A few Minutes Ago,

“How am I supposed to fight them? I do have some ideas but I wonder if these marines are just normal.” Liam muttered as he stood at the back of his ship.

He was looking at the several cannonballs coming toward him. At this moment, his eyes suddenly narrowed. After a while smoke puffed out of the main ship, a man walked out of the cabin of that ship.

His lower body transformed into a white smoke as he flew toward Liam’s ship.

Liam immediately reached out into his pockets and took out a pair of gloves. He wore those gloves and stared at Smoker.

“Where did your crew member go? Where is straw hat?” Smoker landed a few meters away from him and spoke with a hoarse tone.

“Captain is out to defeat Crocodile and so is the crew. Are you sure you want to interfere, smokey? You should be aware of everything Crocodile is doing to this country, right?” Liam asked.

“What are you trying to say? You bastards kidnapped the princess.” Smoker thrust his rod toward Liam but Liam easily caught it. The tip of the rod struck his glove and didn’t weaken him.

“Kidnap the princess? Smoker, don’t to yourself! Do you think we have any reasons to kidnap a princess? Smoker, you stayed in the country for a while. You are a marine. You know how much this country is suffering because of you, because of your marine.”

“Marines don’t capture pirates? Pffttt! A world-class joke. Do you think you are justice? Don’t make me laugh, smoker? You watched thousands of people suffer in the hands of a pirate.”

“This is the country that hadn’t had rain for three years and it’s because of a pirate. You marines only know how to bully the weak. You call yourself justice? I would rather spite on your justice than on the ground.”

“You bastard!”

When Smoker started hearing too much from Liam, his anger burst out. His body turned into smoke as he moved toward Liam. He clenched his fist and punched.

But, Liam easily caught his punch. Although Liam wasn’t allowed to fight, he hadn’t lost all of his strength. And, with these gloves, he had no problem-fighting logia devil fruit users.

“I know you are angry but you are not angry at me, are you? I know you, smoker. I researched you. You are angry and helpless because of how weak you are. I know a lot about you, smoker.”

“You also despise this warlord system. Your justice is indeed good but you are weak and that’s why your justice is weak. You can’t even save the people suffering in front of you.”

Liam continued to deliver those heavy words. At this moment, he wanted to cooperate with Smoker but this guy won’t listen to that easily. He was hell-bent on capturing pirates.

“Smoker, I don’t want you to just leave without fighting me. In fact, we can fight later. But, right now, I am in the middle of liberating a kingdom from the hands of a pirate, the job that is supposed to be yours.”

“So, will you stand in my way or help me?”

Smoker’s expression was still darkened. But, he eventually pulled his rod and asked.

“You are asking a marine to help a pirate?”

“Aren’t you already doing that?” Liam asked.

“Tell me how!” Smoker’s expression eventually changed to normal as he asked.

“Dance Power! Crocodile is using it in different parts of this country to make it dry. While my crew is out there to stop him, you and I can destroy these bases. But of course, not just that.”

“Baroque Work is an organization with over two thousand people. Your marines can help us by suppressing those people. And, let me tell you this one more time, if you don’t agree, you will regret it for the rest of your life.” Liam said.

At this moment, Smoker’s veins on his fists were popping out. He was really angry so angry that he wanted to kill Liam. But, his mind was still calm.

He was able to understand the situation pretty well. And, that’s why he was getting mad. Because even though he knew this situation, he couldn’t interfere. His hands were tied.

After a long silence, he released his smoke and said.

“Pirate, let me tell you this one last time. This is not cooperation. We just have the same objective.”

Liam slowly smiled and said.

“Of course! Why would pirates help marines?”

“You……. I will send two of my ships to the Rainbase.” Smoker said.

“Hey, then it wouldn’t work.” Liam spoke as he shook his head.

“What do you mean?” Smoker looked into his eyes and asked.

“We are not cooperating, remember? I can’t trust you. If you go with your whole ship that is. So, how about this? Clear one of your ships and we will go together in our own ships. As for other members, send all of them to the Rainbase.” Liam said.

Hearing his words, Smoker clenched his fist. But, he didn’t disagree. He said.

“Alright!”

“And, I also need one thing from you.”

“I said, this is not a cooperation.” Smoker roared at him.

“I know this is not a cooperation between you and me but we still have the same objective, don’t we? Crocodile still needs to be defeated. And, only one person can do it. But, there is a slight problem.”

“He has gone in the wrong direction. So, I want you of your men to stay here until he arrives and then take him to the Rainbase. That’s all I am asking for.” Liam said.

Smoker heavily sighed and said.

“Alright! But, can he do that?”

“Smoker, my captain might be an idiot and easygoing. He would laugh most of the time and always remain carefree. But, when it comes to his friend, he is hundred percent serious. He would put his life on the line for his friend.” Liam narrowed his eyes and spoke.

“So, that’s why you follow him? Well, it doesn’t matter.” Smoker said and his legs turned to smoke. He floated in the air and moved toward his ship.

After he left, Liam heavily sighed.

‘That’s good. I might not be able to convince Smoker like Luffy but I still have my own ways. It’s not like I particularly need his help but for the sake of the current situation, I need to avoid clashing with him.’ Liam thought to himself.

After ten minutes, two of the marine ships moved away from the shores. One marine ship went to the front. Liam quickly set the sails and followed the marine ship.

“So, where is that place?” Smoker asked as he stood on the deck.

“It’s a bit far from here. Instead of running on the desert, I thought going through shores in our ship would be much easier.” Liam said.

Actually, Liam would much rather avoid head due to his current situation.

As the ship slowly sailed away, they eventually reached the point where they needed to move on. Liam and Smoker jumped down from their ships.

Though Smoker parked his ship a bit far away from Going Merry.

But, as soon as they started to walk away, two figures suddenly jumped out of Smoker’s ship.

“Marine and Pirate working together. Captain Smoker, do you have any idea what you are doing?” Both of them were wearing white suits and masks.

“Who are you?” Smoker’s body started to release the white smoke as he asked. He didn’t even realize that someone was on his ship all this time. But, suddenly his mind triggered a memory.

“Wait, are you CP agents?”

“They are. But, something doesn’t add up. Why would CP agents follow a Captain?” Liam asked. He was indeed stunned by their appearance because he never expected them to make an appearance here.

After all, they didn’t appear in the Alabasta arc. They only appeared in Dressrosa Arc and that’s because of Doflamingo’s identity.

“A small pirate like you know about us. It seems like we must kill you here.” One of them spoke.

At this moment, Liam’s heartbeat rose.

‘Wait, they didn’t appear here out of nowhere. This is a WArlord’s matter after all and this place is Alabasta, one of the twenty kingdoms. They obviously sent these CP agents here.’

‘But, then why didn’t they send anyone in the original? Is it because of me or is it because Oda didn’t show them before? Damn it! No point in thinking about that right now. I need to convince smokey to help me.’

Liam clenched his fist and raised his hands.

“Smokey, I know you said that this wasn’t cooperation but I believe you don’t want to die here. These CP agents are trained dogs of the world government. They will definitely kill you after killing me.”

“Or, even if they didn’t, then they would still tell your cooperation with pirates to the marines. I am not telling you this to help me. Just make sure what you do next doesn’t make you regret it.”

Hearing his words, one of the CP agents spoke.

“Cooperating with a pirate means you have betrayed marines. You must die here.”

‘So, you want to dig a hole for yourself, huh?’ Liam couldn’t help but cheer from inside.

Smoker slowly raised his rod and put it on his shoulder.

“This is the first and the last time a marine would fight together with a pirate.”

Liam clenched his fist and several cards appeared in front of him.

“This isn’t the first time, smoker. Then again, this isn’t a time for history lesson.”

“Let’s see if the new mode works. I call it…”

[Teen Patti- Team Battle Mode]