Chapter 44 - Captain Smoker

A torrential downpour soaked the clothes of everyone running amok in Loguetown. To the West of town, two people arrived where the Going Merry was docked. Upon arriving, they saw a man standing next to a lion who was attempting to light the ship on fire, though he failed due to the rain.

"How dare you try to hurt Merry!" Usopp exclaimed, immediately firing his most explosive ammo from his slingshot.

"Eh?"

*Boom*

Face burned and charred by the explosion, the man collapsed to the ground unconscious. The lion roared angrily, but then a foot slammed into its face and sent it flying.

"This was easy. Usopp could have handled it alone," Sanji grumbled. He habitually tried to light a cigarette, only to be foiled by the heavy downpour. It only irritated him more. However, when he raised an annoyed gaze to the clouds, his mouth gaped. The unlit cigarette fell into the mud.

A few hundred meters away from the Going Merry, a vertical row of massive red eyes stared back, their intentions unknown to human perception. A writhing mass too large to fit through the rift filled the entirety of the visible gash in reality. Small beasts of varying shapes and sizes poured from within onto the ground below. Black bubbling skin and tendrils formed their misshapen bodies. Their figures looked deformed and grotesque, as though abominable corrupted chimeras of normal beasts.

"Wha-?! What is that?" Usopp exclaimed.

"It can't be… that Jin guy knew this would happen and told me to go here too because of it? If it is, I'm gonna kick his ass later."

Moments later, Nami arrived, heaving tiredly. She, too, couldn't believe her eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, Luffy laughed while sprinting through the streets of Loguetown. Jin and Zoro followed close behind.

"The mission looks like it will happen a bit close to the Going Merry," Jin said, checking his phone.

"Mhm."

"Eh? What mission?"

"To prevent monsters from killing the people of Loguetown, as far as I can tell," Zoro answered.

"Ah! That's bad! Let's stop the monsters!"

Jin chuckled briefly, but then stopped upon seeing the ominous rift splitting open off in the distance.

After a couple minutes of running, they heard a chugging motor. It quickly rumbled closer. Before long, a three-wheeled motorcycle skidded to a halt from a side road onto the main road in front of them. Smoke billowed toward them from the trike.

Jin narrowed his eyes and cast a globular barrier around Luffy, Zoro, and himself. The smoke bounced off the barrier at first, but then careened against it with a wild fervor. Cracking sounds echoed around them.

"Wow! That's cool! What's this smoke?" Luffy commented without a care in the world, still running forward.

Cracks spread through Jin's barrier, making him frown. Captain Smoker's destructive power exceeded his expectations by a good margin.

'Did the guy know Haki already, or is his base strength just that high?'

Even though Captain Smoker's ability was very versatile, he thought he might be able to stop the guy inside a barrier if he settled back into a small human form. Either that, or he could resort to using his geass.

The barrier broke a moment later. Smoke poured over them like water from a broken dam.

"Gomu Gomu no Pistol!"

Luffy's fist pierced through the smoke, but then a rough voice spoke at the other end.

"Is that all a thirty million berry pirate is capable of?"

Zoro tried to cut the smoke, but it didn't do much. In contrast, Jin floated into the air on his barrier board. The smoke pinned both Zoro and Luffy to the ground, but it still chased after Jin. He flew around randomly while watching carefully. While in the air, he noted two figures of interest. The first was Tashigi who stood next to Smoker, glaring at him with a conflicted expression. The second was a hooded figure watching from a nearby rooftop. Jin gave a small nod of recognition, which the man returned with an amused grin.

Not wanting to waste too much time here anymore, Jin looked down at Smoker and asked, "Are you sure you should be wasting your time here with what is happening west of town right now?"

"Tch. As if a pirate would care. The Marines are capable enough to handle that while I capture you pirate scum."

"Hah. Pirate, eh? Think what you want. Not that it matters, but I intend to stop that anomaly, and you're in my way since I need these guys to help me. How pitiful that a Marine Captain would prefer to capture a few small-time pirates rather than protect the people under his charge."

"So you're the manipulative type, huh?" Smoker grumbled.

Despite Smoker's persistence, Jin noticed the increased hesitance in Tashigi's gaze toward him. She chewed on her lip as though mulling over a difficult quandary.

Eventually, Smoker grunted in annoyance and stopped chasing Jin with smoke pillars. He focused on Luffy, grabbed the handle of the sword strapped to his back, and said, "Let's remove the nuisances first."

Jin, looking somewhat tired of this hindrance, cast a barrier atop the sword handle. The action caused Smoker to look up at him. The moment they made eye contact, Jin used his geass.

The next moment, Smoker found himself within an empty white space. He spun around with wide eyes, searching for the pirate scum that had just been held within his grasp. Finally, his eyes landed on the familiar purple-haired annoyance who had been bothering him during the previous scuffle. Immediately, he tried to turn his arms into smoke, but nothing happened. He tried again. And again. In the end, he grit his teeth and reached for his sword, but it wasn't there. Without any other options, he ran toward the young man in an attempt to brawl with him.

"Compared to Irene, this is much less stressful," Jin mumbled.

He then parried Smoker's attacks with martial arts honed within dangerous warzones. After a brief back and forth, Jin finally found an opening and slipped closer to Smoker. Then, in a flurry of movement, Smoker slammed onto the floor face first with hands held behind his back. Jin sat on them to hold the guy in place.

"What did you do, pirate?"

"I'm not a pirate," Jin calmly replied while watching colors spread into a scene of Smoker's childhood.

"What is this? Is that… me?"

"Yes."

"...You have more than one Devil Fruit?"

"Obviously not. Anyway, time is essentially stopped outside of here, so we can take a few moments to talk."

"There is nothing to discuss with a pirate."

"You're really stubborn," Jin grumbled, punching the man in the back of his spine to prevent his struggling movements.

"Just kill me and get it over with. Don't toy with me, pirate."

"What is wrong with you? Can't you tell we didn't have any interest in fighting you in the first place? And for the last time, I'm not a pirate. I'm more like a mercenary, and my job is to stop that anomaly. I'll admit the Straw Hats are a fun bunch to travel with, though."

"Hmm."

Finally, Smoker stopped struggling and narrowed his eyes. He noticeably mulled over Jin's words, totally ignoring his memories playing out in front of him.

"Took long enough. I'm aware you take your job seriously, but at least for the time being, put protecting the town first. That will serve both our interests. We can settle any grudges afterward. Does that work for you?"

Smoker closed his eyes for several moments. Eventually, he sighed and said, "Protecting the people is a Marine's duty. Even if a few pirates get away because of my duty, then I can always chase them down."

"So we've got at least a temporary truce, then?"

"..."

"Good."