Chapter 72: Why Buggy is God?

"Captain Buggy, weren't we going to take Whitebeard's head?"

"Big Mom ran away. If we chase her down and kill her instead, that's fine too. Captain Buggy must have brought us here to find a ship."

"That's right. Lord Buggy must be trying to block and hunt down Big Mom."

Mr. 3, Galdino, followed behind and muttered quietly to himself as he listened to these people.

"All I see is that this guy is just looking for an excuse to run away! How the hell are they interpreting this?! He didn't say anything! Are they just making this up?!"

Buggy looked back at the group of prisoners tightly following him, snot running down his nose, and thought to himself:

'What am I even doing…? Why did I bring these guys to the New World'

'Whitebeard?! Me?! That old monster might be past his prime, but he'd still flatten me in a second! And Roy?! That guy's a nightmare!'

'Big Mom just lost an eye to him! And now I'm supposed to go after a furious Big Mom? No way, I don't wanna die!'

'Damn it. Where the hell is a ship around here, anyway?'

Buggy paced back and forth behind a large rock.

The prisoners following him watched with confusion, looking at each other.

"What's Captain Buggy doing?"

"Maybe it's some kind of ritual?"

"Yeah, Captain Buggy is probably strategizing."

"Let's just believe in Captain Buggy."

And with that, the prisoners joined in, pacing back and forth on the beach with Buggy, hands supporting their chins, moving in sync with him, over a hundred people, all following suit.

"You've all lost your minds," Mr. 3 muttered, dumbfounded.

He just couldn't understand what happened to their intelligence, why they became so blindly faithful to Buggy.

In his eyes, Buggy was a despicable, shameless coward. Yet he had somehow won the complete trust of this group.

And this wasn't just any group; these were vicious prisoners from Impel Down, all strong fighters.

But they were utterly devoted to Buggy, placing a strange kind of faith in him.

Buggy eventually noticed they were all mimicking his pacing and cried out in shock:

"What are you all doing?!"

"We thought Captain Buggy was performing some mysterious ritual, so we joined in," one of the prisoners said sincerely.

"Mysterious ritual? Bah, whatever. Still, it's true that this is difficult—defeating an Emperor isn't easy. We need a strong ally," Buggy said.

"A strong ally?"

"Yeah, someone to help us."

"Then, Captain Buggy, who will be your strong ally?"

"Yeah, Captain Buggy, who's going to help you?"

"Captain Buggy…?"

Faced with the prisoners' relentless questioning, Buggy grew more and more nervous. He jumped onto a rock and pointed behind them, shouting:

"Th-that way! Over there!"

"He's insane. Just saying whatever comes to mind… If they find out he's lying, they'll kill him," Mr. 3 thought, losing hope. "I need to get out of here before I get caught in this mess. These lunatics will kill me too!"

"Haha! Buggy, long time no see!"

Just as Mr. 3 turned around, a voice came from behind.

The tone suggested a close relationship with Buggy.

"How dare you speak Captain Buggy's name so casually! Are you looking to—"

"Wait, that guy..."

"No way."

"AN E-E-EMPEROR!!"

"RED-HAIRED SHANKS!!!"

The prisoners who had escaped from Impel Down nearly lost their minds.

It was true, standing before them was a man in sandals, wearing a black cape, with deep crimson hair, three scars over his left eye, and only one arm. He waved at Buggy with his remaining hand.

Looking in the direction Buggy had pointed, they saw the Red-Haired Pirates' ship sailing in.

"The Red Force… It really is the Red-Haired Pirates."

"So this is the powerful ally Captain Buggy spoke of?!"

"Captain Buggy… you planned this?!"

"I see now… Red-Haired Shanks. With Shanks and Captain Buggy together, we can take Whitebeard's head!"

"ALL HAIL CAPTAIN BUGGY!!"

"Sh-Shanks?! What are you doing here?!"

Buggy was so shocked that his body split apart, and his upper half flew straight to Shanks.

"Long time no see, Buggy."

"Long time no see, my ass! Don't forget, you made me lose the treasure map once, I still haven't forgiven you!" Buggy said, secretly overjoyed but unable to show it.

In truth, he always felt inferior to Shanks. But when he heard back in Loguetown that Shanks had no intention of becoming Pirate King, Buggy was deeply disappointed.

From that moment, he had been avoiding Shanks.

Truthfully, Buggy had always hoped that Shanks would be the one to carry on Roger's legacy.

"Oh, that thing? I almost forgot," Shanks laughed.

"You bastard, I've always found you annoying! If you hadn't startled me, I wouldn't have eaten that stupid Devil Fruit, and I wouldn't have lost my treasure map—it's all your fault!"

Buggy grabbed Shanks by the collar, just like the old days, throwing a tantrum.

He completely forgot Shanks was now one of the Four Emperors, one of the sea's rulers.

To Buggy, Shanks was still his buddy, his bro, the same reckless kid from Roger's crew.

Back during the God Valley Incident, the Celestial Dragons had taken a circus slave, one of whom came from a clown family, and the Figarland family from the Celestial Dragons had lost a child.

Those two one-year-old babies ended up with the Roger Pirates and were raised by them.

"Hahaha, I'm just glad you're doing okay," said Shanks.

"Hmph, what do you mean, 'glad I'm okay'? If you piss me off again, I'll take you down right here!" Buggy scoffed.

"I've got something to take care of. Let's catch up later, Buggy," said Shanks.

"You going after Whitebeard?" Buggy stepped in front of him.

"What about it?" Shanks looked puzzled.

"Whitebeard's old, maybe you could beat him, but that guy next to him? He blew out one of Big Mom's eyes earlier. You won't stand a chance against both of them."

"I see… No wonder Big Mom was fleeing. But I'm not here to fight. I thought they were still going at it. I just came to check it out. The New World's chaotic enough already. It can't spiral further," said Shanks.

"That's good. But if you do decide to go to war, I'll back you up. I'll help you take them down," Buggy said.

"Thanks, Buggy." Shanks waved and continued toward Whitebeard's crew.

When Buggy turned around, he nearly fainted.

The group of prisoners was biting their collars and weeping openly.

"Captain Buggy, you're too amazing…"

"This is what true brotherhood looks like."

"So you really are Red-Haired's blood brother…"

What Buggy didn't expect… was that this entire scene would soon spread across the world…

...

If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.

p@treon.com/DaoistJinzu