342. Monsters

Buggy activated his Observation Haki to probe, but he couldn't sense any living creature. He frowned slightly and walked closer in the direction Ahong pointed.

Ten steps... five steps...

Less than half a step away from that thicket, a sudden gust of wind rustled the grass and the leaves danced in the breeze.

A skeleton with a few bits of flesh attached to it darted out like Lightning Flash, flipped over, and delivered a powerful kick that swept across Buggy's face from the right!

Buggy remained calm and composed. The instant the kick came close, he reached out with his right hand, grabbed the figure's shin, and with a sudden tug, tore off the entire shinbone!

Immediately, his body leaned back slightly without leaving a trace, and in the instant he passed the figure, his right foot rose up and kicked the man in the back with the force of a raging storm!

The figure was kicked to pieces by the brute force. Leg bones, skull, sternum, and arm bones scattered in all directions like broken prayer beads. A black wisp of smoke, of unknown origin, drifted away, leaving only a robe lying on the ground. The surroundings were quiet and silent.

Buggy stopped, looking down at the Japanese-style floral robe on the ground, then glancing around at the scattered bones, somewhat puzzled... Was it this skeleton that attacked me just now?

"That's... Flower-Robed Masamune!"

Ahong stood up cautiously, and looking at the flowered robe on the ground, he suddenly shouted as if he had just remembered something.

Buggy looked at him. "Who is Flower-Robed Masamune?"

Ahong pointed to the Japanese-style floral robe on the ground and explained, "Flower-Robed Masamune was a Kamakura of Kamakura a hundred years ago. He was flamboyant and always wore floral robes when performing rituals or receiving guests. He also liked to have his portraits painted, and over time, the nickname 'Hana-robe' spread and has been passed down to this day. It's just that Kamakura was frequently embroiled in wars and constant fighting, which is why it has now become a desolate graveyard with few people around."

"Then why are you here in the middle of the night?" Buggy stared into Ahong's eyes.

A cold sweat immediately broke out on Ahong's forehead. His breathing paused slightly before he caught his breath and stammered an explanation.

It turned out that he had reported his encounter with Buggy and his group during the day to the village chief. After discussing it with several elders in the village, the village chief felt that Buggy and his group might be related to the strange events of the past few days. So he decided to send Ahong, who had seen Buggy's appearance, to follow him. If he met with misfortune or went missing, then the culprit behind the villagers' illness would be revealed. After thinking it over, Ahong finally agreed, which led to their encounter in the forest.

"So they were suspicious of me..."

Buggy glanced at Ahong, who quickly waved his hand. After seeing the bones scattered on the ground and Masamune's floral robe, Hiro had already dismissed any doubts he might have had about Buggy and was now convinced that the monster had escaped from the Kamakura Mass Graveyard. Therefore, he felt ashamed in the face of Buggy had in some ways saved his life.

At that moment, Weevil seemed to have discovered something. He took a step forward and slashed his naginata horizontally. Ripples suddenly spread through the air, overlapping to form an astonishing shockwave that fanned out and cleaved all the trees more than twenty meters away in half!

Boom boom boom boom!

The trembling sounds of trees falling echoed throughout the room.

Ahong stared blankly at the scene before him, his jaw nearly dislocated, utterly shocked: Good heavens... what kind of superhuman strength is this? He must be a monster, he must be!!

"There it is!"

Weevil pointed to a patch of grass, where a man with a black eyepatch over his left eye and blond hair piled up was lying on the ground. To be precise, he couldn't be called a living being; his rotting flesh seemed to have been stopped with a special preservative, and there were stitches on his neck and waist. If he had to be called one, he should be considered a zombie.

"It's the One-Eyed Ashikaga!!"

Ahong snapped out of his daze and pointed at the zombie excitedly, shouting, "The daimyo who ruled Kamakura two hundred years ago, famous for his blond hair One-Eye Hotel, was the last ruler of the Ashikaga family!"

"And there!" Weevil pointed in another direction. Lying in the grass was a zombie with a head that looked like a fish head. Its skin was reddish, and its flesh was much better preserved than the previous one.

Ahong exclaimed excitedly, "It's Red-Skinned Motonari, the daimyo who ruled Kamakura three hundred years ago. He was famous for his red-skinned fish head and was called the Crimson God by the people of that time because of his unusual appearance!"

"Oh no, oh no, the monsters have found us!"

One-Eyed Ashikaga and Red-Skinned Motonari, their faces filled with terror, screamed almost simultaneously, scrambled to their feet, and ran frantically into the distance.

"Being called a monster by a monster..."

Buggy watched the two zombies leave, then his gaze involuntarily fell on Ahong, and he couldn't help but say, "How do you know so much! You seem very suspicious... You're the mastermind behind this!"

Despite his words, Buggy didn't stop. Before the two zombies had even run fifty meters, Buggy arrived in an instant and kicked them back with a whip kick each.

Red-Skinned Motonari and One-Eyed Ashikaga on the muddy ground next to Ahong. The first thing they did after getting up was to hurl insults at each other, "It's all your fault for making such a commotion! If you hadn't made a sound louder than a lynx digging its claws, I would never have been discovered!"

"It's clearly you bastard who made a sound even more ear-piercing than Mole grinding its teeth, causing all this trouble!"

Before the two could even start arguing, their expressions changed instantly. They knelt before Buggy, who had rushed back, and pleaded in trembling fear, "Your Majesty, spare my life! Your Majesty, spare my life!"

Buggy sized up the two zombies. "You're the monsters who made the villagers sick?"

"No, we don't know anything..." Red-Skinned Motonari and One-Eyed Ashikaga said tremblingly.

"Is this what the yokai of Wano Country should look like?" Buggy looked at Ahong, his eyes questioning.

"I... I've never seen one before either..." Ahong looked at the two zombies in front of him and scratched his head.

Buggy hesitated for a moment, then tentatively uttered a few words, "Gecko Moria."

Upon hearing the name, Red-Skinned Motonari and One-Eyed Ashikaga looked up in fright, staring at Buggy with astonished expressions. Although they didn't say anything, their expressions betrayed them.

"No wonder Gecko Moria disappeared after the Marineford War; he was hiding here. It seems he's collecting shadows again," Buggy thought to himself, then asked, "Where is Gecko Moria now?"

"We can't say anything, we can't say anything at all." Red-Skinned Motonari and One-Eyed Ashikaga shook their heads in panic.

The shadow that Moria stole, once turned into a zombie, would be under his absolute control, probably because he was forbidden from revealing any information about it; these two zombies are likely examples of this.

"Since that's the case... there's no point in keeping you around."

Buggy pulled out two handfuls of salt he had brought with him as seasoning, and with a whoosh, flicked them into the mouths of the two zombies.

The two zombies immediately clutched their necks in pain, and soon collapsed to the ground, black shadows emerging from their mouths as they drifted away into the distance.