One Piece Gunslinger

"Don't worry, boss. Although we're having a banquet here, we haven't relaxed our patrols of the surrounding waters for even a day. If anything happens, we'll receive an early warning very quickly," another trusted confidant said happily.

"Very good, very good. No one is leaving early today. We won't go home until we're drunk."

The pressure was immense, and he certainly needed to let loose a little. Unfortunately, he didn't know that today was his final celebration. His invincible tactics would finally come to an end today, thanks to the fluttering wings of Li Ang, this little butterfly.

Behind the red gates, meat and wine go to waste, while on the streets, the frozen dead lie scattered. Whether it was Colonel Rat or, before, Ah Long, their lavish lifestyles were built on the oppression of the people. Today is a day for Colonel Rat to celebrate, but for the villagers of Cocoa West Village, it is a day of profound sorrow.

Having just escaped from the Arlong Pirates, and before they could even catch their breath, another reckless Colonel Rat personally took up arms.

"Let's fight him! He's just a naval captain, right? We can even poison fishmen, I don't believe they're stronger than that group of fishmen." It was the same familiar gathering place, the same familiar village representatives, the same familiar routine. Only this time, their opponent was different, and Li Ang wasn't there either.

"No!" Kensuke said. "No matter what, we can't let him die on our turf. Otherwise, if the Navy finds out that we were the ones who poisoned him, our whole village will be executed."

"Where you stand determines where you stand." If Colonel Rat died at the hands of the villagers, the Navy's position dictates that the matter can only develop in a direction favorable to the Navy and the World Government. To save face and prevent the scandal from leaking out, erasing the village from the map and covering up the true cause of Colonel Rat's death and his actions is the Navy's only option. Perhaps Colonel Rat can even have a grand funeral and be posthumously awarded some rank, with the explanation that he died heroically fighting pirates.

Just like Colonel Morgan, whose head was chopped off by Leon, he was given a grand funeral. Even his son, Helmeppo, has been recruited by the Navy ahead of schedule and has begun training as the son of a hero. As for the town of Shelsh, the Navy has already dispatched a new colonel there.

So, the news didn't mention anything about what Captain Morgan had done before, as if Morgan had always been an excellent naval captain, a martyr who sacrificed his life, and that there was absolutely no possibility of him having any scandals.

"Damn it, these marines are no good. They didn't come to wipe out the Arlong Pirates when they were around, but now that they're gone, they still want to oppress us." A young villager kicked the wall in anger.

"Alright, there's no use in getting angry. The question now is how to resolve this issue."

"If you could think of a solution, would you be worrying about it here? If only that young man Li Ang were still here. Although they are not as good as Ah Long in a fight, they are much more threatening than Ah Long. You can't kill them, so what can you do?"

Seeing that the situation was getting out of control, Kenji quickly interrupted the argument: "Alright! There's always a solution, we just haven't thought of one yet. I believe that with the combined wisdom of so many of us, we can definitely come up with a suitable solution."

After Kensuke finished speaking, the other villagers calmed down a bit and fell into deep thought. After a while, a voice finally broke the brief silence: "Let's send someone out quietly to ask for help. As long as we can escape Colonel Rat's blockade, we're sure to find some righteous people outside."

However, this suggestion was met with strong opposition as soon as it was put forward: "Righteous man, are you talking about the other navies? They're definitely useless. How do you know if the navies outside aren't cut from the same cloth as Captain Rat? I have no hope for the navy now. If the navy were useful, would Arlong have been able to dominate this area for so many years?"

At this point, the village doctor, Na Gao, also came up with a solution: "What if we administer a slow-acting poison? And we don't need to use a large dose. This way, Colonel Rat and the others won't die instantly, but rather slowly, their bodies will gradually weaken, and they'll develop various illnesses before finally dying a year or two later. That way, no one will suspect us, since these symptoms have lasted for over a year. Everyone will assume that Colonel Rat died of illness."

The suggestion seemed feasible, but after a while, someone immediately noticed the problem: "No, Colonel Rat is not Aaron. This trick works on Aaron, but it has no effect on Colonel Rat."

Why?

"Although Dr. Nagao is the only doctor in the village, there are many doctors outside who are more skilled than him. And with Colonel Rat's status, he can certainly find those good doctors to treat him. Nagao's poison is also slow-acting, so before Colonel Rat dies, he will have already hired doctors to cure the poison and may even have found the cause of the illness. If Colonel Rat finds out that he was poisoned by eating our food, then we are finished."

"Sigh, if this doesn't work and that doesn't work, is there really no one who can control them?" The young villager clenched his fists and said indignantly.

"There's nothing we can do, even though he's in the Navy. I doubt even if Leon came, he couldn't do anything, since one person can't fight the entire Navy."

"Yeah, yeah, even if Li Ang is very strong, he probably still wouldn't survive if he were wanted by the Navy. After all, the Navy is all over the world."

As the meeting continued, the group gradually went from being full of enthusiasm and confidence to becoming self-deprecating and lifeless.

Although many hands make light work, given the villagers' limited status and perspective, they couldn't come up with a good solution after thinking for a long time.

Just when everyone was at a loss, a deep voice rang out: "You scoundrel rat, I will arrest you today."

Chapter 192 Quietly Entering the Village

Smoker sailed smoothly, and since Loguetown wasn't far from Cocoyasi Village, he arrived at Cocoyasi Village in just a few hours, late at night.

The cordon set up by Colonel Rat was actually quite tight, but Smoker was operating at night and didn't notice the light, swift sailboat, which was already difficult to spot. Smoker still managed to slip inside without any danger.

"Even at night, are there patrols on duty?" Smoker muttered to himself, gazing at the distant warship. He had initially thought that these two nighttime trips to Cocoyasi Village were a sure thing. But honestly, if it weren't for the small, nimble sailboat being a small, unobtrusive target, they probably would have been discovered just now.

“It’s not uncommon to have people patrolling at night; I often do it myself. But that’s because Loguetown is a densely populated area with frequent pirate activity, so we can’t be careless at night. But isn’t this area relatively peaceful and quiet, with only a few small-time pirates around? Why would they have such a high density and intensity of patrols at night?”

While carefully avoiding the eyes of the navy, Smoker couldn't help but begin to have doubts about the actions of Captain Rat.

Deep down, Smoker still didn't want to believe what Leon had said. He had never doubted that the Navy was full of righteous people, after all, he had seen too many Navy soldiers whose families had been destroyed by pirates, and who then joined the Navy with the purpose of revenge and protecting others.

Other naval recruits, without any painful experiences or national or personal grievances, even if they are only there to earn a living or to legitimately enjoy combat, are more or less influenced by the influence of others.

Therefore, in the Navy, as long as there is one person in a team who is firm in justice and vows to never coexist with pirates, then starting with close friends, the others will gradually be assimilated by him.

However, if there are some scoundrels in the Navy, such as Navy rebels, those who defect for various reasons and even become pirates against the Navy, although they exist, they are extremely rare.

However, Li Ang's confident demeanor, coupled with some of the things he had said earlier, had indeed impacted Smoker. His worldview was severely shaken, and to quell his unease, Smoker decided to personally infiltrate Cocoyasi Village to investigate.

Since Smoker left, he hasn't paid much attention to some remote areas; there are actually quite a few local tyrants with their own navy.

“Something’s not right. There’s another capital ship over there. It’s only been ten minutes since I encountered that one. Although it was a bit far away and I couldn’t see it very clearly, judging from its size, it was definitely a capital ship. But a branch and a colonel’s jurisdiction over an area should only have less than ten warships in total. For me to encounter two warships like this, I hope it’s just a coincidence.”

Smoker is a classic example of someone who won't admit defeat until he sees the coffin; without seeing the phone and without concrete evidence, he still clings to a sliver of hope for Colonel Rat. Even though he's as clever as he is, having already analyzed Colonel Rat's intentions through the two capital ships, he still deceives himself into believing it's all a coincidence.

Although Smoker was only a colonel, if he hadn't been ostracized and suppressed by some people, he would have been much more than just a colonel.

First of all, Smoker is an extremely rare Logia-type Devil Fruit user. This alone is enough to determine that his future is limitless, unless he becomes a mediocre user like Caribou with the Mud-Mud Fruit, or dies young.

Secondly, no matter what happens, no matter what changes he suffers, or even if his worldview is shaken, Smoker can still maintain his unwavering sense of justice. Whether it was in the original storyline when Smoker saw the flaws of the Navy and the World Government in Alabasta and gave up the pursuit of the Straw Hats, or the stimulation brought by Leon that led him to investigate Colonel Rat's background.

He always stays true to himself and takes the right approach at the right time. Justice is paramount; everything else can take a backseat.

Finally, and most importantly, Smoker's intelligence is not only far above the average intelligence in the One Piece world, but even slightly better than Leon's in his professional field of working in the Navy and the Pirates for several years.

If your strength isn't enough, use a Devil Fruit. If a Devil Fruit isn't enough, you can still train. In short, there are methods and paths to improve combat power in this world, but there's really no way to improve intelligence.

Smoker encountered two capital ships in quick succession. As a fellow naval captain, he immediately deduced Captain Rat's formation based on his experience.

If the patrol is conducted across the entire territory, then these capital ships will definitely be scattered. The sea area is so large that if they patrol around the outer perimeter, it will take half an hour to an hour of sailing time for two capital ships to meet.

The fact that Smoker spotted two capital ships within ten minutes suggests that Colonel Rat was not conducting a full-scale patrol, but rather concentrating his forces in one area and one direction, narrowing the patrol range while increasing the intensity of the operation in that area.

The fact that Smoker could be encountered in this direction suggests only one thing: Colonel Rat was guarding the area around Loguetown. In other words, he was defending against Smoker, not pirates. That's why Smoker felt uneasy and began to deceive himself.

After dodging several small boats and a capital ship, Smoker finally arrived at Cocoyasi Village.

"Stopping here shouldn't be detected, but there are many naval forces here; it's probably just a matter of time. Looks like we need to hurry." After the Smoker ship docked at the other end of the island, it headed straight for the Dragon Territory.

Who can resist going to the Dragon Realm, the only landmark building in the entire Cocoa West Village? It's so tall that you can see it from a great distance, and even though it's already past midnight, it's still brightly lit inside.

However, when Smoker saw two naval soldiers guarding the gate from a distance, his heart sank to the bottom: "There are naval guards here? That means the people living inside are naval?"

Seeing this, Smoker couldn't help but mutter to himself again, "Wait a minute, the naval branch base for this area isn't here. I remember it was established on a deserted island. So why is there a naval guard here? It's practically naval territory. Could it be that Captain Rat has established another forward base here? But that doesn't make sense either. Looking at this building, it doesn't resemble a naval base at all. There are no gun turrets or a naval port, and it even looks quite luxurious. Could this Captain Rat really be up to something?"

Although Smoker hasn't gotten any information or seen any direct evidence yet, various signs have almost completely extinguished any remaining hope.

"Let's not alert them for now. Let's check other places first. We should be able to get more accurate information from the villagers." After hesitating for a moment in front of the gate, Smoker gave up the idea of ​​going in directly to find out. If Captain Rat really had a problem, then his navy men were probably not very trustworthy either.

Next, as Smoker approached the village, he saw a man with a windmill on his head knocking on the door of a house.

Smoker hadn't expected that there would still be villagers wandering the streets at this hour. So, to find out what they were doing, Smoker quickly used his ability to silently float onto the roof of a house and eavesdrop on their conversation from where Kensuke couldn't see him.

"Kenju, I knew it was you. I didn't sleep all day, just waiting for you to come." The villager seemed to know that Kenju was coming, and was not surprised at all.

"Alright, go to the hotel and wait for me. I'll call two more people." Kensuke nodded.

Kensuke and the villagers easily understood each other's meaning, but Smoker was completely confused. "What's going on? Why did they know we had to come so early? Is this some kind of special custom in Cocoyasi Village?"

Next, Smoker followed Kensuke to two more houses, and the procedure was almost identical: calling everyone to meet at the inn. Kensuke then went to the inn as well. Smoker, of course, followed Kensuke the whole time, and quietly slipped inside, floating on the roof beams.

"There are probably a dozen or so people here. What are they doing here in the middle of the night instead of sleeping?"

At this moment, Kensuke spoke up: "Alright, although I didn't say it, I guess everyone understands why we're here today. We need to think of a way to get rid of Colonel Rat."

"What? Kill the Rat Colonel?" Smoker nearly dropped his cigar. "They're plotting to kill a naval colonel?"

This is unheard of! The navy has always been the people's protector. Is it something villagers should do to kill the navy? Besides, even if they wanted to kill a navy captain, it would be impossible. With the villagers' limited strength, how could they possibly withstand the navy's guns and cannons?

However, what the villagers said next made Smoker gradually understand why the villagers of Cocoyasi Village wanted to kill Colonel Rat, and what Colonel Rat had been doing with the Arlong Pirates for the past few years.

"I never thought that was the case. I never imagined that Colonel Rat would have such audacity, not only cooperating with the pirate crew but now becoming a pirate himself."

The shock of this fact was undoubtedly unbearable for Smoker. He never imagined that the rat captain who always greeted him with a smile, patted his chest and said everything was normal, and that he'd take care of this area, was actually this kind of person. He couldn't believe there were such scoundrels in the Navy.

By the time Smoker recovered, the villagers' spirits had plummeted to their lowest point.

Smoker knew he had to do something, so he floated down and said, "You scoundrel rat, I'll be the one to arrest you today."

Chapter 193 Two-thirds of the corner had been dug up

Although it was impossible to tell what Smoker was saying, he was actually very angry.

The dignity of the navy, its image in the eyes of the villagers, had been tarnished by Captain Rat over the past few years, to the point of being equated with pirates. No, in the eyes of these villagers, the navy was practically pirates, even more despicable and troublesome than pirates, a group of pirates with powerful backers.

Unable to move or kill, and with the World Government and Navy as their protectors, these villagers could only silently endure the harm inflicted by Colonel Rat, seeing no hope of rescue.

But even with a thousand rages burning within him, Smoker knew he couldn't let them show. He understood that calm was paramount. The villagers had endured this for years, and Smoker only learned of it minutes later. Without giving Colonel Rat the punishment he deserved, Smoker had no right to be angry. The best response to the villagers would be to capture Colonel Rat and bring him to trial.

"Who are you? How did you get in?"

However, the other villagers were more concerned with who this half-human, half-smoky person was and how he had suddenly appeared than with Smoker's promises.

“Don’t worry, I am…” Smoker was about to say “I am Navy Captain Smoker”, but he stopped himself before he could finish the sentence.

For these villagers, the navy is no good. Before the situation is reversed, it's best not to provoke them. Smoker didn't want to see the villagers' terrified expressions as soon as he uttered the word "navy."

Sigh, that kind of expression only appears when he sees pirates, but now he's more afraid of the Marines than pirates. Smoker must be exhausted dealing with a rat-like colonel like this.

“I’m Smoker, a friend of Leon’s. He told me about this, so I came to deal with this rat colonel.” Smoker tried his best to appear friendly, but his body, which was covered in white smoke, his angular face, and the two cigars in his mouth made him look fierce and menacing, not at all warm and welcoming.

However, perhaps it was the name Li Ang that made the villagers' expressions soften and they became less tense.

"So you're Li Ang's friend. Judging from your appearance, you must be a Devil Fruit user." Kensuke, acting as a representative of the villagers, took the initiative to speak with Smoker.

Smoker then realized that he had lost control of his emotions and half of his body had turned into white smoke. He quickly withdrew the smoke and returned to normal.

"That's right, I'm a smoke person who ate the Smoke-Smoke Fruit, so my body can turn into smoke." Smoker was worried that his appearance just now was too shocking to the villagers, so he quickly explained.

"Is that so? But Colonel Rat is a member of the Navy. If you arrest him, aren't you afraid of being wanted by the Navy? I've heard that the Navy in Loguetown is very powerful."

Upon hearing this, Smoker's ever-present fierce expression twitched slightly. "I am the colonel of Loguetown, wanted by the Navy? What kind of operation is this? I'm putting myself on the wanted list."

However, Smoker explained, "Don't worry, I'm going to take him to the Navy, expose his true colors, and send him to prison for the rest of his life."

"Send it to the Navy? But Captain Rat is also in the Navy, aren't they in cahoots?" At this moment, a young villager couldn't help but ask.

Well, it seems that Colonel Rat's contributions over the past few years have been truly outstanding. This may not be just one person's opinion; I guess many people in the village think the same way.

Smoker could only curse the rat colonel in his heart over and over again, and then gently explained, "The Navy is not full of scoundrels like the rat colonel; most of them are good people. As long as we send the rat colonel there, he will receive the punishment he deserves."

As he spoke, Smoker prepared to push open the door and enter the house. These villagers' thought processes had become warped; they hadn't thought things through normally in the past few years. Smoker was also exhausted from dealing with them, afraid that opening the door would lead to some strange questions, so he quickly got to work.

As a result, Smoker had a premonition, but he was still a step too late. Just as he stepped out the door, he heard a voice behind him: "If giving him to the Navy would be useful, why didn't the Navy come and arrest him before?"

Upon hearing this, Smoker nearly stumbled and fell to the ground. He stammered, unsure how to answer, and could only quickly leave the scene, heading towards the Dragon's Domain.

Once he was a good distance away, Smoker immediately slapped himself. Why hadn't the Navy's strongest forces captured Captain Rat? It was all because he hadn't noticed anything amiss with him, trusting him too much, allowing the captain to keep it a secret until today. If Leon hadn't reminded Smoker, perhaps he would never have discovered this problem in his entire life.

Thinking about this, Smoker couldn't help but feel a pang of self-reproach. He blamed himself for not discovering the problem sooner, and felt he should bear 30% of the blame for Colonel Rat's achievements over the years. At the same time, he felt somewhat fortunate—fortunate that he had met Li Ang, and fortunate that Cocoyasi Village had received Li Ang's help; otherwise, the consequences were unimaginable.