Buggy's roar echoed in the ruined street. "CHARGE!"
The first to move was Cabaji the Acrobat, his unicycle cutting through the dust with a thin, whining sound as he sped toward Luffy.
"I am Cabaji, Chief of Staff of the Buggy Pirates!" he announced, his voice filled with theatrical arrogance. "Ignoring me! Do not think this blade is merely for show! It has tasted the blood of..."
CLANG!
His thrusted sword was stopped, not by Luffy, but by the white-sheathed katana of Roronoa Zoro, who had stepped to intercept him with an almost casual grace.
Cabaji's eyes widened in fury. "Who are you to meddle?!"
"Roronoa Zoro," the swordsman replied, his voice flat. He applied pressure, deflecting Cabaji's blade and forcing the acrobat to spin his unicycle to keep his balance. "I'm the one you'll be fighting."
"Roronoa Zoro... I know that name!" Cabaji shrieked, his face twisting in a mask of sudden, personal hatred. "You're the bounty hunter, the one who murdered my brother! So, we finally meet!" saying this, Cabaji recklessly charged at zoro.
"Tch. Annoying." Zoro pushed off, leading the enraged acrobat away from the main fight, drawing the personal grudge with him.
The next to attack was Mohji the Beast Tamer, his massive lion, Richie, bounding over the rubble. "Richie! kill that man in the straw hat!"
The lion roared, lunging directly at Luffy. But it was Alvida who met the charge.
She didn't block. She caught the lion's massive, clawed paw mid-swipe, her grip a steel trap. KRRK! The sound of bones and cartilage grating under immense pressure filled the air. The lion roared in pain, its attack completely neutralized.
"I'm your opponent," Alvida seethed, and with a grunt, she swung her iron mace in a heavy, horizontal arc. THUD! The mace connected with the lion's shoulder, sending the 800-pound beast sliding sideways, digging trenches in the dirt. Alvida charged after it.
"You ugly, fat hag!" Mohji shrieked from Richie's back, enraged upon seeing his prized pet got hurt . "You think you're tough?!" The insult only made Alvida's face purple with rage, her pursuit becoming more furious.
The remaining five Buggy pirates—one mostly fine, the other four clutching various injuries—had slowed their charge, their eyes wide as they saw their crew's top two officers handled so effortlessly. But their confidence in their captain was absolute. The power of their captain was a terrifying, unbeatable thing. They raised their cutlasses and continued their run toward Luffy.
Before they could get within ten feet, a wooden staff snapped open, barring their path. FWIP!
Nami stood before them, her knuckles white, her knees trembling. She was clearly, visibly terrified, but she held her ground.
Crap. Crap, crap, crap. Five of them. Can I handle them alone! Her first, purest instinct screamed at her: RUN. Let these idiots fight! This is the perfect distraction. I can slip away, find all of buggy's treasure and even grand line map, and be back on the Miss Love Duck before they even notice anything wrong. It's what I do.
Then, the cold, iron reality of the contract slammed the door on that plan. No. Wait. The damn contract. She grit her teeth so hard her jaw ached. Even if I found it, it wouldn't be 'my' treasure. It would be his. Damn it! Damn him! Why do i have to sign that cursed contract.
She was trapped. She hated this. She hated fighting. She hated him, the smug, grinning, black hearted villain who had ordered them into this mess. Now she had no choice but to fight, because she was ordered.
...But. Hold on.
Luffy's offer. His promise. "Half the money on this ship."
Right now, that meant half of 30 million Berries. A huge sum.
But if they won this battle... if they defeated Buggy and took all of his treasure, all the money Buggy's crew had gathered, would be added to the total on their ship.
And then, "half the money" would be... a much, much bigger number.
The fear didn't vanish, not entirely. But it was suddenly overshadowed. Her eyes, still wide with alarm from the situation, gained a new, sharp, greedy glint.
My village... The image of her home, free from Arlong, flashed in her mind. This was the chance. This was the way. She just had to survive this. And win.
"I really, really hate this!" she muttered aloud, a promise to herself as much as a complaint. She swung her staff hard, straight at the first approaching pirate.
The dust settled. The battlefield had been efficiently, surgically split, the subordinates drawn away from the captains.
In the center of the street, only two men were left.
Buggy stood there, cold sweat was beading on his painted brow. All his crew, was occupied. His officers were, by the looks of it, not having an easy time. This skinny, straw-hatted kid was just... watching him. His cold, calculating eyes were assessing him, as if he were a piece of meat.
Buggy puffed out his chest, a cheap, painted-on mask of confidence. "Gyagyagya! So, it's just you and me, brat! You're finished!"
A thin, cold grin appeared on Luffy's face.
"Buggy the Clown," he said, his voice flat. "Hand over the Grand Line map."
Buggy's manufactured confidence shattered. "MAP?!" he shrieked, his voice cracking with pure, possessive rage. The underlying panic for his treasure only fueled the fire. "You... you're the one who blasted my strongroom, you bastard! If anything happened to my treasure, I'll tear you apart! I'll kill you!"
"Oh?" Luffy's smile widened. It was not a friendly expression. "So you're not carrying it on you."
Buggy was too enraged by the "bastard" comment and the memory of his destroyed strongroom to even register the deduction. "I'LL TEAR YOU... I'LL..."
"And here I thought," Luffy continued, his voice dropping to a near-whisper, "you were just an idiot..."
He let the pause hang in the dead air.
"...with a big red nose."
...click.
It was like a switch had been thrown. All fear, all strategy, all pretense vanished, replaced by a singular, blinding, all-consuming RAGE.
"AAAAAAAHHHH!" Buggy roared, his voice cracking. "YOU DARE TALK ABOUT MY NOSE?! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL GRIND YOU INTO PASTE!"
His lower half detached from his waist. "BARA BARA..." His legs, spinning like a buzzsaw, rocketed into the air. "...GOMA!" (Windmill!)
__________
At the far end of Orange Town, in a fortified residential house, the air was thick with the smell of dust and fear. The windows were boarded, and the huddled villagers inside spoke in terrified whispers.
A tall man with a severe flattop and thick glasses paced the floor, his face a mask of grim anxiety.
Suddenly, a distant explosion rumbled through the ground.
KABOOM!
A woman stifled a scream, and the whispers turned to hushed panic.
"Be silent!" the man with the flattop growled, his voice a harsh rasp. "That was on the other side. They're just blowing up empty buildings like always. They won't find us in here."
The room fell quiet, but the tension was a living thing. The man stopped his pacing, his own knuckles white where he gripped his hands. He glanced at the barricaded door. Mayor Boodle had been gone for two hours. Two. Damn. Hours.
"Just... just going to feed that stubborn dog," Boodle had said, forcing a brave smile. "I'll be right back."
That damned, stubborn fool, the man thought, his anger warring with his fear. Going back there for a dog...
Then, the second one hit.
It was still distant, still coming from the center of town... but this one was different. It wasn't just a boom. It was a deep, catastrophic roar.
KABOOOOOOOM!
The sound was so massive it rattled the cups on the shelves even from that distance. It was a sound of pure, overwhelming force, far louder and more terrifying than the first.
That was it. The man's patience snapped. The façade of the calm protector shattered. Two hours gone, and now this? He didn't know what was happening in town, but he knew Boodle was out there in the middle of it.
He strode to the corner of the room and grabbed a pitchfork, its tines glinting in the single lantern's light.
"I'm going out."
A fresh wave of panic erupted. "You can't!" "It's suicide!" "They'll kill you!"
"So what?!" he roared, rounding on them. "We just hide in this hole while they tear our town to pieces? While the Mayor is... is..." He couldn't finish the thought. "He's out there. And I'm going."
He moved toward the barricade, expecting to go alone. But a hand grabbed his shoulder. It was another shopkeeper, his face pale, but his hand gripping a meat cleaver.
"Then we're going too."
One by one, the others stood. A desperate, contagious courage spread through the room. They grabbed farming hoes, broken table legs, hammers—anything that could be a weapon. Their fear was still there, a living thing in their eyes, but it was now overlaid with a new, burning resolve.
The man with the flattop looked at the faces of his neighbors. He saw their terror, and he saw their pride. A grim, hard line formed on his mouth.
"Fine," he said, his voice low and steady. "We'd rather die on our feet than live on our knees. Arm yourselves. We're finding the Mayor."
_________
Author here :
Hello.
Did you find this chapter photo ?