Smoker's Journey

"Another hit!?"

Watching a blue streak of light fly into his backpack, Kael blinked in astonishment.

Honestly.

Considering how mobile games were, he had already prepared himself to pull a pile of junk before spinning the gacha.

At worst, he would still get some Captain EXP.

But he had never expected his luck today to be this absurdly good!

30 million Beli...

He got a Poké Ball equivalent to a character card, a bug-level Captain skill...

And now he had pulled another C-rank character card!

His luck was so good that, looking at the final character card, he was almost numb and didn't even know whether he should cheer.

"I just hope I haven't used up all the good luck I've accumulated in my life in one day..."

With a sigh in his heart, Kael opened his backpack again and checked the newly acquired character card.

Yakumo Omori.

He had absolutely no impression of that name.

But when he saw the illustration on the character card, those old, buried memories instantly flooded back into his mind.

"So... it's him..."

Kael stared in surprise at the anime character he had nearly forgotten.

He had the broad shoulders and burly build of a tiger, yet wore a neat off-white suit. His golden hair was combed into an adult style, while his eyes revealed scarlet madness.

This man was one of the creators of the divine song Wash the Kelp in Tokyo Ghoul...

The S-rank ghoul who allowed Ken Kaneki to awaken—Gecko.

He just hadn't expected an S-rank ghoul from Aogiri Tree to end up as a C-rank character card in the system.

He had really fallen far, huh~

As for the system's character card settings...

S-rank character cards could undergo three awakenings.

A- and B-rank character cards could undergo two awakenings.

C-rank character cards, however, only had one chance to awaken.

Character cards of different ranks also required different numbers of Awakening Stones when awakening.

The higher the rank, the more Awakening Stones were required.

Every awakening of a character card could bring a noticeable increase in a partner's combat power.

Although there was also a gap between the awakenings of A- and B-rank cards, C-rank cards, which were simply missing one awakening opportunity, were destined not to go very far in the future.

Of course, even so!

Even if Gecko was only a C-rank character card, it did nothing to diminish Kael's excitement!

Because the moment he saw Yakumo Omori's illustration, a perfectly compatible candidate had practically appeared in his mind...

That person obviously would not be the short, frail recruit Coby.

It was the commander of the Marine G-153 Branch stationed in their next destination—Shells Town...

The Marine colonel who shared Gecko's traits of a burly physique, blond hair, and mental instability—"Axe Emperor" Morgan!

As one of the few warriors in the entire anime who had managed to make Marine hero Garp bleed, Morgan's name deserved to be remembered by history!

Kael's original plan had been to attack the G-153 Branch in the name of pirates, expose Morgan's atrocities there, and incidentally rob the Marine base of its money and supplies.

But now that he had this character card, their mission had gained another objective...

That was to kidnap Axe Emperor Morgan!

"Kidnapping Tashigi in Loguetown, kidnapping Morgan in Shells Town..."

"Why does it feel like I'm going farther and farther down the road of kidnapping?"

Kael murmured softly, but a playful smile slowly spread across his lips.

Clearly, he was enjoying it himself.

After all, every kidnapping meant he might gain another partner.

Things were beginning to head in an interesting direction.

He only hoped that the underworld wouldn't start spreading rumors that he liked kidnapping Marines in the future.

The sea rippled as waves crashed against the reefs along the shore, producing a rustling roar.

One day later, Ville Town Harbor.

At the point where sea and sky met, a proper Marine warship sailed swiftly toward Ville Town beneath the rising sun before finally docking at the harbor.

A burly Marine with a furrowed brow and fierce glare strode down from the warship.

Three lit cigars released choking smoke that mixed with his white hair.

The newcomer was none other than Smoker, the Loguetown Marine colonel who had put to sea in pursuit of the Dusk Pirates!

However...

Because the Tiga was too fast, they had lost track of it two days earlier.

With no other choice, they split up the fleet and conducted a carpet search of the surrounding waters.

Yesterday afternoon, the Loguetown Marine base suddenly received a telegram claiming that Ville Town had suffered a pirate attack and had captured a group of pirates with bounties on their heads, hoping to exchange them for the reward money.

Smoker's warship happened to be nearby, so he came over to handle the matter on the way.

"Were you the ones who captured the Alvida Pirates?"

Smoker strode forward, walking directly toward the mayor of Ville Town, who had come to receive them, and questioned him suspiciously.

Judging by this town's defenses, it didn't look capable of capturing a pirate crew at all...

The mayor of Ville Town, who had been about to greet Smoker, perked up and hurriedly waved his hands.

"No, no, no, sir! You misunderstand! We didn't capture the Alvida Pirates."

As he spoke, he put on a shrewd expression and honestly said,

"In fact, another group of pirates captured them, but they sold Alvida to us."

Following Kael's instructions, the mayor had no intention of concealing anything.

Selling wanted pirates was actually quite common on the seas.

For example, when some powerful bounty hunters couldn't afford their drinks, they would casually kill a wanted criminal and use the bounty to settle their tab with the tavern owner.

Smoker did not say anything more about the bounty, but the mayor's words had clearly caught his attention.

"Another group of pirates!?"

His expression froze, and his brows instantly furrowed as he thought,

"Was it a conflict between pirates? If they could capture Alvida, who had a 5 million Beli bounty, they weren't small fry."

"Has some troublesome bunch appeared in these waters again?"

Naturally, he held pirates' strength in contempt.

But on the vast sea, it was simply impossible to capture every pirate in one net.

The appearance of another powerful pirate crew meant another danger for the people of the East Blue to be attacked by pirates.

After thinking for a moment, Smoker turned his gaze back to the mayor, intending to question him in detail.

"Do you know where that pirate crew came from?"

He only wanted to gather as much intelligence on the pirates as possible.

Unexpectedly, the mayor immediately nodded and answered,

"Yes, yes."

"They said they were from the Dusk Pirates. There was one man and one woman in their crew..."

"Wait!!!"

Smoker abruptly cut off the mayor's report. He clenched his teeth so hard that he accidentally bit through the cigar in his mouth.

"You said the ones who defeated the Alvida Pirates... were the Dusk Pirates!?"

He asked viciously, startling the mayor.

The mayor swallowed slightly, then carefully nodded.

"Y-yes."

"That's what they said."

"Yesterday morning, the Alvida Pirates suddenly attacked Ville Town... and then..."

Under Smoker's fierce gaze, the mayor of Ville Town reported everything that had happened that day in full detail.

Of course.

He was not foolish enough to reveal the long-term deal he had made with Kael.

But after hearing what the Dusk Pirates had done, Smoker fell silent at once.

"..."

The Dusk Pirates, who were being pursued by the Marines, had actually saved Ville Town from pirate persecution.

Meanwhile, the Marines had been searching the nearby waters and had failed to notice Ville Town's situation at all.

What an absolute joke!

If they really arrested the Dusk Pirates, wouldn't that mean Ville Town would have been looted by pirates...

Could the Dusk Pirates actually be good pirates!?

For a moment, Smoker's resolve wavered again.

Ever since he had been wounded by that Seastone bullet, he had always felt that something was strange, that something was wrong.

His pursuit of the Dusk Pirates was not only to save Tashigi, but also to ask Kael what exactly he was trying to do.

But wavering was one thing. As a Marine, he still had to fulfill his duties.

After confirming Alvida's identity, he directly ordered the Marines aboard the warship to take out 5 million Beli and hand it over to the mayor of Ville Town.

He then had Alvida and the pirates fortunate enough not to have died beneath Tashigi's blade thrown into the warship's prison cells.

From the mayor, he had already learned Kael's group's next destination.

The Marine G-153 Branch.

This was also information Kael had deliberately allowed the mayor to reveal.

After organizing all the paperwork, the warship swiftly departed Ville Town and headed toward Shells Town.

However...

Smoker sat alone in his office, puffing out clouds of smoke as his eyes gazed through the hazy mist toward the distant sea.

In his mind, he recalled the female swordswoman the mayor had described in a private report before he left.

A short-haired girl, exceptional swordsmanship, ruthless and decisive when dealing with pirates...

Every sign indicated that the girl was very likely Tashigi, who had been abducted by the Dusk Pirates!

Clutching a freshly issued wanted poster in his hand, Smoker stared at the man above who sneered while holding a gun...

Whatever faint good impression he had held of Kael vanished completely. He clenched his fists and roared,

"Kael! What exactly did you do to Tashigi!?"