One Piece: I will become stronger by checking in

Kai couldn't gauge his true strength just by looking at his panel. The panel was rather basic.

Even though many things were still at the elementary level, the quality of these basics was surprisingly high.

For instance, Kai's proficiency with Armament Haki was now on par with Luffy's level two years later.

It's worth noting that Luffy had spent a significant amount of time honing his Haki to reach that level.

Kai, on the other hand, had achieved this with just a few island check-ins. Exciting, right?

As Kai Vane and the others approached the outskirts of Loguetown, Luffy declared, "I want to check out the execution platform!"

"I'm heading to get a new sword!"

"I need to buy some clothes!"

"I'm off to get some equipment!"

"I'm going to gather ingredients!"

"I'm just going... without telling you guys!"

"Um?"

For a moment, everyone turned to look at Kai.

"What's with the secrecy?" was what they wanted to ask, but Kai had already vanished before they could say anything.

Seeing this, everyone couldn't help but feel a bit irked. They wondered if he'd still be this aloof once they became stronger!

Immediately, they split up and headed for their own destinations.

...

Kai swiftly navigated through Loguetown, using all his senses to scan the area.

Suddenly, he heard a familiar name while passing by a certain spot.

"Are you Luffy?"

The discovery made Kai stop and step closer, curious.

Wasn't Luffy supposed to be headed to the execution platform? It seemed quite far from here. Had Luffy inherited Zoro's sense of direction?

When Kai saw the situation, he couldn't help but twitch his mouth slightly.

A Marine, smoking a cigar, was looking down at a pirate in front of him, addressing him in the same way.

"Smoker?" Kai whispered. He was about to leave, uninterested in Smoker.

But trouble often finds you even when you're not looking for it!

"Hey, you over there, wait!" Smoker's voice called out from behind.

Kai Vane turned around, feigning confusion.

"Are you talking to me?"

"Yes, it's you. Have we... met before?" Smoker asked uncertainly.

He felt that Kai's face was familiar but couldn't place where he'd seen him recently, so he asked directly.

"No, Marine, this is my first time here!" Kai said with a shrug.

"Well..." Smoker examined Kai, still trying to place him.

Kai 's striking appearance made him seem increasingly familiar.

Meanwhile, the pirate mistaken for Luffy was growing irritated.

What was this Marine doing, dazing off in front of him, a fearsome pirate?

He couldn't help himself.

"Damn Marine, how dare you ignore me! Go to hell!"

As soon as he finished, the pirate pulled out a pistol and fired several shots at Smoker.

What happened next was astonishing.

The bullets passed through Smoker's body, which turned into white smoke.

"What the... monster!!!"

The pirate collapsed in shock, unable to comprehend seeing a human immune to bullets.

Smoker ignored him and gave a slight wave.

The Marines accompanying him quickly understood and subdued the pirate with ease.

At this level, even ordinary Marines could handle him.

Meanwhile, Smoker was still racking his brain, trying to remember where he knew Kai from.

One minute later~

Kai, noticing Smoker still lost in thought, spoke up.

"Marine, if you don't need anything else, I'll be on my way!"

Smoker remained silent, still deep in thought.

Seeing this, Kai turned and walked away.

But before he could take more than a few steps, Smoker called out.

"Demon King... Kai Vane?"

"Huh?" Kai turned, puzzled, and asked.

"Marine, are you referring to me?"

Smoker pulled out a reward poster from his pocket and compared it to Kai's face.

"Are you the Demon King, Kai Vane?" he asked again.

The more Smoker looked, the more familiar Kai seemed.

It turned out that Smoker had seen Kai's reward poster earlier that day. The discrepancy between the image on the poster and Kai's current appearance had caused him to hesitate.

Kai Vane feigned surprise and said with mock fear, "Marine, what are you talking about? How could I be a criminal on a wanted poster?"

"Even if I look a bit like him, I assure you, I'm not him!"

"You wouldn't be trying to trap me, would you?"

As he spoke, Kai put on a convincing look of indignation.

Smoker gave Kai a long, scrutinizing look before suddenly turning into a white wave of smoke and speeding towards him.

Kai stood there seemingly unfazed, not making any move to dodge.

Smoker's fist stopped just a centimeter from Kai's face, the wind from the punch tousling Kai's hair.

"Marine's hitting someone!!!" Kai shouted, his voice echoing through the area, drawing the attention of everyone nearby.

But when they saw Smoker, their attention quickly returned to what they were doing.

Smoker looked at Kai , who appeared frightened, and said nothing. Instead, he pulled out a wad of beli, seemingly worth several thousand.

"I'm sorry, this is all the money I have on me!"

With that, Smoker turned and walked away.

Kai, watching him leave, let a smirk slip.

Kai Vane shook the beli in his hand.

"Another profit!"

If Kai hadn't wanted to avoid having Smoker discover his identity and hunt him down, he would have just used Soru and escaped.

But the outcome was still quite favorable!

As for why Kai didn't dodge until the last moment?

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Power Stones would be appreciated if you like the story