Smoke on the Water
Chapter 1
Smoke. Thin, loose clouds of smoke lingered around a tall and muscular figure, slightly obscuring his defined features. With each deep breath he took came another plume of fine smoke to add to the swirling, white mass that seemed to flow effortlessly around him. The apartment was small and characterless, all furniture used and worn almost to the point of disrepair, only the form of the smoke enwrapped man showing any vague sign of life.
Ex-Marine Captain Smoker stood defiantly before the most recent copy of the Grand Line's most popular newspaper, biting down so hard on the twinned cigars in his mouth that they fell to the floor with a dull thud, leaving only the butts wedged between his teeth.
"DISGRACED MARINE CAPTAIN SMOKE INDEFINITELY DISCHARGED OVER RAPE ALLIGATIONS.
"Whilst en route to the Grand Line in pursuit of the notorious pirate Monkey D. Luffy, otherwise known as 'Straw Hat,' Captain Smoker is accused of violently raping several female Marine officers, both prior and during the voyage from Loguetown, Red Line.
"One victim, whom has requested to remain anonymous for her own protection, went on to say that it was not the first time the savage Captain had sexually assaulted her.
"'It was as though I simply didn't matter to him as an officer because I was female. He would openly mock me and make sexist remarks in front of other crew members and specifically give me undermining tasks. In the past he has groped my breasts and backside repeatedly despite my protests, all the while threatening to kill me should I tell anyone. I never would have thought he would actually go as far to rape me, but…'
"Despicable actions by a truly despicable man. It is hoped by officials that this animal of a man should-"
In a fit of sheer rage, the white-haired ex-Marine tore the newspaper into shreds and threw them to the floor, stamping on them and eventually spitting the useless butts of his cigars onto the mass of crumpled paper. Although this did very little to appease his anger, Smoker stood in silence and calmly collected his thoughts. It was a rare occasion for the man to lose control of his temper so easily. Usually, Smoker was extremely good at keeping his emotions under control, but under the stress of this seemingly unfathomable situation, he could be excused for being a little sensitive. All he wanted to do was scream his innocence to the heavens, but he knew that would do him little good. Innocent or guilty, when accused of rape, all men would plead innocent. No one would believe him. The media love scandal.
In truth, he was innocent. Totally. Smoker had never raped anyone. He never could rape anyone. If there was one particular breed of criminal that the ex-Marine had a burning hatred for, it was the rapist. Men who sought after weak, vulnerable women (and sometimes other men) in order to make themselves feel powerful and strong, totally dominating the unfortunate victim into begging for mercy which only fuels their power-hungry ego. As a Marine, he had seen many victims of rape. Mostly women, some were terrified simply by the large, muscular man before them. A handful of the victims he had met were able to recover to some extent, but upsettingly, the majority of rape victims were left with deep mental scars and had a permanent fear of men. The very concept of rape sickened him to his stomach. Even if he was capable of rape and discarded his Morales, he would have at least been smart enough to not rape anyone he knew or knew of him, least of all several women under his direct command.
Someone had gotten to those women and convinced, probably threatened, them to accuse their commander of rape. Why? He hadn't a clue.
As calmly as he could, Smoker walked to the fatigued leather sofa and sat heavily, holding his head in his hands. He glanced up through laced fingers, only to see Monkey D. Luffy's wanted poster pinned to the dull white wall opposite him. That goofy grin, that careless attitude, that damned Straw Hat. He shook visibly with anger, knowing that somewhere, Straw Hat was sailing through the Grand Line without a care in the world while he was here, awaiting his inevitable death sentence.
Oozing another deep breath of smoke and sending it swirling around his head, Smoker rose and pulled down the wanted poster from the wall, screwed it up, and tossed it in the same general direction of the ruined newspaper. Straw Hat wasn't his problem anymore. No point in letting his idiotic face bother him any longer.
Recovering his previous spot on the sofa, the ex-Marine pulled the belt of cigars from across his chest and tossed them onto the low coffee table before him, not before taking a fresh pair and placing them between his lips. Spinning on his backside, he swung his legs up onto one arm and rested his head on the other. He took a lighter from his jeans pocket and lit the pair of cigars, deeply inhaling and lazily breathing another plume of thick, white smoke into twirling mass around him. He closed his eyes and finally began to relax, his thoughts becoming clouded and sluggish. Quietly, Smoker began to slip into a stale, dreamless sleep, his twinned cigars falling from his lips and thudding to the marble floor, gradually burning into small piles of ash.