Even though their positions had changed, Buggy still hoped to get along with Robin. Of course, he wasn't in love with her now—not that love at first sight was possible. It would never happen in a million years. He wasn't going to confess to her, so he'd just have to rely on the suspension-bridge effect to keep his heart racing.
But I digress...
They crossed the rope bridge without incident. Using the map on the sheepskin scroll as a reference, Buggy continued marking their route as he and Robin headed into the primeval forest ahead.
The trees in this stretch of forest grew closer together and taller, blocking out the sky. Sunlight filtered through the canopy in scattered patches, barely illuminating the path ahead. Robin had come prepared and took an oil lamp from her backpack. Buggy held a dagger in each hand, ready for anything.
As they pressed on, they encountered far more dangers than they had in the first half of their journey.
After a few steps, a colorful giant snake lunged out of the shadows, flicking its tongue and baring two sharp fangs as it struck at Robin, who was holding the lamp.
"Chop-Chop! Flying Knives!" Buggy's hands detached from his body. The daggers in them sliced the snake in two in midair.
A few steps later, a Long-Legged Monkey, its legs longer than its arms, bared its claws and swiped at Buggy's shiny red nose.
"Chop-Chop! Emergency Escape!" Buggy's head suddenly floated free of his body. While the Long-Legged Monkey stared around in confusion, the knife in his hand plunged into its heart, killing it.
All sorts of ferocious jungle beasts attacked them from time to time. They were strange-looking, but not quite vicious enough to devour people. Still, their relentless assaults left Buggy with a few scrapes and bruises.
In the end, he simply carried the corpse of a crow almost as big as a person to warn off the beasts in the forest. After that, the attacks grew less frequent, and the animals kept their distance from the two uninvited guests.
Before they knew it, night had fallen and the stars were out. The beasts that had been following them, poised to deliver a fatal blow, suddenly stopped at some strange boundary. They slowly backed away, giving up their pursuit of Buggy and Robin.
The forest grew very quiet—so quiet it felt uncanny. Even the rustling of leaves in the wind had ceased, as if this place had been completely cut off from the world.
Robin suddenly spoke. "The Ancestral Ruins are not far ahead. I've heard this place is cursed by wraiths. Once the curse takes hold, it traps your body and soul here, and you can never escape—not for all eternity."
"Don't say something so terrifying with a straight face." Buggy warily scanned their surroundings. "There shouldn't be... ghosts in this world, right?"
As soon as he finished speaking, a gust of cold air swept across his back. Something damp and soft brushed against his neck.
"What was that?!" Buggy spun around, but there wasn't a ghost in sight. Only the shadows of the trees wavered faintly in the lamplight, making the surroundings seem all the more eerie.
"There seems to be something ominous here... Be careful, Red Nose." Robin held her hands up defensively and stood still, looking around.
"Damn it... Could Chris really have been telling the truth about the wraiths?!" A few beads of cold sweat ran down Buggy's forehead, and his heart pounded. Fear was a sharp blade that could cut through layer after layer of the mind's defenses, then let all sorts of extreme imaginings rush in until the mind sank into endless darkness.
Especially now that Buggy had experienced being transported to another world, he was even more inclined to half-believe in ghosts and spirits.
Suddenly, a gust of cold air swept over Buggy's head, and the band tying back his hair slipped off. His sea-blue hair fell loose, exposed to the air.
Buggy's hair stood on end. "Miss Robin, did you see anything?!"
"What is it?" The instant Robin turned around, a green blur flashed past at a speed too fast for the eye to follow.
Bang!
The oil lamp in her hand fell to the ground as if by some dark magic, shattering into pieces. Everything around them instantly plunged into darkness. Even the sky was veiled by thick clouds that blocked out the stars. Every source of light vanished from their sight, and silence swallowed everything.
"Red Nose?!" Robin called out to him.
"I'm here."
Hearing his familiar voice, Robin felt a little calmer. "It's nothing..."
Was she scared? Somewhat surprised, Buggy looked toward Robin, but he couldn't see her expression at all. All he could make out was darkness—and... a dazzling green light, like a will-o'-the-wisp, suddenly appeared in the still forest.
Buggy's breath caught. Cold sweat broke out across his forehead, and then a strange sense of danger rapidly drew near.
"Watch out!" Buggy reached out toward where he remembered Robin standing and shoved her aside. As she cried out, a powerful current sliced through his body at the waist.
Boom!
Several trees behind them toppled with a crash, slamming into the ground.
Buggy was a Chop-Chop Fruit user, so the slash hadn't caused him any real harm. His body reassembled, and when he looked ahead, the dazzling green light had vanished.
Having been slashed right through, Buggy felt oddly calmer. He murmured, "A slash with a physical body behind it... It probably isn't a curse."
He couldn't be sure, but he could at least shake off some of his fear of the unknown. At the same time, another, more reasonable possibility came to mind: if this wasn't a curse or some kind of ghost, then someone was playing tricks on them...
With Robin's intelligence, she had clearly reached the same conclusion. When the dazzling green light appeared again, she fixed her eyes on it and crossed her arms in front of her. "Seis Fleur: Anchor Fleur!"
Her ability only worked within her field of vision, so she was trying to make flowers bloom around the green light and capture whatever was there.
The quiet forest was still, without a single strange sound. The dazzling green light quickly disappeared, and a rustling noise came from the trees, as if someone had hidden there.
"It has a physical body!"
As a Flower-Flower Fruit user, Robin could feel what her arms touched. Her test just now had given her a crucial piece of information.
Robin's words sparked an idea in Buggy's mind. If someone really was playing tricks on them, it was probably Chris, the old village chief of Kodia Village.
He had deliberately called the Ancestral Ruins a land of wraiths to confuse them. The sheepskin map he'd given them might also have sent them on a long detour away from the ruins, while someone took a shortcut to set traps and scare them off. The reason was obvious: he didn't want Buggy getting near the place.
Of course, the remnants of the bandit chief's gang could also be behind it. But after seeing the fear in the eyes of those bandits as they fled, Buggy didn't think they had the courage to fight back.
The fear in his heart slowly faded. If there were no demons or ghosts, no wraiths, then things would be much simpler!