Extortion

The 1.5-second silence effect added by Fatal Strike didn't seem particularly special when Garen fought Steel Cutlass, but it achieved a true "fatal strike" against Buggy, a Devil Fruit user.

The Devil Fruit ability was instantly sealed, and the mental control over the fragmented body was forcibly interrupted.

Unlike the feeling of weakness brought by seawater and seastone, the effect of this sword strike seemed to make Buggy's fruit ability disappear out of thin air. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't regain the feeling of using his powers.

This bizarre phenomenon plunged Buggy into a fear several times greater than before, and he shamelessly revealed a comical expression of begging for mercy in front of Garen.

But before Garen could open his mouth to respond, Captain Buggy suddenly realized that his fruit ability was back!

He immediately manipulated his scattered body parts on the ground to fly into the air, escaping more than ten meters away.

Only after confirming that he would no longer be cut by that greatsword did Buggy barely stop his flight.

Before the cold sweat that had been frightened out of him could be wiped away, Buggy, who had just been begging for mercy, immediately turned back to Garen with an exaggerated smile that was fierce on the outside but faint on the inside:

"Hahaha"

"You weird kid! I'd like to see how you can still cut me?!"

"Hmm"

Garen looked at Buggy's face, which was twisted and deformed like a pancake in his laughter, and silently raised his left hand, which was not holding the sword:

"You're flying so far away, I can't cut you."

"But you ran too hastily and dropped something..."

"What?!"

Buggy was shocked:

In Garen's raised left hand, he was tightly pinching a human foot that was moving strangely.

It was Buggy's foot.

His Chop-Chop Fruit had a fatal flaw: the separated body parts could not be more than 200 meters away from his feet, and those feet were the only parts of Buggy's body that could not fly in the air.

Garen knew this, so when Buggy's ability failed and he collapsed to the ground, he had quietly grabbed one of Buggy's feet in his hand.

"This..."

Buggy's arrogant expression froze on his face once again, and the cold sweat on his forehead continued to flow down at an exaggerated speed.

Garen casually confronted Buggy for a few seconds.

Seeing that the cooldown time was up, Garen raised his right hand holding the sword: "Fatal Strike!"

The greatsword suddenly lit up with a dazzling light of justice.

Then, Garen gently touched Buggy's foot, which he was tightly holding in his left hand, with the glowing greatsword.

Buggy's body parts flying in the air fell from the sky like hailstones once again, crashing heavily onto the deck.

"It's over!"

Buggy, who was paralyzed on the deck for the second time in the form of body parts, had completely understood his current situation:

His vital point was being held in Garen's hand, making it impossible for him to escape or even return to his normal physical form;

And the other party could easily use strange methods similar to seastone to restrain his fruit ability, turning him into a pile of parts at any time while he was in a split state.

This was undoubtedly a desperate situation with a slim chance of survival.

The 1.5-second silence time quickly passed, and Buggy regained control of his split body once again, but he no longer dared to act rashly.

And Buggy's subordinates suffered countless casualties, and the remaining small number of grunts had long lost their courage and cowered on the edge of the deck.

One of the two elite officers was trembling while hugging his pet lion, while the other stood stiffly to the side, leaning on the katana at his waist as if to draw his sword, but he couldn't draw it no matter how hard he tried.

The Buggy Pirates were now completely annihilated.

Garen held Buggy's foot with a relaxed expression, while the greatsword in his hand was always ready to deliver a Fatal Strike.

Wallace, who had been hiding on the edge of the battlefield filming the scene, also mustered up the courage to step forward and give a close-up of the victorious scene of the righteous knight Garen defeating the great pirate Buggy.

And Nami walked to Garen's side with an excited expression, her eyes shining as she looked at Buggy's head, which had just flown up from the ground.

"Is this red nose worth 15 million Beli?"

In Nami's eyes, the great Captain Buggy had already turned into a stack of thick banknotes.

"Yes."

Garen also followed Nami's words and started to calculate:

"Adding this red nose, we can get a bounty of 25 million Beli when we go to Loguetown."

Buggy's face immediately turned ugly:

The other party opened his mouth to discuss exchanging for bounty money, presumably a powerful pirate hunter who had emerged from nowhere.

For pirates, being defeated by pirate hunters was even worse than being captured by the Marines:

As long as they weren't lucky enough to be caught by Akainu himself, pirates captured by the Marines could basically save their lives, and their future food, clothing, housing, and transportation would be guaranteed.

But if they were defeated by pirate hunters who took heads for bounty money, then ninety-nine percent of the pirates were doomed.

"..."

Nami understood something from Buggy's suddenly changing expression.

She stroked her smooth, slender chin, a sly glint suddenly flashing in her eyes:

"Garen, about going to Loguetown to exchange the bounty..."

"Do you think we should lead the way, or bring him along with us?"

"Huh?"

Garen was slightly stunned.

Buggy, however, was so frightened that a layer of cold sweat instantly appeared on his forehead. He hurriedly flew his head in front of Nami, smiling ingratiatingly:

"Beautiful lady!"

"Bring him! Just bring him along!"

"My bounty says 'Dead or Alive,' a living person can also be exchanged for the bounty!"

"Oh?"

A dangerous glint gradually appeared in Nami's light orange pupils:

"Escorting a living pirate to exchange for a bounty involves great risk."

"Who should bear this potential loss?"

Nami's dangerous and cold voice echoed in his ears, and Buggy immediately felt as if he had been caught in the palm of a greedy demon.

He frowned in tangled thought, his bright red nose twitching incessantly.

Finally, Buggy shouted as if he had made a difficult decision:

"I also have treasure worth one million Beli hidden on my ship!"

"One million?"

Nami, who had been stealing various pirate treasures for years and knew the wealth of ordinary pirates like the back of her hand, immediately showed a mocking and indifferent smile:

"Garen, we'll lead the way!"

"Alright!"

Garen also understood the current situation and immediately raised his greatsword, making a gesture to chop at the Buggy's foot in his hand.

"Wait!"

Buggy was so frightened that his soul almost left his body, and he immediately changed his tune, saying, "I have five million... treasure worth five million Beli!"

"Five million Beli?"

Nami squinted slightly and said to Garen in an even more dissatisfied tone, "Do you think that's enough?"

"How could five million be enough?"

Garen showed a disdainful expression in cooperation:

"It's enough to buy a toilet, but the remaining money isn't even enough for renovations!"

After experiencing economic activities such as paying for Tai Ri Tian's prostitution, paying for his own meals, and purchasing naval supplies in the market, Garen roughly understood the purchasing power of the "Beli" currency.

Considering the prices of various commodities, the "Beli" commonly used in the sea is almost equivalent to the Japanese Yen.

Of course, due to different market supply and demand conditions, the price differences between many commodities in the two worlds can be said to be worlds apart.

For example, sailing ships for navigation are only affordable for the rich on Earth, but they are as common as bicycles in this pirate world.

On the other hand, real estate that cannot be sold in the pirate world at a throwaway price can be so expensive on Earth that people have to work for the bank for thirty years.

The 5 million Beli promised by Buggy is less than 300,000 RMB when converted... indeed, it's just enough to buy a toilet.

And Buggy's own net worth of 15 million is only enough to buy a bedroom.

Any of the friends in first-tier cities can sell a commercial house and exchange it for Beli to buy a Pirate Empress, and the remaining money can be used to buy a dozen Dark King Rayleighs as extras at the Sabaody slave auction house.

"Tch!"

Buggy was so angry at Garen's words that his face turned livid:

"Five million Beli isn't enough for you to buy a toilet?!"

"Are you a Celestial Dragon living in the Holy Land Mariejois?"

Nami also silently gave Garen a reproachful look:

Even if it was an exaggeration to intimidate Buggy, the claim that five million Beli couldn't buy a toilet was too outrageous.

If the house prices were really that high, wouldn't the residents there be forced to go to sea and become pirates?

"Celestial Dragon? That's not wrong, in a way..."

Garen started telling a joke that could freeze people to death:

"I am indeed a descendant of the Great Celestial Dragon."

"Huh?!"

Wallace's eyes lit up:

"Lord Garen, you actually... you actually have such a background?!"

"Hey, hey..."

Garen hurriedly interrupted, saying:

"I was just joking, what are you doing with the paper and pen?!"

"Don't always be thinking about making big news!"