Smoker

Although he didn't know what had happened to Bellamy, Luffy didn't intend to ask any more questions since the other party had said so.

"I understand." Luffy nodded seriously and said, "We'll go with you."

"Cut..."

Bellamy spat, "I already said I'm following him, not that I went with him."

However, he's too lazy to argue with Luffy about such things now, since his health isn't really that good.

Then, Bellamy stood up, turned around, and walked towards the back corridor.

"I'm leaving!"

"Let's follow!" Luffy quickly said.

After saying that, he quickly chased after them, while Xi Yan patted Bartolomeo on the shoulder and said, "The Diamond Fruit is now in your hands."

"Don't... don't worry!"

Bartolomeo, overwhelmed with emotion after being patted on the shoulder by Xi Yan, said with tears in his eyes, "I will definitely get the Diamond Fruit with Senior Sabo!"

"Good."

Xi Yan smiled, then turned and chased after Luffy.

"The guy in Sunglasses patted me on the shoulder..." Bartolomeo choked out, "Does that mean he acknowledges me?!"

Very good!

Then, Bartolomeo revealed an incredibly determined look in his eyes.

In order not to disappoint Luffy and Sunglasses, he must obtain the Diamond Fruit!

Oh ho!

After laughing loudly, Bartolomeo turned and left.

Meanwhile, Xi Yan quickly followed Bellamy to a wall.

"This is..."

Watching Bellamy push open the wall and walk in, Luffy was dumbfounded and asked, "Why can this wall be pushed open?"

"It's a mechanism," Xi Yan said.

Since a door cannot be placed in the open, it makes perfect sense to put a hidden door in the wall.

Luffy nodded as if he understood, then followed Bellamy inside, and soon arrived at the exit of the Bullfighting Arena.

"I'm leaving," Bellamy said in a low voice.

Without waiting for Luffy's reply, he left on his own.

He looked like a lone wolf licking his wounds in the shadows.

"What's wrong with him?" Luffy asked, puzzled.

For some reason, he sensed that Bellamy was extremely depressed, as if... he had suffered a great blow.

Is it because they lost this match?

Who knows?

Xi Yan shrugged, clearly not particularly concerned about Bellamy's situation.

Seeing that Xi Yan had already said that, Luffy didn't continue the topic.

He then turned and rushed towards the exit, saying, "Let's go, let's get to the Royal Palace quickly."

"Wait a moment."

Xi Yan grabbed Luffy, then turned to look at Perona, who had flown back, and asked, "What's the situation outside?"

Upon hearing this, Luffy stopped what he was doing and turned to look at Perona.

"Unfortunately, the exit is currently packed with navy personnel," Perona said. "If we just go straight out like this, we'll run right into their faces."

Although Xi Yan and Luffy's strength means they don't need to worry about those low-level Marines, the problem is... if they start fighting the Marines here, it will attract their high-level combat power.

Then it won't be easy for the two of them to cause trouble for Doflamingo again.

"What should we do then?" Luffy frowned. "I still need to go beat up Mingo."

After saying that, Luffy thought for a moment, then said seriously, "How about we fight our way out?"

"Hit you my foot!"

Xi Yan said irritably, "Why fight such a meaningless battle when you can just escape?"

Isn't this just pure recklessness?

Luffy was taken aback. "Is that so?"

Perona looked at Xi Yan with some surprise. Could this madman who dared to single-handedly storm Mary Geoise say such a thing?

What are you planning to do?

"Come with me."

Xi Yan glanced around and, seeing that no one was there, walked to a corner and took out the Sealing Scroll.

Then, using Sealing Technique, they retrieved the two sets of dolls stored inside.

"This is..."

"A doll set, huh?" Xi Yan grinned. "I thought about this when I came in, so I bought a few doll sets in advance."

"How is it? Not bad, right?"

As he spoke, Xi Yan shook the doll in his hand, revealing its appearance.

One is a frog, and the other is a cat.

"Choose one."

"I want this one," Luffy said, pointing to the frog.

As he spoke, he picked up the frog and tried his best to put it on, but after a lot of effort, he still couldn't get the clothes on, leaving Xi Yan speechless.

"Why don't you open the back zipper, you idiot!"

"Oh..."

Luffy wasn't angry at being scolded. He just smiled and opened the zipper, successfully slipping himself inside.

Seeing this, Xi Yan shook his head and put on his own clothes.

Then, he turned to look at Perona and asked, "What's the situation with Zoro?"

He had specifically asked Perona to tell Zoro about the high-ranking swordsman in the Royal Palace, and he wondered where that guy was now.

"He got excited immediately after hearing what you said," Perona said helplessly. "Then he had Merry bring him to us."

I wonder if that swordsman from the Royal Palace will be able to satisfy Zoro.

As for Zoro being defeated?

Perona never considered this possibility from the beginning.

For her, there is no swordsman in this world who can defeat Zoro!

As for Hawkeye?

Hmph, Zoro will defeat that guy sooner or later!

"Okay, then we'll head out first..."

Before Xi Yan could finish speaking, Luffy dashed towards the exit, shouting, "Follow me, Mingo!"

"Hello!"

Xi Yan stared blankly at Luffy. Did this guy even realize what he was doing?

The area is packed with navy personnel, what are you yelling about here for?

"You'd better hurry and catch up," Perona said, looking equally troubled. "Otherwise, who knows what he might do?"

"You're right."

Xi Yan nodded in agreement and then quickly chased after Luffy, soon catching up with the shouting guy.

"You idiot, shut up!" Xi Yan punched Luffy and said, "Don't forget where we are!"

"Oh..."

"Alright, enough talk, let's go."

"Profound!"

Luffy nodded, then quickly followed Xi Yan towards the distant street, soon disappearing from the Navy's sight.

Perona, on the other hand, flew to the Navy's blind spot the moment she emerged, thus avoiding detection.

"Um?"

The Vice Admiral watched the two leave, paused for a moment, then said with some surprise, "They actually have toys like this here?"

Dollman?

This surprised him, but the dolls looked quite interesting.

After shaking his head, the Vice Admiral turned to his subordinates and asked, "Have any of the people on the list come forward?"

"No."

The adjutant shook his head and said, "So far, we haven't seen any targets."

"But..."

At this point, the adjutant paused, then said in a very puzzled tone, "For some reason, there are many unfamiliar names on the list."

"An unfamiliar name?"

The Vice Admiral paused for a moment, then said with displeasure, "How could there be unfamiliar names on the list?"

They worked very hard to gather intelligence in order to capture those notorious criminals, and even sacrificed some of their comrades in the process.

How could such a mistake possibly occur under these circumstances?

"But there are some unfamiliar names." The adjutant held up the list to the Vice Admiral and said, "Look, Lao Cai, Abu, Chinjao, Edio..."

The adjutant read out one name after another, leaving the Vice Admiral momentarily stunned.

"These names... seem quite unfamiliar."

For some reason, he didn't recognize any of these names, but this was clearly unreasonable.

After all, this time they were...

Just then, a navy officer ran over and said in a serious tone, "Report!"

"Speak."

"Smoker."

"Ha?"

The Vice Admiral put down the list in his hand, looked at his subordinate with a surprised expression, and said, "Who did you say?"

"Our Admiral Candidate, Smoker!"

At this point, the navy officer even showed a look of admiration on his face.

Smoker clearly holds considerable prestige within the Navy.

However, the Vice Admiral wasn't jealous; after all, on this vast ocean, the strong should receive such treatment.

But now there's a question: why is Smoker here?

Shouldn't he have gone to another island to capture Fire Fist Ace, following Admiral Fujitora's orders?

'Has something gone wrong?'

Although he didn't know what was going on, the Vice Admiral still stood up and asked, "Where is he?"

"I've arrived."

At the same time the sound arrived, a cloud of smoke appeared in front of the Vice Admiral, which then gradually condensed into a human shape, resembling Smoker.

"Smoker!"

"Um."

After nodding to the navy officers, Smoker turned to the Vice Admiral and asked, "What's the situation now?"

"The situation is rather complicated."

"Relatively complicated?"

Smoker paused slightly as he reached for his cigarette, then looked at his colleague with a questioning gaze, intending to ask for an explanation.

"See for yourself."

As they spoke, the Vice Admiral handed the list to Smoker, gesturing for him to take a look.

Seeing this, Smoker didn't waste any words, took the book and looked at it, then looked at the other person with a puzzled expression again and said, "What does this mean?"

He recognized the Straw Hat and the Sunglasses Man on the list, but he wasn't very familiar with the others.

The Vice Admiral was taken aback. Although the people on the list weren't as famous as the Four Emperors, there were still some formidable individuals among them.

Smoker doesn't recognize any of them?

But since the other party has said that, he has no choice but to offer an explanation.

"This is the list of people we're here to capture at the Colosseum," the Vice Admiral explained. "What's puzzling is that quite a few unfamiliar names have suddenly appeared on it."

For example, this...

The Vice Admiral pointed out the unfamiliar names to Smoker, then continued, "Normally, this shouldn't be the case."

After speaking, the Vice Admiral paused, then said in an uncertain tone, "So... I suspect there's a problem with the Intelligence Unit."

"There is a possibility that there are problems with the Intelligence Unit, but..." Smoker said in a deep voice, "Don't forget the importance of this matter!"

"Therefore, the chances of the Intelligence Unit having such a low-level problem are very small."

This matter involves Doflamingo, and they even dispatched a Marine Admiral and his Admiral Candidate!

In this situation, the probability of such a low-order error occurring is extremely low.

"What's going on?" the Vice Admiral asked, frowning.

It can't be that the problem lies with him.

Thinking of this, the Vice Admiral glanced at his adjutant.

Upon seeing this, the adjutant immediately understood what his superior meant, so he shook his head to indicate that the problem did not originate on their side.

The list has been with him ever since he received it, so there's absolutely no problem with it.

The Vice Admiral understood the other party's meaning, was even more confused. If it wasn't their side, then what was going on?

"Perhaps the problem lies with Dressrosa."

Smoker turned and glanced at the Bullfighting Arena behind him, then said in a low voice, "There might be something here."

Paramecia Devil Fruit abilities are incredibly diverse, and among them may be abilities that can alter perception.

According to the intelligence he obtained, Doflamingo is someone who likes to collect Devil Fruit for his subordinates, so Smoker suspects that there may be a special Devil Fruit user in the Donquixote Family.

"You mean... Doflamingo?"

"More or less."

Although he didn't know exactly what the other party had done, Smoker's intuition told him that the problem lay with Doflamingo.

The Vice Admiral gave a thoughtful look. If the problem really stemmed from Doflamingo's side, things would be quite complicated.

"Where are the Straw Hat?" Smoker asked. "Have they come out?"

"No."

The Vice Admiral, regaining his composure, shook his head and said, "We haven't seen Straw Hat and Sunglasses Man come out; they should still be inside the Bullfighting Arena."

After all, Straw Hat is the champion of C Area, so it's quite normal for him to stay in the Bullfighting Arena.

Smoker frowned subconsciously upon hearing this. They haven't come out yet?

That guy isn't really planning to stay here and fight to the very end, is he?

Did he really think Doflamingo would willingly hand over the Diamond Fruit to him?

'He really is a stubborn idiot.'

However, since the other party hasn't left yet, there's no need for him to leave either.

With that in mind, Smoker walked to a nearby rock and sat down, intending to wait for Luffy and the others to Luffy out before making any further decisions.

The Vice Admiral blinked upon seeing this. Was this... they weren't leaving?

"What are you doing...?"

"My purpose in coming here is to arrest the Straw Hat Pirates."