A Show of Force

The smoke from the explosion aboard the warship quickly cleared. Countless soldiers on deck panicked, creating a disorderly clamor.

The colonel had been snatched by pirates right under their noses. What a dereliction of duty!

The swarming soldiers crowded along the railing. A Marine sergeant wearing a cape stood at the front, his left hand clenching into a fist as he pointed down at the pirates with his right. "You reckless pirates! Release Captain Nezumi at once, or we'll blast this entire island into the sea!"

"What a big mouth..."

Buggy rolled his neck and loosened up his muscles. He lowered his body slightly, then sprang upward with force, leaping like a startled bird onto the Marine warship nearly ten meters above.

He landed on his hands, crouching on the deck to absorb the impact. A faint cloud of dust rose around him, and the cape behind him fluttered despite the still air. He then slowly stood up, murmuring, "How interesting. We're right by the shore, but I can't seem to feel the extra gravity on the island..."

Swish, swish, swish—

The soldiers marched in unison, surrounding Buggy from every direction. They quickly aimed their flintlock rifles at him.

The Marine sergeant kept his eyes on Buggy. He had witnessed the man leap from the beach onto the deck with his own eyes. Shocked that Buggy had boarded alone, he couldn't help sneering at his stupidity. What was he trying to do? Take on the five hundred soldiers aboard the warship by himself?

"Perfect. We'll trade you for the colonel..." the Marine sergeant said coldly. "Buggy, if you don't want to die, surrender peacefully. If you insist on fighting back, you'll be throwing away your only chance to survive!"

"I've got a bounty of ten million Beli, after all. Isn't that a little disrespectful?"

Buggy stretched his muscles and joints, then glanced at the Marine sergeant like a well-fed cat eyeing mice scurrying all around.

The Marine sergeant jolted. He remembered the legend circulating throughout the East Blue: Buggy the Immortal, who wouldn't die even if his body was cut into several pieces.

His soul would remain on these seas forever. Once the time was right, he would seize another pirate's body, recreate his own appearance, and come back to life in this world!!

The sweat on the sergeant's back instantly soaked through his clothes. A chilling sensation crept up his spine to the top of his head. Without hesitation, he roared, "Fire! Fire!"

Bang, bang, bang—

The soldiers pulled their triggers. Countless bullets tore into Buggy from every direction. The next second, a spray of blood burst from every soldier who had fired, and they collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

Watching the scene unfold, the Marine sergeant pinched the back of his left hand hard with his right. The sharp pain told him he wasn't dreaming!

The bullets had riddled Buggy's body with countless holes. Their impact had carried tiny, flesh-colored particles the size of grains of sand away from him, leaving them suspended in the air. As the soldiers fell, those particles seemed to move of their own accord, filling the holes in his body...

Restoring him to perfect condition in an instant!!!

"A demon! He's a demon!" The sergeant's pupils shrank to pinpricks.

"You're half right..." Buggy grinned slyly. "In a way, I am a demon."

After training in both Life Return and his Devil Fruit powers, he could control every part of his body almost at will. When struck from the outside, he could deliberately split his body into particles as fine as sand. Not only that, his body could also split apart instinctively to evade incoming attacks.

In the original story, when Mihawk cut Buggy's body into thin strips, that had been the passive ability of his Chop-Chop powers. But now, he could split those "strips" into even smaller "grains of sand."

"Die, pirate!"

A burly soldier nearly two meters tall charged forward, shouting as he raised his saber high. He brought it slashing down diagonally at Buggy's back, cutting the defenseless man in half from his left shoulder to his right abdomen as easily as slicing tofu.

I did it!!

Joy had just begun to show on the burly soldier's face when it froze. He stared in horror at a finger buried deep in his chest like a hidden weapon. He coughed up blood, then fell backward with a crash onto the deck.

Buggy withdrew his bloodied index finger and rejoined his body. He looked around at the Marines. "Stop wasting time... come at me all at once!"

His arrogant tone made the proud soldiers see red, uniting them against him.

"Don't be afraid! There are four or five hundred of us. Let's all attack together and kill this demon!"

Their overwhelming numbers, along with the instinct to resist their fear, sent the soldiers surging forward. They charged at Buggy with their sabers.

"Good... this is the perfect chance to test my new move." Buggy lowered himself without changing expression, curling up with his hands crossed over his abdomen.

"Chop-Chop..."

"Chaos Burial!"

The power he had stored up erupted in an instant. Buggy's body came apart in a flash, and the currents of air from countless slashes and a dense barrage of pinpoint strikes engulfed the entire warship, bringing the whole vessel within range.

Small, finger-sized holes suddenly appeared in the bodies of soldier after soldier, while others were left with wounds that nearly cut through them, as if they had been slashed by blades. Sprays of blood burst in every direction, and cries of pain and terror rose one after another.

The air filled with a thick, pungent stench of blood, forming a thin red mist.

Once the sea breeze swept the mist away, every soldier on the deck was lying on the ground. Only one remained standing!

The different parts of Buggy's body reassembled, forming a blood-soaked figure that looked utterly terrifying.

It was his first time using this move. With Life Return, he had concentrated all his strength into a single point in his abdomen. Once it had built to its limit, he had exploded his body into pieces, using Tempest Kick and Finger Pistol at the same time to strike everyone indiscriminately within a two-hundred-meter radius.

It was great for clearing out grunts, but using the move weakened his control over each part of his body. The power of Tempest Kick and Finger Pistol was also only about seventy percent of what it was when his body was intact.

"Whatever. I'll improve it later..."

Buggy calmly gazed at the heaps of fallen soldiers on the deck. Once again, the facts proved that having greater numbers didn't necessarily mean anything—at least not in the East Blue.

He walked over to the railing and looked down at the pirates below. "Shuma, bring that rat up here. The rest of you, get up here too."

"Sure!"

Holding Captain Nezumi, Shuma stepped onto the warship with Geppo and tossed him onto the deck.

Captain Nezumi stared at the soldiers sprawled across the deck, his fear growing ever more intense. His body trembled uncontrollably.

Suddenly, he braced himself with both hands and scrambled toward the edge of the warship. Then he threw himself overboard, plunging into the sea.