Three days later, at the Marine branch in Loguetown.
An orange-haired girl wearing a Marine justice coat, with sunglasses resting on her bangs and a bandage on her face, strode in carrying a katana.
"Ensign Isuka, you're finally here."
Aolan hurried out as he spoke.
"Is Captain Smoker still unconscious? You summoned me in such a hurry. I was pursuing Fire Fist Ace of the Spade Pirates."
A trace of urgency crossed Isuka's face as she looked into the room.
"Isuka, you're finally here."
Smoker's voice came from inside the room, and the tightly shut door soon opened.
At the sight of Smoker, who still had a red slash mark on his face, Isuka's expression froze.
She and Smoker could be considered Marine recruits from the same class.
However, because Smoker possessed a Logia Devil Fruit ability, he had quickly risen to the rank of Marine captain.
Hina, who had joined at the same time, had also reached lieutenant commander thanks to her Paramecia Devil Fruit.
Only Isuka had relied on her swordsmanship to rise through the ranks step by step, and even now, she was merely an ensign.
"Isuka, are you surprised that a Logia Devil Fruit user like me could suffer an injury like this?"
Smoker spoke with a livid face, a cigar clenched between his teeth.
"I suffered this injury when I encountered a Marine recruit named Bai Yu in Cocoyasi Village in the East Blue."
"He defeated me with just one slash!"
One slash?
Isuka's expression changed, and she spoke.
"Could he have a Seastone weapon?"
As a formally trained Marine recruit from Marine Headquarters, Isuka was clearly no mere ornament. She knew a little about the weaknesses of Devil Fruit users.
"No, it was Armament Haki!" Smoker clenched his fist.
"I overlooked the fact that he possessed Armament Haki and could counter my Elemental Transformation."
"At the same time, I suspect he also possesses Observation Haki..."
What?
Isuka's expression changed dramatically.
"You're saying he possesses two types of Haki? Then how old is he? In his twenties or thirties?"
Haki was nothing rare at Marine Headquarters.
However, in Isuka's view, mastering Haki should at least require the accumulated experience of many battles.
"No, he's about your age, only seventeen or eighteen."
With the cigar between his teeth, Smoker took a hard, deep drag before continuing.
"There's also a rumor that, not long ago, Bai Yu hunted down and wiped out the Krieg Pirates, who had long been entrenched in the East Blue. After reaching the sea restaurant, he met Fire Fist Ace and defeated him with one slash..."
"Impossible!" Isuka's expression changed, and she cried out urgently.
Smoker raised an eyebrow, clearly somewhat surprised by his old friend's excessive agitation.
Isuka also noticed her own loss of composure and hurriedly spoke.
"My apologies, Captain Smoker. Ever since I encountered Fire Fist Ace in the Sixis Sea a month ago, I've been pursuing him. I was the one who submitted the request for his fifty-million-Beli bounty."
"I know very well how strong Fire Fist Ace is."
"If you're saying Fire Fist Ace was defeated, I want to know whether he's now in our Marines' custody."
As she finished speaking, a trace of urgency flashed in the depths of Isuka's eyes.
Smoker held his cigar between his teeth and pondered briefly before shaking his head.
"I haven't received any news of that yet. Still, let me remind you not to underestimate that guy."
"But if we meet again, I definitely won't let him exploit an opening. I'll defeat him head-on!"
Isuka secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
If Garp's pursuit of Roger was a case of loving and fighting each other,
then Isuka's pursuit of Ace was likewise meant to prove her own strength.
Anyone would be unhappy if someone else snatched away prey they had rarely had the chance to encounter.
"Isuka, why do you look so preoccupied too?" Smoker glanced at his old classmate.
Isuka hurriedly came back to her senses and shook her head.
"No, I'm just curious about who this Bai Yu is, for there to be rumors that he could defeat Fire Fist Ace."
"If possible, I'd really like to see just what he's capable of!"
"Heh, you should get a chance to meet him soon," Smoker said with a cold chuckle, his cigar between his teeth.
"Next time, you'll hear the news that I've defeated him."
"Right, back to business. I asked you to come because today is the anniversary of Pirate King Roger's death. Many pirates will seize the opportunity to come ashore, so I hope you can help me with patrols."
"I've been feeling a little uneasy lately. I'm worried something might go wrong."
"You're asking me to support you?" Isuka raised an eyebrow in surprise, then smiled.
"That really is surprising. But since you've asked, I won't refuse."
"I hear Loguetown has quite a few weapon shops. I'll browse them too and see what I can find."
With those words, Isuka turned and left.
To many people, Devil Fruits were the secret treasures of the sea.
But to a swordsman, nothing was more precious than a Famous Sword that felt right in the hand.
Only after watching Isuka disappear down the corridor did Smoker come back to his senses. He picked up the photograph on the desk, his brow furrowing.
In the photograph, there was a huge black dot in the sky.
However, Smoker could not make out what it was just then.
Meanwhile, a dozen or so nautical miles from Loguetown, a ship carrying tangerine trees was swiftly cutting through the waves.
"Roar!"
A vast surge of water overturned as a Sea King dozens of meters long burst out of the sea dozens of meters away.
The instant its scarlet eyes caught sight of the ship, its bloody maw opened wide, and it lunged straight at them with a fetid gust.
Zoro, Nami, and the others standing on deck remained unperturbed.
Only Sanji took a slightly deeper drag on his cigarette.
He watched the Sea King, which was already right before them.
Bang!
A streak of scarlet light rang out from the lookout platform and instantly collided with the enormous Sea King.
Boom!
The lunging Sea King, dozens of meters long, first froze in its attack.
The next instant, its enormous head exploded.
As blood and flesh splattered across the sky, its body, over ten meters long, crashed into the sea.
As great sheets of seawater splashed up, Carina, tucked away on the lookout platform, raised the Super-Modified 98K in her hands and could not help giving it a wave.
"Lord Bai Yu, was that a splendid shot?"
"Of course it was. It looks like you've gotten used to this gun's recoil, Carina."
Bai Yu smiled and took a swig of liquor.
Since leaving the sea restaurant, Bai Yu's Main Body Template unlock progress had reached 19.8 percent.
His second round against Ace had earned him two percent unlock progress.
It seemed a little less than expected.
However, when refreshing the shop, Bai Yu had received an unexpected surprise.