Buggy looks at the mayor with a wide grin on his face. His pale gums and yellow teeth flash. "You… Still alive!" As he slowly approached the mayor. Boodle fired shots through him, but the bullets passed through him like smoke. The clown grabbed the mayor by the neck as he lifted him like a dummy.
"You… should kill me now… because I ain't stopping!" Buggy smile, his bulging eyes darted around his face. His blue eyes flashed through it.
"Good." Buggy raised the mayor even more, while screaming "ON THE TOP ROOOPPPEEE! HERE COMES THE TOMBSTONE!" Then, before he slammed him into the ground, A blade flashed beneath him. The top of Buggy's head parted cleanly from his lower jaw, exposing his teeth and tongue in a grotesque, floating slice. It was Zoro, with Nami standing right behind him. Zoro's katanas dripped with blood, while Nami wielded a heavy wooden staff stained with blood at the tip. Then, a group of citizens rushes into the main tent, looking around.
The chaos of the plaza freezes for a split second as Buggy's floating, popped-out eyeball swivels in mid-air, locking its bloodshot iris directly onto Zoro. Buggy reattaches his jaw with a wet CRACK. A high, breathless wheeze bubbles in his throat like a dry leaf scraping through stones before exploding into a sudden, violently loud cackle.
"Gah… ha! Hahahaha!" Buggy's head tilts like he was getting possessed, his facial muscles spasming beneath his white greasepaint. He catches his own floating eyeball in a gloved hand and shoves it back into his socket with a wet squelch.
"Roronoa Zoro!" Buggy shrieks, his voice swinging wildly from a high-pitched, theatrical giggle to a guttural, demonic rasp. "The famous Pirate Hunter that I hired a month ago! What's the matter? Money dried up?" He twitches violently, his hands darting to his own throat as if trying to strangle himself, before his arms detach at the elbows and hover in the air like twitching, fleshless spiders.
"I knew it was you," Zoro says, his voice flat and dead-cold. He doesn't flinch as the severed hands hover inches from his face. He simply rests his palm on the tsuka of his sword, his single visible eye narrowing into a slit. "What other crew runs around with a horrendous Jolly Roger like yours?"
Buggy's painted smile stretches so wide the edges bleed into his white greasepaint. A thick, blue vein throbs furiously across his forehead. "Horrendous?!" Buggy gasps, his bloodshot eyes bulging so wide the whites are completely webbed with red. He lets out a manic, hysterical giggle, slamming his floating fists together in mid-air. CLACK! "It's the face of a GOD!"
He bends his floating torso forward, bringing his face inches from Zoro's nose while his boots remain planted ten feet behind him on the cobblestones. When he raised one of his fingers, Zoro quickly unsheathed his katana, slicing the clown into two pieces. "Back off.
"You cut me?" Buggy whispers, his left cheek twitching uncontrollably as a strand of blue hair dangles into his eye. "You sliced my face? HEHEHAHA! IT FEELS GREAT! CUT ME AGAIN! SLASH ME INTO CONFETTI! DO IT!"
"You're out of your mind, clown," Zoro grunts, his jaw clenching as he shifts his grip on his katana, refusing to give the lunatic the satisfaction of stepping back. "I've seen more rabid dogs behave more than this."
"Dog?... I am the KING of this stage!" Buggy roars, his laughter abruptly snapping into pure, vein-popping fury. Without warning, Buggy grabs the bruised, unconscious Mayor Boodle by the collar and hurls him like a ragdoll straight at Zoro's face. Zoro's eyes widen, but before he can shift his stance, Nami lunges from behind, catching the heavy old man in her arms and tumbling onto the dirt. "Got him! Go!"
Before Zoro can draw his second blade, Buggy launches his upper torso forward like a cannonball, his unhinged shrieks echoing through the burning plaza as he flies straight for Zoro. But before everyone could react—
BOOM! Luffy's rubberized head slams directly into Buggy's floating chest mid-air. The kinetic impact propels both of them like a runaway missile, plowing straight through the wooden framework of three consecutive carnival stands. Crashing into one townhouse, crumbling and collapsing over them in a roaring cloud of dust.
"GOMU GOMU NO… PISTOL!" Luffy quickly jumped into the air as he wound his arm like a wheel, wasting no time. Buggy, still buried through the concrete chunks, launches his fist towards Luffy like a bullet, hitting him in the face.
"Protect the people," Zoro whispers to Nami as he rushes forward, his swords outstretched. Each pirate who charges him is getting slashed, stabbed, or dismembered. As he was near Luffy, a sharp metallic screech echoed off the stone. Zoro raised his blade just in time to block a heavy steel frame aimed at his head. It was Cabaji, riding a unicycle, wielding two cutlasses, and wearing Luffy's straw hat as blood was dripping from his face.
"You should kill me back there!" he said. Luffy landed on the roof of a burning house, and when he looked at Zoro, he saw Cabaji.
"HEY! ONE-WHEEL GUY, THAT'S MY HAT!" Luffy yelled in the distance as he was about to jump toward Cabaji with outstretched hands, but before he could reach him, a cold grip clamped onto Luffy's ankle. He glanced down to see a floating white-gloved hand anchored to his leg.
"GROUND-HUGGING CHOP-CHOP CANNON!" The floating hand clamped around Luffy's ankle, yanking him off his feet and whipping him like a belt to slam him face-first into the brick house. Nearby, Zoro and Cabaji clashed in a blinding dance of steel, every strike matched with equal, lethal ferocity. Cabaji lunged with a thrust, but Zoro casually deflected the point using the butt of his katana. Leveraging the opening, Zoro pulled his blades tight into a focused stabbing stance. He dashed forward, a shadow blurring past Cabaji's side, and swept his steel upward in a violent, rising slash.
"TWO SWORDS STYLE: WOLF'S FANG!" Cabaji raised his blades to block, but the sheer force of the impact blew him backward, sending him crashing clean through the canvas wall of the tent. He tumbled across the dirt, barely missing Nami and the surviving locals.
Nami rushed over to help the battered mayor to his feet, but Boodle grabbed her wrist, his grip surprisingly firm. He looked straight into her eyes, his breathing heavy and ragged.
"Don't worry about us," Boodle rasped, forcing a grim nod. "Save yourself... and your brother." Turning back toward the street, the mayor rallied the remaining townspeople, guiding the wounded toward safety. As Nami watched the crowd flee into the alleyways, her hand instinctively went to her waist. She clutched her shirt, feeling the crisp edge of a folded brown parchment peeking out from her vest—the sea chart she had risked everything to steal.
With her prize secured, Nami bolted down the left alley, eager to escape the carnage. But three steps in, she froze in her tracks. Nami couldn't breathe. Her eyes darted from the burning street to Luffy trading blows with Buggy, then to Zoro locked in a bloody struggle with Cabaji. Run. Every instinct screamed at her to flee. The townspeople were gone, the streets were clear, and the sea chart was tucked safely against her ribs. Every step away meant getting closer to buying back Cocoyasi Village. All she had to do was turn around and vanish into the alleyways.
She squeezed her steel bo staff until her knuckles turned white. Then her eyes landed back on Luffy. He was panting heavily, a hand clamped over his chest as blood seeped between his rubbery fingers, yet his eyes never lost their fierce, unyielding light. Beside him, Zoro's entire frame trembled; his white shirt was covered with dirt and blood, yet he refused to yield an inch.
Nami bit her lip so hard she tasted copper. She took a tiny step backward. A harsh metallic screech shattered her hesitation. Cabaji and Zoro clashed again, their blades locking in a storm of flying sparks. The resulting shockwave whipped through the dust like a gale-force wind. As the two swordsmen strained against each other, Nami caught two pirates creeping up behind Zoro, raising heavy rifles.
"Goodbye, Pirate Hunter!" one sneered, thumbing his flintlock hammer back.
"Shit!" Zoro grunted, trying to break Cabaji's lock, but the acrobat pressed his weight forward, grinning viciously to keep him trapped. Before the gunmen could pull their triggers, a heavy steel staff whistled through the air, cracking squarely against the back of the first pirate's skull. The man collapsed instantly. As the second thug spun around in shock, Nami swept the weighted end of her staff across his kneecaps, shattering his balance, before leaping backward to clear the line of fire.
A massive chunk of flying concrete—stray rubble from Luffy's brawl—tumbled through the air and crushed both unconscious gunmen into the dirt. Zoro glanced over his shoulder, a bloody smirk breaking across his face. "Nice work, girl."
Nami snapped her staff back to a defensive guard, her chin set as she glanced toward the alleyway where Mayor Boodle had led the townspeople to safety. "Don't flatter yourself!" Nami called out, her voice steady and resolute. "Just shut up and protect your captain!"
"He's not my cap—" Before Zoro could even finish the word, a wooden unicycle tire smashed sideways at terminal speed straight into his left cheekbone. The sheer kinetic shock cut his denial short, launching Zoro through the air like a ragdoll. His heavy frame tore clean through the canvas wall of the circus tent, vanishing into the darkness inside. Outside, Cabaji smoothly rolled out of the dust cloud on his single wheel, casually juggling his twin cutlasses.
Buggy looks at the mayor with a wide grin on his face. His pale gums and yellow teeth flash. "You… Still alive!" As he slowly approached the mayor. Broodie fired shots through him, but the bullets passed through him like smoke. The clown grabbed the mayor by the neck as he lifted him like a dummy.
"You… should kill me now… because I ain't stopping!" Buggy smile, his bulging eyes darted around his face. His blue eyes flashed through it.
"Good." Buggy raised the mayor even more, while screaming "ON THE TOP ROOOPPPEEE! HERE COMES THE TOMBSTONE!" Then, before he slammed him into the ground, A blade flashed beneath him. The top of Buggy's head parted cleanly from his lower jaw, exposing his teeth and tongue in a grotesque, floating slice. It was Zoro, with Nami standing right behind him. Zoro's katanas dripped with blood, while Nami wielded a heavy wooden staff stained with blood at the tip. Then, a group of citizens rushes into the main tent, looking around.
The chaos of the plaza freezes for a split second as Buggy's floating, popped-out eyeball swivels in mid-air, locking its bloodshot iris directly onto Zoro. Buggy reattaches his jaw with a wet CRACK. A high, breathless wheeze bubbles in his throat like a dry leaf scraping through stones before exploding into a sudden, violently loud cackle.
"Gah… ha! Hahahaha!" Buggy's head tilts like he was getting possessed, his facial muscles spasming beneath his white greasepaint. He catches his own floating eyeball in a gloved hand and shoves it back into his socket with a wet squelch.
"Roronoa Zoro!" Buggy shrieks, his voice swinging wildly from a high-pitched, theatrical giggle to a guttural, demonic rasp. "The famous Pirate Hunter that I hired a month ago! What's the matter? Money dried up?" He twitches violently, his hands darting to his own throat as if trying to strangle himself, before his arms detach at the elbows and hover in the air like twitching, fleshless spiders.
"I knew it was you," Zoro says, his voice flat and dead-cold. He doesn't flinch as the severed hands hover inches from his face. He simply rests his palm on the tsuka of his sword, his single visible eye narrowing into a slit. "What other crew runs around with a horrendous Jolly Roger like yours?"
Buggy's painted smile stretches so wide the edges bleed into his white greasepaint. A thick, blue vein throbs furiously across his forehead. "Horrendous?!" Buggy gasps, his bloodshot eyes bulging so wide the whites are completely webbed with red. He lets out a manic, hysterical giggle, slamming his floating fists together in mid-air. CLACK! "It's the face of a GOD!"
He bends his floating torso forward, bringing his face inches from Zoro's nose while his boots remain planted ten feet behind him on the cobblestones. When he raised one of his fingers, Zoro quickly unsheathed his katana, slicing the clown into two pieces. "Back off.
"You cut me?" Buggy whispers, his left cheek twitching uncontrollably as a strand of blue hair dangles into his eye. "You sliced my face? HEHEHAHA! IT FEELS GREAT! CUT ME AGAIN! SLASH ME INTO CONFETTI! DO IT!"
"You're out of your mind, clown," Zoro grunts, his jaw clenching as he shifts his grip on his katana, refusing to give the lunatic the satisfaction of stepping back. "I've seen more rabid dogs behave more than this."
"Dog?... I am the KING of this stage!" Buggy roars, his laughter abruptly snapping into pure, vein-popping fury. Without warning, Buggy grabs the bruised, unconscious Mayor Broodie by the collar and hurls him like a ragdoll straight at Zoro's face. Zoro's eyes widen, but before he can shift his stance, Nami lunges from behind, catching the heavy old man in her arms and tumbling onto the dirt. "Got him! Go!"
Before Zoro can draw his second blade, Buggy launches his upper torso forward like a cannonball, his unhinged shrieks echoing through the burning plaza as he flies straight for Zoro. But before everyone could react—
BOOM! Luffy's rubberized head slams directly into Buggy's floating chest mid-air. The kinetic impact propels both of them like a runaway missile, plowing straight through the wooden framework of three consecutive carnival stands. Crashing into one townhouse, crumbling and collapsing over them in a roaring cloud of dust.
"GOMU GOMU NO… PISTOL!" Luffy quickly jumped into the air as he wound his arm like a wheel, wasting no time. Buggy, still buried through the concrete chunks, launches his fist towards Luffy like a bullet, hitting him in the face.
"Protect the people," Zoro whispers to Nami as he rushes forward, his swords outstretched. Each pirate who charges him is getting slashed, stabbed, or dismembered. As he was near Luffy, a sharp metallic screech echoed off the stone. Zoro raised his blade just in time to block a heavy steel frame aimed at his head. It was Cabaji, riding a unicycle, wielding two cutlasses, and wearing Luffy's straw hat as blood was dripping from his face.
"You should kill me back there!" he said. Luffy landed on the roof of a burning house, and when he looked at Zoro, he saw Cabaji.
"HEY! ONE-WHEEL GUY, THAT'S MY HAT!" Luffy yelled in the distance as he was about to jump toward Cabaji with outstretched hands, but before he could reach him, a cold grip clamped onto Luffy's ankle. He glanced down to see a floating white-gloved hand anchored to his leg.
"GROUND-HUGGING CHOP-CHOP CANNON!" The floating hand yanked Luffy off his feet and slammed him face-first into the house, like a whip. Zoro and Cabaji fought, as each strike was equal to the other. Zoro even deflected one of Kabaji's strikes using the butt of his katana. Then, Zoro lunges into the air as he forms his sword into a stabbing position, then brings it to Cabaji.
"TWO SWORDS STYLE: WOLF'S FANG!" Cabaji quickly blocked, but the force sent him crashing back into the tent, almost hitting Nami and other people. Nami tries to help the mayor, but Boogie grabs her hand and looks her in the eyes. "Don't worry about us. Save yourself and your brother…" He then rallied the surviving citizens out in the area. As Nami watches the people run, she clutches her shirt, and there, a brown paper peeks through her clothing. Her desired map, Nami ran towards the left alley, but she froze.
Nami couldn't breathe. Her eyes darted from the burning street to Luffy fighting Buggy and Zoro clashing with Cabaji. Run. Everything inside her told her to get out. She could leave right now. She had what she needed; the crowd was gone, and every step away meant getting closer to saving her village. All she had to do was turn around and disappear. She squeezed the wooden staff until her palm turned blood red. Then she looked at Luffy. He was panting heavily while clutching his chest. Blood dripped on his fingers, but he continued. Zoro was the same; his whole body was trembling and slumped. Nami bit her lip. She took a tiny step back, torn between saving herself and doing what felt right.
She watches as Cabaji and Zoro clash again. Clashing their blade,s creating rains of sparks. The shockwave whipped through the ground like a giant wind. As the two clashed, she saw two pirates aiming a rifle at Zoro from behind. "Goodbye, Pirate Hunter!"
"Shit!" Zoro grunted, trying to let go of Cabaji, but the acrobat didn't let him be. When the two were about to fire their gun, a metal staff hit them in the back of their head. Before one could react and turn around, Namimi swung her staff and hit one of the man's knees as she quickly pedaled back. Before the two could recover, a chunk of concrete crashed into them, which came from the Luffy and Buggy fight.
"Nice work, girl!" Zoro smiled. Nami adjusted her grip on her staff, her eyes darting toward the alleyway where Mayor Broodie and the citizens were fleeing. "Just stand by and protect your captain!"
"He's not my cap—"
Before Zoro could even finish the word, a wooden unicycle tire smashed sideways at terminal speed straight into his left cheekbone. The sheer kinetic shock cut his denial short, launching Zoro through the air like a ragdoll. His heavy frame tore clean through the canvas wall of the circus tent, vanishing into the darkness inside. Outside, Cabaji smoothly rolled out of the dust cloud on his single wheel, casually juggling his twin cutlasses.
Meanwhile, Luffy's jaw set, his dark eyes burning as he redirected his fury toward the clown. He charged Buggy again, stepping hard onto the cobblestones.
"GOMU GOMU NO… WHIP!" Luffy's rubber leg swept in a vicious arc, but Buggy cackled as his waist split in two. The kick whistled harmlessly through the gap, the shockwave shattering a row of nearby houses into splinters. Their chaotic brawl spilled straight into the abandoned carnival grounds. Buggy floated up the tracks of a rickety rollercoaster, but Luffy vaulted after him. Catching the clown at the peak of the rusted incline, Luffy reeled back and drove a heavy fist straight across Buggy's jaw. Buggy's eyes bulged from the impact, but instead of flying backward, he snarled, "BARA BARA SHIELD!"
His detached arms and legs flew outward, wrapping tightly around Luffy's arms and ankle like iron chains to lock him in place on the rails. Before Luffy could break free, a heavy, runaway coaster cart hurtled down the incline, smashing directly into Luffy and flinging him into the ground. Buggy laughs, but a hand grabs his vest, and Luffy drags him along with him as the two come crashing back down to the dirt in a shower of splintered wood and sparks.
Grabbing a massive wooden sledgehammer from a broken High Striker game, Buggy launched his floating arm across the plaza. The giant hammerhead struck Luffy squarely in the face, carving a shallow crater into the pavement. Buggy raised the hammer again, but while still lying flat, Luffy's arm shot out and clamped onto an abandoned carnival stall. With a roar, he yanked the entire wooden booth from the dirt.
"GOMU GOMU NO... SMASH!" Luffy swung the structure into the clown, shattering the stall to splinters and blasting Buggy straight through the creaking doors of a nearby Haunted House.
Luffy marched into the pitch-black entrance, his dark eyes scanning the shadows. Eerie music echoed through the attraction, past fake tombstones—one bizarrely etched with the name Roger.
Suddenly, a spring-loaded skeleton snapped out from behind a curtain with a loud mechanical CLACK. Luffy's terrifying scowl instantly vanished. "GAAAH! A GHOST?!" he shrieked, jumping three feet into the air, his eyes bulging as he clutched his cheeks in sheer terror. Before he could recover, Buggy's floating torso burst straight through the floorboards beneath him. "SURPRISE, MOTHERFUC—!" Buggy cackled, driving both fists squarely into Luffy's chin. The double-uppercut launched Luffy backward, sending him crashing through the front window and tumbling back onto the open plaza.
Luffy tumbled onto the cobblestones, shaking his head to clear the dust as Buggy flew out through the shattered window right after him, landing lightly near the ruined game booths. He threw his arms wide and cackled like a manic hyena, his bloodstained red nose twitching wildly as he launched his detached forearm straight at Luffy's chest.
"BARA BARA CANNON!" Luffy reacted in a blur, catching the flying forearm by the wrist, but Buggy's frantic, high-pitched laughter only grew louder.
"SEPARATE!" Buggy shrieked. The floating fist instantly uncoupled from the wrist joint, launching forward like a bullet. Luffy jerked his head aside, but the metal-hard knuckles clipped his jaw, the force knocking him back onto his knees. Buggy popped out his hand and grabbed a scattered sword nearby.
"BARA BARA BUZZSAW!" Buggy lunged forward, his floating torso spinning like a tornado of flashing steel. But Luffy didn't dodge. Stepping straight into the path of the blades, Luffy brought his face back and drove his fist straight into the center of Buggy's visage with a deafening CRACK. The blade scatters into silver fragments as the punch sends the clown tumbling into a group of pirates nearby like a bowling ball.
The hysterical laughter cut off instantly. The manic spark in Buggy's eyes snapped back to reality as the blunt-force impact shattered his nose, sending his detached limbs clattering helplessly to the dirt like dropped toys before his body collapsed into the dust. Blood starts to drip from Buggy's mouth. The scarlet fluid drips to the ground as one of his teeth falls. The clown stared in disbelief. His wild eyes have subsided. He slowly stood up, looking through Luffy in the distance.
Luffy charged into Buggy, as he stretched his left arm, pointing into the head of the clown. He dodges but grabs Luffy's stretched limbs. He then pulled two knives from the back of his pants and placed the blade of one into his skin. Then, twist it. A searing pain shot through Luffy's arm. He glanced down to find a deep, bleeding slash open across his forearm.
A silent, then exploded into a full-blown laughter echoed through the once bustling but now empty wasteland of what remained of the orange town. Buggy pulled his remaining four knives from his back. The clown then opens his mouth as his slithering hand licks through the dripping blood on one of his daggers.
"THAT WAS JUST THE APPETIZER!" Buggy howled, his high-pitched laugh echoing madly off the surrounding ruins. "NOW LET'S MOVE ON TO DESSERT!"