Really? Even though we've hurt you before?
The speaker was one of the villagers who had once delivered food to Buggy and his crew—
only to later offer them up as sacrifices and profit from it.
That was indeed the problem.
Most of the villagers here had, in one way or another, taken advantage of the sacrifice rituals to feed their greed. Some pirates had even lost their lives as a result. The stain on their hands wasn't small.
Buggy thought for a moment before replying:
"Yes. As long as you're not the mastermind, and you haven't committed unforgivable crimes like sacrificing children for greed, then what's past—including what you did to us—I won't pursue it."
If he were to settle every account, then aside from Reno, no one on this island would escape punishment. That would mean exterminating the entire village.
But Buggy was no butcher. He held no deep hatred toward these people. And they weren't directly tied to any pirate enemies of his. So he chose the middle ground:
Only the chief culprit and those who had truly committed monstrous acts would be punished.
The rest would be spared.
Hearing this, the remaining villagers—who had been trembling with guilt—finally looked relieved. Smiles of survival spread across their faces.
They knew what they had done was wrong. Some had only followed the crowd out of fear of isolation. Others had given in to temptation, watching neighbors grow richer and unable to resist. And some had been coerced by the village leadership, forced to go along or be ostracized.
But at least this group still had a bottom line. They had not personally slaughtered innocents, and they regretted what they had done. For such people, Buggy decided to show mercy.
He then ordered Weevil and Daddy Masterson to restrain the other two-thirds of the villagers—the ones truly guilty. Even now, some of them might lash out, harming those who had committed lesser wrongs. That risk needed to be eliminated.
Once those dangerous villagers were secured, the spared villagers began to speak. They told Buggy everything they had seen and felt over the past few years—the truth of the island's transformation.
From their testimonies, Buggy pieced together many key details.
One of the biggest revelations:
Why did eating their food allow Buggy and his crew to become sacrifices?
The villagers explained what the chief had told them: once a bond was formed with someone—through kindness, through gifts, through gratitude—the things given could later be "offered up" as sacrifices. That was how Buggy's crew had been turned into offerings without even realizing it.
As for the missing children over the years?
Some had been secretly sacrificed by greedy villagers.
Some had been betrayed by their parents, sold for profit.
Even the pets the villagers raised were intended as sacrifices.
The prosperity of the island—the transition from ragged poverty to abundance—had been bought with those lives.
And then there was the mysterious divine stone.
The villagers claimed the chief had brought it back from a journey abroad. After that, his personality had changed. Using persuasion, temptation, and lies, he convinced the villagers of its "miraculous powers." Through sacrifices, they gained more and more until they could no longer stop.
The villagers themselves believed everything came from the stone. They thought the chief had been chosen by it, and that the strange pocket space was its doing. They had no idea it was the Sacrifice Fruit's power.
After hearing it all, Buggy and his crew discussed and drew several conclusions:
The village chief had a huge problem. His complete personality change suggested he might not even be the original man. Perhaps he had been replaced.
The "divine stone" was useless—just a prop. All of this came from the Sacrifice Fruit.
The power of the fruit was limited. It couldn't be used freely, only under certain conditions. Gratitude, giving, and emotional bonds—those seemed to be the keys.
Buggy then turned his attention back to the guilty prisoners.
Among them were two brothers. Buggy proposed a grim test: he would spare one if the other offered him as a sacrifice.
Both had long been tainted by the rituals and were connected to the Sacrifice Fruit's power. Between them, all the necessary conditions were met: a deep emotional bond, genuine family ties, and a life of great weight to offer.
The brothers had already been condemned to death. If one could survive, surely they would accept.
The elder brother didn't hesitate. He immediately agreed to be the sacrifice, willingly offering his life to save his younger sibling.
Preparations were made.
The younger brother voiced countless wishes as the ritual began. And as he declared his offering, the air above them trembled. Space itself began to ripple.
The elder brother's body slowly started to fade away.
Buggy's eyes hardened.
He was right.
The sacrificial space was indeed linked to these long-term participants.
And with such a weighty sacrifice, the dimension had finally responded.
The path to the village chief had opened.