Smoker the White Hunter (One Piece crossover) I

Smoker the White Hunter (One Piece crossover)
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Captain Smoker and his crew find themselves in Brockton Bay shortly after sailing into the Grand Line. (Pre-Alabasta Smoker)
1.1
Tashigi enjoyed life as a Marine. Captain Smoker was a fair commander, mentor, and strong too. Sure she was a bit clumsy at times. But that didn't mean anything! Overall, Tashigi liked her career choice. That was until Smoker decided to go after Straw Hat Luffy. Everything started out well after entering the Grand Line. Until a storm came out of nowhere.

"LOWER THE MAINSAIL." Tashihi shouted as she held onto the railing. This storm was nothing like those back in the East Blue. It was more...wild, more savage. Like nature itself wanted to drown their ship.

Captain Smoker was standing next to her with several pieces of rope firmly tied around his waist which attached him to the railing. He hated it of course, but they couldn't risk him falling into the ocean, especially during a storm. Captain Smoker hated being forced into his cabin, so this was the compromise that would keep him from falling in the water. Hopefully.

"Hold your course helmsman. You don't want to get lost in the Grand Line." Captain Smoker grunted. Tashigi only flinched a little when lightning struck close to their ship causing a big splash of water, which only soaked her and the crew even more.

"Got it Captain Smoker." The Helmsman said nervously. His job was extremely important, and dangerous. Tashigi didn't bother to learn his name.

Lightning struck again near the ship's port side, causing another large wave of water to temporarily cover the ship.

"I hate the Grand Line.' Tashigi muttered to herself. The rain seemed to pour down even harder after her statement. Yup, Mother Nature was here to make their life miserable.

Dozens of crewman and Marine soldiers scurried around trying their best to keep the ship afloat.

"ROGUE WAVE PORT BEAM." Someone screamed, they had to, otherwise the storm would drown out their voice. Tashigi turned her head, and she swore her eyes popped out of her socket.

The biggest wave she had ever seen in her life was heading towards them. Dozens of times taller than the tallest building in Loguetown, Tashigi froze with her hands holding on firm to the railing. They were going to die. They were going to die before they could ever catch Straw Hat Luffy. She was going to die before-

"HARD TURN PORT SIDE. FACE THE WAVE HEAD ON." Captain Smoker's voice took Tashigi out of her thoughts.

"Wha-" The Helmsman opened his mouth, before Captain Smoker took control of the wheel, violently turning the ship.

"There's no point in being sitting ducks. We'll face the wave head on." Captain Smoker said simply. "There's no point in dying trying to hold our course and I doubt we can outrun that wave in this storm."

The Helmsman nodded slowly before grabbing the wheel again. Captain Smoker turned to look at the rest of the crew who were staring back up at him.

"BACK TO YOUR POSITIONS. MAKE SURE EVERYTHING IS TIED DOWN INCLUDING YOURSELF." Captain Smoker shouted. His large form made more intimidating when lightning struck the water where the ship had previously been. The crew stared in awe for a few seconds before they all saluted.

"YES SIR." With that, they started running and stumbling around. Tashigi forced a small, fake smile on her face and turned to Captain Smoker.

"Sir, you should head below deck. It's not safe for you out here." Tashigi said. Captain Smoker's eyes met her, and she knew that he would never change his mind. Even with the side effect of his Devil fruit which took away his ability to swim.

"No. Make sure you tie yourself to the ship. We can't risk losing a skilled officer." Captain Smoker grunted as he turned his gaze back to the rogue wave straight ahead of them. Tashigi sighed internally, but a real smile. Compliments from Captain Smoker were rare, but he always meant them.

After quickly tying herself to the ship's rail, Tashigi held on tight.

The wave grew bigger with every passing second. The water beneath their ship grew more violent, and the sound of thunder filled Tashigi's ears.

"HOLD ON TIGHT." Captain Smoker shouted. Tashigu's complexion paled as their ship made contact with the wave. Water flooded Tashigi's mouth, ears, nose and lungs as she made contact with the ship's floor. After a minute of no oxygen, Tashigi's lungs finally got relief. Quickly gasping for the air she so desperately needed, she looked around. Captain Smoker was unconscious, and the rope that attached him to the ship was frayed, on the verge of being torn apart. Sitting up slowly, she saw that the others weren't so fortunate. Pinching the bridge of her nose, Tashigi cursed internally. She lost her glasses again. Good thing she always carried extra. Squinting her eyes, Tashigi took in her surroundings.

The Helmsman was gone. Most likely pulled away into the ocean by the water, and they had fewer crewmen than when they started. Their ship was also badly damaged.

Tashigi started to giggle. She was alive. She made it! Leaning back again, she felt her soaking wet hair stick itself to the back of her neck. Tashigi took several deep breaths before standing up again. They could mourn their losses later.

Making her way towards Captain Smoker's prone form, she kneeled down.

"Sir. Are you ok?" She checked his pulse. Yup, still alive. All she had to do was wake him up.

"Sir." Tashigi poked him.

"Sir." She poked him again.

"Captain Smoker sir." She poked him a little bit harder. This time he made a grunt and coughed up some water.

"Tashigi." Captain Smoker said as he slowly sat up. His soaking wet blue-green hair matted down.

"Yes Captain?"

"Where did the storm go?"

Wait a minute, Captain Smoker right. Where did it go? Instead of the violent storm, they were now seeing a clear sky with favorable winds.

"Get a headcount and a damage assessment." Captain Smoker stood up, and steadied himself by leaning on the ship's wheel.

Tashigi saluted before heading off to do so. It was only after she was done when the marine in the crows nest began screaming.

"LAND."





Armsmaster POV
January

Colin was working on his latest halberd when Dragon appeared on his large screen facing him.

"Hello Colin." Her plain looking avatar said with the faintest hint of a smile. Colin liked working with Dragon. She was efficient, and it was nice talking with her. Most tinkers would jump at the chance to work with the World's Greatest Tinker. This was a Tuesday for Colin.

"Hello Dragon." Colin said simply without turning to look at the screen. "Did something happen?" Dragon usually asked him ahead of time if he was able to talk.

"Oh yes. My sensors detected a strange energy several miles off of the coast near Brockton Bay." Colin paused. This usually meant something bad was going to happen. Why haven't any of the alarms gone off? "Don't worry, it's not Leviathan. I sent one of my drones to observe the anomaly and all it found was a light cruiser with sails."

Colin relaxed a bit before turning to Dragon.

"A ship? Hostile or friendly?" No one traveled the ocean by ship anymore. This was worth investigating.

Dragon's avatar nodded.

"A ship with a design that's not on any record." Smugglers could be a possibility.

Armsmaster sighed and grabbed his usual halberd.

"Trajectory?" Dragon transferred to his comlink as he started walking towards the garage that held his bike.

"The Brockton Bay docks. The Coast Guard has been alerted and ordered to let them land. They should be making landfall in about twenty minutes. Director Piggot has been informed and is sending a squad of PRT officers as backup for the BBPD in case a parahuman is involved." Armsmaster nodded in confirmation. Everyone knew that Kaiser could call help from Europe, but no one knew how they smuggled capes into America. If they could catch one before they land it would be a major victory for the Protectorate.

"Thank you Dragon."

When Armsmaster reached the Docks, several BBPD patrol cars as well as a PRT van were setting up a perimeter around a rundown beach. The strange ship in clear view.

Dismounting from his tinkertech bike, Armsmaster quickly walked to the agent in charge. The Agents faceless visor revealed no hint that he was surprised at Armsmaster's arrival.

"Situation." He said simply.

"The ship is due to land any minute now. Assault and Velocity will be here any second in case things turn violent."

Armsmaster nodded and walked closer to the water. Quickly scanning the vessel, Armsmaster confirmed that its design wasn't on any database he had access to.

When the ship got close enough it deployed a raft.

"Prepare for possible parahuman presence." Armsmaster said, activating his comlink. Eventually the boat arrived and Armsmaster got his first good look at the new arrivals.

The first man off the boat was well over six feet tall and covered in muscle. Clothed in a white militaristic jacket that left his muscular chest visible, the man had two large cigars in his mouth. His bluish-green hair surprisingly did not look out of place. The stranger didn't seem to mind the cold. The next person off of the boat was a woman with short hair, wearing glasses and a green hawiian shirt under her blue jacket. She would have looked harmless if it wasn't for the sword she had sheathed at her side. The other two wore some strange uniform that looked out of place in chilly Brockton Bay. They did seem to mind the cold.

Taking a step forward, Armsmaster was about to speak when the tall stranger spoke first with a deep voice.

"I'm Captain Smoker of the Marines. Identify yourself and this island."

...island?
 
1.2
Armsmaster was confused. He had seen and heard many things in his life. Someone calling North America an island was definitely a first. And marine? It was common knowledge that the USMC was put out of commission and combined into the Coast Guard and what was left of the US Navy. Very suspicious, but Armsmaster would play along for now. That, and Smoker was obviously a cape name.

"I am Armsmaster, leader of the Protectorate ENE. You are on the continent of North America. More specifically, the city of Brockton Bay in the United States of America." Armsmaster said simply. The tall parahuman's face, and his companions, looked confused with every word that came out of his mouth.

"Where are we in the Grand Line?" Captain "Smoker" asked. Now it was Armsmaster's turn to be confused. Grand Line? Did he mean the equator? Perhaps he was a South American mercenary. Time to play ignorant.

"Im not sure what you mean by "Grand Line". Do you have any maps with you? Perhaps we can compare yours with our own." Armsmaster said in reply. He sent a quick message to the PRT agent from earlier to bring a couple maps. Smoker nodded and motioned one of the uniformed men with them to hand him a bundle of paper as well as a weird glass compass.

"Maps don't usually work in the Grand Line, but we have these, as well as our log pose." Smoker said simply. How the two cigars didn't fall out of his mouth while he spoke, Armsmaster did not know. Probably part of his power. Two PRT agents carried over a table, most likely borrowed from the nearby DWA, a third agent placed several maps on it. Most likely from one of the BBPD patrol cars.

Armsmaster stood from one end of the boat, while Smoker stood at the other end with the lady in the hawaiian shirt. After they laid out their map, Armsmaster froze. Their maps were...different. Scratch that. They were completely different, with four horizontal lines, parallel to each other, cutting the map in half. Grand Line? What seemed to be a long vertical continent, split the map into four sections. Smoker and his underling both seemed to mirror Armsmaster confusion.

Sending a silent message to Dragon to analyze the maps for its authenticity as well as to check the 'Marines' background, Armsmaster forwarded pictures of the maps to the necessary personnel.

"He's not on any system. None of them are, it's like they never existed." Dragon said. "The maps do not match any of our own."

Even more suspicious. Though, judging by the ethnicity of the woman at Smoker' side, as well as the skin color of the two uniformed men with him, he wasn't part of the Gesellschaft or going to join the Empire.

After a few seconds of each other analyzing maps, Smoker looked up with a hard gaze. 'What a pitiful attempt to intimidate me.' Colin thought silently to himself. After all, he had faced Lung, Kaiser, and had joined several Endbringer fights. That, and he was part of the strike squad that finally killed the Slaughterhouse Nine. They lost a lot of good heroes that day.

"Where are your real maps?" Smoker grunted, his cigars still not falling out of his mouth. The woman at his side was frozen, with her eyes staring at their maps. Their two 'guards' still standing at attention behind them, obviously confused. That reaction...would be very hard to fake.

Sighing internally, Armsmaster spoke.

"I assure you that these are real. Could you tell us what happened before you arrived?"

Smoker nodded, with a suspicious look in his eyes.

"We were just entering the Grand Line, chasing after a wanted pirate when we ran into a storm. A rogue wave came out of nowhere, when we came to, we were several miles off of the coast."

Hmmm, according to the information Dragon gave him, their ship was spotted close to a weird energy reading. What if they came from an alternate Earth? After all they did receive transmissions from Earth Aleph and learned of the possibility of multiple Earths. Colin did listen to audio recordings of those essays while in the middle of tinkering. They were very interesting.

"I see." Armsmaster replied. Dragon was listening in on the conversation, and would most likely agree with him. He was about to say it to her at the moment though, in case someone who wasn't supposed to was listening at the moment. "Is there any way we can assist you at the moment? I'm sure that this is a lot of information to take in at once."

Smoker still looked at him suspiciously, but grunted in affirmation.

"Several of my men are in need of medical assistance, and my ship is in need of repair."

Armsmaster nodded and motioned several PRT agents forward.

"I'm sure we can provide the accommodations you need. These men will guide you to a place where you can dock your ship. Could you leave someone here as a symbol of good will in return?" Armsmaster said simply. One could never be too careful. Some had tried to take PRT officers hostage in the past. The result...was not pretty.

Smoker stared at him for a few seconds before sighing. Good to see that he understood what Armsmaster implied with that comment.

"Gunderson and Alby will stay here with you." Smoker said pointing to the two behind him. Said people were now staring at their leader in shock, with their jaws dropped to the floor. The woman at his side was still frozen. Did she realize what she was looking at? Most likely guessing by her reaction.

"Very well. Once you and your men are seen to, we can continue our discussion, where...less eyes and ears are around."

Naturally they are going to have to call in Panacea to check if they have any diseases that might be catastrophic to them, as well as to make sure they are immune to Earth Bet's own diseases. The first visitors from another world in the flesh, and they die from the common cold. The media will have a field day with that.

Smoker nodded again before turning towards their boat, the two PRT officers following after him. Panacea would have to give them a check up too, despite the filter in their helmets. One could never be too safe.

"Let's go Tashigi." He said simply. Smoker voice seemed to have snapped the woman, Tashigi, out of her stupor.

"I'm coming Captain!" Her light voice said as she started jogging back, all while ignoring the two who had come with them. Heh, they were being treated like background characters from an Earth Aleph anime. Such a shame Leviathan essentially ruined their own Japan.

Turning his attention to the two background characters. Colin coughed internally. He meant the 'Marines'. Both men stared at Armsmaster, confused, but still willing to obey their captain. Motioning a third PRT agent forward with the wave of a hand, the two men only flinched a little.

"Agent Walker will lead you to your temporary accommodations."

With that, Armsmaster began walking away.

Director Piggot was going to have a field day with this.





Smoker POV

It took a few minutes but they eventually managed to reach Smoker' storm damaged ship. Leaving Tashigi to guide their 'guides', Smoker headed to his private quarters to think.

Growing up he had heard many stories about the Grand Line, about the exploits of Gol D. Roger the Pirate King, and Monkey D. Garp, his Marine rival. Many pirates had gone to Loguetown in hopes of reaching the Grand line. None of them made it...until Luffy arrived. Smoker clenched fist made contact with his desk. Not strong enough to break it, but enough to make a loud thud.

Now, if he was correct, Smoker and his crew were stuck in another world. Smoker had certainly heard of such an idea, in the books he used to read as a child. Take a deep breath, and a few puffs of his twin cigars, Smoker calmed himself down.

Was he going insane? Was he actually under the spell of a Devil fruit user who had him drugged? A hard pinch to his arm quickly proved it wasnt that. Smoke began to fill the room. Some of it from the twin cigars, the other from Smoker's fist which he used to lean against his desk.

Smoker had a lot of questions. The self proclaimed Armsmaster armor, this Protectorate, city and country he spoke of. Everything was so foreign, from what buildings he saw, to those ships that were following his own from a distance.

A knock at the door took Smoker out of his thoughts. Smoker sighed, took a few more puffs from his cigars, and got rid of the smoke that his fist caused in case it was one of those 'guides.' He wasn't about to reveal his secret weapon. Especially since Smoker didnt know if this Protectorate had Devil fruit users of their own.

"Who is it?" Smoker grunted loud enough for the person on the other side to hear.

"It's me Sir." Tashigi's voice answered. Smoker stared at the door for a few seconds before closing his eyes.

"Come in."

Smoker didn't bother to turn around when Tashigi walked in. After a few more seconds, Smoker finally turned around.

Tashigi stood there, with the door closed behind her. Her normally happy eyes looked downcast, sad, scared. Who wouldn't be? They were not in a land that was theirs. However dangerous the Grand Line was, at least it was theirs.

"Sir, is it what I think it is?" Tashigi said calmly. His eyes met his protege's. Smoker looked away and inhaled the smoke from his cigar.

"That we're in another world? Yes." Was Smoker's reply. With no way home, they were now stuck here, and it was all his fault. He was sure most of the crew would be mad at him, more than mad actually.

Tashigi took another deep breath and nodded. She just continued to stand there silently.

"I understand if you want to blame me." Smoker began. It was his decision to chase after Straw Hat Luffy into the Grand Line. It was his decision to sail directly into that wave. "I understand if you hate me, for dooming this ship and crew."

Tashigi slapped him hard.

"I'M SORRY SIR, I'M SORRY , I'M SORRY." Tashigi shouted bowing deeply over and over again. Smoker stared at her impassively confused. Tashigi eventually stopped and looked up at him, her face changed.

"I don't blame you, and I don't hate you. I chose to come along Sir. If I wanted I could've requested a transfer, or refused to come." Tashigi said, her voice becoming more emotional with every word. "I chose to come because I admire you Captain Smoker. I want to become stronger, just like you. And...I WILL FOLLOW YOU TO THE END CAPTAIN SMOKER SIR." She shouted with tears streaming down her face. Tashigi bowed deeply again, her eyes shut as her tears formed a puddle on the floor.

Smoker continued to stare at her, before he started to smile. Patting Tashigi's head, she looked up at him with tears forming streams down her face.

"Thank you."
 
1.3
"First contact from another Earth and Armsmaster didn't mess it up? Consider me surprised. Should I call in master-stranger protocols?" Director Piggot said sarcastically. Colin sighed internally before nodding.

"No Ma'am. If my theory is correct, then we have found proof that there are other Earths that are drastically different from our own and Earth Aleph. Their Earth has been codenamed Earth Blue at the moment." Colin said simply. He was standing in her office, his armor locked so he could relax for a bit. Shortly after the meeting with Captain Smoker, Armsmaster made his way to PRT headquarters after leaving their 'hostages' with a PRT officer. After Panacea had seen to the injuries, and finished the checkups of the newcomers, Captain Smoker and his officers would be brought to headquarters for a more thorough discussion. "It appears that their 'Marines' happen to be their Earth's version of the Protectorate/PRT."

"I see, and you left Miss Militia in charge to come make your report in person." Director Piggot continued. That was also correct. Colin didn't trust the PRT servers with such sensitive information. After all, how else could the Empire quickly organize raids on their prisoner shipments heading to the Birdcage? No doubt the PRT had traitors in their mist, but there was nothing he could do other than start a witch hunt. That would only weaken the PRT even more and hurt the public's perception of them. That, and he didn't want the Empire interfering with first contact.

"Yes. Miss Militia has excellent social skills and is able to perform well under pressure." That was stating the obvious. Director Piggot seemed pleased, and snorted.

"Hm, very well. Once you are sure that our new guest won't die of a fever, gain common ground and confirm that their leader is a parahuman. Chief Director Costa-Brown has approved a warrant to have Panacea tell us the results of her test." Ah yes, the corona pollentia. Another interesting subject.

"How are our two guests doing?"

"According to the agent escorting them, it seems that they came from an Earth where technology is not as advanced as ours. They seemed mildly shocked by the vans moving on their own, as well as everything else in general. It should be expected judging by their ship. At the moment they are admiring the light poles and various buildings."

"I see. I want you to take the lead on this for now. You did well during the initial meeting, and you already established a rapport with them. Do the soft sell. Indirectly push that they are stranded here, and that we can help them. We need all the capes we can get. You did say that their leader was a parahuman correct? I want you to confirm just to be sure." Colin simply nodded.

That they do, with the Empire rivaling the Protectorate in size and power, and Lung being able to fight off most of the East Coast by himself.

"Head back out. Make sure you don't mess this up." Director Piggot said, glaring at him. "Now get out of my office."

Armsmaster saluted and walked out, heading for his bike again. He knew of the Director's...views on parahumans. How she didn't trust them, after all she was there at Ellisburg. Colin didn't blame her for it. He would have turned out the same way. Armsmaster made a quick call.

"What do you think Dragon?"

"Captain Smoker is most likely a parahuman, judging by how confident he was, until he saw the maps. The others with him, it could be a possibility." His eyes, eyes were said to be the window to the soul. Armsmaster knew the man was a parahuman as soon as he saw them.

"I agree. I'll call you later. I have several other calls to make." With that, Colin cut the transmission again. Quickly dialing a number as he mounted his bike, Colin spoke.

"What's the situation there." A statement, not a question.

"Panacea has just arrived with Glory Girl. Captain Smoker's ship arrived a few minutes ago. It seems that their ship is slowly taking on water, but it still wont sink. Several of his crew members seem badly injured. They look like they barely survived a storm." Miss Militia replied. That seemed to confirm their story. Good, Armsmaster could be there in a few minutes if he took a few shortcuts.

"Good. I will be there soon." If they played this right, they could get a potentially very strong parahuman to join the Protectorate. This could turn the tide of the 'war'.

They just needed to play their cards right.







Tashigi POV

They were stuck in a new world. One that was vastly different from their own. At first she thought it was some bad dream, that she was probably sick with fever below deck.

That was just lying to herself. She slapped herself several times before her meeting with Captain Smoker. The pain confirmed it. The impact her hand felt from slapping the Captain, and the puddle she formed at her feet only furthered that.

After her meeting with Captain Smoker, she felt bad after slapping him, but he needed it! How dare he blame himself for what happened. Tashigi was telling the truth when she said she would follow Captain Smoker anywhere. He was the only one who gave her a chance when everyone else made fun of her for joining the Marines, just because she was a woman who wanted to become a swordsman.

Everyone ridiculed her. Tashigi's family, they called her crazy and her Father forbade her from ever returning as long as she wielded a blade, her Marine Instructor at Headquarters, he made her life hell by giving her all of the cleaning assignments and hard duties. Her fellow Marines were the worst, catcalling her, harassing her, making her feel useless.

So Tashigi worked harder, and harder. Training to make up for her lack of strength, to prove that she can rise the ranks despite being a woman.

Then that day came, she was in the middle of a sparring match with two other cadets, both taller, larger,...stronger. Tashigi won in the end, bloody and bruised, but still standing tall. She didn't know that a younger Lieutenant Smoker was watching.

Everything else after that was history. He asked her, no...ordered her to transfer to be under his command. The then Lieutenant Smoker told her that she was skilled, and that he would need skilled officers once he was made captain.

If needed, Tashigi would die fighting for her captain.

"Master Chief, it's your turn to be seen by the doctor." Tashigi was taken out of her internal monologue abruptly and almost fell out of her chair. Startled, she looked up at the embarrassed seaman who started apologizing. It was one of the new transfers who joined before leaving Loguetown. Kazuki if Tashigi's memory was correct.

"I'm sorry!" He bowed repeatedly. Heh, Kazuki must have heard the rumors the others spread about Tashigi kicking their asses.

"Don't worry about it." Tashigi said, flashing him a smile. Kazuki calmed down a bit, but nodded with a small blush on his face. Tashigi left before he could say anything else. Captain Smoker said he would be looked at after everyone else had, so he was going after her.

They were set up in one of the buildings near where their damaged ship was docked. Armsmaster arrived shortly after. Captain Smoker stayed outside with Armsmaster since he was banned from smoking inside the building. It was actually quite amusing seeing the Captain argue with Miss Militia, the lady with a red, white and blue scarf covering her face.

Walking up to the door where the healer set herself up, a young blonde girl in a white dress floated up to her. Floated...in the air…strangely enough it wasn't the weirdest thing Tashigi had seen in her relatively short life.

Their eyes made contact, and Tashigi felt a chill go down her spine. The girl kept a passive face, and Tashigi started to feel happiness?

"Oh.."

Was the strange girl going to attack her?

"My…"

Why was she feeling happiness and admiration for this stranger?

"GOD YOU'RE SO BEAUTIFUL! YOU LOOK LIKE A MODEL!" The weird girl screamed as she quickly floated around Tashigi examining her. Feeling a blush form on her face, Tashigi crossed her arms in an attempt to hold her modesty. Good thing she always wore her shirts buttoned up. That and she had her modest blue jacket on. Tashigi wished she had brought her beloved Shigure with her, but Captain Smoker only allowed a few seamen to bring weapons, mostly pistols hidden in their uniform.

"Uh...who are you?" Tashigi said, confused. Now this was really weird. The weird blonde girl paused, and stared at Tashigi who was starting to feel even more uncomfortable.

Damn academy days.

"Sorry! Im Victoria Dallon, otherwise known as Glory Girl." She struck a heroic pose with that last declaration. Tashigi smiled in return and extended her hand.

"Im Tashigi." Tashigi said, still smiling. Victoria stared her hand before taking it. "It's nice to meet you, but I'm supposed to be meeting the doctor right now."

"Oh-sorry! That's my sister Amy." Victoria pointed at the door behind her. "Usually I'm with her but doctor-patient confidentiality means I have to stay out here."

"I see. Well it was nice meeting you!" Tashigi said as she stepped around Victoria and knocked on the door.

"Come in" A young female voice said. Tashigi walked in a bit cautiously. The girl leaning against a chair was the exact opposite of Victoria. While Victoria's clothes practically begged for attention, her sister's were as conservative as possible. Tashigi approved.

"Sorry I'm a bit late." Tashigi said as she took off her blue Marine jacket and placed it on the chair opposite to the healer.

"Uhuh, Im Panacea by the way." Panacea said with a bored voice. "Do I have your permission to heal you? I can also fix your eyes while I'm here."

"Yes." This seemed...a bit fast for healing, and weird. The way Panacea said it made it sound like this was a normal day.

With Tashigi's permission, Panacea touched her hand and her eyes widened.

"THERE'S NO WAY THOSE ARE REAL."

This...was not what Tashigi expected.

A/N
This whole chapter was written with that joke at the end in mind. I felt that the quality went down in this chapter and anatomy in One Piece...is something else.
 
1.4
The room was suddenly filled with an awkward silence. Amy's face turned bright red, while Tashigi's face mirrored hers. Amy should not have said that out loud, or at all. Suddenly, Tashigi slapped Amy in the face turning her cheek more red, letting a smack fill the room. Yeah she did deserve that...why didn't Vicky run in here yet? She probably wondered off somewhere, most likely talking to those Amy just healed.

"PERVERT!" Tashigi got up to leave grabbing her blue jacket, but Amy reached out to grab her arm.

"I'm sorry! And I'm not done so sit down!" Amy said. The blue beauty glared at her, and then sighed, closing her eyes.

"Fine." Tashigi said as she sat down angrily. She crossed her arms over her chest. Oh...so that's what she thought Amy was talking about. Yeah she should have worded that better. When Amy touched Tashigi's hand,who was confused why she needed to hold Amy's hand, she saw everything, including Tashigi's future growth. She was going to have a lot of back pains in the future, and who the hell had that type of waist? Tashigi looked like she needed to wear kids belts! That and combined with her future bust, she was going to look like a Barbie!

"I wasn't talking about your boobs." Amy said awkwardly. Tashigi seemed a bit sheepish after words as her mouth formed an o.

Other than Tashigi's future body, the rest of her seemed similar to those she healed before her. Their muscles and bones were denser, and could easily be classified as a brute one at the very least. The most interesting part, their lack of the corona pollentia in their brains. Amy would have found this to be very suspicious and think a biotinker was involved, if Miss Militia didn't brief her when she arrived. Another Earth, who would've thought. Now she was going to need to fill out a whole stack of NDA's, great.

Finishing up the last touches, Amy fixed her eyes and nodded.

"I'm done now." Amy said, removing her hand from Tashigi's. It was still awkward. Tashigi took off her glasses, blinked several times, and smiled.

"I'm uh, I'm sorry for slapping you!" Tashigi said standing up and bowing at her soon to be smaller waist.

"It's fine. I should phrase my sentences better." Amy replied, waving her off. Tashigi nodded nervously.

"Are all the doctors here like you?" Tashigi asked. Amy looked at her confused. Doctors, like her?

"Oh! Nope, I'm not a doctor. Just everyone's favorite healer." She muttered that last part bitterly. "My power allows me to fix people up." A bold lie.

"Ohhh I see. Must be nice having a devil fruit power like that. Anyways, thank you so much for helping us! I'll let the Captain know it's his turn." Tashigi bowed again and left quickly before Amy could respond.

Devil fruit power?

"Well that was weird."

Leaning back in her chair, Amy sighed. It was just like Armsmaster to call in a favor like this when she was on her break. At least she didn't have to see Carol for another while longer. Imagine her surprise when she showed with Vicky, only to discover she had to heal about twenty men and one woman from another Earth.

Most of them were on the verge of having scurvy, a few already had scurvy, and a couple had broken bones. That combined with the wreck of a ship nearby meant they had gone through hell.

A loud knock came from the other side of the door. Well, at least Amy was almost done now. Sadly, Carol wouldn't let her go to the hospital after this.

"Come in."

The door opened, and a huge, muscular man walked through. Amy had seen him briefly arguing with Miss Militia when she arrived, it was pretty hard not to see him. Easily over six feet tall, with blue-green hair, and covered in muscle that was still showing despite him wearing a white jacket with cigars everywhere, he made a pretty impressive figure despite being shorter than Uncle Neil.

"Please sit down." His name was Smoker if Amy heard right. Heh, that was funny. Smoker's cold eyes met Amy's, and he grinned when Amy didn't look away.

Smoker sat in the chair opposite to Amy. She was mildly surprised it didn't break under his weight.

"I'm Panacea. Do I have your permission to heal you?" Amy extended her hand.

"Captain Smoker. Go ahead." Smoker extended his hand after taking off his glove, and Amy grabbed it. This...was not normal. She had seen the man with two cigars in his mouth, yet there was no damage to his lungs! Amy doubted that he had just started smoking too. Like the others, he had denser muscles and bones, but Smoker was also different. Amy closed her eyes to focus. Something else was there. Meanwhile, she fixed his bacteria and immune system to be up to date.

Smoker's...wasn't entirely human. Something else was there, and Amy didn't know what it was.

"Are you part of this 'Protectorate?" Smoker asked. His voice was deep, and very masculine.

"Nope. Me and my sister are a part of New Wave, another hero group." Amy responded. Wow, so his hair is colored that way naturally, and she couldn't detect any trace of steroids.

Smoker grunted in affirmation.

"You don't hide your faces like them." Smoker continued. Amy paused for a second. That was mostly true. Only Eric wore a visor on his face.

"New Wave believes in cape accountability." Amy said. That is what Aunt Sarah had told her when she was younger. "It was meant to start a movement, but its feet never got off the ground I guess."

"A shame. Only cowards hide behind masks, though I do see the reason behind them. Not everyone can defend themselves as we can." Smoker said. So he was a cape then. Maybe his power had something to do with smoke?

Amy shrugged in return.

"I'm done now." She stood up to stretch.

Smoker grinned and placed his glove back on his hand.

"On behalf of me and my crew, thank you. I shall remember this." Smoker stood up as well, easily dwarfing her.

"It's nothing, just doing my duty." Amy waved him off. Everyone always said that.

Smoker looked her in the eye, but nodded in thanks again.

"If you ever need any help, let me know." Smoker started walking towards the door, but paused. "And you look like you'll need this." He took something from his jacket and threw it at her, which she caught.

It was a cigar. How did he-

Smoker was already gone when she looked up. Weird, Amy didn't hear the door open.

A/N
This one is shorter than usual. Sorry!
There aren't many fights yet, but don't worry they'll come after Smoker and crew are settled down. Or maybe not.
 
1.5
Smoker silently closed the door behind him. Panacea seemed a bit weird, but definitely a good person. Everyone had to do their own duty to society. Smoker's duty was to catch pirates, and to protect the innocent no matter what.

The downside, Smoker was now indebted to these people. The lives of Smoker and his crew are now in their hands. Smoker was confident in his abilities, in Tashigi, and most of his men. The greenhorns, not so much.

"Nice muscles Mister." A light young voice said. The same blonde girl, Glory Girl, who chased Tashigi around the perimeter of the building after informing Smoker it was his turn to be checked by the healer, was floating in front of him with a smile on her face. Smoker stared at her impassively, before walking past her. He didn't like the aura emanating from her.

"Oi, I'm talking to you!" Glory Girl reached to grab Smoker's arm, only for her hand to go right through, a section of his arm turning to smoke. It reformed after she pulled her hand back. Smoker looked at her from the corner of his eye, Glory Girl was obviously confused before realization slapped her in the face.

"Your Mom must've been able to tell the future to be able to name you Smoker." Glory Girl immediately started laughing. Smoker sighed, her sister must have gotten all of the brains from their family. Well, maybe not. The two looked nothing like each other, so maybe adopted?

It was then that the door opened again, revealing Panacea. Yup, definitely not related by blood, or she got the looks of one parent and not the other.

"Vicky, stop bothering Captain Smoker." Panacea said. She seemed a bit tired, and overworked. Panacea really needed a cigar it seemed. Smoker needed one too, but that lady with the blue, white and red scarf said he wasn't allowed to smoke in the building.

"I'm not!" Glory Girl defended herself. They started to argue. Panacea quickly looked over at Smoker and pointed her head away.

Heh, her sacrifice would not be in vain. Quickly walking away, Smoker went out of the building. His crew had already formed a semi-circle as they stared in wonder at everything they saw. Armsmaster stood off to the side, talking with one of his helmeted underlings, while Tashigi talked with Miss Militia. Judging by the sword Tashigi had at her side, she went to retrieve it from the ship while Smoker was busy.

Pulling out two cigars and lighting them, Smoker took a few puffs of smoke before walking over. Tashigi quickly noticed him, and smiled while waving him over. She wasn't wearing her glasses anymore, another reason why Smoker was indebted to these people. Tashigi's eyesight often leads her to have accidents, or tripping over herself.

"Tashigi, Miss Militia." Smoker said simply. Smoker swore he saw Miss Militia scowl when she saw his cigars.

"How do you feel Captain?" Tashigi asked, her eyes filled with excitement. It wasn't everyday your eyesight was fixed.

"I feel fine. Status update."

Tashigi saluted.

"Everyone has accounted for and has been seen by Panacea." Tashigi said. Smoker grunted and turned to Miss Militia.

"When can I expect my ship to be repaired? We can pay for the repairs." Smoker said. He had managed to amass a small fortune of berries. Smoker usually used it to buy cigars whenever he found them. He put their supplies on the Marines tab.

"We are in the middle of arranging its repair with the local dock workers." Miss Militia said. Good, now to find accommodations and plan what to do. It's not like they had a way to go back home.

"Thank you." Smoker didn't like this.

Armsmaster walked up to Smoker shortly afterwards.

"Captain Smoker, Director Piggot would like to speak with you." Armsmaster said. Another thing Armsmaster explained to him while Smoker was waiting for his turn to be healed. Apparently the Protectorate was a group of government superhumans that worked with 'normals' in the PRT, the government agency that kept watch over them. Apparently, people can acquire powers without the need to eat a Devil fruit here.

"Very well." They most likely suspected that Smoker had powers of his own. Well, it's not like they asked him, and Smoker had just shown it earlier to that weird girl who tried to touch him.

"Transportation has been arranged for you and your men." Armsmaster continued. Hmm, Smoker would only be taking a few with him.

"Tashigi, Gunderson, Alby and myself will be the only ones going. The rest are going to stay here and guard the ship." Smoker said firmly. Smoker also needed to tell his men the truth. He would do that once he returned from this meeting. Tashigi moved off to the side.

"Your ship is in a relatively safe area and PRT agents will also be stationed here to keep outsiders away."

"My men will stay here." Smoker glared at Armsmaster. The armored 'hero' stood his ground. Miss Militia then moved in between the two of them.

"Captain Smoker is trying to decide what is best for his men. We should respect his wishes, Armsmaster." Miss Militia said, trying to cool their tempers.

"Very well." Armsmaster said cooly before walking away. Miss Militia quickly started to apologize.

"I'm sorry about him. It's not everyday when we get visitors from another Earth. He's just stressed."

Smoker kept silent so Tashigi quickly spoke up.

"Me and Captain Smoker understand. Captain Smoker just wants to make sure the crew is safe." Tashigi said with a casual smile. Miss Militia seemed to smile under her mask.

Their transportation arrived soon after. After ordering his men to guard the ship and stay safe, Smoker got into their weird metal carriages with Tashigi, Gunderson and Alby. Tashigj practically ran inside when she caught sight of Glory Girl and Panacea.

"Armsmaster usually travels by motorcycle. So I'll be with you in here." Miss Militia said as she sat next to Tashigi who was in between Miss Militia and a facess PRT agent. Smoker sat across from them with Gunderson and Alby, both who looked extremely nervous.

"Oh ok." That came from Tashigi. Smoker simply continued to take puffs from his cigar, which was starting to fill the back with smoke.

"Excuse me, but could you please not smoke while we are all in here? Some of us don't like the smell and future lung damage." Miss Militia said coldly as she glared at Armsmaster. Smoker stared at her for a few seconds before he caused the smoke from the cigar to disappear, leaving only what was left in the air. Gunderson and Alby's jaw practically attached itself to the floor. "Thank you."

Miss Militia turned to look at Tashigi.

"So how is Earth Blue? I mean, how different is it from here?" Miss Militia asked. Earth Blue? Ah, is that what they are calling home.

"Well, it's certainly more colorful, and there are so many amazing islands." Tashigi started explaining. Smoker tuned out their conversation and closed his eyes.

"Do people have powers back in your world?"

Smoker's eyes immediately opened. Tashigi paused, and looked at him from the corner of her eyes. Smoker nodded slightly.

"Yup. Back home we have Devil fruits." Tashigi said not missing a beat. Miss Militia looked at her confused. They were bound to find out anyway. Hopefully, Tashigi wouldn't mention his weakness to water.

"Devil fruits?" Miss Militia questioned. She was most likely ordered to figure out information.

"Yup. It's a mysterious and mythical fruit. Eating one can give you indescribable power, though it mostly depended on which fruit you ate."

"Ah, I see. Do you have any examples?" Miss Militia asked. The PRT agent on Tashigi's otherside became interested as well.

This time, Smoker spoke up.

"There was a pirate that was turned into a rubber man. He could stretch his body to impossible lengths, and was stronger than most men." Most men, but not Smoker. "The man said to be the strongest in the world was strong enough to create shockwaves by shattering the air like glass causing earthquakes and tsunamis. If he wanted, he could destroy everything." Miss Militia seemed...sullen after that.

"And another, had the ability to control smoke itself." Smoker said casually. Miss Militia's dark eyes widened, and the PRT agent froze like a statue.

The smoke disappeared.
 
1.6
The rest of the ride was silent, and kind of awkward in Tashigi's opinion. Still, it gave Tashigi time to think about

"We're here." Miss Militia's voice sliced through Tashigi's train of thought. The back door opened, and they exited the metal carriage. Captain Smoker was about to resume smoking, when he saw the no smoking sign and sighed. Tashigi took a good look around her surroundings. Metal carriages, lots and lots of metal carriages in the same body style as the one that brought them here.

"We took the back garage entrance to keep things under wraps. " Miss Militia said, she mumbled something about rules under her breath. Then, several PRT agents approached them, some with helmets, but a few without. Armsmaster showed up on his bike a few seconds later. Wait till he saw Captain Smoker's Billower Bike in action. Armsmaster went to speak with them.

Tashigi nodded. keeping a hand near her sword at all times. Captain Smoker simply grunted in response, while Gunderson and Alby just stood there shivering. Tashigi giggled internally, maybe they were cold? Armsmaster walked up to them soon afterwards.

"Please follow me. Director Piggot is waiting." Armsmaster said simply. Smoker shrugged and motioned him to lead on.

He led them through some entrances, a couple hallways, and something called an elevator. Eventually they reached a well furnished room. A woman sat behind the desk, and immediately stood up.

"Director Piggot is ready." The secretary said. Smoker turned to Gunderson and Alby. The two kept staring at random objects until they felt Smoker's gaze.

"You two wait out here." Smoker said, pointing to two chairs. "Don't cause any trouble."

He then turned his attention to Tashigi. "You're coming with me." Tashigi nodded as the other two saluted their commanding officer.

"Please follow me." Armsmaster said simply as he led them through a simple door to their right. Another desk was set up, with a blond, heavy set woman sitting behind it. She remained seated when they walked in. Armsmaster moved to stand beside her, while Miss Militia walked to the side of the room.

"Hello, I am Emily Piggot, Director of the PRT ENE branch." Director Piggot said simply.

"Captain Smoker of the Marines." Captain Smoker replied, his two cigars no longer in his mouth. He motioned to Tashigi. "This is Master Chief Petty Officer Tashigi." Tashigi kept her face calm, even though she was extremely nervous on the inside. Their future depended on this meeting.

Director Piggot nodded before motioning to the two chairs situated in front of her desk.

"Please take a seat. I'm sure we have much to discuss."

Tashigi looked at Smoker who nodded. Taking their seats, Director Piggot pressed a button on her desk, which resulted in metal sheets to lower from the roof, covering the walls and lone window in the room.

Tashigi really wished she brought her sword. This could have been an ambush for all they had known.

"This is simply a precaution, so no one can listen in on our conversation." Director Piggot said seeing Tashigi's alarmed form. Captain Smoker simply sat there confidently.

"I see." Well, that was understandable.

"Armsmaster briefed me on your situation, but I would rather hear it coming from you Captain Smoker." Director Piggot's hard voice continued. Man, she was fat. Not as fat as those back in the East Blue or the Grand Line, but pretty big compared to those they have seen here so far.

"I was in command of the Marine garrison at Loguetown, a city in Polestar Islands, when an infamous pirate and his crew arrived." Captain Smoker began. Tashigi nodded as he spoke. "The criminal managed to escape so me and my men decided to chase them into the Grand Line."

"The Grand Line?" Director Piggot asked.

"It's an ocean current that divides the other four. Only the strongest pirates and Marines can enter and come back out alive." Tashigi answered.

"We were in pursuit of their ship when we ran into a storm. When the weather cleared up, we were several miles off your coast." Captain Smoker finished. Tashigi noticed that he left out most of the details, but that was probably for the best.

"Are there parahumans in your world?"

"Not in the same manner as you have them here. We have Devil Fruit powers back in Earth Blue." Earth Blue sounded weird in Tashigi's opinion.

"Hm, I see." Director Piggot wrote a few notes down before looking up again.

"Would you be willing to join the Protectorate or the PRT?" The PRT offer must be for their crewmen. The only one who had Devil fruit powers was the Captain.

Tashigi quickly turned to look at Captain Smoker. He kept the same passive face he always has.

"No. I swore an oath to the Marines, oaths that I don't take likely, but I am willing to cooperate if needed. I cannot speak for my men, but I will pass along the offer." Captain Smoker said bluntly. Director Piggot nodded and turned her attention to Tashigi, who froze.

"What Captain Smoker said." Real smooth Tashigi. Hopefully they didn't get offended.

"Understandable. As a sign of good will, the PRT will arrange and pay for the repairs of your ship, as well as help you and your men find accomodations. To help with your legal status, we will fill out the proper paperwork as refugees."

Uh oh, now they really owed these people a lot, they already owed them for the medical assistance and curing her eyesight. Captain Smoker wasn't going to like this, but what else could he do without offending their host in an unknown world?

"On behalf of me and my men, thank you." Captain Smoker bowed his head slightly. Tashigi bowed her head as well. Tashigi could sense Miss Militia smiling from where she stood.

"Once you and your men are settled in, perhaps you could come in for some testing?" Test? What kind of test?

"Perhaps." Was all that Captain Smoker said.

Tashigi drowned out the rest of their conversation. It still felt like a dream. Tashigi never imagined in her wildest dreams that they would somehow end up in another world. Her former goals were useless now. How was she going to find those legendary swords? Still, she meant what she told Captain Smoker.

Tashigi would follow him to the end.

"Lets go Tashigi." Captain Smoker's voice pulled Tashigi from her thoughts. The metal walls were gone.

"Huh."

"I have a speech to make." Was all that Captain Smoker said as Tashigi followed him out. The crew wasn't going to take it well, but they would be fine.

As long as Captain Smoker was in command, everything was going to be alright.

A/N
Thank you to everyone reading.
 
2.1 *posted out of order*
A month had passed since Smoker and his crew first arrived in Brockton Bay. It had taken a while, but it seemed that they were finally being able to settle in. Mostly. Smoker was usually busy with meetings with Director Piggot, Armsmaster, as well as the heads of the PRT and Protectorate respectively, Chief Director Costa-Brown and Alexandria.

Smoker's eyes hardened slightly. Alexandria looked nothing like her photos in his opinion. A body double most likely, they did have similar features overall, but Smoker was always one to look at details. In the end, Smoker and his men, the ones that decided to stay under his command, would be an independant 'hero' group. Similar to New Wave, except they would be Protectorate sponsored and work closely together. They would also serve as a sort of embassy should they find a way to contact Earth Blue.

They also spent a lot of time acquainting themselves with this new world and its customs. Sadly, Seaman Natsuko decided to leave the crew and accepted the Protectorates offer. He blamed Smoker for everything, not that Smoker blamed him. Last Smoker heard, he was assigned to some city named Los Angeles, but hasn't heard anything else aside from that.

On the plus side, the majority of Smoker's crew sided with him to form the Marines, Brockton Bay's newest heroes. They haven't made their debut though, Smoker was too busy negotiating and didn't care about publicity. Tashigi was his second in command of course and was adapting well, she didn't have many close family members, though she did miss her friends. They did the test that the PRT requested, Smoker held back of course. He wasnt going to reveal all of his secrets.

Marine HQ was now a building in the Dock, with a dock big enough to fit their now repaired ship. The building was big enough to house all of them, but it was still a bit cramped. Attached to the side, a 'garage' held the three metal carriages gifted to them by the PRT. Something called a 'van' along with a 'motorcycle' which was similar to Smoker's billowerbike. Smoker let Tashigi have it.

They owed these people too much. Smoker didnt like it.

"IM GOING TO KILL YOU!" A woman screaming interrupted Smoker's brooding section. That...sounded like Tashigi. Grabbing his new jutte, Smoker hid his older one so no criminal could use the seastone against him somewhere in the building, he followed the screaming.

"I'M SORRY!" A guy's voice screamed back. Was that Alby? Smoker turned his body into smoke and went into the air vents. What was going on here?

Eventually, Smoker reached the garage and reformed his body, jutte in hand, with the back of the vans facing him.

Tashigi had shigure out and was swinging it wildly at Alby. Said marine was attempting to escape her by bobbing and weaving in between the vans, which led to Tashigi tripping several times. Smoker sighed, sheathed his jutte, and filled the room with smoke, grabbed Tashigi and Alby with his two hands appearing from the smoke.

"What is going on here?" Smoker grunted as he eyed both of them. Tashigi's face was bright red, and was glaring daggers at Alby's nervous form.

"H-he drew me on one of the vans!" Tashigi screamed after she took several breaths, pointing at the side of one of their new vans. Smoker raised an eyebrow and looked at Alby who smiled sheepishly. Damn little vandalizer.

"If I let you go, will you promise not to kill him." Smoker said simply sighing. Tashigi seemed like she wanted to protest, but Smoker's impassive face made her back down.

"Yes sir." Tashigi sighed, and Smoker let them both go, reforming his arms back onto his body. By now, a few more Marines had gathered to see what was going on.

Smoker walked to the side of the van Tashigi pointed at. What he saw made his eyes widen.

It was a...rather risque painting of Tashigi adorning the van's wall. Smoker quickly looked away and glared at the perverted vandalizer.

"Clean this up and apologize."

Alby nodded quickly and was about to open his mouth when he was interrupted by a wolf whistle coming from another marine.

"He also drew one of you on the other van sir."

Scratch that, Smoker was going to kill Alby himself.

---

Tashigi leaned against the wall in her room panting, it took everything they had to keep Captain Smoker from killing Alby. Sure deep down inside, Tashigi wanted to murder that little pervert, but she was going to be the one to do it! Though...he did have some skill in drawing. Tashigi blushed when she remembered Captain Smoker's painting.

Damn it, now she can't take him seriously, always wearing his jacket unbuttoned. Tashigi heard a lot of footsteps outside her door. Marines were walking back and forth, some decorating their barracks to feel a little bit like home, others were cleaning. Alby was now assigned to bathroom duty for the foreseeable future, once he was done cleaning his handiwork. Tashigi shivered when she thought about how Alby got inspired.

Tashigi sat at her new desk, and stared at her new computer and delicately placed shigure next to her. It was...something different. Miss Militia explained to her several times on how to use it, but Tashigi needed more practice. Captain Smoker was simply content to learn how to use a 'cellphone' which was basically a transponder snail. He still didn't know how to text though.

Typing slowly, Tashigi signed onto PHO. It was one of the first websites Tashigi learned how to use. Heh, another hero saved a cat from a tree. Captain Smoker also had an account, along with about half of their crew, but he didn't bother learning how to navigate through the website. Looking out the window, Tashigi saw the sun was starting to go down.

"Where did I put it?" Tashigi asked herself as she looked for the piece of paper she wrote several important websites on. Ah, here it is.

She opened up another tab for a real estate website. Captain Smoker said he wanted her to find an actual house, claiming that she should be able to feel at ease when relaxing or when Tashigi wasn't on patrol. Such a weirdo, she literally lived on their ship surrounded by men when they were at sea. Tashigi knew he just felt guilty over everything, so she followed what he said. Captain Smoker did offer to help with her downpayment after all. Hmm, this was a cute house. It wasn't in the best neighborhood, but it certainly wasn't the worst either. The best part, it wasn't even that far from the docks.

Tashigi's search was put on hold when a large fire went up in the air, a few miles away from Marine HQ. Grabbing shigure, Tashigi's phone started ringing.

"Yes Captain Smoker?" Tashigi said as she rushed out of the room.

"Gather a squad. I'm going to investigate." Captain Smoker ended the call.

A Marine's work never ended.

A/N

Im a bit rusty when it comes to One Piece and worm. I believe I said this an A/N or so ago. This has been pretty enjoyable to write. I feel that its a bigger improvement over my previous stories, *cough*Chimera*cough*
 
1.7
Emily stayed seated as their new guest left with Miss Militia. She had a lot to think about, and paperwork. Paperwork runs the world after all.

"Should we have made our recruitment pitch more firm?" Armsmaster said as he walked towards the center of the room. "I received Panacea's report. While Captain Smoker and his men don't have a Corona Pollentia, Panacea managed to confirm that all of his men could be considered parahumans, which was further cemented by Miss Militia's quick field report about Captain Smoker's powers on her way here. Additionally, all members of his crew could be considered Brute 1s at the very least without any testing according to Panacea."

"No. Captain Smoker will be on the defensive at the moment, his primary concern would be the well being of his men. Any more attempts at recruitment might alienate them." Emily turned her eyes to Armsmaster's armored form. Captain Smoker's background in law enforcement might allow them to establish common ground. "Our movements need to be indirect and we need to gain their trust." They didn't need any more enemies, especially a ship full of potential parahumans.

"You and Miss Militia will act as our main contacts with the Marines. If we attempt to introduce anyone else they might hanker down. I want Miss Militia forming a bond with their Master Chief, and I want you to keep an eye on the Captain." That wasn't something Emily ever planned on saying, having Armsmaster bond with anyone besides his lab. That, and Assault needed to be kept far away from the Marines. Who knows how they would react to his humor.

"Kaiser and Lung have been quiet for now. We need to make sure it stays that way. I don't need any more headaches."

"Very well. I shall have my official report done by this evening should no other matters require my attention." Armsmaster said simply. Emily nodded in return. She had a lot of work to do as well. Some Emily would pass on to Deputy Director Renick such as finding a place for the Marines to stay, but she would handle the more important things.

"Good. Now get out of here. I have work to do."

Emily was soon left alone in her office. Chief Director Costa-Brown would be expecting her report soon, followed by a meeting with the other PRT directors. Emily grimace, Tagg was going to be a bitch to handle.

Still, the look in Captain Smoker's eyes reminded Emily of herself. The large man would do anything to protect his men and judging by his story, the man was relentless as well. Emily felt her first and only smile of the day form on her face, if they could get Captain Smoker to work alongside the Protectorate, they could increase their chances of kicking the gangs out of this damn city. Emily's dialysis alarm went off.

She really needed to get rid of that one. Only an idiot wouldnt have accepted a healing from Panacea.


Smoker POV

The trip back to Smoker's ship was a quick one. Tashigi and Miss Militia reignited their conversation, most of which Smoker mostly ignored. He did manage to catch several words such as Endbringers, Shigure, boardwalk. Smoker thought about what to tell his men. His crew who placed their trust in him, their commanding officer. Brave men, each and every one of them. Except for maybe Alby, he kept shivering next to Smoker.

"Oh, it seems like we're here now." Miss Militia said. Their metal carriage stopped moving. The smell of the ocean filled the air, it was a scent that Smoker was familiar with, yet it still felt foreign here.

Disembarking, Smoker saw what was left of his ship. The front mast was broken, the railing was broken in multiple spots, and a little under half of Smoker's crew met their end sailing that treacherous storm.

"A few PRT agents as well as myself will remain here if you need anything. Director Piggot has made arrangements for provisions to be provided to you and your men. I'm sure you're all going to enjoy a hot meal after a few days at sea." Miss Militia said as they walked closer. A few marines were playing cards, others were on guard on the ship.

Smoker nodded. "Thank you." Words couldn't describe how much he owed these people.

"Gather the crew." Smoker told Tashigi, not bothering to turn around. Smoker walked past his men as they all stood at attention as he walked by. No commanding officer would have placed his men in such danger. Being in the Marine inherently meant you would always be in danger, whether from pirates, disease, ocean life or the weather. End

Still, many of those under his command haven't even left the East Blue. Now Smoker had to explain that they were in another world. While Smoker didn't have any particularly close family members back home, most of his men did. None of them would ever be able to see their loved ones again.

Smoker made his way towards the helm, each step heavy.

"Everyones here sir." Tashigi followed him on his way up and took her position next to Smoker.

Smoker turned around to see the faces of his men. All of them had their eyes on him.

"Men, I'm sure some of you know this…" Smoker looked at every member of his crew. Quartermaster Shoko's third son was born a few weeks before they left port. Seaman Natsuko was recently engaged and was planning on having his wedding once Luffy was caught. That was never going to happen now. Smoker hardened his eyes.

"We are no longer in the Grand Line."

All hell broke loose. Grown men started crying, others froze. Natsuko almost fell over, Alby and another seaman had to hold him up. Most of them never even left the East Blue, the ones that had Smoker could count with one hand.

"We are now in another world." Smoker continued. "Thankfully, our new host has decided to help us." Smoker saw anger, disappointment,...shock.

"As your commanding officer…" Smoker eyes met theirs. "Words cannot describe how sorry I am." With that, Smoker bowed his head. Sobbing filled Smoker's ear.

"Captain Smoker sir!" Someone shouted, their voice hoarse. Smoker looked up slowly and saw that Gunderson had taken a foot forward, streams of tears flowing down his face.

"Thank you for keeping us alive!" Gunderson shouted as he bowed deeply at the waist. Several more followed his example shouting the same phrase. A few of the greenhorns had passed out.

Smoker softened his gaze. He wished he could have said the same for those who lost their lives in that storm.

"Thank you for your trust." Smoker was sure some were going to lash out once their initial shock was over.

Smoker decided to let them mourn, and left Tashigi to keep order as he went to his captain's quarters. They would need to move out, the ship only had a patch job to keep it from sinking.

Smoker took out two cigars and started smoking. At least he had new cigars to try out here. Smoke began to fill the room, just the way he liked it. He leaned his head back. Smoker didnt know how much time passed when someone knocked on the door.

"Come in."

Tashigi walked in with a steaming hot bowl. She sat it down on his desk and produced some eating utensils.

"The food is here. Be careful, it's hot." Tashigi smiled and left. Smoker stared at the soup before grabbing one of the spoons, and he took a small sip.

"Heh, it's cold."

A/N
I hope I got everyone's characterization right here. I didn't want them being too casual reacting to the news. Warning, this is an AU so some worm stuff may be different.

I just noticed I posted one out of order. This chapter was suppose to be before 2.1
 
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2.2
Smoker's Billower bike made an impressive sight. Smoker kept his focus as he drove past the mostly empty streets. A few onlookers stared in shock, or took photos with their cellphones. Smoker ignored all of them as he got closer to the bright fire, with it rising in burst every few minutes. Bystanders were now running away from said fire.

Smoker carefully took out his cellphone and called Tashigi.

"I'll deal with the disturbance. Keep an eye out for any civilians or criminals." Smoker was getting closer to the source. The area he was in now was mostly filled with abandoned buildings, with gang signs covering many of them. Azn Bad Boys were prominent in the docks.

Smoker was going to change this. Suddenly, Smoker heard a loud roar. Smoker parked his bike on the side of the road and decided to proceed by foot.

Eventually, Smoker saw the perpetrator. Seven feet tall, and growing with metal scales and breathing fire, Smoker took out his jutte. Lung. Smoker had read up about the major criminals in the city. Lung was the head of the Azn Bad Boys, or ABB for short and one of the most powerful men in the city. Apparently he managed to fight off the entire Protectorate in Brockton Bay and won.

Lung was being swarmed by a rather large swarm of bugs, and was attempting to chase after a figure in grey clothes who was on the roof of a building.

"HEY!"

Taking several steps forward, Lung quickly turned his head and stared straight at Smoker. Flames were starting to form around him as the bugs swarmed him.

"OOOOO ARRRR OUUUUU." The unintelligible monster said. Lung took a step towards Smoker. Smoker said nothing as he advanced with his jutte in his right hand. Seemingly angered by Smoker lack of response, Lung charged. The swarm blinding his eyes and biting at him.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAA."

Lung raised his fist and swung, his strike going straight through Smoker. Smoker simply stood there as he turned part of his body into smoke. Smoker smirked as smoke began to fill the street.

"WHA-"

Smoker swung his left fist into Lung's face as hard as he could, making the monster stumble. Lung quickly tried to counterattack with another swing when Smoker smashed his jutte into Lung's face, bugs still biting him.

"I'm Smoker."


---


Taylor's eyes widened when she saw the large muscular man just punch Lung in the face. What the hell was he doing? Taylor quickly ran to a better vantage point. Still keeping her swarm on Lung, she navigated the spiders to his vulnerable parts. Where the hell did all this smoke come from?

After descending and climbing another ladder, she settled on top of a nearby building, Taylor gasped.

"I'm Smoker." She heard the man in the white declare, which led to Lung unleashing a stream of flames into his face. 'Smoker' simply turned into smoke and reformed behind Lung before kicking the back of Lung's knee and repeatedly punched where his kidney would have been.

"Shit." Taylor let out and Lung's face full of bugs turned to look at her. Oh no-


With a loud roar, Lung armored form jumped in the air. Taylor scrambled away trying to get off the building when she felt a burst of heat behind her after he landed. Ducking and hoping for the best, Taylor smelled smoke. She turned around to find the other parahuman counter Lung's flame with a stream of smoke.

"Get out of here." Cigar man grunted as he tackled Lung, who was growing and bloodied, off of the building.

Taylor took several deep breaths. She could do this. Sure her first night out wasn't going as well as she planned. Taylor redoubled her efforts with her swarm, having dragonflies and other flying creatures drop her more poisonous spiders onto Lung. That's right, bite his dick.

"RAAAA. AH LL KELL OOOOOOO!" Lung sounded like an animal. From what Taylor could see, Lung was all bloodied up and over in bites, most likely filled with poison.

Smoker simply raised his weapon, and smashed it against his head over and over again. The tip of the weapon turned black for a second. Man, that guy was strong. Lung didn't even leave a scratch on him. Eventually, Lung went silent. Taylor panted, at least he wouldn't be able to hurt those kids. She descended the ladder carefully, to see the smoke hero stare straight at you.

"W-ho are you?" Taylor asked. The man easily towered over her, and most of all, he didn't wear a mask. Instead he was smoking two cigars at once. They didn't fall out during the fighting?

"Smoker, leader of the Marines." Smoker said simply before sheathing his weird two prong weapon which was now bent at a weird angle. "Who are you." A demand, not a question.

"I-I don't really have a name yet." Taylor stuttered. Smoker stared at her for a second before nodding.

"I see. Good job. I doubt I would have been able to get him down before he grew too strong." Smoker said motioning to Lung's prone form. Then, Taylor heard the sound of engines. A van with...questionable art drawn on it pulled up, with was that Armsmaster?

They both pulled up next to them, and out of the van came a woman only a few inches shorter than Taylor armed with a sword, along with six men dressed in some weird sailor uniform. She pointed at a few buildings, and with a salute the men left. Armsmaster had gotten off of his bike by then and walked up to them.

"Captain Smoker." Armsmaster said simply as he injected Lung with something from his iconic halberd. Smoker nodded in return. They knew each other? Armsmaster then turned to Taylor.

"And you are?" Are you a hero or criminal went unsaid.

"I uh, don't have a name yet." Taylor said, a bit embarrassed. How many times would she have to say that? "Im a new hero." Armsmaster's face was unreadable, but it seemed he was analyzing her costume. Taylor did look like a villain after all.

"Is she one of yours?" Armsmaster asked Smoker. Smoker simply shook his head. Taylor stared at Armsmaster in shock. It was...weird seeing one of her favorite superheroes in person.

"She was already here by the time I got here." Armsmaster seemed satisfied with his answer and looked like he was about to speak when the woman from the van showed up.

"Captain Smoker! I'm sorry we got here so late! We ran into the Undersiders on our way here.`` The perfect looking asian woman said as she jogged up. Taylor felt a pang of jealousy. She had short, back hair, with curves and waist that were hidden by her jacket. How did Taylor know? She uh, She looked like a model. The woman also didn't wear a mask. Who were these people?

"Tashigi. It doesn't matter. We can catch them another day." Tashigi saluted. Smoker looked at Armsmaster. "I shall leave him with you." Smoker motioned towards Lung, smoke still coming from his cigars. Taylor coughed a little bit from the smoke. Smoker looked at her for a second, when the smoke around her disappeared. So that was his power...ironic.

Armsmaster nodded. "I injected a tranquilizer I came up with that should keep him down. However, we still need to discuss who would get the credit." Smoker glared at Armsmaster.

"Lung was already wounded when I arrived. She should get most of it." Smoker pointed a finger at Taylor, who felt pride swelling up inside of her. She helped take down Lung!

"I understand that, but she is an independant. If word got out that she was involved in Lung's capture, she would have a targeted painted on her back. Independants don't last long." Armsmaster said simply. "Unless you join up with the Protectorate, your safety cannot be guaranteed.

Protectorate? Oh, he thought Taylor was old.

"I'm too young to be in the Protectorate." Taylor blurted out. Armsmaster placed a hand to his bearded chin. "Would you be willing to join the Wards then?"

Taylor paused, she...thought about joining, but she didn't need anymore drama in her life.

"Im...not sure right now. Maybe in the future?"

Armsmaster turned his attention back to Smoker.

"You will have to get the credit then. Her protection cannot be guaranteed and I will not have a young hero killed for glory seeking. If you refuse, I will be forced to." Taylor felt a little of that Hebert temper rise in her. Armsmaster just got here!

Smoker blew more smoke from his cigar.

"No. If you can't guarantee her protection then I will."

What? The six guys from earlier returned.

Smoker turned to Taylor.

"You helped catch Lung. Good job. If you need any help feel free to call me." Smoker patted Taylor on her shoulder, handed her a small card with a weird logo and number on it. With that, he walked off.

Tashigi gave Taylor a smile and bowed slightly.

"He must like you." Tashigi ran off towards their obscene van.

Smoker paused when he got closer to it and saw a picture of himself staring back at him with lustful eyes.

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU ALBY." Smoker's form disappeared as he turned to smoke.


"Uhoh, MIFUNE START THE VAN AND WHY THE HELL DID YOU DECIDE TO PICK THIS ONE!" Tashigi screamed as she ran towards the porn van.

"IT WAS THE CLOSEST ONE I COULD JUMP INTO!"

They were...some of the weirdest people Taylor had met. Armsmaster coughed slightly after seeing the van, causing Taylor to look away quickly.

Time for a cold, cold shower when she got home.

A/N
I'm not that good at writing fights. I hope it was passable. I accidently posted the previous chapters in the wrong order, but I managed to fix the threadmarks so use that.
 
2.3
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♦ Topic: Lung Captured!
In: Boards ► Cape news
Bagrat
(Original Poster) (The Guy in the Know) (Veteran Member)
Posted On Apr 4th 2011:
Late last night Lung was spotted in the Docks fighting an unidentified parahuman.
Picture link *here*
Unknown cape was noted to not have been wearing a mask and was beating the shit out of Lung with his smoke based powers.
Video link *here*
Armsmaster arrived shortly with an artfully drawn van. I would post a link to the van but as it's NSFW I don't want to get banned.
A second cape was spotted, but nothing else was noted about them.
Edit
The unidentified cape who beat up Lung is now identified as Smoker of the Marines, Brockton Bay's newest hero group!



(Showing page 1 of 2)


►XxVoid_CowboyxX (Banned)
Replied On Apr 4th 2011:
(This user has been temporarily banned)

►Tin Mother (Moderator) (Admin)
Replied On Apr 4th 2011:
@Xx.Void_CowboyxX
Please don't post links to NSFW images as tasteful as they are.

►Clockblocker (Verified Cape) (Wards ENE) (Pun master)
Replied On Apr 4th 2011:
@Xx.Void_CowboyxX

Wow...now that is a man...
*covers Vista's eyes*

►Thatdude
Replied On Apr 4th 2011:
About time someone took down Lung. How strong is he exactly?
Did anyone else see that other cape dressed in black?

►Reave (Verified PRT Agent)
Replied On Apr 4th 2011:
I'm proud to announce that the unknown parahuman is actually Smoker of the Marines, Brockton Bay's newest hero organization.

►WagTheDog
Replied On Apr 4th 2011:
@Reave

Is that why part of the Docks were closed off?

►TRJ (Veteran Member)
Replied On Apr 4th 2011:
I saw that fight from my house. Smoker legit walked up to Lung's face and punched him. It seemed like someone else was there, but I couldn't get a better look. Some people in white uniforms blocked off the street.
Video to the fight *here*

►Feychick (Wiki Warrior)
Replied On Apr 4th 2011:
Seems to be at least a Brute, breaker, and mover.

►BadSamurai (Banned)
Replied On Apr 4th 2011:
(This user has been temporarily banned)

End of Page. 1


(Showing page 2 of 2)


►Tin Mother (Moderator) (Admin)
Replied On Apr 4th 2011:
@BadSamurai

Threats are not allowed. Enjoy your ban :)

►Good Ship Morpheus
Replied On Apr 4th 2011:
It seems that Smoker has his own PHO account! Can someone give him a tag that says Daddy? :D

►NotAlby (Artist) (Marine)
Replied On Apr 4th 2011:
It's so nice to see my skills being appreciated! :)

►Tin Mother (Moderator) (Admin)
Replied On Apr 4th 2011:
@Good Ship Morpheus

We'll think about it....

►bothad
Replied On Apr 4th 2011:
@NotAlby

You drew that!!! You have some magic hands dude

►Clockblocker (Verified Cape) (Wards ENE) (Pun master)
Replied On Apr 4th 2011:
@NotAlby

You should totally draw one of me ;)

►Miss Militia (Verified Cape) (Protectorate Employee)
Replied On Apr 4th 2011:
@Clockblocker

No.

►SpecificProtagonist
Replied On Apr 4th 2011:
My eyes...have been enlightened

►Glory Girl (New Wave) (Verified Cape)
Replied On Apr 4th 2011:
Damn...

►Tin Mother (Moderator) (Admin)
Replied On Apr 4th 2011:
This thread will be locked if the conversation continues to talk about that hunk of muscle.
Anyone who continues to talk about NSFW Smoker will receive a temporary ban. That includes you Clockblocker!

End of Page. 1, 2



■​







"Captain Smoker's not going to like this." Tashigi muttered as she scrolled through PHO. News of his fight with Lung had spread like wildfire, along with their vandalized porn van. Alby was now assigned to cleaning every single thing that was dirty, with his own toothbrush. Eh, he would be fine. Private Mifune only received a mild talking to. Captain Smoker cared for his men, but he also made sure to discipline them.

Tashigi scrolled through some more threads. Surprisingly, people seemed more interested in the van than the actual fight. People were weird and fickle creatures.

Captain Smoker was locked up in his room, either sleeping, smoking, rock stacking or even all three! Tashigi stood, stretched and grabbed her beloved shigure. She had a lot of things planned today. Tashigi was going to go look at that house she saw, and maybe visit the Boardwalk. She had an appointment with a 'real estate agent.' Tashigi didn't get out much during their first month here. She was busy overseeing the remodeling of Marine HQ while Captain Smoker was in his negotiations, and she made sure to keep the crew trained.

They needed to grow stronger, even the one chore boy and the greenhorns. Tashigi walked the halls stopping to return a salute here and there.

'Hmmmm, should I take the motorcycle or walk?' Tashigi thought to herself. She actually hadn't had much practice with it. Eh she could walk. It would give her time to explore and come to know Brockton Bay with her own two eyes. Tashigi smiled, she didn't need glasses anymore! Tashigi felt grateful for Panacea and her healing power.

"Going out for a walk, Master Chief?"

Tashigi looked to her right. Mifune was staring straight at her. Mifune was the first Marine to learn how to drive, the man was a natural at it, so he was designated as a driver.

Tashigi nodded.

"Yup. Tell Captain Smoker once he leaves his room."

Private Mifune saluted Tashigi, an act she returned and left. A few people gave Tashigi weird stares, but that's alright she guessed. Tashigii did have shigure with her. Starting to jog, Tashigi followed the map she copied off of the internet.

Left, right, straight, almost tripping over a crack in the sidewalk, then right again. Some tall, skinny girl with long curly hair gave Tashigi a weird look, not that Tashigi even noticed.

Eventually, Tashigi arrived in the extremely normal neighborhood. It wasn't extremely pretty, but it was plain and in her budget. Being close to the Docks helped a lot too. After another minute of walking, Tashigi found the house she was looking for, a short round man waiting in front of it.

Tashigi walked up to him, who turned to look at her. He gave her sword a weird look, but shook it off.

"Are uh, Miss Tashigi?" He asked. Tashigi nodded.

"Yup."

"Excellent. Im Mr. Laborn. A pleasure to meet you." Mr. Laborn extended his hand, which Tashigi took. The man obviously used to be a soldier.

"Strong grip." Mr. Laborn said. "I always appreciate a strong handshake."

"Thank you." Tashigi smiled. Mr. Laborn motioned towards the house.

"Shall we?"

The house was cute, and affordable. It had three rooms, as well as a decent sized backyard, perfect for training.

"So what do you think?" Mr. Laborn said after they finished touring the house. Tashigi placed a finger on her chin and nodded.

"I'll take it."

"Great. I'll give you a call when the paperwork is ready. " Mr. Laborn said as they walked out.

"Thank you Mr. Laborn." He left soon after that Tashigi looked at the houses next to hers. Maybe once she moved in, Tashigi could greet her new neighbors. The one right next door had a slightly overgrown front yard, with a visible broken step.

Tashigi mentally slapped herself. Stop being nosy! Tashigi pulled out her phone to look at the time. Perfect! She had enough time to go check out the Boardwalk.

Tashigi was going to have a lot of fun.

A/N
First time making a PHO chapter, so I hope it came out well. Feel free to like and comment. Its nice to see people enjoying my story.
 
Tin Mother being that thirsty was kinda weird, as she is Dragon (i think). Or is Armsy getting the shaft and there is no dragon/armsy in this one ?
 
2.4
It didn't take long for Tashigi to find the Boardwalk. She had seen it at a distance several times while Tashigi explored the streets around Marine HQ. It was very nice, especially when compared to the Docks.

Several more people gave Tashigi weird stares, with more turning their head as she walked by. Was walking around with a sword a weird thing? Some random guys with black shirts also gave her a weird look, but shrugged it off. Tashigi ignored and decided to explore. She worked hard after all, and deserved a bit of free time. Oooo, ice cream. Tashigi walked up to the ice cream shop. Miss Militia had told Tashigi about an excellent ice cream shop located in the Boardwalk. Maybe it was this one?

A few people inside turned to look at her, then down at her sword, before awkwardly going back to what they were doing. Tashigi walked up to the counter, where the worker looked at her nervously.

"C-can I help you?" The worker asked. Tashigi looked at the ice creams on display. They...have….coffee ice cream!

"I'll take the coffee ice cream please." Tashigi said, hiding her excitement. The young man nodded as he went to retrieve Tashigi's order. Tashigi looked at the decoration inside. It was...interesting. Pictures of heroes were scattered around. Lets see, Armsmaster, heh look at Miss Militia, some random guy in a lion's helmet, and one that Tashigi was too familiar with, Glory Girl. Tashigi shivered, and it wasn't from the cold. That girl was weird, though her sister Panacea was nice, if only a bit of a pervert. Good thing the chances of running into her was low.

"Here's your order Maam." The ice cream man said handing it to her. Tashigi paid for it. She took a few licks. Mmmm delicious. Tashigi would have to drag Captain Smoker here.

"E-excuse me Miss. Are you uh...a hero?" The worker asked as Tashigi was leaving. A hero? Tashigi never thought of herself as a hero. She was a soldier, plain and simple. A soldier who protected the innocent and captured criminals.

"I guess I am." Tashigi shrugged. The worker nodded.

"Are you a new hero with the Protectorate?" He seemed to have gained more confidence.

"Nope." Tashigi said popping the p. "I'm with the Marines. We're kinda new."

The workers' eyes widened, recognizing their name and was about to ask more questions when more customers walked in.

Tashigi took this chance to leave when she bumped into somebody on her way out.

"Oh I'm sorry!" A familiar voice said. Tashigi waved it off. Despite having her eyes healed, she was still clumsy.

"Nooo I'm sorry. I should have been watching where I was going."

Wait a minute. Tashigi looked at the person she bumped into. Blonde hair, slightly floating off of the ground.

Dark brown eyes met bright blue.

"AHHHHHH-" Tashigi threw her ice cream in Glory Girl's face and started running deeper into the Boardwalk.

"Hey! Wait a minute. Come on Ames we need to catch her."

Tashigi started running as fast as she could, which was quite fast. Sadly, she was forced to slow down so Tashigi wouldn't run into any bystanders.

After what felt like an eternity running, Tashigi turned into what seemed like an alley, only to run into a dead end.

'I'm so dead.' Tashigi thought to herself when she heard panting behind her. Tashigi turned around, unsheathing shigure, and prepared for battle.

What Tashigi saw surprised her.

Panacea, with a hand on the wall, gasping for air, with Glory Girl standing behind her with a sheepish smile, who surprisingly didn't have a single drop of ice cream on her.

"Why.." She took more breaths, "...the hell do you run so damn fast?"

Tashigi eyed both of them.

"Put that away before someone gets hurt." Panacea muttered before pointing at Glory Girl, still taking deep breaths. "My sister would like to say something."

"Uhuh." Tashigi raised an eyebrow, and lowered shigure slightly.

"Im sorry for harassing you." Glory Girl said. Panacea slapped the back of her head. "And I'm sorry for indirectly molesting you."

"Good girl." Panacea said sarcastically, she however, did have a few drops of coffee ice cream on her cheek.

Tashigi sheathed shigure, and bowed her head slightly.

"I'm sorry for throwing ice cream at your face Glory Girl."

"I kinda deserved it so dont worry and call me Vicky, I'm not in my costume anyways. You already know Amy." Glory- no. Vicky said as she pointed her thumb at Amy who was finally breathing normally. How out of shape was she?

"Yup."

"Soooo friends?" Vicky extended her hand and did her best impression of a puppy. Tashigi stared at her for a second, before reluctantly taking her hand.

"Sure."

Hopefully she wasn't going to regret this.


"Soooooo...think I can see that van in person?"

Too late, Tashigi already did.


---

Smoker leaned back on his couch, with two Cubans cigars sitting in his mouth. He had a lot to think about. Smoker looked down at the table in front of him.

Rocks. Smoker grabbed one and delicately placed it on top of another, smoke flowing throughout the room. Smoker did plenty of research on this world whenever he wasn't busy. He didn't like most of what he saw.

Criminals escaping from PRT custody was common in Brockton Bay, so Smoker didn't trust the Protectorate to be able to keep him locked up. Still, the monster had his uses if the reports on Endbringers were true. Leviathan was the one that worried him the most, and apparently Lung had fought him before.

Smoker placed another rock on top.

He had to get stronger. Smoker felt something during his fight with Lung. He had seen it too. Armament haki. Smoker knew of haki, and knew the bare minimum. Smoker never practiced it as he should have. A grave mistake he wouldn't repeat again.

Smoker's rock tower was steadily growing taller.

Smoker balled his hands into a fist. Tashigi and his men would have to get stronger as well. He had a few books on rokushiki that Smoker could lend Tashigi. Smoker had gathered a small collection of books, some bought, some found, and others confiscated from pirates passing through Loguetown.

Smoker took more puffs from his cigars.

Smoker's thoughts suddenly went back to his fight with Lung. That young masked girl in grey and black, there was...something different about her. She didn't run away when she had the chance. Smoker had to admit, she was pretty brave. In fact, he saw a little bit of Tashigi in her. Hina would have been amused. Smoker wondered for a bit how his old friend was. Was she sad that she would no longer have to bail old Smoker out of trouble? Probably.

Smoker stared at his fist. It would only be a matter of time before Lung and the other miscreants in this city act up.

Smoker would be ready for them.

They didn't call him the White Hunter for no reason.
 
2.5
"It seems that we may have to up Captain Smoker's threat ratings." Armsmaster said simply. Director Piggot, Miss Militia, Dragon and himself reviewed footage of Captain Smoker's fight with Lung. Chief Director Costa-Brown wanted the least amount of people possible to know the true origins of Captain Smoker and his crew. Armsmaster didn't like keeping secrets, particularly from his team who trusted him, but he complied with the order. The PRT was filled with more holes than the previous president's body. Armsmaster frowned. "It's obvious that the good Captain held back when we did our own testing."

Initially, they had given Captain Smoker the ratings of brute four, mover four, breaker, as well as stranger two.

"I suggest we raise his brute rating to six maybe even seven, his mover rating to five, as well as add a possible shaker rating." The man was obviously strong enough to take out Lung, and he moved fast enough to block Lung from burning the other parahuman on the scene, so far being codenamed Skitter by PRT and Protectorate paperwork until said otherwise. The footage also showed the area being covered in a fog like smoke, which disappeared soon after Captain Smoker left.

Director Piggot nodded. "I'll be sure to pass it along to the Chief Director."

Miss Militia spoke up. "What about his subordinates? If the Captain held back, the possibility that his crew held back raises considerably." Armsmaster thought about it. MCPO Tashigi was given the rating of brute four, and thinker one, due to her extraordinary combat reflexes. Captain Smoker's crew were more varied, with some ranging from brute one to three.

"True. We have no definitive proof at the moment, but we will keep a close eye on them. Did you notice anything odd about the MCPO?"

Miss Militia shook her head. "At first she was a bit standoffish, but opened up after a few days. I don't think Tashigi's hiding anything, but it wouldn't hurt to be on guard."

"You both have your orders regarding them. Now the next order of business."

Armsmaster pulled up a picture of Lung in his cell. The gang leader, tied down with tinkertech restraints and being injected with his own sedative Armsmaster designed himself.

"Lung was almost dead on arrival to his holding cell. Panacea was called in to heal him enough so he could face his sentence. Brandish was...annoyed that we disturbed that late at night." Armsmaster grimace. The second cape had injected Lung with tons of poisons and venoms, which took their toll as Armsmaster sedative nullified Lung's regenerative power. Hmmm, Panacea also noted a dent in Lung's skull, a slight dent, but it was still there.

They should name Captain Smoker a brute seven just to be safe.

Director Piggot looked at the paperwork in front of her. "Hmm, a pity he survived." She said dryly. As much as Armsmaster loathed to admit it, Lung was an important asset when it came to potential Endbringer fights. "It seems we may have underestimated Captain Smoker's abilities. We won't make that mistake again."

Armsmaster nodded. Defeating one of the more powerful capes this side of the country, even with some help was no small feat. "Your opinion Dragon?"

Dragon had been silent the entire time, listening with her avatar's face on a screen near them.

"I believe...that we got lucky that it was Captain Smoker who arrived here." Her accented voice said with a grave tone. "Judging by his other statements, which he told Miss Militia, we're lucky that pirates from Earth Blue didn't arrive."

Armsmaster agreed. Apparently, the strongest man in Earth Blue could cause tsunamis, earthquakes, and shatter the air. It sounded a bit too similar to Leviathan and Behemoth in Armsmaster's opinion.

"Captain Smoker's rank also gives me concern." Dragon continued. "If a man as strong as him is a captain, how strong would say a commodore or admiral be? No doubt there are other pirates just as strong, if not stronger than Captain Smoker. Especially if his world's strongest man is a criminal."

Valid points. They would need to prepare just in case.

"I agree."

Director Piggot closed her folder and Armsmaster felt her hard gaze. He was used to it now, it was an open secret that Director Piggot hated parahumans. It didn't take his psychology degree ro know that. After all, she was an Ellisburg survivor. Colin didn't fault her for it.

"You two know your cover story regarding them, dismissed." Miss Militia and Armsmaster nodded their heads and left, Colin heading towards his lab.


"Colin?" Dragon spoke through his com. "I'm surprised you didn't take the credit after threatening Captain Smoker." He sighed internally.

"I'm not looking for glory, or recognition. If we released the whole truth, Skitter would be dead by now. Most likely by Oni Lee or even the Empire. I've seen many young heroes gunned down before their prime, I'll be damned if I let it happen again." Colin spoke truthfully. Sometimes, he had dreams about the Slaughterhouse Nine fight, so many dead. So many heroes cut down in their prime. "I'm content to be the world's third greatest tinker, after you and Hero of course." Hero was permanently crippled after that fateful day, but rumor has it that he was working on his comeback.

"You give yourself too little credit Colin." He arrived at his lab now. Walking up to his workbench, Colin shook his head, his hands slightly shaking. He started to work on his next project. Armsmaster needed to become stronger, Colin was too weak.

"No, I give myself too much."

"Colin...you know I'm here for you right?"

"I do. Thank you Dragon."

Colin swore he heard Dragon smile.

---

Tashigi really regreted forgiving Vicky now. Shortly after, Amy and Tashigi were dragged through several clothing stores, which resulted in them becoming literal mannequins.

"Oooo this one is cute!" Vicky pulled out a dress that was...a bit too revealing in Tashigi's taste. It showed off her midsection, and a generous amount of cleavage. Tashigi was currently wearing another of Vicky's choices, a simple dress that covered Tashigi everywhere she liked.

"Im fine!" Tashigi waved her hands. She was fine with her buttoned up shirts. Tashigi had managed to sneak some in the stack at the first store. Apparently golden berries were worth quite a fortune here, so Tashigi had a decent amount of money in order to afford basic necessities.

"Come onnnnn. It'll look great on you!" Vicky pouted and turned to her sister. "What do you think Amy?" Amy was also wearing a...questionable outfit in Tashigi's opinion.

Amy looked at the dress, then turned to Tashigi. She gave a thumbs up.

"You'll be doing the world a favor."

NOOOO! Tashigi was tempted to run away, but she doubted she could make it far before Victoria caught up with her.

Tashigi sighed and rubbed her forehead. She never had to deal with this back in Loguetown. She spent most of her wages on a sword collection, and various other things.

"Pretty pleaaaase." Vicky begged. Tashigi wondered if she should take her chance running, and sighed for the hundredth time that day.

"Fine...but this is the last one!"

"Sure sure." Vicky stuffed the dress in her hands and pushed Tashigi into the dressing room. She walked out a few minutes later, with a large blush on Tashigi's face.

Amy, Vicky, and a few other customers in the store started nose bleeding.

Damn perverts…

Tashigi really wanted to go back home now.
 
2.6
Taylor sighed as she rolled in her bed. Dad had left for work already, and she didn't feel like going to school, not like anyone there actually wanted her there. Turning on her old computer, she spent a few minutes on PHO, admiring the few pixels of herself you could make out in most of the badly taken videos. Heh, Smoker was a badass if he was able to put down Lung so easily. Taylor clicked on one link and instantly closed the tab.

Damn Smoker fangirl and fanboys. They kept posting pictures of that van! ….some even came up with their own art.

Sitting up, Taylor popped a few bones in her back before jumping onto the floor. Starting her pushups, she thought about her fight with Lung a few days before. It was...exhilarating to help beatdown one of the most strongest capes in the city! The day after the fight, Taylor asked her Dad if he happened to know anything about these 'Marines'.

Apparently, they were a new hero refugee group that moved into Brockton Bay. Dad was happy though, the PRT paid the DWA to fix up their antique ship with sails, remodel some old warehouse, as well as fix up the harbor right next to it for the ship. They gave the DWA work, work that they desperately needed. That gave them some points in Taylor's opinion.

She was now doing her sit ups. It was pretty weird that she ran into that short haired lady while jogging a few days ago. Did they know her secret identity?

About ten minutes into Taylor's morning workout, she heard a knock at the door.

That was weird. It's been a long time since they had visitors, aside from Dad's Dockworker friends. Ever since Em-

Taylor pushed that name out of her head and discreetly gathered a small swarm. It didn't hurt to be safe after all, this was Brockton Bay.

She walked down the stairs, when the person behind the door knocked again. For some reason, the knock sounded...polite?

Taylor opened the door slowly, her swarm ready to attack.

"Yes?" Her eyes froze.

"Good morning. I'm your new next-door neighbor." The short, gorgeous lady that was with Smoker was at the door, holding a small basket filled with an assortment of stuff, with a wagon filled with more sitting on the sidewalk. "I just moved in next door so I thought I should introduce myself. This is for you and your family." She extended her arms, offering the basket, making direct eye contact with Taylor.

Taylor swallowed the saliva that had built up in her mouth and nodded. There was no way that she knew that Taylor was the other capr that night.

Taylor took the gift basket cautiously.

"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself!" The short hair lady bowed her head slightly before quickly looking up. "My name is Tashigi."

"I-Im Taylor." Was all she could reply.

"It's nice to meet you Taylor." Tashigi smiled widely. Taylor blushed softly and nodded. 'Quite brain I'm straight!'

"I-It's nice to meet you too."

"I won't take up too much of your time. Have a nice day!" Tashigi bowed again a bit more deeply. She quickly walked away soon after, not giving Taylor a chance to speak.

Closing the door, Taylor carefully set the gift basket on the table, and jumped head first onto the couch, stuffing her face into the pillow.

"How can this day get any worse?"

After what felt like an eternity, Taylor sat up and looked down at herself.

"Shit.'

Sports bra and tiny sports shorts.

Yup, it definitely got worse.


---

"Block it."

"Too slow. Strike harder."

"Hya!"

"Don't announce your attack! You're giving your opponent a warning."

Smoker was overlooking the training of Squad One. Tashigi was busy moving into her new home, so Smoker was taking her place today. Tashigi normally handled it, since his fighting style wouldn't mesh well with the average Marines style.

Still, Smoker still remembered the basics. Leaning against the wall, Smoker was personally overseeing a practice fight between Gunderson and Greenhorn Kazuki. Both were wielding clubs the length of a cutlass.

"YAAAAAAA!!" Kazuki charged at Gunderson with an overhead strike, who simply blocked it and kicked him in the stomach. Gunderson had served with Smoker since he had been given command of Loguetown's garrison, a good soldier. Kazuki however, joined shortly before their voyage began, and was simply a cabin boy. The boy begged Smoker to be given a chance to join Squad One, instead of being assigned to cleaning duty with Alby.

"You're getting desperate, becoming cornered like a wild animal." Smoker began. Gunderson swung his club, only for Kazuki to charge forward, attempting to tackle him.

He was rewarded with a bruised face. Smoker sighed internally, as Kazuki stood back up again, grabbing his club.

"Again."

"No."

Kazuki turned to Smoker angrily. Gunderson lowered his makeshift weapon and also turned to look at Smoker. The other's near them training also stopped to look at the exchange.

"But Captain!"

Smoker glared at him and said nothing. Kazuki closed his mouth.

"At this rate you won't learn anything, aside from learning how to take care of your bruises. If you can't handle the club, what makes you think you can handle a real blade?"

"But I want to learn how to fight! I joined the Marines to fight, and to be a famous hero! Not to clean floors and shit." Kazuki exclaimed. Gunderson's eyes widened in shock and quickly turned away, the others in the room doing the same. No one talked to Smoker that way.

Smoker stared at Kazuki, who simply stared back.

"You want to be a hero do you?" Smoker stood up to his full height and walked towards the much smaller Kazuki.

"Yes sir."

"Then tell me, Cabin Boy. What is a hero?" Smoker said simply, looking down at Kazuki. Smoker had run into plenty of young Marines like Kazuki. Most of them ended up dead.

"A hero...a hero is someone who protects the innocent and arrests criminals!" Kazuki said confidently. Smoker chuckled as he took several deep breaths full of smoke.

"What you described…" Smoker started laughing louder. "Is a damn police officer." Kazuki's bruised face fell.

"Now tell me."

"What…"

Kazuki, Gunderson, and the others looked confused.

"Is…"

Smoker stared at each and every one of them.

"A hero?"

Silence was Smoker's response. Kazuki avoided Smoker's gaze, as did the others.

"The day you can answer that question, you can call yourself a 'hero'." Smoker said simply. He turned around and walked back to his previous spot.

"Start over again."

"Wha-" Gunderson started. Kazuki's bruise purple face lit up.

"If the Greenhorn is going to be a hero, then he's going to need all the training he can get." Smoker looked at the other nosy Marines. "Back to your own training." They quickly scrambled to their own spots.

Gunderson and Kazuki saluted him, and went to their positions. Smoker didn't pay attention this time.

What is a hero? He certainly wasn't. Smoker was a soldier, a Marine, plain and simply. If needed, he would fight till his dying breath if it meant Smoker could save one more life, one more person.

In Smoker's opinion, a hero fought for a better tomorrow, for those that couldn't.

TWAP. Smoker looked up and grinned.

Kazuki managed to hit Gunderson.

He would be a fine Marine yet, Smoker was sure of it.
 
2.7
Smoker didn't spend much time exploring their new home. He would fix that once everyone was settled in completely. Knowing his way around the city should be near the top of his list, but Smoker was simply content to be able to navigate through the hellhole that was known as the Docks.

It was obvious that this city was dying a slow painful death, its life force being drained by the leeches that call themselves gangs. Smoker drove past crumbling buildings, some abandoned, others that barely seemed liveable. A few seemed...normal.

Many people stopped to take photos of Smoker once he drove past them. A few fainted, but he ignored them as he continued his patrol. If Smoker was going to catch criminals, he needed to secure the area closest to Marine HQ. It would make things easier for his men should they get injured or needed to retreat.

His cigars filling the air around him with smoke, Smoker made sure to not let the smoke get close to anyone else that got too close. Apparently civilians were much weaker here than back home, their lungs would shrivel up eventually if exposed to smoke for prolonged periods of time, most eventually died.

A few dressed in ABB colors ran as soon as they saw him. Smoker smirked and stopped at the red light. Apparently, traffic laws were a thing here, unless there was an emergency, Smoker was forced to obey them.

A horrible whistle made Smoker turn his head. A car full of teenagers had pulled up next to him.

"Looking good there." The guy in the driving seat winked. A few girls began saying things similar to him, a few more vulgar.

Smoker sighed and quickly drove off as soon as the light turned green. By now, everyone had seen Alby's infamous drawing of the van. He hated it. Is this what Tashigi felt like back at Marine academy?

Alby was going to suffer so much, he was going to regret being born.

Suddenly, Smoker heard a young girl cry out. Adjusting his course, he followed the direction where the noise came from.

Eventually, he came across a small rundown park. Attempting to climb a tree was a young girl. Hmm, a kite was stuck among the branches. Smoker parked his bike along the side, reformed his legs and walked up to the young girl.

"Is everything ok young lady?" He said as he stood next to her, looking up at the kite. She looked up at him with a tear stained face.

"T-The tree took my kite…" She said sadly. Smoker smiled softly, and raised a hand that turned into smoke. She stared at him in awe.

"Don't worry. I'll make sure that the big, bad tree will give you your kite back." Smoke rose up and the kite was gently released, floating down while being guided by smoke into Smoker's other hand.

"I believe this is yours?" Smoker kneeled down and held her kite out to her. She smiled brightly and hugged him. Smoker froze slightly, but allowed her, with a small pat on her back after he reformed his hand. She pulled away and gently grabbed her kite.

"Thank you Mister." She said. Smoker simply smiled in return. The young girl then ran off to play with her kite again.

"Well that was awfully sweet of you Captain Smoker." Smoker heard someone to his side say. Turning his head, he saw Panacea, surprisingly not dressed in her healer robes. What a coincidence. What was she doing around here?

"Children are our future. When we're gone, the world will be theirs to have." Smoker said simply. He turned to look at her.

"What are you doing here Panacea?"

"Vicky wanted to visitTashigi. I wasn't so far away at a homeless shelter, so I got bored and decided to wander around." She seemed a bit annoyed and took a few sips of water from her bottle.

A bold lie. No one decided to wander the Docks, parahuman or not, unless they were looking for something.

"Hmm. Very well." Smoker shrugged. It wasn't his business what she did in her spare time.

"Call me Amy when I'm not in costume."

"Smoker."

Amy coughed violently.

"Wait wait wait." She looked at him confused. "That's your real name?"

Smoker sighed, taking in more puffs from his cigars.

"Yes."

It was silent for a few seconds.

"That's weird."

"There was an Admiral named Monkey D. Garp."

"Shit, I'd stick with Smoker then."

Smoker grinned.

"It seems that we at least have that in common. Did you enjoy my gift?"

Amy looked away. "I'm uh...saving it for a special day."

Smoker nodded. "Fair enough."

They stood there for a few minutes in silence, looking at the children play.

"Did you have one? I mean, back in your world." Amy asked. Smoker put a hand to his chin and shook his head.

"No. I was too busy catching criminals, and I didnt want to put anyone in danger by getting too close to them." Smoker said with a half truth. Honestly, Smoker was too busy with his Marine career.

"Nice. Now Vicky owes me some money."

Smoker raised an eyebrow. Amy shuffled from side to side.

"We made bets that you and Tashigi were a thing." She mumbled under her breath.

That was...the most stupid thing that Smoker ever heard off. Their relationship was strictly professional, and even if it wasn't, Smoker saw her more as a daughter than anything else.

"I see."

"Sorry."

Smoker waved her off. These people's customs were weird.

"I should be getting back. It's getting late and Vicky must be looking for now." She said looking at Smoker. Hm, it was getting dark. Traveling through the Docks at night was very dangerous.

"Need a ride." Smoker said pointing towards his Billower bike. Amy stared at it, before looking at him, before staring at it again.

"You know, why the hell not?"

---

"Door to base."

The first thing Alexandria saw when she walked through was carnage. Not carnage made from flesh, but dismantled machines and tinkertech. Another portal opened revealing Eidolon and Legend.

"Rebecca."

"David."

"Keith."

They all shared a look before they started following the path of destruction.

"Is he still at it?" David asked. Alexandria nodded her head. Where was Doctor Mother? Or Contessa? Usually she restrained Joseph when he entered one of his fugues.

Eventually they found the source. Joseph was sitting on the floor in the middle of the room, writing some blueprints on the floor, Doctor Mother and Contessa off to the side observing him.

Keith immediately rushed forward towards his friend.

"What happened!" Contessa stood in his way shaking her head. Motioning them to follow her, they went into a side room.

"He's getting closer."

Keith crossed his arms. "Getting closer to what?"

Contessa formed a smirk.

"Getting closer to designing a weapon to kill Scion."


A/N

Im not going to say what happened to Hero just yet, so feel free to guess.

Finally caught up to SB
 
2.8
It didn't take long for them to arrive back at Marine HQ. Amy sat behind Smoker as he sat forward enough to fit. His bike was quite impressive, being powered by his own smoke. Sadly, more than a few people managed to see them, despite it getting rather late. Some even threw Amy death glares. Well at least that meant they didn't recognize her at first, until someone posts it on PHO and calls her out.

Carol was going to kill her.

"Shouldn't you be wearing a helmet?" Amy said as Smoker pulled into the garage.

"Nope. I've been told that I'm rather hardheaded." Smoker grinned as he reformed his legs, got off the bike, and extended a gloved hand towards her. Amy took it and he helped her off.

"That was a horrible joke and you know that." Amy said bluntly. Smoker simply shrugged his shoulder and took some puffs from his cigars when two men dressed in white uniforms walked up to them. Amy vaguely remembered their faces from the time she gave them a check up. They had...unique facial features.

"Captain Smoker Sir!" They both saluted at him, but seemed a bit confused when they saw Amy.

"Shoko, Karaburma." Smoker said simply. "Miss Dallon is our guest."

Amy stood there awkwardly.

"Yes sir. We will begin our maintenance now." One of them answered, saluted again, and scurried past them.

"Strict huh." Amy said as Smoker led her through a door. It seemed funny that this was the same guy who helped that little girl with her kite in the tree.

"I prefer the term tough love." Smoker grunted as they walked past several Marines playing cards, and even an off duty PRT Agent? The female officer kept their PRT officer badge on.

"Soooo, how's being a Protectorate member being?" Amy knew that question was wrong, but Smoker seemed fun to bother. She vaguely heard some whispers coming from a different direction.

"Protectorate affiliated." Smoker corrected her. Amy shrugged after she almost bumped into a wet floor sign. "And decent I suppose. They supply us with some equipment, we have our own chain of command, and we just supplement their forces when needed."

"Supplement?"

Smoker stopped walking and looked down at her.

"They're using me just like I'm using them. Give and take. Nothing in this world is free. I'm sure they called in a favor when you gave us medical attention."

This guy was even more pessimistic than Amy. She liked him. The noise was getting louder.

"Yeah, wait, how do you know where my sister is in this big building?" Amy asked all of a sudden. She didn't remember asking anyone for directions. Amy then heard a loud scream. So that was the noise.

"That's how."

Smoker quickly guided her through some hallways before stopping at a door.

"In here."

Amy gave him a sideway look, and opened the door slowly.

"RAAAAAAAAAAA!"

They were greeted to the sight of Tashigi and Vicky playing a game of cards? Judging by the scream, Vicky was losing. She...wasn't normally this much of a sore loser.

"YOU SURE YOU NEVER PLAYED BEFORE?"

"I ONLY PLAYED ONCE BEFORE! AND WE USED DIFFERENT RULES AND CARD SETS!"

"I BET YOU COUNTED THE CARDS-"

Smoker and Amy simply observed the exchange for a few seconds and closed the door silently.

"I dont think they're here." Amy said dryly. She wasn't about to enter that mess. Smoker seemed amused and chuckled a bit.

"Agreed. Shall we head to the mess hall until they're done?" It seemed funny that the guy who managed to beat Lung in a fight was too chicken to get in the middle of a cat fight.

"Sure."

They quickly got away from the door before Vicky and Tashigi could notice that they were there.

Only a handful of marines were in the mess hall when they got there. Smoker simply kept smoking after they sat at a table away from the others.

It was...a good silence.

"Here." Smoker pulled out a cigar and held it out for Amy. "You seem like you need it. If your sister shows up I'll just say I tried using three at the same time." Amy stared at it for a second before grabbing it. It's not like anyone could see her here. Well aside from Vicky, but she seemed busy.

"Is this one like the one you gave me?"

Smoker shook his head slightly. "That's a Cuban apparently."

"I never smoked a cigar before. I'm more used to cigarettes." Smoker simply shrugged his shoulders and explained to her how to use it.

Not even five minutes later they were both puffing smoke.

"I hear that smoking here is quite unhealthy." Smoker said after some moments of silence.

"They are. They cause your lungs to blacken, lowering your stamina in the long run and can cause cancer." Amy said simply. Of course he wouldn't know. The man could turn into smoke and was literally named Smoker. "I'm immune to it though thanks to my power."

Smoker simply nodded in silence.

"And...they help me relax after a long day at the hospital, home or school." Or after dealing with Carol.

"Family problems I assume."

Amy nodded slowly, blowing a puff of smoke. These were pretty nice.

"Aren't you going to ask me about them?" Amy asked. She usually wasn't this open with her problems.

"It's not my business if you tell me or not. If you want to you can. Your choice. We barely know each other after all." Smoker said simply, causing the smoke to swirl around him casually. This guy was awesome.

"Tough love huh."

Smoker nodded. "Tough love."

They sat there in silence for a while, with Smoker even putting on a little show for her with his smoke. A few of his marines joined them with smaller cigarettes. Shit, she was going to smell like smoke. Oh well, she could manipulate something to change her odor.

"Ammmmmmy where are youuuu?"

There went her peace. Quickly taking the cigar out of her mouth, Amy threw it at Smoker who caughted it and removed the smoke surrounding her. Seeing this, the other marines quickly started hiding their cigarettes when Vicky and Tashigi entered the mess hall.

"There you are!" Vicky walked up to their small group. She caught sight of Smoker. "Hiya Papa Smoke."

Smoker scowled at Vicky. "Hello Glory Girl."

"Tsk tsk. Call me Vicky or Victoria out of costume old man." Vicky said as she sat in the seat next to Amy.

"When didja get back?" Vicky pulled out her phone.

"Not long ago." Amy said, sighing.

"Cool cool. Shoot, I'm going to be late for my date with Dean. You ready to go Amy?"

Great...another double date.

"Sure."

"Great!" Vicky turned to Tashigi. "I'll beat you next time." And turned to Smoker. "See ya Smokey. Thanks for having us over." Vicky quickly pulled out her phone and started talking to Tashigi again who kept trying to push her away.

"If you want a place to relax, Marine HQ is always open." Amy heard Smoker said softly who simply grinned.

Amy...was sure she was going to take him up on his offer in the future.

A/N

What's One Piece without some filler?
More fights will come in the future, maybe even sooner than you think. I just need Smoker and co settled in completely
 
Chore Girl Amy getting the Garp treatment at Smokers hands? We can but hope. A Striker 10 learning Soru would be terrifying!
 
2.9
Being born in the Grand Line, and rising through the Marine ranks often meant a lot of training. Smoker was used to training. It meant getting stronger, better. He didn't rise to the rank of captain by being a slouch.

He punched an old ship as hard as he could. Smoker decided to train in the "Boat Graveyard". Plenty of room to train and try out new moves. He turned his entire body into smoke, and split off into different directions quickly, until reforming on the deck of an old rusted ship.

Smoker needed to get faster, stronger, better. The ship became blanketed in smoke and his body disappeared. He reformed a fist to smash into the hull of an old freighter, his jutte punctured a hole through an old engine. He turned back into smoke again.

If his crew was going to survive here, Smoker needed haki. He had seen its use many times when serving under Admiral Zephyr.

Smoker closed his eyes, and focused after reforming his body. He focused on the feeling he felt during his fight with Lung.

"RAAAAAA." Smoker focused into his fist and punched the hull, his fist going through. Nothing. He stared at his fist, turned the lower half of his body into smoke and flew up into the air, eventually turning all of himself into smoke.

He was going to need to train harder. Smoker was going to push himself to his limits. Lung was simply the start. Soon, Kaiser and his 'Empire', and Skidmark with his parasites. Smoker would be the exterminator this city needs. He reformed his body on the top of a ship's bridge.

Ring ring ring. His pocket started vibrating. Was Tashigi calling him? He took his phone out. Hmm, an unknown number. Not many people knew Smoker's personal phone number.

His eyes narrowed as he pressed the answer button, and placed it near his ear.

"I-Is this Smoker?" A young familiar voice said. The bug girl who was there with Lung. Smoker looked around slowly before answering.

"It is."

"I-I need help. I think the Undersiders know who I am." She said softly.

Smoker clenched his other fist. Damn cowards targeting a new hero in her civilian identity. While he didnt agree with wearing a mask and secret identities, it seemed like a necessity for those who don't wish for their families to become involved.

"Tell me where you are. I'll be right there."

Smoker was going to enjoy capturing them. He wouldn't make the same mistakes he did with Luffy.

He was sure of it.

---

Tashigi smiled when she heard the familiar whistle from her kettle pot. Yay! It's time for her coffee. She drank it black of course. Quickly preparing her cup by grinding some beans, Tashigi was enjoying her drink not even ten minutes later. Ahhh, bitter just like she liked it.

Sitting on her new coach, Tashigi let herself relax. Captain Smoker would work them all to death soon. He had already given her a few books on rokushiki. She would have to see which ones fit her style the most, but she would do her best to master them!

She took a few sips from her coffee mug, when she heard a knock at the door. Oooo her guest was here. Carefully placing her mug on her coaster, Tashigi went to answer the door.

"Hi Hannah!" Tashigi said happily. Miss Militia stood at the entrance to her door in her civilian clothes.

"Hi Tashigi." Hannah smiled in return. Tashigi felt honored that Hannah trusted her enough to reveal her secret identity.

"Come in." Tashigi motioned her in. "Would you like some coffee?" Hannah simply nodded with a small smile.

"Sit wherever you want." Tashigi said as she prepared another cup of coffee. Hannah went and took the seat across from Tashigi's.

"How do you like your coffee?"

"I like it black. Thank you."

Tashigi placed it on a coaster in front of Hannah and went back to her seat. She liked her talks with Hannah, it's not like she could talk about girl stuff with the guys. That would make most of them uncomfortable, and she was their superior officer. Plus Hannah's powers involving weapons were so cool!

"How was work?" Tashigi asked as she took a sip of her beloved coffee.

Hannah took a sip of her coffee as well.

"It was...ok. Armsmaster placed me in charge of the Wards." Hannah said and took a longer sip. Tashigi nodded along.

"It's tough?" Tashigi knew what she felt like. While most of the Marines were grown men, some acted like they were younger than they actually are. Most Alby.

"You have no idea. Shadow Stalker has been antagonizing the team, Clockblocker still keeps pranking Vista." Hannah sighed. "It's much harder than I thought it would be."

Yup, being in a position of authority was a lot of work. Organizing training, overseeing said training, dealing with Captain Smoker, the list just went on and on.

"It's hard being the one in charge." Tashigi said, finishing up her coffee. Hannah continued drinking her coffee nodding.

"Do you miss home?"

Tashigi paused for a second and thought about it. She did miss it a little, and her few friends that she had made back home.

"A little. I just had to change some of my goals.." Like her goal of gathering the meito's. Tashigi still had her book about them. "But as long as Captain Smoker is here, I'll be fine."

"You trust him that much?" Hannah asked, her coffee cup now empty.

"Yup. I trust Captain Smoker with my life." Tashigi looked into Hannah's green eyes with determination. "He believed in me when no one else did. I won't misplace his trust in me."

"I see." Hannah leaned back in her chair slightly, and looked out the window that faces the backyard. "Is all that a training dummy?"

"Yup! Most of it arrived yesterday." Tashigi had ordered some wooden swords, and an assortment of training equipment to turn her backyard into her training center. "Want to check it out?" Tashigi often trained with the other Marines, fighting up to five at a time, but it seemed they were tired of losing.

"Sure."

Too bad Alby wasn't here for shooting practice. He made an excellent target.

---

Adjusting her mask, Taylor swallowed the build up in her throat that she didn't know she had. It was...creepy. How did those criminals know who she was? Why did they want to meet her? Taylor's attempt at finding information on them was mostly a bust as there wasn't much information on the Undersiders period.

Everyone knew that Tattletale was a thinker who claimed to be a psychic, and it was obvious that Trainwreck was a tinker, but there was less information on Grue and Regent. Only Hellhound had the most news about her, a murderer. Her swarm covered Taylor's blind spots.

Taylor wasn't going to take any chances, even if she did help arrest Lung. That's why she called Smoker. Armsmaster would most likely want to get her to join the drama filled Wards, but Smoker just screamed badass rebel, despite the military theme the Marines had going for them.

Now she was standing at the mouth of an alleyway in the uninhabited part of the Docks. She had called him with a payphone across the street.

Taylor was soon taken out of her thoughts by the appearance of white smoke. Is he here yet?

"Boo." A voice said behind her, and Taylor squeaked, sending her swarm to her would be attacker. Turning around, she saw Smoker's grinning face as bugs flew around trying to swarm his smokey body.

Taylor quickly called her swarm back. "I'm sorry! You scared me." She felt...dumb.

Smoker simply waved it off and reformed his...body that seemed like a Greek gods. Damn fanart.

"You did the right thing. Killer instincts you have there." Smoker puffed out some smoke, yet Taylor didn't smell its signature odor?

"I-I guess." He was easily way taller than Taylor.

"You said the Undersiders, a group of criminals, have figured out your identity?" Smoker said simply with a calm voice.

Taylor nodded. "I was at a library when one of them texted me through PHO, wanting to meet up."

"Suspicious indeed."

Taylor had done the math. Independants didn't last long in Brockton Bay. She would be dead in six months or less. The Wards seemed so...untouchable, New Waves had an open mask policy, but the Marines seemed so...chill?

Their uniform literally included a baseball cap that said Marine in all caps. Plus they didn't seem all professional the night Lung was captured when they all scrambled to stop Smoker from killing that Alby guy.

Smoker fought for Taylor to get credit for Lung's capture, even standing up to Armsmaster for her. Hopefully her trust wasnt misplaced...like all those other times before.

"You said to call whenever I needed help."

Smoker nodded. He came immediately too, probably dropping everything he was doing to come meet her.

"I-If I join the Marines, would I have to unmask?"

Smoker kept looking at her smoking.

"I dont care."

What? Of course he wouldn't care about her-

"I don't care if you choose to unmask. That's your business. If you want to unmask to the public, your choice. If you want to unmask to the Marines, your choice." Smoker started speaking. Taylor stared at him in shock.

"If you want to unmask to a select few, that's your choice. Just know that if you join the Marines..."

Taylor felt his gaze burn through her mask's goggles.

"...I won't ask more of you than I would anyone else." She saw...the determination and passion in Smoker's eyes.

Smoker extended his hand. "It's your choice if you want to join or not. Just know that we will be by your side."

Taylor stared at his large hand and slowly, slowly reached out to grab it.

"Welcome to the Marines.." Smoker said slowly. Oh! He wanted to know if she had chosen a cape name. Shoot, she forgot to choose one. Glancing to her right, Taylor saw a spider she hadn't called into her swarm, weaving its web.

"Weaver."

Smoker grinned again, his cigars not falling out.

"Welcome to the Marines, Weaver."


A/N
This arc is finally over. Next chapter is going to be a PHO one. Mostly. Spoiler but it's going to be a Q and A. So feel free to dm/pm me some questions privately or post them in the thread. I'll put your username as the one asking the question. The chapter will be posted once I have enough so no hard feelings if yours isn't chosen.
BAM. Taylor is now part of the Marines. If anyone has a better name for her let me know and if I like it I'll go back and edit it in. You'll get credit of course.
 
3.0


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♦ Topic: Marine Q&A
In: Boards ► Brockton Bay
SwordFreak (Original Poster) (Verified Cape) (Marine) (Sword master)
Posted On Apr 7th 2011:
Hi everyone! I'm Tashigi with the Marines, Brockton Bay's newest hero team! We are new to town so we are having a Q&A so everyone can get to know us better! Don't worry, we don't bite. (...thank you Glory Girl for the idea stop bothering me about it!)
Captain Smoker, myself, and a handful of other Marines will be here to answer whatever questions everyone has!

(Showing page 1 of 5)

►Brocktonite03 (Veteran Member)
Replied On Apr 7th 2011:
What do you guys think about Brockton Bay so far?

►SwordFreak (Original Poster) (Verified Cape) (Marine) (Sword master)
Replied On Apr 7th 2011:
@ Brocktonite03

Brockton Bay is very charming in its own way :)

►Clockblocker (Verified Cape) (Wards ENE) (Pun master)
Replied On Apr 7th 2011:
You single?

►Vista (Verified Cape) (Wards ENE)
Replied On Apr 7th 2011:
@ Clockblocker

*smacks him on head*

Shaddup

@ SwordFreak

Do you wanna be friends???? :D

►SwordFreak (Original Poster) (Verified Cape) (Marine) (Sword master)
Replied On Apr 7th 2011:
@ Clockblocker

Lol yes. Why?

@ Vista

Of course!!!

►Aloha
Replied On Apr 7th 2011:
I heard that a marine named Alby drew that...delightful drawing of Smoker. Is that true?

►NotAlby (Artist) (Marine)
Replied On Apr 7th 2011:
@ Aloha

Yuuup, but ya didnt hear it from me!!! >.>

►Eibon_Alain (Nice guy)
Replied On Apr 7th 2011:
Does anyone know if Alby accepts orders???
I would like a drawing of sexy Smoker for my bike.

►NotAlby (Artist) (Marine)
Replied On Apr 7th 2011:
@Eibon_Alain

Sure just send me a dm ;)

End of Page. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

(Showing page 2 of 5)

►Smoker (Verified Cape) (Marine) (Marine Leader) (Daddy)
Replied On Apr 7th 2011:
@NotAlby

Im going to kill you

►Glory Girl (Verified Cape) (New Wave)
Replied On Apr 7th 2011:
Who's ya best friend? :D

►SwordFreak (Original Poster) (Verified Cape) (Marine) (Sword master)
Replied On Apr 7th 2011:
@Glory Girl

Uhhhhhhh

►bothad (Bored)
Replied On Apr 7th 2011:
We've all seen the footage about Smoker's fight with Lung, but what exactly are your powers?

►Smoker (Verified Cape) (Marine) (Marine Leader) (Daddy)
Replied On Apr 7th 2011:
@bothad
Smoke

►Bagrat (The Guy in the Know) (Veteran Member)
Replied On Apr 7th 2011:
Nice hats. Where can I get one?

►Gunderson (Marine)
Replied On Apr 7th 2011:
@Bagrat
We will be selling replica's at the souvenir stand outside of Marine HQ.

►GstringGirl
Replied On Apr 7th 2011:
What do the Marines plan on doing in the future?

►SwordFreak (Original Poster) (Verified Cape) (Marine) (Sword master)
Replied On Apr 7th 2011:
@GstringGirl
We plan on helping our local community to the best of our ability! And help the Protectorate as needed

►Kriketz
Replied On Apr 7th 2011:
Its true. I saw a video of Papa Smoker helping a little girl with her kite stuck in a tree. Sooooo cute!

End of Page. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

(Showing page 3 of 5)

►Mr. Fabuu
Replied On Apr 7th 2011:
I saw that video! Who knew that Smoker was such a softie!

►Ultracut
Replied On Apr 7th 2011:
I was at the Boardwalk with my daughter when we accidently ran into him. Literally, and her ice cream fell on all over the sidewalk. Smoker literally gave her a ten dollar bill to go buy a bigger one

►Saskatchew
Replied On Apr 7th 2011:
(This user has been temporarily banned)

►TheGnat
Replied On Apr 7th 2011:
(This user has been temporarily banned)

►Tin Mother (Moderator) (Admin)
Replied On Apr 7th 2011:
Please refrain from NSFW comments, post or answers.

►Concerned Mom (Karen)
Replied On Apr 7th 2011:
Smoker is such a bad role model!! Promoting smoking and an unhealthy lifestyle!!

►Space Zombie
Replied On Apr 7th 2011:
@Concerned Mom
Stfu and leave daddy alone

►Tin Mother (Moderator) (Admin)
Replied On Apr 7th 2011:
Please refrain from arguing

►Clockblocker (Verified Cape) (Wards ENE) (Pun master)
Replied On Apr 7th 2011:
Hey Papa Smokey, how did you get all those muscles?

►Smoker (Verified Cape) (Marine) (Marine Leader) (Daddy)
Replied On Apr 7th 2011:
Training

End of Page. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

(Showing page 4 of 5)

►Aegis (Wards ENE)
Replied On Apr 7th 2011:
@ Clockblocker
You need a dictionary to know what that means?

►Shadow Stalker (Wards ENE) (Edge Lord)
Replied On Apr 7th 2011:
@ Clockblocker

Hahaha get burned mofo

►Miss Militia (Verified Cape) (Protectorate Employee)
Replied On Apr 7th 2011:
@ Shadow Stalker
Language

►Robby
Replied On Apr 7th 2011:
Nice katanna. Does it have a name?

►SwordFreak (Original Poster) (Verified Cape) (Marine) (Sword master)
Replied On Apr 7th 2011:
@ Robby
Why thank you :). Yes! Her name is Shigure

►Laserdream (Verified Cape) (New Wave)
Replied On Apr 7th 2011:
Sis, Ima need that workout

►NotAlby (Artist) (Marine)
Replied On Apr 7th 2011:
@ Laserdream
Mine???.?

►Gunderson (Marine)
Replied On Apr 7th 2011:
@NotAlby
Not you idiot

►Glory Girl (Verified Cape) (New Wave)
Replied On Apr 7th 2011:
@SwordFreak

*pouts* :(

►SwordFreak (Original Poster) (Verified Cape) (Marine) (Sword master)
Replied On Apr 7th 2011:
@Laserdream
My what?
@Glory Girl
._.

End of Page. 1, 2, 3, 4

(Showing page 5 of 5)

►Armsmaster (Verified Cape) (Protectorate Employee) (Master Tinker) (Tin Mother's Man)
Replied On Apr 7th 2011:
I look forward to working with you Captain Smoker

►Smoker (Verified Cape) (Marine) (Marine Leader) (Daddy)
Replied On Apr 7th 2011:
Likewise

►SpecificProtagonist
Replied On Apr 7th 2011:
@Smoker
Can I get your autograph??

►Smoker (Verified Cape) (Marine) (Marine Leader) (Daddy)
Replied On Apr 7th 2011:
What

►SwordFreak (Original Poster) (Verified Cape) (Marine) (Sword master)
Replied On Apr 7th 2011:
That'll be it for today! Thank you to everyone who asked questions. Im sorry if we didnt to your question. It was fun!

End of Page. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5



♦ Topic: The Marines
In: Boards ► Brockton Bay
Bagrat (Original Poster) (The Guy in the Know) (Veteran Member)
Posted On Jan 1st 2011:
The Marines are Brockton Bay's newest hero team. Here is a list of what we know!
Smoker v Lung *here*
Smoker helping little kid with kite *here*
Tashigi being chased by Glory Girl and Panacea at the Boardwalk *here*

Smoker: The leader of the team and a powerhouse. According to my sources, he has been given the ratings of Brute 6, Mover 5, Breaker 3, Stranger 2, and Shaker 3. He also has become a celebrity overnight due to a....certain van. Smoker is always seen with at least two cigars in his mouth, and like his name suggest, controls smoke.

Tashigi: She apparently serves as the groups second in command. She is at least a Brute 4, Mover 1, and Thinker 1. She has been spotted with Glory Girl and Panacea in a very public altercation. Tashigi for some reason, also has the body of a goddess and wields a sword named Shigure.

Alby: The creator of the infamous porn van. Other than his skills in art, not much else is known about the Hentai Master.

Unknown Cape: During Smoker's fight with Lung, some have managed to point out that an unknown cape was also on the scene. Nothing else is known yet, but I will update the thread when information becomes available.

(Showing page 1 of 1)

►Glory Girl (Verified Cape) (New Wave)
Replied On Jan 1st 2011:
Make sure to put down that I'm Tashigi's best friend :)

►NotAlby (Artist) (Marine)
Replied On Jan 1st 2011:
Nice to see my skills are being appreciated.

End of Page. 1



A/N
Sorry the PHO thread is pretty bad
 
Kinda surprised Tashigi didn't gush more over Shigure.
"It's a named blade, one of the finest on the seven seas, its name means Autumn Rain, I captured it from..."
*Twenty Minutes Later*
"...and that probably means I need to tell you about the Grade system, which starts with O-Wazomono Grade Swords, the mightiest of which is the storied blade Yoru, owned by the greatest swordsman in the world Dracule Mihawk..."
*shows wanted poster, Twilight fans implode*
"...and that reminds me, although I like swords, Graded Blades don't have to be swords, like the Murokumogiri, wielded by Edward Newgate..."
*shows wanted poster of uber-ripped old dude, all moustache officionados shed a single tear*
"...and then we have the known Wazomono swords, like this beautiful white-sheathed blade here... "
*starts third post after hitting the character limit again*
"...but obviously it isn't that I like that Mosshead, I'm just after him for the Wado Ichimonji..."
*shows Zoro's wanted poster*
*internet thirst reaches critical levels*
 
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