Battle Against the Buggy Pirates 2

Luffy and Buggy stood face-to-face, but neither attacked right away. Instead, they started chatting.

Over on Zoro and Liu Qing's side, however, the fighting had already begun, while Nami and the ordinary pirate lackeys stayed where they were without joining in.

Over on Zoro's side...

Cabaji rode his unicycle out from behind Buggy with a leap and declared, "Cabaji, chief of staff and acrobat swordsman of the Buggy Pirates, reporting! As a swordsman, it's an honor to have the chance to kill you. Let me see what you can do, Roronoa Zoro."

With that, Cabaji pedaled his unicycle straight at Zoro.

He brought both blades down hard at Zoro, who hurriedly raised his swords to block. Clang! Their weapons met, and neither could gain ground.

Seeing that they were about evenly matched in strength, Cabaji immediately used a technique.

"Acrobatics: Fire-Breathing Pops!" Cabaji spat flames from his mouth at Zoro. Zoro had never expected a swordsman to be so underhanded. Caught off guard, he took the flames head-on.

While Zoro was fending off the flames, Cabaji fought dirty and kicked him straight in the kidney, sending him flying.

Before Zoro could land, Cabaji used Acrobatics: Steam Murder Incident again and slashed down at him. Unable to shift position in midair, Zoro could only block with his weapons, only to be kicked flying by Cabaji once more.

As Zoro got to his feet after landing, Cabaji sneered, "So this is the strength of the Pirate Hunter whose name is known throughout the East Blue? Pretty weak."

Zoro ignored his taunts and said to Cabaji, "As a swordsman, having to fight someone like you is an insult to the weapons in my hands. Yet you have no self-awareness at all, nor any of the dignity a swordsman should have. I'm done playing with you."

With that, Zoro clenched a sword between his teeth and adopted his Three-Sword Style, then continued, "Let me show you how a swordsman should fight."

Angered by Zoro's words, Cabaji snapped, "You sure talk big, Zoro! Then let's give it a try and see who's stronger. Acrobatics: Kamikaze Hundred-Top!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Cabaji spun his entire body and attacked Zoro.

"I can't be bothered to keep fighting you," Zoro said. "Three-Sword Style: Oni Giri!" The two crossed past each other, and Cabaji fell to the ground and stayed down.

Seeing Cabaji lose, Buggy gritted his teeth. "What a useless piece of trash. Mohji, you're up."

"Yes, Captain. Leave it to me. I'll definitely beat them into the ground," Mohji replied.

Then he said to Richie beneath him, "Let's go, Richie. Let them see what I, Mohji, the greatest beast tamer, can do."

Mohji stepped forward and looked at Luffy and the others. "I'm Mohji, vice-captain of the Buggy Pirates and the greatest beast tamer on the seas. Which of you will fight me?"

Zoro looked at Liu Qing and Luffy. "You two handle this. A pirate crew that only knows circus tricks isn't worth my time."

"Then I'll do it. Luffy, just fight their captain," Liu Qing said, stepping forward.

Looking at Mohji and Richie across from him, Liu Qing considered how to fight.

Mohji was just about to deliver a few opening remarks when he heard the man opposite him say, "Wood Release: Flogging Cage!"

Mohji felt the ground beneath his feet shake. Then he and Richie were locked inside a wooden cell. Inside stood eight things resembling modern motors. The middle sections of the wooden motors were covered in vines bristling with cactus-like spines, packed so densely that even one hit would probably hurt for a very, very long time.

At the sight, both man and beast felt their skin crawl, but they could no longer afford to worry about all that. Mohji pointed at the cell's wooden bars and told the lion, "Richie, bite through that wood! We'll charge out and attack that guy directly."

"Rooar!" Richie growled.

Just as Richie opened his jaws to bite the wood, Mohji heard Liu Qing speak again. "Wood Release: Thorn Whip!"

The moment Liu Qing finished shouting, Mohji saw the motors around him begin to spin, faster and faster. Then came a string of smack, smack, smack, smack, smack, smack, smack! Everyone watched as the man and beast inside the cell were whipped within an inch of their lives, their bodies covered from head to toe in cactus spines-the really long kind, too.

"Awooo! Aow! Aow! Aow!" Richie howled wildly under the whipping.

"Boss Buggy, help! Ow! Fuck! Aaah! It hurts! Boss Buggy, hurry and save me!" Mohji cried out in pain.

Hearing Mohji's screams, Buggy turned to look and met Liu Qing's mocking gaze. Buggy shuddered and told Mohji, "Figure it out yourself. I still have their captain to deal with. I don't have time to help you." With that, he turned away and stopped looking at them.

Seeing Buggy give in to his fear so readily, Liu Qing told Mohji, "It's fine. I won't kill you. At most, it'll just hurt a little. No big deal!"

Mohji gritted his teeth. "You're not the one getting whipped! Of course you think it's no big deal!"

Liu Qing couldn't be bothered with him and turned to look at Luffy and Buggy.

Just then, Buggy noticed the straw hat on Luffy's head and found it very familiar.

"Seeing that straw hat on your head reminds me of someone who really pisses me off," Buggy said. "If it weren't for him, how could I have ended up unable to swim like this? He robbed me of the chance to search for treasure on the seabed. Do you know how much treasure that's cost me? Now I can only collect treasure on land. Damn you, Shanks!"

"Oh, so you know Shanks! Haha!" Luffy said.

"Just looking at that straw hat pisses me off. Since you care about it so much, then..." Buggy suddenly attacked. "Chop-Chop Cannon!" He slashed the straw hat several times, then caught it with his flying hand and brought it back to himself before continuing, "Then let it be torn to pieces! Ahahaha!"

With that, Buggy planted both hands on his hips and roared with laughter. Seeing Buggy damage the straw hat, Luffy finally became furious.

"Even if you know Shanks, I'm still going to send you flying!" Luffy said. "That straw hat is part of my promise with Shanks, and you dared to damage it! Gum-Gum Grab!"

Luffy took the hat back and slung it behind his back. "I'm going to send you flying! Gum-Gum Pistol!" He punched straight at Buggy's face. Buggy sidestepped the attack and, as he dodged, drew eight throwing knives and moved to slash Luffy's arm.

Just before the knives reached him, Luffy used Gum-Gum Train, launching his entire body straight at Buggy.

Buggy's eyes nearly popped out of his head in fright. He hurriedly used Chop-Chop: Emergency Escape, narrowly avoiding Luffy's attack.

Just then, Nami quietly slipped into Buggy's Treasure Room and stole a large sack of treasure, only to be spotted by Buggy.

"I hate people taking my treasure more than anything, especially when they steal it right in front of me! Damn you, Nami! Put down my treasure!" As Buggy spoke, his upper body flew straight at Nami.

"Oh no! He spotted me!" Nami cried, her face filled with terror.

Just as the attack was about to hit Nami, Luffy suddenly noticed that Buggy's lower body was still in front of him. Without hesitation, he kicked out hard at Buggy's weak spot-Little Buggy.

There was a thud, accompanied by Buggy's heart-rending scream. "My balls! Aaah! They're going to break! They're breaking!" Buggy's expression instantly twisted beyond recognition, and he writhed frantically on the ground like a snake being whipped.

Seeing this, Luffy hurriedly shouted to Nami, "Hey, Nami! Forget about the treasure! Hurry up and throw it away, then run! This guy's definitely going to attack you again in a minute!"

But Nami clutched the treasure tightly and refused to let go, muttering, "How could I do that? I went through so much trouble to steal this treasure from those pirates. It belongs to me now! I'm not just going to throw my own treasure away!"

Hearing this, Luffy immediately brightened and laughed. "I see! So once I take it, it's mine, right? Hahahaha! I think I get how this works now!"

At that moment, Buggy, who had been lying on the ground groaning in pain, finally recovered his senses. He roared furiously at Luffy and Nami, "What are you two bastards talking about? That's clearly my treasure! You bastards, give me back my treasure!"