Boots safely landed behind a dumbfounded Smoker, who turned around seconds later, just to see Sear already away at a safe distance.
Sighing, the marine then looked at his weapon. 'Tch! How foolish... using this baton became my habit, and this is the result.'
He was thoroughly outmaneuvered...
Missing its top half, the baton was shortened. What remained was a useless stub, so tossing it aside, he readjusted his stance, positioning himself to use his bare hands; both of which were now free to do as he wished.
Crack!
Popping his neck, he employed the Devil Fruit ability. As a result, his arms transformed into smoke and rushed at Sear.
The young man tried to dodge, but although he succeeded in evading one plume of smoke, another managed to take hold of his left leg...
With this, he got dragged to the ground.
In a state of panic, he thrust his blade forward and blew away the smoke in a torrent of compressed air, using the technique [Sparrow].
But the smoke that was dispersed reformed into solid smoke in just a second. Sear was just getting up when he was caught again.
"I wanted to surprise you with this but..." he had no choice but to reveal his trump card early.
As Sear was getting pulled by the smoke, he took out the object he had been hiding inside his coat.
? ?
To Smoker's shock, he saw the other half of his baton, and immediately released the entrapped guy and backed off... being bewildered at the same time. 'How did he know it was sea prison stone?'
That weapon of his had been tipped with sea prison stone, so he more than anyone understood what it meant for a Devil Fruit user like himself to be touched by such a thing.
Now back to square one, the two men narrowed their eyes, gauging each other. Not moving an inch.
Yet...
Smoker was the first to act...
His ability manifested, shrouding the surroundings in a thin fog.
Seeing this, Sear too wasn't idle. It was risky remaining at the same spot. He had to flee.
Despite doing so, the thin cover of smoke also rapidly approached wherever he went. With legs moving, his mind raced. 'This guy... no way, did he improve his skills mid-fight?'
As the smoke was thin, it could be spread out further. In his mind, Smoker planned to exhaust Sear, and then at the right moment he would transform the surrounding smoke into his hands and entrap the guy with them.
But still, it was far from a done possibility. Sear certainly had a way out of this situation.
Thinning out the smoke had a weakness, which he quickly realized: it took some time for it to reform into solid smoke again.
He thus spoke with confidence...
"If it's smoke, I just have to blow it away, right?"
"One Blade, a Thousand Death!!!" His torso, along with the rest of his body, spun. This included his kukri, which he swung like a cowboy swings a lasso to catch running cattle.
Thereafter, a whirlwind manifested with him as the epicenter. The dangerous wind roared and spun, completely blowing away the smoky mist.
This move was beyond Smoker's expectations, who had already been sure of his victory.
At the same time, Sear, in a flash, utilizing that brief window, was again right in front of his opponent.
However, strangely, his kukri was missing from his hand, having been put back into its sheath.
Just as Smoker was registering what happened, Sear's left hand, had already grabbed his shoulder, while the tip of the sea prison stone was pressing against his neck.
This scene made Sear resemble a doctor about to deliver some grim news to his patient.
Well, to be honest, at that moment, for Smoker, that might as well have been the case.
The instant the sea prison stone touched him, his strength abandoned him. This was the curse of the Devil Fruit.
Without wasting the opening, Sear's remaining hand immediately flew into action.
Punches.
Slaps.
Even elbows.
One after another, they crashed into Smoker's face before the marine could properly recover.
Smoker's vision was filled with twinkling stars despite the cloudy sky above.
However still, in terms of physical and mental strength, he wasn't a weakling either.
Gritting his teeth, he endured the barrage and answered with punches of his own.
Thus both men abandoned technique altogether, pummeling each other's faces to oblivion.
bam!
bam!
bam! bam! bam!
They kept at it for nearly a whole minute.
At first, Smoker still managed to return a punch for every two he received.
Then his shoulders gradually sagged.
His punches became slower.
Lighter.
The sea prison stone relentlessly drained his strength with every passing second, while Sear, though exhausted himself, refused to let up.
Eventually, Smoker's fists no longer had enough weight behind them to make a difference.
At last, his body became limp with exhaustion.
Legs buckling, he fell to his knees.
Sear was also tired.
huff! huff! huff!
Catching his breath, he stopped "I will be taking this convenient thing with me," he stated, indicating the sea prison stone he carried, still in contact with smoker's body.
"Soo on, sucker..."
"Don't you daa—re!!" The Marine bellowed with a broken voice, yet his muscles wouldn't move an inch.
Sear didn't pay attention to the hissing of this beaten snake.
Smoker subsequently felt some kind of impact on the back of his head, and everything went dark as he collapsed to the floor.
Sear had knocked him out cold... just to be safe.
.
.
.
Captain Pudin arrived at the scene, well after Sear had already left.
He ordered his men to attend to the injured, while he himself sighed. "Well, this just means I have to put the plan forward... honestly, this might have been for the best."
Next day, Smoker woke up on the medical bed of the base... He grabbed his head and began pulling on his hair because of the shame he felt at the moment. At the moment, if he could, he wanted to remove that memory of being beaten to a pulp from his mind altogether.
Then sighing, he let go, going deep into thought afterwards...
'Against some nobodies, fighting however was fine, but facing a stronger opponent who doesn't have a Devil Fruit, I should have quickly realized trying to use my baton would be a bad idea.'
"Damn it!!" His fists struck the thin white blanket.
Just then, the door to the room opened, as Captain Pudin strode in. "Can you move?" he asked the withdrawn man.
"Yes!" Smoker replied with no enthusiasm.
"Good then!! Follow along..."
. . .
Elsewhere, in the interrogation room of the base, located underground near where the prison cells were.
"Are you intending to rebel? Release me this second!! Can you hear me?.. Oi, Pudin!!"
Passing through the corridor, Smoker could hear the pig shouting.
Having quickly understood the situation, finally an amused smile appeared on his face.
Thereafter, stepping into the room, Pudin spoke calmly.
"Beat it, Dick!! You're a criminal now."
(A/N- What kind of sick parent names their child D*ck... although it's me that gave him this name but still...)
"How dare you talk to your superior like that?" Dick glared at the two new arrivals with undisguised hatred.
"Hmph!" Pudin scoffed.
"Did you believe you could evade justice? Last time when Vice-Admiral Garp came to East Blue, he had a suspicion... I have now confirmed it... the odd atmosphere at Loguetown and the uptick in refugees fleeing from war-torn countries."
"You have been charged with direct involvement in bribery, false reporting to Marine HQ, misuse of power, and much more. We have collected evidence against you and all your accomplices."
"I am innocent, you are trying to frame me... Proof!! What proof do you have, huh?.."
At the man's question, Pudin had a smirk on his face. "Mashaku, you can come in."
Subsequently, his attention was focused on the door. Others in the room followed suit.
"Masha—??..." Dick had a bad feeling about this.
"Yes!" Mashaku entered, carrying bundles of files with him.
If the man's premonition were right, those likely were documents of his unlawful investments, along with the ledgers he kept to keep track of his illegal dealings, which all amounted to a hefty sum.
Matching those with the investments would be simple.
The list was long and extensive, and as Mashaku presented them one after another, Commodore Dick, who would soon be stripped of all his ranks, lost all hope and accepted his fate.