24 Chapter 23
[January 1st, 1502; Marineford, Grand Line]
Under the blue sky where the seagulls flew by, there lied one huge training ground. Many familiar faces including Hina and Bastille—the known colleagues of Smoker—were found drenched in sweat, as they all were in push-up positions, repeating the simple exercise with difficulty.
"Huu..." At some distance away from those trainees, there sat the purple-haired man, Zephyr. Smoking a cigarette, in his hand was a publicized report released by the higher up, meant to be spread out among all the marines on a monthly basis.
"To think it's already 1502... time surely flies fast." Zephyr muttered as he read through the report, "and yet, still no lead in terms of the Pirate King's legacy. Might as well say that he didn't have one in the first place."
Then, his eyes sharply rose up from the paper, and gazed at one particular trainee who fell on the ground, "Shu!! What do you think you're doing there?!"
"Huff... huff... but Zephyr-sensei... huff... I can't... huff... do any... longer..." Shu, who was breathing so heavily that the veil in front of his face was repeatedly blown up and down, whimpered.
"Five hundred, that's all I asked out of you!! Are you saying that such a small amount of exercise is exhausting to you?!!" Zephyr yelled at Shu strictly, "Naturally, as the elite marine who's given the privileges that the normal marines are not granted with, you have the responsibility to uphold—and that is to complete the training routines given by me without any complaint!! Is your will so weak that a mere pain in your muscles is enough to make you give up?!!"
Shu bit his lips in frustration. However, he simply couldn't move his arms any longer, and he felt as if his eyes were going to close at any second.
"Huff... huff..."
And he wasn't the only exception. Hina and Akehende too seemed to be at their edge, with their rates of push-ups gradually becoming slower and slower.
In contrast, the rest: Bastille, Maynard, Dalmatian, Cancer, and Doll, seemed to be doing fine.
Zephyr, shaking his head as Shu ended up losing his consciousness, sat back down and took another puff out of his cigarette. When the boy wakes back up, he shall not be allowed to leave this ground until he gets the job done.
Going back to the report in his hand, Zephyr flipped it to the next page,
"...Oh?"
on that page, there was the face of one familiar white-haired boy.
"Chore Boy Smoker, acknowledged for imprisoning 5,142 pirates within a year, single-handedly..." Zephyr was at the loss of words. His jaw slowly opened, and the cigarette fell out of his mouth, but he didn't seem to have noticed. With his eyes locked onto the report, he continued reading,
"...given a promotion to the rank of an... Ensign, at the age of 13."
It was an achievement that was unheard of. Never in the history of Marine did a super rookie like Smoker appear—even among the three most talented marines whom Zephyr taught: Sakazuki, Kizaru, and Kuzan.
"Huff... huff... did you just... say... Smoker, Zephyr-sensei-dara?" Bastille, perking up upon hearing Zephyr's words, asked curiously, "What... was that... huff... again...? Smoker... promotion, you... say?"
Bastille's words triggered the curiosity of everyone. They—excluding Shu on the ground—raised their head up while still in a push-up position.
"You kids..." Zephyr shook his head while lifting his cigarette back up from the ground, before barking out, "If you have the energy to talk, focus on your exercises!!!"
__________
<<49 in terms of number. Among them, the individual wearing the black fedora hat, fitting black suit, and rapier sheathed on his waist—Hustleberry the 'Meister,' has been identified. There is no other possible explanation; we finally caught up on them, Vice Admiral Kuzan.>>
On the deck of a huge marine ship that was steadily approaching one island where various man-made buildings were peaking through, one tall marine with a justice coat at its full glory on his back, Vice Admiral Kuzan, spoke into the Den Den Mushi on his palm.
"...At last," Kuzan formed a smile on his face.
<<Currently, they are situated at the central plaza, as if waiting for someone. What's your order, Vice Admiral Kuzan—hey, Smoker! Get out of my face—>>
<<Kuzan-san,>>
Kuzan listened as the voice emitted from the Den Den Mushi suddenly changed.
<<I request that you give me permission to engage.>>
"What?" One Marine Officer who stood right behind Kuzan, Rear Admiral Stainless, said with an annoyed frown, "Ensign, do you know who we are facing right now?"
Leaning into the Den Den Mushi that Kuzan was holding, Stainless barked into it, "He's Hustleberry the 'Meister,' he's one of the seven known super rookies of the current generation!! And his bounty amounts to a sheer 150 million Beli!! Back off, you already served your role—"
However, before Stainless could finish his words, his face was pushed away by Kuzan.
"Chill, Stainless. Oh, and please don't come too close to me. My type is a lady with a hot body, not a man." Kuzan said in a serious manner, causing Stainless to sweatdrop.
"But Vice Admiral Kuzan, he's—"
"Go ahead, Smoker. You got my permission! But let's make one thing clear," Kuzan said firmly, as his eyes gazed off at the nearing island, "You better have subdued all 49 of them by the time I arrive!"
"VICE ADMIRAL?!!"
<<Yes, sir!>>
__________
"Yes, sir!" I answered with a grin on my face, before giving the mini Den Den Mushi back to my colleague, who was fuming as she snatched the creature away from my hand.
Swoosh!
Then, I side-stepped to dodge a fist from her—I really don't know why the girls I get to know all have the tendency to get violent.
"Smoker!!" Said person, Gion, fumed, "Our order was to await for the main division to arrive! What are you thinking—ugh, and why did Vice Admiral Kuzan even approve that?!"
Gion, the 19-year-old Ensign. Apparently, she was in a similar case as me, having temporarily been transferred to Kuzan's unit from Vice Admiral Tsuru's division. And I admit that at first, I didn't recognize her at all. It was only after learning her name, that I realized that she has actually come out in the anime before.
Cracking my knuckles and stretching my legs, I began to prepare myself for the battle. Not bothering to look back at Gion, I answered seriously, "You read the past reports too, right? Meister has... a peculiar taste, one that can't be tolerated. The longer we wait, the more we place these citizens at risk."
"But—"
"Besides," Interrupting Gion's words with my own, I stated, "the high bounty of Hustleberry originated from his malicious deeds, rather than his strength. You're underestimating our capabilities, Gion."
Gion raised her eyebrow, "Our?"
Grinning, I, within an instant, grabbed Gion by morphing my right arm into smoke, and jumped off of the rooftop where we were hiding on top of,
"SMOKERRRRRR!!!!!" Causing her to scream as we were falling down.
Tap.
And now, the two of us landed right at the central plaza, right in front of Hustleberry. Sitting with his legs crossed and smoking an exquisite-looking cigar, he raised his head slightly to reveal his sharp eyes. Our appearance instantly earned the attention of his crew.
"...Damn it," Gion bickered while locking her eyes at our enemies in front, "I'll see you after this is taken care of!!"
"Sure, sure," I chuckled in amusement, but quickly wiped the smile off my face.
Seeing that we were quite the young-aged individuals, the pirates crackled.
"...Marines, I see," Throwing the cigar away, Hustleberry stood up and placed his hands in his pockets, "But those justice coats, hah..! Just how lowly has Marine's standard fallen?"
His subordinates began to raise their weapons one by one, ready to engage at any moment.
Hustleberry adjusted his fedora hat while giggling darkly, "Regardless, I must thank your stupidity. Beheheh, this is going to be entertaining—"
BOOOM!
All of a sudden, one pirate standing next to Hustleberry, was blown away. By whom? None other than me, who instantly moved a substantial amount of distance, by the use of Soru.
The smile was immediately erased from Hustleberry. Developing the dangerous light in his eyes, he unsheathed the rapier.
SWOOSH!
He stabbed his rapier forth at rapid speed, but I effortlessly dodged it by tilting my head.
'Shigan.'
CLANG!
While Hustleberry's rapier was outstretched, I jabbed my finger, however, Hustleberry moved his rapier at a quick speed, such that my finger was clashing against the blade.
"...I suppose that I was wrong," Hustleberry growled, "A noteworthy one that you are."
CLANG CLANG CLANG!
Immediately after Hustleberry's statement, my legs moved at an incredible speed, sending forth sharp waves of pressurized air, which Hustleberry parried by slashing his rapier. He then dashed at me, all while,
"Shoot him!!"
The seven pirates surrounding me shot their guns at me.
'Tekkai—'
"Gum Dome!"
Suddenly, Gion appeared in front of me and spat multiple rounds of gum shots all around us, and before such gum shots had the chance to travel out, they stuck onto one another, generating the thick layer of gum dome that surrounded the two of us. The bullets shot by the pirates didn't manage to penetrate the rubbery wall, and were bounced back at those pirates.
Then, grabbing Gion by the shoulder and pushing her behind me, I dashed forward and clapped my palm around the sharp rapier that pierced through the layer of gum.
"Devil fruit user, I see," Hustleberry commented as his eyes narrowed at Gion, "But quite underwhelming in comparison to mine."
Then, before my eyes, his form morphed. A tail was grown. He grew notably taller and broader, all while maintaining an overall slim figure. Along with the patterns across his skin—no, fur,
in front of me stood the human-cheetah hybrid.
CLANG!
Just before Hustleberry could stab through the vulnerable Gion, I punched it away with my fist.
"You..." Hustleberry, who was sent few steps back due to my punch at his rapier, widened his eyes in shock, "You can keep up with my speed?"
I cracked my neck casually, "Speed? What speed? You're glaringly slow."
Gion, who seemed annoyed by the fact that her gum defense was easily broken, began to chew her mouth as if chewing gum—there probably is one though.
BOOOM!
And as I dashed at the speed faster than what Hustleberry was capable of, rendering the latter shocked, and broke his rapier with my fist,
"Gum Shot!!" Gion spat out the huge, rapid-traveling gum, pink in colour, that slapped onto the five subordinates of Hustleberry in total, immobilizing them.
Meanwhile, I was now right underneath the huge form of Hustleberry, with my index finger stabbed into the latter's chest,
"Shigan: Implosion."
From my dug-in finger, a huge volume of smoke suddenly burst out from it, smashing and rupturing the internal organs of Hustleberry.
"COUGH—"
Evading the blood that Hustleberry vomited from the impact, I swiftly pulled my bloody finger out. As Hustleberry has now lost the balance, and was falling to the ground, I clenched my right hand tight,
BOOOM!
before smashing it right onto the exposed face of Hustleberry—which was effective enough to send latter into the realm of unconsciousness.
"""CAPTAIN!!!"
Following were the anguish cries of Hustleberry's subordinates, who rushed in on me simultaneously, filled with nothing but rage.
BANG BANG BANG! Bullets were shot from all directions.
SWOOSH! The swords, spears, axes, and whatever weapons I sighted, were all hacked and slashed at me, generating a chaotic view that would've terrified a normal person.
'Kami-E,' And in midst of this chaos, I've begun to dance.
SWOOSH! Two swords slashed above my head, while an axe attempted to cut my legs apart. I slid down all the way to the ground, evading all the blades, before bouncing my body back up and letting the bullets slip underneath me. Then, I grabbed a long spear by its wooden body, before breaking it in half and flicking the shards into the eyes of the approaching pirate, causing him to lose his grip on his gun and scream in pain.
'Shigan.'
Plucking a hole into the chest of one nearby pirate, I lowered my body and swiped my leg across the ground, causing multiple pirates around me to lose their balance.
'Shigan, shigan, shigan.'
It was a one-sided massacre. Casually appearing in each pirate by the proficient use of Soru, I landed a Shigan, one by one, before any of them had time to react.
'Tobu Shigan.'
Before one farthest pirate could shoot at me, I flicked my finger, causing that pirate's body to be knocked back from the impact, before,
"Gum Shot!"
being enveloped by another gum bullet that Gion fired off of her mouth.
Tap.
And when I stood in the middle again, there was no longer a standing pirate around the plaza.
"See? It wasn't much of a trouble." Turning to Gion, I grinned confidently, "Bounties aren't as accurate as you think, you know."
