Three minutes later, Smoker got out of the car.
Just as he was about to return to his office, he remembered what Zhou Qi had said earlier.
"How will he get here? What does he want with me?" Smoker looked around and saw a circle suddenly appear beside him. Then, a young man stepped out of it.
"This is... the Door-Door Fruit?" Smoker had read the Devil Fruit encyclopedia before, but he quickly shook his head. "No, this seems somewhat different from the Door-Door Fruit."
He could not be sure. He had never seen a Door-Door Fruit user before, so what could he tell from those few lines of written description?
Besides, his grades in cultural studies had been rather average back then. Smoker could not be certain that his memory was accurate.
"Just think of me as a Door-Door Fruit user!" Zhou Qi said with a smile, though he was thinking of Bruno, the true Door-Door Fruit user.
Fortunately, Bruno was an agent, and not many people knew about his abilities.
But just in case, Zhou Qi would have to find an opportunity to kill him and reclaim the fruit.
One Door-Door Fruit user in this world was enough.
Besides, Zhou Qi was curious whether eating the Door-Door Fruit would let him use his dimensional doors in more varied ways.
Still, for the sake of the future, he was more inclined to eat the Thunder-Thunder Fruit.
"Are you a pirate?" Smoker asked as he walked. "But I haven't seen your Bounty Poster."
"No!" Zhou Qi hurriedly shook his head. "What pirate would be bold enough to come looking for you?"
"There are plenty of bold pirates. Wasn't that one just now an example?" Smoker chuckled.
"Uh..." Well...
Zhou Qi truly did not understand the thought processes of many pirates in this world. Logically speaking, when facing renowned experts, shouldn't they avoid them?
Yet in reality, pirates challenging the Four Emperors and the Three Admirals were everywhere.
Danzo stabbing Susanoo with a kunai would only count as standard practice in this world.
Perhaps that was what it meant to fear nothing when one knew nothing.
"So, what do you want with me? Enlist in the Marines?" Smoker asked.
"Uh, not exactly. I'm actually a merchant," Zhou Qi said.
"A merchant?" Smoker said. "If you want to do business with the Marines, go find Logistics Base Chief Luge. I'm not responsible for that sort of thing, and I don't accept gifts. Please leave."
"Wait!" Zhou Qi hurried after him. Smoker was 2.10 meters tall, and his strides were long and fast. Zhou Qi had to jog to keep up.
"Actually, although I'm a merchant, I leave business matters to my subordinates. I came to see you for something else!" Zhou Qi said.
Although he knew Smoker was upright and incorruptible, he had not expected him to be so impatient. Zhou Qi could only make a long story short. "For merchants to make big money, they need a peaceful business environment. So I hope you can crack down hard on the pirate forces in the East Blue, ideally achieving dynamic zeroing..."
"I'll do that whether you ask me to or not!" Smoker said.
"But didn't pirates just make it all the way to Loguetown?" Zhou Qi said. "That alone proves—"
"What do you know?" Smoker immediately grew displeased upon hearing that. "Are you saying we're neglecting our duties? Do you know how many pirates there are on these seas? Do you know how many times the Marines deploy every month?"
"We don't even have time off. We don't even have time to let our soldiers reunite with their families!"
"I only got back from patrol twenty minutes ago!"
My butt hasn't even warmed the chair yet, and now I have to ride my motorcycle out to catch pirates. I work this hard, and civilians still question me?
Fortunately, Zhou Qi was a civilian. If it had been a superior or subordinate questioning him like that, Smoker would have punched them already.
Even so, Smoker felt somewhat aggrieved. Seeing that they had reached his office, he simply kicked the door open, startling Tashigi, who had been reading inside.
"Captain Smoker!" Tashigi hurriedly stood up.
Zhou Qi looked over the room's layout. It was filled with smoke, the windows were shut, and the whole room looked rather dim.
Tashigi had been reading in an environment like this all year round. No wonder she was nearsighted...
And she inhaled secondhand smoke every day...
"This doesn't involve any secrets, does it? Can I come in?" Zhou Qi asked.
"Hello, are you Captain Smoker's guest?" Tashigi hurriedly stood up. "Please come in. I'll make you some tea..."
Smoker said nothing, but he did not object either.
Zhou Qi grinned. He had not expected Smoker to be a little tsundere.
He looked at the three cigars in Smoker's mouth, then at the not particularly large office. After hesitating for a moment, he opened another door.
On the other side of the door was the range hood in his kitchen.
He switched it on. The fan began to roar, and the smoke in the room was rapidly sucked out.
"Your ability is pretty convenient!" Smoker watched this happen and gave an instinctive assessment.
Unfortunately, it was not suited for combat.
"It's all right." Zhou Qi nodded, then reached through another door. When he withdrew his hand, he was holding a rolled-up catalog.
"Please take a look at this..."
"Hmm, Dragon Spring Sword, Wild Goose Feather Saber, Miao Dao?" It was actually a weapon catalog!
Every weapon in the catalog gleamed with a metallic sheen. At a glance, none of them seemed ordinary.
"So you're an arms dealer!?" Smoker's expression immediately darkened. "Causing trouble in other countries isn't enough for you, and now you want to extend your reach into the Marines?"
"You're overthinking it, Captain!" Zhou Qi shook his head. "I merely thought that if you had better weapons, wouldn't your efficiency in fighting pirates improve? If your efficiency improves, the Marines' deterrent power will increase as well, and the number of pirates will naturally fall faster!"
"You make a lot of sense!" Smoker shook his head. "But forget it. Only a small number of Marines use swords. Most use guns! Or are you saying you can get guns too?"
"Uh..." He could, but they were too advanced. Zhou Qi feared they might cause the World Government to misunderstand.
And he realized that Smoker might not want to cooperate with him at all.
Thinking about it, that made sense. Smoker had been demoted to the East Blue precisely because he refused to go along with his superiors' corruption. How could he possibly be bought by a merchant?
Although Zhou Qi did not believe he had been trying to buy anyone off, from Smoker's perspective, his actions were indeed a form of bribery and corruption.
"I understand." Zhou Qi stood up. "Sorry for disturbing you."
Smoker waved his hand. Only then did Tashigi enter with the tea.
"Uh, are you leaving?" Tashigi looked somewhat confused.
"Yes..." Zhou Qi nodded. "Sorry for disturbing you!"
"Ah, no, not at all!" Tashigi waved her hands. "Then, shall I see you out?"
As she spoke, she turned to glance at Smoker.
Zhou Qi understood why Tashigi had been able to stay with Smoker for so long. Smoker's personality undoubtedly made him prone to offending people, but Tashigi's manners could make up for some of his shortcomings and keep him from making enemies everywhere.
What an excellent first mate. So jealous.jpg...
After leaving the office building, Tashigi turned to look at the small office still leaking smoke and said, "Um, please don't be angry. The Captain is just a bit blunt, but he doesn't mean any harm..."
"You know what we talked about?" Zhou Qi asked.
"Uh, I don't, but..."
Things like this had happened quite a few times over the past year, so she was already quite practiced at dealing with them.
"Of course I won't be angry with him. Having such an upright officer is also a good thing for Loguetown..." Zhou Qi said with a smile.
Someone like Captain Rat was easy to buy off, but once you stopped paying, he would betray you too.
And greedy people like that had bottomless appetites. They could never be satisfied.
Smoker, on the other hand, would not give you special treatment, but he treated everyone else the same way.
Under fair competition, who could possibly compete with Zhou Qi, who had an entire world backing him?
So although today appeared to have yielded nothing, he had already succeeded in making an impression. Combined with learning Smoker's attitude toward merchants, he had gained more than enough.
As for friendship, he could build that slowly in the future.
"Do you really think so?" Tashigi asked excitedly. She greatly admired Smoker, so hearing someone praise him made her happier than being praised herself.
"Of course!" Zhou Qi nodded. "Speaking of which, Miss Tashigi, you're an excellent first mate too. Have you ever considered changing careers? If you came to work for our chamber of commerce, I'd definitely give you the best treatment!"
"Uh, I couldn't do that!" Tashigi hurriedly shook her head. "Besides, becoming a Marine is my dream!"
"Isn't your dream to collect every Famous Sword?" Zhou Qi asked.
"Being a Marine is my dream, and collecting Famous Swords is also my dream!" Tashigi said seriously. She was not curious about how Zhou Qi knew, either. Quite a lot of people knew about her hobby.
"I see." Zhou Qi nodded.
"Oh, right! If you ever learn of any clues about Famous Swords, please be sure to tell me!"
"Absolutely, absolutely!"
Zhou Qi was quite curious about these so-called Famous Swords. More than anything, he wondered whether these handcrafted blades were stronger than swords forged from modern metals...
But then he thought of Shusui, which would not bend in the slightest even if a dinosaur stood on it. And that was only a Great Grade Sword; above it were the Supreme Grade Swords.
Modern weapons might truly be inferior to the Supreme Grade Swords here.
And what did that imply? New materials...
Before you continue