"Damn bastard! He stole my treasure and went off to flirt with women?! How could women possibly be more attractive than treasure? He took all that loot and didn't even bother to buy any equipment—what a disgrace!"
The more Buggy thought about it, the angrier he got. The moment he laid eyes on Weiss, the fury in his heart exploded. But then he remembered he probably couldn't beat Weiss in a fight, so he swallowed his rage again.
---
"This outfit's nice... oh, this one's great too—huh? Is this the latest style? Shopkeeper, I'll take this one, that one, and that one too. Pack up all the rest except these three!"
"You've got that much money?" Weiss raised an eyebrow at Karina, who was in full shopping spree mode.
"Isn't this your treat? Don't tell me you're broke. No way, right? A great swordmaster like you going back on your word?" Karina widened her eyes, as if she'd just witnessed something unimaginable.
"I am treating you, but I never said you could buy the whole store. Just three outfits—take it or leave it. And don't forget, you still owe me sixteen million Berries," Weiss replied with a roll of his eyes.
"What?! Only three?! That's your idea of treating someone?" Karina shrieked.
Weiss shrugged, clearly saying: "Cry all you want, it's not going to change anything." That was the limit—no more, no less.
"Then… how about an advance on my wages?" Karina gave in, seeing she wasn't going to win. She quickly tried a more tactical route. Inwardly, she vowed: One day, I'll run off with all your treasure. I won't even leave you a pair of underwear!
"You sure?"
...
...
"I'm sure!"
"Alright then."
After successfully getting a 200,000 Berry advance, Karina walked out proudly with seven outfits—three gifted by Weiss, and four more she bought herself. Now she had enough to wear a different one every day of the week with no repeats.
Just then, in the distance, an old man hunched over under a black cloak approached, carrying a basket full of apples.
As he walked, he called out: "Fresh apples! Freshly picked apples from my own orchard!"
A young couple, hearing the words "fresh apples," came up and bought some.
Buggy chuckled to himself. Poor kids. I just bought these from a fruit stand. Say it's fresh and they actually believe it? So gullible. As he clutched the money in his hand, Buggy had a sudden realization—Huh… maybe this way of making money is faster after all.
That's right. This was the great Captain Buggy, thinking that if he couldn't take down Weiss directly, he'd try a more underhanded method. He bought a basket of apples and planned to get close to Weiss.
The apples on top looked normal, but each apple underneath had one of Buggy's explosive bombs stuffed inside. As he imagined Weiss biting into one and getting blown up, Buggy grinned smugly.
"Hahaha! I really am a genius!"
"Hey, Buggy, what are you doing here? Selling apples now?" Weiss spotted Buggy with a basket and looked surprised. Did this pirate suddenly have a change of heart and fall in love with apples instead of treasure?
"Wha—no! Don't talk nonsense! I'm not the great pirate Captain Buggy!" Buggy realized he'd been too excited and probably gave himself away, quickly hiding under his cloak.
"Oh? Weren't you the one who had his treasure stolen? What's with the sudden career switch?"
"It's all your fault, you damn bastard!" Bughy exploded, literally. His body split apart in rage, stretching his cloak to its limit and revealing his face to everyone around.
"Wait—that's Bughy! The one with a 15-million Berry bounty! Run!" The once-busy street fell into silence, then erupted into chaos. The couple who had bought apples dropped them and bolted.
In a flash, half the street was cleared out just because Buggy showed his face.
"I just realized… I don't even know your name," Buggy suddenly calmed down and stroked his chin with fake politeness.
"Oh, sorry for being rude. Let me introduce myself. I'm Weiss—Chris Weiss."
"You're that Weiss?! The bastard who stole my treasure?! Do you even know how much I lost because of you?!" Buggy roared. His dismembered body flew into the sky, and he began hurling apples everywhere.
Weiss noticed the apples looked perfectly ordinary, but his instincts warned him something was wrong. He grabbed Karina and leapt onto the rooftop.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
KA-BOOM!
Flames erupted. The shockwaves shook the air itself, thick black smoke rolling down the street like a storm. The heat was so intense it made the smoke catch fire. Waves of scorching air rolled in, and Karina instinctively shielded her face.
The street was unrecognizable. A massive black crater now sat where the explosions had hit, and the surrounding buildings—wooden and fragile—were now engulfed in roaring flames.
Once the smoke finally cleared, it revealed that both sides of the street had ten-meter-wide gaps, filled with scorched smoke and the stench of burning. Buggy's bombs had torn a massive gash through the entire street—and into the ones beside it.
Luckily, Buggy's bizarre actions had bought enough time. Within a minute, what started as half the street fleeing became the entire street evacuating. If not, the casualties would've been disastrous.
The Marines had already heard the explosions. Upon confirming Buggy's presence, reinforcements were quickly dispatched from the base.
"Clear the area! We're facing an extremely dangerous pirate—Clown Buggy!" a Marine lieutenant barked, directing troops to evacuate civilians.
With the crowd thinning, a squad of Marines advanced toward the chaos. Even a captain wouldn't take this lightly—let alone a lieutenant. But as a Marine, there was no backing down from a pirate like Buggy.
Weiss stood calmly atop a roof, using Observation Haki to scan the area. He spotted Buggy hiding in an intact house, covered in soot but laughing quietly to himself.
"Hahaha! What an explosion! That sword-swinging bastard Weiss must be dead by now. My treasure's as good as mine again—hahaha!"
Weiss drew the sword from his hip. With a flick of his wrist, he sent a blade of energy streaking through the air. It cut through the lingering black smoke and slashed directly into the house where Bughy hid.
"GAH!"
Buggy's laughter stopped abruptly. The sword slash passed cleanly through his body, slicing him in two.
Hearing the cracking sounds along the wall, Buggy muttered instinctively, snot dripping from his nose, "I'm doomed…"
A clean sword mark split the structure—and the entire house collapsed. Buggy, now in two pieces, staggered out of the rubble, raising a hand (detached from its wrist) to point at Weiss.
"You damn bastard! Don't you know that could've killed someone?!"
"Well, you're not dead, are you? I just cut you in half—no big deal," Weiss said, sheathing his blade as he noticed a squad of Marines approaching from afar.
"What the hell do you mean 'no big deal'?! Anyone else would've died from that sword slash!" Buggy roared in frustration.
And just then, the sound of marching Marines echoed from the distance.
---
Currently at chapter 415 on Ko-Fi
https:// ko-fi.com/sami27