40. He Is The Culprit

"Tsk, even though I told him not to be far from me, he still went alone. Why can't he be aware that he gets lost so easily? That moss head bastard." Izumi clicked his tongue after he realized Zoro left him alone.

When Izumi was choosing weapons in the shop, Zoro couldn't stand the sight of Tashigi's face which resembled his dead friend. That's why he rushed off and left Izumi alone.

Izumi glanced at Tashigi and said in a teasing tone.

"Young lady, it seems you have scared my friend. Maybe you shouldn't persistently ask him to take a look at his swords. That guy would get lost easily, you know."

Tashigi was so embarrassed. She didn't think that Zoro would run away from her.

"Sorry, I couldn't help but want to see his swords. Though he could refuse it subtly and didn't have to run away." Then, Tashigi turned to Izumi. "It seems you know the swords he carries."

"Well, he carries legendary swords after all."

"Ah, it's no wonder." She understood why Zoro didn't want to show his swords because the swords he carried were valuable. Though, she misunderstood why Zoro acted like that.

"Well, I'm gonna catch up with him, see you later!"

Izumi went away before Tashigi could reply. But she was confused.

"See you later?"

He wondered why the young man seemed so sure that they would meet again.

— — —

Izumi walked leisurely while looking at the wanted poster in his hand.

"I didn't think I had gotten a bounty. Unfortunately, it's only 20 million Berries. But after this, my bounty will definitely go up again and it's just a matter of time until my bounty reaches 80 million."

In his hand was a wanted poster with his face depicted on it. He got the poster shortly after robbing sea stones from somewhere.

"Run! There are pirates!"

Izumi glanced at the commotions. Then he looked up at the sky which seemed to have been filled with dense dark clouds.

"So, it's started, huh? Hehe. There's going to be a big fuss."

Izumi heard that the Buggy pirates had caught someone in the town square, so he rushed over there.

When Izumi arrived at the town square, he saw that the place was full of pirates, then he met Zoro and Sanji afterward.

On top of the execution platform, they could see Buggy who had caught Luffy and was planning to execute him.

"Hey, Izumi. You can use your Ninjutsu to save Luffy right?"

The one who asked was Sanji. Izumi turned to him.

"I can."

"Then…"

"No rush. I want to see what Luffy will do."

"Hey, this is a serious matter."

As soon as Sanji finished speaking, Buggy spotted them.

"Oi, all of you! Take them down! They're with the Straw Hat. Especially the one with black hair. He is Izumi the ninja with a bounty of 20 million Berries. If you can get his head, 20 million will be yours." Buggy pointed at Izumi, Zoro, and Sanji.

"Hey, hey, since when do you have a bounty?" Zoro asked him.

Izumi shrugged his shoulders. But he still replied.

"Luffy alone has a bounty of 30 million Berries. Why shouldn't I have one?"

"Damn. Why don't I have one?"

"Because you're weak, and I'm stronger than you."

"What did you say?"

Izumi and Zoro looked like they wanted to start a fight. But when Sanji saw the pirates coming, he warned them both.

"Stop it, you two! They're coming."

They start the fight. 3 against more than a hundred. It might look like cheating, but Izumi, Sanji, and Zoro could handle them easily.

In the middle of the fight, Sanji said to Izumi.

"Izumi, leave everything to me and Zoro. Saving Luffy is the priority."

Izumi sighed and took out two shurikens. He controlled the shurikens and bound the enemies. However, by that time, Luffy shouted.

"Zoro, Izumi, Sanji!!! Sorry. I died." Even though Luffy said that, he still managed to give a big smile.

Buggy swung his sword to decapitate Luffy's head.

"Izumi, save him!!!"

Sanji and Zoro asked Izumi to save Luffy immediately. However, Izumi was silent and only focused on the sky and Luffy. He wondered if the thing that happened in the canon would happen here or not. Izumi was even ready to teleport if no miracle came.

Suddenly…

*Bang*

Lightning struck the sword Buggy was swinging just before it decapitated Luffy. The lightning strike even destroyed the execution platform. This incident left people dumbfounded which left their mouths agape. Not only the pirates, even the marines couldn't believe what they had just seen.

Like a signal, the lightning seemed to be the beginning of the torrential rain that began to engulf Logue town.

Sanji turned to Izumi and Zoro.

"Hey, do you believe in God?"

"Too bad I'm not a religious person."

"..."

Zoro replied shortly, while Izumi was just silent.

Luffy walked toward Zoro, Izumi, and Sanji. He laughed out loud.

"Hahahahaha, I thought I was going to die. That one was so close."

"Wouldn't it be better if we ran away from here?" Zoro said.

But suddenly, the marines came to surround the town square.

Alright, let's get out of here.

The four of them tried to escape while beating the marines. At the same time, Izumi asked.

"Luffy. Did you meet the smoke man?"

"Eh, how did you know? Indeed, I met him. He is very strong. He seems to be a marine since he wants to catch me."

"Did you know he's a Logia-type Devil Fruit user?"

"Eh?"

Not only Luffy. Even Zoro and Sanji were surprised. They didn't expect to meet a Logia user this fast.

Izumi looked at Luffy.

"You don't seem to know, huh? That means he hasn't taken you seriously yet. You guys go first, I'll stop him."

After Izumi said that, Luffy hesitated a bit.

"But."

"I have a way to stop him, but you're not. So, it's better to leave him to me! I can catch you later."

Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji stopped.

They looked at Izumi with concern.

Izumi smiled at Luffy.

"Trust me!"

Luffy finally nodded. Then he turned to Zoro and Sanji.

"Let's go, you two!"

"But Luffy."

"He is alone."

"Just trust him!"

After Luffy convinced the two of them, Izumi blocked the marines who wanted to chase after Luffy. Izumi saw a big and burly man, who had white hair, and was also smoking a cigar. Beside him was Tashigi who looked surprised to see Izumi.

"So you are Izumi the ninja? You look quite young."

"Hehe, thanks for the compliment, Captain Smoker. Well, we meet again, young lady Tashigi." Izumi waved his hand at Tashigi.

"Hmmm, Tashigi, you know him?" Smoker glanced at her.

"Yes, ah, no."

Because of Tashigi's wishy-washy answer, Smoker got angry.

"Say it clearly! Which one is correct?"

"Ah, sorry Captain Smoker. I did meet him, but I didn't know he was a pirate." She lowered her head, unable to face her captain.

"You dimwit shouldn't play too much with swords. You don't even know who your enemy is. And he already knows my name and yours." After saying that, Smoker turned to Izumi. "Are you here to surrender and ask me to let your friends escape? You're also part of the Straw Hat Pirates, right?"

"Your imagination is so wild, Captain Smoker. Too bad you're wrong. I'm not one of them because I'm just aboard their ship. I'm just here to test the power of your Logia Devil Fruit."

Smoker narrowed his eyes. If Izumi knew that Smoker was a Logia-type Devil Fruit user, Izumi should have found a way to escape, but he dared to challenge him head-on.

"You have guts. But you're so stupid. All of you, Leave him to me. You should catch the Straw Hat and co!"

"Hehe, you think I'll let them pass me?"

A moment later, his body was enveloped by lightning.

Smoker sharpened his eyes when he saw Izumi. Meanwhile, a marine looked terrified while reporting to Smoker.

"R-reporting to the captain. He's the one who broke into the marine base and stole almost anything made of sea stones."

"I know. He looks as described. I wonder how a person who shrouds his body with lightning can hold a sea stone. It turns out that it's not the ability of a Devil Fruit, but a ninja technique. This kid is troublesome." Smoker had only heard of ninjas and had never met them. He never thought that a ninja's technique would be so troublesome.