"By the way, while I'm gone, if you run into a one-armed drunk called Red-Hair, tell him for me..."
Lei En's voice gradually faded into the sea breeze until it could no longer be heard.
"Tell him what? The boss always leaves things half-finished."
Monkey D. Luffy pulled a long face as he looked at the mountain-sized block of Seastone before him, feeling as though the immense pressure was about to melt his rubber body.
"Quit whining! If you don't want to get fried into roast pig, hurry up and carry this thing!"
Ace gritted his teeth, veins bulging on his forehead as he used all his strength to try moving that terrifying "summer homework."
Sabo pushed up his goggles, his gaze resolute.
"We absolutely can't lose to the boss!"
The three of them took a deep breath and continued crazily pushing their limits in that hellish training.
A few days later.
East Blue, the waters near Orange Town.
A massive ark, constructed entirely from gold and precious timber and radiating an incomparably luxurious yet oppressive gleam, sailed leisurely across the sea.
It was Lei En's personal vessel, the Heavenly Court Thunder God.
Lei En lay on a pure gold beach chair on the deck, wearing sunglasses and leisurely drinking chilled coconut juice.
"My lord, Orange Town is ahead."
Dadi held the helm and turned to report.
"Mm."
Lei En answered casually without even taking off his sunglasses.
"It's been a little boring drifting around at sea these past few days. Let's head into town to stock up on supplies and see if there's any fun to be had."
He was fifteen now, and his height and build had fully developed.
Dressed in a black trench coat, with a cold temperament carrying a hint of sinister cunning, he exuded an exceptionally dangerous charm.
Just as the Heavenly Court Thunder God approached Orange Town.
At that moment, in Orange Town's central square.
A group of vicious-looking pirates was arrogantly surrounding a crowd of trembling townspeople.
At the highest platform in the square sat an enormous, luxurious sofa.
A blue-haired man in an outrageously exaggerated clown costume, with an especially conspicuous large red nose, sat cross-legged and gulped down rum.
He was none other than the future world-renowned great pirate, Thousand-Piece Clown Buggy!
But for now, he was merely a "small fry" with a bounty of fifteen million Beli, throwing his weight around in the East Blue.
"Ha ha ha! Boys, strip all the treasure off these poor bastards!"
Buggy viciously smashed the empty bottle in his hand onto the ground, shattering it to pieces.
He stood up and pointed arrogantly at the terrified townspeople below, spittle flying everywhere.
"I'm a man who once served aboard Gol D. Roger's ship!"
"Even that insufferably arrogant Red-Hair Shanks was nothing in my eyes!"
"In this East Blue, I'm the absolute ruler! Whoever dares not hand over their treasure, I'll use my Special Buggy Ball to blow both your houses and your bodies to ashes!"
Buggy's wild laughter echoed throughout the square.
The townspeople, held at gunpoint and blade-point by the pirates, cried out in despair, yet could do nothing.
"Boss is mighty!"
"Captain Buggy is invincible!"
The pirate underlings frantically flattered Buggy, praising him to the heavens.
Buggy basked in their flattery so much that he practically floated away.
He pulled a red, cannonball-like sphere from his clothes. It was the Special Buggy Ball he was so proud of.
"Looks like you won't cry until you see the coffin!"
Buggy gave a vicious grin and tossed the Buggy Ball into the air, preparing to light its fuse and teach these townspeople a lesson.
"Let my magnificent explosion serve as the funeral salute for your burial! Hahaha..."
Before his laughter could fade.
Suddenly!
The once-clear sky darkened without any warning.
It was as though an enormous black curtain had instantly covered the sun.
An incomparably oppressive and suffocating aura of terror descended upon all of Orange Town!
"What's going on? Why did it suddenly get dark? Is it going to rain?"
Buggy frowned in annoyance and looked up at the sky.
The moment he saw it, his entire body froze.
Not just him—every pirate and townsman in the square looked up in terror.
An incomparably enormous super warship, gleaming all over with blinding golden light and blue lightning, hovered slowly over the town like the divine chariot of a god sailing out of myth!
Its colossal shadow completely engulfed the square.
"W-What kind of monster ship is that?!"
Buggy's second-in-command, the beast tamer Mohji, was so frightened that he dropped his whip.
Cabaji, riding his unicycle, fell face-first to the ground along with it.
"Damn it! Who dares steal my spotlight by flying around in the sky?!"
Buggy was furious.
He was a man determined to dominate the East Blue. How could he tolerate someone looking more impressive and showing off harder than him?!
"You bastards up there! Get down here! Do you know who I am?!"
Buggy pointed at the massive ark overhead and cursed loudly with extreme arrogance.
"I'm Buggy the Clown! If you know what's good for you, hand over your ship and treasure right now, or I'll blow you all to pieces!"
On the deck of the ark.
Lei En removed his sunglasses and looked down at the red nose below that was wildly yelling like a clown hopping about on a stage. A deeply amused sneer curled across his lips.
"Oh? Isn't that the red nose who laughed so happily on the beach at Shimotsuki Village back then?"
Lei En stood up, his black trench coat snapping in the sea wind.
"Since you want me to come down so badly, I'll grant your wish."
Crackle—!
Accompanied by an ear-piercing burst of electrical thunder!
Lei En's body instantly transformed into an extraordinarily thick, violent bolt of azure lightning and blasted down from the ark's deck!
BOOM!!!
The lightning struck the platform directly in front of Buggy with unerring precision!
The hard stone platform was instantly blasted to pieces, while countless fragments of rock mixed with black smoke and scattered in every direction!
"Arghhh!"
The surrounding pirates were sent tumbling by the terrifying shockwave, screaming miserably.
The smoke cleared.
A young man wrapped in crackling high-voltage lightning, his gaze as cold as that of the Grim Reaper, slowly walked out of the crater.
With both hands in his pockets, Lei En looked down at Buggy, who sat collapsed on the ground with a blank expression.
"Who did you just say you were going to blow to pieces?"
Lei En's voice was not loud, but within the deathly silent square, it was as deafening as thunder.
Buggy stared fixedly at the blue-glowing man before him.
The vague image of that terrifying brat from ten years ago on the beach at Shimotsuki Village, the one who had split the sea with a single slash, gradually overlapped with the demon-god-like young man before him.
In that instant, a memory of extreme terror, deeply buried in his heart, surged into his mind like a tidal wave!
Plop.
The Special Buggy Ball that Buggy had been so proud of fell straight from his hand onto the ground.
His heavily painted face instantly turned whiter than paper, and cold sweat drenched his exaggerated clown costume like a waterfall.
His lips trembled as he shakily spoke that name in a voice of utter despair, as though he had seen a ghost.
"L-Lei En?!"
Before you continue