Marine Headquarters, Marineford.
When Roy's warship docked at the port, it naturally attracted a considerable amount of attention.
After all, the giant Sea Beast corpse placed on the back of the warship was quite eye-catching.
"I'm going to find Vice Admiral Byros to report on the mission."
"Hans, you take the men from Squad 2 and escort this guy to the prison. After Headquarters verifies his identity, send him to Impel Down along with the other criminals we've detained during this period."
"Fal, you take the men from Squad 1 into town to sell the Sea Beast meat, and while you're at it, arrange for a celebration feast at the usual place."
Roy spoke with familiarity; this was clearly not the first time he had made such arrangements.
"Yes! Sir!" came the two replies.
And upon hearing 'celebration feast,' the eyes of the Custody Unit marines naturally lit up in an instant.
With that, Roy disembarked the warship on his own, planning to find his superior to report on his work.
But...
"Hey!"
He had just arrived at Marine Headquarters' Oris Plaza when a familiar voice reached his ears.
The voice made him curse inwardly, and he immediately turned to flee.
But before he could get away, he saw clouds of white smoke already surrounding him.
"What have you decided about the matter I mentioned before?"
Along with this question, a figure slowly condensed from within the smoke.
After hearing the other person's words, Roy answered without the slightest hesitation, "Not good—Smoker, I don't plan on leaving the Custody Unit!"
That's right.
The iconic white hair, the knotted muscles, the ever-present cigars in his mouth and on his chest, and the unique 'Jitte' weapon on his back all pointed to the other person's identity.
Marine Headquarters Commander, user of the Logia-type Smoke-Smoke Fruit, 'White Hunter' Smoker.
"Roy Amos!"
At this moment, upon hearing this, Smoker roared while biting his cigar, "You bastard... Don't joke with me!"
"Who's joking with you?" Roy glanced at him irritably.
He knew, of course, what the other man wanted.
In fact, Smoker was a colleague who had joined the Marines in the same batch as him.
And as one could imagine—with a Logia user right in front of him, Roy certainly wouldn't let his ability go unrecorded.
So, during the period of training and probationary missions after joining the Marines, Roy and Smoker had gotten along well and were considered true friends.
It was only after their recruit training ended that their paths diverged completely.
Smoker, with his Logia fruit ability and outstanding strength, naturally became an elite groomed for greatness by the Marines, even entering the elite training camp of the former Marine Admiral 'Black Arm' Zephyr.
Roy, on the other hand, decisively chose to join the Custody Unit.
To this day, although they were from the same batch, there was already a two-rank difference between them.
This was precisely why Smoker had come.
He was already a Headquarters Commander, and according to headquarters rules, once a Marine Headquarters officer was promoted to Captain, they faced two choices.
Either join the fleet of a Vice Admiral or even an Admiral, or head to one of the Four Blues to manage a Marine branch there.
The former was the choice of most Captain-level officers, as carrying out missions under high-ranking officers allowed for faster promotion.
But as a well-known hardliner and troublemaker within Marine Headquarters, Smoker had no desire to serve under any Vice Admiral.
So he had already made his choice—he would go to his hometown, Loguetown, to serve as the commander of the Marine branch.
And that was why he was looking for Roy now.
"I've said it before, I need an exceptionally capable subordinate officer."
He looked at Roy with a grim expression.
"And I've said it before, I'm not going. I believe I already recommended Lieutenant Tashigi to you; she's a good marine..." Roy said with a serious face.
Leave the Custody Unit?
Who was going to make up for the Devil Fruits he would be missing out on?
But just as the words left his mouth...
"Boom!"
The sound of something massive cutting through the air reached Roy's ears.
And so...
"Swoosh!"
Roy's figure instantly disappeared from his spot, and at that moment, Smoker's 'Jitte' had already slammed violently onto the ground.
"Crack!"
The white ground of Oris Plaza instantly cracked under Smoker's immense strength, leaving a huge gash.
The marines who had been passing by were startled. "What's going on!?"
"Enemy attack?"
Some marines even subconsciously cocked their flintlock rifles.
But then, they saw a sight that shocked them.
Smoker, after adding to the workload of Marineford's ground restoration crew with a single strike, didn't pause for a moment.
"White Fist!"
He shouted, and then countless fists made of smoke flew out from his body, swinging relentlessly towards Roy!
"Hey, hey, hey! Smoker—what are you doing? Are you crazy!?"
But amidst those countless swinging fists, Roy's figure weaved and dodged continuously.
And the countless fists Smoker threw couldn't touch him at all.
[Rabbit-Rabbit Fruit, Model: Snow Rabbit LV1 - Equipped - Grants partial snow rabbit traits, enhances the whole body, with extra reinforcement to hearing and speed]
[Mouse-Mouse Fruit, Model: Gray Mouse LV1 - Equipped - Grants partial gray mouse traits, enhances the whole body, with extra reinforcement to agility]
But Smoker paid him no mind at all.
"White Impact!"
While continuously bombarding Roy with fists of smoke, his lower body turned into a surging cloud of smoke, causing his upper body to suddenly appear in front of Roy.
He raised the Jitte in his hand high and brought it crashing down on Roy again!
"You're serious?!"
Roy exclaimed in surprise upon seeing this, then raised a hand.
The abilities within the Fruit Encyclopedia switched again.
[Ox-Ox Fruit, Model: Rhinoceros LV1] [Strength-Strength Fruit LV1].
The power that could send a Sea Beast flying with a single punch once again filled Roy's body, and he directly reached out and blocked Smoker's Jitte!
"Boom!"
The immense force instantly shattered the ground beneath Roy's feet again.
But even under such tremendous power, Roy's figure remained unshaken.
He just looked at Smoker and said in a deep voice, "If you keep this up, I won't be holding back!"
"Bring it on!"
Smoker growled, and his arm once again turned into white smoke, about to charge at Roy.
Seeing this, Roy gritted his teeth. "You bastard!"
He no longer held back, continuing to grip Smoker's 'Jitte' with one hand while turning his other hand into an open palm.
At this moment, the abilities within the Fruit Encyclopedia switched once more.
[Human-Human Fruit, Model: Daibutsu LV1 - Comprehensively enhances physical constitution and can emit a small shockwave from the hands]
Then, a golden shockwave erupted from his palm.
"Boom!"
A deep trench suddenly appeared in the ground, and the smoke that was Smoker was instantly blasted away and dispersed by Roy's palm strike.
Only when he landed in the distance did he reform into Smoker's figure.
At this point, the marines near the area where the two had fought were almost all sent flying!
Some of the uninformed marines even subconsciously raised their weapons, thinking an attack was underway.
It was only after they saw that both men in the center of the battlefield were wearing Marine uniforms that they all showed stunned expressions.
"So strong... they're like monsters... Who are these two!?"
"I know the one with white hair, he's 'White Hunter' Smoker!"
"The one who ate a Logia fruit, the mad dog of Headquarters known for disobeying orders?"
"Who's the other guy, to be able to fight him!?"
"Is he an officer from an elite unit!?"
The marines discussed amongst themselves.
The strong always attract attention, no matter where they are.
And without a doubt—even at Marine Headquarters, for most marines, a battle of this level was still a rare sight.
But at this moment, Smoker didn't care about the surrounding discussions.
He just held a cigar in his mouth, his expression still grim. "Your physical strength and your 'Wave Motion Fist Technique'... they've gotten stronger again!"
That's right.
Smoker was one of the people in all of Marine Headquarters who understood Roy the best—at least, that's what he believed.
So he had long known how astonishing Roy's talent was in speed, strength, and reflexes.
In fact, if he hadn't seen Roy swim in the sea with his own eyes, he would have even suspected Roy was a Devil Fruit user.
In addition, he had long since seen this 'Wave Motion Fist Technique' that Roy had just used.
According to Roy, it was a fist technique that 'uses the invisible vibrations of the air when punching to create a shockwave'—Smoker had tried to learn it in private many times, but he could never understand how Roy did it.
But that wasn't important.
There were many strange and skilled people on this sea; he'd even heard that some guy in the Revolutionary Army could shatter rocks just by winking.
For Smoker, what was truly important... was that he couldn't understand Roy's choice!
Most marines believed that those who voluntarily applied to join the Custody Unit were mostly cowards unwilling to face danger directly.
But Smoker knew that Roy was not that kind of person.
"Do you still remember that little girl from Kexila Village?"
He said in a low voice, biting his cigar.
"Back then, to get back the money for her mother's treatment, you and I chased a group of pirates across an entire sea, carving a bloody path through a pirate-infested town to capture them!"
"I've seen your justice with my own eyes, Roy... Tell me what the hell you're thinking!?"
"You have this kind of power, so why are you unwilling to go to the front lines and make a name for yourself, instead choosing to hole up in the Custody Unit as a mere Captain?" he roared.
But faced with Smoker's questioning, Roy was very calm. "Justice?"
He took out a flask from his sleeve and began to drink from it, glug glug.
He looked very heroic.
However, judging by the black, bubbly liquid spilling from the flask, he was clearly drinking cola.
Then, he grinned. "What you saw wasn't my justice, Smoker—that was just basic conscience."
"Besides... I'm not a very ambitious person. I think it's pretty good in the Custody Unit!"
Hearing this, Smoker's anger flared even higher.
"You bastard..."
White smoke surged from his arms, clearly preparing to attack again.
If words didn't work, he'd communicate with his fists. That's the kind of man he was!
But just then...
"Smoker."
A sudden voice made Smoker pause.
"Oh!"
"Who's that beauty?"
"It's 'Black Cage' Hina, the Commander!"
Excited voices came from the crowd of marines, and crimson hearts appeared in the eyes of many.
At that moment, a slender, pink-haired beauty, also in a Marine uniform, was walking out from the crowd.
"Just got back from a mission and found you causing trouble again. Hina is very disappointed."
She had a thin cigarette in her mouth and looked at Smoker with a resigned expression.
"Your last disciplinary action hasn't even been cleared yet, has it!?"
As Smoker's friend who often had to clean up his messes, she clearly had many complaints.
Although Smoker's imposing manner had already weakened, he still tried to put on a brave face. "Hmph! This time it's not my fault, it's this bastard..."
He decisively removed himself from responsibility for the problem, turning his head to try and get Hina to join him in denouncing a certain unambitious character.
But when he turned his head...
Across from him, where Roy had been standing, there wasn't a single soul in sight.
"He ran away again... that bastard!"
Realizing Roy had fled, Smoker's veins bulged with anger, his fists clenched tightly.
But before he could give chase, a circle of black iron bars surrounded him.
And from behind him, Hina's voice carried a dangerous edge. "Trying to run? Explain yourself—what kind of craziness were you up to this time? Otherwise... Hina is going to get angry!"
And so, Smoker's expression finally became flustered.