131. Another Problem

The Clowns finally face the Iron Shovels executives. Palu has fought with Muto the swordsman, while Jude has fought with the whip woman, Risel. They are still fighting and still seem equal until now.

The 4 remaining executives are Captain Nando, the tall & lanky man Bon, the long-tribe man Rodan, and the bald monk Tong. It will be a 5 vs 4 battle because the Clowns have Cricket, Enel, Mantis, Manba, and Deon.

"Manba, Deon, take care of that long-arm man together. Enel, you'll fight that tall guy. Mantis, take care of that bald monk. I will take care of the Captain," says Cricket.

The others nod after Cricket gives them their parts. None of them protest it, even the troublemaker Enel. They know the enemies' strength because of their Observation Haki that has been strengthened on Birka, so they know why Cricket paired them like that.

"Heh, you are quite fast to make that decision, I like that. But are you sure you can defeat us like that?" asks Nando while smirking.

"You will find it out later," says Cricket.

"Haha, you guys hear him. Show them why we could go to New World!" says Nando to his crew.

The 3 executives grin and get ready to fight The Clowns.

"Now!" shout Cricket & Nando at the same time.

Both sides attack each other based on the pairing that Cricket made. They clash and separate to get more room for their battles. Cricket & Nando fight barehanded, Enel fights Bon who uses a pair of Tonfa, both Mantis & Tong use bo-staff, while Rodan uses a pair of cutlasses as Manba uses his bazooka spear and Deon is barehanded but he has devil fruit.

Buggy & Ruff watch the war has gotten on its peak now. They've also moved their ship between the Iron Shovels' & passenger ship. There's a reason why Buggy moves their ship here while his crew fight.

"Ruff, control the ship and keep it in this position while I go," says Buggy.

"Where do you want to go, Captain?" asks Ruff.

"To the passenger ship, I have something to do," says Buggy.

"Alright," says Ruff.

After Ruff takes over the ship's handle, Buggy goes to the passenger ship. His crew will be fine in their battles, he believes that. So he will do his business and leave his crew to have their battles.

Buggy enters the ship's lower cabin and looks around to find a way as he searches for something. The ship's passengers are very afraid when they see him. He ignores them and just keeps walking until he reaches the lowest cabin.

There are many big crates in the lower cabin that have Fangs symbols. There are some small holes too on every crate there. Buggy approaches one of the crates and punches it until it breaks.

His expression turns grim and he says, "As I thought."

Inside the crate are 5 women with cuffed hands. They hug each other and look scared after Buggy broke the crate. These women were captured through unknown means and will be sold as slaves.

This ship is a real passenger ship, but the slave trading group used it to send their slaves too. It is to avoid detection from the Marine and other authorities. Unless the group has a connection with Celestial Dragons, the Marine will not let them go.

Buggy realized it when they got closer to the Iron Shovels' ship. He saw small Fangs symbols at some spots on this ship. He knows that Fang symbol after getting involved in Blackmarket for years. It is a big slave-trading group that sold slaves to Celestial Dragons.

He doesn't know where the slave traders hide, but he knows that they're here. They might be hiding among the passengers and act like ones. So they don't fight the Iron Shovels when getting attacked earlier.

As long as their slaves aren't discovered, then they won't make any move. But they will make a move after this because Buggy has discovered the slaves. It doesn't matter though, he just needs to fight them if they attack him.

"Come out," says Buggy to the women.

"W-what are you going to do? P-please don't do anything to them, they're still too young," says a woman that looks older than the other 4.

"Just come out, you're getting in the way. I want to destroy all these crates here," says Buggy.

"Y-yes," replies the woman.

The 5 women come out of the crate and then Buggy starts to destroy every crate there. He finds many women, men, and children inside the crates. There are more than 100 people here with most of them are young women.

"Do you want to be free?" asks Buggy.

The captured people look at each other in confusion. The word 'free' has disappeared from their mind since they knew they'll be sold as slaves. But now Buggy suddenly asks them about it, so they don't know what to say.

"What is this? You don't want to be free?" asks Buggy again.

"I-I want," replies the woman who talks with Buggy earlier.

"M-me too," answers a man.

The others then start to reply the same thing, even the children.

"Good, then fight for it. Don't just wait for any help because no one other than me will come, not even the Marine. Those who can fight move forward, while those who can't fight stay behind and protect the others," says Buggy.

They all nod and some men move forward while taking some planks as weapons. Some women & children even move forward too, but Buggy stops them.

"We can also fight, so let us fight with you," says a boy.

"I like your bravery, but I can't let you do it. If you still want to be useful, then stay behind and protect the others. Let the adults take care of this. It also applies for you girls," says Buggy.

"Are you doubting our strength because we are women?" asks a woman.

"Yeah, I doubt all of your strengths, even these men. If you're that strong, then you won't get captured in the first place. Just stay behind and protect the others. Your priority isn't winning the battle, it's to survive and go home," says Buggy.

"But-," says the boy before Buggy cuts him off.

"NO BUT! You will die if you lose. Do you want to return to your parents as a dead body?" asks Buggy with a rather high tone.

The boy widens his eyes and his hands start to shake. He finally moves back and the other kids followed him. The women also move back and agree to just fight if needed.

Buggy nods and lead them to get out from there. As they walk to the upper cabins, Buggy senses some people are coming toward them. Those must be the slave traders who have realized that the slaves have been discovered.

"Get ready! They're coming," says Buggy.

Everyone gets ready and soon 15 weaponized people arrived in front of them. Buggy doesn't wait and attacks them with his swords. He can't let the slaves fight them without proper weapons.

Buggy defeats the 15 slave traders easily and it surprises the slaves. He tells the men to take the weapons and tie the defeated slave traders using their own clothes. Then they resume their way to upper cabins immediately.

"There will be more enemies coming after this, so you will need to fight. You just need to fight the weaker ones. Leave the stronger ones to me," says Buggy.

The slaves nod because they know Buggy can't fight all the slave traders alone even if he's strong. Besides, they have weapons now, so they can fight better. But there's no trouble on their way up and it's very strange.

They finally reached the main deck after walking for some minutes. Now they know why there's no trouble at all before. The slave traders have waited for them on the deck while holding the passengers as hostages.

"Sigh, it has become more troublesome," says Buggy.

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1. Chapter 150 of Fairy Tail: Sun Eater

2. Chapter 161 of Transcended as Lord Buggy

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