After regaining consciousness from the vast outbursts of explosions that had occurred earlier, Buggy jolted upward, smoke emanating from his mouth as he coughed reluctantly, taking a glimpse of his vicinity with his blurry vision.
"Where am I?" He whispered to himself, not equalizing the island were surrounded by the marines.
Bang Bang!!
A series of bullets flew past him colliding with the rock he'd lean on, rolling his eyes sideways, he gawked as he glanced at the firearms pronged at him from a distance. "The marines? What the hell are they doing here?"
Snot slid down from his big red nose, propelling himself upwards, he dashed to locate his crews, his eyes catching a better glimpse of Mugiwara and Gojo engaging each other while the others were kept busy by the marines.
"That Mugiwara bastard, I'll get him next time for sure." He gritted his teeth, "who would've thought I'll be fooled by the treasure chest."
The pirates engaged with the marine soldiers, clobbering each and everyone of them with their devil fruit abilities, meanwhile, Law was simply disconnecting and cleaving the limbs of the marines with his Ope Ope no Mi.
A broken devil fruit I'll say for sure.
The marines swamped the vicinity of the upper yard, bullets swooping through the air like vengeful hornets, while metal swords clashed together, each collision extracting a cascade of golden-brown sparks.
The number of pirates who had stomped onto the island once exceeded one hundred; presently, however, that number has declined significantly, leaving only a few pirates and their crewmates visible on the island.
The fallen pirates were dispersed all over the upper yard while the marines apprehended each and everyone of them with Seastone cuffs, leading them into their warship stationed at the shore of the island.
While the visible pirates fought their way through the chaos that the marines had unleashed upon them, they remained momentarily oblivious to the fact that there was no escape—the entire island was already surrounded by countless fleets.
Simultaneously, Vane, on the other hand, was fully occupied with the vice admiral he had once scarred back in his prime, when he roamed as a pirate through the treacherous waters of the New World.
Jimmy and Hiro emerged from the shadows, their hands cladded in armament haki, withdrawing the engrossment of pirates and marines to themselves.
Hiro massaged his temples, "now you guys have done it. Congratulations to you all for ruining our plans."
"Well, it doesn't matter anymore since we'll be claiming your bounties."
The duo leapt forward, parrying the bullets with their fist cladded in pure black as they stomped inside the battlefield, ready to humiliate the pirates.
Gojo's eyes widened, equalizing the duo had obtained the armament haki, the same one the Kuja warriors possessed. Gojo kicked Luffy and Killer aside, plunging forward at Jimmy, blitzing him and sending the latter cascading backwards, his consciousness fading away gradually..
Room! Shambles!!
Law swapped Hiro with the marine soldier in front of him and instantly cleaved his body into several pieces.
'That "room" of his is certainly dangerous.' Gojo noted, nodding his head in approval. The conflict against the pirates and the marines prolonged for another hour at the same time, Vane sensing his guards were already annihilated with his observation haki.
He roared in anger as his meticulously laid plans shattered into pieces. The people he had kidnapped, those secretly enslaved underground who had fetched him immense wealth by being auctioned off like chattel—now broke apart from his grasp, their suffering no longer bound to his crumbling empire.
He sensed the marines he'd once laid his trust on turned their back on him as they joined forces with their colleagues to apprehend the pirates.
The marines were utterly dumbfounded when they saw the other marines surging out of nowhere in particular as they realized it was the unit led by Foolio..
"Where did you guys come from?" One of the marines asked the other troops.
"We were caught by Vane, the mastermind of this conflict and also a notorious pirate who'd faked his own death in order to set himself free." Their bodies were drenched in sweat profusely, their heartbeat pounding at the speed of light.
"We were captured by Vane and his guards, who then proceeded to enslave us alongside the civilians of Crownfall City."
The marines lied to their fellow fleets in order for them to return back to HQ with the immense amount of money they'd sabotaged from Vane.
…
Tashigi led the G-5 soldiers to evacuate the civilians into shelter as she clutched her sword and waltzed her way into the depths of the upper yard.
After wandering for an extent, her eyes caught a glimpse of an apparent figure laying on the floor unconscious with blood splattered across the surface.
"Smoker-san?!"
She gawked at the frightening scene, unable to digest the reality she was surveying. She declined her sword into the scabbard and dashed toward her superior.
"Smoker-san, Smoker-san!" She tapped the figure relentlessly before her eyes began to tear up. "Smo-"
Smoker jolted upwards catching a deep breath startling his subordinate, compelling her to stumble backwards and crash into the floor with her butt.
"S-Smoker-san?"
Smoker ignited his cigar, eased it between his lips, and exhaled a slow, deliberate cloud of smoke before shifting his gaze toward his steadfast subordinate.
"Tashigi, what business do you have here?" Smoker fizzled his hair reluctantly, clutching his wounded abdomen from the battle against Vane.
"I've come to assist you, Smoker-san. We've secured the evacuation of civilians in Crownfall city and the whole island is surrounded by marine fleets."
"The whole island, huh? Sounds better." Smoker picked himself from the surface. "Tashigi, I'll have you return back to Crownfall city while I'll apprehend the pirates lurking around."
"But–"
"Tashigi!" Smoker ordered, his voice calm but firm, "It's dangerous around here. I can't have you getting yourself killed by the likes of these scumbags playing pirates."
Tashigi's eyes brimmed with tears. "O-Okay. I'll join the vice admiral."
"Good." Smoker flicked his weapon upwards with his devil fruit abilities as he turned to leave, not sharing a glare at his faithful subordinate. "I'll settle the scores with you, Vane, after I've dealt with these pirates."
His body flared up into clouds of white smoke, flying through the skies at a decent speed until his eyes caught a glimpse of the commentator fleeing from the scene.
"That's one down!"
He changed his course and descended a few metres away from the fleeing commentator. He charged forward before halting in his tracks when the commentator discarded his disguise, removing the hat and mustache he had worn earlier, revealing a sharp and familiar face.
"Commodore Foolio?" A vicious grin plastered across Smoker's lips.
Foolio, who hadn't equalized and realized he would be caught red-handed, was struck dumbfounded, struggling to figure out why Smoker was right there with him.
"T-Thank goodness," he let out a sigh of relief, his mind racing through the lies that would earn the trust of Smoker, who stood before him unfazed. "Smoker-kun, the pirates are rampaging, we need to call for reinforcement." He said, sweats sliding down his brows.
Smoker detected a fabricated story from Foolio, who was profusely drenched in sweat. "What business do you have here on this island, Foolio?"
Foolio shifted his eyes sideways, "well, I think it's a coincidence we are both here, hehe." He rubbed his head.
Smoker's curiosity skyrocketed, his nerves alarming him, something was definitely off about Foolio. His fist flared into a cloud of smoke. "I'll ask you again, Foolio," Smoker yelled, "what business do you have here on this island? Why haven't you and your fleet returned back to HQ after your mission?"
Foolio let loose, fully aware that it was absurd for him to attempt inflicting damage on Smoker, given the latter's Logia abilities. Either way, all hope was lost, for he could not get rid of Smoker in order to flee from the island.
"Fuck you!!" Foolio extracted his pistols strapped beside his waist and sent a series of bullets at Smoker who stood stagnant, unfazed by the bullets phasing through his body continuously before the figure ran out of ammo.
"Who would've thought a rat like you could infiltrate marine HQ? Is this the Justice you swore your life to?" Smoker yelled, compelling Foolio's leg to tremble, unable to move an inch from his position as he wet his pants from fear.
"You and your men will rot in prison, traitor," Smoker gritted his teeth, unable to comprehend the reality of a navy soldier disguising himself while functioning under a notorious pirate.
White Blow!!
His fist detached from his body and drove into Foolio's abdomen, causing the traitor to cry out in agony before his eyes rolled back and he lost consciousness in that very instant.
Smoker chained Foolio with metal handcuffs against a huge tree and plunged forward to apprehend the other pirates fleeing the scene.
In an instant, Smoker's figure appeared at the front of the fleeing pirates compelling the pirates to jolt in shock as they glared at the familiar figure.
"Smoker, the White Hunter of the marine?!!!!"
Gojo halted in his tracks, utterly dumbfounded as he stared at the unfamiliar figure whose body was bound with smoldering cigarettes, each one strapped tightly against the skin.
"Wha—"
.....
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