"Victor! I can't believe you found us here!"
Luffy pressed his face against the bars of the cage, shouting at the black-haired boy standing on the wall.
"Hurry up and get me out of this cage! I'm gonna beat that Red Nose!"
Zoro arrived right behind him, panting heavily.
He looked at Luffy, who was locked in an iron cage like a monkey, and his mouth twitched uncontrollably.
"Hey, Luffy, what new trick are you trying this time?"
"Shishishi! I think it's pretty fun." Luffy showed no sign of regret.
At that moment, Victor nimbly leaped down from the wall and stood in front of Nami, who still looked a little shaken.
He turned to her and flashed his trademark smile.
"Nice to meet you, Miss Nami. I'm your vice captain, Victor."
Nami looked at the boy who had just taken down more than ten pirates in a single move and forced herself to stay calm.
"Hey, don't act like we're close!" Nami warily took half a step back. "I never said I'd join you! Don't think that just because you saved me, I'll agree to become a pirate!"
"Hey!! You red-eyed brat!!"
An angry roar interrupted their conversation.
Buggy stood on the platform, his body trembling as it split apart in rage, and pointed at Victor as he cursed.
"Who are you?! Don't you know this is the territory of the great 'Clown' Buggy?! How dare you blast my men away!"
Victor paid no attention to Buggy's impotent fury.
He kept his smiling expression as he bent down and picked up the match that the pirate had dropped on the ground.
Then, as all the pirates watched in horror, he grabbed the barrel of the enormous Buggy Cannon with one hand.
"Creeeak—"
The cannon slowly turned until its dark muzzle pointed straight at Buggy and his crew on the platform.
"Zoro! Forget about the cage. Carry Luffy and this lady, and get out of here."
Victor waved over his shoulder at Zoro.
"I'll finish one last act for our audience, then I'll be right there."
Zoro glanced at the poised cannon and immediately understood what Victor was planning.
"Tch, what a reckless vice captain."
Without another word, Zoro picked up the heavy iron cage with Luffy inside and turned to Nami.
"Let's go! Run if you don't want to die!"
"Hey, hey, what are you doing?! That thing's loaded with a Special Buggy Ball!!"
Buggy stared at the dark muzzle pointed at him. Cold sweat instantly soaked his back, and his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
The other pirates frantically raised their hands to stop Victor.
"Stop!! We'll die! We'll really die!"
"Oh? So you know you can die if you get blown up?"
Victor struck the match. Its flame lit up his emotionless eyes.
"I just want you all to experience the weapon you're so proud of. Only... with our positions switched."
As he spoke, he let go of the match. It drifted lightly downward and ignited the fuse.
"Stop him!!" Buggy screamed in despair.
The instant he lit the fuse, chakra burst beneath Victor's feet, and he retreated at top speed.
The next second—
"BOOM!!!"
An even louder explosion than before rang through the sky.
The Special Buggy Ball's explosive power at close range was terrifying.
The entire upper level of the bar was swallowed by red flames in an instant, and its sturdy bricks crumbled to ash like rotten tofu.
The skull flag that symbolized the Buggy Pirates' authority was vaporized in the shockwave, not even leaving behind a scrap.
A huge mushroom cloud rose into the sky.
As he fled, Victor looked back at the dazzling "fireworks" and couldn't help clicking his tongue.
"So that's the power of a Buggy Ball? I'm tempted to swipe a few before I go."
[ Ding! You used a "Buggy Ball" to deal a heavy blow to the Buggy Pirates.]
[Battle Rating: A (Give them a taste of their own medicine).]
[You received 200 Ninja Way Points.]
Hearing the system notification, Victor smiled with satisfaction and waved toward the ruins.
"Hehe, no need to thank me, Red Nose, Captain Buggy."
With that, he took off without looking back.
That last Fireball Jutsu had cost him a quarter of his chakra.
He was still just a Genin with a short blue bar.
Taking on the entire Buggy Pirates alone while they were enraged would be a bit much.
Victor's first rule: show off, then run. What a rush.
Meanwhile, on a street in Orange Town.
Zoro carried the enormous iron cage and raced down the street as if it were a bag of cotton.
"Hey! Wait for me!"
Nami panted as she ran after them. "You're going too fast!"
Hearing her, Zoro slowed down a little.
"Hey, Luffy." Zoro pointed behind him at Nami as he ran. "Who's that woman? Is she the crewmate you were looking for?"
"Shishishi, that's right!" Luffy laughed happily from inside the bouncing cage. "She's Nami, the navigator we're looking for!"
Nami finally caught up, and immediately objected when she heard that.
"Hey! I never said I'd join you... Hey! You moss-headed idiot!!"
Nami suddenly pointed at Zoro and yelled.
"Huh? What?" Zoro stopped.
"Why are you going that way? It's a dead end!"
Nami pointed in the opposite direction in exasperation. "Aren't we trying to escape? It's this way!!"
Zoro flushed as his terrible sense of direction kicked in.
"Tch, this town's streets are laid out weirdly. I was just scouting ahead."
Nami rolled her eyes and walked in front to lead the way. "Stay close, and don't get lost!"
After running for a while and making sure no one was following them, the three slowed down.
"Hey, that red-eyed man from earlier... who is he, anyway?" Nami couldn't help asking. "Can he shoot fire because of a Devil Fruit?"
"That bastard's our vice captain, Victor," Zoro grunted.
"Shishishi, Victor's really strong! And he's an interesting magician!" Luffy laughed. "Don't worry, he'll catch up with us for sure."
"I told you I'm not joining you! And I'm not worried about him!"
Before long, the three finally reached what looked like an ordinary pet food shop.
A white little dog sat at the entrance, motionless as it guarded the door.
"Phew... We're here. It should be safe for now."
Zoro set the enormous iron cage down with a heavy thud. "Let's wait here for Victor."
"Wow! A puppy!"
Even in his cage, Luffy couldn't sit still. He wriggled like a caterpillar, rolling all the way over to the little dog named Chouchou.
"Hey, doggy, I'm hungry. Do you have any meat?"
"Woof!" Chouchou barked fiercely.
Nami watched the ridiculous scene and sighed helplessly. Then, as if she'd just remembered something, she slapped her forehead.
"Ah, come to think of it, I completely forgot."
Nami reached into her clothes and pulled out a shiny key, waving it in front of Zoro.
"I actually swiped the key to the cage while we were at it."
The whole group fell silent.
Zoro stared at the key, a web of dark lines crossing his forehead, and couldn't help roaring.
"If you had the key, why didn't you say so earlier?! You made me carry this stupid cage halfway across town!!"
"You didn't ask," Nami said, spreading her hands matter-of-factly. "Besides, things were so hectic just now."
"And don't get the wrong idea. I just didn't want to owe Victor a favor. Since he saved me, I'm letting your captain out to call it even."
With that, Nami casually tossed the key toward Luffy.
"Catch, Luffy."
"Shishishi! Great! I'm saved..." Luffy excitedly stretched out his arm to catch it.
But just as the key arced through the air and was about to land in Luffy's hand—
Chouchou, who'd been sitting quietly nearby, suddenly showed off an astonishing leap.
"Arf!"
Chouchou sprang high into the air and precisely caught the key in its mouth.
Then it landed and resumed its motionless guard-dog pose.
"..."
Luffy froze.
Zoro froze.
Nami froze, too.
The three stared at the dog, stunned into silence.
"Does it think that anything that falls on the ground belongs to it?!" Zoro cried in despair.
"Ah!! You stupid dog!!"
Luffy came to his senses and grabbed Chouchou, shaking it frantically.
"That's not dog food! It's my key! Spit it out! Spit it out, you dumb dog!!"
"Woof, woof, woof!!"
Just as chaos erupted, a figure dropped down from the roof.
Victor had finally caught up.
He looked at Luffy fighting the dog for the key, and the corner of his mouth twitched.
He'd already changed so much of the story. But somehow, the key had still been swallowed by this dog?
"So this is what they call... the World Correction Force?"
Victor shook his head helplessly, walked over to them, and waved.
"Hey, I'm back. Looks like I missed quite a show?"
Meanwhile.
The former Buggy Pirates' base had been reduced to ruins.
Black smoke billowed everywhere.
Buggy sat on the ground, covered in dust and soot. His once-flamboyant clown suit had been blown to shreds, and his Red Nose was smeared with ash.
Though his Chop-Chop Fruit ability had kept the explosion from killing him, the humiliation and misery left his whole body trembling.
"Unforgivable... Absolutely unforgivable..."
Buggy's face darkened, and the flames of vengeance burned in his eyes.
"Those brats... They're declaring war on me! They actually blew up my castle!"
Suddenly, a mighty lion's roar came from behind the ruins.
"ROAR!!"
A beast tamer riding a gigantic lion slowly emerged from the dust.
"Looks like you've run into trouble, Captain Buggy."
The oddly coiffed beast tamer, Mohji, glanced at the destruction around him and said calmly.
"So you're here, Mohji." Buggy looked up, his gaze icy.
"May I go take those brats' heads, Captain Buggy?" Mohji stroked the mane of Richie, the giant lion beneath him. "My Richie's starving."
Buggy picked up a battered throwing knife from the ground and plunged it into the dirt.
"Go. Tear that Straw Hat Kid and that red-eyed bastard... to pieces!!"
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