Meeting Tashigi

"Let's call it a day!" Locke sheathed his Tang Dao as he looked at Smoker, whose body was covered in wounds and who could no longer maintain his elemental form.

"What... are you trying to run away? Cough! Cough!" Though Smoker was still standing, the excessive blood loss made it difficult for him to speak. As he spoke, he coughed up two mouthfuls of blood.

"I just don't feel like killing you." Locke curled his lip.

"I don't need your pity!" Ignoring his injuries, Smoker charged at Locke once more.

Locke shifted sideways to evade Smoker's attack, then struck the side of Smoker's neck with a backhand blow.

Smoker collapsed without any ability to resist.

"Remember my name is Locke. I look forward to meeting you again." Locke spoke into Smoker's ear as he fell.

"You..." Before he could finish, Smoker had already passed out. A faint cloud of dust rose as he hit the ground.

Looking at the Smoker he had knocked unconscious, Locke smiled and shook his head. Then he set off in the direction Annie had vanished.

Before long, Locke caught up with Annie.

Annie was standing on Colonel Nezumi's head. Colonel Nezumi was kneeling on the ground with his eyes tightly shut, his face twisted by overwhelming terror as his entire body trembled incessantly.

"Big Brother."

Seeing Locke approach, Annie immediately flew toward him and plastered her entire puppet body over his face.

Locke's vision was almost completely blocked by Annie's puppet body.

Helpless, Locke could only reach out, lift Annie off his face, and place her properly on his shoulder.

"Big Brother, this Marine colonel really is a bad man. He's done so many bad things!" Annie said from Locke's shoulder.

"If he weren't a bad man, we wouldn't have come to catch him," Locke explained.

"Mhm! Mhm! We're good people, so we should punish bad people." Annie nodded obediently, fully agreeing with Locke.

"Big Brother, Annie is amazing, right? I caught the bad guy in one go," Annie bragged. Though her expression could not be seen while she possessed the puppet, Locke could guess she was wearing a face that said, Praise me already!

"Mhm! Our Annie is the most amazing." Locke stroked Annie's head and praised her.

Hearing Locke's words, Annie happily flew circles around him, her giggling laughter ringing out without pause.

"Alright, sit still for now. We're getting ready to leave." Locke caught Annie again, placed her on his shoulder, and spoke.

After seeing Annie nod, Locke walked over to where Colonel Nezumi was kneeling and lifted him up as though he were a piece of trash.

"Men, we're leaving!" A purple phantom appeared behind Locke and let out a loud shout before dissipating completely.

"Come on, we're heading back to the ship." After doing all this, Locke carried Colonel Nezumi and headed toward the Phantom with Annie.

At that moment, Big Bear was facing the Marines attacking from this direction alone. Behind him, Second Bear had placed Panda, whose wounds had just been treated, to one side and was now giving Yun Zhinnan's injuries some basic treatment.

Suddenly, Locke's order to retreat reached their ears, along with that familiar purple phantom.

Big Bear and Second Bear exchanged a look. Then Big Bear repelled the Marines charging at him again, went to Second Bear's side, and hoisted Panda onto his back.

Second Bear also swiftly finished treating Yun Zhinnan and carried him onto his back.

After carrying the two of them, neither man lingered any longer and hurried toward the Phantom.

At that moment, the Phantom was being fiercely bombarded by Smoker's warship. However, Carmen, who had remained aboard, blocked every attack with telekinesis and occasionally used it to deflect incoming cannonballs back.

At the beginning, Carmen had failed to notice the Marine warship behind them, and the Phantom was hit several times, leaving several holes in the ship.

Once Carmen reacted, she quickly defended against the attacks with telekinesis and did not let the Phantom get hit again.

But once the Marines gradually realized that cannon fire was useless, they stopped firing.

Instead, they maneuvered their warship closer to the Phantom.

It had to be said that the Telekinesis Fruit was indeed an extremely powerful Devil Fruit. Its ability was simple to use yet formidable. Even though Carmen had only obtained it a few days ago, she could already unleash tremendous power with it.

Once the warship drew close, the Marines leaped over one after another, preparing to board the pirate ship. Unexpectedly, halfway through their jumps, they crashed into a telekinetic wall formed by Carmen's power and fell into the sea one by one.

A whole group plunged into the water after one another, creating a spectacular sight for a moment.

However, when Carmen saw Tashigi jump from the warship, she was visibly stunned. She even forgot to maintain the telekinetic wall and simply stared at her, allowing more than a dozen Marines behind Tashigi to make it across as well.

"Kuina! Is that you? Aren't you dead?" Ignoring the other Marines, Carmen asked Tashigi in shock.

"Kuina? Who is that? But pirates, accept the judgment of Marine justice!" After saying that, Tashigi directly led the Marines who had crossed with her in charging toward Carmen.

"So annoying." Carmen merely raised a hand at the charging Marines and froze them in place. Then she waved her hand, sending every Marine except Tashigi flying away.

"Finally, it's quiet. Now we can have a proper chat."

Seeing all her subordinates sent flying away while she herself could not move, nervous sweat appeared on Tashigi's forehead.

"Kuina, do you really not recognize me? I'm Carmen!" With only Tashigi and Carmen left on the ship, Carmen spoke again.

Tashigi now understood that she was no match for the woman before her. But seeing that Carmen did not seem to intend to attack her, she visibly relaxed.

"Who is Kuina? My name is Tashigi." Tashigi remained motionless as she spoke.

"Tashigi? That makes sense. She's already dead. She couldn't possibly appear here." Carmen's agitated emotions gradually calmed as she murmured.

"What do you mean, already dead? I'm alive and well." Since Tashigi was still some distance away from Carmen, she did not hear what Carmen had said clearly.

"It's nothing. You just look very much like a friend I used to know," Carmen said again after calming down.

"I don't care which friend you think I resemble, but release me now and obediently accept Marine punishment! Otherwise, when Colonel Smoker finishes dealing with the attack on the island and comes here, you'll suffer for it," Tashigi threatened.

Tashigi had great confidence in Smoker. After all, in the East Blue, known as the weakest sea, a Logia Devil Fruit user could practically be considered invincible.