Punching the Four Emperors

That night, the stars twinkled.

The noise on the deck quieted down after sunset. Except for a few pirates who remained on night watch to patrol and keep watch, everyone else went back to their rooms to sleep.

Buggy sat on the deck by the ship's railing, gazing absently at the shimmering sea in the distance. He couldn't believe that everything that had happened so far was an illusion. Starting from the East Blue, he had sailed all the way to the Grand Line, stayed Marineford War Sabaody Archipelago, gained fame at Marineford, amassed a large following, and finally established his own territory in the New World. How could all of this be an illusion?

But the people in front of him were just as lifelike— Rayleigh, Shanks, Crocus, and Captain Roger. Everything he was touching now felt so real!

Buggy remembered clearly that this ship was Captain Roger's Ailanford, a ship that had sailed triumphantly from the Grand Line all the way to the New World. All the memories were vividly clear in his mind, even the great storm before they were swept into the sea fog just days ago. Could this be a lie?

Or was it that I truly got lost in the "psychedelic sea fog" at that moment... or perhaps, I've traveled through time again?!

Buggy racked his brains but couldn't figure it out; his mind was a complete mess.

There were over a hundred pirates on the Ailanford, and the number of rooms on the ship was insufficient to provide them with independent private space. Therefore, they all slept in groups of a few in one room. Even Roger himself slept in a separate bed from Rayleigh in the same room. However, he did not care about such trivial matters. In fact, most pirate crews were in the same situation.

In a cramped compartment at the stern of the ship, Shanks groggily woke up, sat up sleepily, and looked around, but couldn't see Buggy anywhere.

"Where's Buggy? He's been acting strangely ever since we passed through that sea fog... Oh no, I hope something's happened to him again!"

He put on his coat and hurried outside, not wanting to disturb anyone. He made his way to the deck, looked around, and only breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Buggy's thin figure before walking over.

"Hey, Buggy, it's not your turn to be on night duty, why are you still here? Go back to sleep."

Shanks is someone who values friendship highly, and Buggy's unusual behavior worries him greatly.

Buggy continued to stare blankly at the sea.

Shanks sat down next to Buggy, who seemed lost in thought, and couldn't help but ask curiously, "What on earth happened to you?"

Seeing that Buggy didn't answer, he could only mutter to himself, "Then let me tell you what I dreamed about in the psychedelic fog."

"I dreamt about many things. I saw the outline of the Laugh Tale, I saw Captain Roger surrendering to the Navy, I saw myself finding many interesting and reliable companions and embarking on a journey with them, and I even saw myself settling down in the New World and becoming a great pirate, haha!"

As he spoke, Shanks couldn't help but chuckle, "It's like I'm really seeing my future. All those experiences make me feel like... I've grown a lot."

"The future? You dreamt about the future..."

Buggy finally glanced at Shanks, a hint of surprise in his eyes.

"Yes, but thinking about it carefully, I can't quite remember many of the intricate details..."

Shanks was pleased to see that Buggy had finally reacted.

"I can't remember..."

Upon hearing Shanks's words, Buggy suddenly felt as if everything that had happened in his mind so far had become a blur, impossible to examine in detail, as if it were all a dream.

He murmured to himself, "Was it really a dream?"

"Not necessarily..."

Shanks added, "It could be true, after all, I've never had such a lucid dream... Oh well, let's just go with the flow and not think too much about it!"

If Shanks had insisted it was a dream, Buggy would have found it somewhat suspicious. He glanced at Shanks, sighed helplessly, and said, "Fine, I guess I have no choice but to accept it..."

"Let's go, let's go." Shanks immediately beamed. "Going to sleep."

Buggy got up and followed Shanks, greeted the pirates on duty on the deck, and then went back to his room to rest.

Three days. If we consider the sunrise and sunset as one day, then three full days have passed.

For the past three days, Buggy thought about it over and over again, and finally managed to pull himself out of his rut. No matter how much he pinched his face, it was no use; apart from the pain, nothing around him had changed at all.

If it were a dream, how could I not wake up? Although I remained skeptical, the facts spoke louder than words.

Since we're here, let's make the best of it...

Buggy's current body is only fourteen years old, and he only knows basic fighting skills. Although he has eaten the Chop-Chop Fruit, he has no other strengths besides the Devil Fruit ability. There is no trace of Haki in his body, and his physical skills are only so-so. If it comes down to physical skills alone, even a pirate with a bounty of tens of millions could easily defeat him. His only advantage is that he can split his hands and use them to carry daggers to ambush his opponents.

This world is full of physically powerful monsters. Now, as a young man with boundless potential, I have plenty of time to train in physical skills and Devil Fruit abilities. On my ship are top-tier powerhouses like Roger, Rayleigh, and Gaban. As long as they are willing to teach me carefully, my strength will surely increase by leaps and bounds. At the very least, I will be able to achieve the status of one of the Four Emperors, just like Shanks.

Buggy has made up his mind to completely disrupt the timeline.

So he went to ask Rayleigh about the training techniques for dual-color Haki, and was extremely surprised by Rayleigh's answer.

He remembered that in this long dream, someone else had said the exact same thing...

In his dream, he asked Rayleigh to teach him both types of Haki. Rayleigh then took him to a deserted island in the Calm Belt to train, where Rayleigh taught him the training methods for both types of Haki.

The Rayleigh in my dream and the Rayleigh in front of me gave almost identical answers!!

How could such a thing happen?

Buggy tried to calm himself down, and went to his room in a daze. He couldn't help but think about it again, but after failing to reach a conclusion that could convince himself, he finally managed to put the matter out of his mind and resolved not to continue feeling so lost.

These days, aside from eating, sleeping, and necessary patrols and guard duty, he spends his time alone in his room, focusing on developing and cultivating his Devil Fruit abilities.

He firmly believed in the development of the ability to Chop-Chop, using resonance to generate energy surges within objects to kill the opponent.

Once the Devil Fruit Awakening, it will inevitably be able to split into objects other than living organisms.

Buggy was usually a noisy guy on the ship, often teased and joked about by the other pirates, but he's been quiet these days, which makes the pirates on the Ailanford feel a bit uneasy.

On this day, the sea was calm and the waves were still calm, and Buggy was still sitting in his room, training his Devil Fruit powers.

The power of Devil Fruit ability has always been related to two things: the user's own strength and the degree to which the Devil Fruit ability is developed.

Buggy's current training method involves splitting his body into extremely small segments, dispersing them to every corner of the room, and maintaining this state continuously.

However, a fourteen-year-old's body is nowhere near as good as the condition in the "dream," and the smallest degree of splitting it is only a thin layer the thickness of a ping-pong ball.

Even so, his body parts were scattered all over the room, appearing to have been dismembered.

"Buggy, Buggy!" Shanks pushed open the door and entered.

Buggy immediately gathered his scattered body fragments, bringing them together, and looked up at the other person. "What's wrong?"

Shanks pulled Buggy along, saying, "You're acting more and more strange, come on, come on."

"What happened?" Buggy asked, puzzled.

"Just follow me."

Shanks and Buggy arrived on the deck one after the other, only to find a number of pirates surrounding them, with a clearing deliberately left on the deck.

Buggy paused, then looked around.

Roger stood on the upper deck, his arm resting on the railing, smiling as he looked down. Rayleigh sat on a large square trunk, leaning against the mast, drinking from a jug while glancing this way, a glint of light flashing behind his glasses.

Gaban stood with his hands on his hips and SMILE on his face. Inuarashi and Nekomamushi, who were also only teenagers, put their arms around each other's shoulders and shouted excitedly. Kozuki Oden, wearing an ancient Kozuki Oden's helmet, sat cross-legged on the deck with a cold expression. Crocus put down the newspaper in his hand and turned his neck.

Many pirates shouted, "Hurry up, hurry up, we can't wait any longer!"

Shanks walked over to Buggy, got into a fighting stance, and said, "You've been cooped up in your room all day, and everyone's worried you'll go crazy. We haven't fought in ages, so let's have a good match today and stretch our muscles. If you keep acting so lifeless, everyone's going to be worried."

Looking at the familiar faces around him, Buggy froze slightly, feeling a surge of emotion.

Gaban laughed, "Buggy, come and have a go at Shanks! We haven't heard you two arguing in ages!"

"Exactly! If you guys don't start fighting soon, the ship will become as bland as a freshwater lake!"

"Life would be so boring without you two arguing!"

"Don't be shy, just go for it. With Crocus here, as long as no one dies, he'll definitely be able to bandage your wounds."

Listening to the pirates' urging, which seemed to thrive on chaos, Buggy could only manage a wry smile and say, "I understand."

"I won't show any mercy!"

Shanks adjusted his Straw Hat, grinned, and charged forward, clenching his fist and smashing it down on Buggy's head.

Although Shanks is still just an apprentice crew member, he has experienced many battles, both big and small, during his two years of training on the Grand Line. Close combat has become as easy for him as drinking water.

Buggy didn't dare to be careless. He leaned back to dodge the punch, but an even faster punch followed. He couldn't dodge it and was hit on the bridge of his nose. He staggered back two steps, and blood spurted down his nose.

"Shanks, well done! That's how you beat him up!" the pirates shouted excitedly.

Shanks grinned and said, "I told you, I won't hold back. I'll beat you up to your senses."

Buggy wiped the blood from his nose with his sleeve, not particularly angry. He wanted to test his current level of martial arts skills, so he naturally wouldn't use his Chop-Chop ability. With light, quick steps, he approached Shanks quickly and tentatively raised a kick towards Shanks' head. However, this kick was just a feint. In the instant Shanks retreated, using the momentum of the kick, he suddenly turned in mid-air and kicked Shanks' chest with all his might.

Shanks stretched out his arm to block, but was still kicked back three meters, feeling a slight numbness in his arm.

"Buggy, that's a great hit! That's how you beat him up!" the pirates shouted excitedly again.

Rayleigh shook his head and smiled helplessly, while Kozuki Oden, sitting cross-legged, solemnly patted the deck, "The score is now one to one."

"One to one, one to one!" Inuarashi and Nekomamushi cheered excitedly from the sidelines.

"Hey-hey!"

Shanks clenched his fist again and charged forward. After all, he usually used a sword, and it was inevitable that he couldn't unleash his full strength with his bare hands. However, this was not a life-or-death battle, so fists were perfectly suitable.

Buggy either blocks and defends, or he uses his fists to match the opponent's strength, or he simply stops defending altogether and throws a punch back at them.

After exchanging blows for more than ten rounds, his movements became increasingly agile, almost flawless, and he could even subtly detect Shanks' attack trajectories.

This feeling... is Observation Haki.

Buggy was overjoyed, suddenly realizing the necessity of actual combat. His expression immediately became extremely serious, and he tried to hone his Observation Haki in the battle.

If the enemy is too strong, he will have a hard time breaking through. However, Shanks is his equal in strength, or perhaps even stronger. Such an opponent can be a whetstone for him to hone his skills.

Buggy focused intently on the duel, his punches flying with tremendous force, his dodges of Shanks' attacks rhythmic and methodical. In just a moment, he had already overwhelmed Shanks, and the battle was almost completely turned in one direction.

This is something that has never happened before in the course of their fight!

The surrounding pirates couldn't help but show surprise. Gaban looked at Rayleigh with a puzzled expression, "That kid Buggy, every time we ask him to learn Haki, he always finds an excuse to sneak away. What's going on now? Did he secretly learn it from you?"

Who knows?

Rayleigh's eyes crinkled with amusement. "But he did actually come to ask me about the methods for cultivating Haki a few days ago. He probably listened to me and taught himself, haha!"

"You're such a rascal..."

Gaban sighed and rubbed his forehead. "However, it's not impossible to learn it without a teacher. After all, many people in the world develop their domineering Haki this way."

After speaking, he turned his gaze back to the two duelists.

Buggy and Shanks exchanged blows, and fifty rounds had passed in the blink of an eye.

With lightning speed, Buggy grabbed Shanks threw a punch. In the blink of an eye, the unsuspecting Shanks was knocked to the ground.

"I give up, I give up!"

Shanks lay panting on the deck. Both he and Buggy were bruised and battered, and their strength was greatly depleted. However, Shanks was actually quite pleased with Buggy's tenacity; the guy had finally found his motivation...

Buggy reached out and pulled Shanks up from the deck, a smug SMILE spreading across his face. "Rested, let's continue."

Shanks' smile froze for a moment; this guy's enthusiasm for coming here is a bit too much!