41 41. Water Release: Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave

Knowing Izumi was the culprit that made the marines lose face, Smoker no longer targeted Luffy. He ordered all his subordinates to surround Izumi.

They blocked all paths to escape. The marines didn't just surround him on the street. In fact, many were also on top of the buildings carrying weapons.

"You're surrounded. Surrender!" Smoker crossed his arms valiantly as he said that.

"Hahaha." Izumi slapped his forehead in his laugh. "You want to play rough, huh? Then I'll show you that numbers alone aren't enough to stop me."

Since his mission required him to get a bounty of 80 million, that meant he had to play the role of villain. Well, Izumi also thought being a villain wasn't too bad.

"Fire!" The marines fired their guns and rifles at Izumi. However, they were stunned. Izumi was no longer at the place where they shot. Instead, what they shot was just a wooden log. Even Smoker widened his eyes in surprise.

"How did he–? How did he become a log?"

Suddenly, Smoker heard a voice. The voice came from behind the marines who had previously surrounded Izumi.

Izumi formed hand seals.

"Tiger, Rat, Horse, Snake, Dragon, *clap*. Suiton: Suidanha!"

Izumi turned his energy into water within her body, then he spat it out as a high-pressure stream and cut the buildings that the marines were standing on in half.

*Boom*

*Boom*

*Boom*

The buildings collapsed instantly thanks to the Ninjutsu that Izumi unleashed. The marines who were under the buildings could only escape so that they were not buried by the buildings.

"Rat, Dog, Ox. Suiton: Suiben."

Izumi created a whip made of water. The whip could also be controlled freely by him. Because Izumi is currently using Lightning Release Chakra Mode, the water whip is filled with lightning that can shock anyone who touches it except Izumi.

He swung the whip toward the marines. They all had no chance to resist and were electrocuted from the lightning-water whip.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps from behind. It was Tashigi who carried out the sneak attack. Too bad, she was too noisy and made Izumi notice her presence.

Izumi swung his leg back and did a round kick. Izumi's kicks were so fast because Lightning Release Chakra Mode made his speed increase to double or even triple his normal state. As a result, Tashigi was unable to dodge and could only withstand it with her arms. She was thrown into the rubble of the building afterward.

However, as soon as Izumi had kicked Tashigi into the rubble of the building, Smoker appeared behind him. Izumi sensed that someone was attacking him from behind, which indicated that he was starting to be able to use his Kenbunshoku Haki.

But he didn't know who attacked him from behind. So he just counterattacked using a punch. He realized when his punch missed the person behind him which made him look back.

"Shit, Smoker."

*Bang*

Izumi was hit so hard that he was thrown into the rubble as was the case with Tashigi.

"Troublesome brat. He has a variety of techniques. From shifting places, lightning, and water. Looks like I shouldn't underestimate a ninja. But still, your attacks will have no effect on me."

Tashigi emerged from behind the rubble while leading Izumi who seemed to have been caught. Smoker wondered why Izumi was caught so easily after everything that happened.

"Report Captain Smoker, I've caught him. Izumi the ninja with a bounty of 20 million Berries."

"Good job, Tashigi! Take him to the prison, I'll go after the Straw Hat!"

"Yes."

Smoker turned and started walking toward the sea. When Smoker crossed paths with Tashigi, she let out a smirk while holding an object he held close to Smoker's body.

*Bang*

Tashigi, who had felt something, jumped backward to avoid the bullet.

"Smoker-san, she's not me! Be careful!"

Smoker turned his head to that voice. To his surprise, he saw Tashigi carrying a gun from the rubble with wounds and blood running down her head. Actually, she was reluctant to use a gun, but she had no other choice.

"What??" Hearing that, Smoker looked sharply at Tashigi who was carrying Izumi.

Tashigi in front of Smoker clicked her tongue.

"Tch. I thought I'd be able to catch you without having to put in a lot of effort and destroy the city."

Then, smoke enveloped her and Izumi's bodies. When the smoke dispersed, only Izumi was left alone with wounds on his head and body. Izumi saw his torn and tattered clothes like a tramp which made him frown.

"With just one attack you can damage my clothes? Looks like I should stop by the clothing store before I leave."

Of course, his clothes were torn because he was thrown into the rubble, not because of Smoker. Even so, he couldn't stand wearing tattered clothes.

"Did you think I would let you leave? Also, what did you just do earlier? How can you become Tashigi? Even your voice is similar."

Izumi gestured to him to calm down.

"Alright, alright. I'll tell you. It's just a basic ninja technique. Even a 12-year-old kid is good at it."

"You lie! There's no way such a technique is a basic technique." Smoker felt that Izumi's words were bullshit. But Izumi just shrugged his shoulders.

"It's up to you to believe it or not. Basically, it's the easiest technique to release than the others. Oh right. If you want to back down, I'll let you go. But if not, I'll be serious."

"So, you're saying you just play around with me up till now?"

"Hehe. I did it so that the Straw Hat could escape."

Smoker gritted his teeth.

"All of you, who are still conscious, hurry up and go after the Straw Hat and his group!"

Izumi suddenly performed a Ram hand seal when Smoker ordered the others.

"Suiton: Dai Bakusui Shouha!"

Izumi spewed out a massive amount of water, it created waves that slapped an entire area. Suddenly, the waves gathered in a place that turned into a gigantic water ball-like prison.

All the marines in the surrounding area were trapped in the gigantic water prison, including Smoker who was instantly paralyzed as soon as his body sank into the water. While Izumi stood on top of the gigantic water prison while controlling it.

— — — —

Since the marines had asked the civilians to stay away from the area around the square, no one was affected by the battle. As soon as they saw the gigantic water ball appeared. They were so dumbfounded.

"What is that?"

"Is this the work of pirates?"

"How can it be? There's no way a pirate can be so strong that he can spawn a gigantic water ball."

"So, can you explain that? Look, even a lot of marines are trapped in there."

"What is Captain Smoker doing? Isn't he a very strong marine?"

The civilians looked worried about the emergence of a powerful pirate that the marines couldn't handle.

— — — —

Meanwhile, Luffy was still waiting for Izumi on his ship and told everyone not to spread the sails before Izumi arrived. But then, everyone on the ship saw a gigantic water ball appear. And the location was also around the Logue town square.

"Hey hey, what is that?" Usopp was the first to respond.

"Damn, was their fight that intense?" Zoro frowned.

"Luffy, you said Smoker is a Logia-type Devil Fruit user, right? And he can turn himself into smoke?"

Luffy nodded.

"You also heard from Izumi that he is a Logia-type Devil Fruit user. I don't know if what he said is true or not. But I believe that the smoky can indeed turn his body into smoke." Luffy said.

"Smoky?"

"Again, you name people as you please."

They wondered, even though Luffy should be able to remember someone's name easily, for some reason, if they weren't his close friends, he would have called them using strange names.

"I heard Smoker is the strongest marine in this town. Since he arrived in Logue town, many pirates have been caught by him. And if he really was a Logia-type user—" Nami heard Smoker from the civilians. But she had never heard that Smoker was a Logia-type Devil Fruit user.

Sanji suddenly interjected her.

"If Smoker is a Logia-type Devil Fruit user, then we can't do anything to him. That's why Izumi let us escape and he held Smoker back. Nevertheless, Izumi seems to know very well the weaknesses of Devil Fruit users. He even knows about Haki that we never knew before."

Nami saw a gigantic water ball from a distance.

"That means, that gigantic water ball—"

Sanji nodded.

"It must be him. But I'm quite surprised. If he can use such a powerful move, why didn't he use it against Mihawk?" He held his chin while saying.

"Are you stupid, mustache eyebrows? Izumi obviously knew that such a move won't work on Mihawk." Zoro replied to him while scratching his head.

"What did you say, moss head?"

"Want to fight?"

*Smack* *smack*

"Stop it, you fools!" Nami was so annoyed by them.

"Ah, Nami-san. I'm willing to be beaten by you many times."

Sanji, who was lying on the deck, looked at Nami with his heart-shaped eyes.

Usopp twitched seeing him.

"Is your head okay, Sanji?"

"Leave him alone! Anyway, Luffy. We must leave immediately! A big storm is coming!"

"Wait some more time!"

Nami was worried that if the storm came, they would not be able to leave Logue town. However, Luffy asked them to wait a little longer.