Confronting Smoker!

"What? I thought this was where Roger was executed. It's just a bar."

Luffy walked inside with a disappointed look on his face. Zero, following behind him, looked around and concluded that this bar would be going out of business soon. After all, it looked shabby from the outside and didn't seem like a place that saw many customers.

Even so, the two saw a drunken old man sitting on a stool, waving them away. But the next moment, Luffy spotted a huge skull on the table and exclaimed in surprise, "What a huge skull!"

Luffy's words seemed to stir the old man's desire to talk. He began telling the two about the skull's origins and the story of Pirate King Roger. Both listeners felt their blood boil, wishing they could have gone through that turbulent era alongside Roger.

By the end, Luffy had even excitedly declared that he would definitely become the Pirate King. The old man's eyes widened, as though he had seen a familiar figure in Luffy, and he happily invited them to drink.

"To the Pirate King, forever!"

The three shouted the same toast, bringing a little life back to the previously quiet bar.

Luffy and Zero did not stay long before leaving.

What they did not know was that after they left, Marine Colonel Smoker also arrived there. From his conversation with the old man, it seemed that he was a regular at this bar. Like the old man, he had witnessed Roger usher in the Great Pirate Era, and as he drank, he recalled the scene of Roger's death.

However, that memory did not last long.

A Marine soldier came in and asked the bar owner to post new bounty notices. Smoker recognized Luffy and Zero from the pictures, and based on his earlier conversation with them, decided to head to the execution site and arrest the two!

"So this is Roger's execution platform? It's so high!"

After Luffy and Zero reached their destination, Luffy looked at the towering execution platform and sighed sincerely. Zero seemed to recall something, but the moment he turned around, he saw Luffy running beneath the platform and beginning to climb.

"Luffy, watch out—"

Before Zero could finish, a familiar voice suddenly rang out.

"Kid, you're the pirate from East Blue with a bounty of thirty million Beli, aren't you?"

"I'm Luffy. What do you want?"

"I'm Marine Colonel Smoker, the man in charge of Loguetown. I'm here to arrest you! Where's your other accomplice?"

"No way!"

Luffy refused as he tried to climb down from the platform. However, his body got tangled in the iron frame of the execution platform. After finally getting himself into position, the cramped space meant that his attack not only failed to hit his enemy, but also flung his own body away.

And so, Smoker watched as the target he had intended to arrest flew farther and farther away before vanishing into the crowd.

Smoker: "..."

Zero: "..."

Just as Smoker was about to redeploy the Marines to search for Luffy, he caught sight of another man in the nearby crowd whose picture he had seen not long ago.

"Executioner!"

Smoker shouted Zero's alias. Zero had not yet recovered from Luffy throwing him behind, and only realized that it was probably too late to run when Smoker blocked his path with a weapon in hand.

"You're Executioner Zero, right? I recognize you! That kid may have escaped, but don't think you'll be leaving this place. Surrender quietly!"

As he spoke, Smoker swung the weapon called a Jitte. It was actually made of Seastone, the nemesis of Devil Fruit users, and it came smashing down at Zero.

Clang!

Zero promptly drew Startled Dragon from behind his waist and blocked Smoker's attack. The instant their weapons met, a shower of blazing sparks burst forth!

"Oh?"

Apparently surprised that the pirate before him was not as weak as he had imagined, Smoker became interested. His weapon struck at Zero from all kinds of tricky angles, yet Zero blocked every attack.

Seeing Zero's relaxed expression, Smoker knew he had underestimated his opponent. He immediately activated the power of the Smoke-Smoke Fruit, turning his lower body into grayish-white smoke that soon surrounded Zero.

Looking at Zero trapped by his smoke, Smoker said smugly, "Didn't expect that, did you? I'm a Smoke-Smoke Fruit user. Your Swordsmanship may be quite good for East Blue, but now you can't touch me! Executioner, let me take your life!"

As he spoke, Smoker's upper body shot toward Zero at high speed. He raised his weapon high, ready to deliver the final judgment.

He failed to notice that, just as his weapon was about to touch Zero, the corner of Zero's mouth suddenly curled upward. At some point, Zero's right hand had already clenched into a fist, which he viciously swung toward a certain person's stomach!

"Armament Haki, Hardening!"

Bang!

When the pitch-black fist struck the smoke around Smoker's body, he suddenly felt unprecedented pain erupt from somewhere within him. The abrupt agony froze Smoker's attack, and in the next instant, he was sent flying in the opposite direction even faster, crashing through several houses along the way!

"Colonel Smoker!"

The many Marines had never expected the battle to end this way. They rushed toward where Smoker had been sent flying, but when they remembered to search for the culprit behind the commotion, he had already quietly disappeared into the crowd.

"Whew, good thing I ran fast!"

Hidden in a dark corner, Zero watched the Marines conducting a thorough search of the streets and could not help giving himself credit for his quick thinking.

He had thought he and Smoker would at least have a fierce battle.

Yet from their first exchange, he had felt that Smoker's Hand-to-Hand Combat was not as formidable as he had imagined. Perhaps Smoker relied more heavily on his Devil Fruit. Later, Smoker had even directly attacked Zero with the Smoke-Smoke Fruit, allowing Zero to send him flying with Armament Haki without any effort.

"Still, this Smoker probably hasn't fought many Haki users. Once he goes to the New World two years from now, perhaps he'll overcome the weakness of Logia users fearing Armament Haki. But by then, I won't be this weak either! Ahahaha!"

Zero's self-congratulation did not last long. He felt that he ought to find Luffy now. After all, something major was about to happen. If his presence caused Luffy to fail to survive the way he was supposed to, Zero would feel extremely guilty.

With that in mind, Zero jumped onto the roof of a house, preparing to track down Luffy's current location from above.