After the gunshot.
Another figure emerged from behind the sprawling ruins of the burning ship.
His footsteps were hurried at first, but after noticing what was happening ahead, he seemed to quickly compose himself. His pace settled into a steady rhythm.
"Nicely done."
Brownie's face had returned to its usual stern expression.
His coat was badly damaged, and he looked a little worse for wear.
Yet he seemed perfectly at ease, as if everything were under control.
If Buggy hadn't just seen Brownie drenched in cold sweat, he might have suspected that the man was the one who had caused the explosion to escape.
In fact, when he saw Buggy light the fuse,
his first instinct had been to find cover.
Given how deranged the man was, it wouldn't have been surprising if he'd tried to take the entire crew down with him.
Brownie offered the major a casual word of praise.
He knew this was a Noble Major.
A representative of that lot.
Still, after the chaos of the explosion, he'd made it down to the crew quarters quickly and stopped the fleeing pirate before he could get away.
That was commendable.
Brownie glanced at the gunshot wound on the pirate.
It was on the right side of his abdomen.
Not fatal.
Perhaps they planned to take the pirate to the Sabaody Archipelago—a prisoner who'd tried to escape, only to be captured again...
Those people would find him interesting, wouldn't they?
Thinking of the nobles' peculiar tastes, Brownie shuddered.
"Never mind. Once he's delivered to the prison, he won't be my responsibility anymore."
Brownie was long accustomed to it.
Did anyone really expect those Slave Catchers to go out of their way to capture vicious pirates?
What would the Navy be for, then?
Most pirate slaves had actually come from the Navy in the first place. That was why Brownie preferred to kill pirates on the spot.
He couldn't change the system.
And he was inevitably complicit in it himself.
At least they'd killed plenty of pirates, hadn't they?
That was the small comfort he clung to.
"It was my duty, Commodore."
Buggy bowed slightly and replied with a smile.
The moment he bent at the waist, Brownie's heart skipped a beat, as if that disgusting clown were standing in front of him again.
His face suddenly turned ashen.
"Is something wrong, Commodore?"
"N-no, nothing." Brownie gave a couple of dry coughs, suppressing his revulsion.
This was just a weak major who liked putting on airs with Noble Etiquette. There was no need to overreact.
But where had that Red-Nosed Clown run off to...
Had he really taken the chance to escape?
The thought made Brownie's scalp prickle.
In all his years in the Navy, that Red-Nosed Clown was unquestionably the most disgusting opponent he'd ever faced.
Without a doubt!
He'd watched helplessly as the man copied every move he made, then quickly adapted and turned them against him.
Now even the slightest movement required careful consideration!
Worse still, aside from Seastone, there was no way to hurt him. His fragmented body worked just like Elementalization.
For the first time, Brownie had desperately wanted to master Armament Haki.
"This isn't Enies Lobby. There's no need for all that ceremony. A salute is enough."
"Understood."
Buggy readily complied, no longer provoking the Commodore.
Still, it proved that his disguise was working.
Even Brownie, who had just fought him, hadn't noticed a thing.
Besides, the chaos he'd caused had added another layer of confusion to his current identity, making it much harder for the Navy to investigate him afterward.
Brownie was still alive, and the chaos caused by the explosion would soon be brought under control.
They dragged charred bodies of unidentifiable people from the ship's burning compartments.
By midday, half the warship had sunk.
The people aboard the original transport ship could only transfer to the Navy ships that had come to help, including the escapees who'd been recaptured.
Surrounded by fire on all sides and the dark mouths of cannons, they could do little more than resist to the bitter end.
The only thing weighing on Brownie's mind was that the Red-Nosed Clown had vanished.
"Why worry so much over one escaped pirate?" Onigumo said, his face stern and his tone less than pleasant.
The warship had sunk, after all. Brownie would probably get an earful, and Onigumo would likely catch some of the blame too.
"Honestly, you wouldn't understand." Brownie grimaced. "That thing's a monster."
Brownie felt he wouldn't be able to escape the clown's shadow for some time.
"Then don't leave him a single chance."
"On my command, sink the transport ship completely!"
"Sink it?!" Brownie exclaimed. "We don't even know if there are any Marines still aboard!"
Onigumo didn't seem bothered. "Sink it inside the Gate of Justice. It'll be better for both of us."
"After all, the transport ship wasn't following its assigned route."
Well, that was ruthless.
Buggy leaned against the iron railing on the second deck, watching the Navy's movements with mild amusement.
As for taking action...
He'd gone to all the trouble of getting himself a Noble Major's identity. Just being here was already doing his part.
The view from here was perfect.
He could watch the whole thing unfold before his eyes:
one little mushroom cloud after another dragging the massive warship down to the seafloor.
What a dazzling sight.
"Another round of celebratory fireworks. This world really is so welcoming."
"What sort of fun should I bring to this world next?"
Buggy rolled his neck, one idea after another constantly popping into his head.
Find the One Piece?
Boring.
Conquer the world?
Still boring.
As for some righteous adventure...
Buggy thought that wasn't half as entertaining as performing at a circus, pretending to cut himself with a knife.
Suddenly, he remembered that tedious, dull diary.
"Maybe I should squeeze every last bit of value out of this identity first."
Buggy lowered his head. The white Justice Coat billowed in the sea wind.
"Sometimes, the truth is more thrilling than anything else."
Marineford.
A heavy bang rang out from the towering complex of stacked castle walls.
Sengoku slammed the report in his hand down onto the desk.
"What the hell are these idiots doing?!"
He pushed up his round glasses with his left hand and rubbed his brow.
He was getting on in years, and the wrinkles across his forehead and around his eyes were plain to see.
But as the head of the Navy—the largest armed force on the Great Sea—there were many things he couldn't simply decide to handle as he pleased.
Like the report before him.
A Navy transport ship had suffered a prison break. Several vicious pirate prisoners had blown up the ship's boiler room, causing the vessel to sink.
Attached to the report was also a Bounty Order for a Red-Nosed Clown.
Clearly, it was the vicious pirate in question.
The bounty, however, was rather glaring.
Fifteen million Beli.
That would make him one of the top pirates in the East Blue, but on the Grand Line, he wasn't even worth calling a nobody.
And now this nobody had not only escaped Navy custody, but sunk a warship as well.
"Buggy. One Red-Haired is already enough of a headache. Now this guy's appeared too."
"And at a time like this, no less."
Sengoku thoughtfully glanced at a top-secret report on the desk before him.
The sudden accident had also made him hesitate over a major plan he'd been preparing.
"But I will never give up this opportunity."
A man didn't become Fleet Admiral without resolve. Once Sengoku had made up his mind, it wasn't easily changed.
Before you continue