Chapter 44: Executed on the Spot

"Brother!"
Charles forced a sycophantic, awkward smile as he addressed the infamous "Great Pirate" beside him.
"The Navy Headquarters are right here; as a pirate, you can't avoid being targeted by them either."
All of his previous arrogance when facing the weak pirates of the East Blue had vanished; now he spoke only of mutual benefit.
Smoker did not reply but slowly cast a complicated, unreadable look toward Major Hammer, who stood not far away.
Major Hammer, in turn, sized up the helper Charles had brought:
The brute was eight feet tall, his bones and muscles as robust as a white bear's, with sinewy arms, hawk-like sharp eyes beneath his brow, short silver hair bristling like steel, and a face as fierce as a starving tiger. Two massive cigars blazed and smoked from his mouth, while his hand gripped a long, pitch-black jitte of dark iron. He truly looked every bit the savage demon of the seas!
"Excellent!"
Major Hammer’s eyes shone with delight; he immediately tried to win over this "Great Pirate":
"My friend! Help me kill that troublesome brat, and I'll reward you with anything you desire!"
Still, Smoker said nothing. He merely raised his heavy jitte, as if preparing to step in.
The tension left Charles’ face; he set his gaze on Garen, who was squaring off against Hammer, adopting a stance of united purpose to defeat their mutual foe.
Bang!
A blow of justice landed squarely on Charles’ head.
Before Lieutenant Charles could even react to who had struck him from behind, he collapsed to the ground, half-dead, from the sheer force of Smoker’s blunt weapon.
"You?!"
Major Hammer stared at Smoker in terror and disbelief, his expression a mix of shock and outrage.
Garen, on the other hand, relaxed, casually stabbed his greatsword into the earth, and took up a position to spectate, quietly recovering his strength.
"So, I finally get to see..."
Smoker at last broke his silence, his voice deep and cold: "You trash..."
The words had barely left his lips when smoke billowed from his body.
In an instant, the towering figure transformed into a swirling cloud of white smoke, spiraling through the air as it lunged at Major Hammer.
After a long struggle with Garen, Hammer was spent, his strength all but gone.
Faced with Smoker’s full assault, he stood no chance—one encounter was all it took for Smoker’s smoke form to bind his limbs tightly.
Smoker then reformed his upper body from the haze, and locked Hammer’s neck with the iron jitte, ruthlessly pressing the officer’s head into the ground.
"You..."
Pinned and utterly defeated, Hammer gritted his teeth and spat with bitter resentment, "You’re Smoker!"
"That’s right."
Smoker’s face was cold and unyielding. "I’m the one you wanted dead."
"Damn it! Damn it all!"
Major Hammer struggled to adjust his humiliating, face-to-the-floor posture, and muttered in self-pity,
"If only I’d had a few more days, I would have gotten away scot-free!"
"You still think you can get away?"
Smoker spat out another cloud of smoke and said icily, "Today you die!"
He resumed his human form, planted his boot firmly on Hammer’s spine, and raised his heavy jitte high.
"Wait!"
Major Hammer, regaining a measure of composure, said with forced calm, "You can’t kill me!"
Smoker’s hand paused.
"You’ve already captured me. You can’t kill me!"
Face pressed to the ground, Hammer struggled to speak,
"I’m a naval officer. If I’ve broken the law, I should be judged by the Navy’s court-martial!"
"You have no right to sentence me to death!"
Perhaps there was simply too much food in Impel Down, and they needed more rice buckets to fill the cells...
In this world, even pirates caught by the Navy might not be executed outright;
For corrupt officers, there was an entirely separate process.
Without explicit orders from the Admiralty or the World Government, few in the Navy—save for Akainu—acted on the spot to kill captured criminals; the handful of iron-blooded commanders who did so were branded "cold-blooded and murderous."
Hammer’s voice grew sharper and ever more shrill, nearly screaming at Smoker,
"Smoker!
If you consider yourself just, don’t break the Navy’s code!"
Smoker’s face darkened, his grip on the jitte trembling.
A heavy silence fell.
After a moment, Smoker slowly released his grip on the weapon.
In the same instant, his other hand turned to smoke, coiling like snakes to bind Hammer tightly to the ground.
With the white smoke constricting him, Hammer actually looked relieved.
He knew his life was safe—at least for now.
"Smoker! You’re really not going to kill this scum?!"
Garen strode up, greatsword in hand, his face incredulous.
He had been waiting for a chance to finish Hammer off and claim the glory for himself.
Instead, Smoker had stayed his hand...
Smoker took a hard drag of his cigar and said, with difficulty,
"That’s the Navy’s law.
Corrupt officers must be delivered to the headquarters’ military tribunal for judgment."
Garen fell silent, glancing with frustration at the bound Hammer—
The man looked as though he had been handed a royal pardon, with not a trace of fear left in him.
Smoker noticed Garen’s dissatisfaction, but he himself was even more frustrated.
His anger seethed within him, but as an officer of Navy Headquarters, Smoker could only force himself to believe in naval justice.
So, he said solemnly,
"Rest assured!
For the crime of murdering a superior, this man will be sentenced to death by court-martial!"
Garen’s face remained gloomy. He wanted more than justice—he wanted the spoils, the experience.
He still did not lower his sword.
"Hahaha..."
A mocking laughter rang in their ears—the voice of the utterly defeated Major Hammer.
"How ridiculous!"
Hammer’s fit of laughter bordered on hysteria, tears almost welling up from his wild grin.
"You’re already a Commander, and yet..."
"You still don’t see what this so-called justice really is?!"
"Death sentence?!"
He tapped his own head, adopting the tone of a seasoned mentor as he lectured the naïve Smoker:
"Did you really think all the money I’ve saved over the years would be for nothing? I’ve prepared for just this situation!"
"As long as the money’s right, a death sentence becomes life imprisonment with reprieve!"
"I’ll serve a few years in prison, and when the heat dies down, my ‘good behavior’ will earn me a reduced sentence!"
"If luck is on my side, you might even see me back at sea in a few years!"
Smoker’s face turned ashen.
"So this is what you call justice..."
Hammer’s laughter grew even more scornful:
"Those fat, greasy superiors can swallow all the money I’ve earned over years of hard work with just a couple of stamps from behind their desks!"
"Heh..."
Hammer’s words were like a devil’s whisper tormenting Smoker’s soul.
"Wearing the badge of ‘justice’ makes getting rich so easy!"
Smoker’s jaw clenched, his eyes burning with fury.
"So what will you do?"
Hammer showed no fear; he relished this chance to "educate" his junior.
"If you insist on following the Navy’s justice, you can’t kill me!"
"And if you don’t, I’ll escape justice under the Navy’s own rules!"
"So... what will you do?!"
Smoker trembled with rage, his brow twisted with pain and inner conflict.
His thoughts were in chaos.
This curse that trapped Smoker now had once ensnared even his mentor, Admiral Zephyr.
Hammer opened his mouth to say more—
But suddenly, a greatsword pressed against his throat.
"What are you doing?"
Hammer asked Garen in surprise. "Your superior didn’t kill me!"
"Eh?"
Garen pressed the blade closer to Hammer’s neck and said, with an innocent look,
"Don’t misunderstand. I never claimed to be Navy."
Major Hammer’s face instantly darkened.
"Major Hammer,"
As the sword inched closer, Garen said with ill-concealed malice,
"‘Corruption and violent resistance at the Loguetown Garrison—Major Hammer killed on the spot.’
How’s that for a headline?"
Fear and panic flooded Hammer’s eyes; he turned to Smoker for help.
Smoker said nothing.
After a few moments, he turned away, his face stony and silent.
"And that’s why I never wanted to be Navy—because then..."
Garen sighed softly, and with a single stroke, brought his sword down:
"Scum like you would be allowed to live."