Raising Legends in Roger’s Shadow

Chapter 293 293: Buggy: Who Are You Calling Big Brother?

Hancock's departure and Germa's cautious withdrawal did not cause much of a stir among the crowd. The island's suffocating tension was finally ignited by a greedy, irrational roar.

"That treasure chest is mine!"

A pirate captain with a bounty of over four hundred million Berries had gone red-eyed over the fifty billion. He could not hold back any longer.

Swinging an enormous greatsword, he was the first to charge toward the chest in the center of the field.

That single step was like pulling the trigger.

"You're asking to die!"

"Kill him!"

"Stop him!"

Several furious shouts rang out at once.

But the first to react was not the Seven Warlords' alliance, nor the Whitebeard Pirates.

It was Buggy.

"Super Disassemble!"

With a furious roar, dozens of Buggy's detached arms shot forward like a purple meteor shower. They swept past the charging pirate captain and several of his crew in an instant.

Before the horrified eyes of the onlookers, the men, along with the ground beneath their feet, were instantly broken down into countless neat, cube-shaped fragments. They scattered across the ground with a thunderous crash.

"Heh heh heh. Time to take out the trash."

Donquixote Doflamingo's sinister laughter sounded almost at the same time.

He curled his fingers. Several pirates who were trying to approach the chest from another direction suddenly began to twitch like puppets controlled by invisible strings. They turned on each other and started hacking wildly, unable to stop themselves.

String-String Fruit: Puppet Theater.

"Sandstorm!"

Crocodile swung his golden hook. A massive sandstorm erupted, scooping up more than a dozen pirates who had been skirting the raging waves nearby, flinging them and their weapons into the air before smashing them down onto the ground.

Dracule Mihawk did not move at all. A thin, green blade of light flashed past in silence, slicing a small pirate ship that was trying to bombard the island from the sea cleanly in half, cannon and all.

Mihawk frowned slightly. "Are you blind? My ship is down there. I really need a bigger ship. Absolutely."

The effortless purge by the top-tier fighters instantly crushed the restless small pirate alliances. Terrified, they scattered, finally realizing that they were not even qualified to serve as cannon fodder.

In the square, Edward Newgate frowned, a familiar look crossing his face. He glanced toward Reed, who was laughing and chatting with the children as if the allied navy did not exist, and at Vite, who stood beside Reed, quietly taking care of him.

Rocks used this exact method to weed out the weak back then, Whitebeard muttered under his breath. "Reed, what exactly are you planning?"

Let us return our focus to the battlefield.

The unspoken understanding between the heavyweights ended there.

The moment the small fry were cleared out, Doflamingo's threads lashed out like venomous snakes, coiling toward Buggy's separated arms.

"Heh heh heh. Clown King, your ability is a real nuisance."

"Candy Maiden!"

Charlotte Perospero seized the chance to strike. A massive candy puppet thrust out sticky tendrils, coordinating with Doflamingo's threads to bind Buggy in place.

"Shanks!" Buggy shouted.

"Got it!"

Shanks laughed and drew Gryphon in one smooth motion. But instead of slashing at Doflamingo or Perospero, he carved out a massive crescent-shaped wave of sword energy that precisely severed every thread and candy tendril attacking Buggy.

"Touch my little brother and see what happens!"

Buggy froze. "What? Shanks, who are you calling little brother? Are you trying to die?!"

"Super Disassemble!"

"Divine Evasion!"

"Whoever wins gets to be the big brother!"

"Whoever wins gets to be the big brother!"

The greed in Buggy's eyes for the fifty billion was gone. In its place burned a single obsession.

He had to become Shanks' big brother.

"Marco!" Jozu roared. His massive, diamond-hard body charged forward like a war chariot, smashing into the space between Doflamingo's faction and Big Mom's faction, trying to force them apart.

"Tch, what a pain," Marco muttered. Blue flames spread as wings burst from his back. He flashed in front of Jozu and kicked at Charlotte Katakuri, who was trying to intercept Jozu.

"You're not stopping Jozu!"

Katakuri's trident, Mogura, was coated in advanced Armament Haki. It blocked Marco's kick head-on, while his Mochi Fruit power absorbed most of the impact.

"I saw this coming. Your teamwork."

"Blooming Barrage: Great Delphinium!"

Vista moved like a phantom through the chaos. His right hand kept dipping into his pocket, drawing out, striking, then blooming again.

His twin blades scattered countless sharp, petal-shaped slashes. They were not meant as killing blows, but were precisely aimed at Doflamingo's and Perospero's feet, forcing them to dodge and defend, disrupting their rhythm.

"Mochi Bomb!"

Even while entangled with Marco, Katakuri still had the spare focus to hurl explosive mochi toward the rampaging Jozu.

Boom!

Diamond met explosion with a deafening roar.

The battlefield erupted into total chaos, and in a strange twist of fate, it became this:

Although everyone had different goals, Buggy and Shanks mainly wanted to avoid embarrassing their older brother Reed, though it had now turned into a contest over who got to be the big brother. The Whitebeard Pirates wanted money, or at least to make sure their enemies did not get it easily.

Because their targets and timing overlapped, Buggy, Shanks, Marco, Jozu, Vista, and several Whitebeard division captains formed a chaotic temporary alliance.

Their attacks were focused primarily on Doflamingo, Crocodile, Perospero, and Katakuri, a hastily formed villain coalition.

Doflamingo, Perospero, and Katakuri were forced to face, and even cooperate against, the sudden onslaught. Crocodile and Mihawk kept some distance, acting on the edges of the fight.

Mihawk stepped back a few paces, sword in hand, still observing. Crocodile cursed under his breath as he summoned another sandstorm to batter the Whitebeard Pirates.

The remaining small pirate alliances were completely dumbfounded. They could not even get close to the edge of the battlefield, much less reach the treasure chest.

Stray bursts of Haki and leftover Devil Fruit shockwaves sent them fleeing in every direction.

The island turned into a true inferno. Roars, clashes, and explosions rang out without end.

Driven by the temptation of fifty billion Berries, the top powers of the New World collided without restraint.

Meanwhile, in Gold City, the spectators watching this chaotic spectacle through the Den Den Mushi were struck speechless.

The intensity of this "game" far exceeded anyone's expectations.

Reed played with the children, watching the crowd's frenzy with a meaningful smile.

They did not really think he had gathered fifty billion Berries just for fun, did they?

He needed to see whether, in his long absence, his children had the strength to keep the seas in check.

He also needed to assess how far these great pirates had grown under his influence. He simply did not have the time to seek them out one by one.