Chapter 222: Sowing Discord for the Straw Hat Pirates

"Stop fighting, you two! Officer Smoker! This is all a misunderstanding!"

Tashigi, running until she was out of breath, arrived at the woods behind the Marine base and saw a scene that left her dumbfounded.

Smoker, covered in bumps, sat on a tree stump looking disheveled, blood at the corner of his mouth, while the front half of his weapon, the Ten Hand, had been snapped clean off.

Uchiha Feiyu wore a smile as he studied the Sea Prism Stone on the broken Ten Hand, having already pried all of it out.

Uchiha Feiyu was quite interested in strange things like Sea Prism Stone; besides restricting Devil Fruit users, it was also one of the hardest materials in existence.

People in the One Piece World could only choose to perform preliminary processing on this Sea Prism Stone, turning it into Handcuffs, chains, or at most polishing it into nails or bullets.

Having inherited the Demonic Path, Uchiha Feiyu was very eager to try and develop more uses for Sea Prism Stone, such as extracting its essence to condense into the Sandai Kitetsu in his hand, or perhaps simply using the essence of the Sea Prism Stone to temper his physique.

If he still had Dharma Power, doing such a thing would be easy, but the current Uchiha Feiyu only possessed Haki, and relying solely on Haki to accomplish this was very difficult.

While Haki was easy enough to use for reinforcing other objects, absorbing the properties of other items was completely unrelated to its capabilities; unless Uchiha Feiyu found some kind of absorption-type Devil Fruit to eat, he basically shouldn't think about achieving such a thing.

"Oh? So you've arrived, Tashigi!"

Uchiha Feiyu glanced at Tashigi and waved a hand at her.

"Rest assured, I have already reached an agreement with your officer; the misunderstanding has been resolved!"

"Uh... really? Mr. Uchiha Feiyu? Why do I feel like the officer's state is a bit off?"

Even as naive as Tashigi was, she could see that her officer had been beaten up; under such circumstances, saying Smoker and Uchiha Feiyu had reached an agreement... wasn't that a bit of a stretch?

"If you don't believe me, you can go ask your officer yourself and see if he is willing to coexist peacefully with me?"

Smoker let out a cold snort, rubbed his face, then turned his head to look at Tashigi and asked quite bluntly:

"Tashigi, what exactly is going on with you and this guy? Did he move his hands to tear your clothes?"

Tashigi blinked her eyes, then hurriedly shook her head and said:

"No, no, no, this actually has nothing to do with Mr. Uchiha Feiyu; it's all because I took Mr. Uchiha Feiyu's Demon Blade, Sandai Kitetsu, that I met with such misfortune!"

Uchiha Feiyu twitched his mouth; he didn't think this problem should be blamed on his blade. As everyone knew, the curse of a Demon Blade was forever entangled with blood and slaughter, not with making someone clumsy.

"The curse of a Demon Blade? Met with misfortune? Tell me specifically."

Smoker frowned and began to inquire carefully. Tashigi hurriedly told Smoker what had happened at the weapon shop, explaining the truth behind why her clothes had become tattered.

After listening, Smoker was speechless. Could this kind of thing really be blamed on someone else's blade? Wasn't it just you being a fool?

"Stupid Tashigi! You, why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"But... Officer Smoker... I was going to tell you, it's just that you ran too fast!"

"Damn it, don't talk back to your officer!"

After a few words, Smoker relied on his authority as a Marine Colonel to overwhelm the Marine Sergeant. Although Tashigi was still pouting and unhappy, she had no way to refute her officer.

After Smoker finished venting his anger, he walked up to Uchiha Feiyu with an ugly expression and said through gritted teeth:

"I am very sorry!! This time it was my misunderstanding!! I have caused you trouble!!"

"It's fine, I don't find it troublesome anyway. If anything, after this battle, I feel like my muscles and bones have loosened up quite a bit."

Uchiha Feiyu stretched and said something lazily that made Smoker's blood pressure skyrocket. Smoker's chest heaved several times in anger, but in the end, he swallowed his rage.

"Tashigi! You have no bonus this year! The deducted money will go to compensate the owner of the weapon shop!"

Tashigi, who was pouting on the side, froze and opened her mouth. How did this boomerang end up hitting her?

As an officer of the Haijun Benbu, Tashigi's annual bonus was quite substantial; the pirates she captured would also count toward her performance, granting her a certain bonus. Under normal circumstances, she could earn about seven or eight million Belly in annual bonuses.

This was because Tashigi was usually quite diligent and had captured many pirates, so her bonuses naturally rose with the tide. Loguetown lacked everything except for some bold and weak pirate cannon fodder.

One had to know that the shop's treasure, the famous blade Yubashiri at Ipponmatsu's place, only sold for about 1 million Belly; this compensation was definitely excessive.

However, although her officer was making a mountain out of a molehill to vent his anger, Tashigi had no choice. Who told her to cause trouble?

She could only lower her head and say "oh" reluctantly, agreeing to Smoker's demand.

After being beaten, Smoker actually developed a bit of goodwill toward Uchiha Feiyu. Even in the One Piece World, which valued dreams and freedom, it was still very realistic; people with great strength were popular everywhere.

From Smoker's perspective, Uchiha Feiyu's strength was no worse than some ordinary Marine Vice Admirals. A powerhouse of this caliber, while unable to stir up the situation of the entire sea, could easily become a high-level cadre anywhere and could be considered a big shot capable of influencing the situation of an entire sea area.

Especially after the two chatted for a bit, Smoker learned that Uchiha Feiyu had actually met Garp and received training from the old man Garp, which made them feel a bit closer.

One had to know that Garp, as an Instructor at the Marine training camp, was also Smoker's teacher; in this regard, the two could barely be considered classmates.

After chatting for a while, Uchiha Feiyu's heart was full of mischief, and he began to sow discord for Smoker.

"Smoker, you have to be careful. As far as I know, the old man Garp has a grandson who has already gone out to sea to become a Pirate, and he's always shouting that he wants to become the Pirate King."

"The old man Garp is furious and entrusted me to stop him. Because that Straw Hat brat has no bounty, I just stole his pirate ship. I don't know if he will run over to Loguetown again."

"By the way, he has two subordinates: one is a perverted cook, though fortunately he doesn't hit women, and the other is a swordsman with no sense of direction who holds the Wado Ichimonji, one of the Great Grade 21!"

The perverted cook who didn't hit women didn't get much of a reaction from Smoker and Tashigi, but upon hearing "Great Grade 21," Tashigi's eyes suddenly lit up.

The famous blades of the One Piece World were divided into three types: Ordinary Grade Swords, Ryo Wazamono (50), Great Grade 21, and Supreme Grade Swords (12). Among them, Ordinary Grade Swords went without saying, and Ryo Wazamono were actually not rare things; although they were claimed to be only 50, the actual number was far more than 50.

It was just that those 50 Ryo Wazamono were the most famous. Ryo Wazamono of the same quality were as numerous as hair on an ox throughout the One Piece World; otherwise, the Yubashiri in Ipponmatsu's shop wouldn't only sell for 1 million Belly.

In fact, as long as a swordsmith had some fame on the sea, they had the ability to forge Ryo Wazamono. Over the years, the number of Ryo Wazamono accumulated on the sea was at least 8,000 or 10,000, and even subtracting those weapons damaged in battle or by time, there were still about one or two thousand of this level.

But when it came to the Great Grade 21, the number of precious blades of the same level dropped sharply. Weapons of this level could be called a National Treasure in any country, and only those swordsmiths who could leave their names in history could forge them.

Even if the number of Great Grade swords was not limited to 21, the quantity would definitely not be as exaggerated as Ryo Wazamono; combined, there were probably no more than 50.

By the time one reached the level of the Supreme Grade Swords (12), what could achieve such a divine weapon didn't just depend on the swordsmith, but also on the owner of the blade—those that could become Supreme Grade Swords were basically legendary Black Blades.

In other words, besides the quality of the blade itself being solid, there had to be a powerful blade owner to reinforce it; both were indispensable. Therefore, Supreme Grade Swords were hard to be born in obscurity. Throughout the entire sea, even if there were occasionally missed Supreme Grade Swords, there were at most only a few.

As for things like Supreme Grade Swords, even if Tashigi knew about them, there was absolutely no hope of getting her hands on one. Ordinary Ryo Wazamono could be obtained for a million Belly, while Great Grade swords could sell for at least tens of millions of Belly. As for Supreme Grade Swords, they were completely priceless treasures that only true powerhouses could obtain.

Tashigi could still dream about a divine weapon of the Great Grade level, especially when she learned that this blade was currently in the hands of a pirate swordsman from the East Blue.

"Collecting all the famous blades by snatching them from the hands of villains is my wish! Let me be the one to defeat that pirate swordsman!"

Watching Tashigi's suddenly excited expression, Uchiha Feiyu twitched the corner of his mouth slightly:

"Since that's the case, then do as you please! But with your strength, I estimate you won't be a match for that green-haired guy."

Although the current Zoro was far from his prime and was the type to be defeated in one strike by Dracule Mihawk, he still couldn't be someone that someone at Tashigi's level could just casually challenge.

Upon hearing Uchiha Feiyu's words, Tashigi's expression suddenly turned somewhat dejected:

"My training is indeed still insufficient; I will work even harder in the future!"

Able to subdue the Sandai Kitetsu and even beat her superior Smoker into that state, Tashigi naturally would not doubt Uchiha Feiyu's strength and discernment; if he said she was not that Pirate swordsman's match, then she was eight or nine times out of ten not the opponent's match.

"No need to be so dejected... As far as I know, although the strength of those three mainstays of the Straw Hat Pirates is not bad, and their pure hard power is not much worse than Smoker's, none of them have awakened Armament Haki, so they cannot possibly be the match of Smoker, a Logia Devil Fruit user."

"Rest assured, I will capture this bunch of guys. For the sake of Vice Admiral Garp, just let me send them to Marine Headquarters to receive the Vice Admiral's re-education!"

Smoker's face was full of confidence; he did not care much about Luffy and his group, as Pirates without Armament Haki were simply not considered opponents by him.

The facts were indeed so; if it weren't for Luffy's dad arriving with a *deus ex machina*, the so-called future Pirate King and future world's greatest Great Swordsman would likely have been sent to prison by Smoker to do hard labor before even leaving the East Blue.

However, Dragon was not Luffy's nanny after all. As the world's most heinous criminal identified by the World Government and now the leader of the Revolutionary Army, he could be said to be busy with a thousand tasks; being able to see his son off when he left the East Blue was already the limit.

If the timing had been slightly off, perhaps Luffy and the others would have really suffered a few days of imprisonment—yes, a few days of imprisonment.

There was no help for it; before Luffy and the others had committed any truly heinous acts, made a big name for themselves, or entered the Grand Line, Garp's name could help him smooth over the things he did.

If they were really caught by Smoker and locked in prison, either the Marines would raise their hands slightly out of regard for his status and release Luffy after a period of time, or his old man would come knocking and directly rescue the Straw Hat Pirates.

After all, the current Luffy is not Ace; he is neither the son of the Pirate King nor a Great Pirate under the Whitebeard Pirates, just a mere East Blue Pirate, which is fundamentally insignificant.

That is why Smoker said he would send Luffy and the others to Garp; after all, Smoker has some understanding of Vice Admiral Garp, and ordinary prisons and the like are likely far less severe than Vice Admiral Garp's training.

"Then I wish you success. Let me tell you some intelligence!"

"The Straw Hat kid is a Gum-Gum Fruit user. As Vice Admiral Garp's grandson, he has undergone training since childhood, so his physical fitness and vitality are very strong, but he is a bit dim-witted; he inherited this trait from Vice Admiral Garp as well, so you can set little traps for him..."

Uchiha Feiyu was very happily digging a hole for the Straw Hat Pirates. Just as he had leaked almost all the intelligence, suddenly a few Marines ran over:

"Colonel Smoker, it's bad! There is a Pirate crew causing trouble in Loguetown!"

Smoker frowned slightly, a look of annoyance appearing on his face:

"What great audacity! I didn't expect that even after I've been in Loguetown for three years, there are still Pirates who dare to provoke me in my jurisdiction!"

"Who exactly has come?"

"Uh... it is the legendary Buggy Pirates; many people have seen that Great Pirate, Buggy the Clown!"

Buggy the Clown? Uchiha Feiyu narrowed his eyes slightly. If he hadn't guessed wrong, Buggy the Clown must have chased after the Straw Hat Pirates! This is truly speaking of Cao Cao and Cao Cao arrives!

(End of chapter)