Smoker stared at the faint golden flame licking Jin's chest.
"…So," he said slowly, cigar bouncing between his teeth.
"What you're telling me is—"
"You almost died picking a fight with Shiki."
"Woke up, inhaled an entire kitchen, healed yourself with some freak technique, handed out three busted Devil Fruits…"
"And then casually ate the weirdest one yourself."
Jin shrugged.
"When you say it like that, it sounds reckless."
Belle-mère snorted smoke.
"It was reckless."
"But it worked."
She flexed her fingers. Invisible force shoved a nearby chair aside without touching it.
"Can't complain."
Jango's saber-toothed tiger form crouched in the corner, tail swishing, still getting used to shifting in and out at will.
Kuro leaned against the window in his demon mantis form, arms folded.
Out in the courtyard, he could see the Marines who'd followed Jin from the Loguetown base training like their lives depended on it.
Because now, they kind of did.
"You're really rejoining the Marines?" Jin asked Belle-mère.
She nodded.
"Yeah."
"I want rank, I want power, and I want a gun big enough that if some bastard like Arlong shows up again…"
"I can blow his head off myself."
Nami and Nojiko clung to her sleeves, eyes shining.
"Then we'll go with you!" Nami said.
"We'll become Marines too!"
Nojiko nodded fiercely.
"We'll help beat up bad guys!"
Jin laughed.
"You're ten."
"You're going to Naval Academy or something."
He looked at Belle-mère.
"You sure?"
"Life at HQ is nothing like this backwater."
Belle-mère took a long drag, then exhaled slowly.
"After what we saw… staying weak isn't an option anymore."
"There won't always be a 'White Ghost' passing by at the right time."
Smoker's jaw clenched around his cigar, but he didn't argue.
He thought of Cocoyasi's ruins, the blood, the terror.
Thought of the smug rat captain who'd tried to pretend none of it existed.
That man was now facing a military tribunal.
Smoker planned to attend.
Just to watch.
Jin glanced around the room.
Smoker, half-wreathed in smoke.
Belle-mère, practically humming with sudden confidence.
Jango and Kuro, both buzzing with new power and ideas.
Gion and Tokikake, already calculating how this shifted HQ's balance of power.
Nami and Nojiko, asleep in the corner, clutching orange peels and smiling.
He rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"All right."
"Here's how this goes."
"Belle-mère, you take the girls home for now. Get your paperwork done, get your training started."
"Kuro, Jango—you're coming with me to HQ."
"You two," he nodded at Gion and Tokikake, "are technically my escorts, but we all know you're also babysitters from Sengoku."
Gion smiled sweetly.
"Fufu. If you behave, we'll even give you candy at the end."
Tokikake sighed dramatically.
"And if you don't behave, we get to beat you up with 'proper authorization.'"
Jin ignored them both.
"Smoker."
"What?" Smoker grunted.
"You're Loguetown's new Base Commander now, aren't you?" Jin asked.
Smoker grunted again.
"Yeah."
"HQ finally signed off."
Jin clapped him on the shoulder.
"Then hold this place."
"East Blue's bigger than people think."
"And with the Great Pirate Era rolling, this sea's going to spit out more little monsters sooner or later."
Smoker narrowed his eyes.
"You talking about that brat from East Blue HQ?"
"The one with the straw hat obsession?"
"Eh."
Jin smiled faintly.
"Call it a hunch."
He stood, rolling his shoulders.
Golden embers flickered briefly under his skin and faded.
The pain eased.
He felt… new.
Like every cell in his body wanted to punch something legendary.
"Anyway."
"Devil Fruits distributed. Debts repaid."
He planted his sword by the bed and looked out the window toward the distant horizon.
"Next stop…"
"Marineford."
"And after that…"
He grinned, thinking of Sabaody, of Celestial Dragons, of the CP dogs the Five Elders would send sniffing around.
"After that, we see how much of this so-called 'world order' I can shake…"
"Without technically breaking the rules."
Smoker exhaled a long stream of smoke.
"…You're going to cause trouble."
Jin laughed.
"Relax."
"I'm a perfectly reasonable, law-abiding Marine."
"I just don't have justice."
Everyone in the room rolled their eyes at once.
Outside, Loguetown's wind shifted.
On some distant sea, News Coos still carried papers bearing the name "White Ghost."
And in that deep place where dragon and man had merged, a voice chuckled.
Then go, child.
Go make a mess of this world.
And don't disappoint me.
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