"What kind of joke is this?!"
As he watched the encircling walls, the Navy's secret weapon for exterminating the Whitebeard Pirates, vanish into nothingness, Sengoku's eyes filled with blood vessels.
He had known it all along.
There was no way Ozz Dotor would ever agree to help the Navy so easily.
Tap.
Tap.
With the encircling walls erased, a figure strolled out with both hands in his pockets.
Ozz Dotor looked up at the Marines stationed outside the walls in a full extermination formation, a faint smile on his face, as if he had not just stabbed them in the back.
"Oh my. What exactly is the Navy trying to do here? Were you planning to wipe out both me and the Whitebeard Pirates together?"
The moment he heard that, Kuzan began condensing a mass of ice in his hand, only for Sengoku to shout him down at once.
"Stand down, Kuzan!"
"Are you trying to make Marine Headquarters fight two legends at the same time?!"
Then he turned toward Ozz Dotor.
"Saint Ozz Dotor, this was a failure on the Navy's part. I ask that you not take offense."
His face was hidden in shadow as he lowered his head, making his expression impossible to read.
How could he not want to question him like Kuzan did?
With your power, a mere encircling wall could never have trapped you. Why go out of your way to destroy it?
But he had no choice.
There were too many actors in this war.
Even Sengoku himself could not deny that, when facing the grandson of his old friend Garp, he might have been tempted to go easy.
If even he felt that way, what about that man?
As Fleet Admiral, all Sengoku could do was keep dragging the situation toward the least disastrous outcome.
The most urgent matters now were dealing with Whitebeard and making sure the portion of the broadcast that could cause panic had been cut off.
Then suddenly,
"Pfft..."
A crackling sound came from Sengoku's throat, as if something had gotten stuck there. He stared into the distant broadcast screen.
"What is that?!"
Across the entire world, countless people were watching the live broadcast. After a brief interruption, the screen lit up again.
The words on it read:
Please wait a moment
Ozz Dotor nearly laughed.
At the edge of the battlefield, a full professional filming crew had somehow assembled.
Even Buggy's versatile underlings had managed to scrounge up makeup kits and lighting from who knew where.
No wonder people always said that once you got thrown in there, you found out everyone inside was talented.
The broadcast resumed.
First, the camera swept over the horrifying battlefield while a flunky's voice narrated dramatically from the side:
"Thank you for waiting, everyone. This is Marineford. Pirate and Marine corpses are everywhere..."
"Huh? The figure standing in that beam of light is...?!"
Then his tone became increasingly exaggerated.
"Could it be, could it actually be, one of the legendary crew members of the Pirate King Roger, who has concealed his true identity all this time?!"
People all over the world were stunned by that title alone, their eyes locking onto the figure from behind.
"Who is that?"
Then Buggy slowly turned around.
"That is right. It is I, Buggy!"
Seeing this, Sengoku instantly shot into a rage.
"What is that absurd broadcast?!"
"Stop them immediately, or this battle cannot continue!"
"But..."
The soldier looked troubled.
"That is a live News Coo Den Den Mushi from the World Economic Journal. Because of Saint Ozz Dotor, it was specially modified to prevent signal blocking..."
"What?!"
While the Navy descended into chaos, the broadcast continued.
"Ah! So you are Captain Buggy, the man acknowledged by the great pirate and former crewmate of the Pirate King, the good brother of one of the Four Emperors, Red-Haired Shanks, and the close friend of the legendary Black Spear, Lord Ozz Dotor, the King of the Next Generation?!"
"Yes. That is correct!"
"You are Captain Buggy, the man who withstood over a hundred slashes from the world's greatest swordsman, Dracule Mihawk?!"
"Yes. That is me!"
A silent wave of fury spread across Sengoku's face, blue veins throbbing at his temples.
"Kuzan, go seize Buggy and his group!"
"I got it."
At that point, Sengoku simply sent the one person who was already close to losing control and attacking Ozz Dotor. Kuzan, for his part, was more than willing.
He shot forward, his body radiating bitter cold. Soon one of the prisoner underlings spotted him.
"Captain Buggy!"
"An Admiral is coming!"
The broadcast image immediately descended into chaos and shaking. Hearing his men, Buggy looked toward the execution platform.
The moment he saw who it was, tears and snot burst out of him.
I'm dead!
But his men thought otherwise.
To them, a legendary figure like Buggy naturally would not fear a mere Admiral.
"Exactly, exactly."
One underling wore a mysterious expression of absolute confidence.
"After all, he is a man spoken of in the same breath as Black Spear and Red-Haired Shanks, standing shoulder to shoulder with them in pirate legend!"
"Emperor Clown Buggy!"
"I'm so excited. We are about to witness a battle between an Admiral and a man on the level of an Emperor!"
His men continued screaming praises.
Meanwhile, Buggy, shoved to the very front by his followers, had tears and snot streaming down his face, his mouth turned down in despair.
What kind of joke is this, you idiots?!
An Admiral...
Soon, Kuzan locked onto Buggy at the front. His eyes turned cold.
Of all people, Kuzan knew this red-nosed idiot was in league with Ozz Dotor.
From the very first day he had followed Vice Admiral Garp in pursuit of the Roger Pirates and first met Ozz Dotor, Buggy had already been at that man's side.
"Ice Block: Pheasant Beak!"
"Go, Captain Buggy!"
"Whaaaa?!"
As the gigantic icy bird rushed closer and closer, Buggy's pupils quivered violently, even the snot on his face beginning to freeze.
In the end, he finally resorted to that hidden move he had never once revealed.
Right before the ice struck him head-on,
"Ozz!"
"Relax."
At that moment, a low whisper brushed past Buggy's ear, like the voice of a demon from the abyss.
"That voice..."
Buggy froze for a moment. Before he could react, when he opened his eyes, his men were staring at him with such worship that they looked ready to faint.
The enormous ice bird, just as it was about to touch Buggy's body, suddenly began to split apart and disintegrate, then exploded into fragments.
That terrifying force continued spreading.
Even Kuzan himself was shattered into a heap of broken ice.
"This... could it be...?!"
One underling fell into thought, then his eyes lit up at once.
"There are rumors that Captain Buggy's Devil Fruit is a power not inferior to the strongest Paramecias, the Chop-Chop Fruit!"
"So it does not merely let his own body split apart, granting him an undying form..."
"It can actually..."
"It can actually tear the world itself apart!"
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The tides are shifting, and secrets linger in the dark... Step into the shadows early on P@treon, where the next chapter awaits before the world sees it.
[email protected]/_theon
Change @ to "a"