Chapter 25

Eden left a trail of bloody footprints as he walked with Chouchou towards the largest bar in town, where the noise was coming from.

As they got closer to the bar, Eden could vaguely hear someone talking.

"Are you crazy, old man? Treasure means gold and jewels, things that shine and show off their owner's power!"

Even from a street away, Eden could tell it was Buggy's voice.

"This poor, broken town is your treasure? You must be joking!"

Buggy's voice suddenly grew louder, yelling at an old man with bifocals.

The old man with wrinkled forehead, white hair, and an angry expression was Boodle, the mayor of Orange Town.

Boodle had finally reached his limit when he saw Buggy's crew shelling the town and had come to confront Buggy.

Forty years ago, pirates had burned this place down, and everything was destroyed. Under Boodle's leadership, the villagers had worked together to reclaim the land and rebuild Orange Town.

After forty years of development, the town had grown into a small but thriving community. But now, the Buggy Pirates were wreaking havoc, and Buggy had destroyed a third of the town with his cannons.

Boodle, who had poured his heart and soul into Orange Town, could not tolerate this. Seeing Luffy and his friends fighting Buggy's crew gave him the courage to challenge Buggy to protect his precious town.

To Boodle, Orange Town was the most valuable treasure of his life, but to Buggy, who only valued gold and jewels, the town was insignificant and easily destroyed.

"You bastard, you have no idea how much effort I've put into this place! If you have the guts, fight me one-on-one!"

Boodle's eyes were bloodshot, and veins stood out on his forehead as he cursed at Buggy.

"Hahaha, this old man is hilarious. Does he really think he can challenge our captain?"

"Yeah, he's lived a long life but has no sense of reality. What a joke."

Buggy's men laughed and mocked Boodle, an elderly man in his sixties.

"You think you can fight me? Old man, do you even know what a pirate is?"

Buggy's face turned grim as he extended his right hand towards Boodle.

With a swoosh, Buggy's right hand detached from his body and flew towards Boodle.

"Let go of me, you monster!"

Boodle was grabbed by Buggy's detached hand, which squeezed his neck and lifted him off the ground, making it hard for him to breathe.

"Captain, finish him off!"

Buggy's crew cheered, delighted by the sight of Boodle's pained expression.

Buggy had been about to go look for his missing subordinates, Mohji and Cabaji, when he encountered Boodle outside the bar.

Buggy had no idea that his two trusted subordinates were already unconscious on the ground.

Buggy had sent Mohji and Cabaji to check out the commotion in town. After Luffy's rubber rocket punch collided with Eden's punch, the terrified Boodle had come out from hiding.

When Luffy and the others were about to find Eden, they saw Mohji attacking Chouchou. Luffy had beaten up Mohji and his subordinates.

Then Luffy encountered Zoro, who had rescued three of Buggy's men by chance.

Those three pirates, seeing Nami, had rushed at her to settle a score. Nami had tricked them at sea, stealing their ship and treasure, and leaving them to be battered by a storm.

Those pirates had survived by climbing onto Zoro's boat as he chased after Luffy and Eden, who had been carried away by a giant bird.

The three pirates had threatened Zoro with swords but were beaten and forced to guide and row for him.

When they saw Nami again, they attacked her but were swiftly dealt with by Zoro.

As Zoro and Luffy were about to talk, Cabaji and his men showed up. Zoro, seeing that Cabaji also used swords, fought him, while Luffy dealt with Cabaji's men.

Although Cabaji used swords, his fighting style was more like circus tricks. Zoro found it boring after a while and quickly defeated him.

As a result, when Zoro finished off Cabaji, it had taken some extra time.

Nami had been worried about Eden after he and Luffy were sent flying by their punches. She wanted to find Eden but was angry and hesitant, considering Eden was a pirate who had hidden his identity from her.

Moreover, the embarrassing kiss with Eden made Nami even more conflicted about finding him alone.

Seeing Luffy retrieve Chouchou's last bag of pet food had shaken Nami's view of pirates.

And seeing Zoro, the famous pirate hunter, becoming a pirate with Eden and Luffy shocked her.

Nami was still upset with Eden for being a pirate and hiding it from her. She decided to follow Luffy and Zoro, knowing they would eventually find Eden.

Nami felt it was better to delay seeing Eden.

It was normal for Nami to feel this way. The more you care about someone, the more hurt you feel when deceived.

Nami thought, if she had known Eden was a pirate, she might have thrown him overboard to feed the sea kings.

From Eden's perspective, he didn't think he had deceived Nami. She had approached him to collaborate without asking about his identity, and they had gone to Shells Town to steal the Grand Line map together.

Nami never expected Eden to be lying in a treasure chest when they first met. She had encountered many pirates and stolen their treasure, but never seen one like Eden.

After defeating Cabaji, Luffy and the others went to find Eden but noticed Boodle was missing. Luffy guessed Boodle had gone to confront Buggy alone and decided to send Zoro to find Eden while he and Nami stopped Boodle from doing something foolish.

Zoro agreed without hesitation but got lost after parting ways with Luffy and Nami.

This was why no one had come to find Eden when he regained consciousness.

"How does it feel? This is what you get for challenging me!"

Buggy's detached hand still gripped Boodle's neck, lifting him into the air and almost choking him.

"This is nothing!"

Boodle's face twisted in pain, struggling to breathe, but he used his hands to punch Buggy's hand gripping his neck. 

This caused Boodle to repeatedly hit his throat, making him cough up blood.

"It hurts! Who punches their own throat?"

Buggy's detached hand felt the pain as Boodle's punches made it twitch.

Despite coughing up blood, Boodle didn't stop punching Buggy's hand. His eyes, behind bifocals, turned red, filled with the single thought: At least let me cut him once before I die.

"You old man, you're wasting my time. Die!"

Buggy was about to choke Boodle to death when his detached hand suddenly felt a sharp pain.

"Straw hat kid... who are you?"

Buggy saw a young man in a straw hat forcibly pull his hand off Boodle's neck and squeeze it, causing him pain.

For some reason, seeing Luffy's straw hat made Buggy uncomfortable, reminding him of someone who had delayed his dream.

"I'm here to beat you up!"

Luffy, holding Buggy's detached hand, looked deadly serious.

"Beat me up? Just you two?"

Buggy glanced at Nami standing further back and addressed Luffy.

"Captain, that woman is the thief who stole our map to the Grand Line."

Buggy's pirates recognized Nami as the thief who had stolen their map.

"What? You dare to come back here?"

Buggy reattached his hand and glared at Nami. "You, woman, return the Grand Line map! We're about to go there, and with my powerful Buggy Balls, we'll do great things, maybe even find the legendary treasure!"

Buggy's crew cheered, imagining their exploits on the Grand Line.

"No, the one who finds the legendary treasure will be me! Because I'm going to be the Pirate King!"

Luffy pressed his straw hat down, his expression turning serious.

Hearing Luffy's words, Buggy's crew fell silent, then burst into louder laughter, filled with mockery.

"Pirate King? A thief like you wants to be Pirate King? That's the funniest thing I've ever heard."

Buggy laughed so hard he couldn't close his mouth, seeing Luffy, a thief, declare his ambition in front of a pirate.

"What's so funny? I'm a pirate, wanting to be the Pirate King is natural."

Luffy stepped forward, his body covered in bruises, his left hand still bleeding from the deep wound Eden had inflicted, unable to stop the bleeding.

"I don't care if you're pirates, this is my fight! I'll protect my territory myself, I don't need your help!"

Boodle, spitting blood, shouted at Luffy, his emotions clearly agitated.

Before Buggy could say anything, Luffy knocked out the agitated Boodle with a single punch.

Everyone present was stunned.

"What are you doing? Why did you hit the mayor?"

Nami saw Boodle bleeding from the head and fainted. She questioned Luffy immediately.

"He was in the way!"

Luffy's blunt words left everyone speechless, but it was the truth.

"Even so, you shouldn't act recklessly. You've hurt him."

Nami shouted at Luffy again.

Luffy ignored Nami and shouted at Buggy, "Big nose!"

"Huh?"

Nami was dumbfounded, and Buggy's men were also shocked.

"You idiot, didn't I tell you never to say that to him?"

Nami clutched her head, cold sweat pouring down, thinking of Eden, who wouldn't have done something so reckless.

"You must be the one causing all the commotion in this town. How dare you... how dare you talk about my nose!"

Buggy's greatest anger was sparked by anyone mentioning his nose. He was now in a rage and shouted to his crew, "Fire the Buggy Balls! Blast this town and these people to bits!"

Buggy's men, seeing him so furious, scrambled to the top of the bar where the cannons were stationed.

As Buggy's crew prepared to fire on Orange Town and Luffy, Eden arrived with Chouchou, coming to the street where Buggy was.

"Buggy, so you're here."

Eden's voice was weak, his face pale and bloodless, each step slow and unsteady. His body was drenched in blood, and from a distance, one could smell the faint scent of blood wafting from him.

"Eden?"

Nami saw Eden looking like a blood-soaked ghost, his clothes and bandages drenched in red. She rushed over, her face full of worry.

She reached out to touch Eden's blood-stained clothes but hesitated, not expecting Eden to be so severely injured.

If I had known, I would have looked for you sooner.

Nami regretted her actions deeply. She should have found Eden first to help bandage his wounds.

The sight of Eden's pale face, looking as if he could die at any moment, pained her deeply.

"I'm glad you're alright. I have something to do. We can talk later."

Eden saw Nami's concerned eyes, her lively eyes gradually misting over. He sighed inwardly, She's about to cry again.

Walking past Nami and taking a few more steps forward, Eden met Luffy's gaze. Seeing Luffy's calm expression, he knew the idiot had finally cooled down.

If Luffy still wanted to fight Eden, he wouldn't have cared about Eden's condition and would have rushed to beat him up.

Who knows what Nami said to Luffy to keep him from doing something foolish.

As Eden pondered this, he stopped about twenty meters from Buggy, took a deep breath, and shouted, "Get over here and die, you damn giant red nose!"

As Eden challenged Buggy, Chouchou jumped around at his feet, barking loudly at Buggy.

"What?! You brat!!"

Buggy, initially wondering who this blood-soaked person was and why he was looking for him, was driven mad by Eden's words.

"Hahaha, well said, Eden."

Luffy laughed heartily, holding his stomach.

Hearing Eden's words, Nami, who was worried about him, was taken aback. She was still concerned about what Eden had to do, but now she was on the verge of tears: You fool, you're already this injured, and you still say such things. You and your friends are all crazy!

Meanwhile, from the bar's top floor, three blank cannon shots were fired. It was clear that the pirates preparing to fire were so scared by Eden's words that they couldn't aim properly.

The deafening cannon blasts, mingled with Eden's thunderous shout, echoed in the air, while Buggy's veins bulged in fury...