"I already know your name." Smoker said to Phule Gotfreed, the man who stood before him. "I didn't see the need to tell them about you, why, did you want to make them stay here?"
"No", the man answered back. "I just wish they had stayed so I could tell them what had happened to their fellow Marines on the beach."
Smoker thought back to what had happened.
The two boats, the one he led, and the one led by Tashigi were on their way to Maru Island when suddenly the ship Smoker had been on started to rock a bit more violently. The boat started to go off course. The men on the boat tried to get it back under control, but they were being dragged to the island to a different place than they had planned.
The crew under him, his four lieutenants, started to react badly due to this unexpected incident, but Smoker was able to get his men back under control. He ordered Ferdenand, the man in charge of communication to send a message that the boat was going off course. He was hopeful that the other boat had been able to see it before they had fallen out of their sight.
Their boat landed away from their original planned location, so Smoker ordered the men to be ready to start traveling to where they were supposed to land when suddenly something odd started to happen, it started to snow.
Now, Smoker had heard of strange weather patterns happening in other parts of the world, mainly the Grand Line, but knew this type of weather never happened at this time of the year in this region of East Blue, which meant something wrong was going on.
The temperature started to plummet in the area as well. As this happened, a science experiment Smoker had seen when he was in school jumped to his mind.
If you put cold water on top of warm water, the cold water will try to sink to the bottom causing turbulence. Considering the cold weather he was now experiencing, he wondered if something akin to that had happened and that was the reason his boat had gone off course.
While he was pondering this, he zipped up his coat, happy to have a warm coat to wear. He then looked over his men who did not have coats and felt a bit guilty. He was going to tell them to get moving when he realized the snow was getting much thicker, it was falling harder and faster as well.
The four lieutenants started to huddle around each other for warmth and were quickly being covered in snow, the rate of falling having entered into blizzard like conditions. Smoker breathed in smoke from his cigars to warm up and realized one had actually gone out. He threw it away and pulled out his metal lighter, which felt cold. He grabbed a pair of cigars, threw them in his mouth and lit his lighter, which luckily still worked. He inhaled some smoke to warm up and ran towards his men.
By now, his men were covered in snow and started to suffer from hypothermia. Smoker grabbed them and looked around and saw the snow was not falling as strongly only 20 feet away. He carried his men over there and felt them start to warm up.
It was at this point he saw a man's shadow start to move around and the man screamed at him. "Come and get me!" Smoker felt bad leaving his men behind. He had wished that he could build a fire for them, but he knew that he had to follow this man, who might be behind the crazy weather.
Smoker ran inland and found the same igloo that Tashigi and Nami would find later. Smoker knew it was obviously a trap, but he had to go in and check. He saw a small entrance and entered the igloo through it. As he entered, the entrance closed up behind him.
The man, who Smoker had only seen a shadow of before revealed himself and started to laugh. "Hello Captain Smoker, having a bad day?" The man was tall and thin, had an orange hat on, and even though the pair were in the middle of an igloo, had on a pair of shorts and no shirt. The man did not seem to be struggling at all with the cold weather. "Do you recognize me?" The man asked Smoker.
"I can't say I do." Smoker answered back.
"Really, come on, you have met my two brothers already." Phule's then screamed in rage, "you killed my younger brother!"
Smoker suddenly realized that this must be a third Gotfreed brother. "How many of you are there?" Smoker asked the man, deciding that it was better that Phule believed that he was behind Victula's death, instead of Nami.
"Just me, and my two younger brothers, well one now, you murderer." Phule lifted his arms up and pointed them at Smoker. "Feel the wrath of Phule Gotfreed." As he finished that line, he started to shoot snow out of his arms which pushed Smoker against the wall of the igloo.
Smoker felt trapped by the snow, which was squashing him against the wall. He then turned himself to smoke and tried to escape the room, made by Phule, but found he could not. The snow was so condensed that he could not escape out of it. Smoker knew he was in trouble and would need to buy time to think so he tried to get Phule to talk more.
"So why did a trio of brothers even go to work for a man like Stormbreaker?" Smoker asked Phule, hopeful to get Phule to spill some information about Stormbreaker and the Equal Dealers.
"Oh, you want to know about us, after killing my brother?" Phule asked back, annoyance in his voice. "Well, I guess I can tell you about why we all joined then, let you feel guilt over the life you had taken. Before that though", Phule started to shoot Snow out of his arms and shot more snow out of his hands to trap Smoker against a wall. Smoker could have broken out, but he decided to let Phule believe he had him trapped.
"Now that you are stuck there, I will tell our story." Phule started to pace. "Me and my two younger brothers are from Lougetown and we, well, we always wanted to be pirates. Seeing Gol D. Roger's execution was the most amazing thing I had ever seen in my life, and well, it inspired me to want to be like him.
So, growing up, me and my brothers played pirates. We would pretend I was Roger, Victula would be Rayleigh, and Michael would be Crocus and we would go on adventures. Then one day, I found it." Phule looked down at his hands and smiled. "I found the Igru-Igru fruit, and I ate it. After that I could make snow out of nothing. I had a power that would allow me to be a great captain for my brothers.
While adventuring we met Klaus Stormbreaker who told us stories of being a Marine and all that was wrong with the world, the lack of equality in it. The fact that Fishmen were treated badly, how humans were treated badly in regions, how so many governments are monarchies or dictatorships. His stories inspired the three of us, and while growing up, I would always pretend to be Roger, I knew it was Stormbreaker who should lead us, not me." Phule looked away and seemed to be hit with nostalgia while describing his past.
"So, me and my brothers decided to be the first three members of his crew." Phule then looked satisfied, "that is our story", Phule paused, "well, was, you murderer."
Smoker felt bad, so many pirates had such similar stories, hell, he himself had been at Roger's execution, so he could understand how someone could be inspired by it. However, he had a job to do, so he started to turn to smoke and freed himself.
"If this Stormbreaker is as great as you say he is, he wouldn't have left you alone with a murderer like me." Smoker answered back, which caused Phule to laugh.
"You misunderstand this trap, Smoker." Phule answered back. "It was supposed to only be Stormbreaker here, it was me who requested to stay behind so I could get revenge on you. Stormbreaker is at a castle about a mile inland that way."
Smoker smirked, that was an essential piece of information he had just been given. He just had to hope that he would have a way to pass on that information to his crew. As if someone heard him, at that moment, a hole formed in the wall and the air pressure created in the room escaped. Smoker, seeing his chance, escaped out of the igloo and found himself face to face with Tashigi and Nami.
After meeting Tashigi and Nami, and giving them his orders, he jumped back into the room.
"Why didn't you invite them in? I am certain they would have loved to meet Phule Gotfreed." Phule asked, which brings us back to the present.
Smoker while talking to Nami and Tashigi had come up with an idea of how to beat Phule. He realized that he was not going to be able to approach Phule, just like Victula, so he had to come up with something sneakier.
He ran at Phule and pulled out his Nanashaku Jitte and tried to strike Phule with it. Realizing that Smoker was coming straight at him, Phule was able to parry the attack, causing the Nanashaku to fly out of Smoker's hands and wedge itself into the ceiling. Smoker clicked his tongue in annoyance and tried to approach Phule again. This time Phule shot Smoker with the snow which caused Smoker to spit out his cigars in pain.
Smoker then fell to his feet and tried to roll away from the blast of snow Phule shot at him.
Slowly Phule started to laugh and approach Smoker. "You should have accepted their help, Smoker." Phule soon was on top of Smoker and smiled. "I have wanted to do this ever since I heard you killed Victula. Phule positioned his arms, ready to bury Smoker, when suddenly the Nanashaku Jitte fell right onto Phule which caused him to stop.
Smoker taking the moment of weakness rolled and grabbed the Nanashaku Jitte then stabbed Phule with it. Phule collapsed to his knees and looked up at Smoker.
"It won't kill you." Smoker said, then watched as the igloo the pair were in slowly started to melt away. Phule looked at the Nanashaku and tried to figure out why it fell.
"Why did it fall?" Smoker asked Phule following his eyes. "The cigar that fell out of my mouth, the smoke from it melted the ice where the Nanashaku Jitte, I just had to direct you there.
Smoker then sat down on Phule and pulled a pair of cigars out of his jacket and lit them. He looked down at Phule and felt a bit bad. "I am sorry about your brother."
Meanwhile Nami and Tashigi had come across a castle. "This must be the place." Tashigi told Nami, who nodded her head. "Are you ready?"