Chapter 19 – [19] : [BONUS] – The One Piece World’s Standard Procedure! Luffy the Employee!

~ 200 Powerstones Already? This is the Bonus Chapter~

<><><><><><><><>

“Miss Thief, we’re counting on you. Could you unlock our captain’s cage?” Rowen asked Nami with a smile.

The Buggy Ball couldn’t finish Buggy off.

Right now, Rowen’s only truly effective offensive power was his Conqueror’s Haki.

Trying to defeat Buggy, who possessed the Chop-Chop Fruit, using only his Beast Strength (Blue) was practically impossible.

Although his precisely controlled Conqueror’s Haki was nearly unbeatable in the East Blue, against an opponent like Buggy—who couldn’t be knocked out by a Haki blast and was a Devil Fruit user—they temporarily had to rely on Luffy.

Rowen remembered that in the original story, Nami managed to steal the cage key, only for it to be swallowed by the dog, Chouchou.

Time for Luffy to do some work for me… get me Buggy’s Traits.

“My name is Nami. You can just call me Nami,” she replied. Although Rowen and his crew were pirates, Nami was still grateful they had saved her.

“Wait here,” Nami said, then quickly disappeared.

“Using your subordinates as shields, huh? Buggy.” The dust and debris from the explosion slowly settled, revealing Buggy’s figure once more.

His hands had already split off, holding two of his grunts in front of him to absorb the impact of the Buggy Ball.

“So young, yet possessing such powerful Conqueror’s Haki… Your future is terrifying. But right now, you’re probably still no match for me, the user of the Chop-Chop Fruit!” Buggy declared, having fully recovered from the Haki blast thanks to the explosion’s shock.

While Conqueror’s Haki signified the disposition of a King, before mastering infusion, it could only be used for concussive blasts.

Few in the East Blue could withstand such a blast—but unfortunately for Rowen, Buggy was one of them.

Once the initial Haki blast was weathered, the fight came down to raw power.

In that regard, having sailed countless days and nights with the Roger Pirates, Buggy had a discerning eye. This Rowen fellow before him clearly wasn’t that strong physically.

At least, not stronger than Buggy himself, enhanced by the Chop-Chop Fruit.

Buggy didn’t understand why a man with such potent Conqueror’s Haki would have such unremarkable base strength.

But he knew what he needed to do right now: eliminate the man before him.

As for ‘Pirate Hunter’ Zoro? Clearly a swordsman. And against swordsmen, Buggy, user of the Chop-Chop Fruit, felt confident enough to provoke even Mihawk.

(Of course, the main reason for that confidence was knowing Mihawk recognized his connection to Shanks and wouldn’t actually go for the kill.)

“Looks like I’ll have to hold him off for a bit, Rowen,” Zoro said, drawing his three swords and facing Buggy.

“Die! Flashily!” Buggy roared, charging towards Zoro.

SLICE! Zoro dodged swiftly, slashing Buggy clean in half. Buggy collapsed limply to the ground.

“Stop playing dead. Slashes don’t work on the Chop-Chop Fruit, right, Buggy?” Rowen commented calmly, watching Buggy feign defeat on the ground, clearly preparing a sneak attack on Zoro.

Pathetic…

After eating the Devil Fruit and being rejected by the sea, the backlash from the discarded Born of the Sea

 (Apex Gold) Trait had reduced Buggy to relying solely on such cheap tricks.

If it weren’t for the Chop-Chop Fruit, Zoro could easily defeat Buggy at his current strength level.

“Since you already know the secret of the Chop-Chop Fruit, I won’t bother pretending anymore!” Hearing Rowen, Buggy’s upper half suddenly flew up into the air, revealing a cruel grin.

“Chop-Chop… Flying Daggers!” Buggy yelled. His hands detached from his flying torso, each wielding daggers, as they shot towards Rowen and Zoro separately.

“Gomu Gomu no… BITE!”

“What?!” Buggy stared in shock as Luffy’s head suddenly stretched forward, catching the dagger aimed at Rowen squarely between his teeth just inches from Rowen’s face.

“What kind of body is that?! Are you a monster?!” Nami, having successfully stolen the key and freed Luffy, stared wide-eyed at Luffy’s neck stretching several meters long.

“Your body can stretch that far?! Did you eat a Devil Fruit too?!” Buggy’s eye twitched.

“Yep! I ate the Gomu-Gomu Fruit! I’m a rubber man!” Luffy mumbled indistinctly around the dagger clamped in his teeth.

‘SLICE!’ Zoro first deflected Buggy’s other attacking hand, then swiftly cut the ropes binding Luffy.

———

“Saved! Shishishi! Thanks, Thief Navigator!” Luffy grinned, stretching his freed limbs.

“Stop giving me weird nicknames! I was just repaying you guys for saving me!” Nami sighed, exasperated by Luffy’s carefree attitude.

“I’ve already decided! You’re gonna be our crew’s navigator! Shishishi! And we’re getting that Grand Line Map too!” Luffy declared, rolling up his sleeves and turning towards Buggy.

“Don’t make decisions for me! Mah, anyway, you pirates can fight all you want, it has nothing to do with me! I’m gonna grab the treasure now and disappear! Maybe we can team up later if fate allows! See ya! Good luck with your fight!” Nami waved goodbye to Rowen and the others, then quickly vanished.

“Ah, thanks!” Luffy replied cheerfully.

“See you later, Nami,” Rowen added with a smile.

Nami, already almost out of sight, faltered for a split second upon hearing Rowen’s words, then sped up and disappeared completely.

———

“Bastards! You think you have time for idle chit-chat?! Straw Hat brat! Seeing that hat just reminds me of that damned Red-Hair! It really pisses me off!” Buggy snarled, eyes bloodshot.

“Red-Hair? You… Do you know Shanks?!” Luffy’s attention snapped upon hearing the keyword ‘Red-Hair’.

“So what if I do?” Buggy smirked strangely.

“Where is Shanks now?” Luffy asked eagerly.

“Who knows? You could say I know him, or you could say I absolutely don’t know him at all,” Buggy spat, remembering that it was because of Shanks he ended up eating the Chop-Chop Fruit in the first place. The thought still infuriated him.

“What are you talking about? Are you an idiot?” Luffy looked at Buggy like he was crazy.

“I’m not nice enough to tell you what you want to know!” Buggy roared, his face contorting in rage.

“Fine then! I’ll just beat it out of you!” Luffy declared, rolling up his sleeves, ready to fight.

“Let’s just sit here and watch, Zoro. Buggy’s all yours, Luffy!” Rowen led Zoro to a clean spot nearby, sat down, and shouted encouragement to Luffy.

Listening to Luffy and Buggy’s exchange, a strange smile played on Rowen’s lips too.

Classic One Piece world. Before any major fight, everyone has to lay out their connections and relationships first, just to make sure they don’t accidentally kill someone with powerful relatives.

It’s practically become… standard procedure.

“Leave it to me!” Luffy’s eyes burned with fighting spirit.

Rowen’s temporary employee, Luffy, was now online.

<><><><><><><><>

~# Keep the Chapters coming — Support with Power Stones!

~# Every 100 Power Stones = Bonus Chapter

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep