[Oh my god. The sorry just makes it worse. Why is Ace sorry? Why is a pirate apologizing to him? This has never happened before. Is this what a heart attack feels like? OKAY focusing on the cigars and drinking now. He's just... going to ignore that apology because that is even more awkward. Normally he'd realize the whole damn thing was weird and awkward, but between Valentine's Shift and being a girl + prolonged seclusion from people in general, he's not going to think too hard about it.]

Hm...

[Sip. He has several way too nosy questions, but as awkward as things are now, bringing up Gol D. Roger would make that a BILLION times worse.]

Maybe you just think you're good at it because you've always been forced to hide things. [This has a million layers to it. Forced to hide his parentage, even the name: Portgas, tributing his mother, hiding his father. Forced to hide a lot of things then. On top of which, it speaks to Smoker's own questions about all of it. And whether Ace tries to flaunt what he can, just because has to hide so much. No one is ever what they seem at first glance. But isn't that how it should be?] You show off everything else. [The things he doesn't have to hide. Whether that's because of hiding other things or not, Smoker just throws those quiet observations out there.]