Meanwhile.
On the sea ten nautical miles away from Iron Fang Island.
A Marine warship bearing the seagull flag was cutting through the waves, moving slowly forward.
On the deck, the sea breeze was whipping fiercely.
A man with short silver hair, wearing a coat with the word "Justice" written on the back, was leaning against the railing.
He had two cigars in his mouth, and the thick smoke obscured his face, leaving only a pair of eyes as sharp as a hawk's visible.
Marineford Colonel, "White Hunter" Smoker.
"Colonel Smoker."
A Marine Soldier ran over, stood at attention, and saluted, looking somewhat nervous.
"Hm?"
Smoker exhaled a thick cloud of smoke, his voice low and hoarse, like sandpaper rubbing against a tabletop.
"The ship's fresh water and meat supplies are running low. The head chef suggests we resupply as soon as possible."
The soldier swallowed hard and continued to report, "The navigator has confirmed that the nearest island to us is Iron Fang Island, straight ahead."
"Iron Fang Island..."
Smoker narrowed his eyes, his fingers tapping gently against the railing, making a rhythmic sound.
"That place known as the 'money pit'?"
"Yes, Colonel!"
A layer of sweat seeped from the soldier's forehead. He hesitated for a moment but gritted his teeth and said, "But... according to intelligence records, that is territory controlled by the Seven Warlords of the Sea, the Donquixote Family. If we dock there, we might..."
"Might what?"
Smoker turned his head abruptly, cold light shooting from the eyes hidden behind the smoke.
The soldier shivered, instinctively taking half a step back.
"Might cause a diplomatic incident? Or are you afraid of offending that flamingo in human skin?"
Smoker sneered, reached out to take the cigars from his mouth, and crushed them fiercely against the railing.
"Don't joke around."
"Pirates are pirates. Even if they don the 'legal' cloak given by the government, the blood flowing in their bones is still dirty."
He straightened his body, his tall frame casting a shadow on the deck.
"Since we lack water, we go to resupply. If we run into any trash that doesn't have the sense to stay out of our way, we'll just clean it up while we're at it."
The sea breeze, carrying a salty, fishy scent, blew across the deck but could not disperse the irritation in Smoker's heart.
He held the cigars between two thick fingers, took a fierce drag, and only when his lungs were filled with the acrid smoke did the stifled anger in his chest subside slightly.
In his hand, he clutched a crumpled transfer order.
"Loguetown... the town of beginnings and endings?"
Smoker snorted coldly, his palm exerting sudden force, and the wad of paper instantly turned into powder, drifting away in the wind through his fingers.
"Transferring me to a place like that to retire and guard the gate? Are the brains of those old fogies at Marineford filled with mush?"
He punched the railing, and the specially made alloy railing emitted a teeth-grinding sound of distortion, leaving a deep fist mark.
The Marine Soldier nearby was so scared he dared not even breathe, shrinking his neck and retreating two steps.
Everyone knew Colonel Smoker had been in an extremely foul mood lately.
"Colonel..."
Adjutant Tashigi, holding the famous sword "Shigure", pushed up the glasses on the bridge of her nose and walked over cautiously.
"Um... Instructor Zephyr is doing this for your own good. Loguetown is the gateway to the Grand Line. Only a Marineford Colonel as powerful as you can deter those arrogant newcomers who don't know the height of the sky or the depth of the earth."
"Don't try to fool me with that official jargon."
Smoker turned around, white smoke swirling around him, making him look like a volcano about to erupt.
"They just find me disobedient; they hate that I always defy military orders to pursue pirates with connections, causing trouble for them."
He exhaled a smoke ring, his eyes gloomy.
"If justice requires looking at someone else's face, then it's not worth a damn."
Tashigi opened her mouth but didn't know how to retort.
On this murky sea, Colonel Smoker was like a rock that was both smelly and hard; although it was difficult to handle, it was the purest one there was.
Just then, the observer in the watchtower suddenly sounded the alarm.
"Woo—!!!"
The piercing alarm instantly broke the dull atmosphere on the deck.
"Report, Colonel! Abnormal situation detected ahead!"
The observer's voice spread throughout the ship via the loudspeaker, carrying a hint of irrepressible panic.
"In the direction of Iron Fang Island... a large amount of thick smoke is rising! The fire is huge; it looks like it has been attacked!"
Smoker's eyes narrowed. He strode to the bow of the ship in two steps and snatched the binoculars from the soldier's hand.
Through the lens.
The once bustling and noisy money pit of Iron Fang Island had now turned into a purgatory.
Rolling black smoke shot straight into the sky, almost obscuring half the heavens.
The dock area had been blown into ruins, with broken piers sticking out alone in the sea, and countless wood fragments and... corpses floating around.
Even from this distance, Smoker could still feel the tragic atmosphere rushing toward him.
The sea breeze, laden with a nauseating burnt smell, slammed hard against the warship's white sails.
Smoker stood at the bow, his teeth biting down on his cigars with slight force.
In the field of view of the binoculars, a strange, high-speed rotating object suddenly shot out from above the smoke-filled island.
"What... is that thing?"
The observer beside him almost dropped the notebook in his hand, his voice trembling.
Smoker didn't speak, just gripped the binoculars until they creaked.
The rotating object got closer and closer, accompanied by wheezing like a broken bellows.
It was a fat man.
His neck and limbs were spinning wildly like propellers, carrying a desperate posture of fleeing for his life.
And on the fat man's back lay a woman covered in blood, her life or death unknown.
"It's the Donquixote Family executive, Buffalo and Baby-5."
Smoker exhaled a thick cloud of smoke, and the smoke instantly coalesced into a giant fist behind him.
"Perfect, saves me the trouble of going to the island to find them."
"White Blow!"
With a low shout, the giant smoke fist detached from his arm, like a cannonball leaving the chamber, hurtling straight toward the two people in the air.
If this blow connected, it could dent even steel.
However, Buffalo in the air looked like a startled Beast.
"Get lost! Don't block my way!"
Buffalo let out a shrill scream, showing none of the arrogance expected of a Shichibukai executive.
He actually forced himself to break the rhythm of his rotation in mid-air, enduring the excruciating pain of torn muscles, and violently shifted sideways by a dozen meters.
The smoke fist grazed his clothing and slammed into the sea, kicking up a towering column of water.
Smoker frowned.
Something was wrong.
There was no fighting spirit in this guy's eyes, only fear.
A pure, unadulterated fear of being hunted to the brink by a predator.
"Marines! I'm not fighting you! Don't stop me!"
Buffalo was drenched in sweat, his missing corner of hair making him look ridiculous and pathetic.
He clutched the unconscious Baby-5 on his back tightly, not even daring to glance at the warship below, and using centrifugal force from his spinning, he fled madly in the direction away from Iron Fang Island.
"That guy... is he shaking?"
Tashigi ran over holding her sword, looking up at the fleeing figure in panic, her tone full of astonishment.
Members of the Donquixote Family were characters who could walk sideways in the New World.
What kind of thing could scare them like this?
To the point where they wouldn't even dare to fight back against a Marineford Colonel's attack, only wanting to flee for their lives?