"Rubber—"
Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh!!
"Gatling Gun!"
Under the rapid flurry, fists leaving dense afterimages in the air surged toward Buggy like waves! Forcing him to use his ultimate evasion technique.
"Four-Point Separation—Emergency Escape."
Swish, swish, swish,
Captain Buggy, dressed like a clown, truly "split into four parts," his body turning into separate "components" that nimbly scattered in every direction. After dodging Luffy's explosive barrage of punches, they circled around and reassembled beside him like swallows returning to their nest.
"Damn it, why does a brat like you know my ability so well?"
"Hmph, I'm not telling you!"
After several probing exchanges, both captains found each other troublesome. Luffy was fast, tough, and durable; Buggy could split apart, making his evasion absurdly high. The two immediately fell into a stalemate.
"Help the captain!"
Among the Buggy Pirates, Mohji, who had lost his lion mount, raised his whip, while Kabaji, balanced on his unicycle, gripped a Sailor's Knife as they prepared for a righteous three-on-one. But then:
Swish,
A figure stepped in front of them.
"Gentlemen, don't be such spoilsports."
Roman, holding a shield in one hand and a Sailor's Knife in the other, flashed an evil grin.
"Let the two captains 'talk' alone. As for you two—"
Whoosh—
He tilted his head aside to dodge Mohji's whip, the beast tamer looking as though he wore an animal-head mask, then raised his shield to block Kabaji's Sailor's Knife. Roman clashed with the Buggy Pirates' First Mate and Chief of Staff.
"Stay here and keep me company!"
"Hey, what exactly are you?"
Captain Buggy, dressed like a clown, looked at Luffy, who wore a straw hat and exuded poverty from head to toe.
"My name is Luffy."
"I'm the man who'll become King of the Pirates."
Huh?!
Gasp!
"That's hilarious!"
"If you can become King of the Pirates, then wouldn't I be a god?!"
"Enough nonsense. Let's keep fighting."
Having finished introducing himself, Luffy rotated his arms. He had said he would punch the other man flying, and he would definitely do it.
"Hey, hey, hey, don't talk so arrogantly, Rubber Boy."
Buggy gripped several short knives between his fingers, his face darkening. Being pushed into such a miserable state by some unknown brat— even Buggy, who had little competitive spirit, felt his anger rising.
"Kid, rubber can't stop sharp blades, can it?"
As he spoke, sharp blades sprang out from the clown shoes on Buggy's feet.
"It can't stop them..."
"Four-Point Separation—"
Buggy made a throwing motion, then violently flung forward—
"Pancake."
His lower body shot out!
Two rapidly spinning legs, their shoe tips armed with blades, howled through the air like a high-speed cutting wheel! It looked ridiculous, but its power was anything but! Sand and stones flew everywhere as it carved a long gash across the ground.
Swish,
Luffy leaped straight up, choosing to evade the "lower-body attack" from above. But then:
"Knew you'd jump—"
Swish, swish, swish, swish!!
The short knives in Buggy's hands shot out at high speed, instantly sealing off every direction around Luffy! And with nothing to push off against in midair...
"Hehe~~"
Facing the flying knives closing in from all directions, Luffy merely smiled confidently. His arm suddenly stretched out and grabbed a nearby building, then snapped back, immediately pulling him aside and dodging the barrage.
"My turn to attack, Rubber—"
"Gun!"
He threw an utterly ordinary straight punch. Within 0.1 seconds, his fist crossed a distance of more than ten meters while completing a rotation! The force unleashed by the high-speed thrust actually stirred up a violent gale around his arm, like a raging python twisting through the air!
Swish—
Yet Buggy, dressed like a clown, had already dodged away from Luffy's punch trajectory the instant it was thrown. His coat hem and hat flapped wildly in the gale, but:
"Not a bad attack, but that stretched arm is a weakness."
The short knife in his hand slashed fiercely toward Luffy's extended arm!
"Watch me chop it—"
?
At that instant, Buggy caught a glimpse behind him. The missed fist had already opened into a palm and grabbed the building behind him! As his pupils shifted, he saw Luffy kick off with both feet!
"Rubber—"
The forward force from his feet combined with the momentum of one arm retracting. With both forces added together, Luffy became an afterimage as he charged toward Buggy. His other arm viciously hooked toward Buggy's neck.
"Sickle!"
Mm, this move had a famous name in the neighboring Naruto: Lightning Plow Hot Blade!
Boom—
This move was incredibly powerful! It even sent Buggy's head flying with a single strike. Meanwhile, carried by his immense momentum, Luffy crashed headfirst into the building behind him, smashing it into ruins with a thunderous roar.
"Four-Point Separation—Head Severance."
"Hahaha~~~ Useless, useless, useless! Such childish attacks can't hurt me."
His head dropped down, and Buggy, the clown captain, turned around. His Four-Point Separation Fruit allowed any part of his body to "split" at any time. Straightforward attacks like that could never defeat him.
Bang!
Luffy rose from the rubble, pressed down his straw hat, and looked at Captain Buggy across from him.
"What a headache. You're really good at dodging..."
"Likewise, Straw Hat Kid~~"
What a terrifying battle!
Whether it was Roman fighting two officers by himself, or the battle between the two captains...
Especially that straw hat... Luffy. Who would have thought he was actually such an expert?!
To the two people fighting, this was merely a "warm-up" and "test," but to Nami, hiding nearby, it was a battle between two inhuman monsters!
Every gesture contained immense power, every punch and kick a deadly killing move! The surrounding buildings and streets were as fragile as toy blocks before them.
They simply weren't human!
Looks like Luffy's side still had plenty of fighting left...
Fighting one against two, Roman still had the leisure to spare some attention for the battle on the other side.
In truth, it would not have been difficult for him to defeat these two opponents. According to the Marines' bounties, Roman, who could defeat Captain Silverlight one-on-one, possessed strength worth more than twenty-five million Beli.
After eating the Paper-Paper Fruit, his strength could be said to have stabilized at the thirty-million level.
Even though his Devil Fruit ability had now been exposed, allowing his opponents to prepare burning items to counter him, Roman could still easily handle the beast tamer and Juggling Swordsman of the Buggy Pirates, neither of whom even had a bounty above ten million, even if he dismissed his "Paper Dance—Iron Armor." But:
Buggy...
It was better to leave him to Luffy.
Whether Buggy truly possessed "Conqueror's Luck," took off his gloves and performed "Molecular Dissipation," or suddenly unleashed a "World of Four-Point Separation"... in any case, Roman did not want to face him.
Someone with such unclear strength was better left to Luffy. After all:
Who told him he was the captain?
"No wonder I kept feeling that straw hat looked familiar..."
On the other side, Clown Buggy had successfully discovered Luffy's "weakness"—the straw hat on his head.
So, by attacking that "weakness," he easily injured Luffy. Thinking victory was in his grasp, Clown Buggy tossed the straw hat pierced by his short knife onto the ground and said unhappily:
"That Shanks guy used to be an apprentice sailor on the same ship as me..."
"He's the one who got this great Buggy into the state I'm in today!"
Still not satisfied, he spat a glob of saliva onto the straw hat by his feet.
"Hahaha, you actually treat such a worthless hat like treasure—"
"You!" Rings of scorching anger swept across the battlefield, interrupting Buggy's suicidal taunting.
Luffy was enraged!
"A man like Shanks, and you dare say you were brothers with him?"
Whoosh—
Luffy shot toward the smug Buggy in a streak of afterimages, his wrist taking the form of a Lightning Plow Hot Blade... no, an attack stance for Rubber Sickle.
"Four-Point Separation—"
Bang!
However, the attack from his hand was only a feint to draw attention. Luffy's true killing move was a concealed kick! It slammed into Buggy's lower body, kicking him entirely into the air and nearly making his "good brothers" perish on the spot.
"You don't deserve it!!!"
Before you continue