Indeed! A distinguished person like me, shining like a firefly in the dark night, stands out wherever I am!" Ain rolled his eyes at Karl in fury.
The man in sunglasses swallowed hard: "You're, you're Karl, the Marine swordsman!"
At that moment, the man in sunglasses reached behind his back and pulled out a smoke grenade.
"Brothers, retreat!" He then smashed the smoke grenade on the ground, enveloping Karl and Ain in thick white smoke.
Upon seeing this, the others immediately scattered in different directions in a panic.
"Hmm," Karl sighed.
The Raven transformed into a long sword and smoothly landed in Karl's palm. Then Karl swung the sword from bottom to top, and a small whirlwind picked up the smoke grenade and flew forward.
"Leave no one except the man in sunglasses!" Karl commanded.
Ain unsheathed his two swords, and his figure vanished instantly, followed by a scream.
Ten minutes later, on island number 2, blood flowed like a river. Everyone except the man in sunglasses was beheaded, as if in hell.
"Karl, aren't you being too harsh? If this is discovered..." Ain worried.
Karl waved his hand: "Don't worry, I used my color observation to make sure there's no one else here."
Yan sighed with relief and took out a handkerchief to wipe the blood off his two swords.
"Speak! Where is your camp?" Ain demanded.
The man in sunglasses trembled and shook: "D-don't kill me, I'll take you there, I'm, I'm just a worker!"
Karl smiled and patted the man in sunglasses on the shoulder: "Don't worry, we're from the Navy, and the Navy doesn't kill innocent people."
The man in sunglasses looked at the surrounding corpses, "I don't believe it!"
"I'll, I'll take you there!" he muttered.
Bleep-bleep-bleep~
"Hey!" came a voice over the radio.
"It's me, Smoker. I didn't run into any human traffickers, but I did catch a bunch of pirates. Where are you?" the radio asked.
"Island 2, by the way, catch the pirates and bring them here," Karl replied.
"Alright!" Smoker answered, and the signal cut off.
15 minutes ago, Island 4.
The clever Smoker was walking down the street and noticed that although people here seemed fine, they appeared a bit scared upon seeing him.
"Karl, is that guy lying to me? There are no human traffickers here!" Smoker doubted.
After walking around nearby, Smoker found no traces of human traffickers.
Indeed, with a face like his, human traffickers would have to make a detour. Even if he stumbled upon traffickers, it wouldn't be called chasing criminals.
This is called "one crook eats another"!
"Ah, a pirate ship!" Smoker quickly extinguished his cigar and looked at the pirate ship docked at the edge of the island.
"I don't recognize that pirate flag... No matter! If we can't catch human traffickers, we can catch pirates!" Smoker decided.
After looking around to ensure no one was paying attention to him, Smoker activated his element-forming ability and rose into the air, quietly approaching the pirate ship.
On the shore.
A rough-looking man with stubble on his face shouted to his followers, "Brothers, keep a low profile. The Navy is here. Find a shipcoating expert quickly and don't cause trouble!"
You see, even with a bounty of 89.5 million Beli, one must be cautious on Sabaody.
After all, the Sabaody Archipelago is located near the Navy headquarters and the holy land of Mary Geoise. It's arguably the fastest place in the world to summon reinforcement from an admiral.
Typically, pirates have to be careful when arriving at the Sabaody Archipelago, even bowing to the Celestial Dragons. Otherwise, the Navy will mercilessly punish them.
"Boss, boss! There's a man flying in the sky!" reported one of the pirates.
"What?!" Bart was astonished.
Smoker no longer hid himself. He landed directly on the ground and dispassionately announced, "I'm Major Smoker from headquarters; you are under arrest! Surrender!"
The henchmen were initially taken aback and then burst out laughing, "Ha-ha-ha, you? A Navy major! Don't dream on!"
But Bart, being the boss, couldn't laugh. Yes, he was just a Navy major, but Bart could clearly see that he was facing a Devil Fruit user!
What is a Devil Fruit user? From his perspective, just two words: "invincible"!
"Retreat! This Marine is a Devil Fruit user; we can't defeat him!" — Bart ordered.
— What! The same devilish power as the admiral? — the pirates were terrified.
Smoker coldly snorted: — Too late!
Then Smoker transformed his hands into smoke and released a thick cloud, enveloping everyone.
— Ah-ah, what is this power? I can't see anything! — the pirates started gasping.
— Boss, I, ah-ah, the air, the air… — a hoarse voice sounded.
Smoker, hidden in the smoke, chuckled. This suffocating smoke formation was just perfect!
Before, he had to use physical skills to deal with them one by one, but now it was much easier.
— Don't breathe, this smoke is poisonous! — shouted Bart.
— Hold your breath, hold your breath! — voices echoed.
Smoker suddenly leaped out of the smoke and yelled: — It's useless, pirates!
Then, before the astonished Bart's eyes, a small white ball condensed and went straight into his mouth.
Bart hastily scratched his throat but found no foreign object and immediately realized he had been tricked.
"Damn Marine! Come out and fight me if you have the guts! What kind of Marine are you, hiding in the dark?" Bart shouted.
Smoker chuckled. It wasn't necessary to be a martial arts master to handle pirates.
"Explode!" Smoker commanded.
Bart, who was searching everywhere for Smoker, bulged his eyes and let out a hoarse noise in his throat. His face turned red, then purple, and finally black.
Two minutes later, the smoke cleared, and Smoker stood calmly in the same spot, surrounded by corpses.
All those pirates had purple lips and faces, with swollen visages and bulging veins. Their deaths were quite horrifying.
Smoker, the instigator of all this, laughed: "Am I really that strong?"
It was something he would never have dared dream about before.
This time, he didn't even break a sweat. The pirates suffocated themselves and didn't harm him at all!
"I really should thank Karl. If it weren't for him, I'd probably still be arduously studying how to kill people with smoke hammers!" Smoker thought.
Having ensured that all the pirates were dead, Smoker took out the Den Den Mushi and called Karl: "It's me, Smoker..." he said into the receiver.
Hanging up, Smoker scratched his chin. It was truly difficult to choose among all the pirates on the ground!
Ten minutes later.
Wrapping the bodies of a dozen pirates in smoke, Smoker arrived on Island Number 2. He was shocked by the scattered severed limbs all over the island.
"You're still as brutal!" Smoker marveled.
Karl's eyes lit up when he saw Smoker: "You're just in time. I have a favor to ask you."
Smoker nodded: "Go on," he replied.
Karl pointed to the bodies around him and said: "I've just informed Brigadier General Gregory. He'll be arriving soon. Just wait here for him."
"If he asks, say that the pirates and human traffickers were fighting, and you simply arrived after the pirates won. Since the pirates were extremely brutal, you had to kill them."
Smoker seemed accustomed to Karl's ways. He nodded and asked, "And you?"
"Well, this guy will take us to the human auction house so we can join in the fun," Karl replied.