This wasn't just a spark.
It was like dousing a pile of bone-dry hay with gasoline and tossing in a match.
Whoosh!
A raging fire spread across District 61, the estate district belonging to the nobles and officials. It was the quietest, most peaceful—and darkest—place on the Sabaody Archipelago for the past several hundred years.
"We got him! We got him, hahaha!"
In front of a copper gate overgrown with ivy, a lavishly dressed man was dragged out by force.
"Now for the auction!" The men dragging him wore coarse, obviously cheap shirts and shorts, yet expensive gold and jewelry dangled from their wrists and waists.
"Baron Garcia, Your Excellency." The leader looked young, with dark skin.
Yet he tried his hardest to force a smile, imitating Buggy's expression.
"His starting bid is one Marine Major!"
"Going once! Going once!"
People around them kept jeering. Their brownish-gray coarse clothes clashed horribly with the estate's refined and elegant surroundings.
"Don't let it go unsold! It can't go unsold!" Baron Garcia was clearly startled at the words "going unsold."
Buggy's actions had given the word "unsold" a new meaning across the world.
"We don't want it to go unsold either, but unfortunately, Baron Garcia, there aren't any Marines here to uphold justice for you."
The leader gripped a long sword set with a Big Ruby, his gaze growing increasingly vicious.
If he killed the man, he could claim this beautiful estate and enjoy the services of its beautiful slaves!
He could have everything the man had.
It wasn't just copycat crimes.
Many others, ambitious or unwilling to remain at the bottom, had also realized something.
The Marines really couldn't spare anyone right now.
It seemed the World Government's order no longer existed.
Once ignited, the flames of chaos spread wildly, completely beyond anyone's control.
They burned the long-hidden darkness until it was barely alive, while spreading to everything else that could catch fire.
"Don't expect reason from chaos. I certainly don't."
When Buggy emerged from the Celestial Dragon's mansion, so visibly distinct from the residences of other nobles, this was the chaotic scene he found.
The instant order collapsed, everything attached to its chain—good or bad—was bound to be swept away.
There was no way to avoid bloodshed.
"Good thing I was a criminal to begin with."
He had no sense whatsoever that he was the one to blame, even though countless self-proclaimed champions of justice would hold him responsible for the deaths of innocents in the collapse of order.
But there was something interesting.
Buggy also spotted the slave woman who had cut off a lock of her hair for him—the woman named Swan.
The group she led was completely different from the other unruly mobs.
Instead, they moved in an orderly fashion. After defeating the guards at one estate, they immediately freed the slaves covered in shackles.
Their group was growing.
Even their retreat was decisive and swift.
Resin bubbles taller than a person were packed with food, weapons, clothes, and gold.
They hadn't taken any of the impractical antiques or furniture.
Put a pair of wheels on those bubbles, and they became the most convenient and popular means of transport on the archipelago—the Bubble Bicycle.
Seeing them ride past in a great crowd not far from Buggy felt rather strange.
A group of cyclists robbing the rich to enrich themselves.
And shouting some kind of slogan with burning passion.
"We don't want this cruel world!"
For some reason, it sounded familiar to Buggy, as if he'd heard it somewhere before.
He turned his head and saw the girl with short, straight black hair.
Her snow-white, bright face bore a serious expression, and a few strands of hair clung to her temples with sweat.
It was hard to connect her to the pitiful figure she'd been inside the iron cage.
But now she looked so much more lively and beautiful.
At the thought, a faint smile returned to Buggy's face.
He wasn't someone who fell for beauty.
As if by fate, he and Swan met each other's eyes.
That lunatic is here!!
Swan's first reaction when she recognized his face was to run!
The farther she got from that lunatic, the better!
The Marines and World Government would surely show up at any moment.
She still had to carry on Lord Arrow's legacy. She couldn't let herself be buried here with him.
Thinking of the man she had already sanctified in her heart, Swan couldn't help feeling a pang of sorrow.
What confused her a little was that Mr. Jacques and Mr. Arne, who had been by Lord Arrow's side from the very beginning, seemed completely unmoved by all this.
Once she figured it out, Swan sprang to her feet and pedaled with all her might on her long legs.
"Get out of here, now!"
Her crisp voice rang out across the whole group.
Swan's intuition wasn't wrong.
At least for the moment, this was the island's only window of opportunity.
Right now, both the CP Organization of the World Government and the Marines from District 66 had been lured by Buggy to the Human Auction House in District 1.
Well, he wondered if they'd managed to hang those two Celestial Dragons.
Buggy thought about it with anticipation.
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The soil of the Sabaody Archipelago was held together by the roots of the mangroves, and the spaces between them were crisscrossed with dense waterways.
Although they weren't suitable for mooring medium-sized or larger ships, they were more than wide enough for boats about the size of small trucks to pass through.
Morgans knew he was already tied to a sinking ship and couldn't get off.
Even though he'd reached District 14 ahead of time, bringing supplies and the boat he'd prepared in advance,
he still obediently waited for Buggy to arrive.
He was afraid—afraid of ending up like Photo King.
That was a terrifying way for a bird to die!
Of course, in Morgans's heart, he also felt a faint excitement about creating such huge news.
After leaving the estate district, Buggy had actually toned things down a little, using his Splitting Ability to make a few small adjustments to his appearance.
He wasn't pretending to be Arrow.
That identity had only been a point from which to tear order apart.
Now, it seemed to have worked pretty well.
He'd also indulged his pirate instincts and hijacked a Bubble Bicycle, riding leisurely between the islands.
Behind him,
buildings kept catching fire and burning, while people fought all along the streets.
The whole place was in chaos.
The unspoken understanding between the Lawless Zone and the lawful districts had been torn apart in an instant by ambition and greed.
"Do you know why I'm always smiling? It's because I often see the funny side of things."
"Isn't that right, Brother Rayleigh?"
With a slight lilt in his voice, Buggy warmly greeted the white-haired man before him.
They'd once been companions on the same ship, raising their cups together in merriment.
He hadn't forgotten those days. Beyond the chaos, they were among the few memories that still brought Buggy the same comfort.
A world of three people required some compromise, after all.
Buggy had accepted that openly.
He just didn't know why Rayleigh looked so serious.
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