◉◉◉◉◉
Buggy the Clown was in full-blown panic. His mind raced with fear, confusion, and raw desperation every ounce of survival instinct kicking into overdrive.
He tossed his spyglass aside and shouted at his crew, "We're outta here! Run for your lives!"
In a split second, Buggy activated his Devil Fruit ability his body exploded into pieces. His head flew into the sky, arms and torso scattered, and his legs stayed on the ground… still sprinting.
"Chop-Chop Emergency Scatter!"
His crew stood dumbfounded as their captain bolted literally. But then panic set in. "Captain Buggy, don't leave us! Take us with you!"
Floating midair, Buggy's head scoffed, "Idiots! My glorious life isn't on the same level as yours!"
Still, the crew wasn't ready to give up. A few of them lunged forward, grabbing his legs and taking off.
"What the hell are you doing with my legs?!" Buggy's floating head roared.
"Please, Captain! We can't do this without you!" came the desperate reply.
Buggy growled, "These damn idiots…"
Meanwhile, his massive cannonball, one of his most destructive weapons, slammed into the town.
With no way to avoid its blast, Buggy had preemptively flung his core parts far from ground zero. His legs, though… they were a different story. He'd just have to get those back later.
Suddenly, a massive explosion lit up the sky, shaking the town to its core. Buggy narrowly avoided the blast and couldn't help but grin at the destruction.
"Damn, my cannonball really packs a punch!"
In seconds, the town was rubble. Buildings disintegrated. Dust, debris, and charred wood rained from the sky.
As his body parts flew back to him, Buggy was relieved to sense his legs were still intact.
Hovering above the town, he admired the destruction with sick pride, while plotting how to punish the crew who dared mishandle his lower half.
Elsewhere, beneath a pile of wreckage, a massive stone slab shifted. A pirate clawed his way free and gasped for air.
He had just survived the blast.
"Gotcha, you little punks. What were you trying to do with my legs?" came a voice colder than death, floating from above.
The pirates froze. They knew exactly whose voice that was.
Their relief vanished in an instant, replaced by sheer terror.
---
Meanwhile, on the untouched half of town away…
Aero had just sliced through an iron cage with a blade of wind. Nearby, Eddie gawked in shock.
"That thing wiped out half the town?! One cannonball?!"
Aero, cool as ever, replied, "We came here to cut a deal to get those weapons willingly. Instead, we got mistaken for enemies the second we stepped in."
Even Dylan, the quiet one, broke his silence, "If the Marines get their hands on something like that… entire fleets could go down. No escape."
Aero responded calmly, "Relax. We've got a ride."
He held out his palm. A mini-cyclone formed beneath them, wrapping all four allies in a swirling column of wind, and then they were airborne, shooting across the sky like cannonballs themselves.
---
Moments later, they arrived just in time to witness Buggy mop the floor with his enemies.
When the last foe dropped, Aero descended right in front of the clown captain.
He offered a relaxed, almost smug grin. "Got you."
Buggy had just retrieved his legs. He turned, startled eyes wide in horror. He tried to backpedal, only to crash into someone behind him.
Arjin stood there, glaring, fists clenched.
Buggy froze. His face contorted, then twisted into a shaky smile.
"W-Whoa, fellas. This is all one big misunderstanding, right? Haha..." he said, laughing nervously as he approached Aero.
But just as he got within arm's reach his smile vanished.
Suddenly, he pulled out a dozen throwing knives and lunged.
"Die, Aero!" he roared.
His blades stabbed straight through Aero's chest yet Aero didn't flinch. He just smiled.
"Huh?!"
Buggy stabbed again. Still nothing.
Panic surged through him. Without hesitation, he tried to escape his body split again, scattering in all directions.
"You can't kill me! And you'll never catch me!"
But something was wrong.
His head didn't move.
Neither did his limbs.
In fact, every part of him was stuck floating, frozen, and pulled together. Like being trapped in an invisible cage.
"What… what the hell?! Why isn't my body moving?!"
Buggy's voice cracked. Then his eyes narrowed, glaring at Aero.
"You! What did you do?!"
The others walked up slowly, surrounding the pile of floating body parts.
Aero had compressed Buggy's scattered limbs using tightly controlled air pressure locking his body in place.
"Why were you running?" Aero teased, crouching next to him. "That Devil Fruit of yours… it's something else. You kinda remind me of Law after he's sliced someone up."
◉◉◉◉◉
~Support with 200 PowerStones = 1 Bonus Chapter
◉◉◉◉◉
For early access to advanced chapters on P-atreon:
P-atreon/iamxeno
(Just remove the - hyphen to access Patreon normally)
Thank you so much for your support and for reading!