Smoker


 * The subject of this article is sometimes called "Chaser".

Smoker the White Hunter (白猟のスモーカー, Haku Ryō no Sumōkā) is a Marine. He was first introduced in Loguetown, where he made it his mission to capture Monkey D. Luffy. He was initially introduced as a captain (大佐, Taisa) in his first appearance. As the story progressed, his rank was promoted to Commodore (准将, Junshō) due to events in Arabasta.

Appearance
Smoker is a muscular white haired man, who carries the very distinct trait of always being seen smoking two cigars at once. He wears a large thick white and blue specialist Marine jacket which he keeps open with greenish fur lining neck, wrists and hem. Many cigars are strapped to the jacket which has the kanji for '"justice'" (正義, Seigi) written on the back of it. He carries a Seastone tipped jutte as his weapon. He also wears brown leather gloves, blue jeans with a brown belt and large military issue brown leather boots.

In the anime, his hair has a slight bluish-grey tone. The fur on his coat was initially blue in the manga, but later modified to follow the anime, albeit with a much lighter green tone, and with green zips as well.

During his stay on an unknown island of the Grand Line, he was seen without his jacket, that he had a subordinate to carry for him. During this time, he was seen keeping his jutte strapped to his back via a series of belts. A scar was visible on the right side of his chest.

Personality
Smoker is a tough Marine, who when first introduced, was trying to track down Luffy in Loguetown. Unlike many other Marines in One Piece, Smoker does not follow the rule of Absolute Justice and follows his own brand of justice, which he later preaches to Tashigi. Smoker's view on justice also allows the Straw Hats to remain free even being pirates during the Arabasta arc. He warned Luffy that as a Marine, next time, he would have tried and capture him. Smoker also didn't like taking credit in Arabasta for the Straw Hats' work in defeating Crocodile, telling the World Government to "eat shit" when they attempted to reward him for it. He also tends to hold grudges toward pirates who have escaped him. For example, he prepares to capture Ace and is prepared for a big fight. However, after Luffy has thrown him through several walls, Smoker barely acknowledges Ace. He merely shoves him into the ground and prepares to go after Luffy, who is his primary target.

Despite his stern, businesslike manner, he does seem to have a soft side. In Loguetown, when a little girl bumped into him and dropped her ice cream with 3 scoops on his trousers, he takes it in good heart. He even gives her money to buy a new cone with two extra scoops. He also shows respect and even protective kindness to his subordinate, Tashigi. Smoker also let Luffy go after he found out that Zoro was ordered by Luffy to save him from drowning ; however he quickly lost his temper after Luffy made a stupid remark.

It seems Smoker doesn't like people who make too much noise around him, as he claims that it breaks his focus.

Lastly, he does not trust the Shichibukai as he sees them as nothing more than pirates. In fact, he is betrayed by Shichibukai two times during the story.

Marines
He has close ties with Hina as a personal friend due their days of training. Because they have known each other for a long time, Hina calls him Smoker-kun while Smoker adresses Hina by her name alone.

He has a close relationship with his subordinate Tashigi. However, he appears to act very harshly to her mistakes, such as confusing another soldier to Smoker due to her not wearing her glasses.

He is not afraid to openly challenge the higher ranking generals within the Marines or World Government.

Enemies
He has a strong hatred for Luffy dating back to when Luffy managed to narrowly escape him at Loguetown. Ever since then, Smoker has been relentless in trying to capture Luffy. Even after Luffy ordered Zoro to save Smoker from drowning after escaping the Rainbase Hideout, Smoker still had the agenda to someday capture Luffy only repaying him by letting him go that one time. Smoker is even willing to go as far as to the New World to capture Luffy. Smoker is Luffy's longest running Marine foe to date. When Luffy was about to be executed by Buggy, Smoker saw the laugh Luffy gave off to mirror that of Gol D. Roger's twenty-two years ago, and considered Luffy to be a potential danger to the world. Smoker has always wondered why Dragon would save Luffy in Loguetown, until Sengoku made it public that Dragon is Luffy's father.

He also made an enemy of Ace during the Arabasta Arc while Smoker was trying to capture Luffy. Smoker simply states that he couldn't let a pirate such as Ace go so easily. But after Ace helped Luffy escape from Smoker, it is possible that Smoker may have held a grudge against Ace for that.

Even though the Shichibukai have allied with the World Government, Smoker, just like Sengoku and Kizaru, thinks they are nothing but pirates and cannot be trusted. Indeed, Smoker made an enemy of Crocodile after seeing Operation Utopia, and of Boa Hancock after she defended Luffy.

Abilities and Powers
Smoker is quite a formidable fighter, and his fighting abilities are well beyond that of a normal Commodore: he has most likely the combat capabilities of a Vice Admiral, maybe even higher. He was on the verge of capturing Luffy on their first encounter in Loguetown, had it not been for Luffy's father Monkey D. Dragon. During the Arabasta arc, he was able to hold his own against Ace, the second division commander of Whitebeard. And after the Enies Lobby events, he did not find any satisfaction in capturing a pirate with a bounty of 50,000,000. When Luffy meets him in Marineford he comments that Smoker has gotten far stronger before being pinned to the ground.

He is one of the few marines that has ever beaten Luffy, the others being two high-ranking admirals Aokiji and Kizaru as well as the brutish Sentomaru. As a result, Luffy resorts to running away from Smoker if he ever sees him. As evident of his strong build, Smoker possesses incredible physical strength: he was able to hold down Luffy with him being unable to retaliate, a noteworthy feat, considered the might of the boy. It is also implied that Smoker has both excellent hearing and memory, as shown during the Arabasta arc where he tells Sanji to attack the third Bananawani that entered the room, since "That growl just now was the same as the one who ate the key.". He has also shown great strategic capabilities, as he was able to plan in mere minutes the efficient assault on the pirates in the plaza during Buggy's attempt to kill Luffy.

In the anime, Smoker also appears to be extremly fast, when he first met Luffy he hit him and sent him flying and was able to get behind Luffy while still being sent flying and hit him back. This speed is comparable to the technique, Soru.

Devil Fruit


Smoker has eaten the Moku Moku no Mi Devil Fruit. The Fruit allows him to control any smoke around him. He can also change part or all of his body into smoke at will, like other Logia-type Devil Fruit powers. He can also manipulate the smoke to make it soft or hard, allowing him to hold and constrict others within it.

At this point, he doesn't appear to have any exploitable weakness, due to his ability to be intangible. However, in the beginning, Smoker had yet to master his Devil Fruit powers, as when he was caught off guard, Luffy sent him flying across a restaurant. However, during the fight in Marineford, when Smoker was diverting his attention to Luffy's arrival and a pirate slashed him, the blade bypassed his smoke body. This indicates that, over time, Smoker has trained his abilities to activate by reflexes, like Crocodile did. It appears that the only true way to hit Smoker now that he has a better hold on his power is for someone to use Haki as Hancock was able to by using what Smoker called "Kuja Haki".

Using his smoke powers, Smoker can power up the engines of his motorbike, the Blower Bike, for in-land transportation.

Weapons


He also wields a large jutte just as tall as he is, tipped with Seastone, a material that affects Devil Fruit users in a similar way to the sea (a person who consumes a Devil Fruit becomes weak and unable to move his or her body in the water, and Seastone is, in Smoker's own words, "a solidified form of the sea"), which he uses to subdue criminal Devil Fruit users. Its hilt is white in the manga, but red in the anime.

His thick clothes are what allow him to carry around his Seastone-tipped weapon, along with the fact that he hangs it off his back so that the tip never comes in contact with him.

When he turns into smoke, the weapon does not turn into smoke with him because of the Seastone. Instead he carries it with smoke while in smoke form.

Early Life
Very little has been said about Smoker's past; what is known is that he joined the Marines at the same time as Hina. However, it appears that Hina has had to help Smoker before in situations where he was almost kicked out of the Marines. .

Loguetown Arc
Some time prior to the current storyline, Smoker managed to become Marine Captain (大佐, Taisa), and was charged with the protection of Loguetown, the city in which the Pirate King was born, and then executed. Some citizens as well as some of his subordinates were apparently afraid of him, most likely because of his smoke powers, his imposing appearance and his sharp manners; the Captain however seemed to care deeply for the inhabitants of the city, as seen when he didn't get angry when a little girl accidentally bumped on him, spoiling her ice-cream on one leg of his pants. He instead gave the girl money to buy a bigger ice-cream. When Buggy the Clown was preparing Luffy's execution, he reached the plaza with his men, and when the execution-platform was destroyed by a lightning, he captured Buggy and his crew with his smoke powers. He then chased after Luffy on his Blower Bike, and was able to reach him, near the town's entrance. There, he rapidly dispatched Sanji, and then got into a small duel with the Straw Hat captain. Luffy was clearly at a disadvantage, and the only reason he and his crew were able to get away is because of the mysterious "Revolutionary," Dragon, Luffy's father, who appeared to cause a freak storm. Nevertheless, Smoker set out after Luffy (along with his subordinate, Tashigi), abandoning his post in Loguetown. From witnessing Luffy's near-execution at the hands of Buggy the Clown, he believes there is something special about him, since he was smiling and seemed happy (just as Gold Roger had) even though he was about to die. Because he is convinced of Luffy's uniqueness, Smoker is determined to see that the "Straw-Hat Pirate" faces justice.

Arabasta Arc
Smoker tracked Luffy all the way to Arabasta, where he met the second pirate to ever escape his clutches: Portgas D. Ace, Luffy's older brother. He met Ace in a small cafe in Nanohana. Ace has the Mera Mera no Mi Logia type Devil Fruit, and when matched against Smoker's smoke abilities, the two men fought to a draw, though this is due more to the fact that their powers have no real effect on the other as they naturally go hand in hand, then them being of equal strength.

He later continues his chase with the Straw Hats, but ends up getting caught with them in a cage trap set up by Crocodile. When Sanji comes he helps find Mr. 3 who frees them. Just when everybody is about to drown Luffy tells Zoro to save Smoker even though he is an enemy. Once out of the trap, Smoker tells Luffy to go to Arbasta, but next time they meet, they will battle.

After the Arabasta arc, and the fall of Baroque Works, the Marines officially declared Smoker as the one who defeated Crocodile, one of the Shichibukai. This was done to cover up the fact that Crocodile had, in fact, been defeated by a pirate. Smoker, however, angrily and in not so polite terms, refused both the medals and promotions the Marines offered him and Tashigi. He even openly admitted that it was Luffy and his crew that truly defeated Crocodile and Baroque Works, but they refused to listen to him.

Post Skypiea Arc
He later gave Admiral Aokiji a message for Luffy, which Aokiji forgot until after he had beaten Luffy. Aokiji claims that Smoker's message was too stupid to tell (Luffy wouldn't have heard it anyway as he was frozen at the time), but the actual message has yet to be heard.

Post-Enies Lobby
After the Enies Lobby incident Smoker was seen on an island in the Grand Line, capturing an unnamed pirate with a bounty of 50,000,000. Both he and Tashigi had gotten promoted since they were last seen - he was ranked up to Commodore (准将, Junshō). He told Tashigi that in order to go on chasing the Straw Hat Pirates they needed better rank: he explained that they would go to New World to crush them. He also had on his chest a scar that did not exist during the Arabasta Arc.

Marineford War


When the execution of Portgas D. Ace was announced, Smoker reported to the summoning of the Marines to reinforce Marineford.

Three hours before Ace's execution, he was seen with Tashigi listening to Sengoku's speech about Ace's past.

He was stunned along with Tashigi to see Crocodile amongst the members of Luffy's newly-gathered expedition to save Ace.

Sengoku's revelation of Luffy being Dragon's son had finally made Smoker understand why the Leader of the Revolutionaries saved the Straw Hat pirate in Loguetown.



Later, Smoker decided to confront Luffy. Luffy stood up, and tried to defeat him with a Jet Gatling Gun. Smoker just commented that he was still unable to strike him despite his growth and held Luffy down with his jutte. Boa Hancock, in anger, intervened and threatened him, ignoring his query as to whether or not she intended to abandon her title as a Shichibukai. Smoker was curious as to how Hancock hit him when he was not solid and then came to the conclusion it was due to the Kuja Haki. He attempted to chase after Luffy, but was barred by Hancock who broke his jutte and ignored his warnings of what her actions could mean.

Smoker and Tashigi are later seen retreating to the plaza as Sengoku was about to execute the final stages of his plan. After the death of Portgas D. Ace, he is seen condemning the marines still fighting against the pirates as their objective had been completed.

After the arrival of Shanks, Smoker is seen standing down with the other marines.

Major Battles

 * Smoker Vs. Buggy, Alvida and Buggy Pirates
 * Smoker Vs. Monkey D. Luffy and Sanji (Interrupted by Monkey D. Dragon); Luffy fights Smoker by himself in Anime.
 * Smoker Vs. Portgas D. Ace
 * Smoker and Tashigi Vs. unnamed pirate with a bounty of 50,000,000 (not seen)
 * Smoker, Tashigi and other Marines Vs. Whitebeard Pirates
 * Smoker Vs. Monkey D. Luffy (Interrupted by Boa Hancock)
 * Smoker Vs. Boa Hancock

Anime Only

 * Smoker Vs. Galley
 * Smoker Vs. Monkey D. Luffy (Town Square; Loguetown)

Anime and Manga differences
In the anime, the subplot on Smoker's backstory he mentions about Gol D. Roger is expanded on in Logue Town. However, in the manga, Smoker's comment on Roger were merely just a passing comment and only Roger's face is seen. In the manga his hair color is pure white, as opposed to his gray-green color in the anime. The fur on his jacket was initially blue, but was later changed to green to follow the anime.

Translation and Dub Issues
In the 4Kids version of the anime, Smoker's cigars are removed, and smoke comes out of his mouth due to the power of the Smoke-Smoke Fruit. Although his mouth is almost always opened a little where the cigars should be. Because of this, he is renamed 'Chaser'. However, Smoker in the English video games One Piece: Grand Battle and One Piece: Grand Adventure has his cigars strapped to his coat, despite the previous editing. Additionally, his power was changed from smoke to steam.

Another change made to Smoker in the 4Kids dub was removing the kanji for "justice" on the back of his jacket, which is also left in the video games.

Merchandise
Smoker has been the choice character in many forms of merchandise. He has been featured in the series of models Portrait of Pirates.

Trivia

 * In the Japanese anime, Smoker was originally voiced by Ginzo Matsuo. However, Matsuo died on 25 August 2001 of an acute sub-arachnoid hemorrhage. Subsequently, Mahito Oba (the voice of the Narrator) took over the role of Smoker, beginning with episode 94.
 * In the 4th Japanese Fan Poll, Smoker is ranked the 20th most popular character.
 * His birthday is March 14th, a Japanese holiday called White Day (coinciding with his smoke powers, and "white" theme to his attack names).
 * In One Piece Grand Adventure, he is one of the five playable characters that has his own story mode.
 * In contrast, later games like the One Piece Unlimited Cruise episodes he is simply an additional character (Presumably as he had a bigger role in the storyline at that the point the PAL and US regions were in the storyline Grand Adventure was made)
 * Smoker has completely cornered Luffy on three occasions, each time Luffy was saved by a friend/relative Dragon, Ace and Hancock, this may be a reference of how Garp cornered Gold Roger many times but was never able to capture him.
 * Smoker was the first Logia-user to be introduced

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