Pirate: I, Buggy, am the Emperor, the Emperor of the Clown King!

On the ruins of Dragon Paradise, a bonfire was burning brightly.

The firelight flickered, casting long shadows of the dilapidated buildings. Groups of pirates sat around the fire, holding bottles of liquor and stuffing their mouths with meat, their laughter and curses mingling together, so loud that even the sound of the waves could not be heard.

"Cheers!"

"Hahaha! Today was so much fun!"

"Those murlocs, usually so arrogant, now? Now they're trembling in their cages! Hahahaha!"

"It's a pity that several died after their limbs were cut off... But these fishmen are really resilient, they're still alive."

"That's right, that dragon had so many teeth pulled, yet they still grow back..."

The clinking of bottles echoed through the ruins, and the aroma of meat mixed with the smell of alcohol wafted through the air.

What do pirates do when they have free time?

Of course, we should have a banquet!

Besides those hosting banquets, there were also those working... in short, they were on shifts.

We need to make these pirates feel relaxed, but we can't let them be too idle.

It's a kind of management tip.

The Buggy Pirates' ship is docked in the port.

Some of the crew members were busy loading whatever they could carry from Dragon Park onto the ship.

Chests of treasure, barrels of supplies, and weapons and equipment seized from the fishmen were continuously carried onto the deck.

Baji stood at the bow of the ship, watching the busy crew members, a slight smile playing on his lips beneath his mask.

"Mochi".

"Here! Captain!" Mochi ran over immediately, still clutching the wine bottle in his hand, his face twitching with excitement.

"Those treasures—" Bucky pointed, "...give half to the little ones."

Mochi's eyes widened instantly: "Half? Captain, that's..."

"Divide it up," Bucky interrupted him, a faint smile in his voice. "My lovely men are also my treasured possessions."

Although I don't think much of these useless underlings, as my subordinates, they should enjoy the glory I bring!

Even if Bucky had handled the battle all by himself, it would have been the same.

He remembered that when he watched the movie "Kung Fu Hustle," he felt a strong connection with the sickly Brother Chen, the leader of the Axe Gang—"I want to be like that in the future!"

He's generous enough to pay his chosen subordinates even before they start working.

They are very considerate in scouting locations and preparing tools beforehand for any planned operations, and then providing a large settlement allowance afterward.

He has the magnanimity to not blame his subordinates for unexpected changes.

As for the underlings below, I don't expect them to be dressed in suits and ties, but at least they should be given the money they deserve.

Respect for professionals who do things without interfering.

In short: My glory will not be enjoyed alone.

But the same applies.

We've given you all the treatment you deserve, and we've done everything we were supposed to do. If you're still useless and can't be helped, even just a little bit... then you'll be killed without mercy!

In short, although I won't copy Brother Chen exactly, I do think it would be very interesting.

This dream never had a chance to come true.

But now I have the ability to realize this long-held dream.

If you think of something, you should do it.

"Heroism, dominance, and the boundaries of the heart."

As he muttered to himself, a faint red light seemed to appear in Buggy's eyes, indicating that he was beginning to grasp the essence of Conqueror's Haki.

Mochi paused for a moment, then his fleshy face broke into a wide smile.

"Yes, Captain! I'll be right there!"

He turned and ran, shouting as he went, "Hey! Men! The captain said! Half the treasure is yours!"

"What?!"

"Really?!"

"Long live the captain!!!"

Cheers erupted instantly, and the pirates who were already celebrating went completely crazy.

They waved bottles, jumped and shouted, and some even rolled on the ground in each other's arms.

Baji stood at the bow of the ship, watching this scene, a hint of satisfaction flashing in his eyes beneath the mask.

These guys are a bit useless, but they're easy to use.

As for treasure?

Bucky turned around and looked towards the dock.

The real treasure awaits him there.

Money is nothing but inanimate objects; people are the true treasures.

Since everyone belongs to me, their treasures naturally belong to me as well.

For Bucky, it was simply a matter of switching from his left hand to his right.

You can only take what I give you; once you take my things, you belong to me.

Nami stood on the dock, looking at the crazy pirates, and couldn't help but roll her eyes.

"A bunch of idiots."

She muttered something under her breath, then turned to look at Nokigo beside her.

Nokiko stood beside her, wearing a vest and trousers, barefoot in flip-flops, her short blue hair swaying gently in the sea breeze.

Her gaze fell on the pirates, a faint smile playing on her lips.

"These Buggy Pirates seem pretty well-behaved?" Nojiko asked.

"Because they're afraid of dying, if they disobey, Buggy will kill them on the spot," Nami said directly.

"At least I can lend a hand now." In Nojiko's view, no matter how strong Buggy is, he can't support the entire Sea Corporation on his own.

...She still didn't understand the difference between high-end combat power and low-level henchmen in this world.

"That was Buggy's doing, it has nothing to do with these people." Nami curled her lip. "They're just a bunch of useless trash, just there to make up the numbers."

Noki laughed.

The two sisters stood on the dock, looking at the pirates celebrating in the distance, at the ship docked in the harbor, and at the pirate flag fluttering on the mast.

A skull mask and a clown's red nose—that's the flag of the Buggy Pirates.

"Let's go," Nami said, turning around. "It'd be better if we went inside to talk."

She led Nojiko into Dragon Park, past the broken buildings and the still-burning ruins, until they finally arrived at a relatively intact room.

This place was originally the dragon's warehouse, but it has been cleared out and become Nami's temporary office.

The room was filled with all sorts of things: blueprints, ledgers, maps, and several boxes of treasure that hadn't yet been loaded onto the ship.

"The conditions are a bit basic," Nami shrugged. "It'll be better once we're on the ship."

Nokiko walked into the room and looked around.

Her gaze fell on the blueprints, then on the boxes of treasure, and finally on Nami's face.

"Nami," she whispered, "Are you really sure?"

"I've made up my mind." Nami nodded and sat down behind the simple table. "Nojiko, I told you, Buggy gave me several choices."

"Now I'm giving you one last choice."

"You can stay here instead of getting on the ship. At least for now, I can guarantee that no one will make things difficult for you... but who knows what will happen later."

"But if you get on board... that means you'll come with me and face everything on this vast ocean together."

"Good, bad, live, die."

Nami's gaze became extremely serious; she was really serious now, and this was very important to him.

Nokiko stared at her for a long time.

Then she laughed.

"Fool." She walked over and sat down next to Nami. "Eight years ago, when you carried everything on your own, I swore that I would never let you be alone again in this lifetime."

"We had already agreed on this before, but now you're starting to have second thoughts again~" Nojiko saw through Nami's insincerity.

She raised her hand and rolled up her sleeve, revealing the tattoo on her right arm.

Eight years ago, after Nami was forced to get the Arlong Pirates' mark tattooed on her body, Nojiko got the same design tattooed on herself.

"I've kept this tattoo all this time," Nojiko said, "so that one day, we could erase it together."

Nami's eyes reddened: "Nojiko..."

"Alright," Nojiko patted her head. "Don't be so touched, get me some work to do. Didn't you say you wanted to forge weapons? Do you need my help?"

Nami took a deep breath and held back her tears.

"Yes." She picked up something and handed it to Nochigo.

That's the dragon's nose.

Nojiko took the nose and examined it carefully.

Its nose was long and pointed, with sharp, serrated edges that gleamed coldly in the firelight.

"I've been wanting to ask you this before, what do you want to do with his nose?" Nojiko originally thought Nami just wanted to make the dragon's nose into a souvenir, but now it seems that's not the case.

Nojiko looked at the nose and a strange smile appeared on his face.

That smile contained relief, bitterness, and a hint of cathartic satisfaction.

"A weapon." Nami took the nose and weighed it in her hand. "This thing is very hard, and the edges are sharp. With a little work, it can become a good knife."

"Processing?" Noki was taken aback. "You'll process it yourself?"

"Of course not." Nami rolled her eyes. "I'm not a blacksmith. There are a few pirates on the ship who know how to forge iron to help me. They may not be the brightest, but they're still skilled."

The only problem is that the craftsmanship isn't very good.

However, it can also forge some ordinary swords and knives, which can be used as makeshift weapons.

Of course, Nami wouldn't let these pirates practice on Arlong's nose. She only planned to modify it a little... to resemble a small razor blade, with a small stick tied to the back to make it a small knife.

"The dragon's face must look terrible right now," Noki said with a laugh.

"It looks awful." Nami laughed. "Without a nose, your face looks like a dead salted fish."

The two sisters looked at each other and smiled.

As I laughed, tears started flowing again.

But this time, it was tears of laughter.

After eight years of deep-seated hatred finally being avenged, how could one possibly calm down so quickly?

"Oh right, Nojiko~ You haven't seen them yet, have you? Come with me." Nami walked outside, with several pirate guards standing in the passageway along the way.

At the door of the last room, guarded by the lion, Leigh.

When the lion saw that it was Nami, it opened its eyes and then closed them again.

With Nami leading the way, Nojiko's progress was virtually unimpeded.

The two eventually arrived at a room containing a row of cages.

Several fishmen were locked in a cage.

To be precise, they were several fishmen whose hands and feet had been cut off.

They huddled in the corner of the cage, their wounds still bleeding, their eyes filled with fear and despair.

Nami stood in front of the cage, looking down at them.

Nojiko walked over: "Once you were high and mighty, now you can only lie on the ground."

After witnessing this scene with my own eyes, I truly felt a sense of the impermanence of life.

"The remnants of the Arlong Pirates who didn't die are all here." Nami pointed to the first cage: "Kroobi."

The second cage: "Chirp!"

The third cage: "Little Eight".

The fourth cage "..."

"Where's the dragon? And what do you plan to do with them?" Nojiko looked at the fishmen in the cages, but didn't see the dragon.

"The dragon was taken away by Mochi," Nami said. "They said they'd train it to be a circus animal, to balance balls and jump through hoops of fire."

"Heading a ball? Jumping through a ring of fire?" Nokiko paused for a moment, then laughed.

"Yes." Nami smiled too. "Those fish-men used to treat us like animals, now it's their turn to be the animals."

Why can't the cycle of revenge end?

Why should we let bygones be bygones?

The chain of hatred will, of course, continue forever!

Nami paused, her gaze falling on Hachi.

The octopus-man was trembling slightly. All six of its arms were gone, leaving only six bare shoulder blades. The wounds were bandaged, and blood was still seeping out.

"This little Hachi..." Nojiko said softly, "I remember him."

"Hmm?" Nami looked at Nojiko.

"He's a bit different from the other fish-men," Nojiko said. "Although he's also a member of the Arlong Pirates, he doesn't seem to bully the villagers much. Once, I passed by Arlong Park and saw him helping a child who had fallen into a ditch retrieve his shoe."

Nami paused for a moment, then shook her head.

"So what?"

Her voice was calm, but carried an undeniable coldness.

"He is a member of the Arlong Pirates."

"He oppressed the village alongside the evil dragon, extorted protection money with us, and treated us like animals."

"Just because he didn't do it doesn't mean he wasn't involved."

"Just because he didn't bully anyone doesn't mean he didn't know that others were bullying people."

Nami looked at Hachi, her eyes filled with neither hatred nor sympathy.

There was only a calm indifference.

The Nami of today is not the Nami of the past; the current Nami has begun to resemble Buggy.

"A member of a criminal gang is a criminal, there's no denying that."

As members of a collective, we act together and enjoy the benefits of the collective, but we must also bear the costs that come with those benefits.

Of course, those who didn't join the operation and therefore didn't benefit from it don't count, but Xiao Ba is clearly not one of them.

Nami was still quite rational; she knew that she only disliked Arlong and his gang, not all fish-men.

Nami did not intend to direct her hatred towards Fishman Island.

Nokiko stared at her for a long time.

Then she nodded. "You're right."

Nami looked away and turned to Nojiko: "Other fish-men's limbs were easily treated after being cut off, but he's an octopus-man, and his wounds are obviously abnormal."

Nojiko said, "He's an octopus fish-man, and he should be able to grow out in a while."

Nami's eyes narrowed slightly: "Octopuses can regenerate tentacles, and since he's an octopus fish-man, he should have that ability too."

As she said this, Nami revealed a strange smile, one could see obvious cruelty and pleasure in it.

"That's perfect," she said. "Let Mochi train slowly. Once his arms and legs grow back, we can chop them off, and then he can continue training. There's plenty of time."

Nokiko looked at her without saying a word.

"What's wrong?" Nami asked.

"It's nothing," Nojiko shook her head. "I just feel that you've really changed."

"Has it gotten better or worse?"

"I've become stronger."

Nami was stunned for a moment.

Then she laughed.

That smile contained bitterness, relief, and a complex mix of emotions that were hard to define.

"Let's go." She turned and walked outside. "Time to get to work. Those idiot pirates are still waiting for me to assign them tasks."

Noki followed behind her as they walked out of the room.

After we got outside.

"Miss Nami!" A pirate came running up, panting, and stopped in front of Nami.

"What is it?"

"Navy! Navy!" the pirate exclaimed, pointing towards the port. "Warships! The Navy is here!"

Nami's brows furrowed slightly.

navy?

She paused for a moment, then nodded.

"I see."

She led Nochigo toward the port.

The atmosphere on the dock was as tense as a taut bowstring.

The Buggy Pirates stood at the edge of the dock, weapons in hand, staring at the warship that was getting closer and closer on the sea.

The warship slowly approached and finally docked at the pier.

The gangway was lowered, and several people disembarked from the warship.

Leading the way was a man with a pointed mouth and monkey-like cheeks.

He was wearing a naval captain's uniform and a hat with two rat ears as decoration.

Colonel Mouse's two little mustaches twitched, and the smile on his face was uglier than a grimace.

Five people followed behind him.

Four of them were carrying a wooden box, which looked quite heavy.

Another person stood beside him, dressed in an adjutant's uniform.

Nami stood in the middle of the dock, watching the man walk down the gangway, a slight smile playing on her lips.

There was a hint of mockery in that smile.

She no longer needs to rely on the navy.

Or perhaps Nami had already given up on relying on the Navy.