On the plaza outside the Temple of Jess.
Buggy removed the mask that had transformed back into the red-rimmed glasses; the glasses' energy had apparently been depleted.
A cloud of mist in front of the temple swirled and rose, converging to reveal Bag's figure. He stared intently at Buggy, but seemed somewhat wary and did not immediately make a move.
Seeing this scene, Buggy knew that his initial bluff had worked. Considering his performance in the battle, where he was no weaker than his opponent, Bag must have concluded that "this Blue Sea insect should have the ability to resist the Mantra." Although this power was provided by the Flying Dragon Mask, Bag was unaware of it. This difference in information made him subconsciously cautious.
"Alright... the battle is about to officially begin." Buggy threw his cape and everything else on the ground, leaving him only in his red and white striped bodysuit.
"What are you planning now... those Blue Sea bugs?" Bag paused for half a second after speaking, then his brows furrowed tightly, and his eyes suddenly filled with extreme anger. He... he... actually mistook the Blue Sea bugs for opponents of the same level as him!!
"Die!" Bag roared uncontrollably, slamming his hands on the ground. Suddenly, dark cloud tentacles, each over ten meters long, shot out from the ground and slammed down towards Buggy.
Just as the dark cloud's tentacles slammed down, a cunning smile appeared on Buggy's lips. " Life Return. Lightning Flash."
boom!!
The massive, high-quality dark cloud slammed into the ground, creating a huge crater with a deafening roar. When the dark cloud's tentacles rose, Buggy was nowhere to be seen on the ground... He dodged in an instant and stood on one of the dark cloud's tentacles!
Buggy, now shrunken, suddenly leaped towards Bag, sacrificing his strength but gaining nearly twice the speed of before, effortlessly dodging the tentacles attacking from all sides.
Life Return possesses the ability to convert strength and speed into each other to a certain extent. In the battle on Enies Lobby in the original work, Rob Lucci was already able to skillfully use this ability.
Buggy had been working on this ever since he received the Life Return ability, but he hadn't really grasped the direction or the feeling until recently. Only then did he feel that he had broken through the bottleneck, as if it were a natural progression, and he was able to use the Life Return ability to make an equal change in strength and speed.
This current speed allowed him to maneuver through the dark cloud tentacles and rapidly approach Bag.
Bag was also taken aback. In his imagination, this insect from the Blue Sea shouldn't possess such speed...
"Marshmallow, don't get distracted during the battle..."
When Bag came to his senses, the other person's hateful, ridiculous, and despicable face was less than half a meter away from him, and then a fierce black iron fist slammed down.
The thought flashed through his mind, but he still didn't have time to transform into his elemental form to dodge. In an instant, his entire body flew backward and crashed heavily into the pillars on either side of the temple entrance.
Jess and Karma, who had just stepped out of the door, quickly backed away, looking incredulously at Bag, who was crawling up from the dust after being knocked down. At this moment, Bag's eyes turned unusually cold. "You Blue Sea bug, you have angered me..."
Before he could finish speaking, Buggy flashed forward again, giving his opponent no chance to react. His two black index fingers, imbued with power, swiftly thrust forward—" Shigan. Black Bell!!"
Thump!
As if one could hear the sound of a wooden mallet striking a bronze bell, Bag conjured a curved Iron Cloud shield capable of withstanding even greater force, but he was still a beat too slow. His body was once again sent flying by the Shigan, smashing the gatepost at the entrance of the hall, which was so thick that three people could barely encircle it, to pieces.
The shards of the goalpost were cleared away, and Bag's figure emerged once more from the flowing mist. His once pristine white clothes were now stained with unsightly marks, and blood trickled down from the wound on his forehead and nose, dripping onto the ground.
" Cloud Armor, Cloud Spear!!" Bag clenched his fists, instantly covering his body in a layer of flowing white cloud armor. A white knight's lance materialized in his hand, which he coldly pointed at Buggy. " Blue Sea bug, you should be grateful you could be forced to this point, even if you die immediately. I know you possess a strange power capable of attacking my elemental form, but from now on, you will be powerless... I will show you what despair truly means!!"
"Then... let's give it a try!" Buggy took a step forward, used Shave to instantly disappear from his spot, and launched a preemptive attack.
" Shigan. Black Bell!"
The Shigan, coated with Armament Haki, once again stabbed at Bag without mercy. Just as the finger was about to touch the latter, the Cloud Armor on his body spontaneously condensed a cloud of mist to block it. This cloud of mist was somewhat different from the previous one. The moment the white cloud was pierced by the Shigan, it was as if time had reversed, and all the cracks were tightly sealed together again, leaving no trace.
At the same time Buggy unleashed his Shigan, Bag thrust his knight's lance at him. He seemed to have known all along that Buggy's attack would be ineffective against him, so he didn't hesitate at all. This strike was fast and ruthless, and there was no way to avoid it.
Instantly, a blue flame-like explosion erupted from the tip of the knight's lance.
Buggy, who was at the center of the explosion, was thrown back several meters like a rag doll, and a burnt smell emanated from his body. He rolled several times and managed to adjust his position in mid-air, landing on his feet facing Bag, his body staggering and almost falling to the ground.
Feel the despair!
Bag took the initiative to attack. Even after donning armor and wielding a spear, he was still able to use the surrounding Island Cloud to teleport using elemental abilities. In just a moment, he closed in on Buggy, thrusting his knight's spear in succession, each thrust causing various kinds of damage.
He can control all kinds of clouds: Thundercloud, sticky clouds, swamp clouds, dark clouds, Iron Cloud, and rope clouds. When these are superimposed and covered together, they can become extremely terrifying moves. For example, the thunder and flames produced by the combination of Thundercloud and sticky clouds are more powerful than ordinary explosions, and they can also paralyze and electrocute people.
Swamp clouds and dark clouds together will create immense compressive force; Iron Cloud and rope clouds will form blades thinner than steel wires; sticky clouds and rope clouds will form syringe bombs—each one is terrifying...
Under Bag's fierce offensive, even if Buggy wanted to retaliate, the attack he prepared in an instant not only failed to break through the opponent's Cloud Armor, but also exposed his own weaknesses. Although he could Chop-Chop, he dared not easily split his body under the restraint of the swamp cloud that swallowed people like a swamp. In just a moment, more than a dozen wounds appeared on his body, some were caused by explosions, some were knife wounds, and some were black burns.
boom!!
The knight's lance unleashed another burst of lightning and flame, creating a violent explosion. Buggy was propelled outwards by the blast, landing steadily on the ground. He caught his breath and calmly looked at Bag: "Is this all your strongest attack is?"
"It's already so badly injured... why won't it just die? It's just an insect..."
Seeing Buggy acting as if nothing had happened, Bag's entire face trembled with rage. He couldn't even kill an insect! The arrogant Bag was nearly driven to the brink of uncontrollable fury. "Die! Die!!"
"Now it's my turn to attack!" Buggy bent his knees, adopting a horse stance, his eyes suddenly sharpening. " Life Return ... The Circus!!"
In an instant, the surrounding air vibrated on its own, and Buggy's figure seemed to have entered the realm between reality and illusion, like a screen image that would be interrupted after signal interference, his entire body began to flicker.
"Damn bug, stop pretending!!" Bag walked towards Buggy step by step. The Cloud Armor granted him the strongest defense and confidence. He no longer needed to dodge; he only needed to use the most violent and direct methods to completely crush his opponent, just like crushing an insect!
Buggy watched as Bag approached, and slowly pushed his palm forward. The Island Cloud beneath his feet sank in, and a popping sound like popcorn filled the air.
The instant his right palm was completely flattened, Bag instinctively raised the Cloud Spear in his hand. Suddenly, the Cloud Spear was covered with swamp clouds that devoured and slowed down the power, solid Iron Cloud, and dark clouds that increased in mass for defense. In the next instant, the knight's spear covered with three layers of clouds turned into countless dust particles and scattered with the wind.
Even through the Cloud Armor, Bag could still feel his body begin to vibrate violently, as if his internal organs were about to shift!
The second invisible and colorless impact from Buggy's left hand followed immediately, instantly shattering the Cloud Armor on Bag's body. Although the Cloud Armor could absorb his own power to fill and close up, it still couldn't stop the force of the impact. In just a moment, the Cloud Armor completely cracked, Bag suddenly bent over like a shrimp, his expression one of pain.
Buggy's body, seemingly caught between reality and illusion, fluttered and vanished in an instant. He began to vibrate at its highest frequency, causing the Island Cloud and the temple to sway and countless energies to surge and converge.
" Overfrequency Dimension!!"
In an instant, the particle returned to human form, using its hand covered in Armament Haki as a medium, and an incredibly powerful energy was directly imprinted on Bag's forehead. Accompanied by a strong buzzing sound, a white cloud several meters long suddenly appeared behind him, scattering in all directions like blooming fireworks.
Bag's body flew backward like a meteor, his body breaking open with numerous fine cuts, splattering blood that dripped onto the ground.
boom!!
Bag's flying body seemed to have struck a pillar of the temple, causing the entire front half of the temple to collapse into ruins, burying him inside.
Buggy was also pushed back by this force. He was already seriously injured, and after forcibly overexerting his strength, he spat out mouthfuls of blood. After flying back for more than ten meters, he fell at the edge of the square. He heard a loud buzzing in his ears, his vision turned gray and black, and his mind spun. Waves of dizziness washed over him.
Life Return can be sacrificed to increase speed, and vice versa. The " Circus " trick converts speed into power. Only by combining his own power with this converted power can he sustain the continuous, high-frequency, fragmented vibration of his entire body.
Only under these conditions can the Split Cannon be fired outwards, and two Split Cannon are currently the limit.
This Split Cannon is similar to the Overfrequency Dimension, using vibrations in the air and the air itself as the attack medium. It uses penetrating force to cause damage. This Split Cannon has a larger attack range, but its power is much smaller than that of the Overfrequency Dimension.
In fact, Buggy had planned to use this move from the beginning, but he knew that his opponent had a powerful Mantra. If he sacrificed speed to increase his strength, he would not only become a sitting duck whose movements would become very slow, but he would also consume a lot of energy.
Before knowing what cards Bag had up his sleeve, he dared not make any rash moves. Instead, he chose to constantly test his opponent. The hit rate of both the Split Cannon and the Overfrequency Dimension was not very high. Once he failed, he would be at the mercy of his opponent, with no hope of turning the tide.
Finally, when Buggy faced Bag 'Cloud Spear attack, although he was already seriously injured, he still pretended to be nonchalant. He wanted to completely provoke his opponent. For such a proud person, failure was unforgivable, not to mention that he could not annihilate the "bug" despite repeated provocations.
The Mantra becomes disordered when angry. Even those who have cultivated to a high level in this area are not immune to the influence of emotions. If it were Bag in a normal state, as long as he could predict the trajectory of the Split Cannon, he would have a very high probability of dodging it, and he would not have been hit by Buggy's " Overfrequency Dimension " in the last moment of weakness.
Buggy had carefully considered this battle beforehand. To increase the chances of winning against an enemy with a powerful Mantra and a Logia ability, the only way was to know all of the opponent's trump cards and make them lose or give up the advantage of Mantra, ensuring that he could hit the opponent and then launch a fatal blow.
" Blue Sea People... Blue Sea People... Blue Sea People..."
Buggy could only hear intermittent sounds. His temporary blindness prevented him from seeing anything in front of him, and he was now too exhausted to speak or move.
After a moment, the light finally brightened, and she could see white and other colors dominating most of her field of vision. Jess stood to one side, gazing at the sky and murmuring absently, " Bag..."
Buggy managed to lift his head and follow her gaze to the sky.