Chapter 4 – The Last Emperor
After days of preparation, Evan finally finished writing a script so convincing it could pass for truth. As a true One Piece fan, he wanted to give Buggy the Clown a power boost. Though Buggy was a comic-relief character, in anime, comic-relief characters often ended up being the strongest. Ever since Luffy's Nika Fruit appeared, even the art style had changed, turning into something out of Tom and Jerry.
Evan insisted on reading the script himself. The blonde girl at his side still had a role to play later—her voice couldn't appear in the sky screen, or someone sharp might connect her to the screen and suspect her involvement. That would be a pointless risk.
> [Are you sure you want to go with this script? If you follow it, Buggy will be stuck in jail for life. Do you really hate him that much?]
"Don't say that, System. It's because I love this character that I poured my heart into this script! After today, Buggy's reputation will be known across the world," Evan said, opening his arms to embrace the sea breeze. If not for the Big Talker System, even another system might have been fooled—this man never spoke a word of truth.
> [Buggy's image has been on the sky screen for an hour. The hype has built up. It's your turn now—show me what a true agent of chaos can do!]
Inside a bar in Loguetown
The entire Buggy Pirates crew had sobered up, surrounding Buggy in awe. Who'd have thought their captain would one day become a power able to shape the world? It was like a pie had fallen from the sky and landed on these nobodies.
"Captain, the Buggy Pirates are about to make a name for themselves! We'll be able to recruit more crew and search for your dream treasure!" Mohji fawned from the side.
Alvida raised her glass toward Buggy. "Guess I really underestimated you, Captain Buggy. I'm truly looking forward to what kind of future the sky screen will reveal for you."
At first glance, Buggy was just a funny-looking clown, not even two meters tall—shorter than the slimmed-down, beautiful Alvida. In the One Piece world, anyone under three meters was practically a runt, and most famed powerhouses were tall and brawny—height was part of the aesthetic.
"I'm the strongest, dammit! Let's all go outside and throw a banquet—soon, I, Buggy the Clown, will be renowned across the seas!" Buggy stood on a table, pointing at the ceiling and laughing wildly.
He wasn't thinking about anything else for now—just enjoying the moment. If the Marines came after him, he'd just run. He was a master at escape—no one could ever catch him, and he was proud of his "luck Haki."
At the Loguetown Marine branch, Smoker got a report confirming Buggy was drinking and celebrating with his entire crew in a bar.
"So we underestimated him. As soon as the sky screen story finishes, arrest Buggy immediately. I want to see just how strong this 'future powerhouse' really is," Smoker muttered, eyes flashing as he smoked his cigar. Hunting prey like this made today perfect.
"Colonel Smoker, there's sound! It's a man's voice," Tashigi pointed to the sky screen. It had changed—from showing Buggy's face to showing the entire Roger Pirates crew, including two child-like pirates: one with a red nose, the other with red hair.
As the man's narration began, the whole world's attention was drawn to the screen. What kind of powerhouse was hidden behind this comical clown face?
> [Buggy—a name that will resound across the seas in the future. Everyone who ever met him thought he was just a clown meant to make people laugh, but everyone was fooled by his act. Would a man who served as an apprentice on the Pirate King's ship really be content to hide in the East Blue? Shouldn't the Marines find that suspicious?]
[After all, the other apprentice was Red-Haired Shanks, now a legendary name on the Grand Line. The two were close childhood friends; Shanks even gave up his chance to reach the last island because Buggy was sick. Sadly, their ideals were worlds apart, and they became the most familiar strangers.]
[Before delving into Buggy's life, let's state his current strength: after more than twenty years of training, his power is enough to shake the world of pirates.]
[Now called the Clown, Buggy will one day be named the "Emperor of a Thousand Faces" by the Marines. He becomes the last Emperor of the Seas, possessing the legendary Conqueror's Haki, the mark of a true king. He learned the advanced form of Conqueror's Haki—the "conquering infusion"—directly from Pirate King Roger.]
[He mastered top-level Observation Haki, letting him glimpse moments of the future in battle. His Observation Haki is special—it brings him ridiculous luck, letting him escape death and turn danger into fortune time and again.]
[He trained advanced Armament Haki, able to cover his whole body for offense and defense. He skipped learning the rarest Armament techniques—like Ryou—from Kozuki Oden, whom he looked down on while on Roger's ship.]
[As a Paramecia user, his Chop-Chop Fruit not only awakened, but he took its power even further—developing what he called Devil Fruit Liberation. In this state, he could ignore both Seastone and the ocean's effects, making even the strongest Haki users helpless against his Devil Fruit.]
The sky screen circled the two young apprentices on Roger's crew, tagging them by name: the red-nosed boy was Buggy, the red-haired one was Shanks. The latter's name echoed through the Grand Line, but until today, nobody knew the former.
"Captain Buggy—no, we should call you Lord Buggy! You really fooled us!" Mohji hugged his captain's leg, amazed at how powerful it suddenly seemed.
"Lord Buggy, please forgive my rudeness earlier. I must've been blind!" Alvida said, walking over with a glass of wine. Only a true powerhouse was worthy of her.
"Lord Buggy will be an Emperor of the Seas someday—at the very least, Yonko level! We're all going to live the good life. Joining the Buggy Pirates is the highest honor!" The crew surrounded their captain, laughing and cheering, full of hope for the future.
Caught in the eye of the public storm, Buggy was utterly bewildered. His jaw dropped—some parts of what the sky screen said were true, but the strength part was completely ridiculous.
Two kinds of powers from his Paramecia Fruit? All three types of Haki? What was all this? Even he didn't know he was this strong. For more than twenty years he'd been living easy, bullying the weak. The lies he'd told in his life didn't compare to what he'd just heard today…
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