Chapter 28 : New Arrival!!

Level 5.5: Newkama Land

"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Buggy stood in the middle of a hall, surrounded by twenty armed guards, each holding muskets. They continually changed their firing angles, shooting at Buggy with relentless precision. 

Yet, whenever the bullets struck Buggy, they seemed to pass right through him without any resistance!

To the onlookers, Buggy appeared to be an ethereal ghost!

But upon closer inspection, it was clear that this was merely an illusion.

As the bullets approached, the parts of Buggy's body they were about to hit disintegrated into tiny fragments, allowing the bullets to pass through harmlessly. 

Then, the fragments reassembled into Buggy's complete form.

This was a demonstration of Buggy's Devil Fruit ability—the Chop-Chop Fruit! The Chop-Chop Fruit allows Buggy's body to fragment into pieces to evade sharp, slicing attacks, minimizing damage.

However, when facing blunt force damage from widespread attacks, Buggy's body doesn't automatically fragment to avoid it. Despite this, he compensates using his Observation Haki, allowing him to dodge the damage similarly to how Logia-type Devil Fruits grant elemental intangibility.

Buggy prefers to refer to this technique as 'Kamui,' though it's not quite the same as true elementalization. Even with this, Buggy struggles to handle the simultaneous assault of twenty muskets and has much to improve before he can perfect his Kamui technique.

"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"

After narrowly avoiding a barrage of bullets, Buggy found himself unable to fragment his body in time for the next shot.

"Clang!"

A dark, pitch-black layer of Haki covered Buggy's cheeks instantly, blocking the incoming bullets he couldn't evade in time.

"Stop! That's enough!"

At this moment, Mr. 3, standing in the corner of the hall, pressed the stopwatch in his hand and called out, "Time's up!"

Hearing this, all the new humans immediately dropped their weapons and collapsed onto the ground, panting heavily. After an hour of continuous movement and shooting, these sparring partners were even more exhausted than Pakia himself!

Mr. 3 approached Buggy, stopwatch in hand, and said, "It's a shame you got hit at the last second! But getting hit by only one bullet in an hour is quite an improvement over this morning!"

Buggy, feeling the bullet embedded in his cheek, shook his head and replied, "It's not a shame at all. It just means I need to keep practicing!"

Mr. 3 tossed a sweat-wiping towel to Buggy and remarked, "I don't understand how you can improve so much in just a few days. You'd be better off taking a break!"

"I'm not like you," Buggy said, wiping his sweat. "I get stronger every second!" He then added, "And are you really resting? I think you're just enjoying yourself now!"

Ivankov's prediction was spot on. Mr. 3 had woken up the previous morning and quickly recovered after eating something!

The resilience of people in this world is truly remarkable; food seems to be the best remedy for injuries. No matter how severe the injury, as long as you can eat, you're generally fine!

This is especially true for the Straw Hat Kid, Luffy! Initially, Mr. 3 was surprised to discover the existence of the underground Level 5.5 in the Impel Down, but it didn't take long for him to fit in and mix with the new humans, likely due to his prior experience with them!

Mr. 3 gave a wry smile and said, "If I could move around freely every day, enjoy banquets, eat meat, and drink alcohol, I'd say there's nothing wrong with being in prison!" 

Buggy shook his head and responded, "You're easily satisfied! Life here is certainly better compared to the second basement level, but it's still hellish compared to outside!"

"Even though I don't hold any prejudice against them, you should know they're ….! You're spending all your time with them, so be careful not to end up like Mr. 2!"

Mr. 2?!

Mr. 3 shuddered as he remembered dancing ballet in the same swan costume as Mr. 2. The image was too much for him to bear!

His gaze hardened instantly. "Damn this Impel Down!" he muttered. "I need to escape! The sea is where I belong!"

Buggy tossed the towel back to Mr. 3 and said, "You think the sea is your home, but it might just treat you like trash! If you have time, think about how to improve your strength."

"Your Devil Fruit ability is quite impressive. If you develop it properly, you could become a top powerhouse!"

Mr. 3 pursed his lips, took his towel, and walked away, not paying much attention to Buggy's words.

Mr. 3 wasn't a reckless man; he relied on his wits more than his strength to get by. Buggy noticed Mr. 3's lack of enthusiasm but didn't press the issue. 

After all, escaping from Impel Down was the priority; everything else could wait.

Buggy turned to the new humans who were resting on the floor. "Are you ready to continue?" 

"Already? But we're still tired!" 

"Lord Buggy, can we take it a bit slower? We're exhausted!" 

"Just five more minutes!" the new humans pleaded.

Buggy sighed in resignation. With his current physical condition, he didn't need to rest and could train non-stop for a day if needed. However, these new recruits weren't as resilient, and they needed breaks to keep up.

Considering that Ivankov had managed to gather these twenty people for Buggy's training, Buggy decided not to push too hard. He waved his hand and said, "Alright, let's take a five-minute break."

He knew that if he didn't give them a rest, the quality of the training would suffer, and that wouldn't be worth the effort. It was better to let them recover.

Just then, hurried footsteps approached, and a new human burst into the hall.

"Phew! Lord Buggy, something urgent has come up! Ivan-sama said to rush to the banquet hall immediately!"

The new arrival, breathless and leaning against the wall, reported urgently.

"Something big?" Buggy frowned in confusion. "What kind of big event could possibly happen here right now?"

The new arrival nodded and replied, "Luffy, the Straw Hat kid, and the Pirate Empress Boa Hancock are being sent to Impel Down! They're on their way to the sixth basement floor right now!"

Buggy's eyes widened in shock. Without a moment's hesitation, he dashed towards the banquet hall.

"Wait for me! I'm coming too!" Mr. 3, who had been watching from the corner, shouted as he hurried after Buggy.

**********

Support me on my patreon and read upto 15 early chapters.

patreon.com/PirateKing24