Caught and Executed on the Spot

"Brother!"

Lieutenant Charles forced an ugly, ingratiating smile and said to the "great pirate" beside him:

"The people from Marine Headquarters are here. As a pirate, you can't avoid being targeted by them either."

All the arrogance he had shown toward the weakling pirates of the East Blue was gone. The moment he opened his mouth, he began talking about mutual benefit and cooperation.

Smoker did not answer. He merely cast a complex look, one that others found difficult to read, at Commander Hammer in the distance.

Commander Hammer also briefly assessed the helper Charles had brought in:

The vicious man stood eight feet tall, with strong bones and taut muscles. His entire body was packed with knotted muscles like those of a white bear; his sharp eyes beneath his brow resembled a hawk's; his short silver hair was stiff as an iron brush; his savage face looked like that of a hungry tiger. Two large cigars burned and smoked from his mouth, while he held a long, dark-blue black-iron Jitte in his hand. He was every inch a terrifying great pirate!

"Good!"

Commander Hammer was overjoyed and immediately tried to win over this "great pirate":

"Brother!"

"Help me kill that cursed brat, and I'll give you whatever reward you want!"

Smoker still said nothing. He simply raised the solid, heavy Jitte in his hand, looking as though he were preparing to intervene.

Charles, standing beside him, visibly relaxed. He then calmly looked toward Garen, who was confronting Hammer, putting on the air of joining forces to punish a traitor.

Bang!

A righteous blow struck Charles hard on the head.

Before Lieutenant Charles could even realize who had attacked him from behind, Smoker's powerful Jitte Blunt Strike sent him sprawling on the ground, half-dead.

"You?!"

Commander Hammer stared at Smoker in shock and uncertainty, his expression extremely colorful.

Garen, meanwhile, looked relieved. He casually planted his greatsword into the ground, then stood off to the side in a posture that suggested he was ready to watch a good show while quietly recovering health.

"You people really have opened my eyes."

Smoker finally broke his silence and said darkly, "You pieces of trash!"

As soon as he spoke, smoke began billowing from Smoker's body.

That tall, burly body instantly turned into a swirling cloud of white smoke, which spun through the air and lunged fiercely at Commander Hammer.

Hammer had been fighting Garen for a long time and was already at the end of his strength.

Faced with Smoker's all-out attack, Hammer had no power to resist. In a single exchange, the smoke Smoker had become bound his limbs.

Smoker then condensed his upper body back into solid form from the smoke. Finally, he viciously locked the Jitte around Hammer's neck and mercilessly pressed Hammer's head to the ground.

"You..."

Completely restrained, Hammer gritted his teeth and said unwillingly, "You're the real Smoker!"

"That's right."

Smoker's expression was cold as he said, "I'm the Smoker you wanted to kill!"

"Damn it! Damn it all!"

Commander Hammer struggled to adjust his difficult face-to-floor position, then complained indignantly:

"If only I had a few more days, I could have gotten away cleanly!"

"You're still thinking of getting away cleanly?"

Smoker exhaled a huge cloud of smoke and said coldly, "You're dead today!"

As he spoke, Smoker fully returned to human form. He then planted a foot on Commander Hammer's back, pinning him firmly to the ground, before slowly raising the heavy Jitte.

"Wait!"

Commander Hammer calmed himself and said quite steadily, "You can't kill me!"

Smoker's hand paused.

"I've already been captured by you. You can't kill me!"

Hammer, pinned beneath his foot, said with some difficulty:

"I'm a Marine officer. If I broke the law, I should be judged by the Marine military court!"

"You have no authority to sentence me to death!"

Perhaps Impel Down had too much food to finish and needed a few more mouths to feed.

In this world, even pirates captured by the Marines were not necessarily executed on the spot;

As for corrupt officers within the Marines, there was an entirely different set of procedures for dealing with them.

Without explicit orders from Marine superiors and the World Government, aside from Akainu, few Marines had the habit of executing captured criminals on the spot. The handful of iron-blooded officers who did were all branded "cold-blooded killers."

Hammer's voice grew sharper and louder as he practically exhausted himself shouting at Smoker:

"Smoker!"

"If you claim to uphold justice, then don't violate Marine regulations!"

Smoker's expression darkened considerably, and the Jitte clenched in his hand trembled slightly.

Silence fell.

After a moment, Smoker slowly loosened his grip on the weapon.

At the same time, his other hand transformed into several snake-like streams of smoke, tightly wrapping around Commander Hammer, who was pinned to the ground.

Bound tightly by the white smoke, Commander Hammer instead revealed a relaxed, relieved expression.

Because he knew his life had been saved—at least for now.

"Smoker! You're really not going to kill this guy?!"

Garen walked over with his greatsword in hand and asked in astonishment.

He had long been standing nearby with his sword gripped tightly, ready at any moment to finish Hammer off, steal the kill, and gain experience.

And yet Smoker had actually put down the butcher's blade.

Smoker took a gloomy drag of his cigar and said with difficulty:

"These are Marine rules."

"After corrupt personnel within the organization are captured, they must be sent to Headquarters for trial and sentencing by the military court."

"..."

Garen fell silent, only casting a rather frustrated glance at Commander Hammer, who remained restrained by Smoker—

The man looked as though he had received some kind of immunity token and had completely lost his fear of death.

Smoker noticed Garen's dissatisfaction, and he himself was deeply dissatisfied as well.

That dissatisfaction left Smoker feeling irritable and repressed.

But as an officer of Marine Headquarters, Smoker could only force himself to believe in Marine justice.

Thus, Smoker said in a deep voice:

"Don't worry!"

"With his crime of murdering a superior officer, he'll definitely receive the death penalty even if he's sent to military court!"

But Garen still looked extremely frustrated. After all, what he wanted was not merely a just judgment, but just experience points as well.

He still did not lower the greatsword in his hand.

"Hahaha..."

A slightly mocking laugh rang out beside Garen and Smoker. Its owner was Commander Hammer, who had already been completely defeated.

Hammer laughed hysterically, so wildly that tears were nearly forced from the corners of his eyes:

"How ridiculous!"

"You're already a colonel, and yet..."

"You still haven't realized what this so-called justice really is?!"

"The death penalty?!"

Hammer pointed at his own perfectly good head and lectured Smoker, this naïve junior, in the tone of a life mentor:

"Did you think all the money I've accumulated over the years would be useless? I prepared for this possibility long ago!"

"As long as the money is in place, a death sentence can become a suspended death sentence!"

"After I spend a few years in prison, once the heat dies down, it'll be reduced again to a fixed-term sentence because of my 'excellent behavior during incarceration'!"

"If I'm lucky, you might even see me sailing the seas again in a few years!"

Smoker's face immediately turned black.

"This is so-called justice."

Hammer's laughter became even more mocking:

"Those fat, complacent senior officials just sit behind their desks and stamp a few papers, and they can swallow all the money I worked so hard to earn over the years in one gulp!"

"Heh."

Hammer's words tormented Smoker's ears like demonic whispers:

"Making money under the banner of 'justice' is really easy!"

Smoker clenched his teeth, his eyes blazing with fury.

"Well?"

Hammer was utterly fearless. He enjoyed the pleasure of "educating a junior" like this:

"If you still insist on Marine justice, then you can't kill me!"

"And if you don't kill me, I might just walk free by relying on Marine justice!"

"What are you going to do?!"

Smoker trembled with anger, but his face was filled with conflict and pain.

His thoughts were in turmoil.

Hammer's words were almost like a curse, one Smoker could not unravel.

Not only Smoker—even his teacher, Admiral Zephyr, could not escape this curse.

Hammer opened his mouth, intending to continue.

But a greatsword suddenly rested against his neck.

"Y-you, what are you trying to do?"

Hammer asked Garen in surprise, "Even your superior didn't kill me!"

"Huh?"

Garen quietly pressed the blade of his greatsword a little closer to Hammer's neck and said innocently:

"Don't misunderstand. I never said I was a Marine."

Commander Hammer's face instantly turned as black as the bottom of a pot.

"Commander Hammer, tell me..."

As the greatsword gradually pressed closer to Hammer's neck, Garen said maliciously:

"'Loguetown garrison embezzled and engaged in corruption; Commander Hammer violently resisted the law and was executed on the spot.'"

"What do you think of that headline?"

Hammer's eyes immediately filled with terror and panic as he turned a pleading look toward Smoker.

Smoker did not say a word.

After several breaths, he silently turned away with a grim expression.

"That's why I never wanted to become a Marine. Because if I did..."

Garen let out a soft sigh and swung his sword down:

"I'd have to let scum like you live."