After making someone so angry that their wounds spurted blood, Luffy finally got serious and focused on dealing with Buggy.
Meanwhile, Tom was still troubled by his inability to control his unknown Devil Fruit power. That in itself wasn't a big deal, but what made him utterly speechless was Nami's incessant nagging beside him.
"Your Devil Fruit power is completely useless, isn't it? If that's the case, why did you even eat a Devil Fruit in the first place, turning yourself into someone who can't swim?"
Nami looked at Tom's face, now covered in red and orange stripes, completely ignoring his bitter expression, and continued. "And not only is your Devil Fruit power utterly useless, it's also made you even uglier."
"What I look like is none of your business. Stop your nagging."
Tom really couldn't stand Nami repeatedly calling him ugly. While he wasn't overly concerned with his appearance, he couldn't just let a woman point at his nose and call him unattractive.
"I have no interest in your appearance. I just think you shouldn't have eaten that Devil Fruit. Don't you know? Devil Fruits are very valuable."
Nami had indeed heard rumors before that Devil Fruits were worth a fortune.
"You're right about that. A Devil Fruit can sell for at least a hundred million Berries."
Who knew that upon hearing Tom's words, Nami would be utterly shocked, and then proceed to unceremoniously grab Tom by the neck, shaking him violently. "You idiot! You actually ate a hundred million Berries?! Spit it out! Spit it out right now! Since it's useless to you anyway!"
Spit out your sister!
Tom, with Nami choking him, could barely breathe. He coughed repeatedly, nearly suffocating. "Let go! How could I possibly spit out a Devil Fruit for you? Go find one yourself!"
"How am I supposed to find one? It's a legendary treasure of the sea!"
Nami said this, then looked at Tom with surprise. "Huh? Your face is back to normal?"
"Really?"
Tom felt a surge of joy, followed by frustration. What's going on? Could it be that this Devil Fruit power is beyond my control? It comes out to show itself whenever it feels like it? That's just screwing me over!
Seeing that she really couldn't make Tom spit out the Devil Fruit he'd eaten, Nami unhappily released her grip on his neck and snorted. "Well, in that case, I'll put this debt on you. From now on, you owe me four hundred million Berries. Since I cured your ugly face, it's not too much to charge a little, right?"
What the hell?
This woman nearly choked me to death and has the audacity to claim she cured me, then charge me for it? It's only my good manners keeping me from punching you away right now.
Just as Tom was about to have a proper argument with Nami, he heard Buggy's wild, arrogant laughter. "This tattered hat counts as a treasure?!"
Buggy held three throwing knives between his fingers, having pierced Luffy's most cherished straw hat, and taunted him.
I'll leave this hat with you for now. It's my most precious hat. I'll come back for it when you've become a fine pirate.
Luffy's face was terrifyingly dark. Remembering the words spoken by the one-armed, red-haired man who entrusted the hat to him ten years ago fueled his anger further. He immediately charged toward Buggy. "That's the hat I promised Shanks! It's my treasure! I will never forgive anyone who damages it!"
"What? So it's Shanks's hat? No wonder I felt uncomfortable the moment I saw it. No wonder you were asking about him. So that's your connection."
Buggy threw the straw hat, pierced by three knives, onto the ground and spat on it with disgust. "I used to be on the same pirate ship as him. In other words, he was my companion during my apprentice pirate days."
Seeing Buggy dare to spit on the straw hat, Luffy was instantly enraged, his hair standing on end. He roared at Buggy, "Shanks is a great man! He was your companion?"
Seeing Luffy raise his fist to attack, Buggy thought Luffy was aiming for his face and immediately detached his head from his body. "Chop-Chop: Emergency Evasion!"
"You don't even deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as him."
Luffy put all his strength into a punch that landed squarely in Buggy's stomach, making Buggy's eyes bulge and tears stream down his face.
THUD!
Buggy's body was sent flying dozens of meters by Luffy's punch, careening toward Tom. Tom delivered a heavy kick, slamming Buggy into the ground and kicking up a cloud of dust.
"He got so angry over a hat being damaged... I thought he didn't care about anything."
Nami stared blankly at Luffy's furious face. She had always thought someone as carefree as Luffy couldn't feel such anger.
This was also the first time Tom had seen Luffy this angry. He saw the wound on Luffy's left hand was still bleeding profusely, and Luffy's overall condition wasn't great either.
It seemed that after Nami mentioned his face returning to normal, Tom's head felt even dizzier than before. Any movement sent waves of unbearable pain through his body. He thought it best to deal with Buggy quickly.
Just then, Buggy, having been punched hard by Luffy, struggled to get up from the ground, his face covered in dust. His expression was extremely grim as he glanced at Luffy charging toward him and Tom standing before him. "In all my years, I've never been this furious! You two clueless, reckless brats dare to anger me again and again! I'll kill you!"
Buggy was truly enraged. In over twenty years as a pirate, he had never experienced a day like this—repeatedly insulted about his nose by both Luffy and Tom, yet not only had he failed to finish them off, he'd been beaten up by them. He truly could not tolerate it any longer.
"Die! Chop-Chop Carnival!"
Buggy's body suddenly split into dozens of pieces, spinning rapidly in the air. Taking advantage of the dazzling, confusing spectacle, his two detached hands, holding several throwing knives, attacked the weakest link: Nami.
"I'll deal with you first, you thief who dares steal my treasure!"
Buggy's detached hands, holding knives, stabbed swiftly toward Nami. Nami instinctively raised the sack of treasure in her hands to shield herself.
"Big Nose! I said your opponent is me!"
"Red Nose! Are you ignoring me?!"
Luffy and Tom shouted angrily in unison.
Tom was annoyed that Buggy ignored him to attack Nami. Luffy was angry that Buggy disregarded him to target someone else.
"This kick is for the Mayor!"
Luffy, quickly appearing at Buggy's side, delivered a fierce kick to Buggy's left cheek.
At the same time, Tom threw a heavy punch into Buggy's left cheek. "I don't care how furious you are! Get lost!"
Whoosh!
Buggy's floating head, simultaneously struck by Luffy and Tom's powerful blows, was punched until his face deformed, his eyes rolling back. His entire head shot out like a rocket-propelled shell.
BOOM! BOOM!
Under the combined assault of Luffy and Tom, Buggy's head was punched through five houses in a row, crossing several streets before finally stopping.
As for the other parts of Buggy's body that had split off and were spinning in the air, they now fell powerlessly to the ground, silent.
Clearly, Buggy was now completely knocked out. The hands that had been stabbing at Nami also dropped to the ground.
"We worked together really well!"
Luffy grinned, giving Tom a high-five.
In that moment, both Luffy and Tom smiled happily. But one person's face darkened.
"It was not good at all! You two idiots! My treasure is all gone!"
Nami bared her terrifying shark-like teeth, roaring at Luffy and Tom.
It turned out that when Luffy and Tom joined forces to punch Buggy's head away, Nami had just extended the sack of treasure in her hands, intending to block Buggy's attack.
But the sack in her hands was struck by the flying head of Buggy, launched by Luffy and Tom's punches, and was knocked from her grip. When she came to her senses, Nami tragically discovered her treasure sack had flown off to who-knows-where.
"If the treasure's gone, you can just find more. No need to worry. Hahahaha!"
Luffy laughed heartlessly.
"You should have held onto the treasure tighter. What's not meant to be yours can't be forced. Stop complaining."
Tom, having just punched Buggy hard, felt aches all over and wanted to sit down and rest. How could he be in the mood to care about Nami's treasure?
THWACK! THWACK!
In the blink of an eye, Nami punched both Luffy and Tom to the ground. "Stop talking nonsense! Go find my treasure right now!"
"Who dares to hit me in the head with a human head and a sack of treasure?!"
Just after yelling at Luffy and Tom, Nami heard a man's voice.
Turning to look, Nami saw Zoro, with three swords at his waist and green hair, and asked with some surprise, "What treasure? Also, where were you before? Why are you only showing up now?"
"Huh? Isn't that Luffy and Tom? Why are you two on the ground? Did you meet some strong enemy?"
Zoro held Buggy's head in one hand and a sack of treasure in the other. The two sprawled on the ground looked very familiar.
What shocked Zoro most was that now, Luffy, Tom, and himself all had a large bump swelling on their heads. One had to say, these three were quite connected by fate.
Earlier, the lost Zoro had been wandering the streets when he was suddenly struck hard on the head by a head that crashed through a wall and a sack of treasure. It made him see stars, nearly knocking him out.
After catching his breath, Zoro immediately picked up the head and treasure that had hit him and followed the path they came from to find Luffy and the others.
A short while later, Zoro learned from their conversation why he had been hit on the head by Buggy's head and a sack of treasure.
"Sorry, it's because this guy's punch was too strong that you got caught up in it."
"Sorry, it's because this guy's kick was too strong that you got caught up in it."
Luffy and Tom pointed at each other, apologizing to Zoro in unison.
"What did you say, you responsibility-shirking bastard?!"
Hearing each other's words, Luffy and Tom cursed at each other simultaneously, then started wrestling and brawling.
"What are you two doing?"
Zoro's forehead was lined with black lines as he watched Luffy and Tom rolling on the ground, fighting.
"Why does this sack of treasure feel lighter?"
Nami, after taking the sack from Zoro, immediately inspected it and quickly noticed something was wrong.
"Probably because the sack is torn. Some treasure must have fallen out."
Zoro's words made Nami go crazy. "If treasure fell out, couldn't you have picked it up on your way here? You idiot!"
That Zoro could be completely indifferent to treasure lying on the ground, walking straight toward them without a sideways glance, made Nami think he was either crazy or stupid.
"Navigator-san, whether I pick up treasure or not is my freedom. Understand?"
Zoro turned his head and spoke coolly to Nami.
THWACK!
Zoro was also knocked flat by a fist from Nami. "If your freedom makes me lose treasure, I'll beat you up!"
Now Zoro finally understood why Tom had yelled so loudly last time when Nami hit him on the head. It really hurt.
"Haha! Zoro! The bump on your head is bigger than ours! So, our navigator is interesting, right?"
Luffy actually had the leisure to carefully compare the sizes of the bumps on his, Tom's, and Zoro's heads.
"Don't get it wrong. I only agreed to team up with you. I didn't say I'd become a pirate with you."
Nami intentionally or unintentionally glanced at Tom, who was sitting on the ground resting, and spoke to Luffy.
Just as Luffy was about to say something, they heard Buggy's voice. "You all still have the mood to chat?!"
"How are you not dead yet?"
Luffy saw Buggy's head, still attached to a long cape, floating in the air. His left cheek was swollen beyond recognition.
"I'm the immortal Buggy! How could I die?! You dared to make me hurt this much! I'll send you all to hell now."
Buggy swept his gaze over Luffy and Tom, then saw Zoro with three swords at his waist and said with some surprise. "What? The famous pirate hunter of the East Blue also wants to take my head?"
"Aren't you just a head now? I can take it anytime."
Zoro found it somewhat strange to see a lone head floating in the air, but he prepared to draw his sword.
"No, don't interfere. I'll punch him away myself!"
Luffy reached out to stop Zoro and took a step forward.
"I want you all to die without a grave!"
Buggy said hatefully, "Assemble! Chop-Chop Parts!"
"Huh???"
After reassembling his hands and feet, Buggy was instantly dumbfounded.
"Woof! Woof!"
Shushu came before Buggy, looked at him, let out a low growl, and looked ready to pounce and bite at any moment. This scared Buggy, making him retreat several steps.
Now with hands and feet complete, Buggy stood on the ground, eye-to-eye with Shushu. In other words, he was only as tall as an ordinary dog.
Luffy stared blankly at the extremely short Buggy. "So you're a dwarf?"
"Of course not, you fool! Where's my body?!"
Buggy anxiously looked around, trying to find his missing body.
"Are you looking for this?"
Nami had tightly bundled up the remaining parts of Buggy's body. Hence, Buggy, with only his head, hands, and feet, truly had become a dwarf.
"Wait! That's my body! Give my body back!"
Buggy was truly panicked. Without his body, what could he do?
"As expected of a professional thief. You work fast. I'll handle the rest."
Luffy laughed joyfully, stretched both arms far back, and said to the panicked Buggy. "I'm going to punch you away, Buggy!"
"Don't you dare!"
As Buggy let out a wail, Luffy launched a fierce attack. "Rubber Rocket!"
"WAAAH!!!!"
With a scream, Buggy was hit head-on by Luffy and sent flying diagonally upward into the sky. In the blink of an eye, he turned into a speck of light and disappeared from everyone's sight.
"He flew really far."
Tom, sitting on the ground, looked up at the direction Buggy disappeared and muttered to himself.
"Woof! Woof!"
Shushu beside Tom also let out happy barks, as if agreeing with him.
"Alright. Punching that big nose away has mostly cooled my anger. Luckily, this hat can still be worn."
Luffy picked up the straw hat Buggy had damaged from the ground. Looking at the holes in it, he fell silent.
"If that hat is really so precious to you, I can sew it up for you."
Seeing how much Luffy cared about the hat, Nami spoke up.
"Really?"
Hearing Nami's words, Luffy immediately brightened up.
"Mhm. That'll be a hundred thousand Berries."
Nami smiled at Luffy. "I don't have an obligation to do this for free, right?"
"That's true, but I don't have that much money."
Luffy was anxious. If the hat could be fixed, it would be nothing but good for him.
"Don't worry, I won't make it hard for you. I bandaged Tom's wounds earlier and charged him a hundred thousand Berries. Your debt can be added to his tab. He'll pay for you."
Nami's words reassured Luffy. He turned and waved happily at a confused Tom. "Tom! You're really good to me! Thank you!"
Tom, who had no idea what Nami and Luffy were talking about, saw Luffy thanking him warmly and was filled with question marks. His already somewhat dizzy head became even dizzier.
"Alright, time to check on the Mayor."
Luffy saw Shushu guarding the unconscious Boodle and wanted to go check on him when a large group of townspeople came toward them.
"You're not from this town, are you? Why are you here? Where did the Buggy Pirates go? Did they have an internal fight?"
The residents surrounded them, asking questions. Soon, someone noticed Boodle lying unconscious on the ground with some blood on his head, and immediately someone ran forward. "Mayor! What happened?"
These people were holding weapons. If they found out how the Mayor got knocked out, it'd be bad.
As Nami was thinking this, she heard Tom ask Luffy, "Did you knock out the Mayor?"
"Yes. At the time, he was just getting in the way, so I knocked him out."
Luffy answered very honestly.
"What?!"
The townspeople's expressions turned very unfriendly upon hearing Luffy's words.
"Hey! Why did you admit that so readily?!"
Nami nearly cried. Why is this guy so honest? Then she yelled at Tom, "Don't ask such pointless questions!"
In truth, Tom was now too dizzy to think clearly. Severely injured and having lost too much blood, he was running on the last of his instinctive awareness. He vaguely felt the Mayor's unconsciousness was related to Luffy, so he just asked.
"What's the matter? They all saw it anyway."
Luffy didn't understand why Nami was stopping him from telling the truth.
"They only saw the result. You had a reason for doing it."
Nami was angered by Luffy.
"You actually beat the Mayor like this? Don't make excuses!"
"Who are you? More pirates?"
The townspeople, holding weapons, gradually closed in on Luffy and the others.
They looked murderous. If they find out we're pirates and a thief, it'll be bad.
As soon as this thought crossed Nami's mind, she heard Luffy say, "We're pirates!"
"Isn't there also a thief?"
Tom, lying on the ground, subconsciously added. Luffy came to his senses and said to Nami, "Right! You're still a thief now, but you'll be a pirate later too!"
This time, Nami really cried, wishing she could beat the crap out of both Luffy and Tom.
"Hahahaha!"
Zoro, hearing Luffy and Tom's conversation, couldn't help but laugh.
"You really are no good! Get them!"
Hearing Luffy's words, the townspeople had no more doubts and prepared to surround and attack Luffy's group.
Seeing the situation turning bad, Nami yelled at Luffy and Tom. "You two bastards!"
"I didn't say anything wrong!"
Luffy said to Nami with an air of righteousness.
"That's right."
In his hazy state, Tom chimed in.
Nami was left speechless with anger.
"Run! Zoro, you take Tom!"
Luffy put the straw hat on his head, turned, and ran.
Zoro threw the barely conscious Tom over his shoulder and followed Luffy.
Seeing the residents surging forward, shouting about capturing them to avenge the Mayor, Nami didn't dare hesitate. She grabbed the two re-packed sacks of treasure and quickly caught up with Luffy and the others.
"Run toward where Buggy's head crashed through earlier. We'll reach the port quickly."
Luffy pointed at the house whose wall had been broken by Buggy's head and smiled.
And so, Luffy and the others took a shortcut.
Zoro carried Tom on his shoulder. While passing through the not-very-large hole in the wall, Tom was unfortunately bumped a few times. The pain made him a bit more awake. He said to Zoro, "Don't be so rough. I'm an injured person."
Tom was telling the truth. Zoro's muscles were hard as rocks. Being carried on his shoulder was like being pressed against something hard and very uncomfortable.
THUD!
Right after Tom yelled at Zoro, his head hit the wall. Now he was temporarily speechless.
"Shut up! Who told you to get so badly injured?! If you could walk yourself, who would bother carrying you?!"
Zoro, fleeing in a hurry, retorted.
"It's all because of the two of you talking nonsense that things turned out like this!"
Nami, carrying two sacks of treasure, felt they were too heavy and she couldn't run fast. She had to hand one sack to Luffy for him to carry.
"These townspeople are so nice. Just because the Mayor got hurt, everyone gets so angry. I like this town."
Luffy said this while running and smiling. Hearing his words, Nami fell silent. She looked back at the townspeople chasing them angrily and couldn't help but reveal a faint smile.
"Woof! Woof!"
Shushu stood in front of the pursuing townspeople, barking incessantly, not letting them chase after Luffy and the others.
The townspeople were puzzled. Why was Shushu helping pirates? But with Shushu obstructing them, Luffy and the others had already run far away, making them hard to catch.
Some time later, Luffy and the others had boarded their ship, left the port, and were sailing on the sea.
"Hey! Wait!"
After the Mayor regained consciousness and learned the whole story, he ran all the way to the port. But by the time he arrived, Luffy's ship had already departed. He could only shout loudly after them. "Thank you! I'll remember your kindness!"
As he shouted this, the sixty-year-old man's tears finally flowed. He was deeply grateful to Luffy and the others. If not for them, he certainly wouldn't have survived, and Orange Town, which he had spent half his life building, would have been destroyed by the Buggy Pirates.
Initially, when Boodle went to confront Buggy, he was filled with determination to die and despair. But in the end, the result was the best he could hope for.
He had many things he wanted to say to Luffy and the others, but in the end, countless words were reduced to the simplest "thank you."
Luffy grinned happily and shouted toward Boodle standing at the port. "Don't worry about it! It's all in the past."
"I have nothing more to say..."
Boodle's heart trembled. Watching Luffy's ship gradually recede into the distance, hot tears streamed down his face. He understood Luffy's meaning. Today's events were over. The most important thing now was to rebuild his Orange Town!
Is this what you wanted to tell me? That pirates are all different?
Nami inadvertently looked back at Tom, sleeping soundly on the ship, remembering how he had fought Buggy despite his heavy injuries, just to tell her he was a pirate.
Her heart felt warm. Nami could tell that the "thank you" Boodle shouted contained deep gratitude.
This was the first time in Nami's life she discovered that not all pirates took pleasure in plundering treasure and killing others. It made her completely understand what Tom had told her earlier: pirates really aren't all the same.
A while later.
"What?! You left the treasure on shore?!"
Nami, on the ship, let out an earth-shattering cry. "I gave you one of those sacks to carry! That was worth five million Berries!"
"I know. But the town needs money to rebuild."
Luffy, on the other ship, said to Nami on hers.
"But that was my money!"
Nami felt she was going crazy. How could this person just give her money away?
"If you want it, go get it back. Besides, Tom and I wrecked a lot of their town's houses. Leaving some compensation is only right, isn't it, Tom?"
Luffy asked the newly awakened Tom.
Tom rubbed his eyes, yawned, and answered casually. "Yeah. Paying for what you break is only human nature."
The moment these words left his mouth, Tom saw Nami's face turn as dark as charcoal. Sensing danger, he hurriedly asked Luffy, "What were you guys talking about just now?"
"Whatever you were talking about, I'm going to teach you both a lesson!"
Nami grabbed Tom's head with one hand and pulled Luffy from the other ship with the other, pushing both their heads into the seawater.
"Stop! I can't swim! I'll drown!"
"You woman are crazy! I'm an injured person! This could kill me!"
Luffy and Tom, under the violent anger of Nami, were utterly helpless.
"Exactly because I know you'd be like this, I'm doing this! You two can just die once!"
Nami raged. "If you two pull something like this again, I will never let you off!"
Zoro watched the show from the side, laughing very happily.
That night, after everyone had fallen asleep, no one noticed a creature resembling a seahorse suddenly jump out of the sea and stick itself to Tom's head.
Several hours later, in the New World, at a secret Marine research base, in a dimly lit laboratory, a person entirely shrouded in shadow said excitedly, "To think something this interesting was found in the weakest sea, the East Blue. Though we didn't completely take that person's memories, having this is already enough. If these memories are real, then it's truly fascinating. Hehahahaha!"
A few Marines guarding outside the laboratory chatted in low voices.
"Look, the Doctor has gone crazy again."
"Don't talk nonsense. Even though he seems crazy, he possesses wisdom five hundred years ahead of the present world. Even if he is a madman, he's a terrifying madman capable of overturning the world!"
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T/N :
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