“Oh, right.
I almost forgot.” Luffy swung his arm casually and grinned.
“Sanji, Kai, you two head back to the ship first.
I’ll catch up soon.”
Since that was the case, he might as well beat this guy first before returning.
“You think I’ll just let you pass?” Smoker snorted coldly as his body began to change.
Large amounts of white smoke poured from him, spreading rapidly through the streets.
Even the pouring rain did nothing to hinder his power.
The moment the smoke rushed toward them, Luffy and Sanji attacked at once.
“Gum-Gum Pistol!”
“Collier Strike!”
“Foolish.” Smoker sneered without even attempting to dodge.
Their attacks passed straight through his body as if he were made of air, causing both of them to stumble forward.
“What the heck?” Luffy stared blankly.
“Why can’t I hit him?”
“No clue.” Sanji frowned.
“Is this another Devil Fruit ability?”
Smoker shifted his gaze toward Kai, who still hadn’t moved.
“And you, brat?
Not attacking?” Smoker narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
“What, are you surrendering already?”
Or maybe this scientist had some trick hidden up his sleeve.
After all, the wanted poster specifically labeled him as a scientist.
People like that were always dangerous.
“Physical attacks are useless against you.
I know that much.” Kai calmly pulled a transparent glass sphere from his pocket.
“Logia-type.
The Smoke-Smoke Fruit.
Am I right?”
“Not bad.
You do know your stuff.” Smoker gave a faint nod of approval before his expression hardened again.
“But without Haki, knowing that changes nothing!”
“White Out!”
Smoker unleashed his powers fully, surrounding all three of them in dense smoke and binding them in place.
“Damn it!
I can’t break free!” Luffy struggled wildly, but he couldn’t grab the smoke itself.
“Kai, if you’ve got a plan, now would be a great time to use it!” Sanji shouted after noticing how calm Kai still looked.
“Relax.” Despite being restrained, Kai looked completely at ease.
“The best moment to strike is when your enemy feels most confident.
Makes things more entertaining, doesn’t it?”
Smoker’s face darkened.
You’re already caught!
Don’t think anyone’s coming to save you!”
In his eyes, the only truly dangerous members of the Straw Hat crew were right here in front of him, and he had already captured them.
The others didn’t matter.
Kai sighed softly, looking at Smoker with almost pitying eyes.
“What’s with that look?” Smoker snapped irritably.
“I was just thinking…” Kai’s lips curled upward slightly.
“A certain Marine officer is about to spend the rest of his life trapped inside a very small space.”
“What?”
Before Smoker could react, a powerful suction force suddenly erupted from the glass sphere in Kai’s hand.
In an instant, Smoker was sucked directly into it.
The smoke restraints vanished immediately, and the three dropped back onto the ground.
“Huh?” Luffy blinked in confusion and looked around.
“Where’d the smoke guy go?”
He had disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Did he let them go?
Huh.
Maybe he was actually a decent guy after all.
Unlike Luffy, Sanji had clearly seen what happened.
“You sucked him into the ball?!” Sanji stared at the sphere in shock.
“Yep.” Kai raised the transparent orb casually.
“This is my Smoke-Sealing Orb.
Unless someone breaks it from the outside…”
“He’ll stay trapped in there forever.”
Well, starvation was still technically a possibility.
“You made that thing?” Sanji’s eyes widened.
“Yeah.”
“…You really are a scientist.” Sanji let out a long breath of disbelief.
Only someone like Kai could invent something this bizarre.
Luffy burst into laughter.
“Hahahaha!
Nice one, Kai!
That’s my crewmate!”
“Alright, enough messing around.” Kai rolled his eyes.
“Let’s move.
Nami and Usopp are waiting at the harbor.”
“If Marines show up there, things could get ugly.”
“Right!
Let’s go!”
Kai glanced at the Smoke-Sealing Orb in his hand and smirked.
“Good luck surviving in there, Captain Smoker.”
With that, he casually tossed the orb behind him and ran off after the others without another glance. Find the original chapter at g.com.
From a rooftop above, Dragon had witnessed the entire scene.
“There’s actually an invention like that in this world?” he muttered in surprise.
Looks like he wouldn’t need to interfere after all.
His gaze shifted toward Tashigi, who was hurrying toward the harbor in the distance.
That girl would probably find the orb.
Satisfied, Dragon dissolved into a gust of wind and disappeared.
Meanwhile, Tashigi ran anxiously through the rain-soaked streets.
“Damn it!
I have to take that famous sword back!”
She stopped at an intersection and looked ahead.
“The harbor should be just up ahead…”
Coincidentally, she was standing right beside the discarded Smoke-Sealing Orb.
Inside the sphere, Smoker had already fallen into despair.
He couldn’t break the orb from within no matter what he tried.
But the moment he saw Tashigi, hope reignited instantly.
“Tashigi!”
“Tashigi!!”
“Hm?” Tashigi paused and looked around in confusion.
“Did I just hear Captain Smoker’s voice?”
Was she imagining things?
“You airhead!
Look down!
DOWN!”
“Down?”
Following the voice, Tashigi lowered her gaze and spotted the transparent orb on the ground.
“The voice is coming from inside this thing…”
She picked it up curiously and saw swirling white smoke trapped within.
Then suddenly Smoker’s face pressed against the inner surface of the sphere.
“It’s me!”
“WHAAAT?!” Tashigi nearly threw the thing away in shock.
After calming down, she finally recognized him.
“Captain Smoker?!”
“Hurry up and get me out of here!”
“How?”
Smoker fell silent for a full second.
“…Break the ball!”
The sound of shattering glass rang out through the street.
At last, Smoker emerged from the broken sphere.
Even if the girl could be unbelievably dense sometimes, at least she had saved him.
Smoker looked toward the distant harbor with a fierce glare.
“Don’t think you’re getting away!”