he crushed Lao G’s head into the mud.

  When it came to physical strength, Smoker was much strohan Hina.

  Lao G screamed, his skull shattered from the blow.

  “Smoker!” Hina cried, both surprised and relieved.

  Gdius, Maharbis, and Senor turned pale.

  Pikra hadn’t beeing enemies and rushing over. He had been forced here.

  “Run!!!”

  Senor was the first to react, diving into the ground to escape.

  Smoker frowned but didn’t stop him. He’d already tested that the ground could block his gravity, so Senor’s escape wasn’t a big deal.

  But Gdius and Maharbis weren’t so lucky.

  Against Smoker and Hina, they sted less than a minute before being dragged into the darkness.