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Smoker cursed under his breath, the words barely audible around the cigar in his mouth, then slid his jitte back into place across his back.
Tashigi stared, utterly lost.
A second ago they were about to fight… and now he just stops?
"Aren't they our enemies?" she blurted. "Why did you just—stop?"
Smoker shot her a sideways look. "That guy is Norsen. You should remember that name."
The reaction was instant.
"HUH?!"
The G-5 Marines visibly flinched, a full row of hardened thugs all shivering at once.
Several stepped back half a pace, as if the name itself carried weight.
Tashigi's eyes widened behind her glasses, one hand flying to her mouth.
"He's that Norsen? The Vice Admiral who supposedly kidnapped people and did terrifying human experiments?!"
Neji's smile twitched.
…Who the hell started that rumor?
He'd punished a handful of arrogant scum inside the Marines, restructured them, let's say, but that story had clearly mutated into something far more dramatic.
Smoker ignored the panic behind him and pulled out a special Den Den Mushi.
A scratchy, desperate voice crackled from its shell an old distress call.
"I came here because of this signal," Smoker said flatly. "This island was supposed to be dead and poisoned after the gas incident. No one should be alive here. So tell me…"
His eyes locked on Neji.
"What exactly are you doing on Punk Hazard?"
Whether they walked away or turned on each other would depend entirely on the answer.
Neji shrugged lightly. "I only just got back. This lab was Caesar's playground. I've only just taken it off his hands."
"Caesar?"
The name rang no bell for Smoker.
Tashigi leaned in and reminded him softly,
"Vice Admiral Smoker Caesar was the culprit behind the gas disaster four years ago."
Smoker's expression hardened. "So it's that bastard."
He exhaled smoke, then spoke with finality.
"Hand Caesar over to me, and I'll walk away from whatever else you're doing here."
His gaze flicked to the G-5 crew behind him.
"They won't talk either," he added. "Your situation won't leave this island."
Neji shook his head. "Can't do that. But I do need you to transfer some children off this base. They were all kidnapped and used as test subjects in giantification experiments."
Smoker's eyes went wide. A hot surge of anger flared in his chest, and his fist slammed into the nearby metal, snow scattering from the impact.
"That bastard Caesar… and those damned traffickers…!"
Nothing enraged Smoker more than scum who preyed on civilians.
He never cared whose flag they sailed under; pirates, brokers, nobles if they trafficked people, they were going down.
Tashigi's face darkened as well. Even the G-5 "delinquents" bristled.
They might be crude, but they were still Marines every one of them carried their own version of justice.
Neji lifted a hand. "That's enough for now. I'm not inviting you in. I'll bring the children out to you."
He turned to leave.
"Wait." Smoker's voice cut through the wind. "You really don't intend to hand Caesar over?"
Neji raised a brow. "Why? Interested in trying out being a woman?"
Before anyone could process that sentence, a flash of light traced through the air.
Tashigi blinked. "Huh?"
Smoker's instincts screamed. He tried to move on reflex but a cold sting hit his arm.
He looked down to see a small needle embedded in his skin.
He hadn't dodged it.
He couldn't dodge it.
His body began to shift. His frame shrank, lines softened, his coat hanging differently around a narrower waist and chest.
He grunted, annoyed more than anything then immediately drew his jitte and lunged at Neji.
The others could barely track the movement before it was over.
Neji caught Smoker's arm, pivoted, and twisted him around in a clean joint lock, forcing the jitte up behind her back.
The seastone tip of the weapon pressed against Smoker's own body.
Her strength dropped instantly. Knees buckled. She sagged into the snow, weakened and furious.
Neji clicked his tongue.
"I told you before: stop relying on a weapon someone can turn against you. Putting seastone on the tip just makes it an even bigger liability."
He let go and shoved gently, sending the weakened, now-female Smoker stumbling forward.
She crashed right into Tashigi, who hurriedly yanked the jitte away from her.
Tashigi looked down at her transformed superior and… hesitated.
Like this… she actually… doesn't look bad…
As soon as the seastone was no longer touching her, Smoker felt his strength steadily returning, though not fast enough to salvage his pride.
He glared at Neji.
Still this strong… and that wasn't even full power for either of us.
Neji sighed. "All right. Here's how it's going to go. I'll erase your memories of what matters, you take the kids back, and Vegapunk can handle their reversion treatments."
He glanced toward the facility behind him.
"The giantification experiments pushed their bodies past normal human limits. Something ancient in their genes woke up. If it isn't treated, it'll keep dragging them into berserk states until they turn into pure monsters."
"Fixing that needs someone like Vegapunk. I'm not wasting my time on the World Government's mess."
He turned his eyes back to Smoker, a faint smirk on his face.
"As for you… enjoy being a woman for a while. I'll turn you back before you leave."
Smoker's jaw clenched, but she didn't argue.
Let the scientist deal with the kids. Fine.
That part, at least, lined up with her own brand of justice.
Neji left the main gates wide open and walked back into the depths of the lab, not bothering to look back.
---
Inside the main entrance hall, the G-5 Marines stared at the swirling snow outside and the dark corridors within.
One of them finally whispered,
"Boss… are we really just gonna sit here and behave?"
Another chimed in quickly, "Yeah, that doesn't sound like us at all. That guy just left. We could—"
Smoker's gaze turned ice-cold.
"Shut it," she snapped. "Anyone who keeps talking can swim back to base tied to the ship."
They all knew she meant it.
Every last one of them shut up immediately and slumped into reluctant silence.
Smoker dropped into a seated position, still in her new body, cigar between her lips, eyes narrowed in thought.
A dead man returns. CP0 wiped out. A World Government 'traitor' calling out the hypocrisy of the system…
Things were getting complicated.
---
Back inside the facility, Neji returned to the children's nursery.
He laid out the situation in simple terms.
Nami's reaction was instant. "You're saying we're handing these kids over to the Marines? This used to be a Marine research base! This is exactly where it all started!"
Chopper puffed up into his heavy form, every bit of fur bristling. "Yeah! Anyone who runs experiments on children isn't a doctor they're a monster!"
As a healer, there was nothing Chopper despised more than people who inflicted suffering in the name of "science."
Neji didn't raise his voice, but his tone cut straight through the room.
"You're pirates."
He let the word linger.
"To them, Marines will always seem more trustworthy than you. Like it or not, that's how the world sees it."
He continued, unflinching.
"Do you have the resources to take care of all these kids? The medicine to stabilize them? The tech to fix the genetic damage? A safe place to raise them, funded and protected, for years?"
The room fell quiet.
Nami clenched her fists, teeth grinding.
Chopper looked from one child to another kids who had stopped playing and were now secretly watching the adults, fear and hope mixed in their eyes.
"They don't just need rescuing," Neji said. "They need a future. And you can't give them that. The Marines can or at least, someone like Vegapunk can."
The weight of his words settled over them like fresh snow.
None of them liked it.
None of them wanted to admit it.
But none of them could deny it either.
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