The black spears that had already been thrown couldn't have Armament Haki infused into them, but it wasn't hard to do that with weapons still held in hand. In the New World, any decent Marine officer could manage that.
Tashigi thrust her spear, aiming to pierce Sabo's chest. At that moment, Sabo proactively entered his elemental transformation, letting his chest dissolve into flames. He even turned himself into a massive fireball, like a monster opening its maw to swallow Tashigi and Smoker whole.
"That kid Sabo is too hasty." Robin shook her head helplessly from a distance. His move was clearly a bit foolish.
While the flames from his body had higher temperature, using this against two people who could use Haki was like Princess Iron Fan inviting Sun Wukong into her belly.
Not to mention Smoker still had his Sea-Prism Stone jitte.
Sure enough, before Sabo's plan could succeed, Smoker struck him with his jitte. Once the Sea-Prism Stone at the tip made contact, the flames in the air vanished.
The white-haired, short-tempered older brother instantly extended his left hand, his large palm grabbing Sabo's neck and lifting him up.
Sabo, weakened by the Sea-Prism Stone, had no strength to resist.
"Ahh!"
Tashigi was quick to react. Between her fingers, five slender black spears materialized. She snapped them off and immediately stabbed them into Sabo's body, pinning him to the rock.
The battle situation reversed in that instant!
"Phew… what a troublesome brat." Smoker pressed his jitte against Sabo's body to prevent him from using his ability again and escaping from the black spears.
Normally, for such a troublesome pirate brat, considering he'd be a threat in the future, it'd be better to just kill him. Or take him back to Impel Down.
The problem was, if they did that, the Marines and Inazuma might actually go to war. Whether Inazuma would start a war over a brat, he didn't know, but the Whitebeard Pirates definitely would.
So the Marines didn't dare to bet on it, unless they were prepared to annihilate Inazuma. And whether this brat's head was worth it.
If this kid Sabo was the Raiden Shogun's son, the Marines might actually give him a public execution.
Unfortunately, the Raiden Shogun wasn't blonde, and he didn't have many blonde subordinates around him.
"What should we do with this kid now? If we remove the jitte, he'll definitely escape." Tashigi asked worriedly.
"Take him and retreat directly. We can use him as a hostage." Smoker thought for a moment.
"Retreat? What about the intelligence inside the Udon Daimyo Residence? We haven't even seen the residence yet."
"This kid was clearly waiting for us here beforehand. I'm afraid Kujo Yayoi already anticipated someone would try to infiltrate." Smoker explained.
However, Tashigi had a different opinion.
"It's normal to have suspicions, but sending only this one kid proves a lot. Udon shouldn't have more forces to deal with us. Now that we've finally dealt with this kid, how can we retreat?"
"Smoker, you're being too timid! Tashigi is very angry with you!"
Smoker glanced at the still-struggling Sabo and felt Tashigi had a point.
Such a young genius, of course Inazuma would protect him well. If they truly had no manpower left, why would they send him out?
"Since that's the case, then we'll just knock him out." Smoker pressed his jitte against Sabo's throat, about to strike when suddenly, a slender, pale arm sprouted from Sabo's chest.
That delicate hand looked as soft and powerless as a willow branch, but it grabbed Smoker's jitte from the side and snapped it directly!
"What?"
Without the jitte's restriction, Sabo immediately reverted to flowing flames and escaped, leaving only the blood-stained black rod still embedded deep in the rock.
"That arm—who does it belong to?"
"Could there be another enemy?"
Smoker was alarmed and uncertain.
Not far away, Sabo reformed his body. He knelt on one knee, looking quite disheveled, with several clear blood holes in his body.
Even though he was a Logia user, the injuries he'd already sustained couldn't heal instantly.
Beside him, for some reason, scattered flower petals drifted down like rain. Among the fluttering petals, a graceful figure appeared and disappeared.
"Just as I suspected, only the very tip of your jitte contains Sea-Prism Stone, right? The middle part broke quite easily." Robin said lightly.
"Who exactly are you…"
Smoker's voice was low. Even though the person before him was a woman, he was actually more on guard. History had proven that women from Inazuma were never simple. Those high-ranking executives who had been active overseas were mostly female.
"Don't worry, you don't need to worry about me joining the fight. After all, I'm just a scientist, without the kind of (weak) strength you have." Robin said seriously.
Smoker: ???
No strength, yet you snapped my jitte just like that?
Smoker was speechless. His jitte, even though only the tip was Sea-Prism Stone, the rest wasn't made of ordinary rock either. Yet it was broken so casually by this "strengthless" scientist.
Was this reasonable?
"Thanks, Big Sister Robin. If you hadn't helped, I'd have been in trouble."
"You were too careless. Why didn't you use the Demon King Armament from the start?" Robin asked. "If I hadn't been here today, you might have been turned into a pincushion and carried away."
"Sorry, sorry. Because I'm a Logia user, so…" Sabo scratched his head with a sheepish grin. Then he added, "Don't worry, I won't be careless again."
"Demon King Armament? What's that?" Smoker heard the term and immediately felt it was important intelligence.
Demon King Armament—it sounded like some kind of evil thing. Maybe it was another powerful machine produced by Inazuma.
This damned Inazuma, how many more scientific achievements hadn't they revealed?
They hadn't even reached the Udon Daimyo Residence to get useful information yet, but Smoker had already seen enough terrifying things. Or rather, just the intelligence about the Demon King Armament alone was enough to make this trip worthwhile.
Of course, that was assuming they could get out alive!
"Want to know what the Demon King Armament is?"
"You'll see it right away!"
Sabo clutched his wound and moved his body. Normally, this would have been the best opportunity for Smoker and Tashigi to attack. But the two of them, wary of Robin's interference, didn't dare make a move.
"Demon King—Armament!"
[
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