Heading to the Grand Line

In the dark warehouse behind the tavern, the air was filled with the smell of sulfur and nitric acid from gunpowder. Various weapons hung on the walls.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, just a bunch of weapons?" Lina sighed in disappointment. After rummaging through the chests and cabinets, he only found less than seventy million Belly.

It was supposed to be Loguetown's largest underground trading post, so why were there only these things, and so little money?

But even a mosquito's leg is still meat. Besides the money, he also packed a lot of weapons and a few bottles of good wine...

After setting the tavern ablaze, Lina went to another black market controlled by Bartolomeo and sold off all the weapons at a low price.

As he was leaving, he saw someone selling Log Poses and bought a full ten of them.

Interestingly, this black market was truly like a marketplace, with scattered vendors along the street. Those coming and going were all fierce-looking individuals or people in cloaks.

"It's just like in a novel," Lina couldn't help but smile. "Adding the weapons I sold, the total haul is about one hundred and twenty million."

The good news was that he managed to buy Seastone.

Even better news was that he didn't spend any money and even made a profit.

Lina left the black market with his money and treasures, preparing to return to the ship. He planned to check if Sanji's competition was over on the way.

Suddenly, the clear sky began to darken, and dark clouds gathered rapidly over Loguetown as if summoned by someone.

Lina unconsciously quickened his pace. Just as he passed a certain square...

"Look at that person!"

"He's smiling!?"

Hearing the shouts of the surrounding crowd, Lina couldn't help but stop and look sideways.

In the center of the vast square, on the towering execution platform, stood a man with clown makeup and a red nose. Luffy was chained below him, grinning widely.

"Wahahaha! Straw Hat Kid, today I will use your head to announce my imminent entry into the Grand Line, Lord Buggy!" the clown Buggy cackled, raising his sword.

"Holy crap! A world-famous painting?"

Even though Lina had read the original work, seeing this real scene with his own eyes, he couldn't help but curse.

"Damn, it's a bit far," Lina muttered, rushing forward while pulling out his pistol and aiming it at Buggy on the execution platform.

This was a special gun Lina had prepared to prevent being intercepted by Smoker on the way, loaded with Seastone bullets.

"Bang--!"

Just as Buggy raised his sword, Lina's bullet hit Buggy's shoulder, splashing a spray of blood.

"Damn it, what is this!?" Buggy gritted his teeth and cursed, falling powerless onto the execution platform. He rolled over and fell off.

Luffy, seeing the fallen Buggy, was somewhat bewildered. Following the sound of the gunshot, he saw Lina below and his smile widened.

"Hee hee hee! So you're not dead after all."

"What the hell are you doing!" Lina climbed onto the execution platform and broke Luffy's handcuffs. "We need to run, Luffy, back to the ship."

Lina had already spotted Smoker in the distance, heading towards the square on a strangely shaped motorcycle.

He didn't want to fight Smoker. Although Smoker's threat had greatly diminished with the Seastone bullets.

But there was no benefit to be gained from defeating Smoker, and wasting millions on a single bullet like this was unacceptable.

"Yosh! Let's go, Lina."

"Yeah, and let's pick up Sanji on the way."

Lina and Luffy jumped off the execution platform and ran south, where their ship was docked.

A light drizzle began to fall from the sky. The two ran side-by-side, while Smoker pursued them relentlessly on his special motorcycle.

"Hey, Sanji!"

Lina spotted Sanji jogging ahead, holding a large blue and white fish with both hands – the Elephant Trunk Tuna he had won in the competition.

Sanji heard the call and turned around, seeing Lina and Luffy sprinting towards him. "It's you guys, what's the hurry?"

"Run, Sanji! There's a Marine behind us!" The two didn't slow down at all, running right past Sanji.

Sanji, who hadn't reacted in time, was still standing in place. Upon closer inspection, he finally spotted Smoker on his motorcycle.

"You bastard! Couldn't you pretend not to know them? Now you're dragging me into this!" Sanji roared and took off running.

Luffy and Sanji, one carrying the head of the fish and the other the tail, ran as the light drizzle gradually turned into a storm.

Large raindrops hit their faces, and visibility worsened in the rain.

"No good, his motorcycle is much faster than us!"

"If this keeps up, we'll be caught soon."

"Should we fight?"

"Don't waste time, keep running," Lina stopped them. "When he catches up, I'll treat him to a big one."

As time passed, the three drew closer to the port. However, Smoker, who was behind them, reached it first.

"White Launcher!"

A hoarse, low growl sounded. Lina and the others couldn't help but turn to look behind them.

A thick white smoke billowed towards them, and at the forefront of the smoke was Smoker's upper body!

"Straw Hat Kid Luffy, your pirate game ends here!" Smoker glared, charging up his fist to punch Luffy.

"What is this thing!" Luffy exclaimed in surprise, dodging the punch with a sidestep and following up with a whip kick towards Smoker. However, his foot went through, landing in the smoke.

"What's going on!"

"Didn't hit? No, I should have hit him!" Luffy and Sanji were clearly shocked.

"Gomu Gomu no Gatling!" Luffy, refusing to believe it, threw a barrage of punches, but each one passed straight through Smoker's body.

"Useless, Luffy. He's a Logia-type Devil Fruit user, you can't touch his real body with normal means," Lina quickly shouted, pulling out a pistol at the same time.

"You know quite a bit," Smoker couldn't help but glance at Lina.

"Isn't that invincible then?"

"How do we deal with someone we can't touch?" Luffy and Sanji were obviously stunned.

"Since you know, you should give up. There's no way you can win against me with your current strength," Smoker said calmly, his deep voice seemingly declaring their end.

Lina scoffed and aimed the gun directly at Smoker, "A six-million bounty shot, it's a huge loss to waste it on you."

"It's useless, stop struggling!" Smoker roared, making no move to defend himself against Lina aiming the gun, leaving his center wide open as he swung a heavy punch at Lina.

"Bang--!"

The moment Smoker's fist swung out, Lina pulled the trigger. The bullet reached Smoker first.

"Pfft!"

Something unexpected happened to Smoker. The bullet didn't pass through his body like Luffy's punches.

A splash of blood erupted before Smoker's shocked eyes. Smoker, who had been flying low to the ground, stumbled and then crashed heavily onto the ground.

"Haki!? No." Smoker's first thought was that the bullet was coated with Haki, but in the next instant, a sense of powerlessness spread through his body. His elementalized legs had returned to their original form.

Seastone!!

"How is this possible!" Smoker looked at the ground in disbelief, unable to move, watching the opponent gradually run away.

The production of Seastone was extremely scarce. Even the World Government had to collect it from all over the world through various means.

They even cooperated with pirates, spending a fortune to trade with Wano Country, occupied by Kaido, to purchase Seastone, and the price was extremely expensive.

Besides the World Government, only a very small number of pirate forces in the Grand Line possessed some.

"How could a pirate from the East Blue possibly get their hands on something like this!" Smoker couldn't believe it.

"Well done, Lina!" Luffy grinned, showing his large teeth.

Sanji, however, was more observant and looked at Lina curiously, "How did you do it? Didn't you say Logia-types can't be touched?"

"Stop talking about it, my heart is bleeding," Lina said with great distress.

He then explained the effect of Seastone to the two of them, and about his trip to the underground trading post that day.

By the time the few of them reached the port, everyone else had already arrived.

The rain had gradually stopped, and the previously overcast sky had inexplicably turned clear and sunny again.

"What strange weather," Sanji muttered, looking at the sky.

Lina, however, was unfazed. He lit a cigarette and walked onto the ship, "Let's go, Sanji."

"Hee hee hee, next stop, the Grand Line, let's go!!"

On a street in Loguetown, Smoker was lying on the ground waiting for his subordinates to rescue him. He didn't even have the strength to dig out the bullet.

Suddenly, a low chuckle came from behind him.

"You look quite pathetic, Smoker."

"Why are you here?" Smoker turned around in surprise.

"Just happened to be doing business nearby, so I came to see the young ones off."

"See them off?" Smoker looked confused, seemingly not worried that the person in front of him would make a move.

"Yes, see them off."