Chapter 17: The Team Battle Begins!
On the high ground, in front of the Buggy Pirates' temporary tent.
Mayor Boodle rushed to the bottom of the steps, panting heavily. He tightly gripped the rusty spear in his hand, his tear-stained face filled with determination.
"Hey! Pirate Buggy!!"
The mayor roared with all his might.
"I am the mayor of this town, Boodle! For my townspeople, for Chouchou's shop... I challenge you!!"
On the high platform, Buggy, who was sitting by a pile of ruins sulking, looked down at the tiny figure with a contemptuous gaze.
"Huh? Where'd this old geezer come from?"
Buggy picked his ear with a look of disdain.
"Are you kidding me? If you don't want to die, get lost. This Great Me is in a very bad mood right now."
The surrounding pirate lackeys also let out harsh laughter.
"What's going on? Is this old man here to die?"
"Hahaha! He can't even walk straight and he wants to challenge Captain Buggy?"
"Shut up!" The mayor gritted his teeth, the fire in his eyes not extinguished by the ridicule. "I have things I must protect..."
"Go die! Old geezer! You're not worthy of challenging Captain Buggy!"
"What if... we're added to the challenge?"
A calm voice interrupted the pirates' laughter.
Everyone looked back.
Luffy led the way, with Tatsuya and Zoro guarding his sides. The three of them walked over with a chilling aura.
When Buggy saw the Straw Hat and Tatsuya, his pupils shrank suddenly.
"Huh?! That damn red-eyed brat! Straw Hat!"
Buggy jumped up from his seat, his Chop-Chop hands dancing in the air.
"You guys weren't blown up? And you dare come back!"
"Hey! Straw Hat! Seeing that annoying Straw Hat of yours reminds me of another annoying Red Hair bastard! So now I hate you twice as much!"
"Red Hair?"
Luffy froze for a moment, then thought of something.
"You mean Shanks? Do you know Shanks?"
"Hahaha! You could say I know him, or you could say I don't!"
Buggy laughed arrogantly. "Who would obediently tell you, you idiot!"
Luffy tilted his head with an expression like he was looking at a fool: "What are you talking about, you idiot? Do you know him or not?"
"You're the idiot!!" Buggy broke down and cursed. "Your whole family are idiots!"
"I'm not an idiot! I'm the man who will become the Pirate King!" Luffy roared back righteously.
Zoro and Tatsuya, standing behind, glanced at each other.
Even without verbal communication, the two instantly understood the meaning in each other's eyes.
—Confirmed, both are idiots.
Just then, the ignored Mayor Boodle raised his spear again and interrupted loudly: "Buggy!! Don't ignore me! Accept my challenge!!"
"Huh? You're so annoying, old man..."
"Bang!"
Before Buggy could finish, a shadow of a fist flashed.
Luffy punched the mayor on the back of the head without any warning.
The mayor didn't even groan; his eyes rolled back, and he collapsed to the ground.
Total silence.
"Lu-Luffy?!" Nami ran over in a panic. "What are you doing?! That's the mayor!"
Luffy pulled back his fist and lowered the brim of his hat: "This old man was in the way."
"Luffy is doing it for the mayor's own good."
Tatsuya stepped forward, looked at the unconscious mayor, and explained calmly.
"If he really challenged Buggy, he would surely die. Letting him sleep is better than losing his life."
"But you didn't have to knock him out directly?!" Nami complained, exasperated. "This is too reckless!"
"This is just how we pirates do things." Tatsuya shrugged.
"It's 'you guys'! Don't associate me with you!" Nami immediately drew a line.
Buggy on the high platform saw this and laughed even harder: "Huh? Is this infighting? Wahahaha! What a bunch of fools!"
Luffy looked up, his gaze instantly becoming sharp.
He took a deep breath and shouted at Buggy:
"Shut up! Big red nose!!"
Silence.
A deathly silence.
The expressions on the laughing pirates' faces froze instantly, then turned into extreme terror, as if they had heard the countdown to the end of the world.
"What did... you say?!"
Buggy slowly lowered his head, veins popping on his forehead, his entire face twisting into a terrifying shape from anger.
"That's a taboo word!!" a pirate screamed, clutching his head. "That Straw Hat kid is dead!!"
"Who are you calling a red nose?!"
Buggy roared, the throwing knife in his hand instantly crushed.
"If you want to die, this Great Me will grant your wish!! Men! Push that Special Buggy Ball over here! I'm going to blow them to smithereens!!"
"Ye-Yes! Captain Buggy!"
The pirates scrambled to push out another cannon, the dark muzzle pointed directly at Luffy and the others.
"Hey!! Run!!"
Nami saw this and was scared out of her wits.
"They're going to fire that shell that destroyed the town just now! We'll die!"
Without thinking, she grabbed Tatsuya's sleeve beside her to run.
But when she pulled, she found Tatsuya motionless, standing there like a pillar.
"Tatsuya?! Run!"
"Not running." A playful smile curled at the corner of Tatsuya's mouth. "Just leave it to Luffy."
"Huh?!" Nami looked at the other side in disbelief and found Zoro also calmly crossing his arms, with no intention of dodging.
"What is wrong with you people!!" Nami felt like she was going crazy.
"Hmph, how arrogant! Then go die! Disappear flashily!! Wahahaha!!"
Along with Buggy's roar, the fuse burned out.
"Boom—!!"
The huge red shell, carrying an aura of destruction, whistled out, heading straight for Luffy's face!
Facing this blow that could level a street, Luffy didn't dodge. Instead, he took a step forward and took a deep breath, laughing.
"Hee hee hee! Bring it on!"
"Gum-Gum Balloon!!"
Under Nami's terrified gaze.
Luffy's body instantly inflated like a balloon, becoming round, soft, and elastic.
"Boing—!!"
The huge Buggy Ball crashed heavily into Luffy's round belly.
The expected explosion did not happen.
The shell seemed to sink into a giant ball of cotton, deep into Luffy's belly, and then—
It was forced to stop and then repelled by this terrifying elasticity!
"Giving it back to you!!" Luffy roared, his belly thrusting forward.
"Whoosh—!!"
The Buggy Ball whistled back along its original path at an even faster speed than when it came!
On the high platform, Buggy, who was about to celebrate his victory, had his eyes nearly pop out, and his jaw hit the ground.
"Ah? How did it come back?!"
At the critical moment, Buggy showed his extremely shameless side.
He grabbed two unlucky subordinates nearby and used them as a shield.
"Save us, Captain Buggy!!"
"No!!"
"Boom————!!!"
The huge explosion resounded through Orange Town once again.
The Buggy Ball accurately hit the center of the Buggy Pirates' headquarters.
Terrifying flames soared into the sky, and the high platform that had been so overbearing just a moment ago instantly turned into ruins, with debris flying everywhere.
"Hee hee hee! Blown away!"
Luffy returned to his original state, patted his slightly numb belly, and laughed happily.
Nami's eyes widened, her mouth open wide enough to fit an egg: "Wha-What's going on? Why was the shell bounced back?!"
"Luffy is a Rubber Human who ate the Gomu Gomu no Mi."
Tatsuya kindly explained from the side, "His whole body is rubber. Ordinary blunt attacks and cannonballs are ineffective against him."
"A Rubber Human... Is this a Devil Fruit user?" Nami muttered to herself. "What a bunch of monsters..."
Just then, an angry roar came from the ruins ahead.
"Aaaaah!! That hurts like hell! I'm going to kill you!!"
The dust cleared.
Buggy crawled out of the ruins in a mess, casually throwing aside the two "human shields" who had been charred black.
Although he was covered in dust, relying on the meat shields and his fruit ability, he actually didn't suffer too heavy an injury.
"Captain Buggy..."
A swordsman with long bangs covering half his face, riding a unicycle, slowly and miserably walked out from the shadows of the ruins.
Although he was slightly affected, the killing intent in his eyes grew even stronger.
"That moss-head swordsman... can you leave him to me?"
"Jiehahaha! It's Cabaji!"
Seeing that his top Admiral was still there, Buggy suddenly regained his confidence and grinned cruelly.
"Good! Let them see the true power of our Buggy Pirates! Kill them all for me!"
Zoro looked at the guy performing acrobatics on a unicycle, pulled out his Wado Ichimonji, and sneered:
"From a circus? If you want to die, come on, small fry."
"Red nose! I'm going to send you flying!" Luffy also clenched his fists and walked toward Buggy.
The battle was about to break out.
Standing at the back, Nami looked at the completely chaotic situation, her eyes darting around quickly.
Since these monsters are fighting, isn't now... the time when the treasure vault is least guarded?
She slowly moved her feet backward until she retreated behind Tatsuya, then said with a smile:
"Ah... since you pirates want to fight and kill, I won't join you.
"Anyway... whether you live or die has nothing to do with me. Let's cooperate again if there's a chance!"
After saying that, Nami ignored everyone, hunched over, and carefully bypassed the edge of the battlefield, slipping toward the depths of the Buggy Pirates' ruins.
Obviously, her target was the Buggy Pirates' treasure.
Tatsuya looked at Nami's sneaky back, then glanced at Luffy and Zoro, who were preparing to go all out.
"The system mission is to defeat strong enemies, but I want money too... Hmm... I'll take both! I'll be right back!"
A mysterious smile curled at the corner of Tatsuya's mouth.
"Zoro, Luffy, I'll leave this place to you for now."
He whispered, then his figure flashed, quietly following the orange figure.