All the pirate underlings froze in place.
The battle hadn't even begun, and their strongest fighter had already fled. What were they supposed to do?
"R-run!"
As one pirate's voice rang out from the crowd, it was as though some mechanism had been triggered.
All the pirates scrambled after Buggy, joining the vast army of fleeing men.
"Don't let them get away!" Tashigi shouted.
Thud!
The sound of something hitting the ground drew her attention. Then her face instantly filled with horror.
Smoker had collapsed onto the ground and couldn't help spitting out a mouthful of blood.
Tashigi hurried over.
"Captain, what's wrong?!!!"
"N-nothing!" Smoker struggled into a sitting position, then waved a hand.
"Don't bother chasing those pirates. In my current condition, I'm afraid I can't fight anymore!"
"Forcing myself to hold on and scare them off just now was already my limit."
After saying that, Smoker couldn't help coughing a few more times, though no more blood came out.
"Captain, who hurt you this badly?"
At Tashigi's words, Smoker seemed to recall something. A trace of fear flashed through his eyes, and he said, enunciating every word, "Demon King Xia Chen!"
"Demon King Xia Chen? He's on this island too?" Tashigi couldn't help asking in confusion.
But then she remembered that Roronoa Zoro, whom she'd just encountered, belonged to the Straw Hat Pirates, and so did Demon King Xia Chen. In that case, it wasn't strange for him to be here.
Smoker didn't answer, instead sinking into thought.
Demon King Xia Chen was far stronger than he had imagined. A single move had left him unable to fight.
At that thought, Smoker felt an urge to curse the Marines. What genius had set that bounty? This definitely wasn't the strength of someone with a mere three-hundred-million bounty!
But there was no use saying that now. This time, their Marines had suffered... a crushing defeat!
Then Smoker turned to glance at a figure atop a neighboring house and said, "Thanks, Dragon!"
The only reason he had made it back to Loguetown so quickly was Dragon's help. Otherwise, with his severely wounded body, who knew how long it would have taken him to return?
Dragon gave a faint chuckle.
"Don't mention it!"
Then his figure vanished on the spot.
Smoker turned toward the surrounding Marines and said, "Prepare a ship. We're heading to the Grand Line!"
"Huh? But Loguetown is under your jurisdiction, and your injuries..."
Before Tashigi could finish, Smoker waved a hand to interrupt her.
"Enough! I'll submit a request to headquarters for a new commander for Loguetown. As for my injuries, I can recover at sea just as well!"
After saying that, Smoker gazed in the direction Xia Chen had left and murmured:
"I will catch you, Demon King Xia Chen!"
Aboard the Going Merry, in the waters not far from Loguetown~
Zoro, Sanji, and Usopp were all tightly gripping Luffy's neck, their eyes full of fury.
"Luffy, do you want to die? You flew straight into us and knocked us all the way from town onto the ship! If we weren't so lucky, who knows how many times we'd have died?!!!" Sanji roared beside him.
The three of them had been running along the streets of Loguetown, minding their own business, when an unidentified object came flying straight at them.
Under normal circumstances, they certainly could have dodged an attack from this unidentified object. But if that unidentified object was a Rubber Man who had eaten the Gum-Gum Fruit, how were they supposed to respond?
So Luffy had very "kindly" lent them a hand, stretching out both arms to gather them all together and get them back aboard quickly.
The problem was that they weren't rubber men. They were living flesh and blood. It hurt, okay?
And that had led to this scene demonstrating the friendly camaraderie between the crew and their captain.
Xia Chen sat nearby, watching the scene at his leisure and sipping coffee he'd gotten from who knew where. Now this was the life~
A few days later~
Wearing a raincoat, Nami gazed at the distant waters through the storm.
"We're finally almost at the Grand Line! But the chart is strange. There's a mountain blocking our way, and it looks like we have to go over it!"
"Huh? Idiot! What are you talking about? How could a ship climb a mountain?" Zoro shot back mercilessly from beside her.
"But that's what the chart shows!" Nami retorted without backing down, though she didn't sound all that confident.
A ship climbing a mountain really did seem rather unrealistic.
"Tch!" Zoro scoffed disdainfully again, but before he could speak, a pair of hands closed around his neck.
"Bastard! Miss Nami is obviously right! How could you question her?" Sanji said furiously.
m9( ｀д´ )!!!!
"You damned curly-browed cook, what are you doing?!!!"
"Stinking Moss Head, I won't let you say Miss Nami is wrong!"
For fuck's sake! Zoro couldn't take it anymore and started fighting Sanji.
Nearby, Xia Chen elegantly took a sip of his coffee, then said calmly, "You do indeed have to climb a mountain to enter the Grand Line!"
At some point, Xia Chen had discovered he'd developed a taste for coffee. He had to take a sip every so often. It really felt wonderful~
"The entrance to the Grand Line is on Reverse Mountain on the Red Line. There's a canal there, and because of the ocean currents, you get the strange sight of water flowing up a mountain."
"So that's it!" After hearing Xia Chen's explanation, Nami immediately understood, her expression one of realization.
But a moment later, she looked at Xia Chen in confusion.
"Why do you know that?"
Gulp!
After taking another sip of coffee, Xia Chen said with a calm expression, "This is all basic common knowledge!"
Nami: ...
So you're saying I'm an ignorant navigator, then?
Still, Nami felt that Xia Chen was growing more and more mysterious. It was the same during their usual voyages. Xia Chen understood most problems thoroughly, as though there was nothing he didn't know.
If Xia Chen knew what Nami was thinking right now, he would definitely have said confidently:
"You think I watched the anime for nothing?"
Just then, the ship began to rock, and at the same time, Usopp's voice rang out.
"Nami, the ship's out of control!"
"Huh?" At Usopp's words, Nami froze for a moment, then hurried to the railing to examine the current beneath the ship.
A few seconds later, Nami shouted, "Leave it alone! Just let the ship follow the current. We can't control it in a current this strong!"
"If nothing unexpected happens, this current should carry us toward the canal!"
A confident smile appeared on Nami's face. As long as she understood the principles behind it, there was no problem at sea she couldn't solve. After all, she was going to become the finest navigator!