I do not own One Piece.

Prompt: Honest
Length: 1000 words

Best Policy

Smoker detested dishonesty. He despised those who lied. As far as he was concerned it offered no purpose, other to mar a person's character and offend the recipient of the falsehoods. From small fibs to a spider's web of lies, he hated them all. He valued honesty above all else—well, not quite as much as he valued justice, but it came close.

Any officer under his command who dared lie to his face was promptly dismissed and transferred to another squadron. Smoker had a knack for detecting whether he was being told the truth. There were no second chances for anyone trying to pull the wool over his eyes.

Tashigi learned very quickly what a blunt man her superior was. He didn't sugar-coat anything. If a grunt was slacking off or not doing a good enough job, he was told straight to his face, more often than not in front of a crowd.

It irked her. Smoker noticed.

"You have something you want to say?"

Tashigi, so absorbed in her thoughts, jolted. "Pardon?"

Smoker glanced at his newest partner, a hint of impatience about him. White smoke curled above their heads as they walked down the corridors of the base. "I know you heard me. You're blind, not deaf."

Tashigi frowned, unable to dispel the scathing words of hard honesty Smoker had given her fellow officer during their daily training session. "I think you can be too harsh, Captain Smoker."

Most sixteen-year-olds, fresh from the Academy and terrified of making waves, wouldn't dare to speak their opinion so openly. Smoker wasn't surprised Tashigi held no such feelings. He was intrigued rather than offended. "You want to elaborate on that?"

"I think you could have been kinder to Osako-san, or at least talked to him in private. I know his course times are the slowest out of all of us, but that doesn't mean you should be so harsh with him."

Smoker crossed his arms over his broad chest. "What would you have done, then? Let him continue with such dismal performance?"

Tashigi bit her lip. "Well, no. But I might have suggested that he spend some of his free time practicing, that he could benefit from it."

Smoker snorted. "That doesn't tell him anything. It's merely implying what he could be doing. Not what he should be doing. Beating around the bush never helped anyone. If he wants to stay in my squad, he needs to be better. It's a hard, dangerous world out there. He won't survive if he continues as he is. And if Osako can't take criticism in front of his peers, there's no hope for him."

Tashigi didn't quite believe him, especially when Osako transferred to office work the following week. Her sympathy for him increased ten-fold when she suddenly found herself the recipient of Smoker's brutal honesty.

Her training opponent for the day suddenly buckled and Tashigi quickly veered, changing the course of her blow so it would not be as critical.

"Stop!" thundered Smoker.

Everyone froze. Tashigi flinched internally as she assumed a straight-backed stance. He stormed over and focussed on his now-nervous partner. "What the hell was that?"

"I…I…" Tashigi floundered, trying to find words to phrase her reasoning that wouldn't sound so pathetic. But she couldn't find them and she admitted, "I didn't want to hurt him."

For a brief moment, Smoker was impressed that she had not offered some flimsy excuse. But it was overcome by ire. "You think this is a game?"

"No!" she said quickly. "I just—"

"You think the pirates are going to let you, a woman, get off easy? You think this world is going to hesitate to hurt you?"

His words were mocking and Tashigi felt her face flush red. "There's a difference between fighting with your allies and fighting with the enemy," she snapped.

There was a collective intake of breath from the observing grunts, who could not believe she had talked back to her superior. Smoker stared at her for a moment, his expression unreadable. "If you can't land the killing blow in training, you'll never land it when it matters," he said at last. "You'll be a weak link in the chain and you'll drag us down. If you can't get your crap together, I have no use for you. Go."

Taking her dismissal, Tashigi muttered, "Hai," before departing. Her shoulders were hunched in a combination of humiliation and anger, but Smoker noticed the speculative look on her face as she passed by.

In the next sparring match, Tashigi fought ruthlessly and she took ever chance to land a crushing strike. By the end, she left a wake of battered and bruised men. As she went to retrieve her towel, panting from exertion, a heavy hand landed on her shoulder. She looked to see Smoker staring down at her in approval. "Good work."

A flare of pride ignited within her. "Thank you, Captain Smoker." Growing more subdued, she said softly, "I see what you mean. About having to be blunt with your honesty. It helps you—and us—figure out where we need to be. I'm sorry."

Smoker inclined his head. "You learned. That's what matters."

Most quailed under his honesty and criticisms. Sometimes they wept over it. But Tashigi, with a backbone made of steel, did not brood or sulk. She accepted what he had to say and worked to improve herself. That self-growth would not have happened if he had made a mere suggestion. She would not understand the weight of her mistake if he side-stepped around the truth.

Her ability to handle his honesty, and be just as brutal with her own, was one of the many reasons why he kept her by his side.

"I do have some advice for you," spoke Tashigi as they crossed the training grounds together. "You should smile more when we do patrol through town. You scare the children."

Though her honesty was appreciated, she could sometimes stand to remember her place.