Buggy and his companions walked through a small forest and streams, and then saw a market town in the distance with a constant flow of people.
Cabaji pointed in a direction. " Captain Buggy, I'll go check the northwest side of town then."
"Then I'll go southeast," Mohji said, pointing in the opposite direction.
Cabaji said, "That's perfect, it saves us from seeing you, you white-haired monster, wandering around in front of us and getting on our nerves."
Mohji replied, "Tch, I think so too, One-Eye Hotel!"
After saying this, the two broke away from the group and left on their own.
"Why bother? The Earth is round..." Buggy remarked casually, then looked at the others, "What about you guys?"
" Lemon and I will go check that out over there," Mikuru pointed in a direction. " Shutaro can protect us, meow~"
"Huh..." Shuma tilted his head. "Why should I protect you?"
"Stop talking nonsense and come over here, you're a boy!" Mikuru, holding Kaya and dragging the still somewhat bewildered Shuma along with his other hand, walked towards a side path.
"That's a pretty safer approach." Buggy nodded without objection and said to Lilina, "Then you can stay by my side."
Lilina blushed and said shyly, "Just the two of us alone... I'll get shy..."
"Alright, alright, you don't need to put on that act in front of me." Buggy wiped a bead of cold sweat from his forehead.
"Hehe, why aren't you cooperating with me?" Lilina's expression instantly returned to normal, and she giggled, "Then let's go!"
The vendors on both sides of the market shouted loudly, constantly promoting their goods to passersby: fruits, seafood, wool, cloth, animal hides, antiques... all sorts of things were available.
Along the way, Buggy saw several groups of men in long robes and bright red headscarves moving through the crowd. He whispered to Lilina beside him, "Who are these people?"
Lilina followed Buggy's gaze. "Oh... they're the town's self-defense force. Since the island's nation collapsed centuries ago, the survivors unanimously agreed that there was no need for a nation. So they negotiated and formed a self-defense force to protect the market, the tribe, and fight against pirates and other malicious individuals. Even now, hundreds of years later, they continue this tradition. To them, a nation is an optional machine, or perhaps they simply don't need it."
Buggy murmured thoughtfully, "However... precisely because of this, they still use such primitive methods of trade. Without the drive of profit, without the breeding of ambitious individuals, without national coordination, even hundreds of years from now, this island will still operate in this way. It will be difficult to make progress, but it will also be difficult for wars driven by profit to occur. Should this be called simplicity, or foolishness...?"
Lilina looked at Buggy and blinked in confusion. "Aren't you... overthinking this?"
"Haha." Buggy laughed awkwardly, "Let's go see what strange things we can find up ahead. Maybe we'll get lucky and buy the legendary Rainbow Fish."
As soon as he finished speaking, the surrounding atmosphere fell silent. The vendors stopped talking and hawking their wares, passersby stopped in their tracks, and everyone looked at Buggy in unison.
"Hmm..." Buggy subtly met everyone's gazes, then said in a very low voice, "Did I say something wrong?"
Lilina quickly grabbed Buggy's arm and headed towards a small alley. Then she ran as fast as she could, yelling, "You idiot! You can't mention the words ' Rainbow Fish ' on this island, or you'll be tied up and hanged!"
Buggy and Lilina had just stepped into the alley when they heard hurried footsteps behind them.
A group of Self-Defense Force members dressed in white robes and wearing red headscarves rushed in. "Those two damned bastards ran that way! We have to chase them!!"
After saying that, the group of self-defense soldiers chased after them towards the exit of the alley.
Sitting on the rooftop, Buggy Mantra abilities to sense the retreating Self-Defense Force soldiers before speaking, "It's one thing that these Self-Defense Force names are so sensitive, but their ears are so sensitive too... Besides, we don't really need to run away."
Sitting to the side, Lilina said, "What else do you want if you don't run away? Are you going to kill them?"
"If they really get in my way..." Buggy smirked.
Lilina curled her lip. "Come on, unless you can kill all the thousands of people on the island without blinking, if you hesitate and only kill half of them instead of everyone, then as long as you stay on the island, these people who live with the habits of a primitive tribe will keep looking for you and harassing you."
"Yeah, it doesn't seem necessary to escalate to this point." Buggy's imposing aura vanished, and he shrugged. "We might have to stay on this island for a few more days, and it would sound too stupid to go on a killing spree over something so trivial... But we're already on the 'blacklist,' and being chased on the street later would seem even more humiliating..."
"So..." Lilina's eyes darted around mischievously, "How about we play the role of a thief?"
Buggy glanced sideways at the other person's delicate face, a look of confusion on his face.
Lilina chuckled, "We'll steal a couple of clothes from the locals, and we can disguise ourselves without any problem."
"Are you sure everything's okay?"
"Don't worry, I'll do your makeup beautifully, then no one will recognize you~~"
"Hmm..." Buggy touched his nose, "If that's the case, why did we steal clothes in the first place?"
"Alright, alright, let's go!" Without another word, Lilina grabbed Buggy and jumped off the roof.
Northwest of the market.
Cabaji wandered aimlessly, nothing around him, not even the stalls or other things, could attract his interest. Even the weapons stall he had passed earlier only sold some crudely made ordinary weapons, which greatly disappointed him.
"Take a look! Look closely! Here are the most powerful legendary hero masks!"
Cabaji had already walked dozens of meters away, but after catching sight of the word "hero," he abruptly reversed his body, using a moonwalk-like gait, and walked back to the stall. He stroked his chin and began to carefully browse the goods on the stall.
The vendor with the mustache looked at Cabaji and tentatively touched each item on his stall with one hand. When he touched the "Hero Legend Mask," Cabaji's eyebrows twitched suddenly.
The mustache vendor was immediately overjoyed; this was a fat sheep!
He rubbed his hands together, his face beaming with smiles. "Esteemed guest, have you taken a fancy to this 'Golden Legend' hero mask?"
Cabaji continued to look down at the mask, a hint of attraction in his eyes.
The mustachioed vendor, seizing the opportunity, quickly added, "This customer should know the story of the legendary sea hero ' Sora, ' right? This mask is an image of Sora!"
"Who is this Sora?" Cabaji raised his gloomy face and stared straight at the mustachioed vendor.
The mustachioed vendor was immediately startled by Cabaji's sinister aura and shuddered... Could a guy with a naturally villainous face really be interested in Sora, the hero who serves as a positive role model?!
He forced a smile, "Hero Sora is the protagonist of a comic book serialized in the World Economy News. He's a great legendary hero of the sea, with many fans and customers all over the world. You've surely heard the story: 'Hero Sora, walking on the sea, leads the combined robots and seagulls in battle against the evil army ' Germa 66. ' The evil army fled, leaving behind the declaration 'I will definitely return,' and the song of Sora echoed once more across the sea. This is the legend of a sea hero!' Although the comic book's audience is mainly children, but..."
The mustachioed vendor suddenly realized he'd said something inappropriate, and quickly glanced furtively at Cabaji. Seeing that the other was still deep in thought, he breathed a sigh of relief, thinking, "Thank goodness he didn't hear that the hero mask is just something to fool kids."
The vendor continued rubbing his hands together, forcing a smile, "Sir, if you like it, you can try it on first. I'll definitely get a fair price, hehe..."
Cabaji stared at the hero mask, picked it up, and thought, "Is it just a child's toy? But why is it so attractive? A hero... is this what a hero is? I... I'll just try it on for a bit... it should be fine, right..."
Thinking of this, he quickly shook his head slightly, struggling to put the mask down. "If that bastard Mohji sees me wearing such a childish mask, I'll be ridiculed endlessly..."
He picked up the mask again. "It's okay, that white-haired bastard went southeast, he definitely can't see me. I'll just wear it for a bit... then I'll take it off!"
After hesitating for a while, he finally convinced himself and put the mask on. Suddenly, everything seemed to clear up before him.
"Wait... this feeling... why does it feel like I'm being worshipped by everyone..."
I have to take it off quickly, but why do I feel so reluctant to take it off? No... I'll be found out... No, just a little longer, just a little longer...
He felt inexplicably elated, his mind in turmoil, when suddenly someone patted him hard on the shoulder.
Instantly, Cabaji's adrenaline surged, and his right hand instinctively gripped Sakura Blizzard, swinging it out on its own. However, in the next instant, he reacted, and Sakura Blizzard's blade twisted, changing the direction of a white slashing airflow, which flew diagonally into the air.
Suddenly, the upper right corner of the earthen house behind the vendor was smoothed out with a flat angle, and the smooth triangular wall crashed down the slope.