One Piece: The Strongest Trait System novel Chapter 19

Chapter 19 - [19] : [BONUS] - The One Piece World's Standard Procedure! Luffy the Employee!

~ 200 Powerstones Already? This is the Bonus Chapter~

<><><><><><><><>

"Miss Thief, we're counting on you. Could you unlock our captain's cage?" Rowen asked Nami with a smile.

The Buggy Ball couldn't finish Buggy off.

Right now, Rowen's only truly effective offensive power was his Conqueror's Haki.

Trying to defeat Buggy, who possessed the Chop-Chop Fruit, using only his Beast Strength (Blue) was practically impossible.

Although his precisely controlled Conqueror's Haki was nearly unbeatable in the East Blue, against an opponent like Buggy—who couldn't be knocked out by a Haki blast and was a Devil Fruit user—they temporarily had to rely on Luffy.

Rowen remembered that in the original story, Nami managed to steal the cage key, only for it to be swallowed by the dog, Chouchou.

Time for Luffy to do some work for me... get me Buggy's Traits.

"My name is Nami. You can just call me Nami," she replied. Although Rowen and his crew were pirates, Nami was still grateful they had saved her.

"Wait here," Nami said, then quickly disappeared.

"Using your subordinates as shields, huh? Buggy." The dust and debris from the explosion slowly settled, revealing Buggy's figure once more.

His hands had already split off, holding two of his grunts in front of him to absorb the impact of the Buggy Ball.

"So young, yet possessing such powerful Conqueror's Haki... Your future is terrifying. But right now, you're probably still no match for me, the user of the Chop-Chop Fruit!" Buggy declared, having fully recovered from the Haki blast thanks to the explosion's shock.

While Conqueror's Haki signified the disposition of a King, before mastering infusion, it could only be used for concussive blasts.

Few in the East Blue could withstand such a blast—but unfortunately for Rowen, Buggy was one of them.

Once the initial Haki blast was weathered, the fight came down to raw power.

In that regard, having sailed countless days and nights with the Roger Pirates, Buggy had a discerning eye. This Rowen fellow before him clearly wasn't that strong physically.

At least, not stronger than Buggy himself, enhanced by the Chop-Chop Fruit.

Buggy didn't understand why a man with such potent Conqueror's Haki would have such unremarkable base strength.

But he knew what he needed to do right now: eliminate the man before him.

As for 'Pirate Hunter' Zoro? Clearly a swordsman. And against swordsmen, Buggy, user of the Chop-Chop Fruit, felt confident enough to provoke even Mihawk.

(Of course, the main reason for that confidence was knowing Mihawk recognized his connection to Shanks and wouldn't actually go for the kill.)

"Looks like I'll have to hold him off for a bit, Rowen," Zoro said, drawing his three swords and facing Buggy.

"Die! Flashily!" Buggy roared, charging towards Zoro.

SLICE! Zoro dodged swiftly, slashing Buggy clean in half. Buggy collapsed limply to the ground.

"Stop playing dead. Slashes don't work on the Chop-Chop Fruit, right, Buggy?" Rowen commented calmly, watching Buggy feign defeat on the ground, clearly preparing a sneak attack on Zoro.

Pathetic...

After eating the Devil Fruit and being rejected by the sea, the backlash from the discarded Born of the Sea (Apex Gold) Trait had reduced Buggy to relying solely on such cheap tricks.

If it weren't for the Chop-Chop Fruit, Zoro could easily defeat Buggy at his current strength level.

"Since you already know the secret of the Chop-Chop Fruit, I won't bother pretending anymore!" Hearing Rowen, Buggy's upper half suddenly flew up into the air, revealing a cruel grin.

"Chop-Chop... Flying Daggers!" Buggy yelled. His hands detached from his flying torso, each wielding daggers, as they shot towards Rowen and Zoro separately.

"Gomu Gomu no... BITE!"

"Yep! I ate the Gomu-Gomu Fruit! I'm a rubber man!" Luffy mumbled indistinctly around the dagger clamped in his teeth.

'SLICE!' Zoro first deflected Buggy's other attacking hand, then swiftly cut the ropes binding Luffy.