Moya's Smile

Fortunately, Buggy still remembered the basic methods for training Haki.

He knew of the awakening and training for Observation Haki, as well as the training for Armament Haki coating and hardening, but he had never even heard of the advanced application of Armament Haki, Ryou.

As for Conqueror's Haki, he had only heard one sentence: it is born in kings, with only one in a million possessing it, and that was all.

However, over these many years, due to his treasure hunting, laziness, and fear of hardship, Buggy's Haki had actually been regressing, almost to the point of zero.

No, it should be said that there was no Haki left in his body at all; he could only cower in the East Blue, the weakest of the seas, lingering near Loguetown after Roger's death, until now, when he was even defeated by the newcomer Luffy.

He really is a weakling.

I actually believed the nonsense on the forums back on Earth, truly thinking Buggy was a hidden boss as goofy as Obito.

Pah!

However, Buggy's Conqueror's luck was actually quite something; there were many instances in his memories of him stumbling into windfalls.

Setting aside these distracting thoughts, Moya directly extracted the memory clusters roughly related to Buggy's time on the One Piece ship and slid them into his own mind.

Moya greedily absorbed the methods for training Haki.

In the end, Moya was astonished to discover that after having the majority of his later life's memories extracted, Buggy's mental state was not in the least bit chaotic; the negative symptoms were roughly the same as those of most people suffering from amnesia.

Hiss—is this the constitution of someone who possesses Conqueror's luck?

The current Buggy was just a forty-something-year-old "old youth" with the memories of a teenager.

Seeing Buggy slowly wake up.

"Why do I feel like I've forgotten something important!"

Buggy's time on the Roger Pirates and the eating of his Devil Fruit—these memories had all been extracted by Moya.

Now, Buggy was just an ignorant little brat from before he joined the Roger Pirates.

With no other choice, Moya dragged Buggy through a re-education process, feeding him a fabricated story: that Buggy had eaten a Devil Fruit, which caused his body to age and led to temporary amnesia, and that he had subsequently joined the Moya Adventure Group. He instilled this into the "old-yet-young, young-yet-old" Buggy.

While he was at it, he re-explained the techniques of the Slip-Slip Fruit to Buggy; whether he believed it or learned it was beyond Moya's control.

Looking at the wary Buggy, Moya had no choice but to pull the same trick he used to lure Nami once more.

He explicitly told Buggy that he had discovered the location of the Golden City treasure—even though Buggy had been to Skypiea in the past, he had no memory of it now.

Moya was simply deceiving this treasure-hunting fanatic.

Thus, Buggy defaulted to the idea that he wanted to follow Moya to hunt for treasure.

Lying is truly not easy.

He hoped that one day, when these lies fell apart, he would already have enough strength to protect himself.

The others saw Buggy following obediently behind Moya without resistance.

Although they noticed some oddities about Buggy, they were under someone else's roof, so the Buggy Pirates naturally submitted to the Moya Adventure Group.

After straightening everything out.

Moya smiled, smiling very happily; although these were only basic Haki training methods, they were an important step in his journey toward becoming a powerhouse.

He had originally been worried that he couldn't beat Arlong, but Moya believed that if given some time to train his Armament Haki coating, he would basically be able to sweep through all the small-time pirates in the East Blue.

Moya even went out of his way to subdue [threaten] Richie the Lion, making it a pet and exclusive mount for himself and Rika, and Mohji didn't dare to object.

Moya ordered the pirates to reorganize as adventure crew members, mandating that all their eccentric clothing be replaced with a uniform black, and that the sails and exterior of Buggy's ship be modified to match the aesthetic of the Yanhuang.

Buggy's ship was larger, so it became the flagship, the Yanhuang, while the original Yanhuang became the Yanhuang No. 2.

Zoro watched the busy Moya Adventure Group and the still-unconscious Luffy, and in the end, he couldn't help but ask Moya to prepare a large amount of meat to wake Luffy up.

Facing Zoro's request, Moya knew he couldn't subdue him; if he extracted Zoro's swordsmanship memories, he feared that Dragon might kill him on the spot—this was a risk he could not take!

Nami was not yet Luffy's crewmate, so Moya dared to "snatch" her, but Zoro was already Luffy's crewmate, and it was precisely because of Dragon and Koushiro that Moya dared not snatch him!

Therefore, Moya made a deal with Zoro, letting him spend the night constantly recalling his swordsmanship training experiences and methods, and requiring him to use the sword techniques he had already mastered throughout the night.

Moya's development of the Slip-Slip Fruit had made some progress.

Moya just wanted to try and see if he could extract a single day's worth of memories.

He wanted to see if a day's worth of memories could be strengthened into a memory cluster.

This was another method that caused little harm but was super useful.

At first, Zoro was hesitant, but after Moya leaked the news that Hawkeye would soon be coming to the East Blue, Zoro agreed immediately.

The next day, Moya actually succeeded in touching the memory cluster of the swordsmanship and techniques Zoro had focused on the previous day.

Moya successfully browsed the memories of his swordsmanship training methods and insights, which excited him for a long time, while Zoro had only lost one night's worth of memories—not a big problem.

Looking at the pig-like Luffy, a crazy conjecture suddenly flashed in the depths of Moya's mind.

"Let me give Luffy a massage and some treatment."

His Devil Fruit ability activated, reaching deep into the recesses of Luffy's mind. With a "boom," Moya's soul felt as if it had been shaken. Sure enough, deep within the pale yellow memory cluster, there was a cluster of purple-red, almost tangible energy.

It was the seed of innate Conqueror's Haki, or rather, the genetic factor of his spirit; he could feel the pressure of this "seed."

Moya tried his best to remain conscious as he stole these seeds, shifting and sliding them into the soul within his own mind.

Sensing the threat from Moya, the seed began to riot, and Moya's soul was shaken to the point of dizziness.

The green-robed figure in mid-air watched Moya's dangerous behavior, his eyes narrowing as a domineering aura surged directly toward Moya's soul.

Moya shuddered violently, his head throbbing with agonizing pain. Gritting his teeth, his eyes filled with madness; at the very brink of collapse, he unleashed his Devil Fruit ability to its absolute limit.

Before losing consciousness, he ruthlessly scraped off a portion of the Conqueror's Haki seed and slid it into his own soul.

Seeing the two people suddenly collapse to the ground, Zoro was completely dumbfounded. How could a simple rescue mission result in both of them passing out!

Zoro scrambled in a panic, but soon realized there was nothing he could do; he could only wait for them to wake up on their own.

Moya's crew began to nervously approach to protect their captain, keeping a wary eye on Zoro, while Nami rushed over to cradle Moya's head, looking at his pale face with concern.

The newly joined Buggy Pirates watched with varied expressions.

Hidden in the shadows, Dragon also frowned as he watched the two unconscious figures, his mind filled with confusion. Could his mere trace of Conqueror's Haki have knocked this kid out?

There was no reason for it; Dragon was very confident in his control over Conqueror's Haki. He had clearly only intended to intimidate, yet now...

Luffy slowly began to wake up.

"I want meat, I want meat."

Zoro's face darkened. Moya hadn't even woken up yet, and this idiot was already awake and starving!

Zoro looked at Moya with worry. They were currently on Moya's turf, and with Moya unconscious from treating Luffy, their situation was becoming rather precarious.

"Why do I feel so tired and sleepy? I want meat!"

Luffy continued to make a fuss.

Luffy still had no idea that a small portion of something vital had been stolen by Moya, and he kept demanding meat.

Just then, Moya slowly stirred awake.

His first instinct was to check the Conqueror's Haki seed, and he saw that it had stabilized within his soul sea without dissipating.

This filled Moya with pleasant surprise. Given his Earthling constitution, he had only been attempting a gamble, but he had actually succeeded—he had become a potential wielder of Conqueror's Haki!

"Hahahaha~"

In that moment, Moya laughed wildly, tears in his eyes. Don't ask why, for he loved this world so deeply.

Even the splitting headache could not dampen Moya's excitement.

Feeling invigorated, Moya's attitude toward Luffy improved significantly; this guy was a walking experience pack!

Moya gave the order to start a banquet, to treat Straw Hat well, and to celebrate for three days straight.