Dozens of black, Haki-coated body parts screamed toward Luffy.
At the last possible second, Luffy redirected a punch, his arm stretching out to grab a distant building.
He used the elastic recoil to launch himself high into the air, narrowly dodging the deadly storm of fragments.
"Whew~ that was way too close," Luffy panted, adjusting his straw hat as he cautiously eyed Buggy, who had already reassembled himself.
Buggy just grinned mockingly.
"What's wrong? Running away already? Let's see you dodge this."
One of Buggy's arms began to split, breaking down into countless tiny, black shards.
Each minuscule piece was coated in dark Armament Haki, radiating a crushing pressure.
"Upgraded Chop-Chop: Buggy Machine Gun!"
As Buggy yelled the name, the dense swarm of black fragments shot forward, a hailstorm of obsidian bullets aimed right at Luffy.
After his training with Ray, Luffy knew better than to try and block an attack like that.
He could only dive for cover in the rubble, scrambling to evade the assault.
The attack tore through the ruins, kicking up a massive cloud of dust and debris.
When it finally settled, the buildings were obliterated, and the ground was riddled with deep holes.
Here and there, you could see splatters of blood.
The sheer destructive power was horrifying.
Zoro, watching from the sidelines, scanned the battlefield, his brow furrowed.
There was no sign of Luffy.
"Kahahahaha! Well, Straw Hat? Did I turn you into minced meat?" Buggy laughed, retracting the fragments and reforming his arm.
But there was no answer from the ruins.
Only an eerie silence.
Minutes ticked by.
Still nothing.
Even Zoro started to feel a knot of worry in his stomach.
Buggy sighed, his smirk fading.
"If you couldn't even handle that, how do you ever expect to become the Pirate King?" he muttered to himself.
"You don't deserve to wear that hat."
He turned his gaze toward Ray. "Alright, white-haired swordsman, you're next!"
But just as he did, his eyes went wide.
"Why do you have the straw hat?"
Buggy's pupils contracted.
Luffy had been wearing that hat just a moment ago.
This could only mean he'd given it to Ray.
If the kid wasn't dead, then where was he? Why couldn't he sense him?
Buggy scanned the area around Ray, but he couldn't find a single trace of Luffy.
While Buggy was lost in thought, a black fist suddenly shot out of an alley to his left.
It slammed squarely into his face, sending him flying.
Before Buggy could even hit the ground, Luffy was on him.
"Gum-Gum… BLACK GATLING!"
Fists coated in Armament Haki rained down on the fallen clown like a machine gun.
'Where the hell did he pop out from?' Zoro thought, his eyes wide.
'And since when could he use Haki like that?'
Ray, watching this, allowed a faint smile to touch his lips.
He had to admit, Luffy had a real talent for fighting.
…
As the smoke cleared again, a massive crater had been formed in the ground.
In the center of it lay Buggy the Clown.
"Did… did we get him?" Luffy panted, collapsing to the ground.
He was covered in his own blood from Buggy's earlier attack, and using Haki in a real fight for the first time had completely drained him.
Ray took in the scene and gave an order to Chouchou, who then escorted the speechless mayor and butcher couple to a safer distance.
He then walked over to Luffy.
"Sir!" the butcher suddenly shouted. "Buggy the Clown still hasn't used that crazy ability I told you about! Be careful!"
Ray nodded.
He could already sense that despite the beating he'd taken, Buggy's life force was still stubbornly strong.
He reached Luffy and placed the straw hat back on his head.
"Your 'Turtle Breath Technique' is getting better," Ray said, offering a rare bit of praise.
"Hahaha, I get it! You learned how to hide your presence!" Zoro said, finally catching on as he walked over.
"Ugh, I wouldn't have used that trick if he wasn't so strong," Luffy grumbled.
"I'd rather just fight him head-on!"
Ray knew that a straightforward brawler like Luffy would hate using stealth tactics.
But in that critical moment, he'd chosen to hide.
When the power gap is too big, charging in recklessly just gets you killed.
This was reality, not some manga where the hero always gets a last-minute power-up.
Luffy's willingness to adapt his fighting style showed that he valued his crew's lives—and his own—more than his pride.
After all, if he lost, could a badly injured Zoro or a non-fighter like Nami have survived?
This realization made Ray respect Luffy even more.
Before Luffy could catch his breath, an eerie laugh echoed from the crater.
"Ka-ha-ha-ha!"
"Clever trick, Straw Hat! Giving your hat to Ray made me think you were hiding near him, but you snuck all the way around to the other side. Very well played."
Buggy rose from the pit, laughing like a maniac.
Blood trickled from his mouth, but otherwise, he seemed completely unharmed.
"But now, you get to face the consequences of making a fool of me!" he roared, his aura shifting dramatically.
"I, the great Captain Buggy, am furious!"
Both of his arms split into swirling rings, each one coated in black Armament Haki.
Luffy struggled to his feet, trying to muster the strength to fight back.
Zoro immediately jumped in front of him, swords drawn, sweat dripping from his forehead as he tried to figure out how to possibly block what was coming.
"DOUBLE BUGGY GATLING!"
A storm of black shards, denser and faster than before, surged toward them.
At that moment, Ray made his move.
"Sword Pressure."
In a flash, Ray drew his sword, Tōkijin, and met the storm of Haki-coated fragments head-on.
BOOM!
The collision was terrifying.
The shockwave it created was so powerful that the very ground split apart, sending chunks of rock flying in every direction.
…
From that single clash, both Ray and Buggy got a clear measure of each other's strength.
Buggy recalled his scattered body parts and stared at Ray, then burst out laughing.
"Kahahahaha! White-Haired Swordsman Ray! At first, I thought you just killed Morgan to get a bigger bounty than your captain."
"But my gut was right about you. You're the real monster in the Straw Hat Pirates."
Ray's expression didn't change.
He simply motioned for Zoro to get Luffy out of the way, then raised his sword, blocking Buggy's path.
"Former crewmate of the Pirate King," Ray said, a faint dangerous smile playing on his lips as a dark, demonic energy began to swirl around him.
"Show me what you've got."
A true battle was about to begin.