Mr. 11 groggily opened his eyes, only to be shocked to discover he was still tied up. The only difference was that his bindings had shifted from a Marine warship's mast to a chair.
"You're awake..."
Sherlock, sitting opposite him, calmly pushed up his glasses. The spotlessly wiped lenses reflected two eerie gleams in the somewhat dim cabin.
Mr. 11 recognized this spectacled man who had saved his life. He swallowed hard and fawned, "Um, sir..."
"Do you want to die, or do you want to live?" Sherlock asked, his tone extremely flat, giving the other party no time for nonsense.
"I want to live! I want to live!" Mr. 11 was streaming tears internally. He hadn't expected that just after escaping the tiger's mouth, he'd fallen into a wolf's den.
Sherlock nodded with satisfaction. "Very good. Now, I will ask you a few questions. You can choose to answer or not."
Mr. 11: "..."
Half an hour ago.
Just as Ace was about to leave, seven or eight large ships approached from the distance. Judging by the flags, the people on board were all Billions from Baroque Works.
And judging by their clamor, these buffoons actually threatened to capture Ace, the renowned pirate, to raise their rank in the organization. Truly a group of people driven mad by the desire for a promotion and a raise. If the Sand Crocodile saw this scene, he would surely feel gratified to have such ambitious subordinates.
If one seeks death, they will surely die.
Ace expressed great emotion regarding these fearless warriors courting death, and then kindly granted their wish. A single Fire Fist blasted these small fries—ships and all—into debris. Even from a great distance, the Straw Hats could feel the oppressing heatwave brought by that massive pillar of crimson fire.
Ace's signature move once again demonstrated to the world the natural-disaster-like destructive power of a highly developed Logia-type fruit!
Afterward, Ace retracted the blazing flames, coolly pushed up his cowboy hat, and sped away on his small boat powered by the Flame-Flame Fruit.
(Act cool and run, so damn exciting.)
"Incredible... Luffy's brother. Is this the power of the Second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, a crew that stands at the summit of the world?" Zoro gazed at the burning wreckage floating on the sea, clicking his tongue in secret amazement.
"Yeah. The sh*tty old geezer once told me that the strong in the Grand Line are as numerous as the stars in the sky..." Sanji, puffing on a cigarette nearby, rarely agreed with the moss-head. In truth, he, Zoro, and Luffy would have had no pressure dealing with those shiploads of weaklings, but to wipe out so many enemies in one clean breath like Ace did was absolutely impossible for them.
Among the current Straw Hats, perhaps only Sherlock could barely achieve this using the power of a Five-Fold Mirror Image Fusion. However, that was the Sorcerer's bottom-of-the-box trump card. Compared to Ace's relaxed ease, there was still a significant gap.
"Hey, hey, hey, Sherlock said before that Crocodile is a Logia user just like Ace." Usopp's face looked grim. "He wouldn't happen to be as strong as Ace too, would he?!"
As soon as Long-Nose finished speaking, Nami, Vivi, and Chopper's expressions changed drastically as well.
"Shishishi, so what?" The idiot captain smiled confidently, striking a pose that said 'I am very strong.' "Don't we already know his weakness? I'm definitely going to send that bastard crocodile flying!"
(You said that before, but weren't you beaten like a dead dog by your brother later on...?) Everyone silently retorted in their hearts.
Ignoring the buffoonish captain, Nami turned to the blue-haired girl. "Vivi, we've replenished the necessary supplies for the desert. Where are we going next?"
"The place we're going to next is [Yuba]. That is the headquarters of the Rebel Army." Princess Vivi composed herself, her delicate face filled with determination.
"I'm going to persuade the Rebel Army!"
Although the port city of Nanohana didn't seem to be affected by the rebellion yet, which gave Vivi some peace of mind, she still couldn't wait to reveal the truth of the rebellion to the world and end this meaningless war.
"..."
Nami, Zoro, Sanji, and Usopp exchanged glances upon hearing this, then they all sighed silently.
(What a naive princess...)
Although they were not optimistic about Princess Vivi's idea, they had a tacit understanding not to voice their thoughts.
Because reality was simply too cruel.
Nanohana.
Smoker and the group of Marines chasing the Straw Hats had been intercepted by Ace's wall of fire. The scorching flames made it impossible for them to take a single step forward. By the time the flames gradually died down, the Straw Hats had long since vanished without a trace.
Smoker sat on the stone steps of a building, his face ashen, puffing furiously on two cigars.
"Portgas D. Ace... why did he come here, and why did he help Straw Hat?" The White Hunter frowned, deeply puzzled. "And that blue-haired girl seemed to be this country's princess—Nefertari Vivi. Why is she mixing with the Straw Hats? Looking at her, she didn't seem to be held hostage."
Thinking of this, Smoker looked at his naturally airheaded female subordinate, who was sulking because she had let the pirate hunter slip away again.
"Tashigi, what do you think?"
"...Huh? Captain Smoker, what did you just say?" The blue-haired girl with glasses looked bewildered.
Smoker rolled his eyes and had to repeat his question.
Tashigi stared with her big eyes and thought for a good while, then answered solemnly, "Um, Captain, I think there's something fishy about this!"
"Idiot, do I need you to tell me that?..." After waiting half a day only to get such a speechless answer, the White Hunter had black lines covering his head. He felt that asking his female subordinate, whose brain was filled only with famous swords, wouldn't yield anything useful.
"Ugh..." Tashigi's fair cheeks flushed red, and she lowered her head in shame. She really wasn't good at analyzing problems.
The surrounding Marines looked like they wanted to laugh but didn't dare.
Just then, another group of Marines approached from the distance. Leading them was a female Marine in a purplish-red suit. It was Smoker's old classmate: Black Cage Hina.
"Smoker, are you bullying your cute subordinate again? You're really becoming more and more hopeless." Hina pushed up her sunglasses, then lit a lady's cigarette and took a satisfied drag.
"Hina is disappointed."
"Tch..." The White Hunter didn't react to his old friend's teasing. He changed the subject, "You came at the right time. If you had arrived a bit earlier, with the help of your [Cage-Cage Fruit] ability, the Straw Hats would have been caught."
"Oh, is that Straw Hat kid really in Alabasta? What about the Sorcerer?" Hina flipped her long pink hair and asked with interest, "According to the latest intelligence, isn't he mixed in with the Straw Hats?"
"I'm not sure, I..." Smoker was about to reply when he was interrupted by a voice.
"Captain Smoker!!" A Marine ran over in a panic, shouting loudly, "That Mr. 11 from Baroque Works has been rescued! Also, the data we collected on the Sand Crocodile these past few days has all been stolen! Oh right, a lot of food and drinking water is missing from the kitchen too!"
The surrounding Marines were first in an uproar, then filled with righteous indignation. Holy crap, this thief is too awesome, stealing right from the Marines' heads! Do they think the Marines don't exist? Is there no law? Where is justice? Where is the dignity of the Marines?...
"Hehe, it seems the answer is obvious." Hina glanced at the White Hunter, who was gnashing his teeth, and smiled. "The only one who could do these things silently is that elusive Sorcerer."
Veins popped on Smoker's forehead, and smoke rose and rolled around him, resembling a demon from the abyss baring its fangs and claws. Then he took a deep breath, causing the two cigars in his mouth to burn down rapidly.
"Fine. I was just worrying about how to find you, but I didn't expect you to deliver yourself to my doorstep, Sarsalian..." The White Hunter forced himself to calm down. The white smoke wrapped around him gradually dissipated. After pondering for a moment, he stood up.
"Tashigi!"
"Yes, Captain Smoker!" The blue-haired girl with glasses hurriedly gave a standard military salute.
"Go immediately and have all Marines gather and board the ship. We are going to Rainbase at once!" Smoker ordered with a serious face. "Since they are so interested in Crocodile, they will definitely go to his lair!"
"Pirates will always just be pirates. I don't believe that a vicious pirate who once plagued a region would join the Revolutionary Army to save innocent people!"
"It just so happens I can use capturing Straw Hat as a pretext to take a good look at what kind of tricks that Sand Crocodile is up to!"
After Tashigi took the order and led a group of Marines away, Smoker let out a long sigh and sat back down on the stone steps.
"I didn't expect you to actually get smarter and know how to seize an opportunity. Hina is surprised." After dismissing her own subordinates, Hina looked at Smoker with new eyes. "Is this still the problem student in Teacher Zephyr's eyes?"
"Tch, don't mention that old bastard in front of me..." At the mention of his former teacher at the Marine Academy, Smoker turned his head away, his expression somewhat unnatural.
Incidentally, Hina was an honor student back in the day, while Smoker was one of the rare prickly students. If not for the Black Cage mediating the teacher-student relationship back then, whether the White Hunter could have graduated at all was a question...
Blowing out a smoke ring, Hina smiled playfully at Smoker. Then, as if suddenly remembering something terrifying, her face abruptly turned extremely ugly.
"I almost forgot about this..." Hina said with a mournful face and a dry voice, "I also have to mention someone you are even less willing to bring up."
"Someone I'm even less willing to bring up?" Smoker frowned slightly. After being stunned for a long moment, his eyes instantly widened, and he shot up with a whoosh.
"It couldn't be [Rear Admiral Alan], could it?!! You're not saying..."
If Tashigi and the other Marines were present, their jaws would have dropped in shock. Captain Smoker, who feared nothing in heaven or earth and dared to curse out high-ranking Marine officials, was actually terrified of a person to the point where just hearing the name could scare him witless.
"Yes, I saw her at the G-8 fortress. And it seems she'll be coming to Alabasta in a few days. She really hasn't changed a bit. Hina... Hina is ashamed..."
Hina's voice grew smaller and smaller, until it was as faint as a mosquito's buzz. Gone was her usual valiant and heroic bearing; she held her forehead with her hand, red clouds flying across her fair cheeks.
"That really is unfortunate news..."
After the last shred of hope was shattered, Smoker collapsed weakly, paralyzed. His mouth hung open, and the two cigars slipped from his lips.
"Shouldn't she be staying at Marine Headquarters all the time? What is Fleet Admiral Sengoku thinking? How could he let her out??" The White Hunter looked as if his entire family had died, as if the end of the world was imminent.
"It's said that Vice Admiral Garp sent her out. The objective is for her to capture [Fire Fist Ace], who has left the New World..." Shaking her head helplessly, Hina continued to explain, "After all, she is the [Natural Enemy]..."
Smoker suddenly had the urge to cry. The most unreliable Vice Admiral in the Marines paired with the most unreliable Rear Admiral—this combination was simply a match made in heaven.
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