69 CHAPTER 69
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CHAPTER 69
After stunning Smoker with Shocking Grasp, Kreegan didn't give any time of respite to Smoker and continued his onslaught of attacks,
"Animal Aspect Gorilla."
Kreegan's arms started to swell and got a bit longer, and he spent one more arcane pool,
"Ichi Gorilla, Ni Gorilla, Perfect Strike."
His attack power was boosted 100% with these two buffs.
"Ray of Enfeeblement, Hyakuhachi Pound Ho (108 Pound Phoenix)"
Holding his two swords horizontally above his shoulder Kreegan performs a circular swing that launches two compressed air projectiles spiraling toward Smoker. With great force, the spiraling sword energy hits Smoker square on his chest, and he gets thrown back into the forest. He got pushed back for at least 20 meters and destroyed many threes to sawdust.
Smoker got up from the ground without a problem. This strike was more powerful and created two more slash wounds on his chest, and they were a bit deeper than the two before, but they were still shallow hits. He had to accept the force behind this attack was much more powerful, and he was still hurting, but it was not powerful enough to knock him out.
The shocking part was how Kreegan was able to cut him this much. Before, the best thing he could do was draw two drops of blood. His chest was throbbing with pain. The lightning on his sword was stronger too. Before, it only caused some tingling, but right now, it was causing real pain. The weirdest thing was he felt weak like his strength was sucked out of his body. To keep Kreegan at bay, he sent a ranged attack.
"White Blow"
Smoker's arms turned into smoke and charged toward Kreegan. On one of his arms, he had the jitte, and the other was a punch, but before they could reach Kreegan.
"Empowered Magic, Magic Missile."
Three light blue missiles of magical energy were darting towards him, and one of them hit his hand with the Jitte; his hand hurt so much he had to let go of his weapon. The other two missiles came towards him, and he turned into smoke and dissipated before they could reach him and managed to dodge them. He had to cancel his attack because he remembered this skill of his. If he left it to his logia body, he would get hit this time too. So, he had to dodge. His right hand was rattling withing with pain. Nothing was broken, but it was numb. Smoker took off to the sky, attacked again, dived down with great speed, and took his jitte.
"White Launcher"
His body turned into many missiles of smoke and charged toward Kreegan.
"Gust of Wind."
The smoke missiles dissipated with the strong winds, and Smoker's body was exposed. He was not able to resist the strong winds and got pushed to the ground. Smoker had a hard time, but he gritted his teeth and started to walk toward Kreegan. He was a Captain of the Marines, and a bounty hunter couldn't defeat him. Because of this strong wind, he was not able to use his powers effectively, but he turned his lower body and charged again.
"White Spark."
You could say this was Kreegan's last chance because the animal aspect was almost over. He used his last two arcane pools.
"Perfect Strike, Prescient Attack, Nigori-Zake (Two Herculean Slash)"
This was an advanced technique and was really hard to pull off because the tips of the sword had to meet when they hit the opponent. The white smoke and the sword clashed because of the gust of wind, and Prescient Attack Smoker's logia body and attacks were at their weakest, and he could feel the danger coming from this strike, so he chose to defend rather than attack.
Two swords struck his jitte with such a force that it broke like glass, and Smoker flew back like a meteor and crashed into the wood. He was able to defend his chest with his jitte and left arm, but after the jitte broke, there was a deep wound on Smoker's arm. He got up from the ground, and a bit of blood dripped from the corner of his mouth, but he smiled like a maniac.
"Oh, come on, are you a zombie! Why won't you go down."
Kreegan's arms started to deflate and return to their original size. The animal aspect was over. He couldn't beat him; it was obvious he was the superior fighter but even with the 20% ignore defense and 120% damage boost, he couldn't beat a logia user. Smoker was able to mitigate most of the damage. If there was any other level 6 in front of him, he would have killed them three times over.
(50 perfect strike- 50 animal aspect-20 cold iron=120% damage)
Smoker's left arm was bleeding, but it wasn't a gashing wound but a flesh wound. This strike was his strongest attack ever, Kreegan, at best able to bypass 40% of Logia's defense thanks to 20% ignore defense and cold iron's arcane damage, but it was still not enough. Now it was time for Smoker's counterattack.
He charged with another White Spark; Kreegan used Jolt and Tatsumaki to defend against the charging smoke. It was a bit effective thanks to Tatsumaki's strong winds, but Smoker managed to hit square on Kreegan's stomach. This time Kreegan flew into the woods and crashed into the trees. He got up with labored breathing. He took a defensive position because he was encased inside a smoke screen. He cast Jolt and Touch of Fatigue on his swords and waited for a strike. He had difficulty breathing because of the strike to his stomach and the smoke. So he cast Air Bubble to at least eliminate one hardship.
He felt a great threat behind him, and his body moved on its own, and his swords hit Smoker. He was stunned because of Jolt,
"Touch of Fatigue, Nitoryu: Oni Giri (Two sword style: Ogre Cutter)"
He grits his teeth and, with great difficulty, manages to move his arms. He turned into smoke but couldn't dodge the hit. Kreegan thought his body moved because of observation haki, but this was different than the other times. He would sense the danger and its direction, but his body never moved on its own.
This must be the blind strike; the counterattack was out of his control. It just happened like a reflex. Kreegan didn't want to give Smoker any respite and used Color Spray. A vivid cone of clashing colors springs forth from Kreegan's hand and blinds Smoker. Kreegan charged to slash him again, but Smoker turned into smoke and dissipated.
Both Kreegan and Smoker were breathing heavily, and because he was still blind, he was silently waiting if his sight would come back. He wasn't entirely blind. He could see the light but no shape. After several seconds his sight returned.
"What kind of devil fruit is this? You are able to use more than one element, but you don't have a logia body; it must be paramecia, but you are not affected by Seastone. What is it called?"
"Who knows, I don't have to tell you shit. Come and make me."
Kreegan sheathed one of his swords and could swear he heard a vein-popping sound. Smoker charged again, and Kreegan used Flare to blind him, but it didn't work this time, and he got punched in the face. For the next few minutes, the fight turned into a brawl. Kreegan managed to land some hits thanks to Flare, Jolt, and blind fight, but the damage he was doing was lower than Smokers.
He became as banged up as Smoker; he might not have any outside bleeding, but he was sure some of his ribs were broken. Thanks to arcane weapon shock enchantments, he could touch Smoker while he was smoke, but the magical attack didn't affect the edge of the blade. So, the damage was only magical. After some time, even the enchantment of the sword was over.
...
Smoker sat down near a tree with great hardship. He had a lot of slashed and small linear burns on his body because of the lightning damage. Kreegan was full of bruises. He saw Smoker sitting under the tree but didn't even have the power to take one more step. It was a draw; both of them lay down on the ground and panting heavily, Smoker said,
"Nezumi was a piece of shit and deserved worse than death for betraying a brother in arms. As the Marines, we have a debt to pay to your father, so this information will die with me, but if you try to pull a shit like this again. I will chase you to the ends of the earth and put you to the deepest cell of Impel Down."
