Encountering Shelling

One day later.

A medium-sized sailing ship with a large hole in its hull and patches on its mast sailed across the vast ocean.

The azure sea stretched for miles, its shimmering waves sparkling like a brilliant star fallen from the heavens, transforming into a majestic expanse of dazzling crystal.

Yet Garen had no mind to appreciate the natural splendor.

"Hurry up! The wind's about to shift!"

"Get moving and adjust the foresail's position!"

Nami sat cross-legged like an overseer, one leg propped over the other, and pointed at Garen with irritation as she scolded:

"You can't even handle a sheet rope—how do you expect to sail the seas?"

"I know!"

Garen grumbled back, staring at the tangled mess of sail ropes with a headache.

This ship was no small vessel; it would normally require a crew of ten or more professional sailors to operate.

But now, there were only three people aboard. Even Wallace had been roped into serving as helmsman, leaving Garen to shoulder the work of ten men alone.

And the navigation expert Nami's reprimands rang out once more:

"Too slow!"

"Didn't I teach you all the knot-tying methods?!"

"Come on, do it yourself!"

Garen shot back irritably:

"There are nine ways to tie a knot—who can remember all that?"

"Can't remember? Then practice more!"

"Tying the right knot for the right situation could save your life in a critical moment!"

Nami lounged comfortably on a deck chair in the distance, casually lecturing Garen, then smirked with self-satisfaction:

"Besides, I'm a navigator, not a sailor. There's no way I'm doing manual labor."

"Blame your own ignorance!"

"..."

Garen had no comeback. He knew astronomy and geography, could ramble on about the birth of the universe and black hole theories with impressive-sounding jargon, but he'd never learned how to handle a wooden sailing ship.

"How much longer until we arrive?"

Garen asked sullenly, already feeling the monotony of life at sea.

"If you can adjust the sails in time,"

Nami said casually, "about another full day."

"A day?"

Garen's face darkened.

"Stop dawdling! Get to work!"

Nami showed no mercy as she drove her laborer Garen on:

"We're near the ring current of the Calm Belt!"

"If you don't fix the sail position, we'll be blown into the Calm Belt and fed to the Sea Kings!"

"Yes, ma'am."

Garen scowled and heaved on the heavy sail ropes, muttering under his breath:

"Wasn't this supposed to be a voyage of drinking, eating meat, and sightseeing? How did I end up as a pack mule here?"

"Sorry,"

Nami said, eyes fixed on the sea chart in her hands, mercilessly cutting him down:

"Sailing is this boring!"

"Dreaming of being a lazy captain who just drinks and feasts? Don't kid yourself!"

"Sigh,"

Garen murmured to himself:

"I'd rather fight pirates for three hundred rounds than be a slave here."

"Sir Knight?!"

Wallace's slightly panicked voice suddenly rang out from the bow.

Aside from helmsman duties, Wallace was also reluctantly serving as lookout: "Pirate ship spotted!"

No sooner had he spoken than

a black, spherical cannonball howled down from the sky, hurtling straight toward the section of the ship where Garen stood.

"Cannonball?"

Garen's heart sank, but he quickly steadied himself:

This old-fashioned solid shot still relies on kinetic energy, its lethal radius is extremely limited, and its flight speed isn't all that fast—with my current physical condition, there's nothing to worry about.

So Garen, relying on his small-superhuman-level dynamic vision, precisely judged the cannonball's landing point, unhurriedly sidestepping two paces away—accurate and elegant.

Then, the cannonball fell.

This "solid shot" he had dismissed suddenly flared with an abnormal, dazzling light at that instant.

A massive shockwave, accompanied by the instantaneous release of light and heat, blossomed into a gorgeous mushroom cloud right on the spot.

"What kind of black tech is this?!"

Garen was utterly stunned.

Before he could finish his sentence, he personally experienced the art of the explosion.

Not long ago

Not far from Garen's ship, another pirate vessel was racing along the same route with the wind at its back.

This pirate ship was no ordinary one!

A subordinate of the Pirate King Roger, a close friend of the Four Emperors' Red Hair, once clashed at sea with legendary pirates like Whitebeard and Golden Lion, and escaped unscathed from the pursuit of Marine Hero Garp—

A powerful man with such a terrifying résumé was now stationed aboard this unremarkable pirate ship.

He was the fearsome figure whose name, when read backward, could deliver a cross-dimensional strike to the Harmony God himself—Buggy.

And at this moment, Buggy the Clown was leading a pack of fierce wolves under his command, rampaging freely through the East Blue seas.

"Found them?"

"Found them?!"

Buggy, the fifteen-million-Beli pirate, angrily pressed his navigator several times in succession:

"Where the hell are those Steel Cutlass Pirates bastards?"

"N-no."

The navigator answered timidly:

"We lost track of them a few days ago."

"That batch of stolen treasure is probably beyond recovery!"

The great Captain Buggy's face flushed red in an instant, and he slapped the armrest of his seat in shame and irritation:

"What do you mean by 'stolen' treasure?!"

"How could I, Buggy the Clown, possibly have my treasure stolen by a small fry like Steel Cutlass?!"

"Y-yes."

The trembling navigator quickly switched to a slightly more palatable term:

"It was a batch of treasure that those sneaky little men pilfered."

"Hm?"

Buggy the Clown was still somewhat dissatisfied.

Another thick-skinned underling immediately chimed in:

"It was treasure that our great Lord Buggy graciously bestowed upon the junior pirates!"

Buggy finally nodded in satisfaction.

But in truth

The Buggy Pirates, with the great Lord Buggy—friend of a Four Emperor—at the helm, had indeed suffered a setback a few days ago at the hands of the ten-million-level Steel Cutlass Pirates.

Though the result was still the enemy fleeing in defeat, the treasure they had been fighting over—worth over two million Beli—had fallen into the Steel Cutlass Pirates' hands.

Fuming and wanting to even the score, Buggy the Clown led his men cruising the seas for a long time, but found no further trace of the Steel Cutlass Pirates.

"Perhaps..."

Mohji, the deputy captain of the Buggy Pirates, known as the Beast Tamer, couldn't help but suggest:

"Captain Buggy, how about we give up this time?"

"Searching aimlessly like this is just a waste of effort."

"Hmm..."

Buggy fell silent, his big red nose swelling even more noticeably from anger, looking utterly ridiculous.

If he didn't reclaim this honor, he, the fifteen-million-Beli great pirate, would inevitably become a stepping stone for the next generation to rise;

But dragging a bunch of men around the sea like headless flies was indeed a thankless, losing venture.

"Captain Buggy!"

Just as Buggy was hesitating, the lookout perched on the mast suddenly shouted in excitement: "Found them!"

"Oh?"

Buggy's eyes lit up. He instantly activated the power of the Chop-Chop Fruit, letting his head detach from his body and fly upward seven or eight meters, stopping only when it reached the high lookout cabin.

The lookout pointed in one direction and obligingly propped up a spyglass for Buggy's hovering head:

"The Steel Cutlass Pirates—right there!"

"Even though they've lowered their pirate flag, I'd never mistake that ship. There are still gaps in the hull from our cannon fire!"

Buggy also saw the familiar enemy vessel clearly through the spyglass and couldn't help grinning with smug malice:

"Hahaha!"

"Too scared to even hoist their pirate flag to avoid my majesty Buggy's wrath?!"

"Today, I'll teach these arrogant juniors what happens when you cross me!"

"Captain?"

Buggy Pirates' chief of staff, the third-rate swordsman known as "Quyi," Cabaji, immediately asked:

"Boarding action, or long-range bombardment?"

"Hmm."

Buggy pondered for a moment, thinking to himself:

The Steel Cutlass Pirates might not be a threat to me as a Devil Fruit user, but their crew are all desperadoes willing to fight blade-to-blade—much tougher than my ragtag performers.

Last time, I underestimated their close-combat ability, and that junior pirate crew got the better of me.

So Buggy laughed savagely:

"Hahaha!"

"Those treacherous little bastards don't deserve any code of honor!"

"Just blast them with cannons!"

Buggy waved his hand with full bravado and ordered his vice-captain, Mohji:

"Second captain!"

"Roll out my Big Buggy Bomb!"