Magnus moved lightly, not rushing, his eyes never leaving Buggy. He didn't need to test the waters as he already knew the truth because he had seen this clown before, on paper and screen, and now in blood and breath.
The Chop-Chop Fruit.
Buggy's body could separate at will. Blades meant nothing to him. He survived by breaking himself apart, by turning every fight into chaos.
That was his strength: confusion,
unpredictability and spectacle. Terrify them until their blades waver and blind them until fear finishes the job.
But Magnus knew the trick. Buggy wasn't invincible. The pieces could fly, but his feet they never left the ground. That was the anchor, the tether that bound the chaos to reality cut off his stage and the whole act would collapse.
A knife screamed toward Magnus as he tilted his head just enough, the blade slicing the air by his cheek.
Buggy's detached hands darted at him again stabbing with a crazed twitching speed. Magnus snapped one wrist mid-thrust, twisting hard until steel clattered to the stones. He crushed the hand until it spasmed uselessly and hurled it away.
"You little brat! You dare mock the great Buggy?!"
He glanced at Zoro, who was carving through Buggy's men with clean and efficient arcs of steel. But even Zoro's blades, flawless as they were could not cut what wasn't whole.
"Zoro."
The swordsman didn't look at him, still pressing back a slashing hand. "What?"
"Give me one of your swords."
For the first time Zoro was faltered. His visible eye hardened in disbelief as his grip tightening around his hilts. "...What did you just say?"
"Your sword," Magnus repeated evenly, as knives circled them like vultures. "Lend it to me. Now."
The words had cut deep. Zoro's blades were his soul no man touched them. But when he turned his eye on Magnus, he didn't find desperation but found certainty.
"...You're insane," Zoro growled.
Magnus sidestepped another knife, his voice low and measured. "Perhaps. But I know how to end this farce."
Buggy's manic laughter shrilled higher, echoing across the square. "Trouble in paradise? Hah! Even your own crew doesn't trust you! What a joke!" His torso spun midair, knives flashing, the clown's painted grin splitting wider.
For a moment the chaos froze.Then Zoro
ripped one blade free as he hurled it toward Magnus with a sharp bark of warning.
"Don't you dare shame it!"
Magnus's hand closed around the hilt mid-spin with hthe blade settling as though it had been forged for him.He drew it up in a single clean motion as if the weight felt familiar and natural.
His eyes locked onto Buggy. He knew every weakness every flaw and every illusion.
And he would tear through the clown's act right here and now.