After Robin rushed toward the battlefield where Luffy and Shiki were fiercely fighting, Bartolomeo—along with the other prisoners rescued at the same time—came to Buggy's side.
With the ship doctor's urgent help, they carefully removed the daggers and blades that pinned Buggy's separated body parts to the board.
Once he was reassembled and bandaged up, the severely injured clown slowly opened his eyes.
When he saw who had come to his aid, Buggy smiled with difficulty through his swollen lips.
"Ka~haha... cough, cough! Alvida, Gin, Cabaji... you guys... cough, cough... haven't run away yet?"
Seeing his three loyal subordinates still standing there by his side, Buggy couldn't keep the corners of his mouth from curling up, even though he barely had the strength to keep his eyes open.
Alvida looked at Buggy with genuine concern.
"Captain, you're in bad shape. Let's go back to the ship together."
But Buggy refused, his eyes flashing with a stubborn light!
"Give me some painkillers and a bag of food."
"Let me rest for a bit... and then I'll go settle the score."
"That damn Shiki... Ouch, my back..."
Seeing their captain's determination, Alvida and the others didn't press further.
Under Bartolomeo's protection, they all moved toward a safe location to let Buggy recover.
...
Present.
Near Whole Cake Island, in the New World.
The massive soul tremors caused by the reincarnation of the Soul-Soul Fruit had finally subsided.
Ray, Cavendish, and Frieda were now sitting in the captain's reception hall on the large ship.
Beside them, a live Projection Den Den Mushi was projecting images onto the wooden wall with its glowing eyes.
This was a special device Frieda carried with her, capable of connecting to and broadcasting a signal from another image-transmitting snail elsewhere.
And this little Den Den Mushi was linked to a partner snail located far away in the sky islands of the Grand Line.
The projected scene on the wall was, naturally, the great battle between the Straw Hat Pirates and the legendary Golden Lion Shiki.
When Cavendish saw a muscular bouncing man covered in red and black Haki stripes throwing punches into the air as if they were springs, his jaw dropped.
"Boss, who is that guy? He's covered head to toe in Haki. He looks really fierce, like a bouncing devil."
Ray knew the answer as soon as he saw the striped, muscular man steaming all over.
"It's Luffy."
"Oh," Cavendish blinked, impressed. "So he's your captain."
He watched for a moment longer. "Hmm... his strength is decent, but he's still far from your level, Boss."
Hearing this, Ray thought Cavendish would continue with something arrogant like, 'With strength like that, he doesn't deserve to be your captain' and so on.
But Cavendish didn't say anything more.
Instead, he focused intently on the big screen, analyzing the fight.
This display further solidified Ray's approval of him—he was a good subordinate who knew how to read the room and maintain proper boundaries when it mattered.
As for Frieda, driven by professional integrity, she continuously jotted down information in her notebook while watching the projected video.
Ray glanced sideways at the title she had written and felt speechless.
"Straw Hat Pirates Gang Up to Bully an Old man? Their Methods Are Actually..."
'Well, that's journalism for you,' Ray thought.
But upon second thought, what she wrote wasn't entirely wrong.
Luffy and his crew were indeed ganging up to bully an old man.
...
Meanwhile, near the sky islands close to Reverse Mountain.
Several figures were darting and maneuvering through the sky.
Luffy, in his Gear Fourth: Bounce Man, continuously used his elastic flight to close in on Shiki.
Shiki swung his famed swords attached to his feet, Oto and Kogarashi, to attack.
"Lion's Valley!"
The dense barrage of golden slashing waves significantly increased the difficulty for Luffy to get close.
Fortunately, Luffy wasn't fighting alone.
"Three Thousand Six Hundred Pound Phoenix!"
Zoro stood on a nearby hilltop, swinging his swords to unleash massive flying slash attacks, clearing a path for Luffy through the storm of blades.
The massive green sword energy collided with Shiki's golden energy.
After the explosion, it conveniently created an opening in the barrage for Luffy to pass through.
However, Shiki had more tricks up his sleeve!
Just as Luffy was getting closer...
Shiki waved his hand and used his Fuwa Fuwa no Mi powers.
He pulled the earth from a nearby floating island toward him.
In the blink of an eye, dozens of massive, sharp stone spikes formed around him, each about 50 meters tall.
Just as he prepared to thrust these enormous stone spikes toward Luffy, an unexpected change occurred.
A tall figure suddenly appeared beneath the battlefield.
"Cien Fleur: Dragon Claw!"
In an instant, twenty arms coated in Armament Haki sprouted directly from Shiki's body.
Each hand transformed into a "Dragon Claw" shape and pressed down toward his vital areas.
Shiki sensed the danger immediately.
If he were hit by this assault, even if he didn't die, he would be severely wounded.
Especially the vulnerable areas in his lower body.
Even though his prostate was severely enlarged in his old age and he had lost certain functions, being struck there would still be excruciatingly painful!
This was an attack imbued with Armament Haki no less.!
Therefore, Shiki immediately used his own Armament Haki to protect his entire body, forming an invisible armor of Haki to counter Robin's crushing attack.
But Robin wasn't one trick pony.
She instantly changed the attack pattern of half the arms.
"Claw Hook!"
The twenty hands shifted their grip.
Two constricted Shiki's neck, four pressed down heavily on his shoulders, and the other four secured his hips—preparing to fold Shiki in half backward.
CRACK!
If Robin succeeded, Shiki's spine would inevitably fracture.
Even if he survived, his lower body would be completely paralyzed.
Shiki recognized the severity of the situation and immediately tensed all his muscles to resist Robin's immense leverage.
"Nico Robin... I've truly underestimated you."
At this moment, Shiki realized that this woman's ability was far too troublesome.
Once he broke free, he must prioritize eliminating her!
Thus, Shiki could no longer afford to worry about Haki conservation.
He channeled vast amounts of Haki stored in his muscles to the surface of his body, shouted "Ha!", and shattered all of Robin's Flower Arms in one explosive burst.
POOF!
"Cough..."
Due to the feedback damage from her sprouted limbs being destroyed, Robin's main body also suffered pain.
It was difficult for her to control herself as she involuntarily spat out a mouthful of blood.
"Strike while the iron is hot."
High in the air, Shiki gestured with his finger toward Robin's direction on the ground below.
"Lion's Earth Burial!"
In an instant, Robin lost her balance as the ground beneath her suddenly crumbled and rose up like a wave.
Countless tons of sand and stone threatened to engulf her and bury her alive.
Just as Robin was about to be crushed, several dazzling flashes of fire struck the earth-wave from different directions.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
As the explosions shattered the sand barrier, Robin revealed a relieved smile and murmured to herself.
"Usopp..... is really reliable."
...
Five minutes earlier.
Nami had defeated the perverted gorilla and immediately headed toward the laboratory.
Meanwhile, Usopp and Chopper were fighting Dr. Indigo, Shiki's right-hand man who wore a clownish doctor's uniform and had a habit of conjuring chemical fireballs with his juggling hands.
The two of them were already overpowering Indigo.
After all, the guy was only an expert in biological research.
In terms of combat, all he could really do was throw explosive chemical balls, which Usopp effortlessly shot down mid-air.
In direct combat, Dr. Indigo was significantly outmatched by Chopper.
If it weren't for Indigo's various bizarre potions and gases interfering with the fight, he would have been subdued by the duo long ago.
The three of them fought back and forth for about four minutes before Nami arrived at the scene.
Seeing that Dr. Indigo relied heavily on underhanded tricks and evasive maneuvers, the clever Nami had a sudden idea.
'Guess what? Flank him from behind!'
Sneakily, Nami create a large number of bubbles and launched a surprise attack from his blind spot!
"Thunder Trap!"
The bubbles covered Indigo before he could react, nearly draining all of his strength due to the soap's slickness.
To be safe, Nami also transformed the bubbles into thundercloud mode.
In an instant, blinding flashes of lightning illuminated the entire laboratory!
ZZZZZTT!
And so... Dr. Indigo convulsed and lost consciousness, smoke rising from his colorful hair.
Afterward, the three of them briefly discussed their next move.
They decided that Usopp, who had the longest range and the ability to support the main battlefield, would go outside to carry out sneak attacks and cover fire for the others.
Nami and Chopper would head deeper into the laboratory to search for potions.
Their goal was to develop an antidote for Chouchou and incidentally save the mutated animals on the Sky Island that had been affected by the IQ drug.