One day later.
A medium-sized sailing ship with a gaping hole in its hull and patched-up masts sailed across the open sea.
The vast blue ocean stretched endlessly, its waves shimmering under the sunlight like a radiant star fallen from the sky, now transformed into a majestic, dazzling crystal sea.
However, Garen had no time to admire the ocean's beauty.
"Quickly! The wind is about to shift!"
"Adjust the position of the fore-sail!"
Nami sat off to the side with her legs crossed like a foreman, pointing at Garen with annoyance as she lectured him. "You don't even know how to handle the sail lines. How do you expect to navigate at sea?"
"I got it!"
Garen replied gloomily, inwardly distressed by the tangled mess of ropes before him.
This ship wasn't small—it was supposed to be crewed by at least ten trained sailors. But now there were only three people on board. Even Wallace had been forced into steering the ship, leaving Garen to do the work of ten men all on his own.
Nami's scolding voice rang in his ears once again:
"Too slow!"
"I already taught you how to tie knots!"
"Then come tie them yourself!" Garen shot back irritably.
"There are nine different ways to tie a knot. Who can remember all that?"
"If you can't remember, then practice more!" Nami retorted.
"Using different knots in different situations can save your life in a critical moment!"
She lounged comfortably on a deck chair while casually lecturing Garen, smiling smugly.
"Besides, I'm the navigator, not a deckhand. Why would I do physical labor?"
"If you want to blame someone, blame yourself for being uneducated!"
Garen was speechless.
He could talk about astronomy, geography, even the birth of the universe or the formation of black holes with some vague-sounding theories—but he had never learned how to sail a wooden ship.
"How much longer until we arrive?" Garen asked with growing frustration. The monotony of sea travel had already started to wear him down.
"If you can manage to adjust the sails properly…" Nami replied offhandedly. "About another full day."
"A day?" Garen's face darkened.
"Stop dawdling! Get back to work!"
Nami showed no pity as she barked orders at her overworked crewmate. "We're approaching the Calm Belt's surrounding currents!"
"If you don't adjust the sails properly, we'll get blown into the Calm Belt and become Sea King food!"
"…Fine."
Garen scowled and bent over to haul the heavy ropes again, grumbling under his breath:
"Where's the drinking, the meat, the sightseeing I was promised? This is just hard labor!"
"Too bad!"
Nami didn't even look up from the nautical chart in her hands as she dealt Garen another blow.
"This is what sailing is really like—boring as hell!"
"If all you want to be is some drunken idiot captain, keep dreaming!"
"Sigh…" Garen muttered to himself,
"If it's going to be this much work, I'd rather go fight pirates for three hundred rounds…"
"Sir Garen?!"
Wallace's alarmed voice suddenly rang out from the bow of the ship.
Aside from steering, Wallace had also been reluctantly assigned as the lookout.
"There's a pirate ship approaching!"
Just as he finished speaking, a pitch-black cannonball whistled through the air, plummeting straight toward the side of their ship—right where Garen was standing.
"A cannonball?" Garen's heart sank—but he quickly regained his composure.
These old-fashioned solid cannonballs relied purely on kinetic energy. Their range of destruction was very limited and they weren't especially fast. With his current physical condition, he didn't need to worry at all.
Using his near-superhuman reflexes and visual acuity, Garen easily calculated the projectile's trajectory and calmly sidestepped it with a smooth and precise movement.
Then—the cannonball landed.
In that very instant, the "harmless" solid cannonball emitted an abnormal, blinding light.
A massive shockwave erupted along with intense light and heat, blooming into a spectacular mushroom cloud.
"What kind of black-tech nonsense is this?!" Garen exclaimed in disbelief.
But before he could finish the sentence, he was already experiencing the full force of the explosion firsthand.
Not far from Garen's ship, another pirate vessel was sailing swiftly along the same route.
But this pirate ship was no ordinary one.
A man who once served under Pirate King Roger, a friend to Emperor Red-Haired Shanks, a legend who had clashed with Whitebeard, Golden Lion, and other titans of the sea—and who had even escaped unharmed from the Marine Hero Garp—was currently aboard this seemingly inconspicuous ship.
That terrifying man, whose very name backwards could strike fear into the censors, was none other than Buggy.
At this moment, the infamous Buggy the Clown was leading his band of savage pirates as they rampaged through the East Blue.
"Have you found them yet?"
"Found them?!"
The 15 million Beli pirate Buggy furiously questioned his navigator again and again:
"Where the hell is the Steel Blade Pirate Crew?!"
"N-no sign of them…"
The navigator shrank back and replied timidly. "We've lost their trail for several days now…"
"I fear the treasure they stole is long gone!"
Captain Buggy's face turned bright red with rage and shame as he slapped the arm of his chair.
"What do you mean 'stolen' treasure?!"
"How could someone like me—Buggy the Clown—get robbed by nobodies like Steel Blade?!"
"Y-yes, of course!"
The terrified navigator quickly corrected himself.
"It was… a batch of treasure sneakily taken by those scoundrels."
"Hmm?"
Buggy still looked displeased.
Another thicker-skinned lackey quickly added,
"They were treasures generously bestowed by the great Lord Buggy to those rookie pirates!"
Buggy finally nodded in satisfaction.
But the truth was this:
Despite having the legendary status of being Shanks' comrade, Buggy and his crew had recently been humiliated by the mere 10-million-Beli Steel Blade Pirate Crew.
Though Buggy had ultimately forced them to retreat, the 2-million-Beli treasure they had fought over had ended up in Steel Blade's hands.
Now, trying to salvage his pride, Buggy had been scouring the sea for days—but still hadn't found their trail.
"Maybe we should…"
Buggy's first mate, the so-called Beast Tamer Mohji, cautiously suggested:
"Captain Buggy, maybe it's time to give up? Wandering the sea like this is pointless."
"Hmph…"
Buggy fell silent. His bright red nose puffed up even more with frustration, making him look all the more ridiculous.
If he didn't redeem himself, he'd be nothing more than a stepping stone for younger pirates trying to rise.
But aimlessly sailing the ocean with no results was a waste of time and energy.
"Captain Buggy!"
Just as he hesitated, the lookout in the crow's nest suddenly shouted in excitement.
"We found them!"
"Oh?"
Buggy's eyes lit up. He instantly activated his Chop-Chop Fruit ability, detaching his head and sending it flying seven or eight meters into the air until it hovered beside the lookout post.
The lookout pointed in a direction and helpfully offered a spyglass for Buggy's floating head.
"They're right there—Steel Blade Pirates!"
"Even though they've lowered their flag, I'd never mistake that ship! There's still a hole in the hull from our last cannon barrage!"
Buggy saw the familiar ship clearly through the spyglass and let out a sinister laugh.
"Hahaha!"
"So afraid of Lord Buggy's might they don't even dare fly their pirate flag?"
"Today, I'll show you arrogant little brats what happens when you mess with the great Buggy!"
"Captain?"
The strategist of the Buggy Pirates, the third-rate swordsman known as Cabaji the Acrobat, asked:
"Should we engage in a boarding assault or stick to long-range bombardment?"
"Hmm…"
Buggy paused. The Steel Blade crew may not have any Devil Fruit powers, but each of them was a vicious, blade-wielding maniac—far stronger than his circus performers.
Last time, it was precisely because he underestimated their close-combat prowess that they got away with the treasure.
So, Buggy burst out in a savage laugh:
"HAHAHAHA!"
"There's no need to talk honor or rules with such disrespectful, deceitful little punks!"
"Just BOMB THE HELL OUT OF THEM!"
He then dramatically waved his hand and shouted to his vice-captain Mohji:
"Second-in-command!"
"Bring out my Big Buggy Cannon!"
(End of Chapter)