Chapter 10 : Khaos Pirates
Gun looked down at Smoker's hand before answering his question.
"I am Gun, a bounty hunter and I am here to collect my bounty." Gun replied while shaking Smoker's hand.
"So you are that person huh? I was quite surprised when I returned to my office. Everyone became flustered because they had to prepare a huge amount of money." Smoker then sighed before saying in an apologetic voice.
"It was a surprise when an anonymous bounty hunter like you appeared and destroyed hundreds of pirates. The bounty to pay for those heads is huge so we need time to prepare everything. Sorry for this inconvenience."
"Well, it's okay. Anyway, I want to visit this town."
"You are always welcome to Loguetown." Smoker said, in Smoker's eyes, Gun was an exemplary citizen for having personally exterminated many pirates. It was this that made Gun unknowingly gain Smoker's respect.
"Do you want to have a drink with me? Take this as my apology for what happened."
*****
Gun decided to accept Smoker's invitation and the three of them went to a nearby beer hall.
"Hey, why didn't someone as strong as you become a marine? "Smoker complained to Gun. He admits that Gun is strong. Plus the fact that Gun had killed a lot of pirates and helped a girl escape rape led Smoker to conclude that Gun was a good person.
"Huh, there's no reason for me to work with the navy." Gun shrugged in response before he reached for a beer.
"You should use your power to protect innocent people." Tashigi said.
"No way, I'm not a masochist who would go to war to protect random people." Gun complained.
"Then why are you helping that girl? Tashigi continued to argue with Gun.
"Just because that bastard ruined the mood of my visit."
"What about you going around killing pirates?"
"Isn't that obvious? I did it for the bonus." Gun answered without any hesitation, much to Tashigi and Smoker's disappointment. They really wanted someone as strong as Gun to become a marine. If that happens, innocent people will no longer worry about the threat of pirates.
After they had a few beers together, Gun decided to leave.
"Hey, since you were in Cocoyashi village before, I wanted to ask you a question. " Smoker spoke up.
" Keep asking ."
"Do you know anything about the two pirates that attacked the naval headquarters in the Conomi Islands?."
Gun was a bit surprised by Smoker's question, but he didn't show it.
'So the news about Akaza and Rize's attack on the naval base has spread huh?.'
"No… I don't know anything about these things. What 's up ?." Gun said.
"Not really… It's just that these rookies are strong. Be careful ."
"Okay, thanks for warning me." Gun said before leaving. Leaving Smoker a bit disappointed because he couldn't convince Gun to join the Marines. Meanwhile, Tashigi constantly complains about Gun being a greedy person for money, not really a good person.
*****
After returning to his ship. Gun rested before leaving to collect the remaining money the next morning. Gun put his money away with a happy mood. He has just added nearly 100 million beli and brought the total amount he has now to 200 million beli.
After getting his money, he decides to continue his tour with Rize and Nojiko.
The three receive a lot of different looks when they go for a walk together. Many men were jealous of Gun because he was with two beautiful girls. Many people looked at them with fear in their eyes, especially when they looked at Rize and whispered something to each other.
However, Gun didn't care about this, he bought Nojiko a skewer of grilled meat and a dumpling filled with meat and said.
"Eat it, these are pretty good."
" Really ? Will it taste as good as the food I make?" Nojiko said with a mischievous smile.
"No, it's not as good as the food you make. It was the right decision to accept your deal."
"Ara It's a pity that I can't candle these dishes."
"Then I'll describe it to you… I'm not sure if you can figure it out…" Gun said uncertainly. To Rize, human food tasted disgusting, so logically she couldn't imagine the taste of food, no matter how Gun described it.
After their brief visit, the three headed for the town's port, where their boat was.
*****
"You guys are so weak. If you're so weak, who can you protect?" Akaza said in a disdainful voice as he punched through the stomach of the same marine.
"Even though there are many, you are as weak as bugs." Akaza continued to taunt the marines as they tried to surround him. A short distance away from him, Cane's group of men were also fighting the marines.
Not long ago, many marines gathered here to round up Cane's pirates and round up the rookie pirate Akaza.
"Didn't Gun-sama chase you away?" Akaza spoke to Cane's group while he kicked the marines with a kick.
"…Ah um…" Cane didn't know how to answer Akaza's question, he just wanted to prove himself in order to join Gun's 'pirate'. Suddenly, a white smoke appeared in front of Cane before it accumulated into the form of a human.
Before Cane could react to what was in front of him, Smoker smacked his staff in the face.
Cane was knocked far away by Smoker's attack and crashed into a nearby chamber column. Not only was Cane being beaten up, even the other members of his party were attacked by Smoker.
"Captain John Cane, if I remember correctly, your pirate crew numbered up to twenty members. Why are there so few now?… looks like you've joined these rookies. Well, that doesn't matter either. After I'm done with you, I'll take care of him." Smoker let out a puff of white smoke before he raised his staff high. He swung down sharply with the aim of knocking John Cane unconscious in one hit.
Just before Smoker could complete his attack, he stopped when he felt his hand holding his staff made of sea stone.
" …Captain ." Cane was surprised to see who stopped Smoker's attack.
"What's the point of this, Gun?"
"Well, I don't know what you're talking about."
"Do you think this is a joke?" Smoker growled and turned to smoke surrounding Gun.
Smoker suddenly attacked Gun directly, he was confident that Gun would not be able to do anything against a logia Devil Fruit eater like him. However, Smoker was wrong as Gun easily dodged Smoker's attack before counterattacking by hurling a punch to his side.
The sudden intense pain made it impossible for Smoker to react to the reason why Gun was able to attack him.
"Smoker-San, I told you we cannot trust this man. Such an evil man...! I'm sure he's friends with those pirates!" Tashigi came after Gun and swung his katana at Gun's back.
Gun turned around to dodge Tashigi's attack, while also hurling a kick in the face of Smoker.
"You're wrong Tashigi, I'm not their friend. I am their captain." Gun said with a smile as Rize and Akaza walked up behind him, leaving dozens of dead marines behind.
Smoker and Tashigi now understood how at a disadvantage they were themselves when . Especially since Gun can use Haki.
In terms of physical strength, Smoker had the edge, but because he was so dependent on his Devil Fruit, he was taken by surprise by Gun. Undoubtedly, Gun's ability to use Haki was enough for Smoker to realize that he was at a huge disadvantage. Not to mention the appearance of Akaza and Rize, Smoker judged that these two are also extremely powerful as they have slaughtered many marines in a short time.
"Gun, are you really the captain of these guys? Akaza is wanted for 32 million beli, Rize is wanted for 27 million beli." Smoker almost growled with anger as he felt himself betrayed. He considers Gun an exemplary citizen because Gun has defeated many evil pirates. And now the truth has slapped Smoker in the face very painfully. Gun is the captain of these dangerous people.
" Yes. It's a pity that the navy hasn't wanted my head yet. Probably because they don't have any information about me yet. By the way, I will say it here. I am their captain… The Khaos Pirates."
[Mission Update: Form a pirate crew with a bounty of 300 million beli .]