Smoker Visits

"President, President!" a figure stumbled and jogged towards the manor.

"What's the rush, Abbu? This isn't like you!" Tannis asked with a smile, putting down his morning tea.

"Colonel Smoker is here, he's right outside the door!" Abbu said hastily, without time to explain.

"What?" Tannis's teacup fell to the ground. He didn't even bother to pick it up and walked a few steps quickly. "Really?"

"Of course, it's true!"

"Quick, quick, get ready! And why did you come here? You should have been waiting by the Colonel's side!"

Just as the ignorant are fearless among pirates, to the locals, Zhou Qi was indeed somewhat ignorant and fearless. He dared to call Smoker's name on the street and even dared to go see Smoker directly.

Who was Smoker? The base commander of Loguetown, a Marine Headquarters Colonel. Not to mention Loguetown, according to the tradition of Headquarters ranks being three levels higher than branch offices, he was the highest-ranking person in the entire East Blue!

Moreover, his teacher was a former Admiral, his senior disciple was one of the current three Admirals, his classmates were all pillars of the Marines, and he himself was a Logia Devil Fruit User, rare in the entire world!

On Earth, it would be similar to having a teacher in the Military Commission, oneself as a division commander, piloting an aircraft carrier, and being the commander of a base in Japan. His position was lower than MacArthur's, but his authority was no less.

Tannis had no right to meet such an important figure. As a merchant, he was nothing in the face of power. The last time he saw Smoker was by taking advantage of Tashigi's military enlistment banquet.

As for meeting Smoker privately?

Dream on!

Actually, they didn't know that Smoker was different from traditional Marines. If they really wanted to see him, it wasn't impossible. A word might be enough to get in.

Of course, you'd have to have a proper reason. If it was something trivial like asking for an autograph...

See if Smoker would beat you up!

"Oh my, Lord Colonel, why have you come? Please, come in, come in!" Tannis's voice arrived before he did.

Tannis, who had been relatively calm in front of Zhou Qi, showed only fawning subservience upon seeing Smoker.

If his daughter weren't so young and frail, he might have even considered trying to send her to him.

Smoker frowned subconsciously. He disliked dealing with merchants because they were too troublesome. Just this voice alone was annoying.

If that were the case, the Zhou Qi from yesterday was indeed different from ordinary merchants. At least his attitude had been neither servile nor overbearing from beginning to end.

"President Tannis, there's no need to go inside!" Smoker waved his hand. "I wanted to ask you, how much Amoxicillin does your merchant association have left for the drug trials? I'll take it all. Of course, I'll pay your price, and you won't lose out!"

"A, Amoxicillin?" Tannis was stunned. Was this one of my company's products? Why did it sound so familiar!

Abbu next to him was startled and quickly whispered a reminder.

Tannis's expression turned serious. He immediately understood. Smoker must have learned about the trial results.

So that medicine actually worked?

If that were the case!

Tannis instantly realized the value of this medicine. Setting aside its economic value, just the fact that it could connect him with the Marines was enough for him to profit for ten lifetimes!

It was a pity that this medicine didn't belong to him.

If it were an ordinary person, he would have killed for the formula.

But Zhou Qi was a Devil Fruit User, and he couldn't afford to offend him. What a great opportunity, only to watch it slip away before his eyes.

"Lord Smoker, to be honest, this medicine, it doesn't belong to our Tannis Merchant Association. I only had one bottle yesterday!"

"Hmm?" Smoker was surprised. "What's going on? Didn't you send it to the hospital?"

"We did, but we were just doing a favor for someone..." Tannis said. "It was for someone named Lelouch. You should know him, right? He greeted you yesterday!"

He was well-informed, but he only knew that Zhou Qi had called out to Smoker on the street. He didn't know what happened afterward, as Zhou Qi had used a Gate of Opening to get there.

"Lelouch? Isn't his name Zhou Qi??" Smoker was stunned. He only met one merchant yesterday, so this Lelouch must be Zhou Qi.

He thought this Zhou Qi was an arms dealer, but he didn't expect him to sell medicine?

This was awkward. I refused to cooperate with him yesterday!

But when he thought of the efficacy of that drug, Smoker felt that apologizing wasn't impossible.

After all, it was all for the sake of cracking down on pirates. Zhou Qi wanted a peaceful business environment, and their intentions were aligned.

"Where is he?" Smoker asked.

"This..." Tannis waved his hand. "I don't know either. I haven't seen him since he left my place yesterday."

"Is that so!" Speaking of which, he also remembered Tashigi searching for Zhou Qi all afternoon but couldn't find him.

What could be done?

That guy could open Space Gates and teleport long distances. Who knew where his home was!

Wait...

Smoker seemed to have a way to find him!

"Um, Lord Colonel, why don't you, uh, come to our merchant association for a sit-down?"

"No, perhaps next time!" Smoker waved his hand and left in a hurry.

"Ah, what a shame..." Watching Smoker's retreating back, Tannis sighed. An opportunity to connect with the Marines.

If it works out, they won't even need to sell their family's liquor worldwide. Just the Marines alone as a client would be enough to sustain the Tannis family.

However...

"It's not entirely hopeless..." Tannis thought of Zhou Qi. In fact, connecting with Zhou Qi would be just as good.

Before, his plan was to make the Tannis Trading Company the main entity and hire Zhou Qi as a guest consultant or bodyguard.

But now that Zhou Qi had gotten in good with the Marines, the roles of who was primary and who was secondary would have to be reversed...

"If he can produce medicine that treats inflammation, I wonder if he can do anything about Kaya's illness?" Tannis thought of his ailing daughter.

Kaya was beautiful and had a good personality; he believed no one could resist her charm.

Her only flaw was being bedridden. If that problem could be solved, and if those two young people could spend more time together...

Zhou Qi had no idea what Tannis was plotting. He stayed up late researching the procedures and qualifications for opening a factory, finally falling asleep past two in the morning.

Yet, just after six in the morning, he was woken by the clanging of the range hood.

Since they weren't near the road after moving, he hadn't worn earplugs to sleep. He was still groggy when he was woken up.

"Who's there, trying to summon my soul!" He got up grumpily and went to the kitchen, only to see a fist punching through the space gate and hitting his range hood. The glass screen of the range hood had already cracked.

Seeing this, Zhou Qi immediately exclaimed, "What the hell, how did I forget to close this gate!"

Fortunately, it was just a fist that came through. What if a gas bomb had been thrown in...

"Zhou Qi? Is that you?" Smoker, with his excellent hearing, heard the gate open and quickly called out.

"You should pull your hand back first..."

"Oh..."

Slap! Zhou Qi immediately closed the space gate.

After washing his face, putting on clothes, and wearing his glasses, Zhou Qi, still a bit dazed, appeared in Smoker's office five minutes later.

"What's the matter, so urgent?" Zhou Qi asked.

Smoker scratched his head. This Zhou Qi felt so familiar, not afraid of him at all.

"Where is your home? The technology for this range hood is quite unusual. Tashigi searched all over Loguetown but couldn't find one like it!" Smoker asked after some thought.

"Of course she couldn't buy one..." Zhou Qi said. "I'm from the Country of Ceramics, Technology, and Etiquette. This is a specialty product from my country. If you want one, I'll give you one later..."

This country introduction format was quite typical for the One Piece world, with kingdoms like the Kingdom on the Bridge, the Kingdom of Medicine, the Kingdom of Warriors, the Kingdom of Giants, and so on.

"Country of Ceramics, Technology, and Etiquette?" Smoker thought, he hadn't heard of it.

But this world was vast, with many strange countries, and quite a few were reclusive. It wasn't unusual not to have heard of it. Smoker quickly stopped dwelling on it.

Since it was a country, the source of the medicine was no longer a problem. With a country as backing, the production volume wouldn't be low, right...

"No need to give it to me, how much is it? I'll buy it!" Smoker said. "I'm looking for you this time mainly to discuss the Amoxicillin issue. I wanted to ask if you have more of this medicine?"

Zhou Qi was taken aback. "So fast? You've already finished testing it?"

He had estimated it would take at least one or two months. He had planned to use that time to get the factory set up and finish grafting the peach trees!

He hadn't expected things to be settled so quickly!

"Yes, a subordinate was seriously injured and developed inflammation, so we used it!" Smoker nodded. "The medicinal effect is similar to what you described, perhaps even better. Specifics require more detailed testing, but it has been verified that it can resolve inflammation..."

"Therefore, I need more of this medicine for more detailed testing, the more the better! Once the results are out, I will report them to Marine Headquarters..."

"But the prerequisite is that you have more of this medicine in your hands!"

The medicinal effect had been verified, but he was afraid the medicine Zhou Qi had was no longer available.

This kind of thing was common in the One Piece World. After all, some medicinal ingredients might only grow on a few islands, and once used up, they were gone.

As a result, excellent medicines often emerged, only to disappear shortly after.

If this medicine's effect was so good, what if it used some uncommon medicinal ingredients...

"Do I have more in my hands..." Zhou Qi shook his head. "No more!"

"Hmm?"

"But I'm already in contact to purchase a production line!"

"Huh??"

"As long as the production line and raw materials are in place, then we can produce as much of this medicine as you want!"

"Huh??!"