37 [37]Rainy Night

"Cough!what's your plan?!" Smoker was still on the ground as Ren stomped on him.

"You'll know soon."

After Ren finished speaking, he took his foot off Smoker's back, covered it with Haki, and then stomped on him again!

*Baaam!*

"Aaagh!"

"Smoker-san!" Tashigi screamed and looked at Smoker who coughed up another mouthful of blood.

Tashigi didn't know what to do in this situation, she couldn't think of any effective solution to get out of this danger.

She was still a young girl after all, her physical and mental strength had long been exhausted, and thinking too much about her justice and Ren's words, and the Kokoyashi incident that was caused by the corruption of the marines had exhausted her mind.

She closed her eyes as she listened to Smoker's screams , he was being trampled and kicked while coughing up blood every time, The pain in her heart wasn't small.

But the strange thing is that she didn't hate Ren even after all this....

She clearly knew that he was a pirate and criminal but...

Tashigi thought about what would have happened if Ren hadn't beat Arlong.

Of course, the people of kokoyachi village will suffer for a much longer period..perhaps forever!

While Tashigi was immersed in her own thoughts about justice and values and such nonsense, Ren stopped hitting Smoker and said:

"This is to make sure you don't do anything stupid, I don't have sea stone handcuffs."

"Cough... cough...Hmph! Whatever you are planning, my soldiers and I will not obey you, no matter how much you torture me or threaten me!" Smoker's stance remains firm and the determination in his eyes seems to have become stronger.

"Aaaaaah!" Ren grabbed him and lifted him into the air with one hand. Smoker's body was covered in blood in a bloody scene, Ren didn't need to activate his Armament Haki because Smoker was no longer able to even move, let alone use his devil fruit ability.

As Smoker was lifted up with one hand by his neck, Ren opened his mouth and said:"You'll do what I ask of you without any tricks or...If you refuse I will kill a Marine every 10 minutes."

"!!!"

"What?!"

"Evil pirate!"

"Damn you!"

.

..

...

The Marines screamed in anger upon hearing Ren's statement but...

*Bang!*

"Shut up you sons of bitches! Don't bother Captain Ren." Nojiko shot into the sky and screamed coldly.

*swallow*

"The injured Marines swallowed their words and were forced to keep their complaints and grievances to themselves.

They were very afraid of Nojiko because this time, the blue-haired woman was the one who pierced their bodies with her bullets and brought them to this situation!

Tashigi didn't have much of a reaction to Ren's words cause she was busy in her own thoughts.

Kaya, although she found it cruel to execute a marine every 10 minutes, didn't oppose Ren's will , And for Nami she was observing everything coldly while keeping an eye on Tashigi.

"Bastard! Don't even think about touching the Marines or you will be chased to the end of the world-"

*Slap!*

"Noisy! It's been 4 minutes, it's up to you."

Ren said simply then threw Smoker into the corner of the ship and pulled out a gun from the infinity space.

'Is this a Devil Fruit ability?!' Smoker looked at this scene where a weapon appeared out of nowhere and remembered the sword that Ren had pulled out with the same trick.

"So you're using a Devil Fruit ability...I see." He said in a low voice.

"Even in this state you still want to get information to report to your master Sengoku.. You are like a diligent dog"Ren laughed.

"You bast-!!"

"It's been 7 minutes."

Smoker sighed and began to think calmly after calming down, in the first place the situation isn't bad to the point of no return.

Ren didn't kill him directly, which indicates that he needs him and will not kill him now, which means that he and his subordinates are safe for now.

But if he refused Ren's request, he was sure that this Crazy would do what he promised and execute a soldier every 10 minutes.

Smoker was good at judging people and knew that Ren was someone who was accustomed to seeing corpses and blood and was accustomed to taking lives without any remorse!

He was a typical pirate.

"10 minutes have passed"

Ren pointed his gun at a random soldier and was about to shoot, but Smoker's voice interrupted him: "I'll do what you want! I will do...so please don't kill them."

"Smoker-san..."

"Don't care about our lives Smoker-san, and don't do what the evil pirate wants!"

"Yes yes he is right!"

*Bang!*

It was Ren who fired a warning shot this time to silence the screaming crowd.

He put the gun in his pocket and walked towards Smoker who was covered in blood and lying in the corner.

"You look like a dog in this state... haha."

Smoker tried to restrain his anger and swallowed Ren's insults bitterly.

"Tell me what you want...cough! And end this!" Smoker said as he coughed up a mouthful of blood.

Ren didn't care about Smoker's condition and said"Nami~ Bring Miss Tashigi here!"

Nami Didn't ask why and quickly brought the frightened and astonished Tashigi in front of Ren and Smoker.

"Wait! What do you want from Tashigi?!"

*Slap!*

"shut up!"Ren slapped Smoker and looked at him coldly

'Oh...!!!' Smoker could only watch as Ren insulted him.

Nami arrived with Tashigi, who had the sword in front of her throat,She looked at Ren with worry and stress waiting for what he would say.

"Did you think carefully about my words Miss Tashigi?"Ren said.

Tashigi was silent and lowered her head, she didn't dare to look at Ren or Smoker,Smoker knew that Tashigi's mental state and her beliefs about justice was due to Ren, but he didn't know what he said to her.

He wanted to speak out and bring justice to Tashigi's heart, but before he did that...

*Slap!*

He was slapped again.

"Don't blame me if you become toothless, Smoker." Ren threatened.

"Where is thet rue justice?" Tashigi asked with tears in her eyes.

The question was Naturally to Ren , Ren wasn't surprised by this question and had an answer that would convince the girl.

He put his hands behind his back and said :"There is no true justice in this world missTashigi."

BeforeTashigi could react, he quickly added:"Justice can only exist relatively, and this justice also changes in accordance with those in power."

He said this and pointed his finger to the sky.

"Who are the leaders of this world Tashigi?"

It was Ren's turn to ask this time.

Tashigi didn't take a long time to answer this question and said:"Of course they are the Celestial Dragons."

"Correct , now let's assume that a Celestial dragon killed innocent people and enslaved them for no reason under the pretext that he was the grandson of the gods of this world, and all of this happened under the watchful eye of the marines or "the law"Then where is the justice here?

Tashigi widened her eyes in realization, of course she had thought about this before but she tried not to delve into the affairs of the 'gods'.

But Ren opened the doors to the reality of world for her.

'That man..! He's talking about very dangerous things!' Smoker's heart skipped a beat at Ren's words.

Ren continued his words as he approached Tashigi who had fallen to the ground. He raised her chin with his hand and said: "This is why there is no true justice in this world, MissTashigi As long as the laws are not applied equally to everyone, can it be said that this world has a true justice?"

"Justice is power, Whoever has power will impose his justice and laws on others, while he himself will not abide by those laws and justice will not be applied to him if he breaks laws! Because he is basically above these laws!"

"A concept as fragile like justice has become a thing of the past, and those who believe in it are pitiful idiots..."

"The marines are just a guard dog of the World Government and this is a fact that will not change.."

"High-ranking members of the World Government can rape female Marines when Sengoku and the rest of the old men watching but they will not do anything! What are you if you aren't a dog? Hahaha."

With every word and sentence that Ren says, Tashigi's eyes widen and the rest of them, like Nami and Nojiko and Smoker.

Tashigi felt that Ren's words were logical and no matter how hard she tried to find something to refute him she couldn't, while Nami and Nojiko suddenly felt that their lover was very wise and intelligent... Ah...they really wanted to eat him.

Coughing, turning back to Smoker, this time he looked fearfully at Ren.

This was a pirate...or rather he shouldn't be called a pirate because he had pure revolutionary thought! For a moment he thought That Ren was one of the Revolutionary's Army leaders!

The Revolutionary army! The first enemies of the World Government, the organization created by the most dangerous man in the world.

Unfortunately Smoker was thinking too much, Ren had no contact with the Revolutionary Army currently.

"So what should i do?"Tashigi said sadly.

After talking with Ren, she found the answer she wanted, but she was still confused about what she should do.

Her weak faith in the justice of marines has collapsed, but she is now part of this"marine" organization and cannot escape easily.

But Ren was there to ask for advice.

"Tashigi! Don't listen to what this pirate says! Don't forget that you are a marine! your duty is to protect the world and spread justice!"Smoker screamed with all his might because he felt something bad coming.

Tashigi looked at Smoker unusually calmly. She stared at him for a while and then said:"Justice... No, the justice I want doesn't exist in the Navy Smoker-san."

"Tashigi! Come back to your senses! This person is tricking you!" Smoker shouted.

"He's not tricking me! What he's saying is true; If a Heavenly Dragon wanted to rape me or kill me or even kill you, would anyone speak up?! Would anyone reject?! This is just a simple example! There is worse. How many people in this world have suffered from this injustice under the eyes of Marines?" Celestial Dragons takes thousands of slaves every year and most of them are killed...but we Marines are still silent! It's like Ren said...we are like dogs!!"

Tashigi shouted for the first time in her life at Smoker, whom she respected so much but This respect disappeared as her personality began to change and she discovered the truth of this world, or I should say that she accepted reality and no longer ignored the questions that had come to her mind for sometimes.

Smoker was silent and didn't know how to refute Tashigi's words because...it was true!

*Tap* *Tap*

"You've finally started to accept the reality of this hypocritical world tashigi...Well done~"Ren looked at her , he knew that the next step of his plan had come.

"Nojiko, bring me one of these soldiers." Ren looked at his blue-haired lover and said.

"Ok Captain~"

Nojiko quickly came across a marine with a bullet wound to his shoulder and handed him over to Ren.

Ren took out his gun from his pocket and pointed it at the nervous soldier's head ,Then he looked at Smoker and said:"Call Sengoku and tell him what I have to tell you or I'll execute this soldier."

"!!!"

"Evil!" Smoker gritted his teeth, but he couldn't refuse so he said:"There is a special Den Den Mushi inside the ship If you bring it to me I'll do as you say."

"Nami, please." Ren said, and Nami understood what he meant. She quickly entered the ship's room then came out with a medium-sized green Den Den Mushi in her hand.

"You will tell him the following story...Believe me if you try any tricks I'll kill everyone here after torturing them...You don't want anything to happen to your subordinates right?"

"I'll do whatever you want but promise me you won't kill anyone!" Smoker said gravely.

"I promise you."

After getting a promise from Ren and the story he had to tell, Smoker entered the private number and called.

*Berry* *Berry*

*Berry* *Berry*

*Berry* *Berry*

*GA-TCHA~*

"This is Fleet Admiral Sengoku."

"Fleet Admiral this is Smoker , i'll skip the formal greetings due to the emergency situation I am in, I would like to report that I am currently in the midst of a brutal battle with the rookie pirate Ren!"

Sengoku, sitting in his office, became furious after hearing Smoker's tone and seeing the injured form the Den Den Mushi snail had turned into!

How did Smoker get so injured while using Logia?

Sengoku's thoughts raced as Tsuru became interested in what was going on, Smoker's voice soon came again to satisfy their curiosity.

"Sir! I have important information to report! The pirate Ren is a user of Armament Haki and this has negated my Logia advantage! I am about to be defeated and my crew will be annihilated along with me! My current location is a small island near Log Town...I was able to rescue my deputyTashigi And keep her away from the clutches of this pirate- Aaagh!!"

"What's wrong Smoker?! Are you okay?!" Sengoku shouted anxiously, and it seemed that Smoker was hurt as he spoke.

"I don't have long to live sir! I just wanted to report that the bounty on Ren's head is too low for his fighting strength! I've thrown myself into hell."

"AAAh-"

*Ga-tcha~*

"SMOKER!!!"

•••

"That was good?" Smoker asked looking at Ren.

He did what he asked without any questions but he had a lot of questions on his mind.

Why did Ren willingly reveal that he had Armament Haki? Wouldn't he like to keep him as a winning card to surprise the marine?

What does the part of Tashigi where he had to say that she ran away mean?

Unfortunately, Smoker will never know the answers to these questions.

"Yes that was good...even better than I expected.You have an excellent acting talent ."

*Bang!*

The Marine that Ren was using as a threat was shot in the head, he exhaled smoke that rose from the gun's barrel and said.

"Unfortunately, acting won't save your life~"

"Bastard!! As expected from vile pirates!! You cannot be trusted!" Smoker screamed angrily and tried to move his body and resist, but he couldn't.

"Calm down calm down, hahaha you will see a fun show in a moment."

"W-what?" Smoker had a very bad feeling after hearing Ren's words.

Ren didn't answer him and went to Tashigi, who looked at all this with a look of determination and said"Do you want to be my spy?"

"Become your spy? Me?"

"who else? A beautiful and talented girl like you deserves praise. Instead of dying with the sea dogs here, wouldn't it be better for you to live and pursue your own justice?"

Ren's words were like a demonic whisper, his words temptedTashigi deeply but she still asked:"Aren't you going to betray me?"

"Of course not, as long as you are loyal, I'll not do this I promise you."

"Okay, I'll do that! But as for Smoker-san and the rest…"

Before Tashigi could finish her words, she saw Ren close his eyes and move his head.

"I see..."

"Then they are destined to die after all"Tashigi said.

"But in order to join me, you have to do what I'm going to tell you now." Ren said suddenly.

"Tashigi! Are you crazy?! Are you announcing your defection from the marine? What nonsense! Stop That bullshit Tashigi!"Smoker's bad feeling became stronger and he tried to convince Tashigi.

"What should I do?"Tashigi ignored Smoker's shouting and said to Ren.

"Pick up your sword and...kill Smoker!"

"!!!"

Tashigi widened her eyes, Smoker did the same as Nami, Nojiko, Kaya and everyone else who heard what Ren said was shocked.

"..."

"Hahahahahaha"

After a strange moment of calm and silence, Smoker started laughing maniacally and coughed up blood as a result.

"Are you crazy, you bastard pirate? Tashigi will kill me? Bullshit!" Smoker sneered at Ren and looked at him with disdain.

He was going to die anyway so he was no longer afraid of Ren ,All his hopes of surviving through negotiations were gone after he found out that Ren wanted to turn Tashigi into a spy, so he obviously wouldn't let anyone other than her live.

"We'll see what happens...don't be in a hurry "Ren said calmly.

Tashigi who had all eyes on her was unusually calm. She had already decided what she would do and charted her path.

After her beliefs about the false justice of marine were destroyed, a other and stronger beliefs arose! It is the belief that justice is power! That's why in order to achieve her justice, she must become strong! She was completely impressed by Ren's thought.

She grabbed her drawn sword and rose from the ground with coldness in her eyes under the shocked gazes of the Marines and Smoker.

*Dripping* *Dripping*

*Dripping* *Dripping*

*Dripping* *Dripping*

The sky was starting to rain heavily, the sun had set a long time ago and the lights of the two ships were the only source of illumination.

A storm began to brew slowly as the rain increased in intensity.

*clack!* *clack!*

*clack!* *clack!*

Thunder roared and cows roared in the air, coinciding with the rain that fell on Tashigi's face and wet her eyes, making it difficult for people to know whether they were tears or rainwater.

"Don't do that Tashigi..."Smoker tried to speak, but this time he didn't scream like he had done before.

*clack!*

*clack!*

The angry sound of thunder swallowed up Smoker's frightened and sad voice as if it didn't exist.

"Do it... destroy your chains Tashigi!"Ren said.

Tashigi gripped the sword hilt so hard that blood leaked from her hand, but she raised her sword to the sky simultaneously with a lightning strike, making it appear as if she had summoned it.

The Marines were crying sadly while Smoker stared at Tashigi with a look of disbelief, Nami held her breath as if she was watching a great show.

Nojiko was cold as usual.

Kaya was fighting to hold back the tears from spilling out.

As for Ren... he was smiling when he saw Tashigi getting close to killing Smoker.

"No...don't do that Tashigi-san!"

A soldier screamed freely and resisted the pain of the bullets, then ran towards Tashigi to stop her.

*Bang!*

Nojiko sniped him with one shot and knocked him down.

Tashigi didn't care about the dead soldier because her hands were currently shaking as she looked at Smoker.

"Haaaaaaaaa!!!"

With a determined scream, she stabbed her sword into Smoker's heart! The sword pierced Smoker's chest and reached his heart, and pierced him. Soon Smoker's body stopped breathing.

Smoker is dead...

But this is not the problem.

His killer is the problem, Tashigi killed him.

If this news spreads to Log Town Marine Branch, the Marines there will laugh and consider it a joke.

but this is the truth.

Ren looked at this with satisfaction, then motioned with his hand for Nojiko and Nami to clean up the rest of the soldiers.

"Make sure there are no witnesses left to what happened!"

"Ok Captain!"X2

Nami drew her sword and started cutting up all the weak and defenseless soldiers.

They were physically and mentally destroyed, they didn't resist and were quickly finished off by Nojiko's bullets and Nami's sword.

Returning to Tashigi, she didn't care about the massacre that had occurred a while ago and looked at Smoker's body and then at her hand.

*clack!*

"I did it..." Tears started to fall from her eyes but the rain covered them up.

Of course Ren knew she was crying.

He arrived in front of her and remained silent, watching the rain fall on her beautiful face which was crying silently and he said: "Do you hate me?"

"No."

She answered without thinking or hesitating.

"why not?"

"Because you helped me accept a reality that I didn't want to accept."

"Just for this?" Ren asked again.

"This..."In contrast to the sad atmosphere before, Tashigi blushed slightly.

Ren was shocked that she could feel so shy in such a situation.

"Enough drama you have to enter the ship if you don't want to be sick."

"As you command Captain" Tashigi replied.

"Isn't that too fast?"

"..."

"Good job Nami and Nojiko, today's battle ended in victory and we also added a new crew member!"

"Great!"

"Long live Captain Ren!"