46 Chapter 46: Alabasta Arc End

[No, I want to beat up that Smoker guy…]: ace

Soren looked at Ace as he tried to leave, but was quickly whacked in the head by Soren and put in his place.

[I already laid claim to fighting Smoker… You'll have to wait your turn]: soren

Ace had a big purple welt on his cheek while some drool was dripping from his lip due to not being able to close his mouth properly, and an angry look was plastered on Ace's face while tears were building up in his eyes.

[Why do you keep hitting me! I'm a Division leader of the Whitebeard Pirates you know!]: ace

[So what Division leader… I wouldn't care even if you were a Celestial Dragon, I would still teach you some manners]: soren

When Ace heard Soren's claim, he felt Soren was insane, as nobody in their right mind would openly attack a Celestial Dragon, nor would they openly state that they would hit one as it's a crime punishable by death or enslavement, and Ace knows this.

[Fine, you can beat up that smoker guy]: ace

As Soon as Ace had given in, and said those words he looked over to where Soren was, and noticed that he was long gone, and the truth was, that Soren left right after telling Ace that he would hit him even if he were a Celestial Dragon.

'He sure is one crazy guy… And he's a monster to boot… Luffy, just what have you gone and done now?': ace

Soren was already overhead and saw Luffy running towards the rest of the crew, while Smoker and a bunch of other Marines were chasing after them, and right as Smoker was about to catch Luffy, Soren jumped in and used his Elemental Magic to summon the wind and disperse Smokers attack meant to capture Luffy, and then created an escape route for his crew by separating them from the Marines by a wall of flames.

[What the-... Who!]: smoker

As Smoker turned to see who intervened when he was so close to his goal, he saw the other target he was after.

[Red Devil Soren!... You have a nice set of balls on you]: smoker (A/N: lul)

When Soren heard Smoker's words, he felt Smoker was a bit flamboyant and wanted to hide his most sensitive parts, as to keep Smoker's prying eyes away, but felt maybe it was just a bad choice of words on his part.

[So you brought yourself to me… Finally, I can get you out of the way, then I can go and capture Straw Hats as well]: smoker

Smoker then expanded his body out towards Soren trying to attack, but Soren just used Wind magic to suppress Smoker's smoke form and make him tangible once again.

[What the… How! How can you suppress my smoke!?]: smoker

[You see Smoker… You may be able to control smoke and make it do your bidding, but smoke still needs to pass through the air, and what is in the air?... Wind, and that is what I can control]: soren

[So you ate a fruit that lets you control the wind!?]: smoker

[No… I have indeed eaten a fruit, but It's not the Wind-Wind fruit… And to find out which one I have eaten, you should try to figure it out for yourself]: soren

Soren then brought forth lightning and made it rain down on the surrounding Marines making them flee, or injuring them to the point they can't continue fighting. Soren then noticed through his senses that Ace had made it past his fire wall and went to go meet up with Luffy, and with a big smile on his face, Soren continued to fight with Smoker.

[You know… Normally I wouldn't draw out a fight, but I'm quite stuffed from lunch, so I'll play with you for a while]: soren

Soren then released his power over the wind letting Smoker go free as he began filling the air with his smoke, and Soren just made a thin wind barrier layer over his body to keep Smoker from trying to suffocate him with smoke. Soren then drew out his Chitsuki, and then stabbed it into the ground making Soren lighter on his feet, and to make himself even lighter, Soren took off his Red trench coat and placed it on the ground near his sword.

[Now… Let's play shall we?]: soren

When Smoker saw this from his smoke vision, he was a bit confused as to why Soren would get rid of his weapon, and then take off his coat, but before he could think any further, Soren disappeared leaving an afterimage, and as Smoker turned to try and look for Soren, he quickly noticed that Soren was in the front as his Smoke was being pushed. Smoker could do a lot of things with his Smoke-Smoke fruit, and some of those things were spreading his smoke into a dome like barrier that let him see everything inside the dome, and the other thing was kinda like Observation Haki, as he could tell where a disturbance is happening within his smoke, meaning that most people can't even land a hit on him unless they are fast enough.

[Night night Smoker]: soren

Soren covered his hands in a flame that had both Water and Lightning revolving around it to make any form of defence Smoker might try and pull useless, and in the end, Smoker was hit right in the face as he was sent flying back, and into the side of a home. Just as Soren was about to leave, he heard some movement from over by the house where Smoker destroyed the wall upon impact, and seeing Smoker get back up, Soren gave a smile and began walking towards Smoker as he spoke.

[Why get up?... Why keep fighting a losing fight?... What makes being a Marine so much better than being a pirate?]: soren

When Smoker heard Soren's question, he felt a bit of rage start to bubble up inside him as he shouted.

[You pirates pillage, kill, and steal! Yet you ask me what the difference is between a Marine and a Pirate?]: smoker

[You're right… Pirates to pillage, kill, and steal… In fact, I have done that, but I haven't done that to any innocent people… But you Marines… I've seen what the Marines can do, in fact… Marines are like Pirates in a way, but they are under a command, and go by the motto "It's for Justice" when they pillage, kill, and steal… Tell me Smoker, Are the Marines who use the word "Justice" when they kill, or pillage any different than a pirate?]: soren

When Soren said those words, Smoker seemed to come to a realization and was about to speak, before Soren spoke up and made Smoker keep silent.

[Yes, pirates are considered bad people, but that's only for the bad reputation they have from the ones who are actually bad people… The title Pirate or Marine is just that… A title, and neither are bad titles, but it's the person using the title that makes it either good or bad… My captain only wants to find the One Piece, we don't go around robbing and stealing from the innocents, we just want to go on an adventure, so in a way, we are considered "Good" pirates… But for the Marines, even the ones who use the title of Marine to force themselves and force their power onto the people, can they be considered "Good" Marines?]: soren

Smoker started to understand more and more about what Soren was trying to portray with his speech, and Luffy, Ace, and the others were long gone, giving Soren the "Okay" to leave, but before he could leave, he really wanted an honest answer from Smoker.

[I guess in a way, you are right… Not all Marines are upright people for Justice, but all my time as a Marine, I have seen nothing but "Bad" pirates, so your point means jack squat]: smoker

[Well like you said… There are "Bad" Marines inside all the "Good" ones, just like there are "Good" pirates inside all the "Bad" ones… I'm just trying to get you on the right path, stop pursuing someone trying to have an adventure just because he was labeled as "Bad" has he done anything bad except run away from the Marines and cause accidental damages trying to fight the "Bad" pirates?... As for me, I was only labeled as a "Bad" pirate because the World Government fears something unknown, unpredictable, and uncontrollable… Thrush me Smoker, if you were to become uncontrollable in the future, you too would be labeled as a "Bad" pirate�� Anyway, thanks for the exercise, I worked off quite the calories in that spar]: soren

Soren then disappeared after putting on his coat once again and reupholstering his sword to his side, leaving Smoker to stir in these new thoughts planted in his head due to Soren.

'Is he right?... Could I really be labeled as a criminal just because the Government wouldn't be able to control me?... Am I truly fighting for the right cause?... Pirates are indeed bad, but so are some Marines, and just because I have never seen a pirate be anything other than bad, doesn't mean there aren't good ones out there… It is as he said, Pirate and Marine are just titles, and it's the kind of people that take up that title that make up the opinions on what the group as a whole is': smoker

Smoker thought about all of this as he began walking back to the base, and all the other Marines were still on the hunt for the Straw Hats, and Ace. Soren was already back by the ship just in time to see them being surrounded by a group of Baroque Works ships, and off in the distance Soren could see Ace destroying them all with his Fire ability.

'Wow… He is truly one strong guy': soren

Soren got back to the ship and decided that he was going to sleep as he was now tired after eating a bunch of food, then being chased out of the city, so the only thing left was to sleep. Soren got back to the ship and saw Sanji preparing some food for everyone, and Sorne just passed it up and went to sleep deciding he would eat later. While Soren was sleeping, everyone else made their move, and moved the ship over to the coase opposite where they were currently stationed, and once again met with the Dugong that Soren taught the 1-inch Punch. Luffy and the others then went through the desert being led by Vivi as they moved towards the capital, but along the way many things happened, and the group started getting separated, until they met back up and continued onto Yuba. Ace decided it was time to part with the crew, and the Straw Hats then had gotten captured when they met up with Smoker again and tried running from him, leaving Vivi tasked with saving everyone by herself.

After escaping from the cage, the final fight had commenced with the Straw Hats fighting all the other Numbered Agents until the only person that was left was Zero himself, or otherwise known as Crocodile. Luffy had a hard fight, but with the training he undergoes every day since they entered the Grand Line, Luffy was able to win after realizing that Crocodile was tangible when he comes in contact with liquids, and Luffy only realized that when Crocodile was able to be hit after Luffy's hands were bloodied. After beating Crocodile, a huge downpour of rain hit the nation like it had wanted to rain so much before, but for some reason it couldn't, like someone was blocking it. After defeating Crocodile and freeing the Alabasta Kingdom from the long time drought, Luffy and the others came back to the ship all bloodied and bruised only to see Soren asleep with a newspaper covering over his face, and as much as Nami wanted to punch Soren for not helping out, she held back.

[*Snoring stops*... I-Is it time for food?]: soren

[....]: sanji, zoro, nami, chopper, bon clay

[Yeah!... Food sounds good!]: luffy

A few days later, Robin was considered a member, and Sanji placed most of his love and affection towards her than towards Nami, but was careful as he remembered that Soren had offered her to become his wife, and he would rather not die a painful death. Soon, the crew set sail away from Alabasta and continued their journey towards whatever lay ahead, and getting ever so closer to the end game goal of attaining the One Piece. After weeks of sailing and stopping at smaller islands, the crew finally made it to the infamous Sky Island, Soren helped the crew get the ship into the sky when they took the Knock up stream and sailed high into the sky while Soren was holding the ship to the stream with his strength as he flies up next to the stream. Soren then spent the next couple of weeks training with Zoro, Sanji, Usopp, and Luffy, giving them an increase of weights before he decided to separate from them, and let them grow stronger on their own.

[Everyone gather around… I'll be leaving for a while, as I have some business to attend to elsewhere, but I want you guys to meet me a Sabaody in 1 year, if you guys can make it that far by yourselves, then I will gift each of you something special]: soren

When everyone heard Soren, they felt sad that he would be leaving, but when Zoro, Usopp, Sanji, and Luffy heard that he would gift them something, they perked up thinking about what they would get.

[But Soren, how are you going to get down from here?]: nami

[Well that's quite simple… I'll just jump down]: soren

Soren then jumped off the edge of the ship and began to descend into the sea of clouds and scare everyone, but seeing as Soren always had some kind of plan or trick, they didn't worry about him too much. Soren then fell through the thick waters made up of water and cloud, and then fell through the very last layer making him plummet towards the dark Blue seas below.

[Wow… This looks much better from above… They should be fine by themselves]: soren

Soren then left the crew to go and get what he had wanted for so long. Soren planned on flying over to Sabaody and getting Rayleigh to train him in Haki before meeting back up with Luffy, and the rest of the crew in a year, so with his schedule planned out, Soren fellow at top speeds towards the Sabaody Archipelago to go find the one man who could be considered a Master at Haki, the right hand of Roger, the Dark King; Rayleigh.