"Has the Emperor Buggy died?!"
Everyone who witnessed this scene found it hard to believe. Buggy's head had been severed, was he really dead?
Had an Emperor truly fallen so easily?
Cheers erupted from the Navy side.
"Well done, Rear Admiral Dis!"
"Buggy is dead!"
"The Yonko is dead! Quickly, rescue Admiral Ryokugyu!"
Rear Admiral Dis, who had thrown the boomerang, was in disbelief. Had he really killed an Emperor?
"Since when am I this powerful?"
Whoosh!
A dagger suddenly appeared from behind him, piercing his back.
Slash!
Dis's body trembled, blood spraying from his mouth as he looked up in shock, straight at Buggy.
Buggy's head, which had been blown off earlier, had flown back to his body. A hand stretched from behind Dis, yanking the dagger free.
"Not… not good!"
"Rear Admiral Dis!"
"Was that an attack from the Emperor Buggy? How terrifying! How did he do it? Could it be that attacking him causes injury in return?"
"As expected of an Emperor, truly powerful!"
The Marine soldiers were horrified. Buggy's performance matched their image of what a Yonko should be: overwhelming, terrifying, unstoppable.
In truth, Buggy had nearly pissed himself in fear. Luckily, his ability to split apart his body saved him, he detached a hand the moment he was hit and stabbed the attacker from behind.
The effect was far better than he expected. The marines couldn't figure out what had happened; they only saw that Buggy wasn't dead, while his attacker was gravely injured.
Suddenly, none of them dared to attack him anymore.
The battle continued to rage on, especially between Garp and Kuzan.
Without Shiryu's intervention, Garp was still no match for Kuzan because Buggy's subordinates captured Koby.
"Garp, you came here to save him, didn't you? Your disciple…" Buggy's crew, many of them from Impel Down, weren't the brightest, but every last one was rotten to the core.
Grabbing Koby to threaten him threw Garp off his rhythm for just a moment. That moment was all Kuzan needed to heavily injure the aging hero.
"Well, well getting distracted in a top-tier battle like that is just asking for death," Roy remarked, watching from Hachinosu as he gulped down a bottle of ice-cold beer.
The chill was refreshing and satisfying.
"Nothing beats ice-cold drinks," Roy said, picking up a large piece of meat and eating while he watched.
Atmos, who had been resting, finally woke up. His stomach rumbling, he sat down beside Roy.
"Big bro, who's going to win?" Atmos asked.
"I don't know."
"But you always knew before."
"That was before. From here on out, I might not know what's going to happen. For example, this war. I never imagined the Marines and Cross Guild would really clash. I never imagined Kuzan and Gecko Moria would join Cross Guild either. I had originally planned to push them into conflict with the Marines, to make them join us instead.
"Now, with two additional powerful fighters, things have become complicated. Both of them are strong, even Moria surprised me. I didn't expect his awakened ability to make him so formidable. He's practically unkillable as long as there are shadows."
Roy sighed as he watched the battle on the screen. Everything had exceeded his expectations and defied his predictions. The changes in Cross Guild were far beyond what he had imagined.
The future? No one could say anymore. Roy only knew about Egghead. Beyond that, the future was a mystery.
After all, Marineford here never happened, Blackbeard was killed by him, and the world had already changed so much, what "future" was left to know?
Back on the battlefield, Garp was badly injured, though Kuzan wasn't unscathed either. The difference was, Kuzan was younger and still had stamina left, while Garp struggled on with sheer willpower.
The Marine's numbers far exceeded the pirates', but against an Emperor crew, they were still at a disadvantage. And Buggy hadn't even entered the battlefield yet. Everyone knew, the Marines had almost no chance of winning. Their defeat was inevitable.
The ferocity of the battle rivaled that of Marineford. Fujitora and Mihawk clashed, an epic duel between swordsmen. Though Fujitora's swordplay couldn't match Mihawk's, his gravity powers let him keep the fight dead even.
The outcome was balanced on a knife's edge.
Crocodile and Tokikake's battle shook the battlefield, a sandman against an earthman, two Logia powers colliding, with no victor in sight.
Moria, while weaker than Momousagi, relied on his awakened powers to avoid defeat. Even when killed, his shadow ability allowed him to survive.
Meanwhile, his subordinates shone brightly. Perona's ghosts crippled numerous Marine commanders, leaving them helpless, only for Absalom to finish them off under cover of invisibility.
Mr. 1 clashed with Onigumo without falling behind, he too had grown in the past two years.
Kuzan had his own followers, but Mihawk had none. If his baboons had been here, they'd surely rival any pirate crew.
"Why hasn't the Emperor Buggy entered the fight yet? If he did, this war would be over in an instant. The Marines clearly can't win."
Half a day passed, yet Buggy sat motionless upon his throne, watching the battlefield.
"Yeah… why hasn't he fought yet?"
A voice muttered beside Roy.
"Big bro, once Buggy enters, it's over. What's he waiting for?" Marco asked, puzzled.
Roy and Atmos exchanged a glance. Having fought alongside Roger's crew against Buggy countless times, they knew him all too well.
"If he enters, the war ends," Roy said with a grin.
"Exactly. If he enters, it's over," Atmos agreed.
Everyone nodded, convinced. With the battle deadlocked, Buggy's involvement would tip the scales. The Marines would have no chance.
So why wasn't he moving?
What was Buggy thinking?
No one knew. And those who did, weren't saying.
Even the Marines was whispering among themselves. Was Buggy mocking them by refusing to fight?
Meanwhile, Cross Guild's members were brimming with faith.
"There's no need for Captain Buggy to step in, we're already winning. Why should our king lift a finger?"
"Exactly! Unless Fleet Admiral Akainu himself shows up, it's not worth his time!"
A crazed Buggy loyalist roared as he cut down a Marine officer.
"That's right, Captain Buggy is invincible!"
"Cross Guild is invincible!"
"Destroy the Marines! We'll make Captain Buggy the Pirate King!"
Roy, sipping his beer, watched quietly.
"This war that wasn't meant to happen… how will it end, I wonder? I really want to see it through."
...
If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.
[email protected]/DaoistJinzu