Smoker!

"We truly had no right to judge you for the past."

Under Lowett's grave gaze, Smoker stepped forward one step at a time, removing his jitte with a cigar clenched between his teeth.

"But now..."

"Pirate 'Black Count' Francis Lowett..."

Pointing the jitte ahead, Smoker loudly declared, "I find you guilty of attacking and killing Marine officers and soldiers from East Blue Branch 16!"

"In the name of justice, surrender peacefully!"

Whoosh... smack!

The moment he finished speaking, a "concealed weapon" flew out from beside the street and struck Smoker squarely in the face.

Sweet, sticky juice soaked his white spiky hair and ran down his forehead, leaving Smoker looking somewhat disheveled.

"We're under attack!"

"Form up! Protect the vice admiral!"

The Marine soldiers swiftly changed formations, surrounding Momonga and Smoker.

But Smoker remained unmoved.

He wiped the liquid from his face, tossed aside the smashed tomato, and turned his head.

"You..."

Another tomato struck him squarely across the bridge of the nose. At the mouth of an alley stood a little boy barely reaching an adult's waist, beside a basket of tomatoes. He cradled seven or eight in his left arm and threw them with all his might using his right hand.

"Justice, my ass! Who needs your justice?!"

Under the stares of so many people, the boy trembled all over, snot running down his face. Yet the rage in his eyes kept him from fleeing.

"The day my father, mother, and grandfather were killed by Arlong, where was your justice?!"

Smoker froze, unable to force out the words already at his lips.

The boy cried out through tears.

"Uncle Sam went out to sea to find help, but he drowned in the ocean! When that rat sent his corpse back to mock us, where was your justice then?!"

Juice dripped from Smoker's head.

The little boy vented in a trembling voice.

"Get out, Marines!"

"We don't need your justice!"

A group of elite soldiers who could face the terror of the undead without changing expression now stood there in stunned silence, allowing him to throw tomatoes at their commanding officer.

Their eyes held guilt and pain, while veins bulged across the backs of the hands gripping their guns.

Whoosh... smack!

Another rotten vegetable leaf flew over. Lowett shifted his gaze and saw Nojiko standing in the middle of the street, her arms full of damp trash.

"Get out of here, Marines!"

"He's right! We don't need it!"

"That's right, we don't need it!"

Villagers pushed open their doors and flooded into the streets one after another, holding all kinds of "weapons" in their hands. Kitchen knives, brooms, stools, hoes—remarkably inventive.

Smoker lowered his gaze, smoke swirling around him and hiding his expression.

Momonga shut his eyes painfully, enduring the foul-smelling projectiles striking his body.

He had never imagined this situation.

The villagers who had barely survived beneath Arlong's oppression now had the courage to attack them... Had Marine justice truly become more hateful than the pirates' atrocities?

Momonga felt utterly disheartened.

Rather than suffer such inner torment, he would rather head to the New World and fight one of the Four Emperors' pirate crews.

Suddenly, the little boy ran out of "ammunition." He pulled a dagger from his shoe and charged into the crowd while no one was paying attention.

"Vice Admiral, watch out!"

"Vice Admiral!"

Yet Momonga did not dodge. He allowed the boy to rush in, grab his coat, climb onto his shoulder, and hold the dagger against his neck.

"Run, big brother who plays with corpses! I caught him!"

No, you didn't.

Lowett: "..."

There were too many things to mock. For a moment, he did not know what to say.

"Interesting..."

Then Lowett's lips curled upward, and he smiled faintly.

"This is far too interesting!!"

He burst into wild laughter, doubling over.

"Do you see that, Vice Admiral Momonga? This is your justice!"

"Open your eyes! Open them wide and take a good look—this is your justice!"

Momonga's eyelids trembled at those words, yet he did not open his eyes.

"Isn't it utterly ridiculous?"

The smile vanished abruptly as Lowett's gaze darkened.

"Remember not to turn around and take revenge on the villagers. Otherwise... I'll make you repay it with your families' lives."

Children acted without considering the consequences.

But as a dependable adult, Lowett could not be so willful.

With that, Lowett turned gracefully, preparing to leave.

But then...

A pillar of white cloud suddenly shot out, smashing apart a house beside the street.

The villagers around them froze. Looking at the room that appeared to have been ravaged by explosives, they lowered their "concealed weapons" in lingering fear.

"Enough!!"

Smoker raised his head. His face was smeared with tomato juice, but there was nothing comical about it. There was only solemnity.

"What are you waiting for?"

He turned and glared angrily at Momonga. "What do you take our convictions for, Vice Admiral Momonga?!"

"Did we join the Marines because we didn't know about these things?!"

"Smoker..."

Momonga's body trembled. He slowly opened his eyes and stared at him in disbelief.

"Some darkness must be borne by someone. If not you, then me. That is what Teacher Zephyr taught us. Have you forgotten?!"

If you can't find it by searching the book title, try searching the author instead. It may have simply been renamed!

Zephyr, the former Marine admiral known as "Black Arm," was now the chief instructor of the recruit camp.

He had captured countless pirates throughout his life, yet never killed a single one. He was known as the "Admiral Who Does Not Kill"!

Among the famous figures in the Marines today, apart from those of Sengoku's generation, nine out of ten had been taught by him. He was a true elder of the seas.

"The world is like this. Black and white are hard to distinguish. But if even we give up, then what does this coat stand for?! A joke?!"

Smoker roared as he tore the Marine coat from his back and hurled it into the air.

Flutter!

The sea breeze whipped it about with a sharp crackle. Against the rising sun, the word "Justice" on the back of that white, cloudlike coat stood out with glaring clarity.

"Evil must be eradicated. That is my justice!"

Momonga fell silent. After a moment, he raised his head.

"I..."

"Don't move!!"

The little boy jumped in fright and hurriedly pressed the dagger tighter against his neck.

Seeing Momonga freeze again, Smoker irritably shook the tomato juice from his eyelids and exhaled a long plume of smoke.

"'Black Count' Lowett, in the name of justice, I am here to arrest you!"

With that, Smoker clenched his right fist, and a narrow stream of smoke shot out.

White Smoke: White Fist!

"What a bother..."

Since someone was willing to make a move, they would have to fight eventually.

Lowett slowly narrowed his eyes, raised a hand to stop the Black Knight from charging out, and turned around.

"Fine! This is a good chance to find out what exactly a so-called Logia is."

Lowett was also curious whether magic could affect a Logia.

Withered Black Sand!

Whoosh, whoosh!

The black sand on his left arm rapidly writhed and expanded. Amid ripples resembling water droplets on its surface, black cannonballs shot out one after another, flying straight toward Smoker.

Nojiko's pupils shrank when she noticed them.

"Run! That black sand is highly poisonous!"

Lowett staggered, the corner of his mouth twitching.

He knew Nojiko said that to keep uninformed villagers from being poisoned to death by the black sand, but she had also reminded Smoker not to let the black sand strike him.

"Now I'm not getting my money's worth!"

Sure enough, knowing the black sand was poisonous, Smoker did not recklessly charge ahead. He controlled the White Fist, twisting it crookedly to evade the black sand cannonballs.

White Snake!

Bang!!

Breaking through the barrage, the fist slammed heavily into the edge of the harbor, shattering the stone pavement into pieces. Amid the scattered dust, Lowett leaped aside to avoid the attack and swung his left arm again in midair.

"Black Sand: Acid Rain: Shadow..."

"Combination Magic: Death Rain Curtain!"

With a flick of his hand, a curtain of black sand swept out. Under the spell's effect, the densely packed black sand rapidly split into countless bullets, blanketing the sky and blotting out the sun like black clouds.

Faced with this all-encompassing killing move, Smoker knew he could not dodge. He spread out a canopy of smoke and chose to block it.

White Curtain!

Puff, puff, puff!

The effect that had once been displayed upon Lowett was now displayed upon Smoker.

Countless cannonballs rained down madly, battering the smoke screen until white smoke scattered everywhere with repeated puffs. Yet only a small number penetrated the White Curtain, greatly reducing the threat.

Every grain of poisonous black sand, laden with intense corrosiveness, corroded a finger-sized black hole into the lifeless earth when it fell to the ground.

That terrifying rain of death instantly corroded every building within a hundred-meter radius, leaving only the main Marine force at the center with minor injuries.

"What a terrifying attack!"

Noticing his slowly healing arm, Smoker sucked in a breath.

His white smoke appeared soft enough to scatter with a single slap, but ordinary people would have great difficulty even cutting through it with blades. It was extremely resilient.

Yet before the enemy's corrosive attack, the resilience of his white smoke was completely suppressed.

Had he not continuously created more white smoke to patch the gaps in the White Curtain, that rainfall truly would have caused devastating casualties.

Here's a joke: if a drop of water falls from a very, very high place, can it injure someone? Or kill them?

Answer: Rain really can kill people!

"I can't let him widen the distance!"

After witnessing such a terrifying attack and confirming he had not been poisoned, Smoker's eyes narrowed as he reached his conclusion.

Momonga was strong, but he was a swordsman. He could not block such a wide-ranging rain curtain like Smoker could.

Therefore, he absolutely could not allow his opponent to attack freely. He had to seize the tempo.

Smack!!

When the final grain of black sand fell, the White Curtain in midair burst apart. Smoke spread everywhere, blurring the entire field of vision.

Only when he was less than twenty meters away did Smoker suddenly burst out, wrapped in white clouds.

He had chosen the jitte, a strength-based weapon, not only because Seastone was difficult to process and could not be forged into a blade, but also because Smoker himself was immensely strong. Only a heavy weapon could bring out his full strength.

"It's over if you get hit, Black Count!"

The jitte struck at Lowett with a fierce howl. With that burst of speed, twenty meters vanished in an instant.

Puff... flutter!

He had successfully struck Lowett, but the flock of ravens scattering across the sky made Smoker's pupils shrink.

"Damn it, it's an illusion!"

What kind of Devil Fruit ability was this?

Aside from controlling corpses and black sand, it could even create clones to confuse opponents?!

If Smoker knew that Lowett had even cured Nami's eyes, he would probably have been even more bewildered.

But he had no time for that now.

"Soul Devour: Raven: Scarlet..."

"Combination Magic: Blood Plague Raven!"

At the instant his old strength had been spent and his new strength had yet to emerge, Lowett seized the opportunity with precision and sent the spell into his abdomen.

"If poison and acid are useless against you, then what about curses?"

Staring in astonishment at Lowett not far beside him, Smoker's eyes suddenly widened. With a puff, a black raven burst out from his chest and flapped its wings into the sky.

Thanks to readers ~A Guest Who Forgets Himself in Dreams~ and ~Ghost Dragon's Resentment~ for the 100 rewards each. Thank you for your support!

I was happily done writing last night, then got dragged to KTV. We stayed there until early morning... I had no choice but to post a saved chapter today. It's 1:40 in the afternoon now, and Big Tree hasn't slept all night, so I didn't proofread very carefully. If there are any typos, please remind me in the chapter comments.