391. The Strongest

Whitebeard Pirates are shocked when they see their Captain's body gets cut in half. Without any hesitation, they jump out of their ship and rush toward Whitebeard. They all are panicking while The Clown Pirates are just smiling excitedly because of their Captain's victory.

"POPS!" shouts Whitebeard Pirates with panicked tones.

"STAND BACK!" shouts Whitebeard who has been cut in half.

His upper body had fallen on the ground, but his lower body is still standing firmly. There's no blood from the cut that Buggy made because it was caused by Buggy's awakened devil fruit ability. So Whitebeard is still alive even though his body is getting separated.

"I am still alive because of this kid's ridiculous devil fruit ability. Go back to the ship! I need to talk with the kid," says Whitebeard while raising his upper body with his hands.

His crew members are very relieved to see him alive. They were panicking so much they forgot that Buggy's devil fruit ability to cut things is unique because it doesn't make his enemies bleed, so they won't die unless Buggy releases his power and make the cut into a real wound.

"Help me up, kid. You win this, so let's stop all of this," says Whitebeard before sighing.

Buggy grins and reattaches Whitebeard's body by floating the upper body. He attaches it to the lower body and Whitebeard returns to normal again. The old man looks at his Bisento which has been cut in half too and sighs.

"Damn, Murakumogiri is one of 12 Supreme Grade Blades. You've just cut one of the 12 best blades in the world. Do you know how expensive this is?" asks Whitebeard annoyedly, but there's a clear sign of astonishment in his voice.

12 Supreme Grade Blades are the highest-ranked blades. They are the best blades ever created so far and are wielded by the best users who can show their full potential. So it's not just a matter of the blades' qualities, but also the users' qualities.

Yoru wasn't a Supreme Grade Blade, but after Mihawk made it into a black sword and he became the best swordsman in the world, Yoru's rank rose to Supreme Grade. The same goes for Whitebeard's Murakumogiri and Roger's Ace.

Those blades have been used by great users and clashed against other great blades. They have helped their users reach the peak, and that's why they could become the 12 Supreme Grade Blades. Their users' achievements are the exact reason why Oden's Enma & Ama no Habakiri could only become 21 Great Grade Blades.

It's because he couldn't reach Roger's & Whitebeard's level using those 2 swords even though those 2 have ridiculous power and didn't lose from Ace & Murakumogiri in qualities. Their users' power & achievements were just different.

"It seems we will have 2 new swords in the 12 Supreme Grade Blades," says Whitebeard with the same annoyed tone while reattaching his Bisento.

"That will be great. Damn Mihawk has made his big-ass sword rise to that rank. I felt like I'm being left behind even though we still haven't found the winner of our rivalry," says Buggy.

"You surely can win now," says Whitebeard.

"Well, I would always win if I use all my power, but that's not how our duel works. Me & him are just competing in our swordsmanship. We have even stopped using advanced Haki and only use normal Armament Haki to protect our swords from getting damaged. It's just a pure swordsmanship duel now," says Buggy.

"Tsk, no wonder you struggled that much against him. Whatever, you have defeated me, now tell me what you want. The winner of 2 Pirate Captains' battle can take everything from the loser, after all," says Whitebeard.

"This is all I need, I just wanted to fight you and see if I can surpass Captain Roger," says Buggy.

Whitebeard sighs and says, "In terms of power, I can say that you have surpassed Roger in his prime even by a small margin. I might have gotten older, but I can remember Roger's power vividly to this day. You can show it to Rayleigh if you don't believe me," says Whitebeard.

"Sure, I'm going to visit him after this anyway," says Buggy while sitting on the ground.

"Gurarara, he will be surprised, the whole world will be surprised by this," says Whitebeard.

"Why are you so happy after losing a battle?" asks Buggy while lying on the ground.

"Let's just say I'm happy seeing someone replace me holding a burden. And I'm glad that it's you because I know what will happen if Linlin takes it. I'd rather give it to you than Linlin because, at the very least, you know the importance of people's lives," says Whitebeard.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" asks Buggy confusedly. He is genuinely confused right now.

"Gurarara, you will understand soon. Just enjoy your title as The Strongest Man in The World. I, Edward Newgate, acknowledge you to be stronger than me and Pirate King Roger," says Whitebeard while slamming his bisento to the ground.

Buggy just raises an eyebrow because it feels like he is doing an inauguration ceremony that he never needed. He doesn't need acknowledgment because he is satisfied by knowing that he has succeeded. As long as he knows it, then no one's opinion matters to him.

Even without Whitebeard's acknowledgment, Buggy already knows that he has surpassed Roger's power. He has defeated Garp and Whitebeard by himself. It makes him at the same level as Roger, but Whitebeard's acknowledgment just makes him more sure.

The whole world finally knows about the battle the next day. It's such big news that every news agency put the topic of Buggy & Whitebeard on every page of their newspapers. Their headlines are the same, the result of the battle between the 2 Emperors.

With Whitebeard's defeat, the world finally acknowledges Buggy as the new Strongest Man in The World replacing Whitebeard. No one ever expected that someone would take that title from Whitebeard who is still hanging on his prime power.

It reminds them that Buggy has defeated Sengoku and Garp who were helped by some other strong Vice Admiral alone. They aren't sure why he didn't fight Whitebeard earlier, but this battle makes them realize that his victory over Garp & Sengoku wasn't a stroke of mere luck.

A great feat after another, Buggy and his crew always surprised the world since the start of this Great Age of Pirates. They are the sources of fear and astonishment for people all over the world. They rose so fast, reaching this point where they are said to be the strongest.

Everyone now wonders what The World Government and Marine do to let this happen. It's like they never do anything significant which let the Pirates rampage as they please all over the world. They couldn't even prevent the big wars and events that Clown Pirates initiated all these years till the crew reach this point.

People are blaming the World Government and the Marine, resulting in a massive change in the Marine body. Kong is relieved from his duty as the Fleet Admiral and Sengoku replaces him. The positions of Admiral are given to Kuzan and Borsalino.

Sakazuki was planned to fill that position when the time comes, but he was killed by Buggy. They still couldn't find anyone worthy of that position and Garp still refuses. So they left it empty for now while searching for someone worthy because the position of Admiral has very great responsibilities.

The World Government also does a few things to increase its power. But none of it bothers Clown Pirates who enjoy a big party with Whitebeard Pirates now. They were going for each other's throats before, but now they hold a party like best friends.

"Go celebrate it among yourselves, you damn brats," says Whitebeard annoyedly.

"Don't be like that, old man. You need to celebrate that you are still alive too, HAHAHA!" says Buggy happily.

Whitebeard gets pissed and almost attacks Buggy again, but his crewmates stop him because of his injuries. So he just sits again and sighs because this scene is ridiculous even for him. "Sigh, it makes me want to retire."

______________________________________________

You can read up to 35+35 chapters ahead of my fanfics and more pictures on my Pa_treon page if you are interested.

Voting for this book is highly appreciate. Cover image is the MC, artist's ig: @fatmaqn_

I've uploaded:

1. Chapter 415 of Fairy Tail: Sun Eater

2. Chapter 426 of Transcended as Lord Buggy

3. Pictures of both stories (ex: bounty poster & magazine cover) by fatmaqn_

https://www.pa_treon.com/CaptMermain

(the web didn't use _underscore_, it's to avoid censorship)