Chapter 131: Entering Beast's Nest (2)

"So, do you have any plan?"

"Eh?"

"I mean, you came here, to Wano, after speculating that Dr.Vegapunk is likely under Kaidou's custody. That must've meant that you planned on infiltrating the island to rescue him, right?"

"Um..."

"...Right?"

Smoker, upon watching Doll's antics, couldn't help but sweatdrop.

"Since when have you become Maynard?"

"Oi, Smoker!! What do you mean by that?!"

Maynard cried, and Doll became wide-eyed as if hurt.

"How... how can you say that to me, Smoker...?"

"Huh?! What's with that nuance, Doll?!!"

Marines, watching from back, couldn't help but wonder if they were in reality.

"Why is it that Vice Admiral Doll..."

"Is that really White Hunter? Supposedly the man who killed millions of marines for his ambition?"

"Hey, don't tell me that you believe everything that the World Government says?!"

"Quiet!"

Doll then said in a charismatic voice, silencing all marines in an instant. After, she pursed her lips as she answered Smoker.

"We investigated the area around this island for days, trying to find a way in. I did discover a hidden passage behind one part of the waterfall, but... it seemed that they were owned by Beast Pirates. I was looking for another possible way up until now, but that hidden passage was the only way we found so far."

"I see."

Smoker grinned.

"Well then, it is fortunate that you met us here. Now, you see,"

Looking up, Smoker gazed at the mist generated by the waterfall that covered the view.

"Our friends have already infiltrated Wano."

"Friends? As in, Hina, Bastille, and—"

"Yep."

Doll expressed a surprise.

"...I never expected to reunite with you folks here of all places."

"Me as well."

Nodded Maynard.

"They probably disguised themselves after the infiltration. To contact them, make sure that you include the code within the speech."

"And that code is?"

"Onigiri."

"...What?"

Doll deadpanned.

"In Wano of all places, you use 'Onigiri' as your code?"

"Do you think we're that thoughtless?"

Smoker smirked knowingly.

"Onigiri technically has two meanings, 'rice ball' and 'demon cutter'. Depending on how you include it in your context, its meaning changes. Between these two meanings, which one fits more as the code?"

"...Oh damn."

Doll's jaw dropped in an impression. Maynard, from Smoker's back, nodded in pride.

"Well then,"

With everything having been said, Smoker finally returned his attention to the waterfall ahead of them.

"get prepared to enter the island."

"How?"

Doll questioned, to which Smoker turned his head and gave her a grin.

"Watch."

White smoke began to pour out of Smoker, causing marines nearby to shield their eyes in surprise. Bypassing them harmlessly, the smoke then wrapped around the bottom half of the warship, and began to lift it entirely, much to the shock of others.

"W-Whoa—"

Marines gulped as they watched Smoker standing at his spot, unfazed.

'White Hunter' Smoker. Many said that if Smoker remained in the Marine, he without a doubt would've become an Admiral. The stories of him have been mentioned many times in bars, and people always said during then,

Code name Shirohebi (White Snake). It was because he refused to remain as a snake that he was deemed a traitor.

"That devil fruit power of yours... insane as always."

Doll commented with a subtle amazement as they flew above the waterfall and passed the thick mist.

And finally, they got to see the bright sun shining down. Marines instinctively shielded their eyes as their eyes became accustomed to darkness.

Eventually, the blinding light faded from their sight and everyone got to see, the huge land that stood ahead of the flowing body of water.

"Huge. Super huge. This..."

Maynard whispered,

"This is even larger than Dressrosa—by a lot."

"Large enough for us to evade Kaidou's Observation Haki."

The ship landed on the water near the land. Said land ahead of them was a desolate wasteland that seemed to be devoid of life, to which some marines couldn't help but grimace, wondering what exactly happened here.

"...What exactly happened here?"

"..."

Jumping out of the ship and placing his feet on the barren land, Smoker looked around with a frown on his face. Similarly, Maynard, Doll, and the marines got off the ship and carefully checked the surroundings warily.

"...It's hot in here."

Wrinkling up his face as he raised his hand to cover the sunlight from reaching his face, Maynard then seemed to have noticed something,

"Wait, what's that?"

There was a trail of dust clouds afar. Doll squinted her eyes before reporting what she saw,

"Pirates... on top of horses... are chasing after people?"

Snorting, she held her hand out, and a marine soldier immediately came to hand her a huge sniper rifle.

Supporting the entire weight of the firearm with her arms only, Doll loaded and fired the gun in a split second.

BANG!

The trail of dust clouds ceased its movement. Then, the direction in which it traveled suddenly changed at where Smoker, Maynard, Doll, and the marines stood, which indicated that the pirates noticed them.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

"Done."

Then, within a minute, Doll plainly stated while handing the sniper rifle back to the marine who was waiting by the side.

"They are still moving though?"

"Horses."

Doll replied impassively.

Maynard, who was trying his best to see what was happening afar, ended up shrugging.

And just as Doll said, the horses that were carrying the injured Beast Pirates appeared in Smoker's view.

The horses, upon seeing Smoker and the rest, cried in fear as they hurriedly changed their direction. As they did so, Smoker simply operated his fruit ability to drag out the fallen pirates from the horses' backs.

Thud.

The horses ran away by themselves, and the groaning members of Beast Pirates were now on the ground in front of Smoker. Lowering his body, Smoker proceeded to slap the cheek of one pirate lightly.

"Hey."

"Ugh..."

Slap.

"Hey, can you hear me? Say something."

"Ughh..."

The pirate's face was pale and his entire body was shaking.

"Weakass."

Maynard commented from the back with his arms crossed.

Smoker sighed as he backed away.

"Interrogation isn't my type of thing."

He then looked at Doll.

"What happened to people who were being chased by these pirates?"

"They successfully ran away into..."

Doll pointed in a particular direction, before narrowing her eyes.

"...Huh, they're caught."

"There's more of these pirates?"

"No, they aren't caught by pirates. Rather, they seem more like... bandits?"

As soon as Doll said so, Smoker vanished from everyone's sight.

"What the—"

...

"Who... are you?"

Smoker was found getting the dust off of his hands. In front of him, three beaten thugs with swollen faces were found groaning as they gazed Smoker in fear.

By the side, two people, a man and woman, looked at Smoker in a mix of curiosity and fear, wondering if he was their savior or yet another pursuer.

Smoker didn't bother answering the question that came from one of the beaten thugs.

"Who I am is none of your concern. Rather, tell me,"

He crouched down and looked at one of the three thugs in the eye,

"Who are you?"

"...You don't know who we are?"

"Who are you?"

"Then why did you attack us?!!"

Boom. Without any hesitation, Smoker slammed his fist down atop the head of the thug who screamed. With a bump on his head, said thug fell unconscious, much to the other two's shock.

Smoker then proceeded to turn to another one.

"Who are you?"

The second thug gulped, having seen what would happen if he weren't to answer Smoker's question.

"W-We... we are..."

...

After some time passed, Smoker was now looking at a map held in his hands.

"...Let me get this clear. This region is 'Kibi' of Wano, and you are Mt. Atama Thieves who serve a guy named Shutenmaru."

"Yes, y-yes!!"

Smoker turned to two civilians,

"On the other hand, you came from Amigasa Village of Kuri, and were being chased after you tried to steal food from a place called Paradise Farm?"

"...Yes."

The two civilians, the man and woman, were evidently malnourished.

Smoker hummed in a thought.

"How many days have you starved?"

"...More than a week, sir."

"How many are in a similar situation as you?"

The man's eyes shook.

"...Countless, sir."

Smoker turned back to three beaten thugs as he folded and pocketed the map.

"Why did you even chase after these two? They don't have anything to offer."

"...There are clothes to take—"

Boom. Smoker slammed his hand atop the thug who answered.

"What a hopeless bunch."

Smoker looked at the only thug who was conscious. The thug looked back at him and forced a shaky grin on his face, although his eyes contained fear.

"H-Heh... heheh..."

Boom.

As the last thug fell unconscious, Smoker saw Maynard appearing in front of him.

"Huff... huff... what did you even do? How the hell are you so fast when my Soru took this much to reach here—huh."

While mumbling, Maynard noticed the scene around him. Three thugs were beaten and unconscious, while two civilians stood petrified, not knowing what to do.

"Someone didn't train enough while Zephyr-san was gone, that's for sure."

Leaving a comment, Smoker dismissed Maynard's arrival and spoke to two civilians.

"Go back to your village and gather people. You're starving, aren't you?"

"...Huh?"

As the man widened his eyes, Smoker scratched his head.

"Paradise Farm. Hm..."

Collecting his thoughts, Smoker grinned.

"Staying low isn't my type of thing anyway."

Maynard sweatdropped behind Smoker, wondering what he was up to this time around.

__________

[Bakura Town, Kuri, Wano]

Bakura Town is a town where only the essential tradesmen, those of high authorities, and Beast Pirates get to reside. It is located at the foot of the mountain where Kuri Castle used to be and is known for a 'Great Sumo Wrestler Tournament'.

Deep in Bakura Town, there is an area named Paradise Farm behind a large gate. This place is a large farm that rears all types of crops and animals, and exists as the sole source of clean supplies in Kuri. However, this place belongs to the current shogun of Wano, Kurozumi Orochi, who uses the farm only for his sake.

"Hey, did you hear about that new geisha who's recently come? You know, the pink-haired one!"

Currently, deep in the night, the Beast Pirates laughed as they enjoyed mugs full of alcohol in their hands.

"Hana, you mean? Heh, of course, she's been the main topic that everyone's been speaking for days!"

"I heard that she's as beautiful as Komurasaki... I wonder if that's true!"

As Beast Pirates drank and drank more, a man was seen passing by while advertising his item.

"Selling a fine bottle of sake, 20 thousand Beli for each!"

This man, characterized by blonde hair and sharp eyes, was none other than Rosinante under disguise.

Rosinante was currently pushing a wooden cart where a couple of liquid-filled bottles

"Hm? Sake?"

Rosinante's advertising seemed to have earned the attention of one pirate.

The pirate, while grinning darkly, walked up to Rosinante and picked up one bottle. Intently looking at the liquid inside, he questioned,

"And how do we trust you?"

"W-Wha?"

Taking a step back, Rosinante said nervously,

"I-I received official approval from the Kyoshiro Family of Flower Capital!"

"And how do we trust in your words?"

Pirates soon gathered around Rosinante and began snatching the bottles.

"Let's see if you're telling the truth or not!"

"Just in time, haha! I was craving for some sake!"

One after the other, they drank the sake brought by Rosinante thoughtlessly. But little did they know, that Rosinante was now staring at them coldly.

Thud.

Then, one by one, those pirates began to fall asleep and drop to the ground. After all, what was put in those sake bottles was a strong hypnotic.

Watching as the last pirate fell asleep, Rosinante took a step forward toward the direction in which the Paradise Farm lied. Just then,

BOOM!

the entire gate of Paradise Farm was blown out before a smoke-made cart full of food was flown out of it abruptly.

"EHHHHH?!!"

Completely shocked, Rosinante exclaimed with his eyes popping out,

"S-Smoker-san?!!"

"Huh?"

Hearing Rosinante, Smoker, who stood atop the smoke-made cart along with Maynard and Doll, raised an eyebrow. Then, he grinned as he found Rosinante,

"Hey, Rosinate! It's been a while!"

Rosinante was left speechless by Smoker's casualty.