Showing Their Strength (Part 2)

"Hey, big nose, hand over the chart to the Grand Line." Whether Luffy did it on purpose or not, he repeatedly brought up Buggy's taboo. And he clearly hadn't connected the Buggy Pirates' stolen treasure to Nami.

"You really don't know the meaning of death. That isn't a route just anyone can sail through. What would nobodies like you do on the Grand Line? Go sightseeing?" Buggy mocked them angrily.

"I'm going to become the Pirate King!" Luffy answered as if it were only natural.

Buggy froze for a few seconds before coming back to his senses, as though he had heard the funniest joke in the world. "You're killing me. If you can become the Pirate King, then wouldn't I be a god? Are you dreaming? I'm the only one who'll obtain this world's treasure."

"You sure talk a lot!" Luffy was getting impatient with Buggy's endless nonsense.

"Seeing that Straw Hat of yours reminds me of him when he was young—that arrogant, annoying Red Ogre!" Buggy seemed to have recalled something deeply unpleasant, and his expression darkened.

"Red? You know Shanks?" Hearing that someone knew his idol, Luffy actually let down his guard, seemingly forgetting that the ugly Buggy before him was his enemy.

"I do! Want to know more? Want me to tell you? Buggy Surprise!" Buggy had been teasing him just moments ago, but the instant Luffy relaxed his guard, he attacked.

"His hand is flying through the air?" Although Luffy dodged Buggy's sneak attack, the sight of a wrist clutching a knife flying through the air still startled him.

"I'm a Split Man who ate the Chop-Chop Fruit. Every slash is useless against me, brat!" Buggy said smugly. However, the second half of his explanation was rather unnecessary, since Luffy was not holding any weapon, much less a blade.

"A Split Man? So you're a monster!" In Luffy's eyes, his rubber ability was what normal people had, while everyone else with powers was "special."

"You dare call me that? Take this, Chop-Chop Whirlwind Kick!" Buggy flung his lower body through the air, the tips of his shoes fitted with blades. Getting stabbed by them would definitely hurt badly.

"You can't control your body in midair now, can you?" Seeing Luffy leap up to dodge his spinning kick, Buggy hurled his throwing knives at the completely exposed Luffy.

"Of course I can! Gum-Gum Stretch!" While in midair, Luffy suddenly extended his arm and grabbed a wooden pillar on a nearby house, pulling himself away and successfully dodging all of Buggy's knives.

"What kind of monster are you?" Buggy was clearly shocked by Luffy's suddenly lengthened arm.

"I'm not a monster! I'm a Rubber Man who ate the Rubber Fruit!" In Luffy's eyes, he was the normal one, while Buggy's ability belonged to a monster.

"Rubber can't block sharp blades, can it?" As expected of the well-traveled Buggy, he had guessed the weakness of the Rubber Fruit just from learning Luffy's power.

"Yeah, it can't!" Luffy readily admitted his weakness. Most people would never do that in front of an enemy.

"What an interesting ability!" After exchanging blows with Luffy, Buggy seemed to feel as though he had returned to his younger days adventuring on the Grand Line.

"Your ability is interesting too! Rubber Gun!" Honestly, if Buggy had not been an enemy, Luffy might really have considered inviting him to join his pirate crew. Buggy was strong, his Devil Fruit power was interesting, and his nose was distinctive. His character was just terrible.

"You're wide open! I'll chop off your hand!" Buggy easily sidestepped Luffy's Rubber Gun. Since Luffy had set out to sea, aside from William, Buggy was the only one who had dodged Luffy's Rubber Gun so effortlessly.

"Not a chance! Gum-Gum Scythe!" When Luffy saw Buggy preparing to cut off his arm with a short blade, he immediately grabbed a pillar on a house and hurled his whole body forward.

"Chop-Chop Clone!" Sensing danger, Buggy immediately split his body apart and successfully avoided the flying Luffy.

"Damn it, he can split himself apart?" Luffy crawled out of the house he had smashed down and said unhappily.

"What a terrifying battle. It's like a dream!" As the area covered by Luffy and Buggy's fight grew larger and larger, Nami watched almost the entire battle from afar.

Although Nami had seen William and Luffy fight on the deserted island before, it had been nowhere near as visually spectacular as the battle between Luffy and Buggy. It was not that Luffy and Buggy's fight was more intense; there had simply been nothing on the deserted island, so all she could see was William and Luffy exchanging blows. But now, Luffy and Buggy's battle was full of destruction. Wherever they went, not a single house remained intact, and many had even collapsed because of them.

"Chop-Chop Cannon!" Buggy's arm, holding a short blade, suddenly split off and shot toward Luffy at bullet-like speed.

"You tore my hat? Shanks gave this to me!" Luffy hurriedly grabbed Buggy's incoming arm, but he forgot about Buggy's ability. The instant Luffy caught Buggy's arm, the wrist holding the knife split off again and shot forward. Before Luffy could react, the short blade sliced his hat open.

"What? So that bastard Shanks gave it to you. No wonder it looked so familiar!" Buggy snarled through gritted teeth. He had thought Luffy merely had some connection to Shanks, but that Straw Hat had really been given to him by Shanks.

"Don't badmouth Shanks!" Anyone would be unhappy hearing someone insult their idol, let alone Luffy.

"So what if I do? If not for Shanks, my dream wouldn't have been shattered!" If he could, Buggy truly wanted to kill Shanks with his own hands. But he couldn't. He simply didn't have the strength.

Since Devil Fruit users were hopeless swimmers and he could no longer search for treasures buried beneath the sea, Buggy could only turn his attention to land. The reason he had accidentally eaten a Devil Fruit back then was entirely because of Shanks. Though it had only been an accident, Buggy blamed Shanks for everything.

"Gum-Gum Gatling!" Although Luffy's Gum-Gum Gatling was fast, Buggy could likewise split his body into pieces to evade Luffy's attacks.

"Stop struggling pointlessly. You can't beat me." After exchanging blows with Luffy, Buggy had let down his guard and no longer took Luffy seriously.

"I'm the man who'll become the Pirate King! How could I possibly lose to you?"

"Then die! Huh? Who did this?" Just as Buggy was about to split his body apart, he discovered that a fishing net from who knew where had trapped him.

"Luffy, hurry up and attack!" Nami urgently shouted to remind him. Nami had not known about Buggy's weakness at first; William had told her all of this.

William had no choice. Luffy simply had no way to deal with Buggy. Could Buggy really be a hidden master? Although the world might change because of William's arrival, he couldn't possibly affect Buggy's strength, could he? Still, even if Buggy really had been hiding his true power, William would not have found it strange.

He was the brother of "Red" Shanks and an apprentice pirate aboard Pirate King Gol D. Roger's ship. Who would believe he had no strength? Still, his courage and personality were rather similar to Usopp's, except his character was much worse.

"Nami, thanks! Gum-Gum Bazooka!"

"Damn it—pfft!" Before Buggy could break free of the fishing net, Luffy's Gum-Gum Bazooka blasted him away. As for whether Buggy would fall into the sea, that was no longer Luffy's concern.

"Now that we've watched a free acrobatic show, shouldn't we get out of here?" William pointed at their ship docked at the harbor.

"Looks like the town's residents are coming with weapons?" Zoro pointed at a menacing crowd in the distant street.

"Then let's run! We're pirates, after all! Let's go!" With that, Luffy was the first to jump aboard the ship, grinning smugly.

In this battle, Buggy, captain of the Buggy Pirates, was blasted away and went missing; the vice-captain was injured and unconscious; and the chief of staff's fate was unknown. It could be called a complete defeat.