A silver-haired figure seemed to be taking a leisurely stroll along the coast of Orange Town.
But it was just an illusion—with each seemingly casual step, he covered more than ten meters, gliding across the sand like a ghost.
…
This was, of course, Ray.
He knew a fight was coming, and he needed to figure out Buggy's real strength, so he wasn't wasting any time.
In less than five minutes, Ray arrived at the western shore.
The entire population of Orange Town was living here in a makeshift settlement of tents and campfires.
From a distance, it almost looked like a festival.
Ray's sharp sense of smell told him that every civilian was here.
The town itself, where the explosion had come from, stunk of pirates—stale booze, rotting meat, and grime.
There was no scent of normal life, and more importantly, almost no scent of blood.
But what really felt off was seeing the townspeople here, tilling nearby farmland as if the massive explosion from earlier was just another Tuesday.
They didn't even seem fazed.
'They plunder, but they don't kill? Are they trying to farm this town for resources?' he wondered.
'I need to understand what the deal is between Buggy's crew and these people.'
With that thought, Ray walked silently into the settlement.
…
As Ray stepped past a butcher's stall near the entrance, a dreamy voice called out.
"Wow… look at that handsome man!"
A delicate-looking woman stared at him, her eyes quickly glazing over with a look that was more than a little lustful.
"Hey! What kind of voodoo are you using on my wife?" The burly, bearded man chopping meat next to her noticed her expression and pointed his bloody cleaver at Ray.
Ray sighed.
He was used to being called handsome, but this level of reaction was something new.
'Sesshomaru, you beautiful disaster,' he thought to himself.
Just as he was about to ask what was going on, the butcher spoke up.
"Are you one of Buggy's men here to pick up meat today? Show me the IOU."
'An IOU? That was interesting.'
Did Buggy actually plan to pay them back, or was it just for show?
Ray shook his head. "I was shipwrecked nearby. I saw everyone gathered here and wanted to ask what happened to the town."
The butcher hesitated, but his wife didn't.
She suddenly shouted, "I'll tell you, handsome! Just come inside with me for a bit… I'll tell you everything."
She eagerly reached for his arm.
The butcher beside her looked like his world was crumbling.
A moment later, he snapped out of it and raised his cleaver.
"I'll chop you into pieces, you pretty-boy!"
As the couple charged at him, Ray let out a cold breath, releasing a wave of pure killing intent.
They both froze in their tracks, a deep chill running down their spines.
"Are you calm now?" Ray's icy voice felt like Death itself was whispering in their ears.
"Tell me about Buggy."
They both nodded frantically and started talking.
…
Inside their tent, the couple finished explaining the situation.
"So you're saying Buggy hasn't killed a single person in this town?" Ray confirmed, finishing a bowl of fried noodles they'd given him.
"That's right. At first, they took about a tenth of our food. But after that, they started leaving IOUs every time they took something. They haven't paid any of them back yet, though."
"It didn't ruin us," the butcher added.
"We usually have a surplus of food anyway. But they kicked us all out of our homes! They turned our town into their personal playground for testing bombs!"
Ray processed the information.
Buggy kills no one, leaves IOUs for supplies, doesn't touch the farms, and makes sure the townspeople have enough to survive.
'No ordinary pirate operates like this' Ray concluded.
'Buggy must be hiding his true strength and has some bigger goal in mind.'
' I'll need to be careful.'
…
Just then, a loud voice called from outside the tent.
"Hey, butcher! We're having a party for a new girl joining the crew tonight! We need two hundred pounds of pork! Here's your IOU!"
Two pirates dressed like clowns were standing at the stall.
The butcher, clearly used to this, went out to fill their order without a word.
But just as he finished cutting the pork and put it in their cart, one of the pirates, who wore a fake black nose, suddenly pressed a knife to his throat.
"Hehehe. Hey, boss. My brother and I asked you before… about maybe letting us borrow your wife for a night. Have you thought about it?"
The butcher scoffed.
"Buggy doesn't allow his men to bully the townspeople. That trick won't work on me."
"Hehehe. Is that so?" the pirate sneered.
"Well, Captain Buggy is far away, and the guy he left in charge here had a little… accident. Right now, on the west coast, I'm the boss!"
"That's right!" the other clown chimed in. "We can tell the Captain anything we want! He treats us like brothers! And as for you and your wife… it'd be best if you just disappeared."
Hearing that, the butcher realized this wasn't a joke.
These two were serious.
Cold sweat dripped down his forehead, but the thought of what they planned to do to his wife filled him with rage.
"Over my dead body!" he roared. "I'll kill you both!"
A scuffle broke out, and a few seconds later, the butcher was on the ground, beaten and unable to move.
"Hahaha! Just lie there and watch, pig-man! We'll deal with you after we've had our fun!"
"Hehehe, the little lady is in the tent, right? Here I come!"
The two pirates laughed as they swaggered toward the tent. Inside, the woman was trembling with fear, hiding behind Ray.
He gently removed her hand from his sleeve.
"Don't be afraid. I'll handle this," he said calmly. "Your husband is fine, just knocked out."
With that, he stood up and walked to the entrance.
Just as the two clowns were about to pull back the tent flap, Ray stepped out.
"Huh? Who's this pretty boy? He looks kinda familiar…" one of them muttered.
The other one didn't recognize him at all.
His face was flushed with ugly desire as he snarled, "Where the hell did you come from? You trying to stop us from having a good time? Then you can die!"
He swung his sword wildly at Ray.
At that exact moment, the pirate with the black nose finally placed Ray's face.
His eyes went wide with terror.
"NO, DON'T! THAT'S THE WHITE-HAIRED SWORDSMAN, RAY! HE'S GOT A 20-MILLION-BERRY BOUNTY!"