The battle in the square continued.
Strictly speaking, it could no longer be called a battle.
Luffy was taking an almost entirely one-sided beating from Smoker.
Bang!
Another White Fist blasted out.
Luffy went flying, crashing through a nearby wall. Rubble and dust rained down, burying half his body.
"Luffy!"
Tashigi stood a short distance away, a conflicted expression on her face.
She should have been happy.
After all, capturing Straw Hat Luffy was their most important mission in coming to Loguetown.
Yet watching Smoker overpower him so easily left her feeling vaguely uneasy.
It wasn't sympathy for a pirate.
It was because this fight was too unfair.
Straw Hat Luffy's attacks couldn't hurt Smoker at all, while every blow Smoker threw landed solidly on Luffy.
From the very beginning, the two had never been on equal footing.
"Get up."
With a cigar clenched between his teeth, Smoker slowly walked toward the rubble.
"Didn't you say you were going to become the Pirate King?"
"With the state you're in now, you still have the nerve to say something like that?"
Luffy's fingers twitched amid the rubble.
He braced himself against the ground and slowly climbed to his feet.
Blood trickled from his forehead and slid down his cheeks.
His clothes were torn in several places, and more bruises had appeared across his body.
But his eyes still held not the slightest trace of doubt.
"Of course I do."
Luffy grinned.
Despite the terrible beating he'd taken, he still smiled.
"I'm Luffy."
"I said I'd become the Pirate King, and that's exactly what I'm going to do."
"No matter how strong you are, you won't make me give up."
Smoker frowned.
What he hated most were pirates like this, who had no idea how far out of their depth they were.