After Buggy was tied up, only a devilish smile appeared on his face.
«Now you'll learn the full extent of my rage, kid,» he said, and split his body into several parts — thanks to this, he managed to escape from the ropes.
Muichiro observed this phenomenon in the transparent world.
«It seems he really can't be taken down with such simple attacks,» Muichiro thought — until he heard a shout.
«Rubber‑Rubber Pistol!» Luffy yelled, thrusting his fist toward Buggy.
«Huh? Is this guy also a Devil Fruit user?» Buggy wondered, barely managing to dodge the punch aimed at his face.
«Devil Fruit?» Nami and Muichiro both pondered.
Nami at least had some idea of what that meant, but Muichiro didn't. He immediately thought of demons, though these beings didn't resemble demons at all. Instead, he decided to focus on Buggy and glanced at Luffy:
«This guy doesn't know when to stop…» he thought about this peculiar fellow.
Muichiro vanished from his spot and began searching for a weakness in Buggy's technique. It didn't resemble the Art of the Blood Demon, making it far more challenging.
He dodged strikes from Buggy's various limbs and tried again and again to chop him into pieces.
«Yo, man! Let me handle him!» Luffy requested.
«Tsk… So overconfident. That damn straw hat… It reminds me of my old, hated friend… Red-Haired Shanks…» Buggy began ranting, trying to provoke Muichiro. He couldn't succeed due to the strange abilities of this young man — it was as if Muichiro could read him like an open book.
«You know Shanks?» Luffy asked with admiration, grinning foolishly with all 34 of his teeth. «He gave me this hat — so you know him?»
«KNOW HIM? HE RUINED MY LIFE!! WHEN WE WERE YOUNG BUCKS ON A PIRATE SHIP, BECAUSE OF HIM I LOST THE TREASURE MAP AND ACQUIRED THESE DEVIL FRUIT POWERS! THAT'S WHY I'VE COME TO HATE RED-HAIRED SHANKS…» Buggy recounted his «sad» story, though some weren't particularly interested.
«How dare you! Red-Haired Shanks is the greatest pirate in the whole world! If it weren't for him, you'd be dead! He saved you, and you… I'll get you!» Luffy said furiously, landing a Rubber Rocket punch right in Buggy's groin.
Meanwhile, Muichiro looked at the severed limbs he had cut, but there was no effect. He recalled how Buggy separated and reassembled himself. Then a strange idea occurred to him: why not tie up Buggy's limbs?
He grabbed a spare rope and began tightly binding Buggy's limbs.
«Damn you, arrogant boy — you have no idea how much you've anger packed into me,» Buggy said, absolutely furious.
«Enough barking,» Muichiro thought to himself — but before he could take further action, Luffy struck him so hard he flew into the air.
«An interesting ability…» Muichiro murmured, wanting to learn more about what that was.
«Hey, we didn't get to introduce ourselves because of him! My name's Monkey D. Luffy — I'm the one who will become the Pirate King! Want to join my crew?» Luffy decided to introduce himself and made an extraordinary offer to Muichiro.
«Join the crew? You're pirates too?» Muichiro, irritated by pirates, immediately pointed his katana at the straw-hatted fellow.
«Wait! He's not like those you drove out of town!» a voice suddenly called from the side.
«ZORO!» Luffy shouted at the top of his lungs, as if he hadn't seen the man in 200 years.
«Is that Roronoa Zoro?» Nami wondered to herself. «Then who is that?» she asked, looking at the teenage boy in strange clothes with unusual manners.
«Sorry I'm late — I ran into some old man claiming to be the mayor of this town,» Zoro explained, his sword at the ready in case things went south.
«Not like them? I wouldn't have known you were pirates until you said so…» Muichiro remarked.
«There are no evil pirates — only worse people. It's that simple,» Nami replied on their behalf.
«Exactly!» Zoro agreed with the girl.
Muichiro sheathed his blade and folded his arms. He tilted his chin up and simply said:
«Fine, go on… I don't care about you. If the one claiming to be mayor arrives, give him those tied-up people near the tent. Now, farewell,» Muichiro said, disappearing from view.
Luffy, on the other hand, wanted to insist this man sail with them, while Zoro simply stayed with Luffy and Nami. He had already agreed to join Luffy's crew and didn't know why he wanted this strange fellow to sail with them so badly.
«So… He cut Buggy's head into pieces, but Buggy reattached it, then split apart and counterattacked you? Yeah, well. No one knew he possessed the Doki Doki Fruit…» Zoro began to grasp the full picture of what had happened.
They had already handed Buggy's pirates over to the town's authorities, so there was nothing left to do but head to their boat's dock.
«Oh! That's the same guy! He's almost sailing away! Quick, after him!» Luffy said, activating his pistol and taking Zoro and Nami along.
Meanwhile, Muichiro:
«Huh? What's this?» Muichiro asked himself, noticing something flying toward him. «Damn…»
BOOM
Zoro and Nami landed by the boats, while Luffy flew toward Muichiro.
Muichiro managed to dodge, but was caught by Luffy's stretching arm. Both of them fell into the water.
«Damn… Can he… not swim?» He saw Luffy beginning to sink and swam after him. After a while, he brought him ashore.
Nami and Zoro began reviving Luffy, while Muichiro just stood there, drenched, looking for a place to dry his clothes.
After Luffy was revived, he only saw the blurred faces of the three.
«Damn, I overdid it…» Luffy coughed from the water he'd swallowed.
«Big time, idiot,» Nami said.
Muichiro bought a new uniform from an old lady for a couple of gold coins and began preparing to set sail.
He had no interest in sailing with anyone, but after that reckless man had crashed into him, he thought a lot and took it merely as a sign…
«You never told me your name and were really rude!» Luffy told him.
«Muichiro Tokito,» Mui replied, then asked where they were heading. Luffy told him about his dream and the Grand Line — Muichiro was heading there too, so he agreed to help them reach the Grand Line, after which he planned to part ways with them. Luffy was delighted and agreed to this temporary partnership.
During the journey, Muichiro missed only one island due to resting, but wasn't too upset after hearing the story from these «seemingly decent guys». They were just strange.