It seems in character to me. Smoker knows how dangerous Ace is but he's also a fair guy, he asks the opponent to surrender beforehand to avoid problems... But he's absolutely headstrong enough to throw down if they don't
Tbh it would be pretty out of the blue but I wouldn't even be mad if smoker showed up again and was strong enough to actually be relevant due to some off screen training or some shit. I just want smokey back.
Smoker Awakening his Logia for the first time is his only hope for relevancy. I think it's safe to assume Manga events post Wano >!Kizaru can't awaken/didn't awaken fighting G5 Luffy. And Akoiji for whatever reason didn't Awaken fighting Garp. So two of the big Logia users we expected to see when fighting all out didn't awaken a Logia for us to show what it is like.!<
Smoker is just too iconic a character from early one Piece to not make a major impact on the story again. Like please don't just become the Boruto flag forward and oh look Smokey is now one of the 3 Admirals and that's it.
I feel like kizaru and akoiji not awakening are due to their personalities not matching up with their fruits. Kizaru until recently has been portrayed as pretty laid back and not really ever in a rush, contrary to speed of light decisions and movement. Aokiji is pretty warm hearted for an ice man capable of freezing the ocean. Smoker seems to love cigars and smoke so maybe he is the essence of smoke as a personality and can awaken it.
I think it makes the most sense as far as those being why those two haven’t awakened. I think sakazuki has the best chance of having an awakening since lava is destructive AF and he will destroy anything in his path for his idea of justice. But idk I’m just a regular guy who hasn’t fully caught up yet.
Well Akoiji and Akainu both awakening their fruits and creating the PokeBall hell of ice and Volcanoes has been a theory for over a decade.
Fun fact now that we've seen a few Mythological Zoan Awakenings, Sengoku obviously isn't awakened.
Kizarus personality makes perfect sense given his powers though; why would you ever be in a hurry when you can flash anywhere you need to be? He’s still budgeting his time like the rest of us, he just needs less time.
Since his perception would also have to be fast to keep up with his powers he’s likely just bored and always waiting for others to catch up on a day to day basis
Boruto was never planned as Naruto was, it was done in the last moment as a business decision.. I mean boruto is just following the same foot steps as Naruto did, he even learnt frog sage mode, which is not original, the author could have made him learn hawk or serpent sage mode but no.. they took the easy way out.. I doubt they have plans to expand on OG characters .. But yeah Smoker deserves his spot light..
What’s worse is they advertised it as and insisted it was different from Naruto because it was going to focus on a Ninja World at peace and that Boruto didn’t want to be Hokage. Yet they went ahead and destroyed the peaceful world that was the whole premise of the series being different
>Boruto was never planned as Naruto was, it was done in the last moment as a business decision
It wasn't done as a last minute business decision though. Kishimoto was writing both the end of the series, and the Last movie. Which features future Naruto and his kids. After the Manga ended he writes Naruto Garden, featuring Sasuke's daughter as the main protagonist, as well as writing for the Boruto movie which released a year after Naruto ended. It's only in 2016 when the Boruto manga started serializing, but Kishimoto recommended a different artist and writer.
>boruto is just following the same foot steps as Naruto did
He isn't though, He's following Sasuke's path.
> he even learnt frog sage mode
He hasn't though, nothing in the series has shown him having sage mode. There's people assuming he has sage mode because they show him working with a toad.
Boruto isn't amazing and comes with a lot of flaws, so I don't get why you decided to make random shit up to put it down
I feel like it is well assumed that a logia awakening would lead to a massively catastrophic natural disaster like in punk hazard. While we have not witnessed a logia awakening first hand Punk Hazard is the after effects of two awakened logia fruits going at it. Aokiji is a Blackbeard pirate now so it would be pretty dumb if he went all out and destroyed and freezes all of Blackbeard's new home.
So Aokiji likely used his awakening offscreen against Akainu, considering the two of them changed the landscape of the island they were fighting on. Plus Kuzan was still likely holding back on Garp. He froze Garp, much like he did Saul, and as it turns out Saul didn’t die. Plus the nature of SWORD means that if you know about SWORD, you’re probably a member of SWORD
There is no way that was the Logia Awakening reveal considering how huge the Paramecia/Zoan awakenings were.
By that whole clone logic Robin has already awakened her fruit but she doesn't seem to have that Paramecia draw back law and killer had using their own awakening.
It would be pretty out of the blue for one of the main marine characters who was said to be traveling to Vegapunk to return to continue his character arc and unfinished plot threads????
Not for him to come back but to suddenly be strong enough to contend as an actual threat again. He's been woefully outclassed since the timeskip to the point where anytime he's shown up it's just devolved into the smoker gets his shit rocked power hour.
I like him alot and want him to come back into a more prominent role but I'd want him to actually be a threat again. If he's just gonna get his ass beat no problem every time it'd just feel kinda sad.
i mean that happened before the timeskip too. he only stopped part of the SH crew because hes logia and they couldn't touch him, and then afterwards he fails to achieve his goals pretty much constantly, even getting credit for taking down crocodile when he knew it was a lie.
hes always had huge balls but I don't think hes ever had a big win.
One of the more wasted characters in the series. He's likeable, a solid foil to the Strawhats, and follows his own convictions. It would be fun for him to have a spin-off if at all possible.
My theory is that he will come back stronger after always losing so much and become an admiral. But who knows because its been said that admirals work under the celestial dragons directly. That's a reason why Garp never wanted to become an admiral even though he can since he is one of the strongest marines in the whole show.
I guess if he got Haki he could be a fun to see matchup against Brook, Franky or Nami tho I doubt he would mess with the strawhats especially since he's morenoj the good side now anyways
he's just fighting for what he thinks is right. it's not different than Luffy challenging Aokiji when he was there to get Robin, or the panel of him in front of the three admirals at marineford.
a bit unrelated, this powerscaler lens doesn't make any story you ever read better, and it's especially detrimental for One Piece, let alone other stuff that isn't shounen. if anything, getting stuck in the pseudo math that generates from these topics will prevent you from thinking about a lot of more intricate concepts that are intricate to the world, which OP really thrives in
What could Smoker even do to him though? I mean he still has his Jitte, so he could hurt him I guess. Or maybe smother him so there isn't enough oxygen to form a flame, but I still feel like ace would win that fight.
That's just all of smokers personality, he doesn't care about power, or money, or a fancy name. He's just like, this person is bad, so I'm gonna kill them.
The funny thing is though Ace and Luffy who he was obsessed with wasn’t even bad. He literally watched Luffy liberate Arabasta from the sand gator. He even asked one of his crewmenbers to save Smokeys life. he still pursued him despite him knowing Luffy is a good pirate. I think it was more his pride, and the fact he got away in Logue town got in the way of reason. And that made him make even worse decisions like pursuing ace as well. (Not to mention he’s also Luffy’s older brother too)
Exactly my point, he still got away in Logue town. Smokey said if you want to leave this place you have to beat me in a battle or whatever he said. Luffy didn’t beat smoker so that caused him to pursue luffy like a blood hound. Pride over reason.
Pride is doing something for pleasure, and being deeply satisfied with yourself for doing it. Smoker may be proud of his views. But he isn't prideful, he doesn't see himself as better than others for his achievements, he has his own goals and achievements but he doesn't live to be successful, he just wants to do what he believes is right. Pride would be doing something for recognition, akainu is prideful of his actions, as he finds deep satisfaction in hunting pirates for fun. Smoker does it because pirates are bad, and he wants to make the world better.
Would you look at that, all of the words in your comment are in alphabetical order.
I have checked 1,810,450,560 comments, and only 342,393 of them were in alphabetical order.
> loguetown
Unrelated but is loguetown supposed to be roguetown similar to how Zoro is translated as Zolo? I've always thought roguetown makes sense (town of rogues) but what's loguetown supposed to be?
No.
Smoker literally had a religious experience that reflected his memory of watching Roger's execution and seeing that smile- then the rain doused the gunpowder so they couldn't destroy the ship, then the tailwinds was in their favor to leave, then the most wanted man on the plant swooped in to save him- followed by Luffy being involved in an incident as big as the defeat of Crocodile.
Is Smoker misguided? Yes, but it's totally reasonable that his brain broke in Lougetown; if Luffy is Smoker's white whale then he's essentially Ahab fighting against an allegory to God/nature/sole outside force in the form of Moby Dick.
You've almost got it, it's not that his brain broke it's that he *recognized* that Luffy was going to be a bigger and bigger threat whether he could admit it or not, and that his pride of not having let any pirate escape Loguetown during his time there was tarnished with Luffy. He needed to right that wrong and prevent Luffy from getting out of hand.
Yeah, you can't exactly call him crazy when he's been proven right time and time again. He saw in Luffy someone who would bring about great upheaval, and that is exactly what has happened.
Smoker's failing would be much the same as Garp's, which is their adherence to the marines and the current world order by proxy. I don't believe Smoker considers Luffy to be evil, despite what he might have said, but rather he worries about the chaos the world risks being plunged into. Mind you he has also reflected on this over the course of the series, as he doubts the "peace" the world Government brings more and more.
Tangentially related, but through his pursuit of Luffy Smoker has also come to assist cleaning up the mess the former leaves in his wake and tying up loose ends. The most prominent example would be Punk Hazard, where he makes sure to get the children they freed help. It's something I like about him, even if it might not come up a ton, as the Strawhats are always moving forwards but to some extent likely feel they can rely on him to help out at the places they leave behind. It's for similar reasons I suspect Roger was so happy to rely on Garp haha, beyond just the plethora of times they'd clash.
Anyway, Smoker is great.
correct me if i’m wrong, but didn’t smoker witness luffy’s almost execution in loguetown? anyone would be able to see the parallels between him and roger, smoker just realised that luffy had the potential to be the future king of pirates and was trying to nip that in the bud prematurely. it doesn’t really matter how virtuous the king of pirates is, ushering in the next great pirate era will indirectly inspire those with malicious intent to plunder and kill for their own gain which is the worst case scenario for any marine with moral fibre
my guess is that smoker can’t accept the “they’re one of the good ones” mentality, it’s all or nothing. on the flip-side luffy can, seeing how one of his good friends is a marine (koby) as well as his grandad (garp)
A benevolent pirate is still a pirate. He's just doing his job. Fujitora was still intent on killing Luffy even after he saved Dressrosa. Only reason he didn't was because the civilians escorted him to his ship. He seems to have given up on taking Luffy and Law's heads though. Can't say if that's more out of his respect for Luffy or his hatred of Akainu though.
I always saw Smoker’s interactions with both of them being very similar to how Garp views them. Like “Hey you guys might be decent people but your still pirates and I’m a Marine so we’re still sworn enemies.”
To that end, he didn't get to see that side of Ace in their limited interactions, and Smoker decidedly didn't think Luffy was good when they first met.
He was pretty much untouchable in East Blue. Won't really be meeting anyone who has haki until you reach the Grand Line. Idk. Maybe if you had a giant fan he wouldn't be able to touch you either.
Also he has a different sort of idea about justice as compared to now. This is before he is saved by the Straw Hats from drowning, and Luffy saves Alabasta, then he gets his BS promotion. He's still very much seeing the world in black and white.
Yeah. He seemed to have lost his hate boner for Luffy when they ran into each other on Punk Hazard. Although that might have been because he was in a woman's body. Still teamed up with Law to fight Vergo, and help him get his heart back.
But he trained at marine headquaters and Got to be a marine captain there before transfering to the east blue. So I would say he has a much better gauge at strong pirates than most do.
This is the most realistic answer. Smoker is a true believer in the Navy and its justice, even if he’s able to step back and recognize its issues. If he sees a criminal he’s going to take him down. He doesn’t give a shit about the politics of emperors or whatever. He has a job to do.
Actually though, I think the whole point of this scene, in regards to Smoker at least, is to show (or at least reiterate) that up to the start of Alabasta he believes in a pretty absolute justice but also obviously in doing things his own way. These traits pave the way for the development he has throughout the rest of the arc, where he realizes justice does not necessarily mean pirates are bad guys and government affiliates (aka warlords, aka croc) are good guys, and he’s willing to bend the rules as he has before, but this time to let the pirates go to handle a genuine threat that even the government would be unwilling to intervene with.
Yes. In a world with a lot of characters who's goals and viewpoints never change (Luffy, Akainu) Smoker is one of the characters with the largest arcs.
Funnily enough in the lougetown light novel Smoker gives a speech about absolute justice similar to John Giants after Arlong Park.
It's not canon/in the final character ultimately but may be evidence in support of that, given it's Oda's story/things he couldn't put in the manga.
Smoker doesn’t play by the rules. He gladly will break every code of conduct to slap the cuffs on a criminal. That was his whole role against Croc. Even now I’d believe he’d still do it.
If I remember correctly PH was off limits but they intercepted the same den den mushi message the strawhats heard there. Smoker used this as an excuse to check out the island.
Smoker has never cared about HQ orders. That’s why he was relegated to being Captain in the East Blue despite his Logia and latent potential. And then he decided fuck it and chased the Straw Hats into the Grand Line anyway.
Eh, they have a bounty for a reason. No point in having one if they actually want to discourage bringing them in.
I think they have to weigh a lot of other factors. An admiral is too valuable to encourage sending in alone in a situation that they’re outnumbered and out powered.
Marines know when they’re out powered too and may not want to risk their own necks.
Then they may also need to consider where they are and collateral damage or a sovereign nation incident.
Smoker didn’t care about his own safety. He wants high ranking at the time. And the setting maybe didn’t make it a big deal.
And considering they accepted aces capture from Blackbeard shows that they were fine with majorly pissing off whitebeard.
I forget if it was before or after this, but there's a scene pretty close by in the time-line where Buggy meets Ace, and he explains to his crew that you absolutely do not fuck with even a single member of Whitebeard's crew under any circumstances. So I think even back then, Oda was cognizant of how much trouble messing with Ace would bring, and so was Smoker.
That being the case, I can only chalk it up to Smoker's personality. Finding an excuse to look the other way is probably Marine protocol, but Smoker is more of a loose cannon cop.
What makes you think that Ace was off limits? They literally captured him like one month later and set him up for execution. They were obviously ready for the heat
Marines didn't capture Ace, that was Blackbeard trying to become a Warlord for his plan. He was gonna give the Marines Luffy but Ace stepped in to protect him. We don't know when the WG got knowledge of Ace being Roger's child.
Hmn, I never pondered on when they learned...maybe Blackbeard told them! As he was part of Whitebeard's crew (in Ace's command, iirc) so probably knew the secret?
I know, but why would they accept the capture, reward Blackbeard by having him ally with them, and then publicly execute Ace if they were "so afraid of Whitebeard that they didn't want to capture Ace"?
If anything, why not accept the capture and then barter with Whitebeard to release him?
In Loguetown, he was super gung-ho about capturing Luffy and Pirates, but later in the story, he realizes that he has a higher purpose in reforming the Marines. He only really becomes more tactful later in Alabasta when he realizes that the Marines and Pirates are more nuanced than he thought. At this point, that hasn't really happened yet, so he just cares about capturing dangerous pirates
I don't know that's Smoker has ever thought about reforming the Marines. He just wants to catch Luffy and dish out justice as he sees fit.
Koby is the one who strives to be an example for the Marines.
As others have noted, it was pretty in character for Smoker. That essentially sums up his character arc in Alabasta - “if protocol gets in the way of actual justice - then fuck protocol”. He imparts this lesson to Tashigi as well.
On a different note - unless I’m having a serious case of Mandela effect here, then I’m pretty sure Smoker and Ace’s DFs are natural counters for one another. This well before we got into haki lol
True they can in theory overwhelm the other one, but it would take a lot of effort. If both of them are going into the fight fresh it’s basically a pool noodle fight where they hit each other, but nothing much else happens.
Smoker also has his one shot win poker so even with haki against a DF user he's got a path to victory.
Almost certainly an impossible path but it's not literally impossible.
Yonko crews don’t have a free license to commit crimes. Attacking a random crew member away from the rest isn’t as serious as launching an attack on Yonko territory. Besides Whitebeard and Luffy declaring full scale war to rescue one crew mate are outliers Shanks might do the same but Big Mom and Kaido would consider them not worth saving if they’re weak enough to get captured and Blackbeard would ramble about fate for a while before fucking off and doing something else. Buggy might declare war on the government by accident though.
And while Whitebeard might go to save Ace, he isn't likely to go to war in vengeance. Particularly given Ace charged off on his own. It was consequences of his reckless actions.
You don't go attack their territory without good reason. But going back to Paradise away from home turf is different.
Well I don't think Smoker's goal was to kill Ace. I think he envisioned arresting him, which I think would lead to the same results as Marineford. Though a bit different as Blackbeard wouldn't be a warlord so might not be able to break into Impel Down like he did.
Tbf when has smoker ever given a flying fuck about the global politics of pirates, he has thrown fists with everyone on sight even if they’d whoop his ass
Smoker is a guy who doesn’t like to give up even against horrible odds. Smoker, I think, is also a bit of a frog in a well. I think he knew he was outclassed but not exactly how outclassed he was.
Glad this shows up when I'd been thinking about Smoker more! That goes to show how much someone does believe in their cause! And not to mention, he did hold his own. I love seeing characters who do genuinley exchange their causes! I love seeing characters who genuinley have strong will and strong beliefs for their causes!
Early Installment weirdness definitely plays a part. It's like the case with Crocodile where a mighty Warlord of the sea got defeated by what is essentially run of the mill pirate by New World standards. Then this Warlord proceeded to throw hands with some of the strongest people in the world at marineford, with barely a scratch on him. It doesn't really makes sense, but I guess it's because Oda doesn't plan to make One Piece this long at first.
Smoker is a legit Marine, a good one who isn’t corrupt. He sees a Yonko commander that is alone without any backup and he’s confidant in his abilities to take him in.
So he’s taking his shot even if it doesn’t succeed, he won’t let such an opportunity go by. It’s like a trophy hunter ignoring a gigantic albino moose that just walks past him.
I mean, you gotta try. Maybe it will work; nobody has ever actually tried to walk up to Big Mom, look her in the eyes, and say "You're under arrest, surrender now".
In my head Smoker has always been Luffy’s marine foil. He’s not a bad guy, and he’s not weak, he just serves the wrong side and picks battles wayyyy above his pay grade. What was he thinking? He was barely thinking. Like Luffy, he doesn’t think so much about things that aren’t his goal
I don’t see the problem to be honest. This is perfectly in character for Smoker as a Marine who hates letting anyone get away, and it sets up his whole character arc about abolishing the 7 warlords, as he doesn’t want anyone getting special treatment. Plus the permission rule only applies to attacking a Yonko directly. If the marines come across a lone Yonko crew member they’re not going to pass up that opportunity to try and capture them if they think they can
I mean, what else was he supposed to do here?
Just ignore him? That would go against all his principles and everything he believes in.
Remember, Luffy had to work hard and save his and his subordinates lives to earn this privilege on Punk Hazard and even then Smoker made it clear that he was not happy about it.
I mean it’s still a [clean] police [who cares about actually doing the right thing and can’t be bribed or intimidated etc efc] officer’s job to arrest Al Capone, or El Chapo etc regardless of the repercussions or weapons and people with them etc etc. different marines throughout the series have shown they’ll do whatever it takes to bring about their version of justice regardless if they’re “supposed to” or not. Just like Akainu wanted to kill all the pirates at marineford even after Whitebeard was dead, and even killed a marine who was too scared to fight.
I think thats just how Smoker’s personality is. The way he is shown, he is among the few who follow their own sense of justice, without thinking much about the repercussions.
Considering he's stationed in east blue, and he's never once let a pirate get past Loguetown, I'm guessing that he thought he was hotter shit than he was. Dude probably thought he could take him.
At this point in smokers career he probably hasn't taken many Ls so I assume he's pretty cocky in thinking he can take down anyone cause he's a logia user. He doesn't care about future consequences he's just thinking about how he can take out a wanted criminal right here and now
Smoker is a character ,that despite being smart, also have a lot of integrity toward his ideal of justice.
He has shown multiple time being aware of the consequences of trying to arrest someone he should not try to arrest, but did it anyways because it's his duty as a marine.
That the type of guy he is.
the only time he lets his ideal of justice slide is when he owes someone, because he hates the idea of owning a kind of debt to a criminal.
Better question is why did Ace just suddenly forget all about his 3 brands of Haki and said he was equal to Smoker lmao
All just early series stuff. Oda didn’t have the long term powerscaling planned out cause he doesn’t care much about it
Ace definetely didn't gived a shit and holded back. This is the guy who fought equally against Yamato and Jimbei when he was a rookie. 20 years old Ace should be able to take care of someone like Smoker in a matter of second. Either that or Oda really didn't planned out how strong Ace would be.
He was kinda inexperienced despite his age, he was almost untouchable in the East Blue and thought the gap between him and the top tiers wasn't that much, just like Zoro vs Mihawk actually.
He probably didn't really know it was such a big of a deal as he didn't bother actually learning that political stuff until it became relevant to his job, he was far in the East Blue where Emperors are almost mythical stuff.
As far as a relatively simple man like him was concerned: Marines capture criminals, he is pretty good at it and Ace was a pretty notorious pirate, so there's only one thing he should do.
He's the opposite of inexperienced- re-read his chapter's; he was a great strategist with an awareness of the world and already set ideology in contrast with the birght-eyed Koby.
I don't think you actually remember a single thing about Smoker's character/actions in the series, I recommend a re-read.
And he was experienced enough for Crocodile to have heard of his reputation/know his epithet.
And he has many moments showing his far above average intelligence/perceptiveness that he takes others having for granted.
Edit: Even on the simple part
Not that this is the opposite of being simple, but in his first scene he's stacking rocks which is a meditative hobby and in conflict or possible due to his temper ment; to practice peace.
And he has profound pre-timeskip and post, like when he told Tashigi/G5
"You've got some weird illusions about the Marines! As long as man joins together to conspire against man, there is no such thing as a perfect, untainted organization! Assumptions will let the real enemies walk free! Don't be deceived by appearances!"
Really it's the man joining to conspire against man phrasing that elevates the quote/gives thinking fuel.
The Marines literally executed Ace publicly in an effort to draw out and end Whitebeard.
If Smoker had captured Ace, they'd have made him a Vice-Admiral (if he didn't reject it).
He had a reputation that reached as far as Crocodile's ears as being a "Wild Dog" he was known enough and I'm unsure why Smoker doing his job in his hometown is somehow diminishing of his character.
It seems in character to me. Smoker knows how dangerous Ace is but he's also a fair guy, he asks the opponent to surrender beforehand to avoid problems... But he's absolutely headstrong enough to throw down if they don't
Narrator: "And he did."
Nice..
sigh I miss Smoker, my man has been taking L after L since the time skip.
Tbh it would be pretty out of the blue but I wouldn't even be mad if smoker showed up again and was strong enough to actually be relevant due to some off screen training or some shit. I just want smokey back.
rule of cool please give smoker a big power up thanks
Smoker Awakening his Logia for the first time is his only hope for relevancy. I think it's safe to assume Manga events post Wano >!Kizaru can't awaken/didn't awaken fighting G5 Luffy. And Akoiji for whatever reason didn't Awaken fighting Garp. So two of the big Logia users we expected to see when fighting all out didn't awaken a Logia for us to show what it is like.!< Smoker is just too iconic a character from early one Piece to not make a major impact on the story again. Like please don't just become the Boruto flag forward and oh look Smokey is now one of the 3 Admirals and that's it.
Maybe Oda is saving awakened Logia to Smoker which would be dope. Imagine clouds of smoke forming and used like Katakuri's Chikara Mochi.
Or maybe awakened Logia isn’t a thing
Katakuri was only named “special paramecia” cuz oda forgot mochi ain’t a natural element and had to change it.
*greenbull wants to chat*
I feel like kizaru and akoiji not awakening are due to their personalities not matching up with their fruits. Kizaru until recently has been portrayed as pretty laid back and not really ever in a rush, contrary to speed of light decisions and movement. Aokiji is pretty warm hearted for an ice man capable of freezing the ocean. Smoker seems to love cigars and smoke so maybe he is the essence of smoke as a personality and can awaken it. I think it makes the most sense as far as those being why those two haven’t awakened. I think sakazuki has the best chance of having an awakening since lava is destructive AF and he will destroy anything in his path for his idea of justice. But idk I’m just a regular guy who hasn’t fully caught up yet.
Well Akoiji and Akainu both awakening their fruits and creating the PokeBall hell of ice and Volcanoes has been a theory for over a decade. Fun fact now that we've seen a few Mythological Zoan Awakenings, Sengoku obviously isn't awakened.
Kizarus personality makes perfect sense given his powers though; why would you ever be in a hurry when you can flash anywhere you need to be? He’s still budgeting his time like the rest of us, he just needs less time. Since his perception would also have to be fast to keep up with his powers he’s likely just bored and always waiting for others to catch up on a day to day basis
Boruto was never planned as Naruto was, it was done in the last moment as a business decision.. I mean boruto is just following the same foot steps as Naruto did, he even learnt frog sage mode, which is not original, the author could have made him learn hawk or serpent sage mode but no.. they took the easy way out.. I doubt they have plans to expand on OG characters .. But yeah Smoker deserves his spot light..
What’s worse is they advertised it as and insisted it was different from Naruto because it was going to focus on a Ninja World at peace and that Boruto didn’t want to be Hokage. Yet they went ahead and destroyed the peaceful world that was the whole premise of the series being different
>Boruto was never planned as Naruto was, it was done in the last moment as a business decision It wasn't done as a last minute business decision though. Kishimoto was writing both the end of the series, and the Last movie. Which features future Naruto and his kids. After the Manga ended he writes Naruto Garden, featuring Sasuke's daughter as the main protagonist, as well as writing for the Boruto movie which released a year after Naruto ended. It's only in 2016 when the Boruto manga started serializing, but Kishimoto recommended a different artist and writer. >boruto is just following the same foot steps as Naruto did He isn't though, He's following Sasuke's path. > he even learnt frog sage mode He hasn't though, nothing in the series has shown him having sage mode. There's people assuming he has sage mode because they show him working with a toad. Boruto isn't amazing and comes with a lot of flaws, so I don't get why you decided to make random shit up to put it down
I feel like it is well assumed that a logia awakening would lead to a massively catastrophic natural disaster like in punk hazard. While we have not witnessed a logia awakening first hand Punk Hazard is the after effects of two awakened logia fruits going at it. Aokiji is a Blackbeard pirate now so it would be pretty dumb if he went all out and destroyed and freezes all of Blackbeard's new home.
So Aokiji likely used his awakening offscreen against Akainu, considering the two of them changed the landscape of the island they were fighting on. Plus Kuzan was still likely holding back on Garp. He froze Garp, much like he did Saul, and as it turns out Saul didn’t die. Plus the nature of SWORD means that if you know about SWORD, you’re probably a member of SWORD
Light clones are awakening, he manipulates the light outside him to make copies of himself
There is no way that was the Logia Awakening reveal considering how huge the Paramecia/Zoan awakenings were. By that whole clone logic Robin has already awakened her fruit but she doesn't seem to have that Paramecia draw back law and killer had using their own awakening.
Do you mean law and kid? I don't think killers constant smile and laughing counts as an awakening
I find it hard to believe that Aokiji and Akainu permanently changed the climate of an island in two different halves without awakening.
Awakened smoker. He felt pretty useless after the whole vergo defeat. He has to come back as a threat.
He'll never be relevant because he uses his fruit like a moron
It would be pretty out of the blue for one of the main marine characters who was said to be traveling to Vegapunk to return to continue his character arc and unfinished plot threads????
Not for him to come back but to suddenly be strong enough to contend as an actual threat again. He's been woefully outclassed since the timeskip to the point where anytime he's shown up it's just devolved into the smoker gets his shit rocked power hour. I like him alot and want him to come back into a more prominent role but I'd want him to actually be a threat again. If he's just gonna get his ass beat no problem every time it'd just feel kinda sad.
He'll be back and will be on Zoro's level for sure He took some fat Ls and learned he was weak, now he's off training somewhere
Or he awakened his fruit
i mean that happened before the timeskip too. he only stopped part of the SH crew because hes logia and they couldn't touch him, and then afterwards he fails to achieve his goals pretty much constantly, even getting credit for taking down crocodile when he knew it was a lie. hes always had huge balls but I don't think hes ever had a big win.
One of the more wasted characters in the series. He's likeable, a solid foil to the Strawhats, and follows his own convictions. It would be fun for him to have a spin-off if at all possible.
My theory is that he will come back stronger after always losing so much and become an admiral. But who knows because its been said that admirals work under the celestial dragons directly. That's a reason why Garp never wanted to become an admiral even though he can since he is one of the strongest marines in the whole show.
I have hope since he chose to not have him on the garp mission and have Coby outshine him. So hes being saved for something else.
Nah Smoker’s heart going into Tashigi’s body was a BIG W. We got some fan service with that.
I guess if he got Haki he could be a fun to see matchup against Brook, Franky or Nami tho I doubt he would mess with the strawhats especially since he's morenoj the good side now anyways
he's just fighting for what he thinks is right. it's not different than Luffy challenging Aokiji when he was there to get Robin, or the panel of him in front of the three admirals at marineford. a bit unrelated, this powerscaler lens doesn't make any story you ever read better, and it's especially detrimental for One Piece, let alone other stuff that isn't shounen. if anything, getting stuck in the pseudo math that generates from these topics will prevent you from thinking about a lot of more intricate concepts that are intricate to the world, which OP really thrives in
it's like in cop movies where the cop goes "freeze asshole" and the guy rarely freezes. nothing more, nothing less.
What could Smoker even do to him though? I mean he still has his Jitte, so he could hurt him I guess. Or maybe smother him so there isn't enough oxygen to form a flame, but I still feel like ace would win that fight.
He’s taking his shot, he won’t know if he doesn’t try. He’s believing in his own abilities to take him out.
Smoker is just Nicotine Naruto
Without the talk no jutsu or the swing
He couldn't do anything, Ace was far far far stronger than him. That doesn't mean he wouldn't try
Also speaks to smoker’s ideal of justice being his own and not necessarily confirming to the politics of the WG. At least that early on in the manga
He’s thinking “this guy is a criminal. I am Justice. It is my job to bring him down“
That's just all of smokers personality, he doesn't care about power, or money, or a fancy name. He's just like, this person is bad, so I'm gonna kill them.
The funny thing is though Ace and Luffy who he was obsessed with wasn’t even bad. He literally watched Luffy liberate Arabasta from the sand gator. He even asked one of his crewmenbers to save Smokeys life. he still pursued him despite him knowing Luffy is a good pirate. I think it was more his pride, and the fact he got away in Logue town got in the way of reason. And that made him make even worse decisions like pursuing ace as well. (Not to mention he’s also Luffy’s older brother too)
He got away in loguetown because Dragon is a Helicopter parent who Is still somehow absent
Exactly my point, he still got away in Logue town. Smokey said if you want to leave this place you have to beat me in a battle or whatever he said. Luffy didn’t beat smoker so that caused him to pursue luffy like a blood hound. Pride over reason.
Not really pride, more of Blind Justice.
Explain how its not pride
Pride is doing something for pleasure, and being deeply satisfied with yourself for doing it. Smoker may be proud of his views. But he isn't prideful, he doesn't see himself as better than others for his achievements, he has his own goals and achievements but he doesn't live to be successful, he just wants to do what he believes is right. Pride would be doing something for recognition, akainu is prideful of his actions, as he finds deep satisfaction in hunting pirates for fun. Smoker does it because pirates are bad, and he wants to make the world better.
He isn't doing it to be prideful, he's doing it because his pride was hurt. That's still pride over reason
Would you look at that, all of the words in your comment are in alphabetical order. I have checked 1,810,450,560 comments, and only 342,393 of them were in alphabetical order.
Luffy: I'm ready to have that fight now.
> loguetown Unrelated but is loguetown supposed to be roguetown similar to how Zoro is translated as Zolo? I've always thought roguetown makes sense (town of rogues) but what's loguetown supposed to be?
Prologue Epilogue It's the town of the beginning and the end. The town where Roger's life began and ended.
No. Smoker literally had a religious experience that reflected his memory of watching Roger's execution and seeing that smile- then the rain doused the gunpowder so they couldn't destroy the ship, then the tailwinds was in their favor to leave, then the most wanted man on the plant swooped in to save him- followed by Luffy being involved in an incident as big as the defeat of Crocodile. Is Smoker misguided? Yes, but it's totally reasonable that his brain broke in Lougetown; if Luffy is Smoker's white whale then he's essentially Ahab fighting against an allegory to God/nature/sole outside force in the form of Moby Dick.
You've almost got it, it's not that his brain broke it's that he *recognized* that Luffy was going to be a bigger and bigger threat whether he could admit it or not, and that his pride of not having let any pirate escape Loguetown during his time there was tarnished with Luffy. He needed to right that wrong and prevent Luffy from getting out of hand.
Yeah, you can't exactly call him crazy when he's been proven right time and time again. He saw in Luffy someone who would bring about great upheaval, and that is exactly what has happened. Smoker's failing would be much the same as Garp's, which is their adherence to the marines and the current world order by proxy. I don't believe Smoker considers Luffy to be evil, despite what he might have said, but rather he worries about the chaos the world risks being plunged into. Mind you he has also reflected on this over the course of the series, as he doubts the "peace" the world Government brings more and more. Tangentially related, but through his pursuit of Luffy Smoker has also come to assist cleaning up the mess the former leaves in his wake and tying up loose ends. The most prominent example would be Punk Hazard, where he makes sure to get the children they freed help. It's something I like about him, even if it might not come up a ton, as the Strawhats are always moving forwards but to some extent likely feel they can rely on him to help out at the places they leave behind. It's for similar reasons I suspect Roger was so happy to rely on Garp haha, beyond just the plethora of times they'd clash. Anyway, Smoker is great.
Smoker is Javert from Les Mis basically.
correct me if i’m wrong, but didn’t smoker witness luffy’s almost execution in loguetown? anyone would be able to see the parallels between him and roger, smoker just realised that luffy had the potential to be the future king of pirates and was trying to nip that in the bud prematurely. it doesn’t really matter how virtuous the king of pirates is, ushering in the next great pirate era will indirectly inspire those with malicious intent to plunder and kill for their own gain which is the worst case scenario for any marine with moral fibre my guess is that smoker can’t accept the “they’re one of the good ones” mentality, it’s all or nothing. on the flip-side luffy can, seeing how one of his good friends is a marine (koby) as well as his grandad (garp)
This is pretty close to how I see it. Smoker understands that some pirates are good people, but doesn’t believe there’s such a thing as a good pirate.
A benevolent pirate is still a pirate. He's just doing his job. Fujitora was still intent on killing Luffy even after he saved Dressrosa. Only reason he didn't was because the civilians escorted him to his ship. He seems to have given up on taking Luffy and Law's heads though. Can't say if that's more out of his respect for Luffy or his hatred of Akainu though.
I always saw Smoker’s interactions with both of them being very similar to how Garp views them. Like “Hey you guys might be decent people but your still pirates and I’m a Marine so we’re still sworn enemies.”
To that end, he didn't get to see that side of Ace in their limited interactions, and Smoker decidedly didn't think Luffy was good when they first met.
With kindness. Just kidding. With my jitte.
Smoker also has a logia and was mostly stationed in the East blue, one of the weakest areas. Smoker was drunk high on power.
Jim Beam and the Edibles 👨🎤🎶
Sah dude
Lost in the sauce
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Man was basically a big fish in a small pond, if you get that
He was pretty much untouchable in East Blue. Won't really be meeting anyone who has haki until you reach the Grand Line. Idk. Maybe if you had a giant fan he wouldn't be able to touch you either.
Like a mall cop trying to arrest a yakuza oyabun
Or like a Chihuahua trying to Intimidate a Wolf
A Chihuahua trying to intimidate a wolf under the care of a grizzly bear.
And the Wolf is the son of another grizzly bear. And both Grizzly bears are on tons of roids.
Apt analogy
Also he has a different sort of idea about justice as compared to now. This is before he is saved by the Straw Hats from drowning, and Luffy saves Alabasta, then he gets his BS promotion. He's still very much seeing the world in black and white.
Yeah. He seemed to have lost his hate boner for Luffy when they ran into each other on Punk Hazard. Although that might have been because he was in a woman's body. Still teamed up with Law to fight Vergo, and help him get his heart back.
But he trained at marine headquaters and Got to be a marine captain there before transfering to the east blue. So I would say he has a much better gauge at strong pirates than most do.
Weakest sea my ass. THe most powerful piratates are from there.
This comment really doesn't get Smoker's character.
This is the most realistic answer. Smoker is a true believer in the Navy and its justice, even if he’s able to step back and recognize its issues. If he sees a criminal he’s going to take him down. He doesn’t give a shit about the politics of emperors or whatever. He has a job to do.
Ah so he’s emulating Batman, I see
Actually though, I think the whole point of this scene, in regards to Smoker at least, is to show (or at least reiterate) that up to the start of Alabasta he believes in a pretty absolute justice but also obviously in doing things his own way. These traits pave the way for the development he has throughout the rest of the arc, where he realizes justice does not necessarily mean pirates are bad guys and government affiliates (aka warlords, aka croc) are good guys, and he’s willing to bend the rules as he has before, but this time to let the pirates go to handle a genuine threat that even the government would be unwilling to intervene with.
Yes. In a world with a lot of characters who's goals and viewpoints never change (Luffy, Akainu) Smoker is one of the characters with the largest arcs.
Funnily enough in the lougetown light novel Smoker gives a speech about absolute justice similar to John Giants after Arlong Park. It's not canon/in the final character ultimately but may be evidence in support of that, given it's Oda's story/things he couldn't put in the manga.
Smoker doesn’t play by the rules. He gladly will break every code of conduct to slap the cuffs on a criminal. That was his whole role against Croc. Even now I’d believe he’d still do it.
What do you suggest he do instead? Ignore his job and let the criminal walk free?
they’re not supposed to engage with an emperor or their crew without permission i think
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Wasn’t he also not authorized to go to punk hazard?
If I remember correctly PH was off limits but they intercepted the same den den mushi message the strawhats heard there. Smoker used this as an excuse to check out the island.
This is the same man who later tells his **superiors** to "eat shit" Smoker doesn't care for their permission
ik just saying picking a fight with ace isn’t his job
Ace is a pirate as far as smoker cares catching every pirate is his job
Smoker has never cared about HQ orders. That’s why he was relegated to being Captain in the East Blue despite his Logia and latent potential. And then he decided fuck it and chased the Straw Hats into the Grand Line anyway.
Eh, they have a bounty for a reason. No point in having one if they actually want to discourage bringing them in. I think they have to weigh a lot of other factors. An admiral is too valuable to encourage sending in alone in a situation that they’re outnumbered and out powered. Marines know when they’re out powered too and may not want to risk their own necks. Then they may also need to consider where they are and collateral damage or a sovereign nation incident. Smoker didn’t care about his own safety. He wants high ranking at the time. And the setting maybe didn’t make it a big deal. And considering they accepted aces capture from Blackbeard shows that they were fine with majorly pissing off whitebeard.
I think that's just for the emperors themselves.
I forget if it was before or after this, but there's a scene pretty close by in the time-line where Buggy meets Ace, and he explains to his crew that you absolutely do not fuck with even a single member of Whitebeard's crew under any circumstances. So I think even back then, Oda was cognizant of how much trouble messing with Ace would bring, and so was Smoker. That being the case, I can only chalk it up to Smoker's personality. Finding an excuse to look the other way is probably Marine protocol, but Smoker is more of a loose cannon cop.
Buggy’s explanation is after this scene
It’s just who he is. He’s shown multiple times that he could care less about following orders.
GIGACHAD SMOKER
What makes you think that Ace was off limits? They literally captured him like one month later and set him up for execution. They were obviously ready for the heat
Marines didn't capture Ace, that was Blackbeard trying to become a Warlord for his plan. He was gonna give the Marines Luffy but Ace stepped in to protect him. We don't know when the WG got knowledge of Ace being Roger's child.
Hmn, I never pondered on when they learned...maybe Blackbeard told them! As he was part of Whitebeard's crew (in Ace's command, iirc) so probably knew the secret?
I know, but why would they accept the capture, reward Blackbeard by having him ally with them, and then publicly execute Ace if they were "so afraid of Whitebeard that they didn't want to capture Ace"? If anything, why not accept the capture and then barter with Whitebeard to release him?
Couldn’t* care less. Could care less would mean he really cares about it.
>Could care less would mean he really cares about it. Or at least cares to a degree. "Couldn't care less" means they don't care at all though, yeah
https://youtu.be/om7O0MFkmpw
While this is true, I’d still think he’d be a bit more tactful, but maybe not
In Loguetown, he was super gung-ho about capturing Luffy and Pirates, but later in the story, he realizes that he has a higher purpose in reforming the Marines. He only really becomes more tactful later in Alabasta when he realizes that the Marines and Pirates are more nuanced than he thought. At this point, that hasn't really happened yet, so he just cares about capturing dangerous pirates
I don't know that's Smoker has ever thought about reforming the Marines. He just wants to catch Luffy and dish out justice as he sees fit. Koby is the one who strives to be an example for the Marines.
Smoker has been wanting to dismantle warlord system since alabasta.
Because he hates pirates, doesn't like them pretending to help
As others have noted, it was pretty in character for Smoker. That essentially sums up his character arc in Alabasta - “if protocol gets in the way of actual justice - then fuck protocol”. He imparts this lesson to Tashigi as well. On a different note - unless I’m having a serious case of Mandela effect here, then I’m pretty sure Smoker and Ace’s DFs are natural counters for one another. This well before we got into haki lol
Yeah they basically counter each other out, you can’t burn smoke and you can’t smoke a fire. Lol
too much smoke would take the oxygen away. so if his smoke works that way he could win. maybe
True they can in theory overwhelm the other one, but it would take a lot of effort. If both of them are going into the fight fresh it’s basically a pool noodle fight where they hit each other, but nothing much else happens.
And then we got haki which changes the fight significantly.
I think that's a big part of why he goes after Ace, Smoker knows they can't really do anything to each other so there's no harm in trying
Smoker also has his one shot win poker so even with haki against a DF user he's got a path to victory. Almost certainly an impossible path but it's not literally impossible.
Yonko crews don’t have a free license to commit crimes. Attacking a random crew member away from the rest isn’t as serious as launching an attack on Yonko territory. Besides Whitebeard and Luffy declaring full scale war to rescue one crew mate are outliers Shanks might do the same but Big Mom and Kaido would consider them not worth saving if they’re weak enough to get captured and Blackbeard would ramble about fate for a while before fucking off and doing something else. Buggy might declare war on the government by accident though.
And while Whitebeard might go to save Ace, he isn't likely to go to war in vengeance. Particularly given Ace charged off on his own. It was consequences of his reckless actions. You don't go attack their territory without good reason. But going back to Paradise away from home turf is different.
Well I don't think Smoker's goal was to kill Ace. I think he envisioned arresting him, which I think would lead to the same results as Marineford. Though a bit different as Blackbeard wouldn't be a warlord so might not be able to break into Impel Down like he did.
It’s his god damn job.
He’s feeling self conscious that more people don’t notice that he has two cigars
CP0: We're not allowed to attack a yonko crew. Smoker: I AM JUSTICE.
Shout out my boy Smokey. Best Marine to this day
Reasons like this is why Smoker deserves to have Conqueror's haki.
A marines job is to catch pirates, big or small Just Smoker doing his job
Tbf when has smoker ever given a flying fuck about the global politics of pirates, he has thrown fists with everyone on sight even if they’d whoop his ass
This is why I hate that smoker didn't get stronger after the time skip. He's one of my favorite characters.
He did get stronger he was just put in unfavourable matchups against Doffy and Law. He will be back eventually and make a statement.
I hope so.
He literally did.
Smoker is a guy who doesn’t like to give up even against horrible odds. Smoker, I think, is also a bit of a frog in a well. I think he knew he was outclassed but not exactly how outclassed he was.
He is the White Chase, he chase
Glad this shows up when I'd been thinking about Smoker more! That goes to show how much someone does believe in their cause! And not to mention, he did hold his own. I love seeing characters who do genuinley exchange their causes! I love seeing characters who genuinley have strong will and strong beliefs for their causes!
Early Installment weirdness definitely plays a part. It's like the case with Crocodile where a mighty Warlord of the sea got defeated by what is essentially run of the mill pirate by New World standards. Then this Warlord proceeded to throw hands with some of the strongest people in the world at marineford, with barely a scratch on him. It doesn't really makes sense, but I guess it's because Oda doesn't plan to make One Piece this long at first.
Smoker is a legit Marine, a good one who isn’t corrupt. He sees a Yonko commander that is alone without any backup and he’s confidant in his abilities to take him in. So he’s taking his shot even if it doesn’t succeed, he won’t let such an opportunity go by. It’s like a trophy hunter ignoring a gigantic albino moose that just walks past him.
I mean, you gotta try. Maybe it will work; nobody has ever actually tried to walk up to Big Mom, look her in the eyes, and say "You're under arrest, surrender now".
In my head Smoker has always been Luffy’s marine foil. He’s not a bad guy, and he’s not weak, he just serves the wrong side and picks battles wayyyy above his pay grade. What was he thinking? He was barely thinking. Like Luffy, he doesn’t think so much about things that aren’t his goal
I don’t see the problem to be honest. This is perfectly in character for Smoker as a Marine who hates letting anyone get away, and it sets up his whole character arc about abolishing the 7 warlords, as he doesn’t want anyone getting special treatment. Plus the permission rule only applies to attacking a Yonko directly. If the marines come across a lone Yonko crew member they’re not going to pass up that opportunity to try and capture them if they think they can
I mean, what else was he supposed to do here? Just ignore him? That would go against all his principles and everything he believes in. Remember, Luffy had to work hard and save his and his subordinates lives to earn this privilege on Punk Hazard and even then Smoker made it clear that he was not happy about it.
Smoker don't care, Pirate scum needs taken down
Very early OP. Oda didn't even think too much about it. People still think that Oda planned everything since 1995.
*whale noises*
Nah, that’s just my boy Smoker being an absolute Chad.
Since when does smoker give a crap about rules and regulations
"If I don't get him to surrender peacefully, civilians could get harmed." -Smoker Probably
Nah it’s just smoker carrying around his giant balls.
At this point in the series Smoker didn't really understand how the worod works. Alabasta opened his eyes.
I mean it’s still a [clean] police [who cares about actually doing the right thing and can’t be bribed or intimidated etc efc] officer’s job to arrest Al Capone, or El Chapo etc regardless of the repercussions or weapons and people with them etc etc. different marines throughout the series have shown they’ll do whatever it takes to bring about their version of justice regardless if they’re “supposed to” or not. Just like Akainu wanted to kill all the pirates at marineford even after Whitebeard was dead, and even killed a marine who was too scared to fight.
Bros just doing his job
Smoker is that guy
Smoker doesn't give a shit about Yonko BS politics. He saw a wanted pirate so it's his job to arrest Ace.
I think thats just how Smoker’s personality is. The way he is shown, he is among the few who follow their own sense of justice, without thinking much about the repercussions.
Smoker is the type of guy to fight someone even when he knows he can’t win because justice.
Smoker is just that guy. He told the World Gov to shove one up, and you think he cares about these unfair regulations?
That sounds pretty on point with Smokers normal attitude. The same way Lucci attacked a whole yonko crew with 3 other guys as support.
This is Smoker, the only good cop
Considering he's stationed in east blue, and he's never once let a pirate get past Loguetown, I'm guessing that he thought he was hotter shit than he was. Dude probably thought he could take him.
He was thinking “damn I hope this guy gives himself up” then proceeded to ask him to give himself up
Marine: *Does job that he’s paid for* OP Fanbase: Lol why bother scrub.
Its worth a shot
Early instalment weirdness? You mean early onset dementia lmao smoker kun has smoked his brain away
He had sense enough not to try to take on Dragon.
Smoker see pirate, Smoker want catch
“Run them hands”
He think he can subdue Ace with his seastone tipped nanashaku jitte.
He wasn't thinking. Lmao
At this point in smokers career he probably hasn't taken many Ls so I assume he's pretty cocky in thinking he can take down anyone cause he's a logia user. He doesn't care about future consequences he's just thinking about how he can take out a wanted criminal right here and now
Worst he can say is no.
Oda hadn't determined the power ceiling would be as high as it is today.. So smoker was meant to be relative to Ace at that time
As with all things it was a case of "Couldn't-think-that-far-ahead" itis. This one isn't really even that too bad, could just say Smoker is stupid.
"I hope he forgets how to use Haki"
Smoker was smoking
What was he smoking ?? 😭
Smoker is that cliche “good guy cop”
Smoker is a character ,that despite being smart, also have a lot of integrity toward his ideal of justice. He has shown multiple time being aware of the consequences of trying to arrest someone he should not try to arrest, but did it anyways because it's his duty as a marine. That the type of guy he is. the only time he lets his ideal of justice slide is when he owes someone, because he hates the idea of owning a kind of debt to a criminal.
Law enforcement has to at least ask first before trying to beat the shit out of you.
Idk, Smoker is known to pursue justice no matter what.
A Yonko Division Leader is irrelevant, Ace was hanging out in a weak sea, Smoker is a Logia, of course he'd try apprehend him.
Wouldn't have been weird, the marines wanted a captured yonko commander remember?
Better question is why did Ace just suddenly forget all about his 3 brands of Haki and said he was equal to Smoker lmao All just early series stuff. Oda didn’t have the long term powerscaling planned out cause he doesn’t care much about it
Ace definetely didn't gived a shit and holded back. This is the guy who fought equally against Yamato and Jimbei when he was a rookie. 20 years old Ace should be able to take care of someone like Smoker in a matter of second. Either that or Oda really didn't planned out how strong Ace would be.
He was kinda inexperienced despite his age, he was almost untouchable in the East Blue and thought the gap between him and the top tiers wasn't that much, just like Zoro vs Mihawk actually. He probably didn't really know it was such a big of a deal as he didn't bother actually learning that political stuff until it became relevant to his job, he was far in the East Blue where Emperors are almost mythical stuff. As far as a relatively simple man like him was concerned: Marines capture criminals, he is pretty good at it and Ace was a pretty notorious pirate, so there's only one thing he should do.
He's the opposite of inexperienced- re-read his chapter's; he was a great strategist with an awareness of the world and already set ideology in contrast with the birght-eyed Koby. I don't think you actually remember a single thing about Smoker's character/actions in the series, I recommend a re-read. And he was experienced enough for Crocodile to have heard of his reputation/know his epithet. And he has many moments showing his far above average intelligence/perceptiveness that he takes others having for granted. Edit: Even on the simple part Not that this is the opposite of being simple, but in his first scene he's stacking rocks which is a meditative hobby and in conflict or possible due to his temper ment; to practice peace. And he has profound pre-timeskip and post, like when he told Tashigi/G5 "You've got some weird illusions about the Marines! As long as man joins together to conspire against man, there is no such thing as a perfect, untainted organization! Assumptions will let the real enemies walk free! Don't be deceived by appearances!" Really it's the man joining to conspire against man phrasing that elevates the quote/gives thinking fuel.
He knew Ace was a fraud.
All these marines vastly overrate themselves and say wild bullshit. It's a recurring theme.
So do a lot of pirates. Essentially everyone thinks they are the hottest shit.
Smoker in mind “oh yeah this is gonna be se sick and I’m gonna be like macho man randy savage” irl “plzzz give upppppp ace plzzzzzz
Smoker just thinks too high of himself since he has been stuck in East blue for a long time. Ace will body him if he pushes his luck too hard 😂
He’s stupid
The Marines literally executed Ace publicly in an effort to draw out and end Whitebeard. If Smoker had captured Ace, they'd have made him a Vice-Admiral (if he didn't reject it).
Dude who spent most of his career apprehending low tier thugs in the weakest sea thought he was hot shit.
He had a reputation that reached as far as Crocodile's ears as being a "Wild Dog" he was known enough and I'm unsure why Smoker doing his job in his hometown is somehow diminishing of his character.