A Bounty of Five Million

Tatadan felt no surprise at Buggy's death, not because his opponent was weak, but because he possessed absolute confidence in the blade he held.

"This is your end... So-called pirates are nothing but a group of ignorant, fragile fools, utterly incapable of putting up a fight." Tatadan looked at the pirates at the entrance with disdain and threatened, "Look, the captain of you scum has already been beheaded. Do you helpless lot want to die as ugly a death as he did?"

"Our leader is Tatadan, with a bounty of five million! He is an invincible existence!"

"You sea monkeys, get out of our territory!"

The surrounding mountain bandits echoed his words with arrogant bluster.

The pirates standing at the entrance kept their eyes buried in shadow, grinning grimly without a shred of grief or shock.

Why were they laughing so happily when their leader was dead? No, wait!!

Tatadan felt a surge of alarm, but a sharp, intense pain suddenly erupted in his chest. A dagger had silently plunged into his back, piercing straight through his body.

"What is happening..." A mouthful of blood sprayed from Tatadan's lips. As he looked at the scene before him, his pupils shrank to the size of pinpricks.

Buggy's head was floating in mid-air. Then, his hand grabbed the head and pressed it back onto his neck. The head and body fused together; there were no scars on his neck, and he was completely unharmed.

A sinister, cunning smile appeared on his face: "Pirates are not weaklings. Compared to you narrow-minded, short-sighted, and arrogant mountain bandits, pirates are beings that make the world tremble!"

"Captain Buggy!!!"

The pirates at the tavern entrance let out a deafening roar, raising their weapons high. "You mountain monkeys, we are pirates!"

"A demon, this guy is a demon..." The surrounding mountain bandits watched Buggy "resurrect" with their own eyes, their teeth beginning to chatter as expressions of extreme terror took hold.

"No, impossible... You bastard, you must have used some kind of trick!" Tatadan endured the pain in his chest, gripped his longsword tightly, and slashed madly at Buggy in a rage.

The sword light flashed like falling cherry blossom petals.

Buggy's body was instantly sliced into a dozen pieces, yet his sinister voice still echoed through the tavern: "It's time for this boring game to end."

Eight daggers suddenly appeared in his hands, and his arms shot out with lightning speed, slicing open the fragile throat of his opponent before Tatadan could even react.

"Well then, I'll be taking your five-million-berry head."

Tatadan's sturdy body collapsed into a pool of blood, clutching his spurting throat and struggling until his last breath, unable to believe until the very end that the pirate he had always looked down upon had taken his life.

"Is your head worth anything?" Buggy's gaze drifted toward the trembling mountain bandits, a sinister and cunning smile on his face.

"Help!!!"

The surrounding mountain bandits felt as if they were being watched by a demon, scrambling and crawling as they fled the tavern.

"Lads, bring the five million berries to the ship." Buggy didn't stop the bandits from fleeing; he kicked the dead Tatadan and picked up the longsword and scabbard from his waist.

As a speculator in his past life, Buggy had never been afraid to take the first step. Furthermore, his first time killing someone didn't bring the adrenaline or discomfort he had imagined; it felt as natural as eating or drinking, likely because he had integrated all the combat experience and memories of the original Buggy.

However, his actions didn't seem so simple to the surrounding villagers. This pirate had killed Tatadan, the notorious mountain bandit of Gali Island, as easily as slaughtering a chicken.

"Hey, hey, what exactly is going on with him?"

"Is this guy really a demon?"

"Why did his body fall apart into pieces!"

The old village chief, Chris, looked at the blade in Buggy's hand, pushed up his reading glasses, and said in a low voice: "This guy is a Devil Fruit user."

"Boss, you know quite a bit." Buggy poured half a bottle of wine from the table into a bowl and took a gulp. Over the past half-month, he had grown accustomed to his identity as a pirate and his way of releasing stress.

Chris continued to explain: "Devil Fruits are said to be the incarnations of sea demons. After eating one, you gain the power of a demon, but you are also forsaken by the sea."

"So that's how it is. Then this pirate isn't a monster, just a human who ate a Devil Fruit." The surrounding villagers breathed a sigh of relief, their eyes no longer so fearful. In a sense, the pirate before them had even helped the village out of a predicament.

"Bring the wine up."

Buggy, Cabaji, and the other pirates were unaffected by the incident and took their seats. Chris decisively chased all the villagers out of the tavern: "All of you, get out. Don't come in without my orders."

Then, Chris very consciously carried several barrels of strong whiskey from the back kitchen into the tavern. Buggy couldn't help but take two extra looks at him; the man's steady gait, the calluses on his hands, and his calm breathing made it impossible to tell he was an old man in his seventies or eighties.

Buggy withdrew his gaze and pushed the longsword on the table toward the acrobatic swordsman. "Cabaji, take a look at what kind of blade this is."

"This sword..." Cabaji had already noticed the precious sword in the mountain bandit leader's hand, but upon closer inspection, his expression became even more shocked. His hands trembled as he opened the scabbard and gripped the hilt.

In a ray of sunlight streaming through the tavern window, one could see the cherry blossom patterns carved into the hilt, and the snow-white blade reflected a sharp, cold light, like falling snow.

As a swordsman who had pursued the path of the blade for over twenty years, how could Cabaji not know the name of this sword? His eyes burned with fervor as he said, "The Sakura Blizzard, one of the Twenty-One Great Grade Swords!"

One had to know that a swordsman's dream, beyond becoming an unparalleled master, was the obsession with supreme-grade blades. This was the romance of a swordsman!

A Great Grade Sword, to think it would appear here... Thoughts raced through Buggy's mind, and he looked at the acrobatic swordsman before him with a serious expression: "Cabaji."

"This sword belongs to you from now on. As the first swordsman of the Buggy Pirates, don't let me down!"

"I..." Cabaji's mind exploded. He suddenly snapped back to reality, knelt on the ground, and said with a firm expression: "Captain Buggy, I, Cabaji, swear my loyalty to the death!"

His swordsman's heart, dormant for over twenty years, was awakened in this moment by this famous blade and Buggy's trust. Only one thought remained in his mind: I will not fail Captain Buggy's expectations; I will definitely become a great swordsman!

Buggy's eyes flickered, revealing a treacherous and cunning smile as he shouted: "Lads, come and drink!"

"Oh!!!"

The atmosphere in the tavern instantly became lively, and the pirates laughed as they drank the strong liquor.

Watching the boisterous and cheerful pirate crew, the worry on Chris's face dissipated quite a bit. These pirates weren't causing trouble as he had imagined; as long as they didn't harm the villagers, he would let them stay for the time being.

Then, his eyes turned toward a barrel in the corner, and he let out a long sigh. That barrel didn't contain wine; it was filled with explosives.

From serving as the village sentry decades ago to his current role as the mayor of Kodia Village, Chris's dedication to protecting the village had never wavered with the passage of time; the passion he felt each time he repelled pirates remained etched in his heart, ringing out like a great bell.

When news arrived that other villages had submitted to the mountain bandits, he immediately suppressed the information and lured the group of bandits into the tavern.

He had already made up his mind: if these bandits truly threatened the village with force, he would ignite that barrel of gunpowder and perish together with them right there in the tavern, refusing to let the village suffer any harm, even at the cost of his own life.

However, to his surprise, Buggy killed Tatadan, and the remaining bandits fled in a panic; the original plan had derailed from his expectations, and his resolve to die had also dissolved.

I hope this barrel of gunpowder won't be needed, Chris thought to himself.

After a few rounds of drinks, Chris discovered that this group of pirates was not as terrifying as he had imagined, especially the guy with hair covering one eye. He looked incredibly cold, but his spirits seemed high today, as he performed the Unicycle Secret Technique to liven up the mood—riding a unicycle steadily across a steel wire set up by a few other pirates from one end to the other, earning cheers and applause from the crew.

"Boss, sit down and have a drink." Buggy's eyes shifted as he urged Chris to drink; from his inquiries at the market earlier, he already knew this old man was the village mayor.

Chris hesitated for a moment, adjusted his reading glasses, and sat down opposite Buggy.

Buggy said calmly, "Actually, we are a group of kind and simple pirates, and we have no intention of causing any destruction here."

"You are... kind pirates." Chris chewed on these words, and tears suddenly streamed down his face, mixing with his drink. "Wuu wuu... It's been so long since I've seen kind pirates."

Buggy wiped the cold sweat from his forehead; he hadn't expected this sentence to build up so much goodwill.

"That's right." Buggy pulled out an island map and pointed to a red 'X' on it. "I want to know, what place is this?"

Chris's tears stopped abruptly, and he furrowed his brows. "Why are you looking for this place... what do you intend to do?!"