Chapter 8: Feigning Capture
Tashigi successfully cuffed Buggy the Clown's hands with Seastone handcuffs. His Chop-Chop ability was instantly nullified, and he was reassembled into a short fellow less than two meters tall. At this moment, the sky screen displayed new content, with a voice narrating alongside images, only showing dynamic videos for key parts.
[Buggy's first goal upon setting out to sea was to infiltrate Impel Down, find a way into Level 6, Eternal Hell, and search for the former Roger Pirates crewmate imprisoned there – Bullet.]
[To cover his tracks, he teamed up with Alvida, the user of the Smooth-Smooth Fruit, and waited in Loguetown for Straw Hat Luffy's crew. He also took the opportunity to help his close friend Shanks test Luffy, to see if he could carry the will of Pirate King Roger and reconquer the Grand Line.]
[Things went quite smoothly. He tricked Straw Hat Luffy onto the execution platform, the very place where Pirate King Roger was executed. Buggy used Seastone to neutralize his Gum-Gum Fruit ability. More than twenty years later, in the same place, he was about to execute a young man who proclaimed he would become the Pirate King.]
[Faced with the test of life and death, Luffy, not yet twenty, actually faced death with a laugh. He possessed such immense spirit. Buggy, amidst the wind and rain, felt greatly gratified. Straw Hat Luffy had indeed inherited Captain Roger's spirit. If Luffy had cried and begged for mercy on the execution platform at that time, Buggy the Pirate would have immediately killed him, without giving Shanks any face. Someone afraid of death wasn't even worthy of shining Captain Roger's shoes. This young man might truly become the next Pirate King.]
[Buggy the Clown's judgment of character was very accurate. This young man and his companions advanced towards the One Piece of the former Pirate King, encountering various powerful enemies along the way, all of whom eventually fell at their feet.]
[In Alabasta, they defeated Crocodile, one of the Warlords of the Sea (a Logia Sand-Sand Fruit user). In Sky Island, they defeated God Enel (a Logia Rumble-Rumble Fruit user). At Enies Lobby, they defeated CP9's Lucci (a Zoan Cat-Cat Fruit, Model: Leopard user), and so on. The many powerful enemies will not be listed one by one here. Let's continue with Buggy the Clown.]
During this, scenes of these individuals' defeats were interspersed, showing them knocked unconscious one after another by Luffy. The credibility was one hundred percent, letting the whole world see the disgraceful state of these defeated foes.
[A lightning bolt from the sky struck Buggy. Without the defense of Armament Haki, he was able to withstand this attack. The plan was progressing perfectly. Captain Smoker, who had been waiting below the execution platform for a long time—Buggy, in order to help Luffy escape, proactively ran towards this Logia fruit user (Smoker).]
[But he (Buggy) underestimated the White Chase's desire for bounties. Smoker was more interested in Luffy, who had a bounty of 30 million, and directly ignored Buggy, merely ordering Marine soldiers to surround him. Buggy knew in his heart that Luffy, who didn't know Haki, was no match for Smoker. He couldn't let this kid's journey end here; it would be an injustice to both Shanks and the deceased Captain Roger.]
[Buggy's original purpose was to have Captain Smoker capture him personally. A pirate with a Devil Fruit ability would surely be imprisoned by the Marines in Impel Down. However, while the plan was perfect, its execution had too many variables. There was also a mysterious powerhouse who disrupted the situation, someone who could actually control violent winds.]
Marine reinforcements had arrived. But seeing this scene on the sky screen, the arrest site unexpectedly coincided with Buggy the Clown's plan. The other members of the Buggy Pirates, who had been quite dejected, now had their morale restored and were showering Buggy the Clown with exaggerated praises.
"Captain is truly amazing, this was all part of your plan!"
"Boss Buggy is so cool! I want to go to Impel Down with him!"
Alvida: "Count me in!"
Buggy, restrained by the Seastone handcuffs, was currently completely drained of strength, allowing the furious Smoker to step on him. "What is your damn objective? If you don't speak, you cursed pirate, I'll kill you right here!"
Tashigi didn't dare to be careless, her longsword gripped tightly. If Buggy the Clown made the slightest move, she would strike him down. This woman no longer knew who to believe. What if Buggy the Clown had really been acting all along?
Buggy continuously begged Smoker for mercy, "Mr. Marine, you have to believe me! I'm just a weak pirate! Believe me, I have no other objective! Everything on that sky screen is a lie!" He could feel Captain Smoker's killing intent, almost overflowing. The title "White Chase" was earned by Smoker from killing East Blue pirates.
"I'm not satisfied with that answer! Are you going to talk or not?" Smoker put all his strength into his right foot, stomping the pitiful Buggy the Clown into the floor tiles. Buggy's face was immediately disfigured, bleeding profusely, and even his pleas for mercy became much weaker.
The White Chase was about to lose his patience. He couldn't wait for Admiral Akainu to arrive; he was going to finish off Buggy the Clown himself...
[This powerhouse who manipulated violent winds easily defeated Captain Smoker with a single move. Their purpose was to save Luffy; other pirates were not within their consideration. However, this ended up being a great help to Buggy the Clown.]
[The mysterious powerhouse personally saw Luffy's pirate crew off to sea. Marine Smoker couldn't defeat him and, as a fallback, arrested other pirates in Loguetown. He handily used his White Blow to trap the fleeing Buggy Pirates, which could be considered atoning for his failure and doing right by the citizens of Loguetown.]
[Smoker is one of the future Marine Admirals. In his later memoirs, he emphasized this event: personally capturing Buggy the Clown and helping him get into Impel Down was the stupidest thing he ever did in his life. He lived the latter half of his life in agony.]
[To be honest, the future Admiral Smoker didn't need to feel so guilty. Even if Buggy hadn't entered Impel Down through his hands, he would have entered Impel Down through other Marines. Nothing would have stopped him from searching for Bullet.]
[After Buggy completed his plan and obtained that Devil Fruit as he wished, he fully revealed his strength and killed many Marines in the future. In terms of battle records, the other Emperors of the Sea combined did not have as many kills as Buggy alone. This caused Smoker to spend most of his days in the future drowning in alcohol.]
[In a battle where Buggy revealed his true strength, he single-handedly destroyed 20 Marine warships, causing 3,000 elite Marines to perish at sea.]
[Marines associated with Smoker: future Rear Admiral Tashigi, his long-time subordinate; future Vice Admiral Hina, his long-time friend; Vice Admiral Onigumo and Vice Admiral Yamakaji, as well as some Marine soldiers from East Blue, all died in this overwhelmingly disparate battle. If Smoker, as a Marine Admiral at that time, had been present, perhaps he could have saved many people.]
[This battle was a heavy blow to the Marines. Because the battle took place on Iron Island, it was later called the Iron Blood Battle by the Marines.]
The sky screen showed the final scenes of this battle: fragmented Marine warships on the beach, not a single vessel intact. The nearby sea was stained blood red, with numerous body fragments floating on the water, all wearing Marine uniforms.
Marines with half a body remaining were considered lucky; most were horribly mutilated human remains. Hundreds of heads with eyes wide open floated together in the sea, mixed with a large number of fragmented limbs. Iron Island had become a slaughterhouse for the Marines...