Boom!
The huge living room suddenly echoed with a solid thud as Smoker's smoky form seemed to abruptly gain weight and was hurled across the room. He slammed into the wall with a loud crash, then slowly slid down to the floor like a puddle of jelly.
—! !
Everyone who had been ready to laugh at Finn's expense found their jaws nearly hitting the floor. The living room fell so silent that even a pin drop would have been deafening. Eyes blinked, and a few rubbed them in disbelief. Could this be a hallucination?
But no, there he was—Smoker, sliding down the wall and collapsing onto the ground.
"This... how is this possible...?"
Everyone was dumbfounded. Smoker was a Logia-type Devil Fruit user! How could he be knocked away with a single punch?
But then, their eyes shifted to Finn's hand...
Hiss!!—
Everyone's hearts leapt into their throats.
No way! That's Armament Haki!
Finn, just a teenager, had already mastered Armament Haki? The same Haki that most of them, even in their middle age, had barely scratched the surface of?
And the concentration of Armament Haki on Finn's fist...
No comparison, no harm~
As they realized the gap between them and Finn, they felt as though they'd wasted decades of their lives.
Bogart's mouth twitched.
Originally, he thought Finn's Armament Haki was merely well-developed. But the Haki Finn had just displayed—so precise and powerful—was on a completely different level.
There's no way anyone could achieve that without over ten years of intense training. And that's only if they had exceptional talent to begin with!
Could it be that Finn had been training in Haki since he was two or three years old? Had Garp been secretly training him all along?
Bogart shot a glance at Garp from the corner of his eye, but even Garp looked horrified.
Did Garp not know either? Was Finn self-taught?
What kind of monster is this?
Tashigi, her mouth agape, covered it with her hands. Just moments ago, she had dismissed Finn as an inexperienced brat, even holding a bit of contempt for him. But to her surprise, he had already mastered Haki!
Tashigi had worked so hard, yet at 20, she was still stuck at the threshold of Haki. And here was Finn, just a teenager, who had already reached such an advanced level!
It's impossible to achieve this without immense effort!
Not only does he know how to show respect, but he's also incredibly powerful!
Thinking this, Tashigi's cheeks flushed with embarrassment. She felt a pang of guilt for having looked down on Finn.
"Hey! This was your request, so don't blame me," Finn said as he deactivated his Armament Haki and walked toward Smoker.
The officers in the living room instinctively parted to make way for him. None of them dared to underestimate him now.
"Armament Haki..." Smoker muttered as Finn approached, his features twisted in disbelief. "How is this possible..."
His heart was filled with regret and frustration.
If only I hadn't underestimated him...
Or if I'd known Finn could use Armament Haki...
There's no way I would've let this happen! This little brat used all his strength to land that blow, leaving me unable to fight back right now!
Smoker thought that even if Finn knew Armament Haki, he could still beat him with his own strength. What he didn't know was that Finn hadn't even used his full power.
Finn had only used about one-tenth of his strength. After all, they were both Marines—there was no need to go overboard.
Seeing the look in Smoker's eyes, Finn knew Smoker wouldn't accept defeat easily. He placed his left hand on Smoker's shoulder.
Smoker immediately waved him off. "Don't help me. I'll just sit here for a while."
Finn's punch had landed squarely on his stomach, and now Smoker felt like his internal organs were twisted into knots. It was a miracle he hadn't cried out in pain.
If I move now, I might pass out from the pain...
Finn shrugged. "No, I wasn't planning to help you."
"Ah? Then why are you...?" Smoker glanced down at Finn's left hand on his shoulder.
Finn smiled and explained in all seriousness, "Our fight isn't over yet. I'm holding your shoulder with my left hand to steady you. That way, my right fist will be more stable for the next punch~"
Pfft!
Everyone in the room sucked in a sharp breath.
More stable...
Relatively stable...
Are you a devil?