"Su Xiao Qi, can I play—no, I mean, can I just touch your tail?"
Hearing this, Su Xiao Qi quickly wrapped his tail around his waist. Though he had been training these past few days, he still hadn't fully overcome this weakness.
At that moment, Usopp shouted, "Trouble! Luffy's running away!"
Nami glared at Luffy's fleeing back, furious. "Damn it! If I'm not careful, that idiot runs off again." The angrier she got, the more she punched Sakata Gintoki and Sanji in turn. "It's all your fault, you two idiots!"
Su Xiao Qi looked at everyone and said, "Let's go too. Forget those three idiots."
"Su Xiao Qi, who did you call an idiot?!"
Nami was furious. Since Su Xiao Qi's injury healed, his attitude toward her had become completely different—rude to the extreme. What annoyed her most was that she couldn't do anything about it.
She now only regretted not having kept some backup that day. She was just too young.
Sanji, getting up from the ground, lit a cigarette and said calmly, "White hair, I don't think this is the time for us to fight each other."
Sakata Gintoki pinched his nose, "Yeah, I think so too. Our biggest enemy right now is that evil Saiyan."
Meanwhile, Zoro walked up to Su Xiao Qi and asked, "You said there are still a few more coming? Aren't they coming now?"
Su Xiao Qi smiled, "The others will come in a couple of days."
Sakuragi Hanamichi and Kaito Kuroba said it was too dangerous here; they didn't want to risk their lives and would come for points once the storyline ended.
As for Tokisaki Kurumi, she wanted to come but Nami worried she would devour all the citizens of Alabasta like "food," so she hadn't agreed yet.
"I see," Zoro nodded, glanced at Sakata Gintoki leaning on Sanji's shoulder, and asked, "Is that white-haired guy's swordsmanship really as strong as you say?"
Su Xiao Qi smiled, "You'll know after you fight him. The multiverse is huge; even the world's greatest swordsman, Dracule Mihawk, only ranks behind in this world. So work hard."
Zoro chuckled, "Really? Then I look forward to facing them."
Finding Luffy was easy—wherever there was chaos outside the inn, Luffy would surely appear.
When they entered the town, they saw Luffy being chased. The pursuer was his old rival, Smoker.
But unlike the original story, Smoker's grudge with Luffy was purely personal. Only he and Tashigi were present; no other Navy members.
Since Luffy had no bounty and was in Loguetown, Smoker didn't intend to capture him then. But Luffy, born to cause trouble, declared himself a member of the Straw Hat Pirates and shouted his famous goal: "I'm gonna be King of the Pirates!"
Smoker's short temper couldn't stand the provocation, and sensing something dangerous in Luffy, the two began their cat-and-mouse fights again.
Nami covered her forehead, sighing, "Just like before."
Su Xiao Qi smiled, "Isn't this great? I'm going to stretch. You all go shop nearby and buy supplies."
"Damn it, he's stealing the spotlight again."
Sanji clenched his teeth. Despite a few days of training, he still hadn't mastered Armament Haki, so he couldn't handle a Devil Fruit user with Nature-type powers.
Sakata Gintoki whispered, "Curl-brows, are you dumb? That guy's absence is our chance. Except Zhu Qing-chan, who we can't touch, we each take care of two."
Sanji nodded, smiling, "Makes sense. You're sharp, white hair."
Zoro looked at them disdainfully, "You two idiots."
Sanji said, "Who're you calling idiot, you green algae head?"
Sakata Gintoki added, "No no, should be 'directionally challenged green algae head.'"
Zoro: "You two idiots want to fight?"
Sanji: "White hair, I kick his right balls."
Sakata Gintoki: "OK, I'll cut his left balls."
Meanwhile, Su Xiao Qi caught up to Luffy but didn't rush to fight Smoker. Instead, he knocked Tashigi out and captured her. This time, he wanted Nami to be wanted by the Navy and painted as a ruthless pirate.
"Naval forces ahead, you're surrounded by the Yorozuya Pirates. If you don't want to die, leave now."
Luffy and Smoker, running on the ground, stopped and looked up at the sky.
Luffy saw Su Xiao Qi and shouted excitedly, "Su Xiao Qi, are you here to save me?"
Smoker's eyes widened seeing Tashigi in Su Xiao Qi's hands, angrily shouting, "Kid, let go of Tashigi!"
Su Xiao Qi ignored Smoker's shouting, looked at Luffy and said, "Luffy, Captain Nami wants you to find her. She's prepared your favorite meat."
"Captain Nami?" Though confused, Luffy quickly forgot and laughed, "This smoke guy's got it, I'll save your share."
Though Smoker wanted to chase Luffy, with Tashigi in enemy hands, he could only watch. He stared at Su Xiao Qi and asked, "Who are you? What's your relationship with that kid?"
Su Xiao Qi smiled, "I'm a hired fighter for the Yorozuya Pirates. My boss Nami is allied with the Straw Hat Pirates."
"Yorozuya Pirates?"
Smoker knew this pirate group—they were suspected of killing the East Blue Navy's 16th division's "Mouse" Colonel. He never expected to meet them here.
"You killed that Mouse Colonel? What are you doing here now?"
"Mouse or not, I was just hired by my boss. Our goal is to kidnap Princess Vivi. My boss offered me a 300 million Berry bounty."
Su Xiao Qi answered Smoker's questions point by point.
Smoker asked again, "Who else is in the Yorozuya Pirates?"
Su Xiao Qi impatiently said, "Why so detailed? I won't tell you the name of the white-haired, deadfish-eyed, wooden sword-wielding vice-captain, Sakata Gintoki-sama."
Smoker's mouth twitched. "You might as well show me a photo."
Su Xiao Qi smiled at Smoker's dumbfounded face and continued, "My boss Nami said she loves tormenting female Navy officers, so this girl I'm taking back. Smart ones get out of my way, or don't blame me for being rude."
"Let's see if you've got the guts."
Smoker's lower body turned into smoke and flew toward Su Xiao Qi in the air.
During their fight, Su Xiao Qi treated Smoker like a test subject, trying various things. The result? The ki and ki blasts from Dragon Ball could injure this Nature-type Devil Fruit user.
He even made the fight seem evenly matched. However, Smoker's physical skills were really weak. Su Xiao Qi struggled to find an opening to land his prepped attack.
After a long stalemate, Su Xiao Qi finally found a chance to "accidentally" drop a photo of Nami. When Smoker picked it up, Su Xiao Qi acted scared and said:
"I advise you to return my boss's photo. Everyone who sees her real face ends up dying horribly."
"Don't be fooled by her innocent looks, she's a ruthless pirate."