Buggy Pirates / Buggy Was No Match

At that thought, Nami looked at Arthur with some wariness.

Pies didn't fall from the sky, and there was no such thing as a free lunch. As the famous little thief, she knew that better than anyone.

"Money is just a worldly possession to me. As long as I have enough, that's fine." Arthur understood Nami's concern. His handsome face was composed as he smiled confidently. "Buggy the Clown has a bounty of fifteen million Beli. I've heard he loves money, so he must have a considerable treasure collection. But you're different, little thief. You're so frail. Perhaps you've been lucky, but luck runs out someday. Don't lose your life over money."

With that, Arthur gently patted Nami on the head and walked past her, leaving her standing there with her head lowered slightly and her face hidden in shadow.

As Arthur walked away with his back to Nami, his smiling face was full of confidence.

His Observation Haki clearly sensed the emotions of the girl behind him fluctuating.

As the distance between them grew, Nami suddenly turned around, waved at Arthur, and called out with a delighted smile, "Thanks for the gift! If Buggy beats you and sends you running, don't come asking me for it back!"

"Ah... if I fail, that'll just prove I'm nothing special." Arthur's smile grew wider, and he waved without turning around.

But as Nami watched Arthur's figure recede into the distance, the smile gradually vanished from her face.

She never turned toward the docks as Arthur had told her to. Instead, she stood there biting her lip for a long time before stamping her foot hard and suddenly running after him. "Why are there still people like this in the world, Bellemere...?"

Chapter 3: Buggy Pirates

"Wow, is this the power of talk no jutsu?" Arthur exclaimed, rubbing his chin as he sensed the fluctuations in the presence behind him.

He had merely followed the dating sims he'd played in his previous life, using some of the protagonists' tones to say a few caring words, and it had actually worked on Nami, despite her eight years of experience.

However, Arthur didn't know how charming he was—or rather, he had greatly underestimated the charm of this body.

King Arthur was a heroic figure who shunned evil and championed good, punishing villains and rooting out evil. With every word she spoke, she exuded an upright knightly spirit.

It was a temperament, a personal charm that made people instinctively trust her.

That, combined with the great reputation Arthur had built over the past six months and the stories about him in the East Blue, was why Nami didn't doubt him.

If an ugly fellow had said the same things to Nami, she would surely have played along and made off with everything he had.

How did that saying go? Beauty was justice!!

Because Buggy frequently tested Buggy Balls, Orange Town had essentially become a deserted town. All the surviving townspeople were hiding in remote places beyond their reach.

So, following the direction his Observation Haki indicated, Arthur soon arrived at the Buggy Pirates' headquarters.

His first impression was of a circus.

The noise, the lions and their tamers, the acrobats riding unicycles, and the especially comical pirates—Arthur really couldn't sense any threat from them.

"Hey... kid, who are you?"

In this harmonious crowd of pirates, someone whose bearing was on a completely different level had suddenly appeared. Quite a few people noticed Arthur at once.

"Sigh... as expected of the Buggy Pirates, the weakest of the three great pirate crews." A pirate walking toward Arthur heard his helpless sigh and immediately flew into a rage. "Damn brat, what nonsense are you spouting? Say it again if you've got the guts!"

Bang!

Arthur ignored him and swept out a leg, kicking the pirate flying with a swift, powerful blow.

He didn't know how much Doriki Value his (E+) strength amounted to, but four months ago, Arthur had discovered that ordinary people's physiques were like plastic before him. He could crush them with ease.

This (E+) definitely wasn't a stat from the Nasuverse, but one from the pirate world.

"Oh... an enemy? You've got some nerve provoking the great pirate Buggy." The pirate Arthur had kicked flying was like a fuse that ignited the fight. Cabaji, who had been performing acrobatics on a unicycle, held a saber and taunted Arthur.

There wasn't a hint of panic in his voice; instead, he sounded like a cat toying with a mouse. Even the many Buggy Pirates behind him chimed in with playful, vicious grins.

They couldn't be blamed for that. The East Blue was the Weakest Sea to begin with, and as one of its three great pirate crews, it was perfectly normal for their reputation and notoriety to blind them.

That was also why Arthur paid no attention to their feelings.

Arthur felt like a max-level player in god-tier gear descending on a beginner village.

He raised his right hand, and the surrounding wind gathered into an invisible sword. Arthur looked as though he were holding a mass of wind.

"A blond boy holding the wind... I see. You're the famous Wind Sword Knight? It's a great honor to cross swords with you." The astonishing sight and Arthur's short blond hair allowed Cabaji to recognize him at once.

Because it was concealed by Invisible Air, many people didn't actually know what Arthur held.

It wasn't until someone asked him once that the people of the East Blue learned he was holding a sword.

Holding Excalibur, Arthur looked at Cabaji with disdain.

"Waiting for my attack? As expected of the Wind Sword Knight. That's the bearing of a true master." But Cabaji mistook his expression for a sign that he was waiting for an attack. Excited, he pedaled his unicycle and charged at Arthur at great speed, saber in hand. "Acrobatics: One-Wheel Thrust..."

Swish—crack!

With just a light swing, Arthur cut through Cabaji's saber and left a sword wound across his body, sending blood spraying.

Cabaji fell to the ground in a clown's comical pose.

"You didn't even figure out the length and width of your enemy's sword, yet you dared to take both feet off the ground. How arrogant and ignorant." Arthur gave the fallen Cabaji a disgusted look. He wasn't even worthy of a finishing blow from Excalibur.

"A-amazing. An invisible sword, invisible speed... is this the Wind Sword Knight's strength?" Cabaji said weakly, enduring the pain.

"Get lost—" Arthur kicked him flying. Frowning deeply, he was beginning to wonder whether the game system would even acknowledge his victory if he took down the Buggy Pirates.

They had been comical enough in the original story, but he hadn't expected them to be even more ridiculous in reality.

"Sorry. I've brought you shame." Arthur glanced at Excalibur in his hand, then looked at the Buggy Pirates with a gloomy expression and slowly raised the sword high.

His energy, spirit, and mind came together as one, his focus sharper than ever.

In his field of vision, everything was fragile.

Swish—

He slashed down, and golden light filled everyone's eyes.

Golden sword pressure turned into an unstoppable slash.

A deep trench was left in the ground where the slash passed, extending behind the members of the Buggy Pirates.

Boom!

With a tremendous crash, a house struck head-on by the slash split in two and collapsed.

"Hiss..."

The pirates, who had never seen a swordmaster's slash before, looked at the deep trench in the ground and the collapsed house and felt as though they were dreaming.

For a moment, the scene was utterly silent, save for heavy breathing and swallowing.

"Bastard, who attacked me?"

Just then, an angry voice broke the silence.

A figure suddenly sprang out of the smoke billowing from the collapsed house. It was Buggy, wearing a captain's hat and a coat, dressed like a clown and sporting a big, round red nose.

Chapter 4: Buggy Was No Match

"Captain Buggy—"

Seeing that their captain had emerged from that attack unharmed, some pirates immediately shouted.

"Who was it? Who did this? How dare you attack the great Captain Buggy! It's unforgivable!" Buggy looked furious. One of his hands suddenly detached from his body, flew toward the pirate closest to him, and grabbed him by the collar, pulling him over as Buggy roared.

"I-it was the Wind Sword Knight." The pirate hurriedly pointed behind him at Arthur, who held the invisible sword, and spoke in a trembling voice.

"Hmph!" Buggy released the pirate's collar, his hand reattaching to his body, and looked coldly at Arthur.

When he saw the deep mark in the ground, his pupils contracted slightly.

As an apprentice aboard the Pirate King's ship, Buggy had weathered all kinds of storms. His judgment was naturally beyond question, and he recognized it at a glance as a swordmaster's "Flying Slash."

Third-, second-, and first-rate swordsmen were all merely swordsmen with superb sword skills.

But a swordsman capable of unleashing a Flying Slash was no longer just a swordsman, but a powerful swordmaster.

When had a powerhouse like this appeared in the East Blue?

"Hey, kid, you're that Wind Sword Knight or whatever?" Buggy pointed brazenly at Arthur and demanded, "That slash just now was yours, wasn't it? How dare you attack the great Captain Buggy? I'll have to give you the ultimate punishment."

Although he knew his opponent was a swordmaster, Buggy remained fearless. His Chop-Chop Fruit was practically the bane of swordsmen.

Arthur saw Buggy's confidence and understood that he did indeed have grounds for it.

The Chop-Chop Fruit was indeed a very powerful Devil Fruit among Paramecia types.

It could ignore the slashes of all swordsmen, fear not even Hawkeye's Black Blade, and wasn't even afraid of a Flying Slash. In that respect, it really was somewhat unbeatable.

Unless he used Strike Air.

But releasing that Noble Phantasm required a considerable amount of magical energy, and Arthur had no intention of using it.

A True Name Release went without saying. Buggy wasn't worthy of him doing that.

So, with a thought, Arthur returned Excalibur to his body.

"Hahaha... a swordsman putting his sword away? Have you realized how powerful the great Buggy is?" Seeing the invisible sword in Arthur's hand vanish, Buggy burst out laughing.

"As expected of the great Captain Buggy!!" Some pirates nearby who had been frightened by Arthur immediately shouted along.

Looking at Buggy's smug expression, Arthur had all but confirmed that the man really didn't have much to him.

If he hadn't been a transmigrator, it would have been hard to believe that this clownlike figure had such an impressive background.

Twenty years, and he still hasn't managed to awaken his fruit ability. He's far too mediocre, Arthur thought. The next instant, he kicked off with both feet, his figure vanishing from the spot in an afterimage.

Whoosh—bang!!

Almost in the blink of an eye, Arthur appeared before Buggy. His right hand clenched into a fist coated in a layer of pitch-black color and wreathed in a golden aura, he slammed it into Buggy's face.

Buggy seemed to have been hit by a truck, his entire body flying backward like a beam of light.

He crashed through walls and punched through three buildings in succession before coming to a stop.

"..."

Watching this exaggerated scene, every member of the Buggy Pirates stood frozen in the poses they'd taken while cheering, their faces blank.

"That idiot... no wonder he was so confident. He was that strong!!"

They weren't the only ones. Nami, who had been secretly following Arthur and watching him from a corner of a house, was also startled by his strength.

The East Blue doesn't present any challenge to me anymore, Arthur thought, clenching his fist as he watched the Armament Haki gradually fade.

That punch had combined strength (E+), Armament Haki (E), magical energy (D-), and Mana Burst (A). It was the first time Arthur had used all four together, and it gave him a new understanding of his own strength.

"You have won this battle. Accumulated victories: 26!" An emotionless notification sounded in Arthur's mind.

Hearing it, Arthur paused in surprise, then looked at the smoke-filled buildings and couldn't help walking over.

Passing through the three houses, each with a doorway smashed through it, Arthur found Buggy lying unconscious amid the rubble.

Buggy was a miserable sight. Not only was his face covered in blood, but beside his round red nose was a fist-shaped indentation.

The corner of Arthur's mouth twitched. He really was no match at all.

Grabbing Buggy by the collar, Arthur dragged him back the way he'd come.

When he reached the second house, the smoke had already cleared, and a pile of objects caught his eye.

It was a small mountain of gold coins and all kinds of treasure and jewelry.

Judging by the amount, converted to Beli, it was surely worth no less than ten million.

"As expected of Buggy, who loves money as much as his life." That was all Arthur could say. Buggy didn't have Shanks's Haki, but his obsession with treasure was just like Luffy's desire to become Pirate King.

Though usually cowardly and afraid of death, he even dared to risk his life for treasure.

Thinking of this, Arthur looked at the battered and bruised Buggy, and a trace of sadness appeared in his eyes.

He had such an impressive background and so much experience, and he'd even eaten a fruit with limitless potential. If he were willing to put in the effort and awaken the Chop-Chop Fruit, his strength would surely soar.

How sad! How lamentable!

Of course, Arthur only lamented it briefly.

He had little interest in treasure. As a bounty hunter, as long as he was strong enough, Beli was practically everywhere in this great age of piracy, so he could casually give ten million Beli to Nami.