"Even in Elementalization, there's still a physical entity, I can see it!"
Sage appeared in front of them, revealing a sinister smile.
Bam!
Smoker instinctively used his jitte to block, but the outstretched palm struck the steel rod, the immense force causing the smoke to ripple, and his body flew upwards from the smoke.
Crack!
His other hand grasped the 'flame', and a muffled sound echoed within the flame as it burned against the Haki-covered hand, flowing like a small stream through his fingers.
"Tenha Kassatsu!"
Seeing this, Sage spread his five fingers, directly blasting out a surge of Haki, infiltrating the flowing flame, and sent Ace's body crashing into a building.
Thud!
As he opened and closed his hand, Sage stomped swiftly on the ground, bringing up a wave of air, and quickly shot towards Smoker, who had just been knocked into the air, delivering a swift kick.
Smoker gritted his teeth hard, transforming with difficulty in mid-air, using his numb arm to lift the jitte in front to block.
"Do you know, Smoker, no matter how hard the material is, there are many ways to break it. The realm of the Breath of All Things, the technique of Haki destruction, or using a higher-grade material, and these..."
The Haki covering his legs naturally surpassed the hardness of the jitte's material.
The technique of Internal Destruction can shatter this steel rod from inside out.
And the Secret Hole seen through the Breath of All Things allows him to accurately attack the weak point of the jitte.
So...
Bam!!
"I can master them all!"
As Smoker was blocking, his leg, like a giant whip, struck, breaking the rod in two, and then it shattered into countless pieces, leaving not even the handle for Smoker.
But that momentary obstruction of the jitte successfully allowed Smoker to transform, and the leg only kicked through a dispersing cloud of smoke, but at this moment, Sage smiled, and his kicking leg shifted mid-flight, slamming downwards.
"Tenha Kassatsu·Black Moon!"
Shwick!
A crescent-shaped slash kicked out from his leg, hitting the swiftly descending smoke, pressing it to the ground, and raising up fragments of stone while revealing a deep ravine.
Splat.
Sage landed from the sky, his form returning to normal at this moment. He picked up the coat blown to the ground due to the transformation, draped it casually over his back, and turned back to grin fiercely: "Did you see that, gentlemen."
Smoker lay in the center of the ravine, his abdomen full of blood, unable to move.
Although the kick with Internal Destruction didn't hit directly, the Tenha Kassatsu mixed with Rankyaku's slash destroyed Smoker's abdomen tissue. However, his temporary Logia-type trait prevented him from being cut in half.
Ace, lying in the ruins of the building, had a leg helplessly collapsed, and there's a dent on his chest, continuously leaking blood.
The power of Internal Destruction, when Sage grabbed his leg, it directly crushed it, and the follow-up Tenha Kassatsu strike also hit Ace's substantial form within the flame, causing the destruction.
"No matter how powerful the force, if one's own strength is lacking..."
Sage walked up to Smoker, pulled out a Coiled Snake Cigar from his shirt at his chest, then walked to the other side, lit it amidst the lingering flames, and took a satisfying puff, exhaling smoke.
He grinned widely and laughed: "To me, it means nothing at all! Haha haha haha!"
In terms of attack strength, it was something Sage could see. The power of that smoke-flame combined attack was great, and defending against it cost Sage quite a lot of time.
If it weren't for the rapidly recovering Haki, he might not have withstood that move; the power of such a technique surpassed his Haki strength.
Since the power was sufficient, yet the physical attributes of the body fell far too short, under the dual effects of his Haki and North Star Divine Fist, they couldn't withstand a single hit.
The two individuals were as fragile as paper in front of him, tearing apart with a slight force.
Especially under the premise of using Observation to sense the opponent's next movements, the destructive force exhibited by Sage was unstoppable.
No matter how many hidden killer moves they have, such as the smoke heating up the flame and causing the smoke to rise in temperature as well, if it can't be used, then it means nothing.
"Cough, cough cough!"
Smoker, lying on the ground, suddenly coughed a few times, spitting a large glob of blood that fell onto his face, flowing down his cheeks, his heaving chest indicating he was still alive.
"Oh? I thought you had died already; it seems you used Elementalization at the last moment to barely mitigate some damage."
Sage aimed one hand at Ace, the other at Smoker, the jet-black flowing fire-like Haki reemerging. "Forget it, let's end it like this, Tenha Kass..."
Just as he was about to continue his attack, a sudden flash of red light in his eyes, he instinctively covered his whole body with all the Haki coiling around his hands.
High above to his side, behind the Albana Royal Palace, an extremely bright white light suddenly appeared, carrying the power to crush everything, collapsing nearby buildings, its explosive wind raising an intense airflow, rushing towards him.
A bomb!
An exploding bomb in the high sky!
The timer wasn't supposed to end yet...
Under this white light, Sage even saw a figure flying upwards, as if...