Chapter 172: Smoker

The vast sea surrounding the Lodestar island was revealed under the bright, golden sunlight.

The darkness that solidified it into a platform has disintegrated, and the sea has resumed its role as the sea.

Churning and splashing, the sparkles of water, under the reflection of the sunlight, produced a rainbow that seemed mesmerizing, especially since all that was present just before was the endless darkness.

Standing on the ground of Lodestar, Smoker stared ahead, where the man enveloped in that of darkness, Blackbeard, stood.

Blackbeard, standing before the sunlight, was blocking the part of the sunlight's advance—as if telling Smoker that he was the last hurdle that he had to overcome.

"I have a dream."

To Smoker, the bright sunlight that he came to sight after the dark, was the most beautiful thing he's ever seen.

"I want to save them—the helpless ones who are unable to do anything in front of ruthless power."

Here stood the pirate, the very definition of 'ruthless power'. And before the pirate stood him, along with his friends and allies. All of them, together, have come this far.

"ZEHAHAHAHA!!!!!"

Filled with madness, fury, and many more, Blackbeard let out a psychotic laugh. Laughing as he looked up at the sky, his eyes swirled in a deep crimson.

"Put an end to this? An end?"

He then growled.

"What end?! This is simply the beginning of what will be an everlasting dream!!"

His body was regenerating rapidly. Though he temporarily lost control over the Joy Boy's heart due to the autonomic function of his body taking over the source of the infinite energy for the sake of recovery, the power of darkness and tremor still existed, as threatening as ever.

Once the recovery has reached a sufficient rate, the darkness will once again take over the whole world. And the only solution to prevent this from happening again...

...was to injure Blackbeard—at a rate and magnitude greater than his extent of regeneration.

"GRAHHHHHH!!!!"

A giant roared as he slammed his huge fist toward Blackbeard whose body was reforming, but was blocked by the dense sphere of darkness that swirled into existence from the thin air.

Numerous spears and boulders imbued with Haki were bombarded at Blackbeard, by the warriors of Kuja Tribes and giants.

"AS IF!!!!!"

Blackbeard roared while generating a gigantic beam of dense darkness, one that tore through those spears and boulders, grinding them into dust.

And right at the same time, Smoker, suddenly appearing in front of Blackbeard, struck his fist forth.

The ferocious black lightning rose upon the impact. Smoker glared at Blackbeard daringly. Blackbeard's eyes widened, his cheeks puffed, before he vomited a gallon of blood.

Then, Blackbeard was blasted in the aftermath of the attack. The torso which was regenerated has become shredded once more, and the blood splattered in all directions as Blackbeard helplessly flew.

In the middle of Blackbeard's flight, there was Bastille waiting.

"Daradara..."

Grinning, he swung his zanbato.

CLANG—!

Holding his hand out in this situation, Blackbeard blocked the blade with his Haki-imbued hand. Immediately after, he clenched his other hand into a fist, which revealed the might of tremor.

Yanking the blade toward him such that Bastille was pulled closer, Blackbeard threw his fist toward the former—

—but couldn't finish, as Smoker, in front of Blackbeard once more, punched him in the face.

The teeth flew out and Blackbeard's face became mushed from the impact. Once again, he was flown back, and it was Hina who revealed herself this time around, swinging her leg at the man's torso.

"Rankyaku!"

Her leg, phasing through Blackbeard's body, generated a metallic ring around him. And latching onto this ring was Senor Pink, who then threw Blackbeard toward the ground.

BOOM!

The dust arose, and floating above the sky through the use of Geppo, Aramaki then acted.

"QUADRUPLE MORNING WOOD!!!!!"

The huge trunks of wood, four of them, descended down the sky, into the cloud of dust.

BOOOM BOOOM BOOOM BOOOM!

Spinning his blade, Maynard then swung the blade horizontally,

"Wind Cutting Blade!!"

The dust was immediately dispelled, revealing Blackbeard who stood back up with his body regenerating—albeit at a slower speed.

And Smoker, right at this moment, was standing in front of Blackbeard in a blink of an eye.

Gritting, Blackbeard blasted his fist forth, one that was imbued with the swirling mass of darkness, intense tremor, and the vigorous Haki.

Smoker tilted his head at the last moment and let Blackbeard's fist bypass him.

BOOOOOOOM!

There was an incredible force upon the release of Blackbeard's fist. Along with the blast of darkness, the air quaked and rippled, causing the dust all around to rise and cover the view.

And during this occurrence, Smoker placed his palm on top of Blackbeard's chest.

Blackbeard's eyes widened, before,

"White Impact."

His body blew apart into two, as Smoker's technique generated an unbelievable explosion from the innards of Blackbeard's body.

The organs spilled and the blood splattered in all directions.

Blackbeard, with the lower half of his body detached from him, expressed an excruciating pain through his bloodshot eyes.

Nevertheless, even this much of an injury was manageable to him, as long as he had the source of infinite energy, Joy Boy's heart, in his hands.

Gritting his bloody teeth, Blackbeard landed while forming the legs made out of dense darkness.

'How?'

However, it was a different story for his mental state, one that was full of disbelief.

'How is it that even with Joy Boy's heart and three Devil Fruits...'

In front of Blackbeard was Smoker, a man with long white-coloured hair.

He wasn't a D. He wasn't a Celestial Dragon. He was a nobody, one that wasn't supposed to turn out as his archenemy.

How was it that he was able to awaken one of the original fruits? And how was it that even without the abilities granted by such a fruit, he was able to resist against him, Blackbeard, of all people? The chosen one?

'A nobody like him...'

Blackbeard's body shook as his fists tightened.

"JUST WHAT ARE YOU?!!!"

Cried Blackbeard as the concentrated darkness and tremor exploded from his arm. The darkness exploded surrounding him and revealed its ferocity once more.

"WHITE HUNTER?!!!!"

Blackbeard then smashed his hand at the ground below. The ground exploded into numerous pieces as the cracks appeared and spread. Upon the formation of fissures, the darkness rose from the gaps between the pieces of the land.

The darkness then transformed into long and sharp spikes, ones that moved as if they had lives of their own.

"Tch...!!!"

Marines, warriors of Kuja, and giants alike struggled to dodge and block the advance of those spikes.

However, holding their weapons firm, they persisted. They prevented a single spike from going toward Smoker.

And they shouted in sync,

"""GO, SMOKER!!!"""

Smoker dashed at a sonic speed, flying toward Blackbeard with his eyes blazing brilliantly in white fire.

Blackbeard gritted his teeth as he engraved his darkness-made foot deep in the ground, preparing himself to meet Smoker head-on.

The spikes of darkness enlarged as Blackbeard's eyes flashed, pushing back those who were holding their ground against them.

Coughing blood, Blackbeard then grinned—albeit forcefully. And then, the darkness that emanated out of his body shot out vigorously to the sky.

Smoker's eyes narrowed,

'...He forcibly stopped the recovery of his body through the use of Seimei Kikan. And now, he's re-directing the power of infinite energy back into his Dark Dark fruit.'

Blackbeard's state was dire. The blood was dripping out of his body—just as Smoker was.

"AS IF THAT'S GOING TO STOP ME!!!!!"

Nonetheless, Blackbeard uncaringly roared as the concentrated darkness enveloped his entire body.

"DARK WORLD!!!"

Then, the darkness exploded out centering Blackbeard, taking over the entire surroundings in the form of a gigantic dome of pitch black.

Lodestar, already in a state of ruin, was quaking once more—which deeply troubled those who were fending off against the spikes of darkness.

And flying toward such a ferocious impact of a technique, Smoker held his hand out, one that shone brightly.

His justice coat, fluttering wildly against the wind, briefly gleamed in golden as it basked under the golden sunlight.

"White Nova."

As Smoker's eyes gleamed brilliantly, the white aether exploded out of his outstretched hand, spreading throughout the area.

Then, it collided with the darkness.

The darkness, perceiving the aether as the product of a Devil Fruit power, disintegrated the aether into nothing.

On the other hand, the aether, perceiving the darkness as the 'worldly matter', converted the matter into its own kind and rendered its effect null.

It was such a paradoxical clash.

However, the domain of aether was slowly diminishing as the darkness knew no bound, fuelled by the infinite source of energy that thumped within Blackbeard's chest.

Blackbeard stood with nothing but hatred written in his eyes.

And with the darkness engraved throughout his body, his appearance reminded that of a devil.

However, Smoker didn't fear. Enveloped within the layer of aether that was continuously thinning, he continued to fly toward the core of this darkness, where Blackbeard stood.

And his gaze, locked on Blackbeard, didn't falter either.

Blackbeard scowled. His black hair flew wildly as he filled his body to the brim with the energy of Joy Boy's heart.

"Over and over and over again...!!!"

Blackbeard clenched his hand, where the darkness began to spin at a phenomenal speed, condensing into a dense energy that continued to shrink.

"I was met with challenges, only for me to overcome them in the end!!!"

Now, there was only a sliver of aether that twinkled around Smoker.

And Smoker focused.

"You are no different from any other which I faced in the past, White Hunter!!!"

It was the pitiful words, ones which Blackbeard spoke to himself rather than to Smoker, to convince himself.

"In the end... I stand as the victor!!!"

It was the sign that his mind was shaking in fear upon the sight of the foe in front of him.

"DIE!!!!!"

And, as Blackbeard and Smoker came face-to-face, they blasted their fists forth simultaneously.

"BIG!!!!! BANG!!!!!"

In contrast to such an astronomical release of energy that Blackbeard managed to muster, all that was left to Smoker was a small wisp of smoke.

The white smoke, one which signalled a start to his life as a Marine.

'White Hunter' Smoker. There was no doubt that this smoke of his played a huge role in granting him such a title.

"Smoker,"

Greeted Masterson, the long-lost colleague of his.

"...Smoker."

Said Dalmatian, as he scratched his head embarrassingly.

"Smoker."

Cancer smirked.

"Smoker."

"Smoker!"

"Yo, Smoker!"

Many people spoke to him, reminding him, once again, the reason why he's become a marine.

Naturally, Smoker found a smile on his face as he, against the incredible force of Blackbeard, struck the punch of his own,

"White Blow."

It was the first technique that he ever developed as he learned under Garp. Because it was the most basic of all his techniques, one which he used and practiced the most, it was ironically his strongest technique.

Now, clashing against the darkness that seemed to contain limitless energy within, it didn't fall off. As the Conqueror's Haki violently crackled and thundered, the white smoke, burning brilliantly within Smoker's fist like an ember, seemed to harbour the very essence of Smoker's strength.

"Smoker."

And finally, his younger brother in a hospital bed called him.

Smoker grinned. In correspondence, the crackling lightning of Conqueror's Haki began to change in colour.

Mixing with the ember-like white smoke, the lightning of bright white crackled throughout the darkness.

And the entire space, the darkness around the two of them, began to crack.

"...WHAT?!"

Blackbeard panicked as he witnessed something incomprehensible.

"How... HOW CAN THIS BE?!"

With a will of steel, Smoker's fist tore through the infinite darkness. The space, torn and crumbled down into pieces, swirled chaotically as Smoker's fist pushed through, and,

struck right onto Blackbeard's chest.

"N-NO..."

Blackbeard vomited blood as he felt something breaking.

Joy Boy's heart—it was shredded.

"NO!!!!"

Blackbeard shrieked in horror.

And Smoker was still going, pushing his fist forth and grinding through Blackbeard's chest.

"NO!!!!! I REFUSE TO ACCEPT—"

The white light overtook the area.

...

From the outside, everyone, with the spikes of darkness having disintegrated, shielded their eyes as they looked in one particular direction.

As the light slowly faded, there was no trace of darkness.

Under the golden glow of the fading sun, there stood Smoker, covered by blood from head to toe.

And below him was the corpse of one pirate, one that used to go by many names.

Slowly, Smoker raised his shaky arm to the sky.

"Huff... huff..."

The people, huffing heavily, widened their eyes in realization.

Then, they cheered.

It was, the signal of their victory, one that marked the end of the battle, as well as the start of the new era.