Suddenly, Ray stopped.
He could see that Buggy was already injured from his fight with Luffy.
"Heal up first," Ray said, his voice flat. "I'm not fighting an injured man."
Buggy froze for a second, surprised.
But he didn't refuse. He walked over to his unconscious crewmates and rummaged through their pockets for some medical supplies.
After patching himself up, he looked at Ray.
"I need 20 minutes to be back at my best."
"Agreed," Ray nodded.
With that, Ray ignored the resting clown and walked over to the one-armed, black-nosed pirate.
He grabbed the pirate, who was now conscious but couldn't move, and tossed him near Buggy.
Buggy frowned.
"What's this? You want me to patch him up, too?"
"Do you know what he did?" Ray asked.
Buggy thought for a moment. "You mean when he was stupid enough to get in your way and you cut his arm off?"
"If that's all you know, then never mind." Ray had no interest in explaining.
He was curious how Buggy would handle his rogue subordinate, but it wasn't worth wasting his breath.
Hearing that, Buggy instantly realized his subordinate must have lied about what happened.
Worse, the idiot had probably done something Buggy had strictly forbidden.
A cold glint flashed in Buggy's eyes, but for now, he held back.
"We'll deal with this after our fight," he said, glancing at Ray.
"Fine."
Silence fell over the battlefield as both men began to focus, their breathing steady and calm.
…
From a safe distance, Luffy, Zoro, the now-giant Chouchou, the mayor, and the butcher couple watched this strange, honorable truce unfold, completely baffled.
"What are they doing?" the mayor asked, confused.
Luffy and Zoro, however, understood immediately.
"That's Ray for you," Zoro said with a hint of admiration. "Completely confident in his own strength."
"But Buggy is strong, too," Luffy added, his expression uncharacteristically serious.
"I could tell he was holding back against me."
"Why does that mean Ray is confident?" the mayor asked.
Zoro sat down on a nearby rock. "Letting your opponent recover to their full strength before a duel… that's the way of a true warrior. It means you're so sure you'll win that you don't need any advantages."
"Whoa, so cool!" the butcher's wife and the mayor exclaimed.
But the butcher himself still looked deeply troubled.
"When I saw Buggy in the mountains… in just an instant, he completely destroyed an entire mountain…"
Hearing that, even Luffy and Zoro fell silent for a moment, a flicker of concern in their eyes.
"Ray… you better win," Luffy muttered, leaning against Chouchou.
The giant dog kept its eyes locked on the battlefield, clearly worried about Ray.
…
Twenty minutes passed in a flash.
"Let's take this to the mountain," Buggy said, suggesting they change locations.
Ray nodded.
"Fine."
He figured Buggy just wanted to protect his unconscious crew from the crossfire.
With that, Buggy levitated into the air and flew toward the mountain in the distance.
This time, his feet were firmly attached to his legs.
"Heh, looks like he's getting serious," Ray smirked, then launched himself into the air and shot after him.
…
The group watching from behind stared, their jaws on the floor.
"He's so cool! He's seriously so cool!" Nami, who had returned with a bag full of treasure, was practically swaying with stars in her eyes.
The butcher's wife wasn't much better.
"Zoro, Ray can fly! He can actually FLY!" Luffy yelled, his own eyes sparkling as he excitedly slapped Zoro on the back.
"Ow! That hurts, you idiot!" Zoro smacked Luffy on the head before his own expression turned serious.
While Ray flying was a shock, he was more worried about Buggy.
If what the butcher said was true, this was going to be a tough fight.
"They're too far away now," the butcher said, his voice full of worry. "It would take us an hour to run over there."
As if it understood them, Chouchou let out a loud bark and crouched down.
Everyone immediately got the hint and climbed onto the giant dog's back.
Once they were all settled, Chouchou took a few running steps and then soared into the sky.
Everyone: "..."
…
At the back mountain.
Ray had already drawn Tōkijin.
Buggy held six daggers, three in each hand.
"Here I come, white-haired swordsman!" Buggy grinned, and his upper body instantly shot off his legs, using the propulsion to lunge at Ray.
Ray sidestepped the attack and countered with his own sword, sending a fierce blue arc of energy tearing through the ground.
But with his Chop-Chop powers, Buggy dodged it easily.
"What a slash! You can already coat your attacks in Haki?!" Buggy's expression turned serious.
If that had hit him, he would have been badly wounded.
He instantly abandoned his old strategy of splitting into tiny pieces.
He could sense Ray's Haki was stronger than his own; the machine gun trick he'd used on Luffy wouldn't work here.
"Kahahahaha! It's been a while since I've had a real hand-to-hand fight! Let me show you what Rayleigh taught me!"
With that, Buggy charged, his Haki-coated daggers striking from bizarre angles.
He used small splits in his body to constantly change his trajectory, making his attacks wild and unpredictable.
Even Ray was having trouble keeping up.
Buggy was clearly on another level from Luffy, especially when it came to Observation Haki.
He was dodging every single one of Ray's slashes.
'So this Buggy could probably dodge a slash from Hawkeye', Ray thought.
'If he can predict my attacks, then I'll just have to attack everywhere at once.'
Ray flashed backward and swiped his claws forward.
"Poison Claws: Meteor Shower!"
A terrifying rain of green energy claws shot from his fingertips, blanketing the area around Buggy.
Each claw strike melted the very rock it touched, forcing Buggy to focus all his energy on dodging, not daring to let a single one graze him.
…
On a distant hilltop, the newly arrived group gasped.
The side of the mountain was now a dead, corroded wasteland.
Luffy: "Zoro, did you know Ray's poison was that crazy?!"
Zoro: "That's ridiculous!"
Mayor: "Terrifying!"
Nami and the butcher's wife: "So cool!"
Chouchou: "Woof woof!"
The butcher, however, just stared, his brow furrowed deeper than ever.
…
Just as Buggy was scrambling to avoid the poison claws, Ray's cold voice cut through the air.
"Azure Dragon Strike!"