Captain Smoker Comes Calling

"Chairman, Chairman!" A figure staggered and jogged all the way into the manor.

"What is it, Abbu? Why are you in such a hurry? That's not like you!" Tannis put down his morning tea and asked with a smile.

"Captain Smoker is here! He's right outside!" Abbu said hurriedly, unable to explain further.

"What?" The teacup in Tannis's hand fell straight to the floor. He ignored it and quickly stepped forward. "Really?"

"Of course it's true!"

"Quick, quick, get things ready! And why did you come over here? You should be waiting on the captain!"

Just as pirates feared nothing because they knew nothing, the locals felt that Zhou Qi was rather ignorant and fearless as well. He had actually dared to call Smoker's name in the street and even gone straight to meet him.

Who was Smoker? He was the commander of the Loguetown base and a colonel from Marine Headquarters. Not just in Loguetown—given the tradition that headquarters ranks were three levels above branch ranks, he held the highest rank in the entire East Blue!

Moreover, his teacher was a former admiral, his fellow disciples were the current Three Admirals, his classmates were all pillars of the Marines, and he himself was a rare Logia Type Devil Fruit User in the entire world!

On Earth, he was roughly equivalent to someone whose teacher sat on the Central Military Commission, who was himself a division commander, whose personal vehicle was an aircraft carrier, and who also commanded the base in Japan. His official position might have been below MacArthur's, but his actual authority was no weaker.

A great figure like that was someone Tannis had no qualifications to meet. A merchant like him was nothing before power. The last time he had seen Smoker was when he had taken advantage of Tashigi's enlistment banquet.

Meeting Smoker in private?

Keep dreaming!

In truth, they did not know that Smoker was different from traditional Marines. If they genuinely wanted to meet him, it would not have been impossible. They probably only needed to send word ahead.

Of course, they had to have proper business. If they just wanted an autograph...

Well, they could see whether Smoker beat them up or not!

"Ah, Captain! What brings you here? Please, come in, quickly!" Tannis's voice arrived before he did.

Tannis, who had seemed fairly calm before Zhou Qi, had nothing but fawning flattery on his face when he saw Smoker.

If his daughter had not been so young and sickly, he probably would have tried to see whether he could send her over too.

Smoker subconsciously frowned. This was why he disliked dealing with merchants. They were too troublesome. Even that voice alone was irritating to hear.

Come to think of it, that Zhou Qi from yesterday really was different from ordinary merchants. At the very least, his attitude had remained neither servile nor overbearing from start to finish.

"Chairman Tannis, there's no need to go inside." Smoker waved a hand. "I wanted to ask how much Amoxicillin your trading company still has from the batch sent in for testing. I'll take all of it. Of course, I'll pay your stated price. I won't let you take a loss!"

"Am... Amo what?" Tannis froze. Was that one of his products? Why did it sound so familiar?

Abbu beside him was stunned as well, then hurriedly leaned close and reminded him.

Tannis's expression turned serious, and he immediately understood. Smoker must have learned the trial results.

So that medicine really worked?

If that was the case!

Tannis instantly realized the value of this medicine. Never mind its economic value—just establishing a connection with the Marines would be enough for him to profit for ten lifetimes!

Unfortunately, the medicine was not his.

If it had belonged to some ordinary person, he would have wanted to kill them and steal the formula.

But Zhou Qi was a Devil Fruit User, someone he could not afford to offend. What a wonderful opportunity, yet he could only watch helplessly as it slipped away before his eyes.

"Captain Smoker, to be honest, this medicine doesn't belong to our Tannis Trading Company. I only had that one bottle yesterday!"

"Hm?" Smoker paused. "What do you mean? Didn't you send it to the hospital?"

"We delivered it, but we were handling it for someone else..." Tannis said. "It was someone named Lelouch. You should know him, right? He greeted you yesterday!"

He was well-informed, but he only knew that Zhou Qi had shouted Smoker's name in the street. He did not know that the two had met afterward, since Zhou Qi had opened a door and gone over.

"Lelouch? Isn't he called Zhou Qi?" Smoker was stunned. Zhou Qi was the only merchant he had met yesterday, so this Lelouch should have been Zhou Qi.

He had thought Zhou Qi was an arms dealer. He had not expected him to sell medicine too.

This was awkward. He had refused to cooperate with him yesterday!

But thinking of that medicine's effects, Smoker felt that apologizing would not be impossible.

After all, they were both doing it to fight pirates. Zhou Qi wanted a peaceful environment for business, and their goals aligned.

"Where is he?" Smoker asked.

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

"Is that so?" Come to think of it, he remembered Tashigi had searched for Zhou Qi all afternoon and failed to find him.

What was he supposed to do now?

That guy could open teleportation doors and travel long distances. Who knew where he lived?

Wait...

Smoker seemed to have a way to find him!

"Well then, Captain, would you like to come sit at our trading company?"

"No. Maybe next time!" Smoker waved a hand and hurried away.

"Ah, what a pity..." Watching Smoker's retreating back, Tannis sighed. It had been an opportunity to establish ties with the Marines.

If it worked out, his family would not even need to sell their liquor worldwide. The Marines alone would be enough to keep the Tannis family fed.

However...

"It's not as if there's no chance at all..." Tannis thought of Zhou Qi. Establishing a relationship with Zhou Qi would amount to the same thing.

But before, he had wanted the Tannis Trading Company to take the lead and hire Zhou Qi as a guest retainer, a bodyguard, or something similar.

Now, however, Zhou Qi had latched onto the Marines. Who was the superior party and who was the subordinate would have to be reversed...

"Since he can produce medicine that treats inflammation, I wonder whether he has a way to cure Kaya's illness?" Tannis thought again of his daughter, bedridden by illness.

Kaya was beautiful and kind-hearted. Surely no one could resist her charm.

Her only flaw was that she was bedridden. If that issue could be resolved, then he could let the two young people spend more time together...

Zhou Qi had no idea what Tannis was planning. He had stayed up researching the procedures and qualifications needed to open a factory, only falling asleep after two in the morning.

Yet a little after six in the morning, he heard a loud clanging from the range hood.

Since his new home was no longer beside the road, he had not worn earplugs while sleeping. When the noise woke him, he was completely bewildered.

"Who the hell is it? Trying to wake the dead?" He got up irritably and went into the kitchen, only to see a fist extending through a Space Gate and pounding on his range hood. The glass panel had already cracked from the blows.

The moment Zhou Qi saw that, he nearly cursed aloud. How had he forgotten to close this door?!

Fortunately, it was only a fist reaching through. What if someone had thrown in a poison gas bomb...

"Zhou Qi? Is that you?" Smoker had excellent hearing and heard the door opening. He immediately called out.

"Pull your hand back first..."

"Oh..."

Smack! Zhou Qi directly shut the Space Gate.

After washing his face, getting dressed, and putting on his glasses, Zhou Qi appeared in Smoker's office five minutes later, still somewhat groggy.

"What's so urgent?" Zhou Qi asked.

Smoker scratched his head. This Zhou Qi somehow felt overly familiar, as if he were not afraid of him at all.

"Where is your home? That range hood's technology is rather unusual. Tashigi searched all over Loguetown, yet she couldn't find another one like it!" After thinking for a moment, Smoker asked.

"Of course she couldn't buy one..." Zhou Qi said. "I come from the nation of porcelain, technology, and etiquette. This is a specialty of my country. If you want one, I'll give you one later..."

That format for introducing a country was quite One Piece-like. There were bridge nations, medical nations, samurai nations, giant nations, and so on.

"The nation of porcelain, technology, and etiquette?" Smoker thought about it but had never heard of it.

But the world was vast, filled with all sorts of strange nations, and many remained isolated from the outside world. It was normal not to have heard of one. Smoker quickly stopped dwelling on it.

Since it was a nation, there would be no issue with the medicine's source. With an entire country backing it, the production volume could not be low, at least...

"No need to give it to me. How much? I'll buy it!" Smoker said. "The main reason I came to find you was to discuss the Amoxicillin. I wanted to ask whether you still have much of this medicine?"

Zhou Qi froze. "That fast? The medicine trial is already done?"

He had estimated it would take at least one or two months. He had even planned to use that time to get his factory running and finish grafting the peach tree!

He had not expected things here to be settled already!

"Yes. One of my subordinates was seriously wounded and developed inflammation, so it happened to be used!" Smoker nodded. "Its effects are about what you described, perhaps even better. More detailed testing is still needed, but its ability to treat inflammation has already been confirmed..."

"So I need more of this medicine for more thorough testing. The more, the better! Once the results are out, I'll submit the report to Marine Headquarters as well..."

"But that depends on whether you still have more of this medicine!"

The effects had been verified, but he feared the medicine Zhou Qi possessed might already be discontinued.

That was common in the One Piece World. Some medicinal herbs grew only on a few islands, and once they were used up, they were gone.

As a result, many excellent medicines appeared, only to vanish again not long afterward.

This medicine was so effective. What if it used some rare ingredient...

"As for what I have..." Zhou Qi shook his head. "I don't have any more!"

"Hm?"

"But I've already started arranging to purchase a production line!"

"Hm??"

"As long as the production line and raw materials are in place, there can be as much of this medicine as anyone wants!"

"Hm?!"