All It Took Was an Explosion

Dream Tapirs fed on dreams and kept company with mist.

Emm.

From that angle, the white fog blanketing the sky almost looked like Dream Tapir secretions.

Pretty weird.

But it would still take some time for the thick fog to form and conceal Terror Thriller Bark as it approached.

Conveniently, that gave the fear time to ferment.

Buggy rubbed his hands together in anticipation.

Terror Thriller Bark's mast was incredibly tall. Standing at the top, he could already see the red continent, faintly blending into the night sky in the distance.

The more magnificent it was, the more rotten—and the more worthwhile it would be to destroy.

"Mr. Buggy, I'm here!"

Morgans flapped his wings and clambered up the main mast with some difficulty. A bird that couldn't fly really did face more challenges in life.

His eyes were brimming with excitement.

Unlike Buggy, who wanted to see the established order torn down, this Intelligence Emperor was only after one thing: Big News.

Good or bad, it didn't matter!

Buggy didn't mind that look in his eyes.

They needed to have some desire of their own if he was going to keep these tools firmly in hand.

Fear alone wasn't enough.

He'd understood that a long time ago.

"Get the word out to the World Government."

"The word?" Morgans took out his notebook.

"Right." Buggy rubbed his chin and chuckled. "Tell them the ghosts of God Valley have come back to take revenge."

God Valley?!

Morgans' eyes went wide.

"You knew all along?"

Why did Captain Buggy know about God Valley?

Hadn't the World Government sealed off all information about it? Besides, Captain Buggy hadn't even been aboard the ship back then—

No, that wasn't right!

Captain Buggy had been aboard that ship, after all. It made sense that he'd know something so secret!

"I knew it! Someone like you wouldn't have decided on a whim to come to Terror Thriller Bark."

Birdman looked as if everything had suddenly clicked.

"So you knew all along that Terror Thriller Bark was part of God Valley."

"?"

Buggy turned his head, looking slightly puzzled.

The ghosts he'd mentioned were obviously Captain John, Silver Axe, and the others.

Still, Morgans' words happened to confirm his earlier guess.

Even Moria couldn't afford to build an entire island.

And this ship had come from West Blue, where the God Valley Incident had taken place.

The answer wasn't all that surprising.

"But, Captain Buggy, what if an Admiral comes straight here after we spread the news?"

He didn't ask who was supposed to take revenge on whom.

Nearly eighty percent of the people in this world with blood feuds to settle had the Celestial Dragons in their sights.

But that incident at God Valley had certainly left its mark on the Celestial Dragons.

Well, that was also how I earned my first real fortune from the World Government.

Morgans remembered being a rookie reporter back then. He'd recorded such a shocking event and earned a handsome hush-money payment from the World Government.

"Then spread another story to the pirates. Especially the Supernovas."

Buggy hadn't forgotten that one of this generation's Supernovas was a Marine spy.

Where was he now, anyway? Fish-Man Island?

He wasn't sure, but Buggy trusted Morgans to get the message to him.

"Tell them Whitebeard's remnants are preparing to retaliate against Marineford."

He thought of the corpses of Whitebeard Pirates that Moria had collected and figured the story wasn't far off the mark.

"Spread it to the pirates?" Morgans was taken aback. He didn't quite understand.

Then he asked worriedly, "But what if the World Government doesn't take the bait?"

He meant the smoke screen.

Well, as far as he was concerned, their goal was still to blow up Mary Geoise. They'd already planned it out, hadn't they?

"Then we'll blow up Marineford. I hear they've put a lot of effort into rebuilding it."

Buggy gave Birdman's shoulder a pat.

"Hmm, if they're on high alert at both Mary Geoise and Marineford, we'll blow up Impel Down instead."

He licked his lips. "I'm not picky. Judicial Island works too. All I want is a fireworks show."

"Of course, it'd be best if we could make them afraid."

The thrill of an explosion wasn't just in its brief, dazzling brilliance. It was also in the anticipation as you waited for it to go off.

Buggy was looking forward to it, anyway. He couldn't care less how the people in the World Government felt.

"Use your imagination. Spread plenty of stories and make the World Government panic."

"Where the explosion will happen in the end—"

Buggy's smile turned brilliantly bright. "My dear Mr. Big News, you haven't forgotten, have you?"

"You don't have a plan?"

Morgans looked at that smile and felt a thrill of his own.

He realized he'd underestimated just how crazy this clown was.

Then he chuckled along with him:

"Right. No matter where it blows up, it'll be Big News."

The night grew deeper.

A pirate ship shaped like a penguin sailed out through the jaws of the three-masted ship.

On the somewhat cramped deck,

Secretary Gull's broad wings clattered away as he tapped at something nonstop.

Four Den Den Mushi, each serving a different purpose, surrounded him.

The underground leader of the intelligence business was beginning to show his worth. As his subordinate, Secretary Gull naturally had to get busy too.

Worth was what separated them from food.

Secretary Gull in particular.

He hadn't forgotten the way that madman had looked at him when the food aboard the ship had nearly run out.

It had made Gull's blood run cold!

But what he was doing now would make the whole world tremble.

Judicial Island, Marineford, Mary Geoise, even Impel Down—all of them would soon be quaking at the messages he was preparing to send out.

Of course, it was hard to get anyone to believe rumors without evidence, even if the World Economic News was backing them.

But Buggy had no intention of having Morgans do that.

Give the rumors a little more proof, and people would believe them on their own.

"Captain Buggy, where are we going now?"

Morgans couldn't hold back his curiosity any longer.

It was a journalist's occupational habit: he always wanted to keep asking questions until he got to the bottom of things.

"Are you hungry?"

Buggy tapped a finger against the ship's railing. A steady, muffled rhythm sounded against the wood.

Secretary Gull, who'd been hard at work, suddenly went cold all over.

"Huh?"

"I'm hungry. Let's go to an island and grab a late-night snack."

"Hmm, if everything goes smoothly."

There seemed to be a deeper meaning behind Buggy's words.

In the past, he'd felt like a dog chasing after a car, with no idea what he was supposed to do.

Once he caught up... well, then he'd have something to do.

But now...

He felt like he'd never gotten off the car in the first place.

He was riding an antique train that reeked of rot and old-fashioned stuffiness, rust covering every inch of it, the kind of train that made you want to blast it with a water hose and scrub it clean!