Starting with the Uchiha clan, they began cultivating demonic arts.

Chapter 221 The Battle with Smoker

"Alright, we've arrived."

Uchiha Touyu brought Tashigi to the main gate of the naval base. The naval guards looked at the strange scene before them with puzzled expressions. If they hadn't seen Tashigi put up any resistance, they might have already attacked Uchiha Touyu.

"Have we arrived? Thank you very much, Mr. Uchiha Touyu."

Tashigi looked up and glanced at the scene, vaguely making out the outline of the Marine Headquarters. A smile appeared on her face.

"Let me go inside and change my clothes and glasses, then I'll come out and talk to you!"

"Alright then, do you need me to take you inside?"

"No need. I'm already used to finding my way home in a naval base without my glasses!"

Uchiha Touya remained silent for a moment, but in the end, he didn't ask Tashigi why she had gotten used to this kind of thing.

I have a feeling that if I ask this question, this poor girl will just burst into tears...

Wearing a shirt draped over her Uchiha Tobi's shoulders and clutching her ripped pants tightly with one hand, Tashigi hurriedly entered the Marine base.

Uchiha Touyu waited at the door for a while, and just as he was getting bored, Tashigi also ran into some trouble.

Standing on the top floor of the naval base, Smoker frowned slightly as he watched Tashigi hurrying by.

As Smoker's part-time adjutant, Tashigi was reckless and often caused trouble for him, which often angered Smoker, who also scolded her quite a bit.

But given Smoker's cold exterior but warm heart, he was clearly concerned about Tashigi's safety, and Tashigi's current attire made Smoker somewhat suspicious.

With a thought, Smoker himself transformed into a cloud of smoke, shot out of the window, and landed in front of Tashigi.

Tashigi, who was squinting and trying to figure out her direction, suddenly saw a large white cloud land in front of her. She was startled and quickly backed away.

"Who is it! Where did this monster come from?"

"Tashigi, you idiot! You can't even recognize your superior officer?... Well, I shouldn't have trusted your eyesight."

Halfway through his speech, Smoker noticed Tashigi's shattered glasses and instinctively covered his head.

"How many times have you broken your glasses this month? And... what happened to your clothes? Why are they all so tattered?"

As he spoke, Smoker's expression turned serious. Tashigi was indeed a clumsy girl, but in terms of both appearance and physical development, she was a beauty. Her current disheveled state made Smoker worry and wonder if she had been bullied by someone.

"Well……"

Tashigi hesitated for a moment before speaking:

"There's a reason why my clothes are on! They were torn by a knife..."

The knife cut him? Smoker's eyes narrowed. Sure enough, someone was bullying his adjutant! This couldn't be ignored.

"Who did this? Judging from your expression, you didn't get the short end of the stick, did you?"

Suffer a loss? Tashigi, imagining her pants and panties falling down, leaving her sprawled on the ground, blushed crimson. Extremely embarrassed, she shouted:

"Commander Smoker!! What are you asking?! Mr. Uchiha Touya isn't that kind of person!! Although this was indeed caused by Mr. Touya's Kitetsu Demon Blade, but..."

Uchiha Touyu? Smoker raised an eyebrow slightly. Wasn't this the bounty hunter who had just come to exchange his bounty?

Tsk, remember that pretty orange-haired woman with him? What a lecherous fellow, but he really has the nerve to bully the Navy!

"Where is Uchiha Touyu now?"

Smoker interrupted Tashigi directly. Tashigi was slightly taken aback, but sensing Smoker's serious tone, she obediently revealed the information about Uchiha Tou:

"He's at the gates of our naval base!"

"Fine! They've come all this way to block the gate, they clearly don't respect me at all!" A flash of anger crossed Smoker's eyes as he spoke calmly:

"Wait here a moment, I want to see who dares to bully my men!"

Watching Smoker vanish into smoke, Tashigi blinked, then suddenly realized what had happened:

"Commander Smoker! Wait a minute! There must be some misunderstanding here!"

As she spoke, Tashigi was about to run over, but the sudden movement made her feel a cool breeze blowing from below. She pulled up her pants and gritted her teeth:

"Never mind, I'll go change my clothes first!"

Meanwhile, Uchiha Touyu was still waiting at the door. He didn't have any particular feelings for Tashigi; he just had nothing else to do and was planning to kill some time there.

A moment later, a cloud of smoke emerged from the Navy gate, transforming into the image of Smoker, the Smoker Fruit user. He took a deep drag on his cigar and then exhaled a cloud of smoke at Uchiha Touya.

Uchiha Touyu's expression immediately changed, and he coldly said:

"That's very impolite, Colonel Smoker!"

"Hmph, compared to the far more impolite things you did to my men, I think what I did was quite reasonable!"

"You bastard, you actually took advantage of my subordinate during your duel with Tashigi. Now you should think about how to apologize!"

What the hell? Uchiha Touyu was completely baffled, having no idea what Smoker was talking about.

In reality, all of this was Smoker's imagination. He had already noticed that Tashigi's clothes had been cut open with a sharp blade, so he concluded that the other party must have been teasing his adjutant by cutting open her clothes with a knife to harass her.

As for anything further, Smoker had no doubts. His adjutant was indeed reckless and sometimes didn't seem very bright, but at least he was a bit slow, not mentally challenged. If something like that really happened, he wouldn't react like this.

"Tsk, never mind."

Uchiha Touyu initially wanted to explain, but after glancing at Smoker, he quickly gave up the idea—not because it was illogical, but mainly because Smoker couldn't beat him.

Since the other party can't beat me and I'm in the right, what am I afraid of?

At that time, I will not only be able to beat Smoker up, but also occupy the moral high ground and scold him. Even if Smoker is angry, he can only hold it in.

How could Uchiha Tou, who was already bored, possibly waste such a good opportunity?

"Since you're so eager to get beaten up, I'll mercifully grant your wish! Let's pick a place and settle this one-on-one!"

Smoker took a deep drag on his cigarette, glared at Uchiha Tou, and said coldly:

"They're really sharp-tongued... Let's go, let's have a fight in the forest behind the base!"

In Smoker's eyes, while what Uchiha Tou did was disgusting, it didn't break the law, much less commit any heinous crimes—it was simply because of the chaos in the world that the legal standards in the pirate world were very high, and there was no such thing as the crime of feeding.

So Smoker only planned to give Uchiha Tou a good beating. Anyway, due to the laws of the pirate world, beating someone up doesn't seem to be a crime, just like eating and dashing won't get you a wanted poster.

Ignoring the two guards who were peeking around, trying to find out more information, the two bypassed the naval base and headed straight for the forest behind it.

A moment later, the gates of the naval base opened, and Tashigi came running out, panting heavily.

"Huff...huff...you two, have you seen Mr. Uchiha Touya and Commander Smoker?"

The two naval guards exchanged a glance and said:

"The two of them ran off to the back of the forest to have a one-on-one fight!"

"Damn it, I already told Commander Smoker it was a misunderstanding, but they still won't let it go! I have to stop them!"

Catching her breath, Tashigi ran straight towards the forest behind the naval base. Seeing this, the two marines behind her immediately huddled together.

"Hey, what's going on here? Commander Smoker, Sergeant Tashigi, and this Uchiha Tou, what are they doing?"

"Haven't you figured it out yet? Two men and a beautiful woman—they're definitely dueling for love!"

Unaware of the rumors that Smoker was being murdered, he had already arrived at the forest behind the base. There was a clearing with no trees, and the ground was uneven, as if it had been the result of multiple battles.

In fact, this was Smoker's usual training ground. At this moment, he slightly swung his arm and looked at Uchiha Tou opposite him:

"Kid, do you need some time to pray now?"

Uchiha Touya glanced at Smoker speechlessly and said calmly:

"You're already ready to pop the champagne before the fight even starts? Getting slapped in the face later would be very dangerous!"

As he spoke, Uchiha Tou drew the Third Generation Kitetsu, and dark Armament Haki slowly enveloped it, causing Smoker's previously arrogant expression to gradually darken.

Armament Haki? A bounty hunter who's never even been to the East Blue of the Grand Line has already awakened Haki? Are you kidding me?!

For some reason, Smoker felt that he had really overestimated himself.

Logia-type abilities are virtually invincible against opponents without Haki, but against powerful individuals who have awakened Haki, their invincibility is greatly diminished, making them merely a reasonably useful ability.

Smoker's Smoke-Smoke Fruit ranks last among all Logia-type Devil Fruits. When facing powerful opponents with Haki, its effectiveness is probably even worse than that of ordinary Devil Fruits.

Without the elemental transformation ability of a Devil Fruit, Smoker's physical skills are decent, but to say he's invincible in the East Blue would be an exaggeration. In terms of pure physical skills, he might not even be able to beat Straw Hat Luffy and Zoro!

But it was too late to regret it now. Smoker was a man of honor, how could he back down like this? He took a deep breath, his whole body shrouded in smoke, and then immediately drew the jitte weapon from behind him. He turned into a cloud of smoke and rushed forward.

Concealed by the smoke, the jitte weapon appeared and disappeared, changing position several times before striking Uchiha Tou's abdomen.

Then, in the next second, his weapon was grabbed by one of Uchiha Hiyu's hands, leaving him unable to move forward or backward.

With one hand gripping the Third Generation Kitetsu, and the other hand directly grasping the Jitte, Uchiha Tobi shook his head helplessly:

"Is this your limit? That's far too weak!"

"If we disregard Devil Fruit abilities, you'd probably be considered just average among the Marine Headquarters captains. I don't know what gives you the audacity to be such a troublemaker!"

"You bastard—don't underestimate me! White smoke emitter!"

Smoker roared, and his other arm transformed into a cloud of smoke from an explosion, his fist, as large as a cannonball, slamming into Uchiha Tou's head.

With a loud thud, Smoker punched Uchiha Touya on the head. His expression changed slightly as he felt a sharp pain in his knuckles and could even faintly hear a cracking sound.

Uchiha Touyu tilted his head slightly, his body enveloped in jet-black Armament Haki. The rapidly flowing blood, combined with his tough skin, further enhanced his defense to an abnormal level.

While Smoker has also undergone some physical training, he has clearly focused more of his energy on developing his Devil Fruit.

His physical abilities were inferior to those of Uchiha Tou in the present day, and his defense was not as good as Uchiha Tou's enhanced skin. He also did not know Haki or Iron Body. Under these circumstances, when Smoker threw a punch, he ended up injuring himself.

Smoker's forehead veins bulged, and he silently withdrew his fist, but the expression on his face and the sweat on his brow betrayed his nervousness.

My attacks are completely ineffective against my opponent, while it seems like every strike from them is capable of inflicting real damage. What should I do? I urgently need a solution!

Uchiha Hiyu sheathed the Third Generation Kitetsu he had drawn. He was genuinely afraid that he would cut Smoker in two with a single slash; at least he could control him with his fists.

Seeing Uchiha Touya sheath his sword, Smoker immediately understood Uchiha Touya's intentions, and his face darkened:

"What do you mean by that?! Are you underestimating me?! I am..."

A black fist, imbued with Armament Haki, swung out suddenly, slamming into the smoke with a loud boom, interrupting Smoker's words.

With precise Observation Haki, he accurately targeted Smoker's abdomen, which had turned into smoke. With just one punch, Smoker felt his mind go blank. He was speaking when he suddenly spat out blood mixed with saliva. His eyes rolled back, and he almost fainted.

"Yes, I certainly didn't take you seriously. What, you're not happy about that?"

Uchiha Hiyu pulled his fist out of Smoker's abdomen, which had already materialized. Smoker coughed up another mouthful of blood and swayed precariously, barely managing to stand up by supporting himself with the jitte in his hands.

(End of this chapter)