Smoker

"Sure!" Alvida agreed without the slightest hesitation.

William had only been joking with Alvida, yet she had actually chosen to follow him? Perhaps she thought that after Luffy was executed, William would become captain himself and continue being a pirate.

"Huh? William, you're here too? Once I execute Straw Hat, you can come work with me!" When Buggy saw Alvida suddenly stop a man wearing a baseball cap, he was quite puzzled. But he quickly recognized that hat, and combined with Alvida's actions, he guessed the identity of its owner.

Hearing Buggy shout, how could William dare answer? He cursed that idiot Buggy a hundred times in his heart. He had no idea whether Smoker, hiding somewhere in the dark, had heard his name. There were plenty of people named William, but once Smoker set his sights on him, his appearance could easily be exposed.

"William, hurry and save me!" Hearing Luffy cry for help, William really wanted to blast him with a cannon. One idiot like Buggy was enough, and now there was a captain dragging his teammates down too. Though the rain was loud, accompanied by thunder, Smoker wasn't deaf. Even if he hadn't heard it now, what if one of his subordinates reported William's name afterward?

"What are you doing there, kid?" Sanji, who had rushed over with Zoro, spotted Alvida at once. When he saw that the man standing before Alvida was William, a jealous fury immediately rose within him.

Fortunately, Zoro hadn't lost his mind like Sanji. Though he didn't know the relationship between Alvida and William, he knew the relationship between William, Luffy, and Buggy. William and Luffy were crewmates on the same ship, while William and Buggy shared a bond forged over drinks, yet Luffy and Buggy had a "blood feud." In short, it was a very complicated relationship.

"Straw Hat, accept the execution of the great Buggy!" Buggy raised the blade in his hand and shouted.

"William, Zoro, Sanji, I'm going to die. Goodbye!" Luffy actually smiled. In the instant before death, he wore a smile that shook everyone in the square.

Smoker especially. In that instant, he thought of the moment when Pirate King Gol D. Roger had been executed in his childhood.

"Have you ever seen someone who didn't fear death?" Smoker suddenly asked his subordinates with a stiff expression. At that moment, he had even forgotten to order them to save the civilians and surround the pirates.

Boom! The moment Buggy raised his blade, William had already raised his hand, signaling Nojiko to fire a shell and destroy the execution platform. But before the shell could be launched, a terrifying bolt of lightning descended from the sky and struck the platform.

The terrifying current warped and collapsed the entire execution platform. Buggy's whole body was charred black, yet no one knew how he had survived. William could only conclude that, like Zoro, Buggy was a monster with superhuman vitality.

"That scared me to death. I thought I was going to die!" Luffy said as he stood up from the collapsed execution platform.

When William and the others saw that Luffy was unharmed, they were relieved. As for Luffy's claim that he had been scared to death, no one believed it. That expression didn't look frightened at all. He was clearly thrilled.

"What an idiot captain I ended up with." Sanji lit a cigarette, still shaken.

"Who hasn't?" Zoro unusually agreed with Sanji, then shouted, "Since we're fine, let's get out of here!"

By then, Marines had emerged from their hiding places to cover the civilians' evacuation. As pirates, Luffy and the other four naturally chose to flee as well. To most people, setting sail during a storm was incredibly dangerous, but the Straw Hat Crew had a talented navigator. This storm was their best chance to shake off the Marines.

"Want to come with us?" While fleeing the scene, William suddenly extended an inviting hand to Alvida. Though Alvida wasn't particularly strong in William's eyes, she was still an exceptional woman.

"Of course!" Alvida agreed again without hesitation, but added, "I won't call Straw Hat captain!"

"Doesn't matter!" In William's eyes, that wasn't Alvida's decision to make. With Luffy's personality, he would definitely treat her as a companion. Besides, Luffy had a natural ability to make people become his companions or friends. To reduce the Marines' targets, William pulled Alvida into the castle inside his body. When the beautiful pirate woman, who had drawn so much attention, suddenly vanished from the Marines' sight, they had no choice but to send some men to search for Alvida.

"What the hell did you do to this beautiful lady?" Sanji shouted unhappily, barely stopping himself from kicking William. Though he knew this was one of William's abilities, doing something without a lady's consent was the greatest disrespect to her. That was why Sanji was so indignant.

"Curly brows, this isn't the time to argue!" Zoro said disdainfully to Sanji. At a time like this, Sanji still had the mood to care about such things.

"What did you call me, you moss head?" Sanji cursed furiously. But he knew this wasn't the time to fight, so he only cursed with his mouth.

"Damn it, that jinx Straw Hat! I won't let you escape Loguetown!" Buggy, his whole body numb, crawled out from the collapsed execution platform and shouted. Then his body merged with two wheels, becoming the Chop-Chop Car, which propelled itself forward with the recoil from exploding bombs.

"Is that big-nosed guy a monster? His vitality is ridiculously tough," Sanji said, glancing at Buggy in surprise.

"Straw Hat, don't even think about leaving Loguetown!" A man riding a motorcycle that spewed white smoke blocked their path.

"What rotten luck. It's Smoker!" William said, pulling down the brim of his hat.

"He's the troublesome captain you mentioned?" Zoro looked Smoker over. He could tell the man had some skill, otherwise he wouldn't be stationed as a captain at the entrance to the Grand Line, but he couldn't see what made Smoker so troublesome.

"You guys go first!" Luffy's instincts also told him that Smoker was no ordinary opponent, so he decided to stay behind. He also knew it wasn't suitable for William to expose his appearance before the Marines. Though Luffy usually acted like an idiot, he was reliable at critical moments.

"Be careful of his ability and the weapon in his hand!" William reminded him. That was all he could do. If he stayed, Smoker would definitely recognize him. As for whether Estamba would report recognizing him to Headquarters, William wasn't certain. Otherwise, she wouldn't have given up the chance to capture him earlier.

"Buggy, I'm leaving my captain to you!" William said to Buggy, who had caught up with them, before leaving with Zoro and the other two.

"Don't worry, leave it to me!" Buggy said proudly, but quickly shouted in regret, "Why do I have to save Straw Hat?"

"Stop bickering. None of you are leaving!" Smoker said as a large amount of white smoke surged from his hand and swept toward William and the others.

Rubber Gun!

Mini Buggy Bomb!

This was Luffy and Buggy's first time cooperating. Yet their attacks were completely ineffective against Smoker. Before long, both Luffy and Buggy were bound by the white smoke around Smoker's body.

"He's a Logia Devil Fruit user?" The well-traveled Buggy immediately recognized that Smoker's Devil Fruit ability belonged to the Logia type. Why would such an "invincible" ability appear in the East Blue? Why was Smoker only a mere captain? Questions flooded Buggy's mind.

"What's with this guy?" Luffy asked in confusion. He had clearly hit him, but it felt like punching smoke. And Smoker would suddenly vanish, only to suddenly appear behind him again.

"Straw Hat Luffy, I've got you!" Smoker's body turned into a mass of smoke and pinned Luffy to the ground, leaving him unable to fight.

"Straw Hat?" Seeing his mortal enemy Luffy fail to last even a few moves against Smoker, Buggy became even more afraid of Smoker. Though he would love to see Luffy captured by Smoker, now wasn't the time, because Smoker had his eyes on him too. Without Luffy holding Smoker back, Buggy couldn't escape at all.

"Ugly Buggy, you're under arrest too!" Before Buggy could split apart, Smoker's smoke enveloped him as well.

"Your luck ends here!" Smoker prepared to draw the weapon embedded with Seastone from behind his back.

"Not necessarily!"