"So that scream earlier came from you?" jin asked, looking Buggy up and down.
Thinking about it now, that scream had indeed sounded like his voice.
"Who are you?"
"He's my partner, jin," Luffy explained.
"I see."
Buggy nodded, then said,
"That scream really was mine."
"After I was discovered by a Visual Transponder Snail, those guys chased me all the way here."
As he said this, Buggy showed a helpless expression.
He had originally thought he could fool all the jailers and quietly sneak to the exit.
But in the end… he had been discovered halfway by a Visual Transponder Snail.
Thinking of this, Buggy felt his head ache.
"So…"
jin frowned as he looked at Buggy.
"Because of you, this place has already been targeted by the jailers, right?"
The jailer he had controlled earlier had said that once they discovered a pirate escaping, they would mobilize the jailers on that level to capture them.
Now… a large group of jailers was probably already heading this way.
'Should I just throw this guy out? That would draw their attention away.'
Thinking this, jin's gaze became unfriendly.
Buggy did not notice the change in jin's eyes. Instead, he turned to stare at Luffy and asked,
"Straw Hat kid, why are you here?"
"Were you captured too?"
Perhaps thinking of something, Buggy showed a mocking expression.
"I never thought you'd have a day like this."
"Of course not," Luffy said. "We came in on purpose."
"You're lying!"
"How could anyone enter this hell on purpose?!" Buggy retorted.
This underwater prison was the pirates' hell. No idiot would willingly come here.
The Straw Hat kid was probably just unwilling to admit he had been captured…
No. Wait!
Buggy suddenly thought of a possibility.
"Straw Hat kid, don't tell me that after hearing I'd been captured… you came here on purpose to save me!"
As he said this, tears appeared in Buggy's eyes. His entire body seemed moved.
Then he slapped Luffy on the shoulder and cursed arrogantly,
"Bastard! This great me doesn't need your sympathy!"
jin: "…"
This guy was definitely an idiot.
"Bastard, what are you imagining on your own?!"
Luffy opened his shark-like mouth and roared,
"I didn't come here to save you!"
"I came here to save Ace!"
"Eh?!"
Buggy froze at first. Then he shouted in disbelief,
"You actually came here to save Ace?!"
As if realizing his voice was too loud, Buggy immediately moved close to Luffy and said,
"Shh… keep your voice down."
"You're the one shouting!"
"That isn't important anymore," Buggy said. "I didn't expect you to come here to save Ace. That really surprised me."
He had heard that Fire Fist Ace had been captured and brought here, but he had not expected this Straw Hat kid to actually dare come here to rescue him.
"Yeah. Ace is going to be publicly executed by the Marines, so I came here to save him."
"A public execution…"
Buggy's expression became solemn.
'What are the Marines thinking? They actually dare publicly execute Whitebeard's son…'
Were they not afraid of starting a war?
That old man Whitebeard was not exactly good-tempered.
Forget it. This had nothing to do with him. He should focus on how to escape this place.
"Let's go, Luffy. Don't bother with this guy," jin said. "Let him keep wandering around Level One by himself."
"Oh, coming."
Luffy nodded, then said to Buggy,
"Then goodbye, Buggy."
"Ah, goodbye…"
Buggy waved his hand and said,
"You guys work hard to save Ace. I'm going to seize a warship."
"By the way, you came in from outside, right? Do you know where the warships are?"
"I don't know."
Luffy honestly shook his head.
"You don't know?"
Buggy was dumbfounded.
"How can you not know?"
Did these guys enter Impel Down from underwater?
No, how was that possible?
"jin brought me in," Luffy said. Then he glanced at jin and asked, "jin, do you know what it's like outside?"
"Yeah. There are ten warships outside."
Buggy: "…"
After hearing the number of warships, Buggy went numb.
"Ten?"
Wasn't that on the scale of a Buster Call?
With such a terrifying lineup guarding the outside, there was no way he could escape.
'No… the Marines have placed so many forces here probably to guard against Whitebeard.'
In that case, after some time, those warships might withdraw.
Thinking this, Buggy planned to slip away and hide first.
However, when Buggy saw several Bluegori charging from the distance, he turned without hesitation and ran toward Luffy.
"Hey, what are you trying to do now?"
"Temporarily avoiding danger… temporarily avoiding danger…"
After glancing at the Bluegori, jin said,
"Ignore this guy. Let's hide underground first."
After speaking, jin slapped both hands onto the ground and activated Earth Release.
The next moment, the ground beneath the two of them began to distort. Then the two started sinking underground.
The sight left Buggy stunned.
'W-What kind of strange ability is this?'
No, this was not the time to think about that!
"Take me too! I know how to find Ace!"
Hearing Buggy's words, Luffy's eyes instantly lit up.
"jin!"
"Yeah!"
jin wasted no words. He quickly softened the ground beneath Buggy's feet as well and swallowed him down.
After the three disappeared, a giant axe flew from the distance and smashed directly into the place where Buggy had been standing.
Clang!
"Goru?"
"Goru goru?"
Several Bluegori looked at the restored ground with confused expressions, unable to understand what had just happened.
The prisoner had clearly been right there. Why had he suddenly disappeared?
The simple-minded Bluegori could not comprehend what had occurred.
After thinking for a while, they began using the axes in their hands to destroy the ground.
Unfortunately, jin had already taken the other two away.
"What… what kind of ability is this?" Buggy asked in shock.
Although he could not see anything around him because there was no light, he could still feel himself moving forward.
"Haha! This is jin's Earth Release. Pretty amazing, right?"
"Earth… Release?"
Buggy froze at first. Then he said excitedly,
"You're actually a ninja?!"
"Yeah, that's right. I'm a ninja."
"You really are a ninja!"
After hearing jin admit that he was a ninja, Buggy became extremely excited.
He had never expected that one day, he would be able to see a living ninja.
This was… way too cool!
Thinking this, Buggy asked,
"Do you know any other ninjutsu?"
"Like clone techniques, Fire Release, and also—"
Listening to Buggy's endless chattering, jin held his forehead.
Why were these people all so interested in ninjas?
After learning he was a ninja, each one became more excited than the last.
At that moment, Buggy suddenly changed the topic.
"If you're a ninja, then you should be from Wano Country, right?"
Buggy's expression became complicated.
"Mr. Oden… is he doing well?"
After that man left their ship back then, Buggy never heard any news about him again.
He did not know how Mr. Oden was doing now.
"Unfortunately, I'm not from Wano Country," jin said, spreading his hands.
"Not from Wano Country?"
Buggy frowned.
"Aren't you a ninja?"
He remembered Mr. Oden once saying that Wano Country had ninjas. That was one of the reasons he had always looked forward to seeing one.
But now, this person said he was not from Wano Country?
What did that mean?
"Who said ninjas have to be from Wano Country?" jin said speechlessly. "Can't I be from somewhere else?"
Brother, I'm from a village, not Wano Country.
"So you're a ninja from somewhere else…"
Buggy was somewhat surprised. This was the first time he had heard of such a thing.
He had thought only Mr. Oden's homeland had ninjas.
"What, do you know Wano Country well?" jin asked.
If Buggy truly understood Wano Country, jin would not mind listening to him talk about it.
"Not really."
Buggy shook his head.
"I only heard some stories from Mr. Oden. But that was all when I was little."
"Was that when you were on Uncle Rayleigh's ship?"
"Eh?!"
Buggy showed a shocked expression. His eyes almost popped out, and his face was filled with disbelief.
"How… how do you know?!"
Had the fact that he was a member of the Pirate King's crew been exposed?
Damn it. If this leaked out, he would definitely die miserably!
"We're very close with Uncle Rayleigh. Uncle Rayleigh told us about it," Luffy said.
"The Vice Captain, huh…"
Hearing Luffy's explanation, Buggy relaxed instead.
Since the Vice Captain had told them about it, these two probably would not spread the matter around…
No. Even if they wanted to spread it, there was nothing he could do. After all… he could not even beat the Straw Hat kid, let alone a legendary ninja.
Thinking of this, Buggy felt his head ache.
"In short… I don't know much," Buggy said. "Mr. Oden only mentioned a few things."
"For example, Wano Country has ninjas and samurai."
"Eh?!"
"There really are ninjas there?"
Luffy asked,
"What kind of ninjas are they? Can they use Release techniques too?"
"I don't know," Buggy said. "I've never seen them."
After all, he had only heard those things from Mr. Oden.
"What? So it was fake."
"I already said I only heard about it! I can't confirm whether it's true or false!"
Buggy opened his shark-like mouth and roared.
Then, as if remembering something, Buggy said,
"But there is one thing I have seen before."
"What?"
"Mm… delicious oden."
"Eh?!"
Hearing that it was something tasty, Luffy's eyes instantly lit up.
"H-How did it taste?"
"Of course it was incredibly delicious!"
Buggy laughed loudly.
"Back when we were on the ship, we ate it many times."
As if recalling that flavor, Buggy unconsciously began drooling.
"I really want to try it."
Luffy also began drooling, his face full of expectation.
jin: "…"
Looking at these two idiots, jin covered his face with one hand.
It was not like the food had been brought in front of them, so why were they drooling?
Shaking his head, jin said,
"All right. The idle chat ends here."
"Buggy, you said earlier that you knew how to find Ace. You weren't lying to us, were you?"
"Yahahaha! How could I be lying to you~"
Buggy unnaturally shifted his gaze away.
Unfortunately, even underground without any light, jin could still see his expression.
"Your expression tells me that isn't the case."
"Eh?!"
Buggy showed a shocked expression.
"You can see me even when it's this dark?"
jin did not speak. He simply stared silently at Buggy.
Buggy: "…"
Although he could not see anything, he felt as if there were a pair of terrifying eyes staring at him from the darkness…
No, this was not exactly darkness. Those glowing blood-red eyes were way too obvious, bastard!
"Cough…"
Buggy coughed lightly, then said seriously,
"Actually, I really do know how to get lower. At least getting to Basement Level Two won't be a problem."
After saying that, Buggy paused, then continued,
"As for the deeper levels… as long as we find the passage leading to the next level, we can go down."
"Ahahahaha!"
At the end, Buggy began laughing awkwardly, as if he wanted to bluff his way through.
"Basement Level Two, huh?"
jin rubbed his chin and thought for a moment.
"That's fine. At least it's better than knowing nothing."
"Right? I—"
Before Buggy could finish, he heard jin continue,
"If you really knew nothing, I would have thrown you in front of the jailers, Mr. Clown Buggy~"
Crack.
Hearing jin's words, a bolt of lightning seemed to flash through Buggy's mind. A large amount of cold sweat appeared on his face.
'That… that was close…'
Buggy did not doubt the truth of jin's words. After all… if this guy wanted to, he could completely throw him out from underground.
At that point, even if he wanted to run, he probably would not be able to.
Thinking this, Buggy immediately rubbed his hands together and said,
"Don't worry. What I said this time is absolutely true!"
While speaking, Buggy also began thinking about how to slip away from jin's side.
'Although he's someone Rayleigh-san knows… following these two doesn't feel safe at all…'
What was with this guy threatening to throw people to the jailers at every turn?
"You really are someone who can't hide his thoughts," jin said, shaking his head. "Buggy, you're thinking about escaping, aren't you?"
Buggy: "…"
It was over. He had forgotten this guy could see his expression.
"Forget it. I can't be bothered to deal with you."
jin said seriously,
"Although I don't know what kind of plan you had, trying to leave this place from the front by taking a warship is obviously impossible with your strength."
"So… right now, your only chance of leaving here alive is to follow us deeper."
"You want me to go with you to Level Five?"
Buggy frowned.
"But then we'll run into that terrifying guy Magellan. That isn't a joke."
He had heard others say that Magellan was a poison man who ate the Venom-Venom Fruit, and that his entire body was full of deadly poison.
Against someone like that, Buggy's Chop-Chop ability would be completely useless.
"If we really run into that kind of guy, it's not like we'd need you to fight him," jin said. "Also, don't refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit. If it weren't for Uncle Rayleigh's sake, I would hypnotize you right now. Believe it?"
Buggy: "…"
Although he did not know whether this so-called hypnosis was real, the other man's attitude was clearly serious.
In that case… did he have no choice but to go along?
Thinking this, Buggy felt his balls ache.
He was only a "great pirate" with a bounty of just over ten million. Was it really okay for him to go to that kind of place?
Looking at Buggy's expression, jin added,
"Mr. Buggy, you… wouldn't want the Marines to know you were a member of the Pirate King's crew, would you~?"
Crack.
That simple sentence struck Buggy like lightning, leaving him frozen in place.
This bastard… was actually using that to threaten him?
Damn it. Damn ninja bastard!
"Bastard! Fine, I'll go!"
Buggy said with a grief-stricken expression,
"You bastard ninja! You're definitely going to hell!"
"Going to hell?"
jin shook his head.
"Sorry, but hell can't take me."
With such powerful Mangekyo Sharingan, jin truly could not think of anyone who could kill him.
After all… the current him was invincible!
"Hmph. I can go, but you have to guarantee my safety as much as possible," Buggy said.
"No problem. If we encounter Magellan, I'll stop him," jin said.
"Fine."
Buggy nodded.
"Then I'll go with you."
If they could guarantee his safety, then going down with them would not be a problem.
'Thinking about it carefully, if they really can rescue Fire Fist Ace, then leaving with them might actually be safer.'
Buggy thought to himself.
After all… with his strength, there was no way he could defeat the Marines outside.
A Buster Call-level force was not something he could resist.
"Ahahaha! Buggy, it's great that you're willing to help!"
Luffy laughed loudly.
Crack.
Hearing Luffy's words, veins instantly bulged on Buggy's face. Then he opened his shark-like mouth and roared,
"You rubber bastard!"
"Which ear of yours heard that I willingly offered to help?"
If he had not been threatened by that bastard, he would have already found a way to slip away!
"Huh?"
"But didn't you say you were going?"
Buggy: ???
Was this idiot really not understanding, or was he deliberately trying to piss him off?
Seeing Buggy's numb expression, jin could not hold back and burst out laughing.
"Hahahaha."
Buggy: "…"
Bastards.
Every single one of them was a bastard!
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