"What kind of strength does this man truly possess?"
Smoker silently observed Shirogai stroll toward a grilled meat vendor in Rainbase.
"Hey, old man, I'll take all the meat you've got. Bag everything!"
"R-Right away, esteemed customer! I'll pack it all immediately!"
With a delighted grin, the vendor scrambled to gather the food.
Smoker narrowed his eyes.
A terrifying presence…
At first, Smoker assumed that no matter how powerful Shirogai Yamikuro was, he couldn't possibly surpass an Admiral.
Whether it was Aokiji, Kizaru, or Akainu, any of them should've been able to crush him effortlessly.
But now… he wasn't so sure.
Shirogai's power was unfathomable.
Every time Smoker thought he had gauged the limit of this pirate's strength, something new would surface—something more dangerous, more overwhelming than the last.
What chilled him even more was Shirogai's utter disregard for status, wealth, or authority—like none of it mattered to him, as if the entire world was just a playground beneath his feet.
As Smoker stared on, lost in thought, Shirogai, now carrying a hefty bag of cooked meat, casually tossed a meat skewer his way.
"Don't get ideas, this is for my idiotic Captain. You only get one."
Smoker caught it reflexively. Blinking, he scowled and scoffed:
"Who even wants this?!"
Shirogai extended a hand with a smirk.
"Huh? Then hand it back."
Smoker bit into the skewer like he was biting into the man's ego itself.
"Not a chance!"
Shirogai laughed.
"Childish."
Suddenly, a squad of Marines burst into the square, surrounding them.
"Captain Smoker! Should we apprehend this pirate?!"
Tashigi, gripping her blade, pointed it directly at Shirogai.
"Don't move! 'Plunderer' Shirogai Yamikuro, you are under arrest!"
Before Smoker could speak, Shirogai waved lazily and said:
"Let's save that training session for another time. I'm out."
"Smoke Bomb!"
His body instantly expanded into a vast cloud of black smoke, enveloping the street.
"Cough, cough, ugh! His ability's so much like Captain Smoker's!"
"Switch to Sea Prism Stone bullets—quick!"
"I'm choking—!"
The Marines coughed violently. By the time the smoke cleared, Shirogai had vanished.
Smoker remained where he stood, slowly exhaling a cloud of smoke from his cigar.
"I'm sorry, Captain Smoker…"
Tashigi approached, guilt in her eyes.
"It's not your fault," Smoker said coldly, "I'm simply not his match."
He turned to face her fully.
"Tashigi, prepare for immediate deployment. We're heading for Alubarna, the capital of Alabasta."
"A civil war is about to break out, fueled by Crocodile's plot."
"As for who to support—the King's army or the Straw Hat Pirates—it's your call. Follow your own sense of justice."
Tashigi looked shaken.
"What's really going on? Why is this happening?!"
Smoker didn't answer. Instead, he stepped onto his amphibious three-wheeled motorcycle, Billow, just brought over by a subordinate.
"Don't ask too many questions," he muttered, activating his Smoke-Smoke Fruit powers. "Follow what you believe is right—and whatever the result, I'll take responsibility."
"Then where are you going, Captain Smoker?!"
"Out to sea. Stay in contact at all times."
His voice softened slightly.
He remembered Shirogai's biting words about the World Government.
He turned to his loyal Marines and said firmly:
"Observe this kingdom. Watch how this ends. What happens here is only a reflection of the world at large."
"Someday… we might witness the fall of something even bigger."
"Is the World Government truly good… or rotten at its core?"
"I'll find out for myself."
The roar of Billow echoed across the sand as the motorcycle sped out of Rainbase toward the coastline.
---
Meanwhile… In the Desert
Not far from Rainbase, deep inside a quicksand pit...
"Cough... cough… damn it, I'm starving… and thirsty…"
Only Luffy's head remained above the sinking sand. His face was pale and cracked from dehydration, his breathing labored.
"I can't… die here… Not yet… I haven't launched that bastard Crocodile into orbit!"
Eighty percent of the water in his body was gone.
Any normal human would have already died.
But thanks to the elasticity of his Rubber-Rubber Fruit, Luffy barely clung to life. The rubber allowed his dried organs to continue functioning—for now.
Yet, if the desert's freezing night set in before rescue arrived, it would be over.
He couldn't even lift his arms. He was completely buried beneath the sand—his will the only thing keeping him alive.
Crocodile's taunting voice rang through his fading consciousness:
"You're weak, Straw Hat."
"We're not even in the same league."
"There's always a fresh batch of loud rookie Pirates on the Grand Line…"
"Yuba will fall, and the Alabasta Kingdom will crumble. You can't save anyone."
"hahaha, hahaha…"
"DAMN IT!!"
A surge of rage reignited Luffy's failing heart.
His eyes sharpened.
He began smashing his head into the sand repeatedly, trying to force his body upward through sheer desperation.
---
High above the clouds, Shirogai Yamikuro sat cross-legged on an invisible platform, arms folded, watching the scene below.
He smiled faintly.
"Everyone calls Luffy overpowered… a chosen one… but none of them see this."
"No one notices how often he flirts with death. Each fight could've been his last."
"Human-Human Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Nika Model?"
"Tch. Give it a hundred years and they'll call it the Human-Human Fruit, Mythical Zoan: Luffy Model."
A powerful gust swept the desert.
The sand pit collapsed further, swallowing Luffy's head beneath the surface.
He was seconds from suffocating.
"Heh… Luffy nearly died here."
Shirogai didn't intervene.
He had already looked into the next thirty seconds.
Someone else would act.
---
Whoosh.
Dozens of arms sprouted from the sand.
They dug rapidly, pulling Luffy upward with gentle strength.
Gurgle... gurgle...
Luffy's limp body was pushed out of the pit and rolled onto a dune.
Standing nearby was the mysterious Miss All Sunday—Nico Robin, Vice President of Baroque Works.
Her long black hair danced in the breeze. She looked down at the battered, trembling form of Monkey D. Luffy with quiet intensity.
"A person with the initial 'D'..."
"Who are you people, really?"
Before she could say more, a familiar voice drifted down from the sky:
"Yo, beautiful. We meet again."
Startled, Robin looked up.
Shirogai Yamikuro descended slowly from above, smiling casually, like he hadn't just watched someone nearly die.
She blinked, shocked.
"You're alive?"
"Of course. I'm hard to kill."
---
Read ahead of WN on patreon.com/Zphyr_