Crack!
Crack!
From beneath Kai's feet, the tavern floor split apart, spiderweb cracks spreading in the wake of the devastating shockwave his punch had unleashed.
The earth itself crumbled.
Tables, sofas, mugs—every last piece of furniture in the tavern had been reduced to splinters and dust.
Nothing remained.
Only scattered fragments, pitiful remnants tossed into the corners, a chaotic wreckage that chilled the heart.
BOOM!
Another thunderous impact.
Buggy's body was flung like a ragdoll, hurled a hundred meters before slamming into the tavern's far wall.
The crash drove deep fissures through the masonry, the impact cratering the wall where his back struck. Cracks spread outward like the veins of a shattered mirror, running across the entire surface.
Pfft!
Blood burst from Buggy's mouth.
His eyes went wide with terror. His skin was deathly pale, his body wracked with unbearable pain.
"AAAHHHHH!"
A tortured scream tore from his throat.
It felt as though every bone in his body had been broken.
The agony seared through him, filling his vision with bloodshot haze. His face twisted into something feral, grotesque, as he writhed helplessly.
His clothing hung in tatters, shredded by the shockwave that had struck him like a bomb.
His skin was marred with countless lacerations, blood welling from every inch, drenching him until he resembled a man dipped in crimson.
The coppery stench of blood flooded the air.
"P-Pain! It hurts!!"
He was falling apart.
That single blow had sent him flying a hundred meters, then slammed him into solid stone with enough force to collapse the wall.
If not for his freakish vitality—honed from years aboard Roger's ship, surviving countless battles—he would already be a corpse.
Like a cockroach, he clung stubbornly to life.
Drip… drip…
Blood streamed from his wounds, spattering the ground beneath him.
At that moment, Buggy looked nothing like the infamous terror of East Blue.
He was a broken husk, a pitiful wreck, buried in agony and humiliation.
Hack—cough!
More blood gushed from his lips as his chest convulsed. His skin had gone corpse-pale. He was embedded in the wall, body trembling, his organs battered and ruptured inside him.
Not a single spot on him remained unscathed.
All this…
from one punch.
Kai had nearly killed him in a single strike.
Buggy couldn't move.
His limbs no longer obeyed him. Even the smallest twitch sent fresh waves of unbearable pain through his ruined body.
Sweat beaded on his brow, mingling with blood, creating a nauseating stink.
Crack… crack…
The wall behind him groaned, fissures spreading wider.
And then—
CRASH!
The entire structure gave way.
With a roar, the wall collapsed, crumbling into a mountain of debris.
The rubble cascaded downward like a landslide, swallowing Buggy's battered form beneath a storm of stone and dust.
The tavern shook with the collapse.
A massive hole yawned in the building's side, the wall blasted open for dozens of meters.
Sunlight spilled in, golden rays scattering the shadows.
Kai's punch had not only demolished Buggy—
it had nearly destroyed the tavern itself.
The ground was torn apart, the walls scarred, the entire place reduced to ruins.
A single strike.
That was all it had taken.
The few surviving pirates huddled in the corners, their bodies shaking uncontrollably as they stared toward the smoking wreckage.
"B-Buggy, our boss…" one stammered.
"He was killed in one hit?!"
"Even he couldn't withstand a single punch from that brat?!"
"What kind of monster are we dealing with?!"
Their hearts quaked.
Any thought of escape withered under the sheer terror that gripped them.
They dared not move.
Dared not breathe too loudly.
"Thank heavens we didn't resist…" one whispered.
"Otherwise, we'd already be dead."
Meanwhile, Kai stepped calmly across the fractured floor, approaching the collapsed wall.
He could sense it—
Buggy was still alive.
Weakened, broken… but alive.
For all his mediocrity, Buggy's vitality was tenacious. That blow hadn't killed him. Not yet.
From within the rubble came a faint stir.
Rumble…
Stones shifted.
A bloodied hand clawed out.
Then another.
Slowly, agonizingly, Buggy dragged himself free, his battered form emerging from the debris like a corpse crawling out of its grave.
Cough—hack!
He spat blood again, nearly coughing up his organs. His hat was gone, his hair matted and wild, his face ghostly pale.
Sunlight poured through the gaping hole in the wall, illuminating his broken body.
Buggy trembled.
And then—he saw him.
Kai.
Standing quietly at the edge of the ruins, gazing down at him from above.
His eyes were cold.
Emotionless.
The eyes one might give an ant before crushing it beneath their heel.
Buggy's lips quivered. His throat was dry. His entire body shuddered with primal fear.
That boy—
that four-year-old boy—
had become his nightmare.
The fear burrowed into his heart, deep and permanent.
A shadow that would never leave.
Kai had carved a wound not on his body… but on his soul.
A scar heavier than a mountain.
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