The lightning faded.
Silence swallowed Loguetown.
Only the charred execution platform and drifting smoke proved the miracle had been real.
Naval Building Rooftop
Rain slid down Smoker's silver hair.
His cigar lay forgotten at his feet.
He didn't pick it up.
His hawk-like gaze pierced through the rain, locked onto the figure beneath the distant tree.
KING.
The man had merely frowned.
Lightning fell.
The execution platform vanished.
"Colonel…" Tashigi whispered, her sword trembling faintly in its sheath.
"Mr. King… he… spared Straw Hat Luffy?"
"Spared?"
Smoker spat rainwater mixed with blood.
"You're naïve."
"A lion doesn't concern itself with ants."
"He cares only whether the sea is worth crossing."
"That lightning wasn't mercy."
Smoker's eyes narrowed.
"It was an announcement."
He turned sharply.
"Seal the port!"
"If Straw Hat Luffy has been acknowledged by that man…"
"Let's see if he survives long enough to prove it."
He glanced once more toward the tree.
"I want to see it too…"
"Will the spark he noticed burn through the sky?"
Beneath the Tree
If Smoker could hear King's thoughts, he might swallow his jitte whole.
(My legs… I can't feel them.)
King stared ahead, expression unreadable.
In truth, he had stood too long.
"Woof."
The puppy shifted in his arms.
His fingers tightened.
(Don't move! My legs are numb — if I lose balance, I'm finished!)
The Straw Hats Break Through
From the chaos, the Straw Hat crew burst forward.
Monkey D. Luffy ran ahead, grinning.
"What luck! Hehehe!"
(Hurry up and leave… please hurry up… once you're gone I can sit down…)
But fate intervened.
White smoke flooded their path.
Smoker emerged.
"There won't be a next time, brat."
Clash
"Gum-Gum Pistol!"
Luffy struck.
Smoke dispersed.
Smoker's body reformed behind him.
His seastone-tipped jitte slammed down.
BANG
Luffy crashed into the cobblestones.
Water splashed.
Blood sprayed.
Smoker pinned him to the ground.
"That's it?!" he growled.
"You think you're worthy with this level of strength?!"
His anger burned.
He would not allow weakness to stain what had just occurred.
The Wind Changes
Drip.
A drop struck King's shoe.
The air tightened.
Whoooosh—!!!
Pressure descended without warning.
The atmosphere compressed.
Breathing became difficult.
A dark green gale erupted across the plaza.
Debris lifted.
Rain twisted sideways.
In the center of the storm—
a man appeared.
A dark green hood.
Tattooed face.
Calm presence.
Monkey D. Dragon.
"The wind… is rising," Smoker muttered.
This was no ordinary wind.
It carried will.
A force capable of overturning the world.
The gale exploded outward.
Smoker was blasted away, smashing through a wall.
He struggled from the rubble, coughing.
So this…
…was the power of the world's most wanted man.
Dragon ignored him.
He lifted Luffy to his feet.
A complex emotion flickered in his eyes.
The wind intensified.
His raised hand signaled the storm's next surge.
Then—
he stopped.
His gaze shifted.
To the shade beneath the tree.
The Silent Collision
The storm raged.
Lampposts bent.
Roof tiles ripped free.
But that man—
stood unmoved.
Clothes whipping.
Hair lashing.
Yet his body did not sway even a fraction.
Like a fixed point driven into the storm itself.
(Why is it so windy today…?)
King blinked slowly.
He only wished the wind would stop.
The rain inside his collar was freezing.
But in Dragon's eyes—
this stillness spoke.
A silent declaration.
Two gazes met across the storm.
The air froze.
Smoker stared from the rubble, stunned.
On one side: the Revolutionary leader capable of stirring the winds.
On the other: a man who stood unmoved within them.
Pochi Reacts
"Grr…"
The puppy in King's arms stiffened.
It sensed hostility.
Its body expanded in an instant—
muscles swelling, form enlarging—
a massive black hound manifesting before him, releasing a low warning growl.
Dragon's eyes sharpened.
"…A mythical beast?"
He felt the destructive potential contained within it.
This was no ordinary pet.
The blond man hadn't moved.
Yet the creature alone was dangerous.
Dragon exhaled slowly.
He could not read him.
Every weakness visible.
Yet none exploitable.
"Are you the recruit Garp took interest in?" Dragon asked, voice low but clear through the storm.
Silence answered him.
King simply stared.
Vacant.
Unmoved.
That silence felt colder than hostility.
Dragon smiled faintly.
"Good."
"Very good."
"The East Blue hides deeper waters than expected."
He studied King one last time, memorizing the silhouette.
"Since you choose not to capture him…"
"I will give you face."
He waved his hand.
The storm surged.
Wind engulfed Luffy and his crew, sweeping them toward the harbor.
Mission complete.
Retreat without unnecessary conflict.
Revolutionary pragmatism.
"Until we meet again… KING."
The green whirlwind dissipated into the distance.
Aftermath
The storm ceased.
Sunlight pierced the clouds.
The plaza exhaled.
Smoker rose from the rubble, staring toward King.
Even Dragon had withdrawn.
Without testing him.
King stood in the sunlight.
Internally screaming.
(He's gone? That's it? What was that last look about? …Whatever — someone help me, my leg is cramping, damn it!)
"Woof!"
Pochi shrank back into its small form, barking happily in his arms.
As if saying:
Master is amazing.