What had it been like the last time he reached Raftel?
Buggy rummaged through his memories. All he could recall was the rough scene... a pod of Island Whales circling together, forming a whirlpool.
Raftel lay at the center of that whirlpool.
More precisely, it should have been on the seabed.
Imu no longer wanted Joker to die so easily.
Moss tentacles coiled around him, their faintly glowing strands squeezing him tight and stopping his bleeding in the process.
He was still hanging upside down.
Buggy struggled a little and discovered that Imu was being rather cautious.
Wrapping him up like a mummy was one thing, but several strands of moss had also squeezed into his existing wounds.
Taking advantage of the lull, he replayed as many details of Imu's earlier move as he could. It had been very similar to Conqueror's Haki, yet seemed to be a level above it.
Even though Buggy had Conqueror's Haki himself, being caught off guard had left his body instantly unable to resist.
"I'm really not used to this."
"I thought I'd get to play a little longer."
His voice was full of regret. Had he not been bound so tightly, he would have gone down and taken a bow. Fuck your mother, Imu-sama. I'm terribly ashamed I couldn't give you a satisfying time.
Imu turned to look. Aside from his mouth and eyes, Joker was bound up tight, yet that mouth was still stretched into a grin.
"Aren't you afraid of death?"
He truly struggled to understand what Joker found so amusing.
Even if he didn't deal the killing blow, Joker would only die a slow death in this state. Why couldn't he see a trace of fear in the man's eyes?
Instead, there was a sense of... finally being able to