Chapter 493: The Man Who Carries Justice on His Shoulders

Chapter 493: Chapter 493: The Man Who Carries Justice on His Shoulders

"Do you know something?"

Smoker frowned again, feeling that Kuzan was speaking in riddles.

Kuzan did not answer the question immediately, but instead pondered whether to tell Smoker about the matter.

"Answer me, Kuzan!" Smoker said seriously.

His expression also told Kuzan that this was a request from a friend.

Kuzan fell silent upon seeing this, then said, "Not long ago, a public experiment was conducted on this island—"

"Get to the point!" Smoker interrupted.

"The Joker standing behind Caesar is Doflamingo," Kuzan said.

As soon as these words were spoken, Smoker’s pupils suddenly constricted.

Doflamingo?

In other words, was it also Doflamingo who was kidnapping children for that evil scientist, Caesar?

Thinking of this, the veins on Smoker’s face suddenly bulged.

"That bastard!"

Smoker abruptly turned his head to look in the direction where Doflamingo had left and said, "How could that bastard dare?!"

That guy was actually helping that evil scientist do his work?

He truly deserved to die!

With that thought, Smoker intended to go to Dressrosa and arrest that bastard Doflamingo.

Seeing this, Kuzan spoke up, "What do you plan to do?"

"Is there even a need to ask?" Smoker said without hesitation. "I’m going to arrest Doflamingo, of course!"

As a Marine of justice, he could not tolerate such a person continuing to serve as one of the Royal Seven Warlords of the Sea, so he had to arrest him!

"Don’t be so impulsive, Smoker," Kuzan said. "This matter is more complicated than you imagine."

"We already know he’s the one who did it, what’s complicated about it?"

"But you need to find a reason that will convince the World Government," Kuzan said. "Otherwise, you will be punished for attacking a member of the Royal Seven Warlords of the Sea!"

After speaking, Kuzan paused for a moment and then continued, "In more serious cases, you might even be dismissed and have a bounty placed on you by the World Government!"

"Is what we know now not enough?"

"It’s not enough!!"

Smoker fell silent upon hearing this. As a Vice Admiral who had trained under Vice Admiral Garp for two years, he was also somewhat aware of the World Government’s shady dealings.

Therefore, he understood what Kuzan meant.

After a moment of silence, Smoker said, "Is this the reason you left the Marines?"

Because of being constrained by the World Government, there were some things that couldn’t be done.

This time Kuzan didn’t speak, which was a tacit admission of Smoker’s words.

Just as the other party said, it was for this very reason that he had left the World Government.

"I understand," Smoker said. "I won’t act against him immediately."

A smile appeared on Kuzan’s face upon hearing this. It seemed that this fellow had also grown after spending two years by Mr. Garp’s side.

However, before he could smile for long, he heard Smoker continue, "But I’m definitely going to Dressrosa!"

"What are you going there for?" Kuzan’s smile faded, and he said, "This matter must be handled by an Admiral."

"Even though you are a Vice Admiral, you are ultimately not a Marine Admiral."

Strictly speaking, the other party was still a Navy Vice Admiral.

He just held the title of Vice Admiral, but that wasn’t a military rank!

Smoker frowned. Was this matter really that complicated?

In terms of raw strength, he wouldn’t be much weaker than Fujitora and the others.

Then, as if he had thought of something, Smoker said, "Is there some secret hidden within this?"

Could Doflamingo be secretly doing business with the World Government?

"Something like that," Kuzan said. "Anyway... that place might be a whirlpool right now, so..."

"Then I have all the more reason to go!"

Smoker said without hesitation, "If we Marines shrink back whenever we encounter trouble, who will protect the civilians?"

Although he didn’t know exactly what the trouble Kuzan mentioned was, since this matter was related to Doflamingo, he couldn’t sit idly by.

As for the matter of catching the Straw Hat Pirates?

After dealing with Doflamingo’s business, he would just go find the Straw Hat Pirates then.

Kuzan looked at Smoker somewhat blankly. In his eyes, the man gradually overlapped with the rebel from many years ago.

Then, he smiled. "You’re still the same as always..."

"You are still you, so naturally, I am still me," Smoker laughed.

Having been by Vice Admiral Garp’s side for two years, he had indeed become more mature in how he viewed things than before, but...

His hatred for evil had never changed!

"In that case, I won’t say anything more," Kuzan said. "In short... just be careful."

"Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing," Smoker said.

Kuzan didn’t say anything more this time; he just nodded and turned to leave.

However, he stopped after just a few steps, then turned back to look at the G-5 Branch Marines who were staring at them and shouted, "Hey, you guys!"

"Yes, Mr. Kuzan!"

"No need to be so tense," Kuzan smiled. "About the fact that you saw me..."

"Uh..."

"Just..."

"What was it again?"

"How did I forget?" Kuzan shook his head and said, "Never mind."

With that, he turned and left without hesitation.

Marines: !!

The Marines looked at Kuzan in shock. How could this man be like this?

"Mr. Kuzan, we will definitely keep the fact that we saw you a secret!"

For the sake of their own lives, they felt it was necessary to say something.

Kuzan smiled upon hearing this and waved his hand at the crowd without looking back, indicating he understood.

Then, he slowly walked to his exclusive mount, sat on the giant penguin, and left.

After watching him leave, the Marines turned their gazes toward Smoker, who was sitting on a rock.

"Vice Admiral Smoker, what should we do now?"

Smoker, who had also been watching Kuzan leave, calmly blew a smoke ring and said, "Wait."

"Wait?"

"Yes."

Smoker nodded and said, "I came here alone on my motorcycle. The warship will take a while to arrive."

At the beginning, he had indeed taken a warship to the New World with Tashigi, but after hearing his subordinates talk about the situation here halfway through, he had charged off on his motorcycle by himself.

"Vice Admiral Smoker, did you contact a warship from the G-5 Branch?"

"No, it’s the warship I took when I came," Smoker said.

After speaking, he scanned the island, taking in its appearance.

Then he asked, "What happened here?"

"A massive explosion occurred here," a Marine explained. "According to that Caesar, a woman named Monet detonated the research institute’s self-destruct device."

"An explosion powerful enough to destroy an island," Smoker frowned. "Then how did you all survive?"

He had a good idea of these guys’ strength, so he didn’t think they were capable of surviving such a terrifying explosion.

Then, as if he had thought of something, he said, "Was it the work of the Straw Hat Crew?"

If he remembered correctly, that Marine Lieutenant Commander had indeed mentioned during his report that the Straw Hat Pirates had saved their lives.

But he hadn’t explained exactly how they were saved.

Looking at it now, this must be it.

"Yes."

The Marine said honestly, "It was that Sunglasses Man in the Straw Hat Crew. He used the power of the Moku Moku Fruit to protect all of us."

At this point, his expression became complicated as he continued, "You could say that if not for him, we would all be dead."

If not for the Straw Hat Pirates, none of them would have survived!

"So that’s how it is."

Smoker’s expression became complicated. Those guys in the Straw Hat Crew really were...

Shaking his head, Smoker said, "By the way, where did the Straw Hat Crew go in the end?"

"Actually, we’re not sure either."

The Marine explained, "We only know they left here together with Law and Caesar."

"Law..."

Smoker thought for a moment and understood Law’s thinking. Had he formed an alliance with the Straw Hat Crew?

Otherwise, they wouldn’t be moving together.

"To ally with the Straw Hat Crew, Law even gave up his title as one of the Royal Seven Warlords of the Sea..." Smoker frowned, thinking to himself: What exactly is his goal?

Could it be because of Doflamingo?

After thinking for a bit, Smoker looked at his subordinates and said, "What exactly is going on with that Caesar?"

"Also, has Law formed an alliance with the Straw Hat Pirates?"

"Do you know their objective?"

He very much wanted to know what the Straw Hat Crew and Law were planning to do.

"We don’t know much."

The Marine said awkwardly, "We only know that the evil scientist experimented on children and intended to use us for some kind of weapon experiment."

"And... the person standing behind him is Joker."

"As for the alliance you mentioned..."

The Marines looked at each other and then said, "They didn’t mention it, but from what we observed, it does seem like they’ve allied."

"But we don’t know what their objective is."

Judging from the behavior of those two pirate crews, it indeed looked like they had formed an alliance, but they were unclear about the specific objective.

After all... those people had never spoken about such matters in front of them.

"Then they must have allied," Smoker frowned. "What exactly is their objective?"

At this moment, Smoker felt a strong curiosity about the motive behind the alliance between the Straw Hat Crew and Law.

What was their purpose in capturing Caesar?

To get something out of Doflamingo?

But was such a man really that easy to blackmail?

And the Straw Hat Crew didn’t seem like a pirate crew that would do such things... at least not the ones he knew.

"Of course, it’s not ruled out that after two years, some changes have occurred in the Straw Hat Pirates," Smoker thought to himself.

After all... a pirate is a pirate!

"Maybe it’s to deal with Joker together," a Marine speculated.

"To deal with Joker."

Smoker narrowed his eyes. Did these two groups intend to use Doflamingo’s head as a stepping stone?

But it didn’t make sense!

Law was already one of the Royal Seven Warlords of the Sea; he had no need to do such a thing.

So Smoker continued to believe that there was some deeper meaning involved.

At the very least, he didn’t think the Straw Hat Crew would ally with someone just to deal with one of the Royal Seven Warlords of the Sea.

After thinking for a moment, Smoker said, "Do you think the Straw Hat Crew will go to Dressrosa?"

"This..."

The Marines looked at each other and then showed awkward expressions. How could they possibly guess that?

With their brains, it was already quite good that they could think of the things they just mentioned.

Seeing their expressions, Smoker decisively gave up.

It seemed that thinking about such things was still too difficult for these guys.

Just then, a Marine shouted excitedly, "Vice Admiral Smoker, our warship is here!"

As he spoke, he raised his hand and pointed toward the sea, where a massive warship was currently sailing toward them.

Standing at the bow was Tashigi, who had also spent two years in advanced training!

Having already switched to a single ponytail, Tashigi’s gaze was many times sharper than before!

"Heh, finally here."

Smoker stood up from the rock and strode toward the warship, saying, "Everyone, board the warship immediately!"

"Yes!" the G-5 Branch Marines replied in unison.

Although this was the first time they had met this legendary Vice Admiral, the fact that he was willing to confront Doflamingo for them had already earned him their respect.

So naturally, they were willing to follow his orders.

Soon, the gangplank was lowered, and everyone ran quickly toward the warship.

Smoker himself looked at the destroyed island behind him with a complicated expression, his thoughts unknown.

"Vice Admiral Smoker, how could you run off by yourself?" Tashigi said with some dissatisfaction as he came to Smoker’s side. "At least wait for us."

"If I had waited for you, I would have had to come here to collect their corpses," Smoker replied bluntly.

If he had arrived even a little later, that bastard Doflamingo would have attacked his future subordinates!

By then... none of these guys would have survived!

As for Kuzan?

That guy arrived even later than he did, so he wasn’t part of the consideration.

"Collect corpses?"

Tashigi froze for a moment, then turned to look at the destroyed island and said, "What... exactly happened here?"

Vice Admiral Smoker hadn’t explained things in much detail to Tashigi before leaving, only telling him that Punk Hazard needed backup before departing, so he knew nothing.

"An explosion occurred and destroyed the place..."

Smoker briefly explained the situation here, then said, "Tashigi, have those children reached G-5 Branch?"

"What children?"

Tashigi was stunned, clearly not understanding what Smoker meant.

"It seems not then."

Smoker nodded, then said, "Let’s go. First, we’ll go back to confirm the safety of those children and resupply at G-5 Branch."

"After that... we’re going to Dressrosa!!"

"Yes, Vice Admiral Smoker!"

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