Full-Screen Mob Gathering

Unlike the low-grade solid cannonballs used by ordinary pirates, Buggy Bombs were high-explosive bombs meticulously developed by Buggy the Clown.

One shot was enough to shatter anything it struck.

The ship of the Steel Cutlass Pirates had its crucial mainmast blown apart by a single cannon shot from Buggy.

The scorching flames ignited by the high-explosive bomb spread wildly across the wooden vessel. Before long, they burned through the poorly maintained fireproof coating and reduced the Steel Cutlass Pirates' mainsail, foresail, and mizzen sail all to ashes.

The Steel Cutlass Pirates had now completely lost their ability to escape and could only remain where they were as live targets for the Big Buggy Bomb.

"Keep firing!"

Buggy smugly waved the saber in his hand and commanded his pirate lackeys to continue firing.

The Steel Cutlass Pirates' ship was clearly not made of steel and iron. Faced with Buggy Bombs as powerful as high-explosive bombs, and with its sails burned away, it had only one fate left.

Before long, that sizable ship was blasted apart by cannon fire into two burning chunks of wood, floating half-dead on the sea.

"Ha ha ha!"

Buggy laughed triumphantly. "Boys, sail the ship over there!"

"Go collect the Steel Cutlass Pirates' corpses!"

"Yes, Lord Buggy!"

Having received their orders, the lackeys shouted enthusiastically as well. These effortless, one-sided battles were their favorites.

The Buggy Pirates' ship rapidly approached the wrecked Steel Cutlass Pirates' vessel, while the floating debris on the sea grew denser and denser.

"Why haven't we seen any bodies yet?"

Chief of Staff Cabaji vaguely sensed that something was wrong.

The Steel Cutlass Pirates had dozens of crewmen. There was no way there had been no casualties after that bombardment.

"Ha ha!"

Buggy, however, laughed smugly.

"Looks like my Buggy Bombs were so powerful that they blasted them all into mush!"

His arrogant laughter had barely lasted long before the sea ahead began to churn.

Three figures suddenly emerged from beneath the water and barely managed to climb onto a relatively large piece of warship wreckage.

One was the disheveled and poorly dressed reporter Wallace. Though he looked utterly miserable, he still clutched a waterproof case tightly to his chest, containing his treasured camera and interview notes.

Another was Nami, soaked through by seawater, her wet clothes faintly revealing large stretches of her alluring figure. She had no time to cover herself despite the risk of exposure and similarly protected a waterproof case containing the ten million Beli personally gifted to her by Lord Steel Cutlass.

Unlike the bedraggled Wallace and Nami, Garen's magnificent, dazzling armor looked even more eye-catching after being washed by the crystal-clear seawater.

"Lord Buggy."

Chief of Staff Cabaji said in astonishment, "Those don't seem to be from the Steel Cutlass Pirates?"

A cultured man in a suit, a young and beautiful girl, and a righteous knight.

Their style was clearly worlds apart from the shirtless, tattooed thugs of the Steel Cutlass Pirates.

But Lord Buggy did not answer. He merely studied Garen, clad in armor and carrying a greatsword, with intense focus.

"Lord Buggy?"

Cabaji continued probing, "What do we do now?"

"What do we do?"

Uncontrollable greed had already appeared in Buggy's eyes.

"Who cares whether they're from the Steel Cutlass Pirates or not!"

"That Iron Can is covered in valuables! Rob him first!"

The pirates immediately grew excited. To them, Garen in golden armor and wielding a huge sword had suddenly become a walking golden ingot.

But before they could make a move,

the target they wanted to rob charged at them on his own.

Garen used his sword as an oar and began paddling through the water. His data-based body did not know fatigue and could operate at full power without weakening.

With someone like that rowing, the temporary little raft beneath Garen and the others instantly evolved into a small diesel speedboat.

The two sides rapidly closed in at a visible pace.

"Fire!"

Buggy hurriedly ordered, "Blow that piece of wood apart!"

The lackeys struggled to adjust the cannon's aim. Without time to calculate the trajectory, they hastily fired the Big Buggy Bomb.

This round of cannon fire was pitifully inaccurate and did not even come close to touching Garen's group.

In the end, Garen's human-powered assault boat successfully reached the side of the enemy ship.

Garen leaped from the little raft with sword in hand, landing steadily on the Buggy Pirates' deck. Without backing down in the slightest, he glared furiously at the mass of pirates before him.

"Were you the ones who sank my ship?"

"That's right!"

Buggy the Clown was still reveling in his masterpiece when he burst into laughter.

"The great Lord Buggy is the one who defeated you!"

"Buggy?"

Hearing that familiar name, Garen could not help but pause slightly.

He fixed his gaze on the man dressed as a clown and could not help calling out the most conspicuous feature on his face.

"Big Red Nose Buggy?"

"You!!"

Buggy was like a powder keg ignited in an instant. "Who are you calling Big Red Nose?!"

"Uh..."

Garen felt a little awkward. He had forgotten that what Buggy hated most was having people mention that conspicuous red nose of his.

But that trace of awkwardness vanished in an instant—

He had nearly been blown to death by the other side's cannon just now. Was he supposed to indulge Buggy instead?

So Garen simply opened his mouth and taunted him.

"I'm talking about you, red-nosed clown!"

"Huff... huff..."

Buggy's throat suddenly produced heavy, bellows-like breaths. Finally, unable to contain his rage, he roared.

"Bastard! Kill them!"

The brief exchange of trash talk came to an abrupt end as the pirate lackeys, having received their orders, rushed forward in a swarm while brandishing sabers and short swords.

But most pirate captains had one bad habit.

When fighting, they generally would not personally take the lead. They would always send their lackeys and officers to deal with incoming enemies first.

Perhaps it was to train their subordinates, perhaps to wear down their opponents, perhaps to test the enemy's strength, or perhaps to display the lofty status of being the leader of a crew. The reason was unknown to outsiders.

Buggy the Clown chose the same strategy.

Buggy sounded the horn of battle with one hand, yet leisurely returned to his broad captain's throne, where he watched the performance of his subordinates from on high.

Chief of Staff Cabaji and First Mate Mohji, whom he had dispatched, also perfected this tactic. They leisurely halted their own advance and drove even lower-ranking lackeys to deal with Garen.

The task was passed down level by level, while all the hard labor was completely dumped onto the bottom-tier workers with no ability, no status, and low pay.

What Buggy did not know, however, was

that this trickle-in tactic was practically free combat training for a protagonist, a gift-wrapped experience package—especially for a protagonist like Garen, who genuinely had an experience bar.

Seeing his opponents go from enemy heroes to super minions, then from super minions to a crowd of harmless cannon fodder, all of Garen's worries vanished.

He gripped his greatsword tightly and stood motionless before the fierce-looking lackeys armed with muskets and sabers.

That excessive calmness instead left the bloodthirsty pirates somewhat unable to react.

The lackeys looked at one another, and for a moment, no one dared step forward to test Garen's response.

"What's wrong?"

Garen casually rested the heavy greatsword back on his shoulder and smiled disdainfully.

"A pirate crew with dozens of men, yet not one man dares come forward and take a swing from my sword?"

Garen's smile was exceedingly mocking. He could not even be bothered to look directly at his opponents while speaking, and every inch of him radiated the lonely, untamed bearing of a "strong man."

Together with that broad, door-sized greatsword of his, all he lacked was an eagle to become an undefeated loner.

"What are you standing around for?"

Buggy's face instantly darkened considerably, and his sinister voice rang out behind them.

"Rush up and kill that knight brat!"

"Take his armor and greatsword!"

"Y-Yes!"

The cannon fodder hurriedly nodded, then exchanged looks with one another.

Still, no one dared step forward.

They had not even begun fighting, yet they were so nervous that they could barely hold their weapons.

"Ha ha ha!"

Garen laughed even more contemptuously and calmly took the initiative to press one step closer toward the pirates.

"Weren't you full of spirit when you bombarded me with cannons earlier?"

"You don't even dare fight up close, and you call yourselves men who carry blades?"

That was undoubtedly naked humiliation!

As bold seafaring men who cleaved through waves, these fierce-looking pirates felt their chests fill with surging rage, sending their blood boiling through their veins.

These brave and fearless men, without hesitation,

took another two steps back.

"Sigh."

Garen sighed in great disappointment.

"Fine if you don't dare come up and slash me, but don't you even have the Courage to take a cheap shot?"

"You're so far away. If you shoot me, I can't cut you anyway!"

Bang!

A gunshot rang out, followed by a burst of muzzle flash.

After Garen's reminder, one lackey finally remembered that he had a musket capable of attacking from range.

"Ah!"

The tense standoff was instantly broken, yet the first ones to cry out in fright were his own cannon-fodder comrades.

In this world, ordinary muskets were generally less useful than blades. There were simply too many people on the seas who could ignore musket bullets.

Judging from Garen's calm tone just now, he had to be the kind of strong man whom ordinary muskets could not possibly handle.

For someone like that, attacking him with a musket was like slapping a tiger's backside. Not only might it fail to kill him, it could also provoke his ferocity.

However.

The gunshot had barely sounded, and the smoke had not yet dispersed.

Garen, utterly disappointing them, clutched his chest and dropped to one knee, his face showing an exceptionally vivid expression of pain.

The cannon fodder looked at one another.

A silent awkwardness and shame fermented in the hearts of those seafaring men.

"..."

The pirate cannon fodder, who had been intimidated by Garen's imposing appearance, immediately erupted into embarrassed and angry curses.

"Brothers, get him! Hack this poser to death!"

The cannon fodder swarmed forward and frantically slashed at Garen, who was "struggling" on one knee.

Buggy called himself a clown, and his subordinates had equally bizarre styles.

Unicycle swordsmen, beast tamers, tightrope walkers, knife jugglers—every kind of circus performer was present.

They looked like a fully equipped circus troupe.

But no matter how ridiculous their appearance, they were still a real pirate crew.

Murder and robbery were everyday occurrences. Violent extortion was routine business, while bloody clashes with rivals were annual entertainment. Every last cannon-fodder pirate had seen blood before.

So when these lackeys swarmed forward and attacked Garen in fury, they naturally revealed the murderous aura of men intent on killing. Every blade they swung targeted Garen's vital points without mercy.

He had first been bombarded by the Big Buggy Bomb, which was comparable to a high-explosive bomb, and now dozens of burly men with blades were hacking at him. An ordinary person would have died several times over by now.

Since it was a fight to the death, there was no need to consider showing mercy beneath one's blade.

That was one of Garen's standards for killing.

So when the pirate lackeys tightly surrounded him like ants carrying food, seeking to press their advantage and take the head of the "shot and fallen" Garen,

Garen suddenly raised his head and gave them a warmly malicious smile.

"Thanks for the trouble, everyone."

"For gathering all the mobs together for me."