The clown with the knife heard his friend's warning, but it was too late.
His blade was already whistling through the air, aimed right for Ray's head.
'Oh crap, I'm dead!' the pirate thought in a panic.
In the East Blue, anyone with a bounty in the tens of millions was a monster you should'nt touch.
And he had just tried to attack one.
Sure enough, there was a flash of green light.
The clown froze, his eyes wide with shock.
His sword arm went flying, and a clean hole was punched straight through his stomach.
"AHHH!!!"
His black-nosed friend was so terrified he could barely stand, his legs trembling like jelly.
A second later, a thought seemed to strike him.
Ignoring the screams of his now one-armed buddy, he dropped to his knees and started slamming his forehead into the ground in front of Ray.
"Ray-sama! We were idiots! We were blind! Please, for Captain Buggy's sake, spare our lives!"
Ray paid him no attention.
He walked slowly over to the butcher who was still lying on the ground.
Seeing Ray ignore him, the black-nosed pirate felt a wave of pure terror.
He'd been a pirate long enough to know that when you meet someone you can't beat, you swallow your pride and beg for your life.
If you don't, you die.
He started kowtowing even harder, not daring to stop even as blood streamed down his face.
The butcher's wife and the other onlookers could only stare, too scared to make a sound.
They had been terrified of these two pirates just moments ago.
Now, those same pirates were acting like mice cornered by a cat.
The sight was shocking.
'Who is this white-haired man?' they all wondered.
~
Ray knelt and lightly tapped a few spots on the butcher's body.
Then he stood and glanced back at the still-bowing pirate.
With a casual flick of his wrist, another flash of green light shot out.
A second arm flew through the air.
It was the black-nosed pirate's.
"AHHHHH!!!"
This time, it wasn't just the pirate screaming.
The crowd shrieked in terror too.
The noise seemed to annoy Ray.
His aura shifted, and a wave of killing intent washed over the area, silencing everyone instantly.
The air grew heavy, and it felt hard to breathe.
Without another word, Ray turned and started walking toward the center of town where Buggy was.
The black-nosed pirate understood.
Ray was letting them live.
Gritting his teeth against the searing pain, he grabbed his severed arm and scrambled away, giving Ray a wide berth.
As for his friend who was still passed out on the ground, he seemed to have completely forgotten about him.
~
As Ray walked, he felt the pirate retreating and a small smirk touched his lips.
'Buggy, how will you handle this?'
After all, Buggy's old captain, the Pirate King Gol D. Roger, had one absolute rule: you don't harm civilians.
Anyone who broke that rule was executed on the spot.
If Buggy still followed that rule, it would mean he had inherited Roger's will.
And if that was the case, there was no way he was the same weakling from the original story.
People who carried Roger's will were never simple.
At the thought, Ray's smirk widened.
'Buggy, this might actually be fun.'
Just then, the butcher who could suddenly move again, grabbed his wife's hand and ran after Ray.
"Sir, wait for us!"
Ray didn't slow down, but since he was only walking, the couple quickly caught up.
"Sir, are you going after Buggy the Clown?" the butcher panted.
"Mm."
"But you let that pirate go! What if he lies about what happened? Buggy is—"
"Are you worried he'll come after me for revenge?" Ray asked, a hint of amusement in his voice.
"And you don't think I can handle him?"
"Uh… I…" The butcher stammered for a moment.
"A while ago, I was cutting wood up in the mountains and I saw Buggy fight from a distance. He split a whole mountain in two and then put it back together again perfectly. You're terrifyingly strong, sir, but if you fight him… it's still a huge risk."
Ray didn't respond, just kept walking.
Seeing this, the butcher sighed. "Then let us come with you. If Buggy knows the truth of what happened, he probably won't cause you any trouble."
This made Ray pause. "You're not afraid you'll die?"
"What's the point of being afraid? We're just normal people, but we know how to repay a debt!" the butcher said firmly.
"Besides… Buggy isn't as bad as everyone thinks."
Ray gave a faint smile and didn't stop them from following him.
He was starting to get curious about who this version of Buggy really was.
Suddenly, another massive explosion erupted from the center of town.
Ray understood immediately.
'Luffy and Zoro must have started the party without me'. He picked up his pace.
…
A little while earlier, with Luffy and the others:
To trick Buggy, Nami had tied Luffy up and handed him over to the pirates.
Her plan was to steal the map to the Grand Line while they were distracted.
Buggy was so thrilled that he decided to throw a party, firing off a Buggy Bomb to celebrate—that was the first explosion.
In the middle of the party, Buggy ordered Nami to fire another Buggy Bomb, this time with Luffy as the target.
But when it came down to it, she couldn't light the fuse. A fight broke out.
Luffy was still tied up in a cage, and even with his Haki training, he was helpless.
Just as things looked bad, Zoro showed up.
He tried to take Buggy on one-on-one but got tricked and stabbed in the side for his trouble.
Somehow, the three of them managed to load one of Buggy's own special bombs into his cannon and fire it at his base—that was the second explosion Ray heard.
With that, Zoro grabbed Luffy's cage and ran for it with Nami.
…
Now:
The three of them had made it to the front of a pet food shop.
Zoro, thanks to the new hole in his body, had passed out.
Nami and Luffy were listening to the town's mayor tell them a story about the shop's loyal dog, Chouchou, who had guarded the store ever since his owner passed away.
Just then, a roar echoed through the street.
It was Mohji the Beast Tamer and his giant lion, Richie!
Richie smashed the cage holding Luffy with one swipe of his paw, sending Chouchou flying.
Luffy, now free, was also swatted away by the lion, crashing through a house a hundred meters down the road.
The lion then caught the scent of pet food and started walking toward the little shop.
Just as it reached the door, Chouchou—the little dog who had just been sent flying—staggered to its feet.
It started barking furiously at the giant lion and charged.
The tiny dog was no match for the lion, but it refused to back down, protecting its master's shop with everything it had.
It charged again and again until it was covered in bloody wounds and could barely stand, but it still bared its teeth and growled.
Luffy climbed out of the rubble and saw what was happening.
A fire lit in his eyes, and he was about to rush over and punch both Mohji and Richie into next week when a hand grabbed his shoulder.
He turned his head.
"Ray! You're here!"
Ray nodded, his cold eyes fixed on the scene.
"Mm. I want to see what this little dog does next."
Luffy thought for a second, then nodded back.
"Okay."