"Chase!" Smoker growled through gritted teeth, his voice laced with the raw fury of a hunter whose prey had just slipped through his fingers.
"We'll catch Straw Hat in the Grand Line!" He spun around sharply, barking at the soldiers behind him.
"Prepare a warship for the Grand Line—now!"
"Yes, sir!" the soldiers responded, scrambling to action.
Mike stood to the side, watching the scene with a leisurely gaze, a playful smile tugging at the corner of his lips.
He stretched lazily, the very picture of unconcern and dont give a fuck.
"Good luck, Smokey," he called out. "Go get 'em!"
With that, Mike turned and began strolling casually back toward the Red-Light District, his mind already drifting to warmer, more pleasant places.
'Let Smoker do the chasing', he mused with a faint smirk on his lips.
'He'll follow the Straw Hats to Whisky Peak, then Little Garden, then Drum Island... finally ending up in Alabasta'.
'If he really wants to catch them, the smartest play is to just wait for them in Alabasta. But that's not my problem.'
His own plans for Alabasta were far more important.
"First, I'll win a cool billion Belly at the Rain Dinners casino," he daydreamed, "then use that to buy out the entire stock of Nanohana's famous perfumes. I'll gift them to all the big breasted beauties of the desert, win their hearts with my charm and 'skills,' and embark on a romantic journey across the sands. I'll ride camels, spar with Kung Fu Dugongs, and ride the Super Spot-Billed Ducks with a lovely lady under the beautiful Alabasta night sky..."
He closed his eyes, already feeling the desert heat.
'And if anyone asks what I was doing?'
'I was painstakingly and thoroughly inspecting every single region of Alabasta to ensure no pirates were present'
'No one could be more diligent than me!'
"Hey!" Smoker's deep voice called out, snapping him out of his reverie.
"Aren't you coming?"
Mike stopped, his expression as lazy as ever.
"Chase after Straw Hat?" he asked, as if the idea were absurd. "Nah. He didn't escape from me. Besides," he added with a confident smirk.
"If I really wanted to catch him, do you think he could have gotten away?"
"You..." Smoker was momentarily speechless, a complicated emotion flashing in his eyes.
The memory of Mike's sky-splitting slash was still fresh in his mind.
He exhaled a thick cloud of smoke, his expression turning serious.
"With strength like yours, why don't you put in more effort?"
Mike glanced at Smoker, a trace of genuine pity in his eyes.
"Effort? Smoker, do you think everyone is like that Koby kid, where trying two hundred times harder actually pays off? Listen to some wisdom from me: Effort alone doesn't guarantee success. But not trying? That guarantees an easy and carefree life."
"You... what kind of twisted nonsense is that?!" Smoker's face darkened.
"It's the truth of life!"
"Hmph!" Smoker fell silent, taking a deep breath to suppress his anger.
Finally, he exhaled, his voice low but firm. "Fine. I'll go after them myself."
Mike sighed inwardly.
He knew Smoker's stubborn nature.
Even if he caught up to the Straw Hats, could his power keep pace with Luffy's cheat-like growth?
What was the point of chasing them just to become a background character in their story?
'The guy is decent, after all,' Mike thought.
'Might as well try to talk some sense into him.'
"Smoker," he said, his tone suddenly serious.
"The Grand Line's magnetic fields, weather, and currents are all chaotic. Even with a Log Pose, you can't pinpoint their exact location. Why not stay in Loguetown? Here, you guard the gateway to the East Blue. Here, you're invincible."
With that, Mike turned to leave.
He'd said all he could.
"..."
Smoker's footsteps halted.
He stared blankly at the distant, storm-tossed sea, Mike's words echoing in his mind like hammers against his pride.
He remembered watching Roger's execution in this very town, a scene that had burned itself into his soul and made him acutely aware of the suffering the Great Pirate Era had unleashed upon the world.
He saw Roger's shadow in Straw Hat Luffy.
A dead Roger had started this mess.
What would a living "Pirate King" do to the world?
His sense of justice screamed at him to give chase.
But Mike's cold logic was undeniable.
Blindly chasing them into the Grand Line, where his Smoke-Smoke Fruit abilities could be countered by Haki, was a fool's errand.
'He's right', Smoker admitted to himself with a surge of frustration.
'I'm not strong enough.'
Mike could afford not to train because he already possessed overwhelming strength.
Like Admiral Kizaru, he dictated his own pace.
But him?
The gap between himself and a true monster like Dragon was proof enough.
And the gap between him and the three Admirals... it was like the sky and the earth.
'But...' he thought, a new idea taking root.
'Earlier, I saw him discussing techniques with Admiral Kizaru.'
'That lazy bastard... he has his own unique methods, methods even an Admiral was interested in.'
His eyes widened with a dawning realization.
The only way to truly enact his justice was to get stronger.
And the key to that strength, the man who held the secrets to a completely different level of power, was right here.
Taking a deep breath, Smoker made a decision that would change the course of his life.
He turned to his bewildered men.
"Stop all preparations," he commanded, his voice firm with a new, unshakable resolve.
"Find Tashigi."
"Captain?" the soldiers looked at him in confusion.
"I'm boarding that brat Mike's ship to Headquarters," Smoker's voice grew firm.
"And on the way... I'm going to have a long, long talk with him."
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