Borsalino turned his head, his gaze fixed dead on those Marine soldiers fleeing in panic, his face written with disbelief.
Before he could recover from his shock, a piercing dark green light suddenly swept over, swallowing his vision inch by inch.
Borsalino turned back sharply—that three-year-old child's chubby palm was blooming with this terrifying green light for the third time. This child, who looked like a devil in the eyes of the dignified Admiral candidate, spoke for the first time. His tone was as flat as if he were stating a trivial matter as he spat out the name of this move:
"O-me-ga."
In this instant, Borsalino touched the coldness named "death" for the first time in his life.
Even when he intervened in the Battle of Edd War between the Roger Pirates and the Golden Lion Pirates back then, he had never been so terrified.
With the extreme speed granted by the Glint-Glint Fruit, even if he got involved in a fight between the world's top powerhouses, he could always escape if he couldn't win.
But feeling the terrifying pressure of this power at this moment, he knew better than anyone.
With his speed, he simply couldn't escape the range of this attack.
As long as this move landed, he would be annihilated in an instant.
"Wait a minute!"
A tender voice suddenly pierced the deathly silence.
On the plaza where everyone was fleeing in terror, a boy around seven years old with gray-white hair suddenly rushed between Broly and Borsalino. With his arms raised flat in front of him, he roared, "Stop it! Sengoku-san wanted to capture you, so I can understand you fighting back, but if you unleash this move, the innocent Marine soldiers on the island and the countless residents of Loguetown will all die! They are innocent! I beg you, stop!"
Broly looked at the scene before him and actually chuckled.
This scene inexplicably reminded him of the famous scene where the "King of Deserters" stopped Akainu, except that what this white-haired brat in front of him said actually made some sense, unlike the nonsense of that deserter king which only made people feel ridiculous.
Could this kid be... Broly blinked, guessing his identity in his heart.
The light in his right hand, which had almost dyed the entire sky green, also dimmed bit by bit.
Sensing this change, Crocodile, Doflamingo, and other powerhouses who were desperately fleeing in the opposite direction turned their heads in unison. They watched in astonishment as the green light in the "Demon Child's" palm completely dissipated—he really stopped.
These future Shichibukai had faces full of disbelief, but they all breathed a sigh of relief at the same time.
Even fleeing in the opposite direction, no one could guarantee that this attack wouldn't sink the entire island. Moreover, most of them were Devil Fruit users; once they fell into the sea, the consequences would be unimaginable.
The young Smoker was also confused.
He had just rushed out impulsively, driven by the sense of justice in his bones, seeing that this attack was about to kill half of the people in Loguetown, without considering the consequences at all.
After shouting those words, he was even prepared to die, but he never expected that the devil-like child opposite him would actually stop.
Equally shocked were Shanks and Buggy—the remnants of the Roger Pirates who were just about to slip away in the chaos.
Buggy held his head, staring fixedly at Broly's back, muttering to himself, "R... Really? That kid actually stopped?"
Shanks swallowed, his voice extremely low: "Maybe he's not as cold-blooded as we thought. After all, everyone saw that it was Sengoku who wanted to capture him first before he fought back. Maybe... he's quite kind."
As his voice fell, Shanks suddenly turned around and walked toward the center of the plaza.
Buggy broke out in a cold sweat from fright: "Hey! Shanks, have you gone crazy?!"
Shanks didn't look back: "Captain Roger's body is still there; I want to take him back for burial."
"Are you fucking looking for death!"
Buggy couldn't help but curse, "Captain Roger's body is only two or three meters away from that monster. If you dare to go over and take it, will he not see you?!"
But Shanks didn't respond again, only continuing his steps, running toward the body.
Buggy gritted his teeth and ultimately followed, cursing all the while.
Although Buggy accidentally ate the Chop-Chop Fruit because of Shanks and constantly hung the phrase "I will definitely kill Shanks" on his lips.
These two were definitely a pair of good buddies.
If one saw the other in danger, the other would never sit idly by.
Moreover, Buggy's admiration for Roger had always been genuine.
If Broly hadn't appeared, Roger's body was destined to be taken away by the World Government, and he was powerless to change it.
But Broly stopping just now gave both of them a glimmer of hope: Maybe this child really has some bottom line and will let them take the Captain's body away.
Holding onto this tiny bit of hope, the red and blue duo tiptoed close to the body.
Just as they reached out to lift it, Broly's gaze swept over.
The two froze instantly, simultaneously squeezing out an awkward yet polite smile.
"Ahaha... Sorry, excuse us, excuse us! I'm Buggy the Clown."
Buggy played the clown in his true colors, waving at Broly with a hippie smile, and Shanks followed with a silly laugh: "We left something behind, we'll grab it and go, leaving right away!"
The two future Four Emperors now submissively shouldered Roger's body, only wanting to pretend nothing had happened, turn around, and flee.
As they moved their feet, the two were still silently reciting the same sentence in their hearts: You can't see me, you can't see me, you can't see me.
But just as they recited it for the third time—
Bang!
A dark green laser only the thickness of a finger suddenly struck from behind, accurately piercing through Buggy's forehead.
Thud!
Buggy fell straight to the ground without even a trace of reaction, dying on the spot.
Shanks, carrying the body, stumbled. His pupils constricted sharply as he stared dead at his best friend with a bloody hole in his forehead on the ground, so shocked he couldn't even speak.
He turned his head sharply to look at Broly, who was holding up an index finger, his eyes indifferent yet carrying a hint of mockery.
Shock, anger, and confusion intertwined in Shanks' eyes. He stood frozen in place for a full half-minute until his throat became dry from agitation before he asked tremblingly, "W... Why?"
Broly retracted his finger. Facing his question, he only spat out two words lightly: "For fun."
The answer, simple to the extreme, made the expressions of the powerhouses who remained in the plaza or hadn't fled far change drastically again. These two words were more terrifying than any cruel threat.
"F... For fun..." Shanks repeated these two words, the shock and confusion in his eyes instantly swallowed by monstrous anger. You killed Buggy for such a reason? This sentence almost burst from his throat, but the future Emperor knew better than anyone: Once I get angry now, once I attack this monster, I will only follow in Buggy's footsteps.
He used all his strength to suppress the anger on the verge of erupting. He carried Roger's body on his back and hoisted Buggy's corpse with one hand, dragging his heavy steps as he moved toward the seaside step by step.
He was even prepared—Broly could fire another laser at any time to take his life.
But what puzzled everyone, including Shanks himself, was that until he escaped the plaza with the two bodies, Broly didn't move again.