You Can't Change Anything

Luo believed that whatever joy was, Buggy couldn't control it.

And just as he expected.

As soon as he returned to the Navy's District 66 Base, stepping inside the thick concrete walls.

He was unceremoniously locked up.

As if he were some heinous pirate.

In an interrogation room many floors below the base, Buggy finally met the Base Commander.

"Do you really think what you did was for justice?"

Sicily's voice was blunt as he questioned.

He had a square face with a crescent-shaped mustache.

A ferocious scar under his left eye marked him as different from Buggy.

His Major General position was clearly built upon the heads of many pirates or innocent people.

"Foolish!"

"This island was like this a hundred years ago, it's like this now, and it will be like this in another hundred years."

"You can't change anything!"

"Put away that sanctimonious act of yours. The entire Lux Family has been wiped out because of you!"

What Sicily couldn't understand the most was why, why would Arrow, who was himself a beneficiary, even a participant in the slave game, act with such high moral ground and arrogant attitude to raid another auction house.

And even declare in the newspaper that he wanted to liberate slaves!

"That's truly a shame."

Buggy casually shook the handcuffs on his wrists and glanced around the solitary confinement cell.

What a familiar feeling!

"But what do you think I did it for, Lord Sicily?" he politely retorted.

For some reason, when Sicily heard this retort, an inexplicable tremor ran through the depths of his heart.

As if something terrifying was about to happen.

"Madman!"

Finally, he spat out these two words from between his gritted teeth.

"Madman," that was his assessment of this Noble Major.

The cell used to detain this Major was located on the third basement level of the base.

A cold iron plate bed occupied one-third of the cell's space.

An incandescent lamp hung from the ceiling.

Beyond the solitary incandescent lamp lay long stretches of darkness.

There wasn't the slightest sound, not even a guard.

Such deep darkness and silence felt like an unfathomable abyss, constantly pulling one's heart down.

"We've never used this solitary confinement room before. Is it really okay to lock Major Arrow in there?"

"Besides, the order from headquarters was only temporary."

"Shut up." Sicily shot a glance at his oblivious adjutant.

Buggy's expression when he asked his final question always made him uneasy.

So uneasy that he needed to lock Buggy in the deepest solitary confinement room to find some peace of mind.

"Go investigate again. Besides Diouf, who else has Major Arrow contacted?"

"No, including Diouf, investigate them all!"

"I don't believe it. He was fine in the detention base, but he becomes a madman when he gets to me!"

"Wow, look! It's a Ferris wheel!"

In Soap Bubble Park, the Straw Hat Pirates were like Liu Laolao entering the Grand View Garden, exclaiming and darting around.

The magical bubble creations immediately captured their attention.

"Heh heh." Robin chuckled, covering the corner of her mouth. These joyful people seemed capable of dispelling all her past repression.

However, she also noticed that among the crowds in Commoner Street, there seemed to be a stifled atmosphere.

Her ears, which grew on street corners and alleyways, faintly heard.

It seemed to be related to a certain newspaper that was no longer being published.

With a casual grab, she snatched a newspaper from someone's home.

Then, through repeated actions of passing it from her left hand to her right.

The Flower-Flower Fruit's ability allows Robin's limbs to grow arbitrarily.

This newspaper landed in front of her.

"Navy. Major Arrow Frees Slaves"

"Truly incredible."

Having grown up constantly pursued by the World Government, Robin understood the weight of this headline even more.

Connecting it to the stifled atmosphere among the residents of Commoner Street, she had a dawning realization.

"Robin-chan!"

"What are you looking at?!"

The joyful Mermaid Keimi bounced over, full of curiosity about this human world.

She was so excited that she accidentally revealed her fishtail.

Several figures at the street corner noticed this.

They slowly moved closer.

Robin's eyes turned cold, and she crossed her arms, ready to twist the newcomers' necks at any moment.

"Please be careful!"

The newcomers approached with displeasure, holding a yellowed price list.

They pointed to it. "Female mermaids can fetch a sky-high price of seventy million Belly from those Slave Catchers!"

"I'm worth that much?!"

"Who are you?"

Robin blinked, surprised by the sudden shift.

The newcomer gave a simple, honest smile.

"We are Major Arrow's Followers!"

"Followers?"

"Yes, even if the Navy doesn't acknowledge that response, Major Arrow at least acted. If he hadn't burned down the Area 1 Human Auction House, those Slave Catchers would still be rampant!"

The newcomer still sounded indignant. "The Navy, and the World Government, they're all the same as the Slave Catchers!"

"They even try to ban newspapers that have already been published."

"Speaking of which, the newspaper you have there is quite rare. We're all keeping that day's paper hidden away now."

"Thank you very much."

Robin couldn't help but smile. The Navy, shouting about liberating slaves, was indeed special.

Even Kemi beside her looked like she was still recovering from a scare.

She had already heard from her own people about the fate of slaves.

It was a hundred times more terrifying than being made into sashimi!

"You're welcome!"

"No to a cruel world! This is Major Arrow's declaration, and it's our creed!"

The newcomer's eyes grew firmer, their large hand clenched tightly.

"We will absolutely not let them cover up what Major Arrow did, even if they're still making a big show of publicly executing a pirate named Ace to steal people's attention!"

"Ace?!"

"Execution!?"

Robin flinched as if electrocuted.

The Ace being publicly executed by the Navy could only be that person, Fire Fist Ace of the Whitebeard Pirates?!

How could the man known as the Strongest Man in the World just stand by and watch his son be executed?!

This was...

A harbinger of war!

Under the lonely incandescent lamp.

Buggy tapped the iron bed frame rhythmically, humming a tune now and then.

A solitary, dim solitary confinement cell.

Heh, how novel!

The solitary confinement cells at Arkham Asylum were just like his own home.

"It should start soon."

"Wait, still need to wait..."

Just the thought of the upcoming Joyful Game, which would sweep across the world, made him chuckle.

His smile grew even brighter.

There was no one guarding this place, so he could return to his true appearance.

In the dark, solitary confinement cell.

One could see a Joker chuckling to himself.

If one looked a little closer, they would also notice.

With his delighted laughter.

Under Buggy's tapping fingers, faint, split-like white marks appeared on the iron bed frame.

The Devil was very satisfied with him!