One Piece Gunslinger

The initial seeds have been sown in Smoker's heart, and the first two steps in destroying his beliefs and worldview have been accomplished. As for the final and most impactful third step, firstly, since Leon's claims are baseless and lack evidence, Smoker might not believe him. Secondly, these successive shocks are not a good thing for Smoker either, so Leon will wait for a later opportunity to address them.

"Well, that's a real shame. I thought we could become colleagues. Tashigi is great in every way, except she's a bit clumsy and not very bright. It would be nice to have someone as smart as you by my side."

"There's nothing to regret. We can still be friends even if we don't become colleagues. As long as we still yearn for justice, we'll meet again someday, and maybe we'll even have the chance to become colleagues again."

Although they were colleagues, Smoker lamented that Leon couldn't join him in the navy. Leon, on the other hand, said that he would definitely try to break through this barrier and bring Smoker into the revolutionary camp if given the chance.

Smoker didn't say anything more and left the office. Before leaving, he called Tashigi over and told her that she could tell him if she needed anything, and he would try his best to meet her small requests.

"Um, Tashigi," Li Ang said without ceremony, "I really like your rifle, could you give me one?"

Wow, asking for a gun right off the bat, especially inside a naval base, is like going to a police station and asking for a gun. Li Ang's actions are utterly shameless.

However, if there's anything in this naval base that would catch Li Ang's eye, it's only the advanced equipment within the navy.

In the world of One Piece, the biggest fans of the Navy and those who know it best are undoubtedly the Revolutionary Army. It's fair to say that many Navy soldiers, including some admirals, don't know as much about the Navy itself as most Revolutionary Army members.

As the world's largest and strongest violent organization, and the world government's most powerful weapon, the Navy's every move is closely watched by the Revolutionary Army.

Just like a rabbit on Earth, the rabbit pays the most attention to the US, and can be called the world's biggest pro-American, and is extremely envious of the US's various advanced new equipment.

Therefore, the Revolutionary Army also coveted the Navy's various weapons and equipment, and the best equipment within the Revolutionary Army was always captured from the World Government. The Revolutionary Army knew exactly how those weapons worked and what their structure was. Unfortunately, they lacked the corresponding production capabilities, and their factories couldn't manufacture some key components.

Now that there's another opportunity, Li Ang is determined to get one to play with, to replace his outdated toy gun with a more advanced one.

"Huh? A rifle? You're not a member of the Navy, I can't give you that," Tashigi said with a serious expression.

Li Angzhao knew that Tashigi would refuse, so he continued to plead, "Can you really bear to let me go to sea without any weapons? Look at how many pirates there are at sea. What should I do if I encounter them? But if I have a gun, I won't be afraid of them. Maybe I can even capture or eliminate them."

"Hmph, I anticipated your every move, Tashigi. For me, the great conman Leon, taking down a natural airhead is a piece of cake."

"Huh? Is that so?" Tashigi exclaimed. "But, but our Navy has regulations."

“Tashigi, look at this cloak.” Leon pointed to the navy cloak Smoker had left in the office. “Look at the two big words on it.”

"justice?"

"That's right, justice is the Navy's first principle. Every rule and every action revolves around the word 'justice.' This also reminds us that whenever we feel confused or unsure of what to do, we should think about justice, think about what is just, and then we won't be lost," Li Ang continued, trying to deceive her. And to fool the innocent Tashigi, he even abandoned all his principles, saying things like "we"—you haven't even joined the Navy, okay?

"Hey, what you said makes so much sense." Tashigi was completely absorbed in Leon's profound reasoning.

"So, although giving me a gun is against regulations, it is in accordance with justice. When these two conflict, we should uphold justice without wavering. That's what makes a qualified navy officer." Li Ang delivered a fatal blow to Tashigi trapped in the sheath.

Then, after being swayed by Leon, Tashigi handed him a naval rifle, along with a lot of ammunition.

Sigh, this Li Ang is just good at deceiving people who seem naive. He said a lot of things that sounded reasonable, but if Smoker were here, he wouldn't be so easily fooled by Li Ang's words. Upholding justice is fine, but how does upholding justice equate to giving you a gun? That's clearly illogical.

Even if Smoker comes, it will only take Li Ang a little more effort. Unless someone has an insane IQ or has been fooled a few times and gained experience, they will definitely not escape Li Ang's clutches in the end.

Li Ang happily took the gun and slung it over his shoulder. He couldn't possibly "pocket" this kind of rifle; he was naturally clueless, not stupid.

"Oh, right." Not satisfied with just getting the gun, Li Ang continued to make demands, "Um, I think your pistols are pretty good too..."

Damn it, have you no shame? You got the rifle and you're still not satisfied? You want to steal a pistol too. Greed is insatiable, brother.

"Eh, eh~~? Didn't we already have a rifle?" Tashigi didn't expect this and was stunned for a moment before she realized what was going on.

Tashigi certainly didn't expect this, and no one would have imagined that Li Ang could be so shameless, reaching a new level of greed. Not making a profit is equivalent to losing money; Li Ang truly embodied this principle to the fullest extent.

"But think about it, if I encounter pirates with fierce firepower, how can one gun be enough? They may have ten guns, while I only have one. How can I deal with them? Besides, rifles are suitable for long-range attacks, while pistols are suitable for close-range attacks. The two complement each other and do not conflict."

"But, but everyone else only has one gun, and one gun is enough," Tashigi made a last-ditch effort.

Li Ang scoffed, "Tch, can those people compare to me? It's not that I look down on them, but the strength and talent of ordinary people can't compare to those of geniuses. They can't use two guns, firstly because they have companions who can compensate for the lack of firepower, and secondly because of their clumsy movements—they simply can't use two guns at all. But I'm different. You saw how I used two different firearms simultaneously at the shooting range..."

Then Li Ang began to lecture Tashigi at length about why she needed two guns, what the advantages of having two guns were, and how to use them effectively. His long-winded explanation included a considerable amount of professional knowledge about firearms and shooting. Tashigi, the swordswoman, was completely bewildered. Towards the end, she had no idea what Li Ang was talking about; she was more confused than a primary school student listening to a teacher explain advanced mathematics—her mind was utterly muddled.

"In conclusion, if I could obtain another pistol, it would be like clearing the way for the cause of justice, and world peace would be just around the corner." Looking at Tashigi, whose eyes were almost turning into mosquito coils, Leon finally ended his speech.

As for why obtaining a pistol meant world peace was just around the corner, Li Ang himself didn't know how he made that connection later. This hype was so over the top that it left him bewildered. If it didn't end soon, it might even reach the moon.

It's really tough on the naturally ditzy Tashigi. I wonder if she'll become even more ditzy after being fooled by Li Ang. Anyway, Tashigi did manage to equip Li Ang with a pistol in a daze, and Li Ang casually tucked it into his waistband.

Sigh, with Smoker gone, Tashigi is just so naive. It's hard to imagine that if Smoker hadn't been taking care of Tashigi, let alone becoming a Navy sergeant, she might not even be able to survive.

"Ahem, well, I almost ran out of rations on the way..."

Chapter 190 The Greedy Rat

Regardless of how Li Ang fooled Tashigi for the time being, if it weren't for the lack of time and the need to pack up and leave quickly, Li Ang could have even fooled Smoker into chasing him all the way to the Revolutionary Army headquarters after his return.

Let's shift our focus to Smoker; Smoker's incognito adventures are about to premiere.

Smoker first changed out of his signature outfits as Leon had instructed, putting on a less eye-catching suit. He even left his hair down, not slicking it back.

Smoker's appearance changed completely, and no one recognized him when he walked the streets of Loguetown.

Indeed, his previous images were so iconic that people often only remembered Smoker wearing a white jacket that revealed his chest and abs, his white hair slicked back, and a cigar in his mouth. With such a stylish look, who cared what Smoker actually looked like? Absolutely no one cared.

So, after Smoker floated out of the naval base using his glider, he was able to walk casually down the street without attracting any attention. Previously, whenever Smoker went out, he always drew a lot of attention.

As a result, apart from Leon, Tashigi, and a small group of trusted confidants in the Navy, no one else knows that Smoker has escaped.

"Very good, I didn't expect such a simple disguise to be so effective." Smoker was also very satisfied with the current situation, but one thing that bothered him was that he couldn't smoke while maintaining this image.

"I'll just have to be patient for now. Once I'm out at sea and no one's watching, I can do whatever I want." With that thought in mind, Smoker went ashore and casually bought a small sailboat.

As the last supply station before the Grand Line, Loguetown has a highly developed shipbuilding industry. Whether you need a new ship or repair an old one, whether it's a large ship or a small ship, they can handle it all. Naturally, they also have small sailboats that are only suitable for short trips in stock.

As a naval captain, Smoker was naturally much richer than Leon, a penniless wretch. He paid tens of thousands of Berries for a small sailboat without batting an eye.

If it were one of those small, dilapidated boats like Li Ang's, manually rowed, people wouldn't even survive, because they wouldn't even want to sell it. Making such a thing wouldn't earn much money, and nobody wanted it; small workshops weren't interested in making them.

Come to think of it, just by the number of cigars Smoker smokes, you can tell the naval captain is really rich, especially a captain from headquarters like this, not some low-class local officer. His salary must be incredibly high, making Li Ang extremely envious. You can always see Smoker with two or three cigars in his mouth, every single day without fail. His spending power is terrifying; he's practically single-handedly supporting half of Loguetown's tobacco industry.

Without engaging in any undignified haggling, Smoker paid the money readily and then secretly sailed away from Loguetown in his small sailboat, following the directions on the map.

On this day, Smoker and his crew had been in Loguetown for most of the day because of the Leon incident, and it was gradually getting late into the evening. Meanwhile, Cocoyasi Village, after defeating the Arlong Pirates, had fallen into a new predicament.

After all, the dragon is gone, but Colonel Rat is still here. As long as Colonel Rat is here, the villagers of Cocoyasi will never have true peace. Defeating Arlong is only a temporary solution.

Li Ang's decision not to directly and forcefully eliminate the Arlong Pirates single-handedly was also part of this plan. It was to prevent the Rat Colonel from continuing his "investment-seeking" tactics and colluding with other pirates. Even if Li Ang couldn't rescue them, he could still find a way to save himself. With the confidence gained from subduing the Arlong Pirates, dealing with other unknown small-time pirates would be much easier.

After all, Leon had already shown his face, and the villagers of Cocoyasi Village knew his true identity. They couldn't deal with Colonel Rat the same way they dealt with Colonel Morgan. If they did, the Navy could easily trace it back to Leon with a thorough investigation. This would have a significant impact on Leon's upcoming journey, making his trip to Loguetown extremely difficult.

So, after weighing the pros and cons, Li Ang chose to spare Colonel Rat's life for the time being. In Li Ang's mind, if Colonel Rat continued like this, he would be punished by the Straw Hat crew in two years.

However, Li Ang never expected that this Rat Colonel would be so ruthless. After Ah Long left, instead of looking for a new "developer" to develop the twenty-odd islands, the Rat Colonel himself took charge of "managing" the territory.

After all, if you rely on pirates to manage this sea area, you have to share the profits with them. If you do it yourself, you won't have these profit issues. Everything is yours, and you don't have to share with others.

So, after Li Ang had only been gone for two days, Cocoyasi Village had returned to its previous state, and this time they were even more powerless.

Because this time it wasn't a pirate crew, but a Marine captain.

Taking action against a pirate crew is justifiable, but if you poison or assassinate a Marine captain, the entire island might be retaliated against by the Marines with retaliatory artillery fire.

This is an attack on the government. No matter how wrong Colonel Rat was, he cannot be killed by civilians. Killing a colonel is tantamount to slapping the Navy in the face. No matter how outrageous or heinous Colonel Rat was, he has to go through a military court and the government has to handle this matter.

The Navy's, or rather the World Government's, approach is simple and common: to save face. They also use this incident to demonstrate the Navy's impartiality, and in newspapers and media, they glorify the process, turning scandal into a positive story—a tactic these media outlets excel at.

Just like in the Alabasta arc of the original story, Luffy and his crew solved all the problems; the Navy had absolutely nothing to do with it. Smoker was even restricted from attacking the Seven Warlords of the Sea, so he could only play a minor role. He couldn't even stand by and watch, because seeing the Straw Hat Pirates meant he should arrest them, so in the end he could only pretend he saw nothing and leave it all to Tashigi to judge what was truly just.

As a result, in the end, the Straw Hat Pirates, who were instrumental in rescuing Alabasta, all had bounties on their heads. It was as if they were the real culprits behind everything, while Smoker, who was just a bystander, received all the credit from the World Government and was promoted and made rich.

A scandal involving a Shichibukai (one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea) successfully reversed public opinion, distorted the facts, and ironically created a naval hero. It was Smoker's brilliant and courageous act that led to Crocodile's defeat and thwarted his conspiracy. In terms of shamelessness, Leon is far inferior to the World Government.

Therefore, these villagers must never lay a hand on Colonel Rat. If they do, even if they are in the right, they will be deemed unreasonable under the power of the World Government and the Navy, and will become victims in the effort to save face for the Navy.

They control the world's most powerful military apparatus and possess the largest media outlet. With money, power, and strength, they can do whatever they want.

Li Ang left this last little loose end unattended, which was actually a bit underhanded. They say you should help someone all the way, and see things through to the end, but Li Ang only did half the job, eliminating the henchmen while the ringleader, Colonel Rat, remained alive and kicking.

However, Li Ang truly hadn't expected Colonel Rat to be so reckless, willing to wear the skin of a Marine and still act like a pirate. In Li Ang's plan, even if Colonel Rat were to "attract investment" again and find a group of pirate henchmen to help him plunder the people, it would take a considerable amount of time. Besides, the largest and strongest pirate crew in the area, the Arlong Pirates, had already been wiped out by Li Ang. Even if Colonel Rat could find agents, they would be a bunch of scoundrels, probably easily chased and beaten by Kensuke and a group of villagers—nothing to fear.

However, Colonel Rat was truly reckless; driven by greed, he had no regard for his own life.

If he colluded with Alon before, and if the truth comes out later, even if Colonel Rat is guilty, it won't be a capital offense. He'll just be accused of negligence and incompetence. Then he'll be stripped of his rank and kicked out of the Navy.

However, by then Colonel Rat had already amassed enough wealth; that sum was enough for him to live the life of a tycoon anywhere. Being stripped of his official position was just like early retirement; it didn't bother him at all.

However, if Colonel Rat himself were involved, the situation would be completely different; if discovered, he would be shot and beheaded. That's why Li Ang hadn't considered this at all.

They say there are no wrong nicknames, only wrong names. Colonel Rat lived up to his name, with shifty eyes and a cowardly nature. Yet, driven by immense greed, he dared to take the risk.

Actually, there are clues to this, and it's not that Colonel Rat has lost his mind. If Li Ang thinks more carefully and isn't limited by the original plot, he can figure out this fact: this could be two years ago, when Colonel Rat still hadn't had his fill of greed.

In the original storyline, Colonel Rat was greedy for two more years than he is now, and he even unearthed and stole 100 million Berries that Nami had treasured for many years. Furthermore, with Arlong's downfall, Colonel Rat kept all 100 million Berries for himself. This satisfied Colonel Rat's appetite, and he didn't cause any further trouble. Therefore, after defeating the Arlong Pirates, Cocoyasi Village was able to return to peace and tranquility.

Only when you have money will you cherish your life. Living to spend all the money you've amassed over the years, plus this hundred million Berries, is more important than anything else. How can you cherish your life when you have no money? Of course, you'll first amass enough wealth.

However, every cloud has a silver lining. Li Ang is unaware that it was precisely because he left a small loose end that he achieved even greater results.

Chapter 191 The Meeting Resumes

Cocoa West Village at night.

The original dragon territory has now been taken over by Colonel Rat. The place that the dragon built for his own enjoyment has now been taken over by Colonel Rat.

"Hehe, being a naval officer is truly the best job in the world! The navy is the best! Cheers to the navy!" With Captain Rat's shout, several of his trusted subordinates also raised their glasses and cheered, celebrating the successful reclaiming of the territory previously under the control of the Arlong Pirates.

"Hiccup, I was such an idiot. If I had known it would turn out like this, I wouldn't have kept Ah Long around until now. Maybe I could have wiped him out earlier and gained some merit. Now, I'm the one in charge here, what Ah Long? I don't need to use him at all." Colonel Rat was obviously drunk and was bragging about everything without caring whether it was true or not.

It was clearly under coercion and enticement from Ah Long that we began our cooperation in fighting Ah Long. If Colonel Rat hadn't chickened out in the face of Ah Long's overwhelming power and hadn't compromised for the sake of huge profits, we wouldn't be where we are today. If Colonel Rat had dared to fight Ah Long, he would have been fed to the fish long ago.

However, his subordinates naturally dared not offend their boss at this moment, and they all began to flatter Colonel Rat. Colonel Rat was in high spirits, and since he was now going all out, he didn't care about morality or ethics. Anyone who dampened his spirits would suffer the consequences.

As for those upright naval soldiers who dared to oppose him, and those who still held a sense of justice, they had been largely assimilated during the years they cooperated with Arlong. Even those who held firm to their beliefs and were not assimilated naturally met a bad end; they were all secretly killed by Captain Rat. After all, death at sea is common, and being a naval officer is inherently a high-risk profession.

"Hmph, what kind of damn naval officers are they? They're all doing worse than me. Every day they have to fight pirates on the front lines of the Grand Line, and they might die at their hands any day now. It's so much better for me, Colonel Ge. I only have to stay in the East Blue, I don't have to fight pirates, and I'm not subject to the control of my superiors. Every now and then I just have to report 'all is well.' Tell me, are those high-ranking naval officers stupid? Wouldn't I trade my colonel position for an admiral?"

Colonel Rat wasn't satisfied with his previous boast. Since he was in a good mood today and it was just his own people around, he could boast as high as he wanted. He was practically missing Colonel Rat himself, whose power was boundless and would last for eternity. He was just a bucket of paste.

"Haha, that's right. What Akainu, Sakazuki, what Aokiji, Kuzan, none of them are as carefree as the boss. What major general, lieutenant general, general, or even marshal, can live like this? Only the colonel can achieve this." The people below understood that since they had already started praising him, they should continue to praise him to the extreme, the more they praised him, the happier the boss would be.

"Very good, very good, hahaha. Come on, let's keep drinking. Cheers to the good life."

For Colonel Rat, today's action was undoubtedly extremely risky.

He himself understood that if his deeds were exposed, he would only fall into an abyss and be shattered to pieces. The navy was both his powerful backer and his death warrant. He could use the navy's future to prevent the villagers from having the confidence to resist, but he also feared that the navy would use him as a facade to consolidate and maintain the navy's reputation.

However, since Colonel Rat has been able to conceal the existence of the Arlong Pirates for several years, he is naturally confident that he can continue to maintain this situation. After all, the trust between comrades in the Navy is something that can be used.

"I'm happy today, let's indulge ourselves for a day. Tomorrow we'll continue to intensify our efforts on our colleagues' territory, especially that colonel at headquarters in Loguetown, I think his name is Smoker." Colonel Mouse poured himself another glass of wine and said excitedly.