50: Chapter 50: First Battle Against Old Crocodile, A Surprise for Smoker"Hahaha, so you must be the Straw Hat Pirate who's been making waves lately.Not bad at all, managing to get here through all that encirclement.But that's where it ends," Crocodile clapped his hands approvingly.Luffy didn't mince words, removing his straw hat to indicate that the enemies outside were too weak, hoping Crocodile wouldn't be as easily defeated as those lackeys.Upon hearing this, several veins bulged on Crocodile's face, and he conjured a small sandstorm in his hand.Simultaneously, Luffy also conjured his "Desert Sword" * "Wind Blade" in his hand.
The yellow sand blade clashed and scattered with the blue wind blade.Seeing his attack fail, Crocodile raised his poison hook to stab Luffy.Knowing it was poisonous, Luffy dared not be careless.He covered his hands with Armament Haki, deflecting the hook.Then, Luffy strode forward, his arm suddenly extending, and a Gum-Gum Rocket, imbued with Armament Haki, blasted towards Crocodile.Seeing the bright black on Luffy's hand, Crocodile's pupils contracted.Knowing he couldn't take the attack head-on, he quickly dodged.Before Luffy could retract his arm, sand condensed in his hand, forming another sand blade that swung at Luffy.Luffy's mind raced, and an earthen shield blocked the attack.However, the shield was dried out and became brittle.Luffy had already withdrawn his hands.Looking at the cracked earthen shield, Luffy tapped it, and the once-hard shield instantly crumbled into fragments scattered on the ground – "Cracked Earth."
Crocodile pressed one palm to the ground, his eyes cold, and a powerful force suddenly erupted.Using the power of his Logia-type Devil Fruit, he unleashed a devastating attack.The ground was instantly drained of moisture, forming jagged cracks that spread rapidly like a spiderweb.As the area expanded, Luffy felt the immense threat from Crocodile's attack.He condensed ice in his hand and unleashed it towards the ground, the chilling ice spreading outwards.Clashing with Crocodile's attack, neither could gain the upper hand for a moment.Seeing this, Crocodile decisively released his grip, creating a small sandstorm to delay Luffy while he himself escaped through a secret passage in the room.Before leaving, Crocodile broke the giant water tank in the room, releasing a large amount of water and hungry banana crocodiles, hoping to take advantage of the fact that Devil Fruit users cannot use their abilities underwater to have the crocodiles kill Luffy.By the time Luffy dispersed the sandstorm, Crocodile had vanished from the room, the water level in the room rose rapidly, and the hungry banana crocodiles.The creatures were itching to devour their meal, but little did Crocodile know that Luffy was completely immune to water.Besides, Luffy hadn't used his full strength this time; he could defeat Crocodile once they reached the capital.After casually slaying the beasts with a few wind blades, he noticed Smoker and Tashigi, who were nearly unconscious in their cages.He initially planned to leave, but then broke the cages to rescue them.After saving his enemies, he figured he should get something in return.After removing the Jitte from Smoker's back, Luffy's eyes lit up.He redeemed a water-resistant ink pen from the system shop that wouldn't wash away for a month and began drawing on Smoker.Looking at his work, Luffy nodded in satisfaction.As for Tashigi, Luffy didn't touch her.Since she's a girl, let's give her some face.After breaking through the roof and reaching the casino, Luffy casually put them in a safe place before reuniting with his crew.Seeing Luffy safe and sound, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.Although they were confident in Luffy's strength—after all, he was one of the World Government's recognized great pirates—they were still somewhat worried.When Vivi heard that Luffy hadn't defeated Crocodile, a hint of disappointment flashed in her eyes, but she quickly recovered.After all, Crocodile was very strong, and it was normal not to have defeated him.However, Zoro, who knew Luffy well, understood that Luffy was merely testing Crocodile's strength and hadn't gone all out.Being watched so closely by Zoro, Luffy.Feeling a little awkward, he touched the tip of his pen and joked, "Zoro, don't look at me like that, it's making me embarrassed.Do you like men?Sorry, I'm straight, not gay.You can try going to Sanji, maybe he'll accept it." Zoro and Sanji glared at him angrily and chased after Luffy with murderous intent.The others sighed helplessly.Maybe it didn't matter that these three monsters arrived in time.They were worried about their opponent being a Shichibukai.On the other side, Smoker and Tashigi also woke up.Smoker, who was in a safe place, didn't understand why Luffy, who was his enemy, had saved him.However, what puzzled Smoker was why the pedestrians on the street were looking at him so strangely.
Smoker instinctively reached for his jitte behind his back, but found nothing.Just as Smoker was searching for his weapon, Tashigi woke up.Seeing Smoker rummaging around, Tashigi was about to ask him something when she saw Smoker's face and couldn't help but burst into laughter."Smoker, Smoker, hahahaha, your face, hahahaha, your body, hahahaha!"
Smoker was completely bewildered, wondering what the little girl was laughing about.Then, seeing his reflection in the glass, he first touched his face, then his upper body, and froze.His entire face was painted with a turtle—but everyone knows how bad Luffy's drawing skills are; the turtle was drawn crookedly and was almost unrecognizable without close inspection.And that wasn't all; on his left arm was a small snake (Azure Dragon), on his right arm a kitten (White Tiger), and on his chest was some kind of creature (Peppa Pig).Below was a line of text: "Applause for the socialite." Smoker suppressed his anger and continued searching until he found a note in his breast pocket.Opening it, he discovered it was a message from Luffy:
"By the time you see this, you'll probably be awake.Don't look for me, because I've already left.And don't thank me too much for saving you; it was simply what I should do.""Well, it's really shameful for a naval captain to die like that.But you know I'm a pirate, so it's already quite good that I was able to do something kind to save an enemy.So it's only right to collect some interest.Your jitte is pretty good, I'll take it.Although I don't need it, it's nice to have someone remind me that I saved a naval captain.Of course, I also left you a gift.I hope you like it.But my drawing skills aren't very good.But don't worry, I'll definitely draw something better next time we meet.Oh, and one more thing, this stuff can't be washed off with water.You can only wait for it to disappear naturally after a month.You're welcome.Bye-bye!"
"Aaaaaah, you wretched Straw Hat brat!I'll never forgive you!The next time we meet will be your death day!" Smoker was furious with Luffy, practically fuming.He had to endure this state for a whole month!The more he thought about it, the angrier he became.He reached for a cigar to calm himself down, but couldn't find one.Then he noticed something written on the back of the note.Smoker flipped it over and read, "Oh, right, I took your cigar too.But I tried smoking it, and it's really awful.One of my crewmates is a chain smoker; I wonder if he likes it."
Smoker finally snapped.He tore the note to shreds, took Luffy's weapon, and not only drew all sorts of nonsense on him, but he also stole all of Luffy's favorite cigars.Completely enraged, Smoker immediately chased after him out of the city, determined to tear Luffy to pieces.Meanwhile, Luffy, carrying a large bag on his head, sneezed, rubbed his nose, and guessed that Smoker had discovered the surprise he'd left him.He hoped Luffy liked it.Sanji, walking ahead, frowned, took a few puffs of his cigar, and found it inferior to his cigarettes.He promptly threw away the cigar and leisurely lit a cigarette.