#736 - Intercept! Stir Up the Storm! (Two in One)

The sky was cloudless and the sea was calm.

If Smoker had not had to escort the criminals to Cake Island, he could have stayed safely in the branch base in such good weather today. After morning exercises, he could have taken his fishing rod and gone fishing on the coast to enjoy this peaceful morning.

After joining the New Navy for so many years, Smoker has also used this platform to realize many of his dreams.

Originally, he was planted in the new navy by the Navy Headquarters as a spy, and thought it was a "hard and unrewarding" job. After all, "since ancient times", very few spies have had a good ending.

But what Smoker did not expect was that since he entered the new naval branch, the superior liaison officer of the headquarters seemed to have disappeared. Over the years, he had hardly assigned any decent tasks to these secret agents.

So much so that up to now, the New Navy and the Naval Headquarters have been reunited, and his hidden chess piece has not been activated, even making Smoker forget that he actually has another identity.

The peaceful and harmonious living environment of Ten Thousand Nations also made Smoker completely fall in love with this place. For most people, if they can live a peaceful and stable life, who would want to put their head on the belt and go to the sea to live a life of fighting and killing?

It is precisely because of Smoker's yearning and hope for a peaceful life that his hatred for pirates becomes intensified.

For Smoker, the only purpose of pirates is to destroy their existing peaceful life.

Precisely because of this, Smoker is extremely "hawkish" in his attitude towards pirates. Although his methods are not cruel, the pirates who fall into his hands will never be able to leave the world safely.

Straw Hat Luffy

Smoker was naturally extremely cautious when escorting the pirate who once caused great damage on Fishman Island.

On the deck of the warship, Smoker stood at the bow, smoking a cigar, feeling the warm sea breeze and basking in the morning sunshine.

A school officer walked out of the cabin and came behind Smoker. After a salute, he reported in a deep voice:

"Mr. Smoker, Straw Hat Luffy has been locked up in the cabin as you requested, and the number of guards has been increased to 20. Please rest assured."

According to Smoker, the captured Luffy was not held in a prison cell on the warship, but was instead locked up in a cabin somewhere on the ship.

This was actually some of Smoker's little thoughts. He searched Hazelnut Island for a while but did not find any trace of other Straw Hat Pirates crew members.

According to the existing intelligence in the hands of the New Navy, the Straw Hat Pirates have more combat power than just two people and a deer.

The fact that no trace of other people was found means that Straw Hat Luffy has accomplices active in Wano Country. In fact, the other party should have already known the news that Straw Hat Luffy has been captured.

Smoker always assumes the utmost malice towards pirates. The Straw Hat crew's accomplices haven't shown up yet, so we can't bet that they have all left Bankoku.

If the other party wants to rescue Straw Hat Luffy, then the route from Hazelnut Island to Cake Island will be the Straw Hat Pirates' last chance.

Fearing that someone might break into the prison, Smoker had some careful ideas and did not imprison Straw Hat Luffy in the usual way.

"Well, from now on, without my order, no one is allowed to approach the cabin where Straw Hat Luffy is imprisoned under any excuse."

"Before you arrive at Cake Island, you must all stay alert and not let your guard down for even a moment!"

Smoker tilted his head slightly and looked at the adjutant behind him, and gave a serious instruction. However, seeing Smoker's serious look, the young adjutant hesitated for a moment and asked cautiously:

"Mr. Smoker, it's just a prisoner escort as usual."

"But I think you seem a little too nervous?!"

"This is Wan Guo. Will your worries really happen?"

Perhaps the long period of peace had caused some of the young people in Wano Country to lose their vigilance, or perhaps the reputation of the Straw Hat was not loud enough for these grassroots officers to take it seriously. In short, Smoker's adjutant revealed a hint of frivolity in his words and deeds.

Perhaps for him, this escort mission was not much different from usual ones.

"shut up!"

"Do you know what you're talking about?"

"So what if this is Wanoku? Didn't your instructors at the military academy teach you never to underestimate any pirate?!"

"Those guys are desperate criminals walking on the sea. They are capable of doing anything."

Faced with subordinates who had a somewhat frivolous attitude, Smoker reprimanded them in a deep and serious voice.

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Smoker!"

The adjutant was obviously aware of his superior's temper. After being reprimanded, he immediately stood up straight and admitted his mistake with a good attitude.

While the two of them were talking, the warship that was sailing steadily on the sea seemed to have hit a reef. Although there was a dull loud noise in the sea, the entire warship suddenly shook violently.

“Boom!!!”

Water splashed from the bottom of the ship, and the soldiers on the deck were caught off guard and fell to the ground. Even Smoker, the chief officer, bent his waist involuntarily and quickly grabbed the handrail with one hand, while using the other hand to grab the adjutant who was about to fall.

"What's going on?!!"

The violent shaking came suddenly. Without waiting for Smoker to speak, the adjutant quickly stood up and asked loudly to the sailors on the deck.

However, the navy on the deck did not seem to have a grasp of the specific situation. They just quickly ran to the side of the ship and lowered their heads to look at the sea.

The power system of the warship seemed to be affected, and the speed of the warship slowed down.

"Mr. Smoker, it looks like we hit something."

"I don't know if it's a sea monster or a reef."

After all, Wan Guo is located in the New World. Although the environment in the inland sea is more stable than other places, it is after all the most complex place.

Not to mention the landforms in the sea, there are countless sea beasts living in the Wan Guo area.

It’s just that the philosophy that the new navy upholds is “harmonious development between man and nature”, and the new navy has never taken the initiative to attack and deal with those sea beasts that do not cause substantial harm.

When sea beasts grow to a certain extent, they seem to have a little wisdom. In this world where the strong prey on the weak, sea beasts can also sense the deadly threats emanating from the strong men among the Ten Thousand Nations. Very few sea beasts will approach the islands of the Ten Thousand Nations.

The warship was only four or five nautical miles away from Hazelnut Island, so it was still within the coastal waters of Hazelnut Island. Logically, there shouldn't be any sea beasts in such a place.

Smoker heard his subordinates' speculation without commenting, but his already serious face looked even more stern at this moment.

"Go and find out what happened!"

The adjutant took the order and ran quickly towards the cabin. Not long after he left, a sergeant hurriedly ran out of the cabin, quickly came to Smoker and reported:

"Report, the warship's hull seems to have hit something, and the bottom cabin is leaking."

"We are already carrying out emergency repairs. We will be able to complete simple repairs within half an hour and meet the conditions for continued travel!"

The emergency management training of the new navy was actually quite good. Although they were not able to find out the cause of the damage immediately, the extent of the damage had been clearly detected in such a short time, and the repair work had begun spontaneously without Smoker saying anything.

"What did you hit?!"

Listening to his subordinates' reports, for some reason, Smoker had a bad feeling. Then he seemed to have suddenly thought of something, and he looked up at the warship's observation deck, not caring about his subordinates on the deck, and flew directly to the observation deck.

When the soldiers in the tower saw Smoker's sudden arrival, they all saluted him, but Smoker had no intention of paying attention to them. He walked directly to a high-magnification telescope, moved the telescope, and looked around at the sea conditions around the warship.

"Did you find anything unusual?!"

While checking the situation in the sea, Smoker asked the soldiers behind him.

"Well?"

"Report, not yet!"

The soldiers could all sense that something was wrong with the atmosphere. The inexplicable shaking just now also revealed a strong sense of incongruity. In response to Smoker's question, a sergeant immediately spoke after a brief thought.

“I didn’t find anything unusual.”

After looking around with the telescope, Smoker didn't find anything special. Just as he was about to put down the telescope, he suddenly noticed a small black dot on the sea surface in the southeast direction.

"Um?"

He let out a light exclamation, and upon closer inspection, he saw that the small black dot was actually a shark-shaped speedboat, speeding towards the warship at a very fast speed.

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“Sound the alarm!”

"Enemy attack!"

With just one glance, Smoker realized that the visitor was not friendly, and he immediately gave the order.

"etc!"

"Order squads one and three to take up combat positions."

"Team Two, check all areas of the ship to see if anyone has gotten aboard!"

"Team Four is supporting the emergency management team and escorting them to repair the ship."

"Team Five guards the power room."

After noticing the enemy attack, Smoker quickly associated the violent collision that had just occurred with the enemy.

After so many years of traveling on the sea, Smoker doesn't believe in coincidences at all.

Most likely, this is just a tactic used by the enemy to make a feint to the east and attack in the west.

The target is probably the person in the cabin!!

"Could it be someone from the Straw Hat Pirates?"

"I can't guess what the others would gain from attacking our army in the Land of Nations."

The alarm sounded on the warship, and Smoker's orders were transmitted to the ears of every sailor on the warship through the loudspeaker and intercom on the observation deck.

Of course, it wasn't just the navy that heard Smoker's orders.

In the cabin.

The soldiers marched in unison, one team after another rushing towards the deck. As the footsteps faded away, the door of a cabin opened gently, and Sanji, wearing a navy uniform, revealed half of his face. He smoothed his wet bangs with his hand, quickly checked the situation in the corridor, and then quickly got out of the cabin.

"The prison is at the bottom."

Sanji said in his heart, and then his figure disappeared into the darkness.

In the cabin he left, three sailors were lying unconscious on the ground. One of them was even wearing only a pair of white shorts and his body was stripped naked.

On the deck, Smoker, who was originally on the lookout, has returned to the bow. Looking at the surrounding sea, he can see that there is only one speedboat approaching their warship rapidly.

As the two sides got closer, Smoker could see clearly that there were only two people on the speedboat, and they looked very young.

One of them seemed to be a female from the Fur Tribe. Upon investigation, the woman did not appear on the current wanted list of the New Navy.

However, Smoker did not let down his guard. Considering the violent collision just now, it was highly likely that those two people had bad intentions!

Moreover, anyone who can walk on this sea should never be underestimated, even if one has an absolute advantage in numbers, one should not take it lightly.

"Send a flag signal to make the other side stop."

"Test fire three shells. If the enemy shows no sign of stopping, fire all at once and sink it!"

Seeing the speedboat getting closer, Smoker gave the order.

In order to avoid accidental killing, Smoker still left some room, but it is obvious that Smoker's behavior will not have any effect, because the other party is targeting the navy!

“Boom boom boom—”

After the flag signals had no effect, the navy fired artillery shells. However, the speedboat not only showed no sign of slowing down, but instead increased its speed.

The navy, realizing this, had no intention of holding back anymore. With bursts of artillery fire, countless shells were fired.

However, the small and nimble speedboat shuttled freely in the rain of shells. Occasionally, a few shells were likely to hit, but the fur girl on the speedboat would leap up and wave her claws to detonate the shells in advance.

As a result, in just a few minutes, the distance between the two sides had been shortened by several thousand meters, and the new navy's artillery shells only fired a few rounds of blank shots.

“Tsk—”

"Be prepared for battle."

Smoker's expression grew colder, and he spoke to the soldiers on the deck.

There were more than 200 people on this warship, and nearly half of them were gathered on the deck at this time.

On the speedboat, Coby, who was driving the speedboat, tried his best to dodge the enemy's shells with the help of his observation Haki. Seeing the ships of both sides approaching, Coby also growled:

"Let's go!"

"Save Luffy!"

Coby, who dreams of becoming a new navy, now stands against the navy for Luffy, but he does not have any regrets in his heart.

During the time he traveled with the crew, he had fallen deeply in love with that kind of life and also enjoyed the days of adventure with his companions.

"Oh!" Gallot exclaimed excitedly, leaped straight away from the speedboat and landed towards the warship, and at this moment Coby also abandoned the small boat under him and followed Gallot to leap towards the deck of the warship.

“Da Da——”

As Coby and Carrot arrived at the deck of the warship, hundreds of navy men surrounded them.

Smoker stood at the back of the army, looking at the two people who rushed onto the warship, his expression stern:

"kill!"