Chapter 59: A different Smoker

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"Attack! Don't let them do as they please!!!"

*Bang*

*Bang*

*Bang*

"Such a futile try... It's admirable how you are trying to harm me with nothing but normal bullets... Let me reward you...!"

*Caw*

*Caw

*Caw*

*Booooooooom!!!*

Dozens of Raven-bots appeared in the sky, and launched powerful laser rays from their mouths, sweeping away the army of marines, and leaving only the strongest ones who managed to dodge them on time, able to continue fighting.

The black figure of Shadow Raven moved as swiftly as the wind through the battlefield, cutting down his enemies in just mere seconds, and obliterating the force of marines trying to stop them from advancing further. None of them could catch him, in one moment he was behind you, and in the other, he was behind your companion, their eyes were already having a hard time following his movements, so it was no wonder they couldn't even notice the moment he had already arrived in front of them. In a way, it was like trying to catch and attack the air surrounding you, even if you attacked it, the air could only flow with your attack, and continue its way.

He was an unstoppable force in all the meanings.

Moreover, unfortunately for the marines, Shadow Raven was not alone. Next to him, a red-haired woman wearing a devil mask moved rapidly through the battlefield and swept away her enemies with the incredible strength behind her swings.

On her hands, an ocean-blue-colored Katana moved with terrifying force against her enemies. Enormous wind blades traveled fastly from the sword and struck the marines that were trying to shoot her in just mere seconds.

The scene on the battlefield was a massacre. Just these two individuals were handling rather easily the army of marines swarming them. Not only that, but the marines present were completely unable to stop them from approaching the Main building of the Marine, where the most important documents were kept and the most important figures of the marine reside.

Suddenly, from behind the woman, a white figure appeared behind the red-haired woman and attacked her when she was not paying attention.

[White Blow!]

Two giant fists made out of smoke flew in direction of the woman with a terrifying speed. However, due to her outstanding speed and power, she blocked them rather easily with her katana and retreated a bit in order to take a good look at her new opponent.

*Tack!*

The man in front of her landed on the ground with a loud sound and crossed his arms while looking at her and Shadow Raven with a serious expression on his eyes. He had white hair and was smoking two big cigarettes on his mouth, as he had in one of his hands a Sea-stone titted Jitte pointing towards them, as if ready to attack at any moment..

Behind him, a woman with blue hair appeared while carrying a sword with both hands and looked at the white-haired man briefly before he turned to look once again at them.

"Godamnit! All the others left to deal with the other areas that were under attack... Now I have to deal with the most dangerous guy by myself... Tashigi, you make your best to deal with that red-haired woman while I try to hold off Shadow-Raven, but by no means underestimate her, she is stronger than both of us, although I'm not completely sure by how much. We only need to hold them off until the others come back!"

"Yes, Captain Smoker!"

"Come back? Don't be delusional Captain Smoker, it will take them a few days to be able to come back. You and your subordinate are completely alone right now... So tell me, what do you choose? Fight against us, and taste defeat... or let us enter into the building... and be left completely unharmed?"

"Tsk... Sorry, but I don't make deals with pirates..."

"Excellent, That's how it should be"

"Hmph" Smoker snorted at Shadow raven's compliment, and in the blink of an eye disappeared from his previous spot, only to reappear right in front of Shadow raven with his hand pointing right towards him.

[White Tornado!]

Suddenly the smoke surrounding the body of Smoker started spinning at enormous speeds and created an enormous gust of wind all across the battlefield. Even the red-haired woman and Tashigi had a hard time staying in the ground while not being sent flying away by the furious gusts of wind that the Tornado produced.

However, as if not affected by the laws of physics, Shadow Raven simply stood in the middle of the attack, looking at it with an impassive expression on his red glowing eyes at every detail about the interesting attack that smoker had created. And even when being exposed to the terrifying force of the tornado, he did not budge from his place in the slightest, as if the wind was just a gentle breeze for him.

"Tsk... what a monster, he does not even respect the common sense..."

While Shadow Raven was being submitted to the enormous force of the Tornado, Smoker appeared in front of him and created a gigantic fist of smoke that blew away the entire tornado and struck the body of Shadow Raven with enormous strength.

The entire battlefield trembled after the fist struck its objective. Cracks started spreading through the ground where both men stood, and an enormous shockwave blew away all the debris standing around these two men. However, just like Smoker thought, Shadow Raven had blocked his attack with just one hand and was looking calmly at him with interested eyes. 

Smoker clicked his tongue and jumped a few meters away in order to gain some distance from his enemy.  Then, the next instant he glanced deeply into the eyes of Shadow Raven and grinned slightly.

"You find this amusing? Very well, I was saving this technique for that Asura motherfucker... But I guess he will have to wait..."

Suddenly, the whole smoke surrounding Smoker's body started spinning around him, and soon it started fusing with his body. He then took out a third cigarette and placed it on his mouth as he started grinning slightly while glancing at the man in front of him.

When things seemed to have calmed down completely, suddenly his body started heating up to dangerous degrees, and a pained look on his face appeared.

The muscles on his body bulged out slightly, and six columns of high pressured steam started coming out from his back at enormous speed. Like a human train, high-pitched sounds came from the six columns of high pressured steam coming from his body, and the heartbeat of Smoker accelerated to a really high degree.

[Steam Engine!!]

As he pronounced the name of his technique, Smoker disappeared from his previous spot and appeared right in front of Shadow Raven. However, unlike the previous times when he used Soru, this time it was because his speed had increased to a monstrous degree!

"To think that you could apply the concept of the Steam machine to your own body as its made out of smoke... Really Impressive..."

"Shut it!!"

Smoker's fist, which was completely white, suddenly exploded furiously and propelled itself towards Shadow raven's face with tremendous momentum. And as if to make it even more deadly, Smoker's fists had been covered in a thick layer of advanced armament Haki.

*BOOOOOOOOM!!!*

The moment Shadow Raven's face received the impact of Smoker's fist, thunderous crimson colored rays covered the area, and the whole floor shattered completely due to the enormous shockwave that was created after the collision.

However, Smoker did not end his rampage there. After hitting Shadow raven's face, he disappeared from his previous spot once again and appeared right behind his opponent with his fist raised once again.

*BOOOOOOOOM!!!*

The fist colissioned once again with the body of Shadow Raven, who only looked calmly at the attacks from Smoker with a curious gaze on his eyes.

Like that, Smoker started barraging Shadow Raven's body with punches until no spot was left untouched. By the moment Smoker had punched his face once again, he had already turned into a blur due to his speed, and his punches were starting to move Shadow Raven from his place, although a very little bit.

However, unfortunately for him, his body was starting to heat up a little bit too much. Because of the pressure the smoke applied on his body while traveling at high speeds, the friction and constant movement was starting to burn slightly Smoker's muscles and flesh.

Shadow Raven seemed to have noticed as well, that's why he decided to put an end to this matter here, and punched heavily Smoker's stomach. Making him fall unconscious in one go, and making him even spit a bit of blood.

When he turned to look at his companion, it seemed that the red-haired woman had already finished her combat long ago, and Tashigi was lying unconscious on the floor, just like Smoker.

"Did you have to prolong it so much?" The woman asked from behind the mask with an exhausted tone on his voice.

"It was interesting, what can I say? It's the first time I saw him use such a strange technique, and it was rather exciting for me to know what kinds of things could he do with that special body of his..."

"Sigh... Whatever, let's go. The other guys must be investigating their areas already, and we haven't even investigated anything yet"

"Oops, you're right on that... We better hurry up"

When the woman and Shadow Raven were about to leave, suddenly a voice filled with fury came from behind the Red-haired woman.

"Damn Pirateeeees!!!"

As Shadow Raven was the first to react, he noticed a man that seemed to be vice-admiral attacking his companion from behind. He had probably come back because his companions had a bad feeling about leaving only Smoker taking care of the base, and told him to come back.

The red-haired woman was not paying attention when this happened. So she reacted a little bit too late to defend herself from the incoming sword.

*Bam!!*

However, the next second the vice-admiral was met with a fist implanted on his face and was sent flying away several meters into the distance. Shadow Raven, who had reacted on time, had moved at superhuman speed and appeared in front of the red-haired woman in order to pull her into an embrace to move her away from the path of the sword, before then punching the vice-admiral on the face.

"... It seems like you are lacking training on the reaction-time area... Be careful when we are here, we are inside enemy territory after all" Shadow Raven turned to look at the woman in his embrace, and looked at her with a relieved expression on his face before he started nagging her.

"Cough... Yeah... sorry about that... Could you... Uhm... Unhand me?"

"Sure, let's go. We are shorts on time after all" Shadow Raven let her go, and then signaled her to follow him before he entered into the Marine's main building.

After that happened, for some reason the woman was ambushed another two more times, and the ones that ambushed were not even vice-admiral.

Shadow Raven turned to look at her, who was in his embrace once again, and frowned slightly while seeing her avoid his gaze.

"Are you doing it on purpose?"

"N-no, I don't know what you are talking about... Leaving this matter aside, let's go, or we will be the last ones to finish their jobs!" The woman exclaimed in a rushed tone before she escaped from his embrace and started walking into the last room of the building with a rather hurried pace and avoiding looking at him at all moments

Shadow Raven sighed before he shook his head lightly and followed her behind.

"What's wrong with Kuina today...?" He muttered under his breath while glancing at her back.

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