Seeing the commotion she had caused, Tashigi's face was full of guilt.
That wanted poster had not yet been officially released to the world. For now, it was still internal to the Marines, and today she had leaked it ahead of time.
Smoker, clenching his cigars, wore a solemn expression, not daring to relax in the slightest. He had heard about Luo Chen's exploits: killing a Headquarters Marine Captain. Even if Luo Chen's strength was not equal to his, it certainly wasn't far off.
"Everyone's run off. That saves some trouble," Luo Chen said with a light chuckle.
Neither he nor Smoker had made the first move, likely because they were both worried about harming innocents. Now that the tavern's patrons had fled, a major battle was inevitable. Although he didn't want to fight the Logia-user Smoker, it was clear his opponent wouldn't let him go easily.
Hearing his words, Smoker said coldly, "What, are you planning to kill everyone in the tavern too?"
Luo Chen was taken aback and asked with curiosity, "Why would you say that?"
Smoker brandished his Jitte, which resembled a short truncheon, and narrowed his eyes. "You slaughtered over five hundred people in Cocoyasi Village. Your ferocious and bloodthirsty nature is now known to the entire Marine force."
Beside him, a flicker of anger appeared on Nami's pretty face.
Luo Chen, however, just smiled nonchalantly. "Think whatever you want."
With a slight thought, wooden vines appeared, forming an enclosed shield to protect Nami, leaving only her large brown eyes visible.
Immediately after, a large tree burst through the ground, shooting up from under Smoker's feet.
Smoker's feet turned into white smoke, erupting like steam as his body suddenly accelerated and flew toward Luo Chen.
Luo Chen intentionally avoided his weapon, the Seastone-tipped Jitte, and sidestepped, sweeping out with a whip-like kick.
Smoker's waist once again turned into white smoke.
Luo Chen's kick felt as if it had hit empty air, with no sense of solid impact.
A look of helplessness crossed his face.
Before mastering Armament Haki, Logia-type fruit users were just this infuriating. Physical attacks simply couldn't touch them.
Smoker swung his Jitte again. Having learned from his previous miss, he turned his upper arm into a jet of smoke to accelerate his forearm. The speed at which the truncheon came crashing down was clearly much faster than before.
Luo Chen judged that he couldn't dodge it with conventional means, so he used the Six Powers' Shave.
His figure vanished from the spot as if teleporting.
Smoker's Jitte hit nothing, and he was visibly stunned for a moment.
"It seems the Marines don't know I can use Shave?" Luo Chen said with a smile.
Although Gal Locke was dead, the details of that battle had not yet been revealed. As for the Woods-Woods Fruit ability, he had voluntarily disclosed it when he first contacted Marine Headquarters. Otherwise, there would be no way to explain how a Branch Major could have killed the fish-man Arlong.
The Marines were unaware that he knew the Six Powers' Shave and Moonwalk. Of course, now Smoker knew he could use Shave.
A look of clear astonishment appeared on Smoker's face.
"How do you know the Six Powers?"
Only the elites of the Headquarters Marines were qualified to learn the Six Powers. As a Branch Major, it was absolutely impossible for Luo Chen to have had access to them.
Unless... he had tortured the knowledge out of the deceased Gal Locke.
This was the only possibility Smoker could think of.
Luo Chen said nothing and used Shave again, his figure vanishing.
Smoker was extremely vigilant, focusing his full attention to guard against his attack.
But Luo Chen's target was not him.
A faint fragrance reached his nose. Luo Chen looked at the blue-haired female Marine in front of him and placed a hand on her shoulder.
Tashigi's whole body trembled. Her instinctive reaction was to draw her sword and slash back. But a mass of vines grew out from Luo Chen's palm, binding her tightly.
Tashigi struggled violently but was completely unable to break free from the vines. She turned her head and stared at Luo Chen, her eyes filled with unwillingness.
"You're his subordinate, right? Your strength is too far apart. You need more training."
Luo Chen chuckled and looked at Smoker, whose face had turned grim.
"I can't be bothered to fight you. Logias are too annoying."
"Her name is Tashigi, right? I'll take her as a hostage for now. I'll release her after I set out to sea."
Smoker bit down on his cigars and said in a low voice, "Luo Chen, using a woman as a hostage is a bit too shameless."
"I'm already a pirate. What's shameless or not shameless about it?" Luo Chen sneered, waving a hand to dismiss the wooden shield around Nami and signaling her to come over.
Nami nervously scurried past Smoker. During this time, Luo Chen was ready to strike at any moment. After all, Smoker might have made a move on Nami to threaten him.
In the end, it was unclear whether Smoker was worried about Tashigi or simply disdained attacking a woman, but he watched as Nami returned to Luo Chen's side.
"Smoker, don't follow me, unless you doubt that I, who have killed hundreds of civilians, would be soft-hearted."
Luo Chen threatened with a cold expression.
He led Nami out of the tavern.
Tashigi, tightly bound by his wooden vines, could only shout, "Captain Smoker, don't worry about me! Capture Luo Chen!"
"Mmph, mmph..."
A wooden vine wrapped around Tashigi's mouth, preventing her from speaking further.
Smoker struggled internally for a long time before finally swinging his Jitte in a rage, smashing the wooden table beside him.
In the end, he didn't dare to give chase.
He took out a Den Den Mushi and gave an order: "Attention, the wanted criminal Luo Chen has appeared in Gosa Village and is heading to the port. Tashigi is in his hands. No one is to act rashly."
"In addition, send soldiers disguised as civilians to keep a close eye on Luo Chen's movements. If Tashigi is in any danger, sink Luo Chen's ship."
At the port was the warship Smoker had arrived on.
From their brief exchange, he had already judged that it would be difficult for him to defeat Luo Chen in a short amount of time. Rescuing Tashigi had become the top priority.
...
Luo Chen and Nami left the tavern, now with two wooden cages in hand. One imprisoned Tashigi, and the other, Buggy the Clown.
Although Buggy could split his body and limbs, his ability had its limits; he couldn't split his body into excessively small pieces. The sealed wooden cage was enough to hold him.
Moreover, Luo Chen had also found a pair of Seastone Cuffs on Tashigi and used them on Buggy.
Seastone. This was a special substance that could nullify the abilities of Devil Fruit users. When a user came into contact with Seastone, just like with seawater, they would become weak and unable to use their Devil Fruit powers.
"Hey, Luo Chen, what did you capture me for?" Buggy asked worriedly, sitting limply in the wooden cage. He had heard the panicked shouts of the tavern patrons as they fled and had a basic understanding of Luo Chen's situation.
An 80-million-Berry bounty... Buggy the Clown's round, red nose couldn't help but tremble.
Luo Chen was definitely a powerful and vicious criminal. Otherwise, he would never have received such a staggeringly high bounty.
Buggy was very worried for his own safety, even a little scared.
Luo Chen asked, "Buggy, I don't like killing people, but I love money."
Hearing this, Nami's and Buggy's eyes lit up in unison.
The former was because she had discovered that Luo Chen shared her hobby of loving money. Nami felt that she would definitely get rich by staying with Luo Chen.
The latter, Buggy, saw a glimmer of hope for survival and quickly said, "I have money! I can give you all my money, but you have to let me go!"
Luo Chen smiled and nodded in agreement.
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....patre0on.c0m/talecrafter]