Smoker felt sympathetic to Ace's plight. He had a lot to say to everything about his mini-rant, but now wasn't the time. Not when he began heating up and visibly looked like he was about to explode if Smoker didn't do something. So, he lightly shoved Ace backwards into the water and stared at him, making him surface with a light tug of his hand.

"Everyone has their secrets to keep, Portgas," he growled quietly, though he instead lightly pet through the wet black hair, tugging lightly closer to the scalp. "And our lives aren't separate, brat. They're singular, twisting and turning around each other, sometimes they stray away, but they're still ours." He ruffled the others hair lightly and kissed his forehead.

"Yeah, you'll hurt me and I'll hurt you, you can't keep trapiezing through life like you can't hurt someone. You'll hurt everyone that way." He watched the brown eyed brat and sighed, closing his own, he counted. "I don't like following anyones way but my own, Portgas. You? Need to follow your own justice, stop worrying about hurting me. I'm still angry, yeah, but that's because you're a stupid bastard sometimes." He ground down on the cigars. "Chu."