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

"!!!"

Nami's breathing became rapid.

What she wanted to say.

I want to say, "I'm not waiting, I'm saving money."

He wanted to say, "If we can raise 100 million Berries, we can redeem the village."

I want to say, "This is my plan, and I have been carrying it out."

But she couldn't bring herself to say it.

Because under Pakistan's captivating gaze, these words suddenly seemed ridiculous.

It was pale and powerless.

"Now you want to use me," Buggy said, "use one pirate crew to fight another."

"But now that I know your purpose, why should I help you?"

Although Buggy originally wanted to get Nami, he was willing to destroy the Arlong Pirates for that purpose.

But this is only the ultimate goal. The process of achieving this goal... the initial starting point that guides this outcome, still requires Nami to make her own decision.

That's right, Nami needs to take the initiative to invite Buggy to eliminate the Arlong Pirates.

"..." Nami gritted her teeth.

she knows.

She knew Bucky had no reason to help her.

She was just an ordinary pirate nicknamed Little Cat Thief, a captured prisoner, and prey to be slaughtered.

What right does she have to negotiate with Bucky?

If Buggy is stupid and knows nothing, then Nami thinks she can use deception.

But if Buggy is smart and knows the truth, then Nami feels that she has no way to fool Buggy.

"..." Nami looked at Buggy, wondering what the man in front of her wanted.

It couldn't possibly be his own woman, could it?

Nami thought it was impossible, because someone with Buggy's strength couldn't possibly lack women.

Although he is a cunning little thief, he is only 18 years old. Although his life experience is very turbulent and exciting, he is obviously not as good as the transmigrator, Bucky the Clown.

Bucky looked at her and suddenly raised his hand.

The hand reached out and landed on her head.

Nami's body froze again.

The hand gently patted her hair through it.

It looks like they're filming a frightened little animal.

The words of the strong are powerful, but their actions are even more powerful.

Appropriate physical contact can make speech stronger and more persuasive.

Body language is also a form of language.

"Now tell me, tell me why you did this~" Buggy felt it was time to say something more heartfelt.

"..." Nami paused for a moment and said, "Eight years ago, the evil dragon attacked my village, Cocoyasi, killed my mother, and promised me that he would let the village go if I could raise 100 million Berries."

After Nami finally spoke, the atmosphere in the room became extremely quiet.

"One hundred million Berries," Bucky suddenly said.

Nami's pupils contracted.

"The dragon will release them?" Bucky's tone carried a hint of amusement. "You believe that?"

These words were like a bucket of ice water poured over Nami's head.

She wanted to argue.

She wanted to say, "This is an agreement."

She wanted to say, "Although the dragon is cruel, he keeps his word."

But she found she couldn't bring herself to say it.

Because she doesn't believe it.

For eight years, she had never truly believed in that promise.

She just needed a reason.

A reason for her to keep living.

A reason for her to open her eyes every day, continue drawing nautical charts, and continue stealing money.

If it weren't for that agreement, she would have collapsed long ago.

"Enough!" Under Buggy's pressure, Nami finally gave up. "Then what do you want me to do?"

"I can't beat them! I can't beat them!"

"I'll take you there."

"Kill them all!"

"Destroy them!"

"I'll agree to anything, no matter the reason, as long as you can do that!"

Under Buggy's coercion and enticement, Nami finally revealed her true feelings, which was exactly what Buggy wanted to see.

After Nami finally voiced the anger, resentment, and hatred that had been building up inside her, her expression changed from anger to confusion, from confusion to emptiness, and from emptiness to…

"Your hatred—" Bucky said softly, "is too clean."

Nami looked up at him.

"Clean hatred," Bucky said, "will only hurt yourself."

He stood up.

He walked to the window, turned his back to Nami, and looked out at the sea.

True hatred should be like a knife.

"It's not for harming yourself, but for annihilating all enemies."

So~~

"Just say it!"

"Join us~ Become us~ We'll be accomplices~"

Although Nami's earlier words had already achieved Buggy's goal, Buggy felt it wasn't enough.

Nami was just acting on impulse; now she needs to think things through before speaking.

"You chose to be alone, [me], to continue enduring hatred, to live on in eternal pain."

"In the pathetic state of being weak and vulnerable, I reminisce about the good old days like a turtle hiding in its shell."

"Or should we choose to become 'us,' to exact revenge together, and bid farewell to the past with the deaths of those fish?"

"With our help, you can get whatever revenge you want!"

"Think about it, think about your pain~"

"Take your pain back at them."

"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."

"Ten times, a hundred times, a thousand times the revenge!"

Buggy thinks Nami's navigator skills are quite useful.

After all, apart from Buggy, Mochi, and Cabaji, the entire Buggy Pirates are basically useless trash, and they really need to fill the gap with some elites.

Buggy looked down at Nami, waiting for the woman to make her choice.

"What you want..." Bucky asked, "is it just their deaths?"

"still--"

Bucky leaned down slightly: "You want to kill me with your own hands?"

"Hehehe... If it's just death, that's too merciful~" Until the very end, Buggy was still preparing to leave a nail in Nami's heart.

That's how the human heart is; it takes just a little temptation to fall into the abyss.

Nami stopped breathing.

She had never thought about this question.

For eight years, she has killed the dragon in her dreams countless times.

Use a knife.

With fists.

Use your teeth.

countless times.

But those were all dreams.

In reality, she never imagined she could kill the dragon with her own hands... or even take revenge that was worse than death.

Now Nami feels... she can think about it.

Bucky straightened up.

Think it through before you answer.

He turned and walked towards the door.

After taking two steps, I stopped.

"Oh, right." He didn't turn around.

"You said, 'I'll agree to any reason,'" Bucky paused, "That sentence..."

A genuine hint of laughter finally appeared in his voice: "It's dangerous~"

Although he is now Bucky the Clown.

Strictly speaking, he was just a transmigrator from another world.

Compared to the original Bucky the Joker, who was single-mindedly focused on collecting treasure.

The current Bucky the Clown is closer to a normal human in terms of personality.

For example, he is an LSP.

Then Bucky left.

Kabaji and Mochi followed behind him.

The door was closed.

The room fell silent again.

Nami sat alone on the bed, staring at the door, panting heavily.

Her hands were still trembling, but there was an indescribable glimmer of hope in her eyes.

It was a ray of hope mixed with fear, hope, hatred, and madness.

She looked down at her hands.

These hands have been drawing nautical charts for eight years.

These hands have been stealing money for eight years.

These hands... Whenever Nami looks back, she finds it hard to imagine how she survived those eight years.

Crying, distress, torment, and wailing—that's how Nami grew from 10 to 18 years old under the oppression of the fish-man Arlong.

But her heart always returns to that day eight years ago.

On that very day, Imbelmer died right before his eyes, cruelly murdered by the fish-man, Evil Dragon.

"Evil dragon..."

"I've come to kill you!"

Nami slowly clenched her fist.

very tight.

So tight that the nails dug into the flesh.

For the first time in eight years.

She looked at her hands, not thinking about "how many more nautical charts I need to draw".

She was thinking about what it would be like if those hands were holding a knife.

"Evil dragon... I've come to kill you!"

She repeated it again.

Nami looked out the window, as if she saw the image of a blue shark-man in the seawater.

Then he took the knife and... one cut... two cuts... three cuts... four cuts... five cuts... six cuts... 999 cuts... one thousand cuts...

that's it.

Nami has joined the Buggy Pirates, both temporarily and permanently.

For now, it's because Nami's heart hasn't settled down yet.

"Permanently" is because both Buggy and Nami knew she had no chance to leave.

-

-

time flies.

The goal is just ahead.

The bow of the ship cuts through the waves.

Nami stood on the deck, gazing out at the sea, as if she could already see the outline of Cocoyasi Village.

The island where she grew up, the place ruled by fishmen for eight years, was like a nightmare waiting to be awakened.

Her fingers gripped the gunwale tightly; the pressure building in her heart made her unable to even feel that her fingers had turned white from clenching them.

The decision has been made.

That day in the room, she said things like "I'll take you there" and "Kill them all."

But saying it out loud is one thing, actually facing it is another.

As the distance drew closer, that familiar feeling of suffocation began to surge up again.

The fish-man dragon's eyes looked like trash to everyone.

For eight years, she saw that face countless times in her dreams, then woke up in fright, and continued drawing sea charts, continuing to steal money, and continuing to wait for a "maybe" that would never come.

but now……

Nami turned her head and looked towards the cabin.

What is that man, Bucky, doing?

For the past few days, Pakistani has been staying on the deck at the stern of the ship, saying he wants to practice.

Although he was a lecher, he wasn't that impatient with lust.

Now that we've got Nami, there's no need to rush.

Nami initially thought this was just a pastime the pirate captain had come up with for himself, since she had seen too many pirates who claimed to be training, but in the end they were just sunbathing and drinking.

But not Bucky.

Bucky's daily life also includes training.

Although he obtained a portion of the Piedmon's power, and this power can be further enhanced.

But this does not mean that Bucky will slack off on his own training.

While the power of the system is wonderful, Buggy will try to develop his own Devil Fruit abilities, whether he can cultivate Haki, and his physical skills.

Although the original Joker, Bucky himself, did not focus too much on cultivating his own strength.

Whether it's the Observation Haki and Armament Haki derived from physical skills, or the Split-Split Fruit ability, they are all only at a relatively basic level.

But the current Bucky the Clown isn't going to ignore all of this.

When it comes to strength, the stronger the better.

One's own military strength, dominance, destructive power, and so on—all of these are things that the stronger the better.

Especially in this chaotic and dangerous world.

Gaining power doesn't guarantee you'll gain everything, but losing power will definitely mean losing everything.

Although his Devil Fruit abilities haven't shown significant improvement yet, he has indeed made some progress in developing Observation Haki and Armament Haki.

As a former crew member of the Pirate King, Buggy has memories of training methods for Armament Haki and Observation Haki.

Nami, on the other hand, often peeks at Buggy's training from the sidelines.

...It shouldn't be considered peeping.

After all, she was standing there openly and honestly, and the pirates around her didn't dare to stop her.

Bucky stood there for a whole hour, motionless, like a statue.

Sometimes he'll suddenly throw a punch, so fast you can't even see it, you just hear the explosive sound of the air being torn apart.

Sometimes it closes its eyes, as if sensing something, and then suddenly tilts its head to dodge swords falling from above.

Nami was stunned when she first saw this.

Is that [domineering]?

She spent eight years with the Arlong Pirates and heard those fish-men boast about something called "Haki".

Fish-Man Karate masters are said to be able to develop similar sensory abilities, but Arlong himself doesn't seem to be good at it?

Anyway, Nami didn't see the Arlong Pirates use this.

It's possible that it won't.

It's also possible that it's not needed.

And Bucky actually knows this legendary thing?

This struck Nami as quite outrageous.

After all, Nami knew very well that the Arlong Pirates came from the Grand Line, so it was normal for them to know these things.

Then why do you think you can do that, Bucky?

Nami recalled the feeling of being stared at by those eyes in the captain's cabin that day.

That feeling of being seen through completely, of having nowhere to hide.

That wasn't just ordinary oppression.

That's something on a higher level.

So as the ship drew closer to Cocoyasi Village, and as that terrible thought became clearer, Nami finally couldn't hold back any longer.

She took a deep breath and walked to the stern of the boat.

Bucky sat cross-legged on the deck, facing the bow of the ship.

The sunlight shone from behind him, casting a long shadow.

The black and white mask appeared somewhat blurry in the backlight, but the bright red heart remained striking.

Bucky had his eyes closed.

Nami had already come to within three meters of Buggy, but she didn't know whether she should speak.

"What do you want from me?" Bucky's voice suddenly rang out, unhurried.

Nami's heart skipped a beat, but she still stubbornly replied, "Can't I come to you for no reason? I think I'm still very pretty~"

As she spoke, Nami puffed out her chest.

She was able to move freely on the pirate ship during this time entirely thanks to Buggy's reputation.

At least in the eyes of the other pirates on the pirate ship, Nami was clearly Buggy's forbidden offspring, possessed exclusively by Buggy and not to be touched by anyone else.

Buggy opened his eyes, stood up, and turned to look at Nami.

Those eyes, behind the mask, were as calm as a bottomless pool of water.

"While I am indeed quite interested in you, unfortunately not now." Bucky wasn't in a hurry.

At the very least, he would seize and consume all the resources he could quickly grab first.

Women are a good form of entertainment.

But female allure cannot influence one's own decisions.

Nami's talent is more important than her looks.

There are never a shortage of beautiful women in this world. If you really need beauty, you can always find some by visiting a few more towns.

But those unique talents are hard to find.

"Tch... Nobody believes you..." After spending a few days together, Nami also realized that she could be a little mischievous within certain limits.

So, the easygoing Nami has become active again these past few days.

Nami opened her mouth as if to say something, but swallowed the words back down.

Lying makes no sense.

Lying to this man is pointless.

"...I'm wondering," she lowered her head, "...can I really do it?"

"Explain yourself clearly. You have to say what you want to do yourself," Bucky said firmly.

"I want to kill the dragon with my own hands... I even want him to suffer a fate worse than death." As Nami said this, she felt as if something was blocking her throat.

For eight years, she had never actually uttered those three words.

"I've killed him countless times in my dreams," she continued, her voice trailing off, "with a knife, with my fists, with my teeth... but that's just a dream."

"When I woke up, I was still the one drawing the sea chart, and he was still the evil dragon."

Although Nami's main enemy is Arlong, other members of the Fishman Pirates are also on her hate list.