Next,
Gerson personally escorted Buggy to a prison built under the jurisdiction of the Loguetown Marine Branch.
He silently placed seastone handcuffs and shackles on Buggy's wrists and ankles…
In this way,
there was no way Buggy could slip away quietly from his cell.
As a Devil Fruit user, nothing terrified Buggy more than seastone.
With those cuffs and chains locked in place, any chance of escape was completely severed.
If nothing unexpected happened, then for the rest of his life, Buggy would likely remain imprisoned here in Loguetown until his dying day.
Of course—
Although Buggy's infamy spread far and wide throughout the East Blue, his bounty still wasn't high enough for the Marine s to go through the trouble of dispatching a special escort to Impel Down.
Perhaps, for Buggy, that was a small blessing in misfortune.
If he had been sent to Impel Down…
then breaking out of that hellish place?
That would be harder than ascending to heaven!
Throughout history,
only one man had ever managed to escape from Impel Down—
the legendary powerhouse of the old era, Golden Lion Shiki!
He'd paid the price of both his legs
to break free from that prison.
Aside from him, there had never been a second example.
Given Buggy's ridiculous survivability…
Gerson didn't even bother to send a doctor to treat his injuries.
Buggy was infamous—his cruelty well known.
For someone like him, the fact that Gerson hadn't chosen to torture him was already mercy enough.
As for calling in a doctor?
What a joke.
As long as Buggy didn't die, Gerson had no intention of caring about his wounds.
"This prison will bury the rest of your life, Buggy.
Repent well within these walls.
Think about how many innocent lives you've taken throughout your miserable career.
The rest of your years—you should spend them in repentance."
Gerson gave the imprisoned Buggy one last cold snort.
Then,
with a turn of his heels, he left without looking back.
Stepping out of the prison,
feeling the warm sunlight spilling from the sky, Gerson's mood lightened considerably.
Seeing the Clown Buggy finally locked away—
a long-held wish of his had been fulfilled.
For years,
he had wanted to capture Buggy the Clown.
But the man had always been slippery and cunning,
causing every previous attempt to end in failure.
Now, at long last,
he had personally delivered Buggy into a cell with his own hands!
Gerson returned to his office on the second floor of the Marine Branch Headquarters.
Just as he was about to sit down and take a short rest—
Knock, knock, knock!
Suddenly, someone rapped on the door.
"Hm?"
"Who is it?"
Frowning, Gerson pinched the lit cigar between two fingers.
The grey-white smoke curled upward, filling the office with its acrid scent.
"Come in."
Creak—
The door opened.
A middle-aged Marine stepped in, his face a mixture of respect and nervousness.
"Colonel Gerson."
"I remember you."
Gerson narrowed his eyes.
"Didn't I just order you to head to that tavern a few kilometers southeast of the central street to capture the remaining members of Buggy's crew?
Why are you back so soon?
Don't tell me you've already arrested all of them and locked them up?"
The middle-aged Marine quickly shook his head, looking uneasy.
"Colonel Gerson, I suggest… you come to the tavern yourself."
"There's something there…"
"Something you need to see with your own eyes."
Gerson's expression grew puzzled.
He gave the man a long, searching look,
then silently rose from his seat—his cigar barely half-burned.
Following the Marine,
He left the branch office and made his way toward the southeastern tavern.
About fifteen minutes later,
They arrived at their destination.
Looking ahead,
Gerson saw a rather large tavern standing in the middle of what was otherwise barren wilderness.
A place this big, in such a desolate area?
Something about it already felt… off.
As he studied the building,
his eyes suddenly widened.
"Huh?!"
"What in the world—"
His pupils contracted sharply as he stared at the scene before him.
The tavern's outer wall had completely collapsed.
Heart pounding,
he walked closer—
and discovered that the damage wasn't from time or decay…
but from a terrifying force.
A single, overwhelming impact had shattered that entire wall, leaving a pile of ruins behind.
Gerson's scalp went numb.
"A man-made collapse…?"
He sucked in a cold breath.
What kind of monstrous strength
could do something like this—
to blast down a wall dozens of meters long?!
All around him lay rubble and shattered stone.
The place was in ruins—utterly devastated.
It was like standing in the aftermath of a battlefield.
Crack—!
Just looking at the spiderweb-like fractures spreading across the ground sent chills crawling up Gerson's spine.
"Don't tell me…"
"This destruction… was caused by the one who took down Buggy?"
"Just how terrifying was that fight?!"
No—
It didn't look like a fight at all.
The more he examined the site, the more one horrifying truth emerged.
After a careful inspection,
he realized—
the entire tavern might have been destroyed… by a single punch.
One punch!
That blow alone had shattered the structure and turned the tavern into this heap of ruins.
Everything inside—tables, barrels, glass, furniture—had been pulverized into dust.
Gerson stood frozen.
"So it's true…"
"That man said he defeated Buggy with one punch—crippling a pirate with a bounty of twelve million!"
"But what he didn't mention was…"
"That very same punch nearly destroyed the entire tavern!"
Looking at the devastation before him,
Gerson's heart pounded violently in his chest.
The scene was almost too shocking to believe.
The cracks ran in every direction,
as if a spider had spun a web across the entire tavern floor.
The earth itself looked like it had been torn apart.
Who could imagine—
that all of this ruin had been caused
by a four-year-old child's punch?!
"Unbelievable!"
Gerson couldn't help but exclaim from the depths of his soul.
Inside the tavern,
everything was in shambles—splintered wood, shattered glass,
a wasteland of wreckage.
The place looked like an ancient ruin left to rot for a hundred years.
"Colonel Gerson, you should take a look at the pirates inside."
"Their condition… it's very strange."
The middle-aged Marine's voice trembled slightly.
"Strange? What do you mean?"
"It's hard to describe. You'll understand when you see them.
They're all alive—life signs strong—but…"
"Every last one of them has fallen into a deep coma. No matter what we do, we can't wake them up."
"And it's not just one or two of them…"
"Almost a hundred pirates inside the tavern are all in the same condition!"
The man took a shaky breath, his face pale.
Gerson's heart sank.
He strode over to the area where the pirates had been gathered—
and sure enough,
He saw it for himself.
They weren't dead.
Their life force was steady and strong.
But they wouldn't wake up.
It was as if…
their minds and spirits had been utterly crushed,
leaving them in a deep, unnatural sleep from which they would only recover after a long time.
"This… this is…"
Gerson's scalp prickled.
"Over a hundred pirates, all down at once, in the same bizarre comatose state."
"It's like they were struck down in a single instant!"
"But the strangest thing is—none of them have a single external wound."
The more he examined,
the more unsettling it became.
Not a scratch, not a bruise—
yet all of them were out cold.
Even as a Marine Headquarters Colonel, Gerson found himself trembling at the sight.
"This has to be his doing."
"But what kind of power…
can instantly take down everyone present, without leaving a mark?"
What kind of technique was this?
No matter how he tried to reason it out, he couldn't.
And then,
a terrifying suspicion crept into his mind.
"No way…"
"Don't tell me…"
His pupils shrank again, horror flooding his expression.
His throat went dry, his lips quivered—
"Could this be… the legendary Conqueror's Haki?!"
"The power said to appear only in one out of a million people—the aura of a true king?!"
The realization struck him like lightning.
He wanted to deny it.
He really did.
But the evidence before him… it fit too perfectly.
"Doesn't that mean…"
"That Mr. Kai, at only four years old, has already mastered the legendary Conqueror's Haki?!"
"That's… impossible!"
After a long silence,
Gerson's voice trembled as he whispered,
"Mr. Kai…
is a monster."
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