Chapter 20: Participation
For the first time, Base Area 66 was bustling with activity.
Under the rigid concrete walls, a crowd, from all over the Sabaody Archipelago, waved the latest edition of the World Economic Newspaper, and their jubilation was as if they were celebrating a great festival.
Of course, for them it was no different. For Sicily, this jubilation was even more acute than the pirates' shouts. The Marines would never react like this! We couldn't let the news spread further!
His expression grew cold. Sympathy: such emotions would only cloud a soldier's judgment on the battlefield.
However, his decision was also motivated by an order from Marine Headquarters. Expecting a huge machine that had been operating continuously for eight hundred years to reverse its own inertia was simply a fantasy.
"Diouf, use the water cannon to disperse the crowd!" Sicily ordered.
Sicily was not going to personally intervene in something that would easily generate public criticism.
"Where's the newspaper?" the lizard-headed man asked.
"Someone will take care of it."
"By the way, also bring in those teams of outlaws and cause disturbances on the outskirts," Sicily said, stroking his pointed beard with an increasingly sinister tone.
Now he had to fight to maintain his position.
A water cannon, from the grayish walls, fell on the still jubilant crowd below. A jet of cold water fell directly on their heads.
"Isn't that a little cruel to them?"
To Buggy's surprise, it wasn't Swan, who had just escaped slavery, who felt compassion, but Jacques.
This sergeant, with his fawning attitude but striving to feign self-respect, was clearly being flattered.
What kind of cruelty? Giving people a beautiful and false hope and then letting it vanish.
"Don't be kind in this cruel world, my sergeant," Buggy advised kindly.
He put on a purple suit, a little tighter. Jacques and the others also put on similar casual clothes. The white Marine uniform stood out easily among the crowd at that moment.
"These are the rules of survival that I learned in an interesting city," he said with a touch of nostalgia.
While Gotham was also plagued by crime, at least it didn't have anything as backward as slavery. There was another difference: Gotham citizens had become remarkably receptive to evil. Even an old woman, who was tremblingly carrying her dirty laundry basket from the laundromat that morning, could pull out an AK and start shooting in the blink of an eye.
"But an old friend also taught me an interesting fact," Buggy said.
"Fact?" Swan asked, her tear-filled eyes sparkling with curiosity.
Since leaving the cage, those eyes had stopped being dominated by despair and had begun to actively explore. As for the question of cruelty, Swan believed that Buggy's actions were justified. She also secretly despised the short-sightedness of the Marine higher-ups.
"Human nature is like a spring. The more you compress it, the stronger it bounces back."
Buggy's gaze seemed to settle on a specific spot in the crowd.
Someone else exclaimed: "They're killing someone! They're the slave hunters!"
The already disorganized crowd began to instinctively disperse amid the commotion. As the crowd dispersed, some figures became more visible.
"You're right, aren't you?" Buggy's gaze settled on a specific person.
"Trafalgar Law."
"Pirate!" Jacques's and the others' nerves suddenly tensed, their gaze fixed on the man with the white wool hat.
Among the dispersed crowd, the motionless man suddenly stood out.
Law slightly lifted the brim of his hat; his eyes, hidden in the shadow, filled with surprise.
"ROOM."
Without warning, a white ball of wind suddenly appeared in his palm. The vortex that spun like a typhoon inside it instantly expanded to the size of the entire room, perfectly enveloping Buggy.
In response, he gave a somewhat awkward smile and several cracks appeared on Buggy's body, as if they had been painted with mosaics and then repaired.
Something was wrong!
Law's eyes were filled with disbelief. It was the first time he had encountered someone capable of resisting the effects of his Ope Ope Fruit within his own ROOM domain. Even more incredible was how that person's chest cavity could contain so many explosives and knives. And with his organs so compressed, how could he still be alive? Not even a corpse in the morgue would be so deformed!
Within the scope of his fruit ability, the ROOM, Law could clearly perceive any object and recompose it at will. Indeed!
When Law's gaze fell on Buggy's face, his doubts were partially dispelled. The muscles on his face were so asymmetrical. Or perhaps it was precisely this asymmetry that filled the even more asymmetrical skin. Was the effect of countering his own ability also some kind of fruit ability? He wasn't entirely sure.
"It would be rude to look beyond," a gentle voice reached Law's ears, deeply impacting him.
The other's speed was so fast! This speed was even more pronounced within his ROOM. A knife was sticking out of his heart.
But Law's expression of astonishment quickly transformed into silence. In his perception, the naval lieutenant who had just appeared in the newspapers simply moved his mouth and the hand holding the knife to the side.
Damn it, how could someone open their mouth so fast!
And that knife! It was a retractable knife! Within the ROOM domain, Law clearly perceived the simple internal structure of the knife. That didn't prevent three dark lines from appearing on his forehead.
"My companions say they have made a good friend," Buggy said.
"That bear? My reporter has told me a lot of interesting stories about him," Buggy replied.
Buggy returned to his mouth. Unfortunately, Law did not cooperate by feigning fear, to the clown's disappointment. As for why the other party was there, it was not surprising. Buggy immediately remembered the dispute between Law and Doflamingo. He had set fire to Doflamingo's auction, so it was no wonder Law came to take a look. Besides, there was Arne, the animal friend. The World Economic News Agency had not hidden the source of the photo.
Then there was the sudden increase in the other party's combat power during the Wano Country saga. In short, he was a good tool.
"There's a fun game. Are you interested in participating, Surgeon of Death?" he asked.
"Tsk," Law said with a cold laugh. "It would be better if it were just as you said."
- - - - - - -
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