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

Chapter 222 Spreading Rumors about the Straw Hat Pirates

"Stop fighting! Commander Smoker! This is a misunderstanding!"

When Tashigi, who was running out of breath, arrived at the woods behind the naval base, she saw a scene that left her speechless.

Smoker, covered in bumps and bruises, sat on a tree stump, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, the front half of his weapon, the Jitte, broken off.

With a smile on his face, Uchiha Hiyu was examining the Seastone on the broken Totem Arms. He had already pried out all the Seastone.

Uchiha Touyu was also very interested in this strange substance called Seastone. Besides being a barrier for Devil Fruit users, Seastone is also one of the hardest materials.

People in the world of One Piece can only perform basic processing on these seastone stones, turning them into handcuffs, chains, or at most polishing them into nails or bullets.

Having inherited the magic path, Uchiha Hiyu was eager to try and explore more uses for Seastone, such as extracting its essence and condensing it into his Third Generation Kitetsu, or even using the essence of Seastone to train his physique.

If he still had magical power, he could easily accomplish this, but now Uchiha Tou only possesses Haki, and it would be very difficult for him to do this with just Haki.

While it's relatively easy for Haki to enhance other objects, its ability to absorb other objects is completely unrelated to its power. Unless Uchiha Tou finds and eats a Devil Fruit like the Absorption Fruit, he basically shouldn't even think about doing such a thing.

"Oh? It's Tashigi, you're here!"

Uchiha Touyu glanced at Tashigi and waved to her.

"Don't worry, I've reached an agreement with your superior, and the misunderstanding has been cleared up!"

"Uh... really? Mr. Uchiha Touu? I feel like something's off about your superior."

Even if Tashigi is incredibly naive, she can tell that her superior has been brutally beaten up. On that basis, to say that Smoker and Uchiha Tou have reached an agreement... isn't that a bit much?

"If you don't believe me, you can ask your superior himself and see if he's willing to coexist peacefully with me."

Smoker snorted, rubbed his face, then turned to Tashigi and asked rather rudely:

"Tashigi, what's going on between you and this guy? Did he tear your clothes?"

Tashigi blinked, then quickly shook her head and said:

"No, no, no, this actually has nothing to do with Mr. Uchiha Touyu. It's all because I took Mr. Uchiha Touyu's cursed sword, the Third Generation Kitetsu, that I suffered this misfortune!"

Uchiha Touyu twitched his lips. He didn't think the problem should be blamed on his sword. As everyone knows, the curse of a demon sword is always intertwined with bloodshed and slaughter, and it will not make people clumsy.

"The curse of the demon sword? Misfortune? Tell me more."

Smoker frowned and asked carefully. Tashigi quickly told Smoker what had happened in the weapon shop and explained the truth about why her clothes had become tattered.

After hearing this, Smoker was speechless. How could you blame someone else's knife for something like this? Wasn't it your own stupidity?

"You idiot Tashigi! Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"But...Commander Smoker...I was going to tell you something, but you were running too fast!"

"You bastard, don't talk back to your superior!"

After a few words, Smoker overwhelmed the sergeant major with his imposing presence as a colonel. Although Tashigi was still pouting and not very happy, she couldn't refute her superior.

After unleashing his fury, Smoker walked up to Uchiha Touyu with a grim expression and said through gritted teeth:

"I'm so sorry!! This was a misunderstanding on my part!! I've caused you trouble!!"

"It's alright, I don't find it troublesome at all. In fact, after this battle, I feel much more flexible in my muscles and bones."

Uchiha Touya stretched and lazily said something that made Smoker's blood pressure soar. Smoker's chest heaved several times with anger, but he eventually swallowed his anger.

"Tashigi! You're not getting your bonus this year! The deducted money has to go to compensate the arms shop owner!"

Tashigi, who was pouting, paused for a moment, opened her mouth, and wondered, "How come this boomerang pierced me?"

As a Marine Headquarters officer, Tashigi earns a considerable amount of bonuses each year. Capturing pirates also counts towards her performance and awards her a bonus. Under normal circumstances, she can earn around seven to eight million Berries a year.

This is because Tashigi usually works quite hard and has captured a lot of pirates, so the reward has naturally increased. Loguetown has everything, but it doesn't lack some audacious and weak pirate cannon fodder.

It's worth noting that the prized sword Yukihachi at Ipponmatsu only sells for around 100 million Berries, so this compensation is definitely excessive.

However, although her superior was using this as an excuse to vent his anger on her, there was nothing Kesqi could do. After all, she had caused the trouble.

She could only lower her head, reluctantly say "oh," and agree to Smoker's request.

After being beaten up, Smoker actually developed a bit of a liking for Uchiha Tou. Even in the pirate world, which values ​​dreams and freedom, reality is still very realistic, and strong people are more popular no matter where they go.

From Smoker's perspective, Uchiha Tou's strength was already comparable to that of some ordinary Marine vice admirals. While such a powerful individual might not be able to stir up the situation on the high seas, they could easily become a high-ranking officer anywhere, making them a significant figure capable of influencing the situation of an entire sea area.

Especially after the two chatted for a bit, Smoker learned that Uchiha Tou had actually met Garp and received training from the old man Garp, which made them even closer.

It's worth noting that Garp, as an instructor at the Navy training camp, was also Smoker's teacher. In that respect, the two could barely be considered classmates.

After chatting for a while, Uchiha Tou's wicked intentions began to surface, and he started to sow discord between Smoker and others.

"Smoker, you'd better watch out. As far as I know, Garp has a grandson who has already set sail as a pirate and keeps saying he wants to be the Pirate King."

"Old man Garp was furious and asked me to stop him. Since that straw hat brat didn't have a bounty, I only stole his pirate ship. I don't know if he'll come back to Loguetown."

"Oh, right, he also has two subordinates. One is a lecherous cook, but thankfully he doesn't hit women. The other is a directionally challenged swordsman who wields one of the 21 Great Swords, the Wado Ichimonji!"

The lecherous chef who didn't hit women didn't elicit any reaction from Smoker and Tashigi, but after hearing about the 21 Great Swords, Tashigi's eyes suddenly lit up.

The famous swords in the One Piece world are divided into three types: ordinary fast swords, 50 good fast swords, 21 great swords, and 12 supreme great swords. Among them, ordinary fast swords need no further explanation. Good fast swords are not actually rare. Although they are said to be only 50, the actual number is far more than 50.

It's just that those 50 excellent swords are the most famous. There are countless excellent swords of the same quality in the entire One Piece world. Otherwise, the Yuki-bi sword in Ipponmatsu wouldn't have only sold for 100 million Berries.

Even at sea, any swordsmith with a bit of reputation can forge a fine sword. Over the years, there have been at least 1 to 8 fine swords accumulated at sea. Even if we subtract the weapons that have been damaged in battle and over time, there are probably only one or two thousand fine swords of this level.

However, by the time the Great Grade Swords reached their 21st grade, the number of swords of the same rank had drastically decreased. Weapons of this rank would be considered national treasures in any country, and only swordsmiths who could leave their mark on history could forge them.

Even if the number of Great Swords is not just 21, its number is definitely not as exaggerated as that of Good Swords, and probably does not exceed 50 in total.

When it comes to the level of the Supreme Grade Swords (12th Grade), the ability to create such a divine weapon depends not only on the swordsmith but also on the sword's owner—those that can become Supreme Grade Swords are basically legendary black swords.

In other words, besides the sword itself being of excellent quality, it also needs a skilled swordsman to enhance it. Both are indispensable. Therefore, it is very difficult for a Supreme Grade Sword to be born in obscurity. Even if there are occasionally overlooked Supreme Grade Swords, there are only a few at most on the entire ocean.

Even if Tashigi knew about the Supreme Grade Swords, she would have absolutely no hope of obtaining them. A regular Grade Sword could be acquired for a million Berries, while a Grade Sword could fetch at least tens of millions of Berries. As for the Supreme Grade Swords, they were priceless treasures, obtainable only by truly powerful individuals.

Tashigi could consider a divine weapon of the Great Grade Sword level, especially after learning that the sword was currently in the hands of a pirate swordsman from the East Blue.

"My wish is to seize all the famous swords from the hands of villains and collect them! Let me defeat that pirate swordsman!"

Seeing Tashigi's sudden burst of excitement, Uchiha Touyu's lips twitched slightly:

"In that case, do as you please! But with your strength, you probably won't be a match for that green-haired guy."

Although Zoro is far from his mature form and would be easily defeated by Mihawk, he is still far from being someone like Tashigi who can be easily bullied.

Tashigi's expression immediately turned somewhat dejected after hearing Uchiha Tou's words:

"My cultivation is indeed still insufficient; I will work harder in the future!"

Having subdued the Third Generation Kitetsu and beaten her superior Smoker to a pulp, Tashigi naturally had no doubt about Uchiha Tou's strength and insight. If he said he was no match for that pirate swordsman, then she was probably no match for him either.

"There's no need to be so discouraged... As far as I know, while the three main members of the Straw Hat Pirates are quite strong, and their raw strength is not much worse than Smoker's, none of them have awakened Armament Haki, so they can't possibly be a match for Smoker, a Logia-type Devil Fruit user."

"Don't worry, I'll arrest these guys. Out of respect for Vice Admiral Garp, let me send them to Marine Headquarters for some re-education by the vice admiral!"

Smoker looked confident and didn't care much about Luffy and his crew. He didn't consider pirates without Armament Haki as opponents.

And that's exactly what happened. If it weren't for Luffy's father's deus ex machina, the so-called future Pirate King, the future world's greatest swordsman, would probably have been sent to prison by Smoker before even leaving the East Blue.

However, Dragon is not Luffy's babysitter. As the world's most notorious criminal as recognized by the World Government and now the leader of the Revolutionary Army, he is extremely busy. Being able to see his son off when he leaves the East Blue is already the limit for him.

If the timing had been slightly off, Luffy and his crew might have actually suffered a few days in jail—yes, a few days in jail.

There's no way around it; before Luffy and his crew commit any truly heinous acts, make a name for themselves, or even enter the Grand Line, Garp's name can smooth things over for them.

If Smoker really catches Luffy and puts him in jail, either the Navy will show some leniency because of his status and release him after a short time, or his father will come knocking and rescue the Straw Hat Pirates.

After all, Luffy isn't Ace now. He's neither the son of the Pirate King nor an admiral of the Whitebeard Pirates. He's just a pirate from the East Blue, completely insignificant.

That's why Smoker suggested sending Luffy and the others to Garp. After all, Smoker knew something about Vice Admiral Garp, and ordinary prisons were probably far less rigorous than Vice Admiral Garp's training.

"Then I wish you all the best. Let me tell you some information!"

"Straw Hat Boy is a user of the Gum-Gum Fruit. As Vice Admiral Garp's grandson, he has been trained since childhood, and his physical strength and vitality are extremely strong. However, he is a bit dim-witted, a trait he inherited from Vice Admiral Garp. We can set small traps for him..."

Uchiha Touya was happily setting a trap for the Straw Hat Pirates. Just as he was about to leak the information, several Marines suddenly ran over:

"Colonel Smoker, something terrible has happened! A pirate crew is causing trouble in Loguetown!"

Smoker frowned slightly, a hint of annoyance on his face:

"How dare they! I've been in Loguetown for three years, and there are still pirates daring to provoke me in my territory!"

"Who exactly are these people?"

"Uh...it's the legendary Buggy Pirates! Many people have seen that great pirate, Buggy the Clown!"

Buggy the Clown? Uchiha Touyu narrowed his eyes slightly. If he wasn't mistaken, Buggy the Clown was probably chasing after the Straw Hat Pirates! This was truly a case of speaking of the devil and he appears!

(End of this chapter)