Chapter 23: Extortion

The additional 1.5-second silence effect from “Deadly Strike” hadn’t shown any peculiar signs when Garen fought with Steel Blade earlier, but on Buggy, the Devil Fruit user, it truly realized a “fatal blow.” In a split second, Buggy’s Devil Fruit power was sealed, and his mental control over his fragmented body was forcibly severed.

Unlike the tangible weakness caused by seawater and Sea Prism Stone, the effect of this sword seemed to make Buggy’s Devil Fruit ability vanish into thin air; no matter how desperately he tried, he couldn’t regain the sense of using his power.

This bizarre phenomenon plunged Buggy into a terror far more intense than before, stripping away all his dignity as he pleaded comically for mercy in front of Garen.

But before Garen could respond, Captain Buggy suddenly discovered—his fruit power had returned!

He immediately manipulated his scattered body parts to soar into the air, fleeing a dozen meters away. Only after confirming he was out of reach of the giant sword did Buggy halt his flight.

Cold sweat still drenched his face, and just moments after begging for mercy, Buggy turned back to Garen, displaying an exaggerated, bluffing smile.

“Hahaha...”

“You little freak! Let’s see how you plan to hit me now!”

“Hmm...” Garen regarded Buggy’s face, distorted in laughter and stretched like a flatbread, silently raising his empty left hand.

“You’ve flown so far, I really can’t reach you,” Garen said. “But you were in such a hurry, you left something behind...”

“What?” Buggy exclaimed in horror.

In Garen’s raised left hand, he was firmly gripping a strangely wriggling human foot...

It was Buggy’s foot.

Buggy’s Split-Split Fruit had a fatal flaw: his fragmented body parts couldn’t stray more than 200 meters from his feet, and those feet were the only parts incapable of flight.

Garen knew this, so when Buggy’s power failed and he collapsed, Garen had quietly seized one of Buggy’s feet.

Buggy’s arrogant expression froze once more, sweat pouring down his forehead at an exaggerated rate.

Garen calmly confronted Buggy for a few seconds... When the cooldown ended, Garen raised his sword-wielding right hand. “Deadly Strike!”

The great sword suddenly blazed with the radiant light of justice...

Then, with the glowing blade, Garen gently touched the Buggy foot clutched in his left hand...

Buggy’s airborne body parts plummeted from the sky like hail, crashing heavily onto the deck.

“It’s over!” Buggy, once again scattered as pieces on the deck, finally saw his dire predicament clearly:

His vital part was in Garen’s grasp, making escape impossible, and he couldn’t even return to his normal form.

The opponent could effortlessly unleash a strange ability akin to Sea Prism Stone to suppress his fruit power, turning him into a pile of parts at any moment...

This was truly a deathtrap.

The 1.5 seconds of silence quickly passed, and Buggy regained control of his fragmented body, but he dared not make a move.

As for Buggy’s underlings, countless had been killed or wounded; those remaining were trembling, cowering at the deck’s edge.

Two elite officers—one clutching his pet lion, shivering in fear, the other standing stiffly to the side, gripping his samurai sword in a futile attempt to draw it.

The Buggy Pirates had been utterly wiped out.

Garen, still at ease, held Buggy’s foot in his grip, his sword ever ready to deliver another fatal strike.

Wallace, who had been filming the scene from the edge, summoned his courage and stepped forward to shoot a close-up of the righteous knight Garen defeating the great pirate Buggy.

Nami, visibly excited, walked over to Garen, her eyes shining as she gazed at Buggy’s head hovering just above the deck.

“This red nose is worth fifteen million?”

In Nami’s eyes, the mighty Captain Buggy had already become a thick stack of cash.

“That’s right...” Garen echoed, tallying up the bounty. “With this red nose, we’ll collect twenty-five million Berries in reward money when we get to Loguetown.”

Buggy’s face darkened at once.

The other party was openly discussing cashing in his bounty—clearly a powerful pirate hunter from who knows where.

For pirates, being defeated by a pirate hunter was far worse than being captured by the navy: unless you were unlucky enough to get caught by Admiral Akainu himself, pirates captured by the navy usually kept their lives and had their basic needs provided for.

But if caught by a bounty hunter who traded heads for cash, ninety-nine percent of pirates were doomed...

Nami caught the meaning in Buggy’s suddenly changed expression.

She rubbed her slender, smooth chin, a sly glint flashing in her eyes.

“Garen, when we go to Loguetown to cash in the bounty...” she began, “do you think we should deliver the head, or bring the person?”

“Huh?” Garen blinked.

Buggy instantly broke out in another cold sweat, hurriedly flying his head over to Nami with a flattering smile.

“Beautiful lady!”

“Bring the person! As long as you bring the person, it counts! My wanted poster says ‘Dead or Alive,’ so a live capture works for the bounty!”

“Oh?” A dangerous light flickered in Nami’s pale orange eyes.

“Transporting a live pirate for bounty is a risky venture,” she said coldly. “Who’s going to cover the potential losses?”

Nami’s chilling, dangerous voice echoed in Buggy’s ears, and he felt as if he were caught in the grasp of a greedy devil.

He furrowed his brow in torment, his bright red nose twitching nervously...

Finally, as if making a difficult decision, Buggy shouted, “I have a million Berries worth of treasure hidden on my ship!”

“A million?” Nami, who’d spent years pilfering pirate treasures and was familiar with their wealth, immediately gave a mocking, icy smile.

“Garen, let’s bring the head!”

“Alright!” Garen replied.

Garen, understanding the situation, promptly raised his sword, ready to strike Buggy’s foot.

“Wait!” Buggy shrieked, terrified. “I have five million! Five million Berries worth of treasure!”

“Five million Berries?” Nami narrowed her eyes, her tone even more dissatisfied as she turned to Garen. “Do you think that’s enough?”

“Five million isn’t nearly enough,” Garen said, playing along with a scornful expression. “You could barely buy a restroom, and there wouldn’t be enough left to renovate it!”

After covering expenses for Tai, paying for his own meals, and purchasing nautical supplies, Garen had roughly figured out the purchasing power of “Berries.” Judging by the prices, Berries were almost equivalent to Japanese yen.

Of course, market conditions varied wildly between worlds, so the price of many goods differed dramatically. For example, sailing ships were luxury items on Earth, but as common as bicycles in this pirate world. Meanwhile, real estate, which couldn’t be sold here, was so expensive back home that people spent thirty years as slaves to the bank.

Buggy’s promise of five million Berries converted to less than three hundred thousand yuan—barely enough for a restroom.

Buggy’s personal bounty of fifteen million was just enough for a bedroom...

In a major city, anyone selling a single apartment could buy themselves a Pirate Empress in Berries, and still have money left to snag ten Rayleighs as extras at the Sabaody slave auction.

“Bah!” Buggy turned purple with anger at Garen’s remark. “Five million Berries isn’t enough for a restroom?!”

“Are you living in the Holy Land of Mary Geoise with the Celestial Dragons?”

Nami threw Garen a reproachful look.

Even as a scare tactic, saying five million Berries wasn’t enough for a restroom was a bit much...

If real estate were really that expensive, everyone would be forced to become pirates.

“Celestial Dragon? Well, in a way...” Garen mused, telling a joke so cold it could freeze the sea. “I am a descendant of the Great Heavenly Dragon, after all...”

“Eh?!” Wallace’s eyes sparkled. “Lord Garen, you... you have such a background?!”

“Hey, hey...” Garen quickly interrupted. “I was just joking! Why are you grabbing pen and paper?!”

“Don’t always think about making big headlines!”