"Lei... Lei En?!"
Buggy's voice was filled with utter terror and disbelief. His face, caked in thick makeup, instantly turned paler than a corpse's.
The horrifying scene from ten years ago on the beach of Shimotsuki Village—when that six-year-old brat split the sea with a single sword strike and drove Shanks back in one move—surfaced in his mind again like a nightmare!
He had never imagined that all he wanted was to throw his weight around in the newbie village known as the East Blue, only to run into this unreasonable monster again!
Run! I have to run!
That was the only thought left in Buggy's mind.
He did not even spare a thought for his subordinates. With a kick of his legs, he prepared to make his escape.
However, Lei En's ghostly voice drifted out from behind him.
"Ten years have passed, and your nose is still this red, Buggy."
The lightning around Lei En gradually faded, but his deep, pitch-black eyes remained locked firmly onto Buggy.
"Running off without even greeting an old friend isn't very polite, is it?"
Buggy's entire body stiffened, cold sweat instantly soaking his back.
He knew he probably would not be able to escape today.
But Buggy was, after all, a man who had sailed aboard Roger's ship. His mental fortitude was far beyond that of ordinary pirates.
After the overwhelming fear passed, he instead calmed down.
"What am I afraid of? I'm a man who ate the Chop-Chop Fruit!"
Buggy encouraged himself inwardly. Slashes are completely useless against me! No matter how strong this brat is, he's just a swordsman. What can he possibly do to me?
At that thought, Buggy's courage immediately swelled again.
He spun around, forcibly squeezed out an incomparably arrogant grin, and pointed at Lei En's nose as he cursed.
"Who did I think it was? So it's you, you little brat!"
Buggy blustered, putting on a fierce front despite his fear. "You got lucky and won one move ten years ago, and now you really think you're invincible?!"
"Today, I'll teach you what a real pirate is!"
Watching Buggy force himself to act tough, Lei En shook his head as though looking at an idiot.
"Your brain doesn't work very well, but you sure know how to write yourself a bigger role."
"You're asking for death! Chop-Chop Punch!"
Buggy struck first. His white-gloved fist instantly detached from his arm and shot toward Lei En's face like a cannonball!
Lei En did not even dodge. He merely tilted his head with extreme casualness.
Buggy's fist grazed past his cheek and smashed into the wall behind him.
"Hahaha! Missed, did you? Then how about this!"
Buggy let out a wild laugh, and his body suddenly shook.
"Chop-Chop Carnival!"
His body instantly split into more than a dozen pieces—head, arms, torso—and scattered like falling blossoms, surrounding Lei En from every direction.
"You see that, brat? This is my invincible power!"
Buggy's head circled smugly in midair. "No slash can hurt me! You've already lost!"
"Invincible power?"
Lei En glanced at the body parts flying around him and could not help snickering.
"Looks more like the ability to dissect yourself on the spot. It certainly makes it easier for me to get at you."
He had no intention of drawing his sword.
Because he knew full well that physical slashes really were useless against a shameless fruit power like Buggy's.
But... who said fighting had to involve a sword?
With a particularly sinister gaze, Lei En fixed his eyes on Buggy's feet—still wearing clown shoes and standing stupidly on the ground instead of flying.
And... the most important part of Buggy's body connected to those feet.
"Since you like flying so much..."
An exceptionally cruel, exceptionally dishonorable cold smile curled across Lei En's lips.
"Then I'll give you a hand and let you fly a little higher!"
Before his words had even faded!
A layer of pitch-black Armament Haki instantly coated the tip of Lei En's right foot!
He lunged forward, his body taut like a drawn spring, then delivered an incomparably precise and insidious upward kick straight at Buggy's completely unguarded lower half!
"Bang—!"
A heavy, muffled impact that made everyone's groins go cold just from hearing it rang clearly through the plaza.
Buggy's pointed shoes were instantly kicked off the ground by that terrifying force!
The Armament Haki directly ignored the Chop-Chop Fruit's physical immunity, transmitting that heart-rending agony straight into Buggy's nervous system at full force!
"Ugh—!!!"
Buggy's upper body, which had been circling gleefully through the air, suddenly let out an inhumanly shrill and miserable scream!
His makeup-painted eyes instantly widened larger than bells, his eyeballs nearly popping out of their sockets!
His expression twisted beyond recognition!
"Clatter—"
The body parts flying through the air lost control in an instant, like drones that had lost their signal.
Buggy's entire body reassembled in midair in an utterly miserable state.
Then, like a boiled shrimp, he clutched his crotch tightly with both hands and fell stiffly from the air.
With a "thud," he crashed heavily onto the cold stone pavement.
His entire body convulsed violently as foam spilled from his mouth, and he rolled around madly on the ground.
His comical clown face was now filled with the ultimate agony, a pain worse than death.
The surrounding Buggy Pirates members were all dumbfounded.
One after another, they stood with mouths agape, instinctively clamping their legs together as a chill ran through their groins.
Too... too vicious!
That was practically a bloodline-ending kick!
Lei En slowly withdrew his foot and nodded in satisfaction as he watched Buggy roll around on the ground.
"Mm, the effect is pretty good. Looks like even the Chop-Chop Fruit can't stop this move, 'Nutcracker Pain.'"
He walked over to Buggy and looked down at him from above.
Buggy was in too much pain to say a word. He could only stare at Lei En with an expression of extreme terror and pleading.
Lei En crouched down, patted Buggy's face, now streaked with tears, and smiled like an innocent angel.
"Hey, Red Nose."
Lei En's voice was not loud, but to Buggy's ears, it sounded like a devil whispering from hell.
"You just said you were going to teach me a lesson?"
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