Time for Trash Talk

"Hahaha!"

Commander Hammer laughed heartily, venting the emotions he had suppressed for so long:

"If you had just taken the money and kept your mouth shut, that would have been the end of it!"

"I never expected you to be so greedy; you're simply asking for death!"

The smile on Hammer's face gradually twisted from elation into something grotesque:

"Don't worry, I've already got a scapegoat pirate lined up!"

"How about this headline: 'Pirates Riot in Loguetown, Captain Smoker Dies Carelessly in the Line of Duty'?"

"Hahaha, I'll personally kill that pirate to 'avenge' you, Captain Smoker!"

Nami, however, said with a strange expression:

"Are you crazy?"

"You dare to kill even a Captain from Marine Headquarters? Do you think the Marines won't find out something's fishy?"

"Haha!"

Hammer laughed even more maniacally: "So what if they find out?"

"By then, I'll have already transferred all my assets and made a clean getaway!"

"Truly, man dies for wealth, and birds die for food..."

A cold voice rang out in Hammer's ear:

"At this point, you're still thinking about transferring your assets before running?"

"Huh?"

Hammer sensed that something was wrong.

The wind suddenly picked up, and a greatsword gleaming with brilliant golden light was already bearing down on him.

Commander Hammer was, after all, an elite officer who came from the Marine Headquarters training camp. Years of being relegated to Loguetown had not made him slack in his training. On the contrary, this unruly man had been tempered to be even stronger in anger and repression.

He reacted in an instant, instinctively raising his arms to protect his face and leaping backward.

But it was completely useless.

The blade of the greatsword still struck Hammer, cutting two deep bloody gashes into the arms he used to defend himself.

Hammer staggered back several steps, and only after finally regaining his footing was he able to clearly see the identity of the attacker.

His expression instantly turned to bewilderment and terror:

The "Smoker" who he had shot down to the ground had somehow stood up, conjured a set of magnificent armor from who-knows-where, and was clutching a broad greatsword in his hand.

How did shooting him with a bullet end up equipping him with a full set of gear?

"How is this possible?!"

Hammer said in disbelief, "I clearly hit you with a Seastone Bullet!"

"You did hit me, and it hurt a lot."

Garen said with a light smile, his face still showing a hint of pain.

He was in his normal physical state just now, so he really felt the pain of the gunshot;

But almost at the same time, his datafied mode was automatically triggered by the external damage.

"You..."

Hammer's eyes narrowed, and he finally realized something was wrong:

"You're not Smoker at all!"

"Haha..."

Garen couldn't help but reveal a mocking smile:

"I never said I was!"

"I really have to thank you for your generosity, Commander Hammer!"

"D-Damn you!"

Hammer trembled with anger, almost grinding his teeth to pieces.

He reached under the nearby conference table and pulled out a long sword that had been prepared in advance: "Prepare to die!"

"Shave!"

Although his aptitude wasn't particularly strong, Hammer, as a Marine Headquarters officer, was still proficient in the basics of Rokushiki.

Hammer's feet instantly exploded with terrifying power, and he charged at Garen with a gust of wind, finally slashing down at Garen's mocking face.

Garen's expression didn't change, and he instead felt a surge of confidence:

Having witnessed Garp's Shave, Hammer's method of movement, which he could still track with his dynamic vision, really couldn't scare him.

The "Garen" didn't show any intention of dodging, but simply stood there, allowing Hammer to slash down with his sword.

The longsword came crashing down, embedding itself directly into "Garen's" forehead, and continued to cleave downwards with tremendous force.

It was a scene of brutal carnage straight out of an anti-Japanese war drama.

Despite having already witnessed Garen being shot and falling to the ground unscathed, Nami still found this horrific scene hard to accept, covering her mouth and crying out in worry for Garen.

But Hammer, who wielded the longsword, had already noticed something was wrong – he had just chopped his sword into the guy's forehead, and not a single drop of blood had appeared?!

But it was too late. A phantom figure suddenly materialized from its transparent state, swinging a sword at Hammer's back.

Caught off guard, Hammer was sent flying several meters by Garen's sword, crashing through the wall of the conference room.

Bricks and rubble flew everywhere, and Commander Hammer's meticulous appearance was ruined, leaving him covered in dust and dirt.

But before long, Hammer steadily stood up from the pile of rubble.

Although his arms and back were injured, his breathing was steady, and his eyes were sharper than ever.

People in this world were incredibly resilient, and those who specialized in physical combat were even more unkillable, as if they had an invincibility cheat.

"This is troublesome..."

Garen sighed softly:

"Looks like I'm in for a long fight."

Hammer was an elite graduate of the Marine Headquarters training camp with years of combat experience. Although his rank was only Commander, his mastery of physical combat was in no way inferior to Captain Smoker, who relied too much on his Devil Fruit ability.

And although Garen claimed to be evenly matched with Garp, even his glorious record of instantly defeating Smoker was achieved through trickery.

If Smoker took Garen seriously and guarded against his underhanded tactics, he wouldn't lose to Garen, who had only leveled up to level 4, based on physical strength alone.

"Kid!"

Hammer had already seen through Garen's true strength:

"You dare to try and deceive me with your level of skill?!"

Garen didn't say a word, swinging his sword and charging towards Hammer.

Extremely angry, Hammer gripped his longsword tightly, swinging it at the insidious figure in front of him.

At first, Garen was able to occasionally gain an advantage with the insidious attribute of "guaranteed hit."

But after Commander Hammer realized something was wrong, he directly used his sword to block Garen's attacks.

With the absolute advantage of his own strength, Hammer wasn't afraid to block Garen's attacks head-on. Instead, he was often able to take advantage of the moment Garen's sword momentum was exhausted to strike Garen with his own sword.

Garen immediately experienced the suffocating feeling of being completely suppressed by a high-level physical combat expert:

Judgment's spinning attack couldn't catch up to him due to its lack of speed, his guaranteed-hit normal attacks were blocked head-on with brute force, and the only thing that posed a threat to Hammer was the unpredictable Mirror Image.

But this stealth skill had a cooldown time of more than ten seconds. The low frequency combined with insufficient damage meant that Garen could only grit his teeth and fight a war of attrition with Hammer.

After a moment of fierce fighting, Garen's health bar had already been reduced by more than half.

"Wait!"

Garen blocked an incoming attack from Hammer with his sword, took several steps back, and finally said in a deep voice:

"You're a Marine Commander with a high rank, why would you stoop so low?!"

Hammer carefully sized up Garen, secretly shocked:

He had already shown signs of fatigue, and had several bleeding wounds on his body, barely maintaining his advantage with his own strength.

But the other party was clearly weaker than him, yet after a fierce battle, he was still energetic and unscathed.

Intimidated by this strange phenomenon, Hammer didn't dare to act rashly, and simply followed Garen's lead by temporarily ceasing hostilities, taking the opportunity to recover his strength and think of a way to deal with him.

"A high rank? Stoop so low?!"

Hammer cooperated with Garen and started a war of words:

"Do you know how long I've been stuck with the rank of Commander?"

Hammer pointed to his already graying temples, and said indignantly:

"Ten years! It's been ten years!"

"Not only have I not been promoted, but I've also been sent to a backwater like Loguetown to guard the gate!"

"Just because I don't have a Devil Fruit ability or a Marine Admiral as a teacher?!"

"You"

Garen said again in a deep voice:

"You were clearly promoted by Marine Headquarters for your 'excellent achievements'."

"The Headquarters trusts you so much, yet you have been constantly embezzling and violating Justice! Doesn't your conscience hurt?"

"Promoted?"

Hammer sneered, and said with disdain:

"Young man, are you really that naive, or are you just pretending to be crazy?"

"Promote me to Vice Captain, and then transfer me to the training camp of the West Blue Branch? Everyone knows that the training camp is just a dead-end job for old people!"

"You think you can fool me with this clumsy promotion-in-name-only trick?!"

Commander Hammer grew more agitated as he spoke, clearly displaying genuine emotion:

"Marine Headquarters is so dismissive of me!"

"What's wrong with me making some money here and saving up a little nest egg for the rest of my life!"

Garen was silent for a moment, then put on a look of indignant condemnation and rebuked:

"You actually have the nerve to be so self-righteous!"

"Do you even deserve to have the word 'Justice' on your back?"

"Hahaha!"

Commander Hammer laughed wildly:

"You're still too young! Too naive!"

"Justice?"

Commander Hammer's facial muscles twisted and contorted with excessive emotion, and he spat disdainfully:

"What justice, what fairness, what law..."

"To put it bluntly, it's just a prettier way to rob people!"

Commander Hammer waved the longsword in his hand excitedly, and said angrily:

"I was selected into the Marine Headquarters training camp at sixteen, and I graduated and went to war with the army at eighteen. Which country in the Grand Line haven't I been to?"

"I..."

Before he could finish speaking, Garen's greatsword quietly came slashing towards him.

Garen held the Justice Greatsword, his face full of righteousness:

"Sorry!"

"My health's full again, let's talk next time."