A Hornet's Sting (3)

{A/N: Early on, I suggested that the man Bro was looking for was taller and at the time I hadn't checked this figure's height on the internet but that was a mistake. In reality, this man is a head shorter than Brody even but immensely tall regardless due to his bearings.}

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"I can't get out!" Alvida realized much to her horror that she couldn't slip out from the confines of the smoke. Luffy and Brody were in a similar situation as Smoker narrowed his eyes, "I told you, didn't I? Struggling is pointless. Your adventures and your dreams will come to an end right here!"

"Awesome! Captain Smoker's Moku Moku no Mi is powerful! He easily captured three pirates in an instant!"

"That's why Captain Smoker is also called White Hunter! He has one of the highest capture records in Marine history!" The marine soldiers who encircled the plaza after hearing of the commotion gasped in amazement but their training taught them better as they still seemed in a combat stance with their swords and guns.

"Captain," Alvida frowned, "It's like the smoke is made to smother and counter the effects of my Sube Sube no Mi. This will be a hard fight. The smoke is even 'solid' around my wrists!"

"Exactly," Smoker continued while smoking a cigar when he was smoke, too, "You cannot escape the hold of Moku Moku no Mi. Now—"

"Can't escape?" Brody grinned, "You're just a smoke... I ain't no smoker but... haaaaa!"

Opening wide, Brody inhaled deeply without end as his chest began to inflate soon enough, and under the stunned gazes of everyone, the smoke actually began to enter his mouth and break apart around him. The moment Brody's hand freed up, he clapped in a speed and momentum that made others lose their combat stance and cover their ears with even Alvida affected by it but the burst of wind tore apart Smoker's hold in an instant!

"Ugh!" With an annoyed grunt escaping Smoker's lips, he heard Luffy laugh, too.

"Hehe! Gomu Gomu no— Fusen!"

The Straw Hat's body, instead of sucking on the smoke inflated too quickly and too widely as he broke free from the confines of the smoke, too.

"Fuuuhhh," Brody exhaled with smoke leaking out of his nostrils and mouth, "I don't smoke much... but this is high-quality stuff right here"

"Oi, Brody!" Luffy shouted with a grin, "Leave this man to me. I can't enter Grand Line if I don't defeat him, right? So... I'll beat him and THEN enter Grand Line."

"Suit yourself," Brody shrugged and then gave Smoker's jacket one envious look, "On the other hand... Alvida, go back to the ship. Make sure Nami and Nojiko are safe."

"But," Alvida frowned.

"Can I count on you, Beautiful Iron Mace-chan?" Brody looked back at her with a grin, "I'll be back in a minute or two. Don't you go off drowning."

Alvida pursed her lips. Much of their interaction had been purely casual. After all, they were pirates and they just met a day ago. But... Alvida could simply find no strength to even muster a refusal. She was a captain... she ruled over others once... and only now did she begin to realize how much she lacked as a captain.

Till the end, she never trusted a crewmate to do a job right.

"You can count on me. Captain-san, push me in that direction," Alvida remarked while slipping out of her sandals.

"Sure!" Brody's large palm instantly firmly gripped her full ass as her eyes widened, "Wait— what the—" Before she could even say anything, a monstrous force filled her body and her feet, ready to slip on any surface simply... took off!

Alvida felt her surroundings go blur but she soon adapted to the situation and readied her mace with a bloodthirsty smirk as she saw the marines warning her to stop.

Meanwhile, Brody looked at Smoker seriously and Luffy growled, "What are you doing? I just said that I will beat this man!"

"You can," The redhead rotated his hands and warmed up slightly, "I just need his jacket!"

"Ah, understood. Get your jacket. Until then, I want to see the same view that King of Pirates saw before dying!" Luffy grinned and this time adopted to extend his legs and directly reach on top of the execution platform.

"Do you think defeating me will be easy just because you managed to get out of my confines?" Smoker, thoroughly pissed, glared at Brody with his eyes somewhat bloodshot as the once blue sky was beginning to dim and darken.

A storm was approaching.

"Beat you? I just want your jacket," Brody shrugged and then looked sideways with a sharp glare, "What's that?"

Smoker looked sideways in a hurry as he suddenly felt his body push back. His eyes widened and he hurried to turn into smock consciously once again but... it was too late.

"Heh, see, easy~!"

Now in nothing but his tanktop, Smoker looked back with a scowl as he saw Brody wearing his custom-ordered marine jacket.

"Would you look at that? It comes with a weapon. Eh? What does this do?" Brody pulled the short metal staff with another protrusion extending out. A Jitte.

'Extraordinary speed and strength that can cause a burst of wind just by simple attacks...' Smoker clenched his fist and then turned to look at Luffy goofily smiling while taking in the view, 'Both are dangerous in their own manners.'

"Luffy, I'm done. Oh, there you go. I'm not a weapon's guy," Brody smiled pleasantly and tossed the Jitte back at Smoker while the redhead turned around, flaunting the boldly printed 'Justice' inscription, "So? How does it look?"

Grinning suddenly, Smoker shouted, "As if you would die for Justice. SHOOT!" He ordered loudly as every marine soldier aimed at Brody, intending to shoot past Smoker itself when a swirl of pink, tangible mist rode the heavy gusts that had picked up around the town and filled the plaza completely in a pale pink cover of miasma.

"Hmm, now what kind of crewmate would I be if I let someone shoot down my captain~ hehe!"

Smoker heard a soft giggle as he narrowed his eyes, seemingly unaffected by the mist as the men in the plaza began to fall down one by one.

"Awesome! What the hell is this?" Luffy gasped in amazement as the mist failed to reach as high as the top of the execution tower.

"It's you!" Smoker growled while Brody took a deep sniff and uttered nonchalantly as if this was a normal occurrence, "Yep... that's poison. I'm poisoned... again."

"Hmm~"

The figure in front of Brody wholly ignored Smoker and leaned forward until her lips brushed past his as her sweet scent made his nostrils twitch a bit and his breathing heavier and hotter than usual.

"Bro, now why would I poison you?" She whispered as her lips fully closed in on his as his hands instinctively covered her form and turned around, taking a blow from Smoker as he extended his arms with smoke billowing out and thinning the poisonous mist.

As the pink, vision affecting mist dispersed with wind and smoke, Luffy's eyes popped out, "Ehhhh?!"

Meanwhile, the curvaceous woman in his arms pulled back, revealing her violet pupil glinting in mischief.

"Ara," she sucked the last drop of darker saliva out of Brody's mouth before cooing, "You had to take a blow for me... Bro, you spoil me too much~!" Wrier than amused since she had played this tactic simply too many times, Brody huffed, "Well, of course! I promised, didn't I? From that day on, I'm going to protect you... and a few more crewmates. Actually, we should really go to the harbor."

"You're going nowhere! Brody Hanma, Vi—" Before Smoker could finish, a figure seemingly appeared out of nowhere behind him. A figure too large and devilish with dark red hair gently swaying midair. However, strangely, the once unstable wind was now calm. And even then Luffy, Brody, and the figure dressed in pink and violet could see the surroundings around this giant of a man distort.

Brody's eyes widened as he continued to stare at the figure.

"I heard a squirt looking for me... you're late."

As the man spoke, the pink-haired woman suddenly collapsed on the ground while Luffy grunted and fell down the execution platform before bouncing a few more times and only then settling. But unlike the woman, Luffy whined weakly, "Feeling... hungry... what the hell is going on?"

"Oh?" The giant figure raised his thick brow in a sense of amusement before his piercing gaze fell on Brody once again.

As he did so, lightning crackled at once, falling upon the execution tower until it was covered in a blue inferno and crumbling not far from Luffy.

"D- damn it..." The rubber boi gasped for breath, "I wanted... to say... I'll be the King of... Pirates... on top of the *huff* platform..."

---

Huffing and puffing, Nojiko and Nami managed to slip past the marines in the surrounding only to see a large troop stationed right in front of Alvida's ship. They and Usopp had parted ways soon after since he needed to look after Going Merry, too while they needed to 'rescue' their ship... or precisely, the treasure stowed within the ship.

"How do we get inside?" Nami whispered with a terrible expression as Nojiko frowned and suddenly looked at the godown whose wall they were leaning up against.

"I think... I have an idea," Nojiko suddenly spoke up, "What if I try to absorb the essence of this building's materials and make it collapse?"

"Are you sure you can handle that much?" Nami questioned, "You lost your consciousness right after absorbing Brody's essence."

"I wouldn't know until I try," Nojiko gulped when Nami caught her sister's wrist and pointed out, "Look there." The duo saw the marine soldiers parting ways as a large, portly figure 'flew' down. His body was surely large but exaggeratedly round despite being almost 3 meters high. The duo noted that the man dressed in a dark suit with his green hair well groomed had a zipper for a mouth! He unzipped his mouth and began to point in certain directions and the marine soldiers soon rushed into the ship while a few remained stationed outside.

The strange figure then 'jumped' up and never returned to the ground, eventually disappearing from their vision due to the sky darkening with lightning crackling.

*Pit*

*Pit*

*Pit*

The drizzle soon turned into a downpour but the marines who had rightly occupied their ship didn't budge.

It was at this time a figure drenched in rain huffed and walked towards their ship while holding an iron pan in her hands.

Her light pink hair matted her forehead and her long, dark red dress clung to her body as the woman gently pushed the golden band over her forehead toward her hair to pull away all the strands of hair from her face and looked at the marine soldier shouting at her to return to her home.

Paying the man no heed, the woman continued to walk forward until one of the marine soldiers walked toward her.

"Bring me, Brody!" The woman's pan suddenly struck the marine soldier unconscious, causing Nami and Nojiko to grow speechless as they looked at one another.

Raving like a mad woman, the strange figure picked up the fallen marine and threatened loudly, "Want me to see peel you comrade as I would peel a carrot?! No? Then tell me where is that Brody!"

"Do you think he did something stupid with her?" Nami frowned.

"You can say that he slept with her. Why speak in such a roundabout manner?" Nojiko shrugged, "But... I don't think that's what happened. I mean, she looks like a lunatic..."

"A lunatic that they are about to shoot," Nami sighed.

"Maybe she wants to hurt our captain and we don't have to join in?" Nami added.

"Why am I, the Fiery Cook Carmen, looking for Brody?" They heard the woman present her title and instantly felt ominous—

"Of course, to fulfill his most desperate desires! That man begged in front of me for 3 years to be his crew's cook! I, the great Carmen, accept this position!"

Nami and Nojiko groaned simultaneously and stood up.

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A/N: If you like this fic then please do support it with powerstones, comments, and reviews (honest ones only, mind you,) so that it can reach higher rankings. Yes, it's a purely selfish request!