"Huh? Where did this old man come from?"
To Buggy, Boodle's challenge did not look threatening at all. He did not even take it seriously.
"Go away, old man. This great me is in a bad mood," Buggy said irritably. The Buggy Dama he had been firing repeatedly had yet to produce the results he expected.
The pirates around him also burst into loud laughter.
"What's with this old man?"
"He can barely stand straight, and he wants to fight Captain Buggy?"
"Shut up!" Boodle gritted his teeth. Their mockery did nothing to extinguish the determination in his eyes. "I have something I need to protect."
"Go away, old man! You're not worthy of challenging Captain Buggy!"
"How about adding us to the fight?"
The casual voice cut through the pirates' laughter, causing the atmosphere to suddenly fall silent.
Luffy stepped forward, leading the way, while Nami and Zoro followed behind him. The pupils of one of the pirates who had been with Mohji earlier shrank in fear as he pointed toward Luffy.
"Captain, that's him! That's the guy who defeated Mohji and Richie!"
Buggy shifted his gaze. "Ohh, so you're the one who defeated Mohji and Richie."
"Pretty bold of you to come here. Seeing you wearing that straw hat reminds me of that red-haired bastard, and that makes me hate you twice as much."
"Red-haired?" Luffy fell silent for a moment, thinking about something. "You mean Shanks? You know Shanks?"
"Gyahaha, you could say I know him, or you could say I don't know him." Buggy laughed arrogantly, then mocked him. "Who would want to tell you, idiot!"
Luffy tilted his head in confusion, staring at Buggy as though he were looking at an idiot. "What do you mean, idiot? I was just asking whether you know him or not."
"Who are you calling an idiot, bastard?! You're the idiot, and your whole family is full of idiots too!"
In the middle of their argument, Boodle, who felt that he was being completely ignored, raised his spear high and loudly interrupted them.
"Buggy! Don't ignore me! Accept my challenge!"
"Hah! You're really annoying, old man..."
BAM!
Before Buggy could finish his sentence, Luffy suddenly appeared in front of Boodle and punched him directly in the head.
Boodle's head slammed into the wall hard enough to crack it. His eyes rolled backward, and his body immediately collapsed to the ground.
The entire place fell silent.
Luffy looked down at the unconscious mayor for a moment, then casually dusted off his hands.
"Yosh, problem solved."
"L-Luffy?!" Nami stared at him in disbelief. "What did you do?!"
Luffy pointed at Boodle as though the answer were obvious.
"He was interrupting."
"That's your solution?!"
"Yeah."
Nami's eye twitched.
"You could have just told him to wait!"
Luffy tilted his head.
"But he wasn't listening."
"Of course he wasn't listening! You punched him before he could even finish talking!"
Luffy paused for a moment, then nodded as though Nami had just made a perfectly reasonable point.
"Oh."
Zoro, meanwhile, glanced at Boodle lying on the ground.
"We should've done that from the beginning."
Nami immediately turned toward him.
"Don't encourage him!"
Buggy, who had witnessed everything from above, burst into loud laughter.
"Hah? Internal conflict? Gyahaha, what a bunch of idiots!"
Buggy's men also laughed mockingly.
Luffy looked up, his gaze sharpening. He took a deep breath, then shouted loudly.
"SHUT UP, BIG RED NOSE!"
The laughter of Buggy's men immediately stopped. Their faces turned deathly pale, filled with sudden fear.
"W-what did... you just say?!"
One of Buggy's eyebrows twitched. Veins appeared on his forehead, and anger was clearly visible in his eyes.
"Damn! He mentioned that taboo!" one of the crew members whispered fearfully.
"That straw-hat kid is definitely going to die now!"
Buggy's body trembled as he held back his fury.
"Who are you calling a red nose?!"
"If you really want to die, then I, the great Buggy, will grant your wish." Buggy turned around. "All of you, hurry up and bring my special Buggy Dama over here. I'll blow them to pieces!"
"R-right away, Captain!"
The pirates hurriedly pushed a large cannon, its dark muzzle pointing directly toward Luffy.
Luffy and the others merely stood calmly, showing no fear whatsoever.
"BOOM!"
The sound of the explosion thundered through the air. A red cannonball shot out of the barrel, heading straight toward Luffy. Calmly, Luffy stretched his hand forward. A transparent blue panel that only he could see appeared for a brief moment, and the cannonball was sucked inside, disappearing completely into his Inventory.
"Nani?!" Buggy and all of his men stared wide-eyed in disbelief at what they had just witnessed.
Luffy took the red cannonball with the skull symbol back out of his Inventory. "So you're the ones who have been firing those cannonballs at us this whole time."
He smiled. He had wanted to try something he had seen Garp do when he copied him into the Simulation for quite some time. He pulled his hand far backward, then threw the Buggy Dama back toward its own owner.
"Gomu Gomu no Meteor!"
Seeing his own cannonball flying toward them, Buggy panicked and stretched out both hands. "W-wait a second, we can..."
Before he could finish his sentence, Luffy had already thrown it. Buggy moved quickly using his Bara Bara no Mi, grabbing one of his men and using him as an impromptu shield.
"BOOM!"
A deafening explosion echoed into the sky. The stone building that had once stood firmly was blown to pieces, while thick black smoke billowed high into the air.
For several moments, the sound of the explosion continued echoing between the buildings of the town.
...
On the other side of the mountain, not far from Orange Town, a temporary camp had been set up. Everyone there simultaneously turned toward the town after hearing the loud explosion echoing from far away, followed by a column of black smoke rising into the distance.
"Mayor Boodle still hasn't come back?" one of the residents asked anxiously.
"Not yet. I'm starting to worry about him."
"What exactly is happening in the town right now?"
They had been hearing the booming sound of cannons coming from the direction of the town for a while. Everyone was worried about the fate of their mayor, who insisted on going there every day to feed Chouchou, even though the entire town had repeatedly tried to stop him.
An old man finally stood up from his seat.
"Alright, I've made up my mind. I'm going to the town to check on the situation."
After that, several other older people volunteered to go with him. The younger people also tried to volunteer, but the elders refused, worried that it would be too dangerous. After arguing for a while, several of the younger people were finally allowed to join them.
Carrying whatever weapons they could find, hoes, sickles, and anything else they could use, a group of villagers walked toward the town, leaving their temporary camp behind.
They had only one goal: drive Buggy's pirates out of the town they loved, no matter the risk.