The seller stared at the first poster.
"Hmm, 59 million, he must be a heinous pirate..."
He raised his head to look at the Marine and shook it.
"No, I've never seen ..."
He didn't even finish his sentence when his gaze fell on the second poster showing the young man with the metal hook.
"5-500 million!!!...."
He said in shock and fear, then shook his head quickly after calming down from his surprise.
"No! Gentlemen, I've never, ever seen this young pirate with the high bounty..." then added jokingly with fear,
"If I ever met him, I probably wouldn't be here telling the story..."
"Alright, thank you for your time , Keep them..."
Said the young Marine, then turned to leave, but she suddenly stopped and looked at the person in the corner who was examining the shelves.
"Hmm, hey you there ! , can we see your face please!?"
Seth froze in place when he heard the Marine calling him. He turned stiffly and said while keeping his head lowered,
"You're really rude, young lady ! , How can you ask to see the face of a disfigured man who hides himself so others won't be disgusted by him..."
The young woman was surprised, then apologized awkwardly.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean that, I ju..."
She was interrupted by one of the soldiers.
"Don't apologize, Miss Tashigi..."
He stared at Seth and said sharply while placing his hand on his rifle,
"And you! Cut the nonsense, remove the hood immediately and show me your face, otherwise..."
When he finished his words, he aimed the rifle at Seth and signaled to his comrade to be ready.
Seth sighed bitterly at how things had escalated. With a single thought, he formed a connection with one of the DNA strands stored in the inherited watch.
[Flame Man]
"Tsk! Is this how the Marines treat innocent civilians? You're just tyrants..."
He commented sarcastically while tightening his grip on the bag.
He threw a bundle of money to the confused shopkeeper.
"For the repairs..." he muttered, then pointed his finger toward the Marines.
"I didn't want to cause chaos, but you forced me to do this..."
"Threat!! Quickly, fire..."
Bang!!
The bullet passed through Seth's body without spilling a single drop of blood.
"Now go to hell..."
His finger suddenly ignited with flames.
"Flame Beam!!"
Zzzzt!!
The two soldiers quickly jumped heroically in front of the terrified Marine girl whose glasses reflected the pillar of flame heading towards her.
BOOM!!
A large part of the store's front exploded along with the Marines , whether they lived or died, Seth didn't care. He apologized to the terrified shopkeeper and quickly left before reinforcements arrived.
But he hadn't even left the street before he felt the crisis, a chill ran down his spine which puzzled Seth because he was still mid-transformation, which meant he was partially invincible.
He dropped the bag and quickly drew his sword, then turned rapidly to block the strike he sensed with his sixth sense.
Clang!!
The sword clashed hard with the enemy's weapon. Seth retreated from the impact, then stared alertly at the visitor.
"Hmm... The White Hunter. My luck is really bad!!"
Said Seth while gripping his sword tightly and staring at the man surrounded by white smoke, who held a strange weapon that looked like a staff.
"You're really as they say... I haven't felt this sense of crisis in a long time..."
He muttered seriously before his gaze settled on the weapon.
"Hmm, the information was right. This man really does have a weapon made of Sea-Stone..."
"But what was that feeling earlier!? Could Sea-Stone actually affect me...?"
"Masked Destroyer! You scum criminal, I've been looking for you everywhere..."
Shouted Smoker angrily as he stared at the masked man before him, whose hood had fallen off during the clash revealing his face.
"White Blow!!"
Without hesitation, Smoker attacked. A massive fist of white smoke launched toward Seth who countered instantly
"Flame Fist!!"
BOOM!!
The smoke fist exploded upon collision with Seth's flame fist. Smoker's eyes narrowed when he saw this.
"Impossible... This is exactly what happened with Portgas D. Ace..."
While his thoughts were spinning, his body shifted into smoke and dodged the attack.
His body reformed again, and he looked at Seth seriously.
"You!! What exactly is your ability!?"
Seth smiled under the mask and said sarcastically,
"Oh! I see you're familiar with my ability. Let me guess!..."
He gripped the sword tightly, which suddenly ignited with flames, and swung it hard toward Smoker, who released more smoke around his body.
"You've faced Ace before, haven't you!?"
"Flame Wave!!"
Zzzeee!!
A massive flame slash surged, cutting everything in its path toward Smoker.
"White Blow!!"
BOOM!!
The shockwave caused by the clash of the attacks shattered the nearby glass windows and knocked away the Marines who had begun to surround Seth and Smoker in a circle.
"You!!..."
Smoker reformed again from smoke and reconstituted his body.
"Who exactly are you!?"
He had strange doubts about Seth's ability but dismissed them, as to his knowledge, it was impossible for Devil Fruits to be duplicated in this world.
"Most likely a Paramecia-type..." Smoker thought, then ordered the soldiers to eliminate the doubt
"Open fire..."
The soldiers complied quickly and opened fire.
Bang!!
Bang!!
Bang!!
"Bullets!? Really!!"
Muttered Seth with a frown, then closed his eyes and entered a strange state, where he began to feel the bullets coming at him. He moved in an inexplicable way and began to dodge the bullets he sensed.
Of course, he couldn't avoid all the bullets , some still pierced his body, but to no effect as he was immune to such attacks.
"This feeling again... It's like predicting movements beforehand. Could this be... what my mother called Haki!?"
Smoker's shocked voice pulled him out of his thoughts.
"You're Portgas D. Ace!! But that's impossible, the reports literally said you're in the Grand Line..."
"That doesn't matter. Tell me, why are you here, Fire Fist? And what's your goal in destroying Marine branches and killing innocent soldiers!?"
Smoker shouted angrily as he stared at Seth, whose body was full of burning bullet holes , clear signs confirming that the person in front of him was a Logia-type user of the Mera Mera no Mi.
"Hmm , Smoke-man, you talk too much!!"