Shichibukai Law Vs. Vice Admiral Smoker

On the frozen battlefield of Punk Hazard, Trafalgar Law stands calm amid the chaos he has made. Tashigi has been cut cleanly in half, her upper body and lower body separated but still alive, and the Marines recoil in horror: "HE SLICED THE LOVELY CAPTAIN IN TWO!!" Someone cries, "SH... SHE'S STILL ALIVE, RIGHT?!" while another calls out, "TASHIGI-CHAAN!!" Tashigi herself refuses to collapse into fear. Bloodied and furious, she answers, "I AM ASHAMED...!! TO BE SLICED DOWN AND YET STILL DRAW BREATH...!!" Her pride as a swordswoman drives her to challenge Law even from the ground: "IF YOU MUST SLICE ME DOWN, THEN AT LEAST TAKE MY LIFE, TRAFALGAR!!" Law looks down at her without pity and says, "A PROPER SWORDSMAN AT HEART, ARE YOU? THEN REMEMBER THIS, LADY MARINE..."

Law completes the lesson with cold certainty: "THE WEAK... DON'T GET TO CHOOSE HOW THEY DIE." Tashigi can only stare back, shaken and furious, while the Marines erupt at him. "YOU FIEND!!!" they shout, and one rushes in, but Law warns from behind the brim of his hat, "YOU'RE NOT GOING TO REACH ME WITH A BLADE LIKE THAT." The G-5 men rage on anyway, unable to accept the insult to their captain: "WHY, YOU...!! HOW DARE YOU INSULT OUR LOVELY CAPTAIN LIKE THAT!!!" Another swings his weapon and yells, "I'LL SLICE YOU UP SOME MORE IF THAT'S REALLY WHAT YOU WANT." Their anger fills the battlefield, but the gap between their fury and Law's control is already obvious.

Law raises his sword and, without flinching, begins rearranging the battle itself. Around him the sounds of his power snap through the snow: "SWAP," "SWAP," "SWAP." He flips bullets through the air with a small motion, "FLIP," then the Marines suddenly realize the danger has turned back on them. "BULLETS?!" one shouts as the gunfire they fired is redirected toward their own line. "AGH AHHHH HHH!!" screams a Marine as the shots tear into the chaos. "WHY ARE THERE BULLETS COMING AT US?!!" someone cries. "WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BULLETS WE FIRED AT HIM?!" Law, still composed, explains the trick: "THOSE ARE THE BULLETS YOU FIRED. I JUST SWITCHED THEM WITH THAT SNOW OVER THERE." With "SWITCH!!" he makes it clear that the snowfield inside his range belongs to him.

The Marines lose ground fast. "WHAT IS THIS GUY, INVINCIBLE?!!" one of them shouts. Another warns, "GET DOWN!! HE'S GOING TO SWING HIS SWORD AGAIN!!!" and the panic spreads: "THERE'S NO STOPPING THAT GUY'S SWORD ATTACKS!!" Even Tashigi, helplessly divided but conscious, can only watch as her subordinates yell, "RUN FOR IT, CAPTAIN-CHAN!!" Law's blade flashes out, and in the same instant Smoker drives into the fight, smoke boiling from his body. His jitte clashes against Law's sword with a heavy impact while the G-5 men cheer through the fear: "OH YEAH HHHHH HHH!!!" and "SMOKEYYYY!!!" The Vice Admiral has finally stepped directly between Law and his Marines.

Smoker presses in with the force of smoke and seastone, his body twisting through the air as he brings the jitte down on Law. The fight becomes a close exchange of speed and timing: Smoker's smoke-body expands and snaps around Law, Law pivots and guards, and their weapons crash together in a blur of heavy sound effects and white vapor. The Marines around them fall silent for a moment, realizing the battle has moved beyond ordinary swordplay. Law is not merely cutting flesh, and Smoker is not merely swinging a weapon; both men are testing the limits of the other's power, one with spatial control and the other with a Logia body anchored by a seastone weapon.

The clash detonates through the snow and rubble. Smoker's jitte lands with a violent crash, and Law senses the threat at once: "I FEEL A NASTY SORT OF ENERGY..." He identifies it before the attack can trap him: "THAT MUST BE KAIROU-SEKI." The Marines recognize the weapon too and yell, "ON THE END OF YOUR JITTE...!!" Law avoids being pinned by the seastone and answers by expanding the scale of the fight. His sword sweeps out, not simply at Smoker but through the frozen landscape itself, sending a slicing force across the battlefield while both men keep their eyes locked on each other.

Law's cut carves through more than bodies. With a roaring slice, parts of the wreckage and even a battleship are severed and lifted into the air. The Marines stare upward in terror as debris, ship sections, and huge chunks of ice drift and tumble inside Law's territory. "WHOOAA AHHHH HH!!!" someone screams. Then panic turns into disbelief: "OH, CRAAAAP!!! NOW HE'S SLICED UP THE 'CRAZY SCULPTURE'!!!" Another Marine yells, "WE OUGHTTA GET OUTTA HERE!!" but the danger is already falling toward them. "THE BATTLESHIP'S FALLING RIGHT ON TOP OF US!!" someone cries, and others realize there is nowhere clean to run: "WE'RE ONLY GETTING IN THE WAY!!"

Even Tashigi knows her men are in danger if they stay near Law's range. "CAPTAIN-CHAN!! WE'RE GETTING YOU OUT OF HERE!" a Marine tells her, but she warns, "WE'RE NO MATCH FOR HIM!!!" Law lifts his hand and commands, "LIFT," and the battlefield obeys. Smoker charges through the storm of ice and smoke while Law raises wreckage and frozen earth around him. The sliced pieces of ship, stone, and snow spiral upward, turning the fight into a violent circle with Law at its center. The Marines shout, "RUN FOR IT!!!" and "GET OUT OF HIS CIRCLE!!" because the very space around Law has become a trap where direction, distance, and safety can be changed at his command.

Elsewhere on the icy side of Punk Hazard, Luffy hears the commotion from the direction of the battle. "THAT WAS A CRAZY LOUD NOISE..." he says, wondering, "MAYBE IT WAS SANJI AND THE OTHERS...?" His own group is still moving through the freezing landscape in their humiliating, body-swapped state. Someone asks, "HEY, CROCOTAUR! DO YOU REALLY NOT KNOW WHERE OUR FRIENDS ARE?" The crocodile-like creature only exhausts itself, panting "HAA" while the others shout over it. "SHADDUP! I'M NOT SAYING ANYTHING!" it snaps. "ALL RIGHT, THEN... JUST RUN FASTER!" another voice orders, while the creature complains, "SUCH HUMILIATION... I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS..." and "YOU FILTHY THIEVES!!" Brook's lack of skin becomes a freezing joke: "BROOK, YOU DON'T HAVE ANY SKIN. HOW CAN YOU FEEL COLD?" Brook answers, "I DO HAVE FEELINGS, YOU KNOW!!" The group also worries about Nami and the children, hoping they were already wearing warm clothes and were not "FROZEN UP AND SNAPPED OFF," prompting the horrified interruption, "STOP THAT!!"

Inside the facility, Caesar Clown receives troubling news while his long, gaseous body curls around the machinery. The report begins, "MASTER... WHAT SHOULD WE DO? MR. LAW AND SMOKER ARE HAVING AN ALL-OUT BATTLE..." Caesar erupts at once: "...!!! WHAT IS THAT FOOL LAW THINKING!! HE WAS ONLY SUPPOSED TO DRIVE THEM AWAY!!" The situation worsens as more information comes in. "IT SEEMS THAT THE ESCAPED PIRATES TOOK THE CHILDREN FROM THE BISCUIT ROOM..." the report continues, "...AND RAN INTO THEM AT THE ENTRANCE...!!!" Caesar realizes the Marines have seen the children: "THE CHILDREN?!! THEY'VE BEEN SEEN BY THE MARINES?!!" When the answer comes, "YES..." he understands the danger. "THIS IS WHAT I FEARED THE MOST...!! THIS ISLAND WILL FALL UNDER SUSPICION!!" he says, knowing that even if Smoker is killed, the Marines will now notice something is wrong.

Caesar starts to reason through the problem, but a new figure appears in the room. He says, "I THOUGHT I'D FIND THOSE PIRATES IN HERE." Caesar answers, "THIS IS THEM, ALL RIGHT... UFUFU FUFU..." The woman beside him is introduced clearly: "HARPY Moné." With wings, talons, and a calm smile, Moné studies the Straw Hat pirates' information and teases the situation rather than rushing. Caesar turns on her with irritation: "AND WHAT ARE YOU LOUNGING ABOUT FOR, MONÉ?!" Her relaxed presence contrasts with Caesar's panic, but the page makes her role in the facility unmistakable: she is near Caesar, she knows the intruders are connected to the Straw Hats, and she is close enough to observe his reaction as the crisis spreads.

Moné calmly adds more bad news. "PERHAPS WE SHOULD HAVE BEEN A LITTLE MORE CAREFUL WITH THESE ONES," she says, then continues, "OH, YES, I FORGOT TO MENTION... BUT VEGAPUNK'S DRAGON... AND BROWNBEARD'S CENTAUR PATROL SQUAD HAVE BOTH BEEN DEFEATED." Caesar reacts with a sharp "WHAT?!" Moné explains the implications: "IN OTHER WORDS, THE PIRATES FROM THE SHIP YOU ABDUCTED WEREN'T THE ENTIRE CREW..." She has already traced their movement across Punk Hazard: "A GROUP OF THEM HAD ALREADY INFILTRATED THE BURNING SIDE OF THE ISLAND. THEY'VE NOW MADE THEIR WAY ACROSS THE LAKE, AND SHOULD SOON REACH THIS FACILITY." Caesar admits, "I THOUGHT THEY WERE REMARKABLY STRONG, BUT..." Moné then shows the wanted posters and says, "WELL, LOOK. THIS HAS TO BE THE SAME CREW, RIGHT?" Caesar recognizes them: "...THE STRAW HAT PIRATES...?"

Back outside, Law's battlefield keeps collapsing in strange pieces. A sliced ship and chunks of the frozen terrain crash down as the Marines try to recover. One stares in despair: "THE BATTLESHIP'S SLICED UP INTO A THOUSAND PIECES..." Another crawls among the wreckage, panting, "HAA... HAA..." and complains, "...UGHH... HOW DID THINGS END UP LIKE THIS...?! WE CAN'T CONTACT THE OUTSIDE... WE DON'T HAVE A SHIP...!!" Nearby, Tashigi's body remains separated, and a Marine tells her, "CAPTAIN-CHAN! HOW ARE YOU FEELING?! DID YOUR BODY CONNECT BACK TOGETHER PROPERLY?" Another snaps, "FORGET HER BODY, YOU'VE GOT MY LEG ON YOUR ARM!" The confusion only hardens Tashigi's memory of Law. In flashback, she repeats the principle she clings to: "NO MATTER WHAT HE MAKES OF HIMSELF... A PIRATE IS STILL A PIRATE!!!" and "...A PIRATE... IS STILL A PIRATE..."

Smoker and Law continue their duel through the drifting ice. Smoker lashes out with smoke and jitte, and Law keeps lifting and redirecting massive pieces of the battlefield. Smoker has never trusted the system that made Law a legal pirate: "I'VE NEVER TRUSTED A SINGLE ONE OF YOU SHICHIBUKAI!!" Law answers with a small smile, "PRETTY WISE OF YOU." Smoker senses there is more than Law's power at work and asks, "THERE'S SOMEONE ELSE PULLING THE STRINGS, RIGHT...?" Law, still manipulating the terrain, replies, "SO, WHAT'S THIS PLACE TO YOU?" The question cuts beneath their immediate fight. Smoker is not just chasing a pirate; he is trying to understand why a Warlord, Caesar's facility, missing children, and a sealed island have all converged here.

The duel sharpens into accusation. From the smoke and broken ice, Smoker demands, "WHAT ARE YOU PLOTTING ON THIS ISLAND?!!" Law slips through the haze and wreckage, silent for the moment, while Smoker pushes forward. The two close again, blades and jitte crossing with brutal speed. Law sends his weapon arcing through the space of his Room, and Smoker answers with a head-on charge, smoke trailing behind him. Law then throws the question back at the Vice Admiral: "I COULD ASK YOU THE SAME QUESTION!!!" The exchange makes the conflict larger than a fight for survival. Each man knows the other is hiding a purpose on Punk Hazard, and neither is willing to reveal it first.

Smoker keeps pressing Law at close range, breathing hard but refusing to back down. "WHAT ARE YOU PEOPLE PLOTTING...?!!" he asks again, forcing the question through the clash. Law's expression stays unreadable. He answers with a warning instead of an explanation: "THERE ARE SOME THINGS YOU CAN'T SEE... UNLESS YOU VENTURE A FIELD A LITTLE, SMOKER..." Then he names the move: "SCALPEL." The word lands like a verdict. Law's hand reaches through the space of his Room, and the attack bypasses ordinary defense, aimed not at Smoker's body in a normal cut but at something hidden and vital inside him.

Law's "Scalpel" takes effect. Smoker's attack stops, his body slackens, and a small cube containing his heart is pulled out into the air. Smoker, stunned, can only think, "MY HEART...!!" The battlefield goes quiet around the decisive strike. Law stands at a distance with his hand out, holding the extracted heart while Smoker collapses beside the ice and smoke. The move does not kill Smoker immediately, but it gives Law control over something more dangerous than a wound. Smoker's strength, his Logia body, and his seastone weapon were not enough to stop Law from reaching what he wanted.

With Smoker down and his heart in Law's possession, Law turns away through the falling snow. "I HAVE NO REASON TO TELL YOU ANYTHING..." he says, leaving the Vice Admiral sprawled in the wreckage. Then voices call from nearby: "HEY, LOOK! THIS IS A BATTLESHIP!!" Another wonders, "DOES THAT MEAN THE MARINES ARE HERE?!" and someone else reacts, "WHAT?! THERE WAS NOTHING HERE A FEW MINUTES AGO..." Luffy notices the figure standing beyond the wreckage: "THERE'S SOMEONE OVER THERE!!" Law recognizes him first and says, "...MISTER STRAW HAT." Luffy's face lights up in surprise, and he shouts, "HUH?! IT'S YOU!!!" The chapter's fight ends by bringing Law and Luffy face to face again on Punk Hazard.

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