The two disguised marines were her than Smoker and Hina.

  After capturing Diamahey had knocked out two unluavy soldiers, stripped off their uniforms, and dragged them into a ste cave to hide.

  While Smoker kept shooting, he muttered, “What’s going on? Why are they fighting?”

  Hina whispered, “Isn’t it normal for the navy to fight pirates?”

  Smoker frowned in fusion.

  That guy was definitely Diamante, and from the looks of it, he didn’t seem to be enemies with Zean. Could it be that Zean didn’t know his identity?

  Impossible. A navy officer from the North Blue should definitely know about Dofmingo’s top executives.

  “I’m not sure. Let’s keep our cover and see what’s going on,” Smoker said.

  He had looked into Dofmingo's bounty, knowing that at this point in time, it was still 160 million berries—far from his peak strength, more like a rookie "Supernova" in power.

  In terms of skill, Dofmingo was about on par with a navy rear admiral, but, of course, that depended on which rear admiral. If someone like Giake stepped in, they could definitely handle him.

  Smoker watched Dofmingo move, and a thought crossed his mind.

  [He's pretty cocky… Maybe I should take him down a notch.]

  Smoker stared at Dofmingo, feeling the urge to spar.

  In the past two years, the enemies I have entered have been quite extreme.

  It's either Garp or Zefa, or in the end it's a bonus.

  Either ordinary pirates or fellow students,

  Every time I fought, I either killed my oppo instantly or was killed by my oppo instantly. I never entered a suspenseful life or death game.

  Therefore, Smoker wao find an oppo who o go all out to test his level.

  Smoker’s urge to test himself against Dofmingo grew stronger.

  On the beach, Zean and Dofmingo were locked in bat.

  Using his fruit ability, Dofmingo gracefully dodged the rain of bullets fired by the navy soldiers, effortlessly moving through the air.

  Smoker raised an eyebrow.

  [Show-off, huh? Well, let’s see how you hahis.]

  He grabbed a few rifles, tying the triggers together with rope, mimig what he had once seen Bellemere do.

  “Bang, bang, bang, bang!”

  With a single pull of the rope, several rifles fired simultaneously, catg the attention of the surrounding soldiers, who began looking for spare ons to join iion.

  One of the nearby stists observed Smoker’s innovation and lit up with i.

  “bining guns to enhance firepower? Not bad! But it’s too plicated. A better approach would be to improve the bullets or the loading meism... Maybe an automatic loading system?”

  The navy had no she of firearms, and soon, more and more soldiers were copying Smoker’s tactileashing a hailstorm of bullets that even Dofmingo couldn’t pletely avoid.

  Finally feeling pressured, Dofmingo responded, attag the soldiers with his infamous “Five Colored Strings.”

  But before the razor-sharp strings could reach the soldiers, Zean appeared in front of them, smming her hands to the ground.

  “Thorn Wall!”

  Massive bck thorns burst from the ground, weaving together to form a barrier. Though Dofmingo’s strings cut through some of the thorns, they were ultimately stopped.

  “You guys ’t handle him! Get the stists out of here! I’ll hold him off!” Zeon shouted.

  The soldiers didn’t argue. After a quick respohey began to retreat with the stists.

  Smoker, still blending in with the crowd, tio observe Dofmingo, thoughts swirling in his mind.

  Hina tugged at his sleeve.

  “Smoker... we should go too.”

  Seeing everyone else retreating, Smoker realized standing around made them stand out even miven that they were in disguise, it was better to avoid unnecessary attention.

  Smoker had already drawn too much attention with his improvised gun tactics. Any more odd behavior, and someone might realize who he really was. Worse yet, they might be mistaken for Dofmingo’s spies.

  Not wanting to risk that, Smoker nodded and followed Hina ireat.

  [Fine, I’ll just watch for now. I’ll get my ce to fight him someday...]

  Once everyone had left the beach, only Zeon and Dofmingo remained.

  Zeon spat on the ground. “Same dirty tricks as always.”

  Dofmingo hovered in the air, his high mobility making him difficult to pin down.

  “Fufufufu... pining about a pirate being underhanded? How naive!”

  “Zeon, your Thorn Fruit is det for attag, but too bad... it’s no good for defense.”

  In an instant, Dofmingo luowards some of the slower navy soldiers who hadn’t yet made it far enough.

  “Thorn Fruit?”

  Hearing the name made Smoker's eyes widen.

  Wasn't that the power of his old partner, Miss Doublefinger—Sara?!

  So Zeon was the previous Thorn Fruit user...

  No wonder he hadn’t reized her at first. Zean and Sara were worlds apart in both appearand fighting style.

  But Zean was clearly much strohan Miss Doublefinger. How did she end up dead ter? Was Dofmingo behind it?

  Before Smoker could dwell on it, Dofmingo closed in on the fleeing soldiers, raising his hand with a wicked grin.

  “I’ll take care of you first!”

  But suddenly, a sense of danger washed over him. He instinctively dodged, and at that very moment, several thorny spikes shot past him, tearing through his suit.

  Cold sweat broke out on Dofmingo’s brow.

  That was too close. If he’d been even a fra of a sed slower, he’d have been impaled.

  Zean stood with her palm outstretched, thorny spikes protruding from her hand.

  “Didn’t expect you to dodge that. So you’ve learned Observation Haki, huh? Looks like you haven’t been sg these past two years.”

  “If you’re not afraid of being a pincushion, go ahead and attack my subordinates…”

  “Sacrifig a few of them to take you down seems like a fair trade…”

  As she spoke, Zean advaoward Dofmingo, her body sprouting more thorns that arrahemselves like armor.

  The navy soldiers, hearing Zean’s words, were shocked. “W-What?!”

  But Smoker noticed something. Despite their terrified faces, the soldiers hadn’t eased their grip on their ons o.

  [Ah, I see... they're putting on a show. Impressive teamwork.]

  After hearing Zean's threat, Dofmingo abandoned his pursuit of the soldiers, desding slowly to the ground instead.

  “Fufufu... A new le attack? How annoying! But... Overheat!”

  Dofmingo whipped a strand of his strings, turning it into a fming whip that sshed through the sand, leavirenches in its wake.

  “Shave!”

  Zean dodged with blinding speed, closing the distaween her and Dofmingo. Her thorn-covered fist shot forward, aimed directly at his chest.

  Dofmingo, realizing his Armament Haki wasn’t strong enough to block the blow, quickly maniputed his strings to pull himself out e, while simultaneously binding Zean with his threads.

  The fri betweerings and Zean’s thorny armor caused a screeg sound, with sparks flying everywhere.

  But Zean remained calm, and the armor on her body suddeended, pushing the threads apart. She swiftly broke free and tinued her assault.

  From a distance, Smoker and Hina watched in awe.

  “Zean’s power is impressive, adaptable for both offense and defense, and she even has ratacks... It’s like watg a human pore,” Smoker remarked.

  Hina blinked. “A what?”

  “Never mind, just someone I knew with a bone problem. Didn’t end well.”

  “Oh...”

  At that moment, an officer shouted, “Everyone, support Vice Admiral Zean!”

  “Uood, sir!” the navy soldiers responded in unison, raising their guns and opening fire.

  Dofmingo dodged a few bullets, gring coldly at the navy. If not for Zean’s interference, he could have sunk these weaklings into the sea in under a minute. But with Zean around, Dofmingo found himself uo act freely.

  Ign them while fighting Zean and dodging bullets was simply too risky—he might even end up losing here, an oute he could not afford.

  By now, Dofmingo had regained his posure. Realizing that tinuing the fight wasn’t in his favor, especially with his reinforts still far off, he decided to retreat. Leaping high into the air, he nded on his string threads suspended in the sky.

  “Heh heh heh, Zean, there are too mas around here. I’ll call it a day... ime we meet, it’ll be your end. Enjoy what’s left of your life.”

  Zean scoffed. “Hah! As if I’m afraid of you!”

  Dofmingo’s expression darkened. “Just wait... I’ll personally take your head and avenge Diamante!”

  With that, he disappeared into the distance, leaving a bewildered Zean behind.

  “What the... What happeo Diamante?”

  The surrounding navy soldiers looked at each other, equally fused. “No idea…”

  Zean’s face darkened. Something was off. “Search the area! Tear this pce apart if you have to, but find that bastard!”

  “Yes, sir!” the soldiers responded, scattering to search the isnd.

  Smoker and Hina moved toward the area where they had hiddewo unfortunate navy men. Smoker spoke to the other soldiers nearby. “We’ll hahis area. You check over there.”

  “Roger that! Thanks!”

  In this way, no one discovered that the two navy soldiers had been sed. After hours of searg, the reports came in.

  “Rep in! No sign of the target!”

  “Report! No abnormalities found!”

  Diamante was o be found, leaving Zean deep in thought.

  What could have happened? Did that idiot drown or something? There’s no way he was captured, right?

  As he pondered, Zean began to resider his alliah Dofmingo. Sure, Dofmingo was generous with money, but he was uable, and there was no telling when he’d stab him in the back.

  After all this trouble, Zea mentally and physically exhausted.

  “Fet it. Let’s head back!”

  The navy boarded their ships and sailed away. Smoker and Tashigi mao blend in with the crowd and board unnoticed. As for the two navy soldiers they had repced, they were still unscious ie cave.

  At least there was enough food to st them a while. And after a few days, they would surely discover the hidden Den Den Mushi that could call for help.

  Once aboard the ship, Smoker and Hina slipped away from the group, stealing a Den Den Mushi areating to the lower cargo hold. Meanwhile, elsewhere, Jakie was at their gravesite, drinking heavily.

  Suddenly, his Den Den Mushi rang. When he answered and heard Smoker’s voice, he was so shocked he nearly fainted.

  After firming they were alive, Jakie was thrilled, but Smoker’s words quickly sobered him up.

  “Jakie, I’ve got more to report...”

  Smoker theailed everything that had happened, causing Jakie to fall into a heavy silence. He was aware of the G2 Branch’s secret mission involving the testing of new artillery, and he knew Zean well. If Zean really was in league with pirates, this was no small matter.

  “Smoker, I’ll report this to Master Zephyr immediately,” Jakie said before quickly hanging up and rushing to find Zephyr.

  In Zephyr’s rge office, he sat behind his desk, breathing heavily, his face teh effort. He struggled to suppress a cough, his body trembling as if fighting against something. On the desk y a spray inhaler. Zephyr was trying his best to resist using it, but eventually, his asthma overtook him. Relutly, he grabbed the inhaler and took a deep breath, finally finding some relief.

  As he regained his breath, Zephyr gazed at the inhaler in his hand, a bitter smile f on his lips. “To think I’m reduced to depending on this…”

  Zephyr’s health had taken a turn for the worse. inally suffering from asthma, the exposure to toxic dust had exacerbated his dition.

  Now, the doctors had diagnosed him with a bination of poisoning and illness, leaving him reliant on the inhaler for relief. But ained him the most was the fact that, in the moment his students needed him the most, his illness had rendered him powerless.

  “Damn it!” Zephyr smmed his fist on the desk, shattering the inhaler in his grip.

  At that moment, a knock came from the door.

  “Master Zephyr, it’s Jakie. I have something urgent to report. May I e in?”

  “Enter,” Zephyr replied coolly.

  Jakie entered, his expression grave. “Master Zephyr, there’s something I o report to you in person.”

  Zephyr frowned. “In person? What’s so serious? Speak.”

  Jakie then reyed Smoker’s entire report. Zephyr was overjoyed to hear that Smoker and Tashigi were alive, but his mood quickly darkened when he heard about the pirates on Zean’s ship. Furious, Zephyr was ready to immediately sail out and deal with the situation personally. After all, Zean was one of his own students.

  It took all of Jakie’s efforts to calm Zephyr down. After all, Smoker’s at was only one side of the story, and the true situation o be iigated before any a was taken.

  And who better to duct that iigation thaere already undercover?

  Later that day, Smoker and Tashigi were ba the lower cargo hold, arguing with Jakie over the Den Den Mushi.

  “What?! You’re not ing to get us, and you want us to iigate Zean instead?!”

  “Do you even realize we’re on his turf?!”

  “New identities prepared?!”

  “It’s not about the danger; I’ve never dohis kind of mission before!”

  “Don’t hang up! Hey! Hello?!”

  (End of Chapter)