The Old Sailor's Benefits

Half an hour later, the Marine warship gradually approached Ailu Island, the pervasive sea mist perfectly concealing the ill-intentioned vessel.

Standing on the deck, a petty officer took out a high-focus telescope to scan the distance, then respectfully asked, "Captain Nezumi, there is a flag of the Buggy Pirates on the ship ahead. Shall we open fire?"

"Open fire?" Captain Nezumi squeaked with a laugh. "The Buggy Pirates have been running rampant in the East Blue for so many years; they must have hoarded quite a bit of treasure. Why would I want to sink my own spoils of war? That would be far too uneconomical..."

"Furthermore, to avoid alerting our prey, we should not approach the island just yet. Send thirty soldiers in disguise to infiltrate the island in small boats. Once we have assessed the situation, we will launch our attack. I certainly don't want this voyage to end with us returning empty-handed like fools."

"Captain, your wisdom is unparalleled." The petty officer offered a sycophantic compliment before immediately heading into the cabin to relay orders to the squad leaders.

Inside the Marine cabin.

A strange sound suddenly emanated from a soldiers' lounge.

Thwack!

The door to the lounge was quickly pushed open. A Marine corporal with a decadent, listless gaze frowned and spoke to a soldier who was hunched over with his back turned: "Simon, hurry up! The Captain has issued orders for us!"

"I know, I know. The hangover from yesterday is making my head ache, and I think I've caught a cold..." Simon's voice was extremely hoarse, sounding rather strange.

The Marine corporal tossed a cloak over to him. "Remember, don't go blabbing to anyone about the drinking. Even if the Captain asks, keep your mouth shut. If this gets out, the consequences will be severe!"

"I won't. I don't want to drag the rest of the brothers in our lounge down with me."

"Good, you know the stakes. Get into your civilian clothes, put on your cloak, and assemble on deck in five minutes." With that, the corporal closed the door.

"I'll be right there."

Under Captain Nezumi's orders, three squads of ten men each boarded three small boats and rowed toward the uninhabited side of Ailu Island.

The soldiers on the boats were all cloaked. Aside from the squad leaders, whose cloaks were a darker shade and easier to identify, it was impossible to tell who was sitting across from you without looking closely.

"Hey, what's with the parcel behind you?"

"It's potatoes... Look, I was afraid of being suspected, so I prepared a cover story. I'll just say I'm a merchant who was shipwrecked nearby."

Although the other soldiers on the boat found the man's behavior a bit odd, they took a cursory glance at the opened parcel. The top layer was indeed covered in mud-caked potatoes, so they didn't press the matter further; there were more important things to attend to.

Meanwhile, on Gravity Island.

Three months ago, Buggy had already reached the zone with roughly five times the normal gravity. Although it was only one times greater than the four-fold gravity zone, the sensation was completely different.

His body's entire internal circulatory system had reached a point of instability. If he continued to push forward and live in this environment for an extended period, he feared it would cause irreparable damage to his body.

Aside from him, Shuma was also training in the five-fold gravity zone, while Cabaji and Mohji had stopped at the three-to-four-fold gravity zones.

Over these past three months, he had begun to focus wholeheartedly on training his Devil Fruit ability and mastering Life Return. Under such high-pressure conditions, his body's potential was being fully ignited.

Life Return itself was based on the Marine Six Powers; only powerful superhumans could master its profound mysteries. However, the definition of "superhuman" was based on ordinary people. For Buggy, who was currently training on Gravity Island, he had finally reached the introductory level of this discipline.

He closed his eyes, and countless dense cracks appeared across his body. In the blink of an eye, his entire form transformed into sand-like particles, appearing as if he had vanished from this space entirely.

After about twenty seconds, all the sand-like particles merged back into a human form.

Beads of sweat broke out on Buggy's face. Feeling the lingering effects of that strange state, he muttered to himself, "Splitting my body into thousands of sand-like grains... it doesn't seem comparable to elementalization... The physical exertion is immense; just this short duration nearly drained me dry. Still, the degree of fragmentation seems much deeper than before..."

Through the dual training of his fruit ability and Life Return, he had gradually glimpsed some of the secrets of the Chop-Chop ability. When his body split, it was as if a soul-like presence was tethering every part of his body through invisible threads in the void. Once a body part exceeded the range of these "soul threads," he would lose the ability to sense that part—much like the situation in the original story where Buggy's body parts were blown away.

As for how to awaken his fruit ability, he had no leads yet. However, as his training progressed, he found that controlling his feet had become subtly easier, allowing them to move and run recklessly even while his body was split.

Compared to the Buggy from the same period in the original story, he didn't even know how much stronger he had become.

"Buggy, the ship has returned," Shuma said, standing ten meters in the air while using Moonwalk.

Despite the advantage of his aerial position, it had to be said that as a sniper, the boy's naked-eye vision had reached an exaggerated level. He could see the pirate ship drifting on the sea from across more than half the island.

"I know... We'll hold a banquet today. We've been here for sixteen months; it's time to relax."

Buggy wrapped his coat around himself, concealing the solid muscles he had forged over the past year, and walked barefoot toward the shore, calling for Cabaji and Mohji, who had also grown much stronger from their arduous training.

Cabaji followed beside Buggy and asked, "Captain Buggy... why do you let those pirates under your command do as they please?"

He was the only one in the Buggy Pirates who used his head to think, yet no matter how much he pondered, he couldn't understand why Captain Buggy allowed his subordinates to act so unlike pirates, or why he even permitted them to leave the crew.

Buggy replied calmly, "They, like you, have followed me for many years. The sea has worn down their passion, and time has crushed their dreams. They want to return to a life on ordinary land. I remember giving you all a choice, and likewise, I will give them a choice. It just so happens that they chose to leave this sea."

"But..." Cabaji hesitated before voicing his thoughts, "they also consumed the wealth our ship had accumulated over many years..."

"There was no other way..." Buggy smiled, lowering his voice. "They risked their lives for me for so many years. It is only fair that they take some retirement funds when they leave. Let them spend the rest of their lives here; at least they won't lose their lives once we reach the Grand Line... I am not cold-blooded enough to deny them that."