31 Chapter 31

Clang!

As Buggy's cutlass met Kuro's claws, both of them held vicious grins of their own, engulfed by the madness of the fight.

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

"Show them who's the boss!!"

"Gyahahaha!!!" Buggy laughed as he wildly swung his cutlass. Kuro, with rage flashing in his eyes, swiftly moved and aimed to stab his claws on Buggy's back. But of course, Buggy's body simply fragmented into pieces and levitated across the air. Buggy's head made a 180-degree turn and revealed a psychotic grin.

"Where are your hundred plans now, Kuro?!!"

"So you ate a devil fruit, it seems..." Kuro, disappearing from Buggy's view, appeared atop Buggy at the next moment, slashing his claws in an attempt to shred Buggy into a mincemeat. But once more, Buggy's simply divided into hundreds of pieces that became bizarrely reattached once Kuro's blades left Buggy's proximity.

And at the same time, Buggy's cutlass managed to cut Kuro's abdomen, leaving a moderate-sized gash.

"Tch..."

As Kuro quickly retreated a few steps back and held his wound, Buggy took the time to assess the situation around him.

Cabaji of Buggy Pirates against Sham of Black Cat Pirates.

Mohji and his pet, Richie, of Buggy Pirates against Buchi of Black Cat Pirates.

From a glance, it seemed that both executives of Buggy Pirates were on the winning side, much to Buggy's joy.

'And in addition, we are more in number! Also, my men are better armed!'

Buggy the Clown, who was he?

The apprentice of Pirate King Gol D. Roger himself! Although his strength did not reflect the level of Pirate King's crew, Buggy confidently thought that if there was one thing that he learned from Roger, it was charisma! The leadership! The ability to manage his henchmen and build a grand crew!

'I am the East Blue's strongest!!!'

And who was this Kuro of a Hundred Plans?!

"DIE!!"

Viciously Buggy detached his top half of a body from his bottom half. His top half, with his hand holding onto his bloody cutlass, flew toward Kuro with an intent to kill.

And on the other hand, Kuro was found adjusting the glasses on him with the palm of his hand.

'...An error that I made,' Kuro grimly thought, 'The anger has consumed me...'

Lowering his hand down, Kuro's eyes shrewdly glared at the approaching form of Buggy.

'I shouldn't have opened a full-out war against Buggy Pirates. Even after we were to win, what of the aftermath?'

"Tch..."

Kuro couldn't help but feel the anger filling in him once again.

Clang!

The metallic noise resonated as two captains clashed their blades. Kuro, not stopping there, quickly ducked to dodge a bullet that was fired from a pistol held by Buggy's floating second hand.

Before Buggy could lash out more, Kuro backpedaled for the second time. Buggy initially frowned, before exploding in a burst of laughter.

"Gyahahaha!! Scared now?!"

Kuro didn't respond. Instead, he slashed a keg nearby and drenched his claws with alcohol. Buggy, noticing what Kuro was about to do, angrily shot bullets at him, but Kuro was already gone from site, mingling among the group of pirate goons and killing Buggy Pirates who were on the winning side.

"COWARD!!!"

Growling, Buggy began his chase after the blurry form of Kuro. However, Kuro was far more agile than Buggy could be, and by the time Kuro stopped, the casualties of Buggy Pirates were quite high.

"Idiot. That's the word that has been created to define men like you, Clown Buggy."

Snorting in mockery, Kuro said. Now, his blades were ablaze in flame, which Buggy noted in caution.

"Even if your body were to separate and render the sharp attacks useless," Kuro's eyes narrowed menacingly, "What about the fire? Can that ability of yours prevent your flesh from burning?"

"IDIOT?!" Buggy, not bothered by the second half of what Kuro said, snarled, "Who are you calling an idiot?!!"

The fight between the captains of the crew became more intense as fire joined in.

And watching the scene from afar was Rowan, whose steps were stopped by goons of Buggy Pirates and Black Cat Pirates who were clashing their weapons against one another.

"Your crew's done for!!"

A member of Buggy Pirates grinned in pride.

"Captain Buggy is the user of Chop Chop fruit! He can split his body anyhow he wants! In other words, your captain stands no chance!!"

A member of Black Cat Pirates returned his enemy's grin with a glare.

"You haven't seen Captain Kuro at his scariest!! His Stealth Foot technique... is so formidable that he can kill fifty assassins without them noticing!!"

"Oh yeah?! And—"

The two of them then stopped speaking as they found something weird. They turned their heads and gazed at Rowan, one who was standing by and listening to their words.

"And?"

Rowan motioned his hand,

"Keep talking."

""Who are you?!!""

"Does that matter?"

"What even—"

Rowan rolled his shoulder as he asked, "What else should I be aware of? Are there any weaknesses that I can target?"

""HELL NO!!""

Two goons glared at each other, before retracting their weapons.

"You must die, but so is that guy!" Said the member of Buggy Pirates.

"This damn average joe... who the hell does he think he is, interrupting my fun?!" Said the member of Black Cat Pirates.

Then, as if planned out, two of them turned and swung their blades at Rowan.

BOOM!

"...Huh?"

Cabaji, Mohji, Sham, and Buhji—the executive members of Buggy Pirates and Black Cat Pirates momentarily stopped their fights upon hearing the loud noise that resembled an explosion. Then, their eyes popped out and jaws opened wide, as they saw...

...loads of pirate goons up in the air, falling from the sky with terrors engraved in their eyes.

The booming noises played here and there as one by one, said goons crashed onto the ground and gave rise to the dust.

"M-Monster..."

One of them whispered. Cabaji, unable to believe what he just saw, shifted his eyes toward the direction in which the explosion happened at, and saw one man standing.

Buggy and Kuro too frowned as they heard a loud interruption that placed their fight to another halt.

"You..." Sham's eyes narrowed, trying to identify the man. Then, under a realization, his eyes widened, "You are..."

40 Million Beli. He abruptly disappeared from the world 2 years ago after the loss against Smoker of the Logue Town. However, who could have forgotten his name and face?

The man who defeated Mad Treasure, 'Pirate Admiral' Don Krieg, and Arlong the 'Saw' within a month. Back then, he was called the strongest bounty hunter of the East Blue, prior to his action of massacring the 16th Marine Branch.

The abnormality behind his strength and viciousness was something that placed everyone in terror. Hence, the moniker was given to him,

"...Grimheart."

Kuro couldn't help but grit his teeth. How could this be the case? How could he get so unlucky?

"This doesn't involve you in any way!!"

Kuro couldn't help but shout, as Rowan resumed his casual walk towards the remainder of pirates.

"What is that you want from us?! Or—" Kuro pointed his finger at Buggy, "How about this? You help my crew in killing his, and I'll give you whatever you may want!!"

"What?!!" Buggy shrieked in rage, but Kuro didn't bother.

'I know... I know what kind of man Mad Treasure was!!'

Once in the past, Kuro met Mad Treasure. That day, he lost over 80% of his crew, and since that day, the fear of Mad Treasure was engraved in his soul. And currently, there stands a man who was proven to be stronger than Mad Treasure... Kuro, with his intelligence, knew that he couldn't afford to make Rowan his enemy.

"What I want? Why, isn't that obvious? I am a pirate just like you."

Halting briefly, Rowan raised an eyebrow. Then, he grinned,

"Everything that you have. What else?"

"Gyahahaha! As if that's possible!"

Buggy, holding a sinister smile, ordered Mohji,

"Bring out the Buggy Ball!"

On the other hand, Kuro's face darkened. His head lowered and his arms were let loose. The flames on his claws were gone, and somehow, the sharpness on the blades of his claws seemed intact.

"C-Captain Kuro! Don't tell me that you're going to use..."

"Shit!! Get away from him, Sham!!"

Sham and Buchi immediately recognized the stance and ran away from Kuro fearfully.

"Richie!"

Upon Mohji's call, Richie, the giant lion, opened his mouth and revealed a soaked Buggy Balls from the inside.

"W... hat even is that..."

Still tied, Bartolomeo couldn't help but remark in a hoarse voice. The Buggy Ball, although the size of a cannonball, invoked a sense of alert in him. Furthermore, the strange state that Kuro placed himself in—Bartolomeo couldn't help but gulp, feeling that the circumstance was about to take an even worse turn.

In this situation, Kuro whispered,

"Out of the Back,

Shakushi."

Then, without any noise, he disappeared.

"AHHH!!!" Cabaji screamed right after, with his left arm severed from his body.

"CABAJI!!!" Buggy cried. Mohji, realizing that it was Kuro's doing, quickly placed the Buggy Ball in a nearby cannon that the Buggy Pirates stationed nearby.

"C-Captain!!!" Mohji shouted, "Where should I fire it to?!"

Buggy, before he could say anything else, found his body splitting into two. He quickly turned his head to his back, but Kuro was already gone from the sight.

After, the blood sprayed all over as slashes appeared over the bodies of dead pirate goons. Sham and Buchi had their bodies trembling as they held their weapons as firmly as possible. Kuro, moving at a blinding speed for everyone's eyes, was attacking everything around him blindly.

"Pretty fast, I admit."

Rowan's eyes have never seen a speed this fast. Though he caught onto blurs here and there, he couldn't track Kuro accurately by eyesight alone.

That didn't mean he couldn't 'feel' Kuro, however.

SWOOSH!

At the next moment, Rowan was found leaning back as Kuro's claws hovered over. Then, before Kuro disappeared again, Rowan's hand caught onto Kuro's wrist, stopping his movement.

Kuro's eyes widened, "How..."

A punch was sent straight into his face. Kuro's nose, having become inverted due to the force behind Rowan's fist, splattered blood all across. From one punch, Kuro lost consciousness and fell to the ground in his own pool of blood.

Wiping a trail of blood on his cheek, Rowan looked at the remaining five. Sham and Buchi were sitting on the ground, with their legs seemingly having lost strength. Cabaji, holding his stump of an arm, was trying to stabilize his breathing. Mohji, on the other hand, was aiming the cannon toward Rowan, and Buggy ordered,

"Fire, Mohji!!"

Rowan's eyes narrowed as he immediately began running toward the cannon. With a shriek full of fear, Mohji lit the fuse and ducked.

"D-DIEEE!!!!"

Tssss...

Rowan, while running, caught onto a lying blade that was blood-clotted. He threw the blade at the ground below the cannon. Upon the strike, the ground cracked from the sheer force behind Rowan's throw, and upon the crack, the cannon's direction shifted to face the sky above. Then, the cannon fired.

BOOOOM!

Everyone watched in disbelief as the beam of flame soared through the sky. The gigantic explosion—Bartolomeo couldn't help but think of what would've happened if Rowan hadn't managed to intervene on time.

'I... I brought this upon us... I could've killed all my people...'

Unaware of Bartolomeo's thoughts, Rowan now stood in front of the fallen Mohji, with a frown on his face. Mohji shivered, and Buggy cried as he flew at his fastest speed,

"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH HIM, GRIMHEART!!!"

Buggy's cry didn't reach Rowan, as he mercilessly crushed Mohji with his foot.

"...Mohji."

Buggy was seeing nothing but red as his eyesight contained dead Mohji and wounded Cabaji. Richie, upon the loss of his master, roared and charged at Rowan.

Boom! Richie crashed his fangs on where Rowan stood, but simply hit the ground as Rowan nimbly jumped up to evade it. Richie lifted his head up and saw Rowan's fist approaching him.

BOOM!

With one smash, Richie's head was deformed, and his body was knocked to the ground.

Buggy, with his previous grin nowhere to seen, muttered in rage,

"Why... why are you doing this to us?!"

Rowan impassively responded,

"The question you should be asking is, why shouldn't I?"

He grinned darkly as he met Buggy eye-to-eye.

"You kill others without any remorse, and so do I. Just as how you don't hesitate to use a weapon like that cannonball on civilians, I don't mind killing a couple thousand for my interest."

Buggy didn't wait anymore.

"CHOP CHOP—"

His entire body split into numerous pieces and began circling around Rowan. Holding pistol, knife, metal plates—whatever was present, Buggy aimed to pummel Rowan down from every single angle.

"—FESTIVAL!!"

A bullet was fired from the back, but Rowan simply tilted his neck to dodge it. A knife was stabbed, but Rowan flipped to dodge it with ease. Many body parts of Buggy attacked Rowan in a complex and chaotic form, but none of them landed on Rowan, with the latter evading everything with ease.

And it is then that Buggy realized,

"YOU..." Buggy cried in complete disbelief, "OBSERVATION HAKI!!! HOW THE HELL DOES A NOBODY IN THE EAST BLUE—"

Rowan's hand suddenly flew out and caught onto Buggy's detached head by his red nose. Then, said head of Buggy was dragged right onto where Buggy's knife-holding hand was flying in. Buggy, yelping in horror, dropped the knife from his detached head, which Rowan caught onto it. Simultaneously, a bullet was fired from Buggy's pistol-holding hand, which forced Rowan to drop his hold over Buggy's red nose.

Buggy, quickly retracting his body, angrily snorted as he saw that his knife was now in Rowan's hold.

"But so what?! I am immune to sharps, so what's the point—"

Rowan dashed and slashed the knife horizontally at Buggy, to which Buggy dodged by splitting his body waist above. However, before Buggy could do anything more, Rowan slashed once more at an incredible speed; Buggy was forced to split into four pieces to evade the attack.

Then eight, as Rowan didn't give Buggy any change to retreat or fight back.

Sixteen.

Twenty. Thirty-five. Forty-one. And then—

"There's got to be a limit, right?"

Buggy's eyes trembled as Rowan stated.

"How many times, and how small can you split?"

Buggy's hands were fragmented into fifty pieces. Each one of them was the size of a small pebble. Yet, Rowan, with a scary precision, stabbed right into each one of them. Finally, the blood gushed out and Buggy screamed,

"GYAAAA!!!"

That was just the start. Countless pieces of Buggy's body, floating all around, began gushing out the blood one by one. Buggy attempted to reform his body in the midst of pain, but Rowan's mastery over the knife was sufficient enough to prevent him from doing so.

However, before Buggy was finished off, Rowan mumbled before dropping the knife,

"Too blunt."

Covered by the blood and having lost its sharpness from countless slashes, the knife was no longer useful enough for a precise slash.

"Still a good practice though, I suppose."

Buggy's eyes lit up in hope as he retracted his body parts back, until Rowan jumped right at where Buggy's face was hovering. Before Buggy could react, his fist landed right on the red nose.

BOOM.

With the noise of a small explosion, Buggy's head crashed onto the ground. The cloud of dust rose, and from the said cloud, his bloody head rolled before stopping right next to Cabaji.

"C-Captain... Buggy..."

Cabaji couldn't help but piss on his pants as he saw that the bloody head of Buggy didn't reattach onto the fallen body pieces around Rowan.

And so, the victor of the war between Buggy Pirates and Black Cat Pirates was Rowan, an outsider.