As Koala watched Tom leave, she intended to chase after him. But the moment she was about to move, a man with tattoos covering the left side of his face appeared behind her. Placing a hand on her shoulder, he shook his head.
"You're 'Deadeye' of the Straw Hat Crew, aren't you? To dare show yourself so brazenly before me..."
Smoker held a bounty poster, looking at Tom and comparing it several times before speaking.
"Who are you? A Marine? But your eyes must have a problem. Any normal person looking at my bounty poster would know that's me," Tom said, eyeing the man before him. Smoker wore a white coat over a bare, exposed chest, two cigars clenched in his mouth, and was staring at him with an unfriendly expression. Tom felt a faint sense of danger.
"I hear you plan to head for the Grand Line. But I absolutely will not let you leave here unharmed. Whether it's you, your captain, or any other member of the Straw Hat Pirates, I will arrest you all!" As Smoker spoke, his right hand gripped the seastone jutte on his back, drawing it.
"Really sorry, but we're going to the Grand Line to make a big splash soon. Can't let you arrest us. If you want to catch me, then come and try!" Tom said, quickly taking the belt from the box and securing it around his waist. He had no time to examine it properly. The belt was entirely black, with what seemed like strange red-and-white interwoven stripes.
What concerned Tom most was that the belt didn't feel heavy in his hand, but once secured, it seemed several times heavier. By touch alone, he couldn't tell what material it was made of.
"Cease your pointless struggle!" Seeing Tom brazenly put on the belt in front of him, Smoker struck first, sweeping his seastone jutte toward Tom.
Tom saw the attack coming and instinctively grabbed the tip of the jutte aimed at his face. The moment he touched it, he felt his whole body go limp, as if all strength had drained away. Smoker's strike sent him flying.
BOOM!
Tom crashed through a solid wall. Fortunately, the area was secluded with few people. He had been sent flying into someone's house. The family of three inside, who had been cheerfully playing, now stared at him dumbfounded. Tom quickly got up, patted his butt, and ran back out to face Smoker.
"Your weapon is peculiar," Tom said, watching the jutte in Smoker's hand with vigilance. His sudden loss of strength was definitely because of it.
"You're a Devil Fruit user. The tip of this jutte is embedded with seastone. You cannot escape my grasp!" Smoker said, slowly walking toward Tom.
Tom had heard of seastone before—an extremely rare mineral in this world, found only in a certain sea. Its composition was similar to the sea itself, a solid form of it. For Devil Fruit users who feared seawater, seastone was their natural enemy.
Hmm. This guy is completely different from the Marines I've met before. His equipment is much more advanced, even has seastone.
Thinking this, Tom immediately set his sights on the weapon in Smoker's hand. Stealing that seastone would be ideal.
"You wouldn't happen to be the 'White Hunter' the townspeople talk about, stationed here? If so, you must be the highest-ranking officer at the Marine branch here. Aren't you a Captain?" Tom kept a proper distance, remembering Captain Nezumi of Branch 16 and Captain Morgan of Shells Town. Their strength was far inferior to Smoker's.
"I am a Captain of Marine Headquarters. A pirate of your caliber is no match for me." Smoker attacked again. This time, Tom was prepared. As he retreated, his mind raced with what Koala had told him about Fish-Man Karate.
The Brick Fist of Fish-Man Karate involved constantly compressing and condensing one's power, maximizing the force concentrated in the fist. If you could unleash tenfold or greater power with a fraction of your strength, you had truly grasped its essence. To comprehend this fist intent required relentless real combat training of both spirit and body.
While dodging Smoker's attacks, Tom tried to concentrate his strength into his right hand. Gradually, his breathing became slower and deeper. His jet-black pupils, fixed on Smoker, slowly turned dark red.
When Tom felt every strand of his power pour into his right fist, he threw a long-range punch at Smoker. As he punched, he had a very strange sensation—the airflow seemed to rub violently against his fist, giving him the illusion that his fist was burning.
POW!
A powerful shockwave struck Smoker's body, punching a large hole right through it.
"How are you still standing?" Tom asked, alarmed. Smoker's body had been punched through, yet he stood completely intact. Tom planted his feet and, from several meters away, began throwing punches continuously at Smoker. "Brick Fist Barrage!"
POW! THUD! POW! THUD!
In just a few breaths, Tom threw over a dozen long-range punches. Smoker's body could be described as completely shattered; even half his head was gone. Yet he still stood upright, looking severely injured but without a single drop of blood.
Staring at the mutilated Smoker, Tom couldn't help but ask, "Are you dead yet or what?"
"What did you do?" Smoker's words made Tom's jaw nearly drop. "How are you okay?"
"I am a Logia-type ability user. Your attacks are ineffective against me—" Before Smoker could finish, Tom turned and ran off at top speed, leaving behind a remarkably stylish silhouette.
This is trouble. Is that the strength of a Headquarters Marine? What did they eat to get this strong? They're completely different from branch Marines. If it were Captain Nezumi, he'd be dead, not even ashes remaining, from those attacks.
Seeing he couldn't harm Smoker at all, Tom was too busy running for his life to linger even a moment, let alone listen to nonsense. As for his earlier idea of stealing the weapon, fleeing left no room for such thoughts.
"Don't think you can escape!" Seeing Tom bolt away at full speed, Smoker's lower body turned to smoke, propelling him rapidly in pursuit.
Damn, he's chasing me like a rocket!
Tom thought his escape speed wasn't slow, but looking back, he saw Smoker flying after him, closing within ten meters in the blink of an eye. He quickly used his left wrist launcher to shoot a line sticking to a rooftop, pulled on the line to swing forward, and swiftly shook Smoker off.
But Smoker, seeing Tom flying forward on strange lines, immediately accelerated and chased after him.
Thus, the relentless Smoker and the desperately fleeing Tom launched a thrilling chase through Loguetown.
Tom used the launchers on both wrists to stick to rooftops throughout Loguetown, rapidly weaving, swinging, and darting through the town.
Smoker, as a Logia-type Devil Fruit user, could not only turn his body to smoke but also use ejected smoke to rapidly propel himself. In this regard, he had more convenience than Tom, who needed to rely on external tools to move quickly through the air.
But Tom was well accustomed to the launchers. With Loguetown's streets packed with tall buildings, Smoker couldn't easily catch him in a short time.
"See that? That's Captain Smoker. He seems to be chasing someone."
"Some unlucky pirate must have caught the White Hunter's eye. Let's wait for the show."
Residents on the main street saw Tom grabbing long lines and flying over their heads, stirring up a gust of wind that tousled their hair. Then Smoker, smoke spewing from his lower body, swept past from behind.
At that moment, Nami, Usopp, and Sanji happened to be on this very street. Hearing the residents' talk, the three were laughing and chatting, discussing which unfortunate pirate had caught the Marines' attention. Then they saw who Smoker was doggedly chasing—Tom.
"What is that idiot doing?" Nami said, a large bag slung over her back. Her initially good mood vanished instantly upon seeing Tom swinging wildly through the air.
"So the unlucky guy we were talking about is him," Sanji and Usopp said. The two were together carrying a long, ivory-tusked 'Elephant Bluefin Tuna,' known as a treasure of the sea, a miraculous ingredient. Their reactions to seeing Tom being chased by Smoker differed.
The Elephant Bluefin wasn't from the East Blue. But as Loguetown was near the Grand Line, fish from other seas sometimes swam into East Blue waters. This one had been caught by a local fisherman.
Sanji had earlier participated in Loguetown's annual cooking competition and won, earning the tuna as a prize. During the event, he'd also encountered a female chef named Carmen, who claimed to have been searching for him for ten years.
Carmen was someone who liked to speak exaggeratedly. A five-minute dish could be described as taking five days. But her claim about searching for Sanji for ten years was true.
Ten years ago, a young Carmen, visiting the Baratie, had witnessed the young apprentice Sanji's persistence toward his dream. She spent ten years diligently honing her cooking skills, but still lost to Sanji in the competition.
"Hey, what do we do? Even Tom is being chased all over town by that Marine. Aren't we in danger too?" Usopp said, his jaw nearly dropping upon seeing Tom only fleeing, seemingly unable to counterattack at all.
Usopp had earlier encountered a bounty hunter known as "Daddy" the Father. Daddy was once an extremely famous sniper at Marine Headquarters but resigned after a duel with Usopp's father, Yasopp, becoming a free bounty hunter to care for his motherless daughter.
Upon learning Usopp was Yasopp's son, Daddy challenged him to a duel. Usopp initially tried to run away at the last moment.
But after hearing Daddy recount his duel with Yasopp, Usopp, determined to become a brave warrior of the sea, ultimately accepted the sniper duel honorably.
"That Marine chasing him doesn't look easy to deal with," Sanji said, watching the figures of Tom and Smoker recede. After thinking a moment, he told Usopp, "Long-Nose, you and Nami-san head back to the ship first. The Marines might be mobilizing. You're responsible for protecting Nami-san's safety on the way."
After saying this, Sanji ran off alone. After a few steps, he didn't forget to turn back and remind them, "Remember to bring that fish back to the ship too!"
"How am I supposed to carry such a huge fish alone, you bastard!" Usopp, already carrying a huge bag of tools, was so shocked his eyes nearly popped out at being left with the two-meter-long fish.
"You'll help me carry it, right?" Usopp asked Nami, struggling to drag the giant fish.
"A storm is coming. Don't dawdle. We need to hurry," Nami said, pretending not to hear. She started walking forward quickly. She predicted violent winds soon and needed to rush back to the ship to prepare for departure. She was also worried their ship at the port might be swept away.
After Nami thoroughly explained the seriousness of the situation to Usopp, he stopped complaining about carrying the fish alone.
Meanwhile, after launching himself away, Luffy unluckily ran into Zoro. The two then thought about finding a restaurant for a good meal. Just then, Tom appeared before them.
"Why are you here?"
"What's going on?"
Luffy and Zoro, seeing Tom's hurried appearance, had just asked when Tom sneakily glanced back. Seeing Smoker hadn't caught up yet, he asked what they were doing.
"You still have the mood to eat? Run!" Tom completely lost it upon hearing Luffy and Zoro wanted to eat out. Had he not experienced Smoker's troublesome strength firsthand, he might have joined them for a big meal. But now was absolutely not the time, because Smoker was closing in.
"Straw Hat is here too. Let me catch you all in one net," Smoker said, his gaze turning even colder upon seeing Tom with Luffy.
"It's you again. You said if I don't defeat you, I can't go to the Grand Line. Then I have to beat you!" Luffy remembered encountering Smoker at the execution platform and his declaration. Seeing Smoker again, Luffy immediately attacked.
"Gum-Gum Pistol!" Luffy's elongated arm shot toward Smoker, passing directly through his body.
"It's useless. He's a Logia-type. Our attacks can't hit him," Tom said as he and Zoro were already running ahead. Luffy quickly followed.
"Why didn't you say so sooner!" Luffy said while running, speaking to Tom beside him.
"I told you to run earlier!" Tom glanced at Zoro. If he hadn't stopped him, Zoro would have rushed up to slash Smoker a few times—a complete waste of time.
"The three of us together are easily targeted," Zoro said, noting that a group of three was too conspicuous and hard to escape.
"Then let's split up and escape," Luffy said. The three quickly reached an agreement to split into three routes.
Tom grabbed his fishing line and swung forward. Luffy stretched his arms to grab rooftops and launched himself ahead, instantly putting distance between himself and Smoker. Zoro, however, was still running on the ground.
Seeing Smoker getting closer and closer to Zoro, Luffy and Tom both kindly helped him out. One extended an arm to grab him, while the other used his right wrist launcher to shoot a line and stick it to him. Together, they pulled hard, sending Zoro tragically flying into the air.
"I'll kill both of you!" As Zoro soared skyward, far outpacing Smoker and turning into a green speck in the sky, he left these words before completely disappearing from Smoker's sight.
Then Luffy and Tom split up, each fleeing in opposite directions. At that moment, Tashigi arrived with a squad of Marines.
"I'll take Straw Hat Luffy. You and your team pursue 'Deadeye,'" Smoker ordered Tashigi as he chased after Luffy.
In a nearby restaurant, a man with a large red nose tightly gripped his knife and fork, muttering resentfully, "Straw Hat... Deadeye..."
With Smoker off his tail, Tom let out a breath of relief. He had just ducked into a secluded corner when a woman holding a large iron club appeared before him…
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T/N :
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