On the roof of a building in the heart of Orange Town, Buggy's crew huddled around the tent with faces already numb from fear. They stood at a distance, nobody daring to get close, only watching the tent from a range they hoped was safe enough.
Inside the tent, Buggy's voice exploded.
"You're telling me that thief managed to escape!"
The crew member who had come to report fell backward in fright. Before he could get up, Buggy had already walked over, seized his collar, and lifted him into the air with one hand.
"What were you doing, damn it! Right when we're about to head to the Grand Line, you lose a map that important!"
"C-Captain! Captain Buggy!"
It wasn't the crew member he was choking who spoke. The voice came from the doorway, from another crew member who ran in with ragged breathing, pointing behind him with a trembling hand.
"That woman thief — she's come back!"
Buggy threw the crew member he had been choking onto the floor and turned around.
In the doorway, Nami walked in with composed steps. Behind her, dragged by a rope looped around his wrists, a young man in a straw hat stepped inside with an expression too relaxed for someone being led in as a prisoner.
Buggy returned to his seat slowly, watching Nami with sharp eyes. "What do you want, woman?"
Nami pushed Luffy forward. Luffy stumbled and dropped to his knees on the floor, but his head immediately came back up as though nothing had happened.
"Allow me to join your crew, Buggy the Clown," said Nami, her voice flat and direct. "I can't work with this person."
Buggy looked at her for several moments. His eyes moved from Nami to Luffy kneeling on the floor, then back to Nami. The suspicion on his face slowly dissolved into something resembling satisfaction.
Concrete proof. She had even brought the man himself as a show of good faith.
"Hah." Buggy stood, a wide smile spreading across his face. He stepped toward Nami and clapped her on the shoulder with a palm harder than necessary. "Good work, Nami!"
Then he turned to his crew and raised his hand high.
"Everyone! To celebrate Nami joining us, we feast!"
The cheer from Buggy's crew erupted simultaneously. Food and drink began appearing from every corner, tables were laid out, and in short order the building's rooftop had turned into a rowdy celebration.
A short while earlier, on the street below the building.
Zoro stood behind a wall corner, his back against the stone, watching the building entrance that had just swallowed Luffy and Nami.
Inside his head, Luffy's voice still echoed.
"Zoro, wait outside. If something goes wrong, then come in."
"Why am I the one outside?"
"Because Nami's plan needs me as the prisoner. If you come inside too, the plan doesn't make sense." Luffy had nodded toward Nami with an expression that showed not the slightest doubt. "Just trust her."
Zoro had looked at Luffy at that moment. A man whose way of thinking he couldn't always follow, but whose way of looking at other people had something in it that was hard to ignore.
He had finally exhaled and chosen not to argue.
Now he stood here, waiting, with his hand at the hilt of his sword and his ears alert to every sound from above.
Then the sound came.
Boom.
A hard explosion that sent dust raining down from the roof of the building in front of him. Zoro didn't wait any longer. He ran inside.
Above, Buggy's feast was in full swing. Buggy's crew ate and drank noisily, Buggy himself circulated with a beer mug in hand, and Luffy sat inside a small iron cage in the corner of the roof with an expression that cared nothing at all about his situation. His eyes were fixed instead on the food table not far from his cage, his hands occasionally stretching out to try to reach a plate still just beyond his reach.
Nami stood at the edge of the crowd with a beer mug in her hand that she wasn't drinking from, her smile held in place with effort invisible from the outside.
Buggy approached her, still roaring with laughter. "Hey, Nami! Enjoy yourself!" He swung his mug toward the crowd. "To mark the day of your joining, we'll fire the Buggy Balls!"
Nami furrowed her brow. "Buggy Balls?"
Buggy had already signaled one of his crew. A large cannon was rolled to the edge of the roof, its barrel aimed at the row of buildings below.
The fuse was lit.
Boom.
The explosion erased the row of houses and buildings in front of the cannon like wiping a drawing from paper. Where there had been a line of rooftops and stone walls, now only rubble remained and dust rising into the sky.
Nami didn't move. Her eyes looked at that destruction with an expression she couldn't fully hide. Not awe, not fear, but something in between that was colder than either.
Beside her, Buggy laughed with pride. "What do you think? Impressive, isn't it?" He raised his hand into the air with the flair of an actor on a stage. "With this weapon and my Devil Fruit, I'll conquer the Grand Line!"
From inside the cage, a voice was heard.
"Ehh, the one who will conquer the Grand Line is me." Luffy raised his head from the cage with an extremely casual expression. "I'm the one who will become King of the Pirates."
That fool, Nami thought.
Buggy stopped laughing. His head turned slowly toward the cage, and the satisfied expression on his face was replaced by something far less pleasant.
"Nami." His voice dropped several notes. "It seems I understand now why you couldn't work with this person."
Nami laughed awkwardly, her hand rising to the back of her neck. "That's right. He always talks without thinking first. That's why I couldn't work with him."
"I understand how you feel." Buggy nodded with the expression of a wise captain, then his smile returned, but this time sharper at its edges. "Because of that, I'll give you a gift. You may shoot your former boss yourself."
Nami opened her mouth. "You don't have to go that far—"
"This is part of the celebration." Buggy had already signaled his crew. The cannon was turned, its barrel now aimed directly at the iron cage in the corner of the roof.
Nami stared at the cannon. Then at Luffy inside the cage who didn't look worried in the slightest. He was still trying to reach the food plate on the nearest table.
Buggy held out a lit fuse toward Nami.
On the building stairs, rapid footsteps.
Zoro emerged from the stairway door just as several of Buggy's crew moved toward Nami with swords already drawn.
He didn't stop to assess the situation. Two swords were in his hands before he was fully upright, deflecting attacks coming from two directions at once with a sharp clang of metal.
"Hey, hey." Zoro pushed them back with one motion, Buggy's crew members falling backward. "You want to fight a woman?"
"Zoro!" Luffy called from inside the cage with a wide smile.
Nami turned in surprise, staring at Zoro who now stood between her and Buggy's crew.
"Are you hurt?" asked Zoro without turning toward her, his eyes still ahead.
No answer.
"Are you hurt?"
"Eh, no. Not at all."
Zoro nodded once. Then his gaze shifted to Buggy who stood at the far end of the roof with an expression that had changed from surprised to interested.
"So you're the one named Zoro." Buggy twirled a knife between his fingers casually. "You came here to take my head?"
"No." Zoro returned one of his swords to his haramaki. "I've quit being a bounty hunter."
"Is that so." Buggy smiled. The knife in his hand kept spinning. "But I'm interested in you. If I kill you, my name will grow even more famous."
"Don't do that." Zoro's tone didn't change, but there was something different in his eyes. Not a threat, but a statement heavier than a threat. "You'll die."
Buggy didn't listen.
He took his stance, four knives wedged between the fingers of his right hand and one in his left. Around him, Buggy's crew began to cheer.
"Buggy!"
"Buggy!"
Zoro drew all three of his swords and took his stance.
Buggy charged.
What happened next unfolded too fast for most of the people on that roof to follow. One slashing motion from Zoro and Buggy had already been cut into three pieces, each falling to the roof floor with its own distinct sound.
Zoro returned all three swords to their scabbards.
Nami stared at the pieces of Buggy's body lying on the floor with an expression she couldn't determine for herself whether it was surprise or disbelief.
Then she noticed something strange.
Buggy's crew wasn't panicking. They were laughing.
"Why are they laughing?" Nami whispered. "Their captain just—"
"Zoro, watch out!!"
Luffy's voice.
Zoro turned but not fast enough. Something struck his abdomen from behind, sharp and deep. He looked down and saw the blade of a knife protruding from his stomach, his haramaki already soaked red.
Behind him, the pieces of Buggy's body floated into the air and reassembled one by one until Buggy stood whole again in front of Zoro with a smile far wider than before.
"Bara Bara no Mi." Buggy spread his hands to his sides like an actor receiving applause. "That's the name of the Devil Fruit I ate. I am a man who cannot be killed by a sword, a Splitting Man!" His laughter erupted, followed by the cheers of his crew.
"That's impossible." Nami stepped back one step without realizing it. "Devil Fruits are only myths—"
"Myths?" Buggy walked slowly toward Zoro who had curled on the floor, hands pressing his abdomen. "The reality is right in front of your eyes, kid."
Zoro raised his face. Sweat already soaked his forehead, but his gaze was the same.
Buggy raised his right hand high, a knife glinting in the light. "With this, your life ends here."
"That's cheating, big nose!"
The entire rooftop immediately went silent.
Buggy froze. His head turned very slowly toward the cage, the veins in his neck already visible. "Wh... who did you just call big nose!"
Knives flew from his hand toward the cage, not with controlled accuracy, but with uncontrolled fury.
Luffy caught the knife blade with his teeth. Bit down until it snapped in two. Then looked at Buggy with a smile unchanged in the slightest.
"Buggy. I'm definitely going to beat you."
Buggy and his crew laughed, the laughter of someone who had just heard something tremendously entertaining.
"Beat me?" Buggy wiped the corner of his eye. "Don't dream. All three of you will die today."
Luffy didn't engage with that taunt. He turned toward Zoro, his expression shifting to serious. "I'm not going to die. Zoro, take Nami and run from here."
Zoro, still pressing his abdomen with a face slightly pale, looked back at Luffy without saying anything.
"And what about you?" Nami's voice came out sharper than she had planned.
Luffy didn't answer Nami. He only looked at Zoro.
Zoro looked back. Several seconds passed between the two of them. Not long enough for a conversation, but long enough for something that didn't need words.
A smile appeared at the corner of Zoro's mouth. "Roger."
Buggy leaped toward Zoro. "You can't escape!"
Zoro rose to his feet and drew his sword, deflecting Buggy's attack with a sharp ring of metal. They exchanged strikes fiercely. Buggy attacked from multiple angles, his body separating and reassembling each time Zoro tried to slash, and Zoro kept moving though every step cost him more than he had.
Then Zoro found an opening.
One horizontal slash toward Buggy's midsection, not to defeat but to push. Buggy separated and fell, and in that gap Zoro had already moved toward the cannon still standing at the edge of the roof.
He gripped the end of the cannon barrel with both hands and lifted, directing it toward the crowd of Buggy and his crew. His knees were barely willing to hold his own weight. He dropped to one knee with one hand on the floor, the other pressing his wounded abdomen, and turned toward Nami.
"Hey." His voice was heavy but clear. "Light the fuse. Now."
Nami stared at the cannon. Stared at Zoro. Stared at the crowd of Buggy in front of the cannon.
"Alright." She produced a match.
"Wait, wait, wait!" Buggy saw the cannon barrel aimed at him and began waving his hands frantically. "That cannon is still loaded with Buggy Balls! Stop! Sto—"
The fuse ran out.
Boom.
An explosion far louder than before shook the entire building. Buggy and his crew were launched from the roof into the sky of Orange Town like pieces of cloth caught in a strong wind, the sound of their screaming growing fainter and fainter until it couldn't be heard at all.
Dust and smoke filled the rooftop.
Luffy stepped out of his iron cage, or more precisely out of the large hole at the top of the iron cage that hadn't been there before, and stood at the edge of the roof with one hand shading his eyes, looking into the distance.
"Wow, they really went far," he said in a tone of genuine admiration.
"You—" Nami looked at the hole in the cage, then at Luffy, then at the hole again. "How did you get out?"
"I broke through the top."
"You could get out this whole time?"
"Yeah."
Nami closed her eyes briefly.
Luffy had already walked toward Zoro who sat leaning against the cannon's leg, one hand pressing his abdomen. "Zoro. Are you okay?"
Zoro looked up. His face was pale and sweat still ran down his forehead, but his eyes were still focused. "This is fine. Sleep for a bit and the wound will heal on its own."
"Don't say something stupid." Nami was already standing beside them, her voice coming out louder than she had planned. "You need treatment before the wound gets worse."
"That's right." Luffy crouched briefly to look at the wound on Zoro's abdomen, then stood again. His arm suddenly wrapped around Nami's waist, pulling her close to his side, then his other hand reached for Zoro's arm.
"Hold on."
"Eh, wait a moment—"
Luffy jumped from the edge of the roof.
His feet kicked against the air below him, once, twice, rising instead of falling. His body moved across the sky of Orange Town with movement that wasn't smooth but was enough to carry all three of them to a height that let him see the entire town.
On either side of him, Zoro and Nami were unconscious.
Luffy swept his gaze across the whole town from that height. Rows of streets, buildings some of which were already partially destroyed, and on a small street near the center of town, an old man in worn iron armor stood with a small dog at his side.
Luffy began to descend toward them.