Chapter 38: Dual Island Sandwich Cookie!
When it comes to designing traps, who is the best? In the Grand Line, look for the Lion King.
Looking at the other island falling from the sky, such a sentence suddenly surfaced in Buggy's mind.
"Shihahahahaha! Damn brat! This move of mine, Shishi Odoshi: Dual Island Sandwich Cookie, is my greatest masterpiece, completed at the cost of two of my experimental bases! I wonder if you like it! Having spent such a huge sum, you should just sleep peacefully at the bottom of the sea!" Shiki, who had already flown off the island, laughed loudly as he watched Buggy, who couldn't escape even if he ran wildly.
Hearing these words, Buggy finally understood why the old bastard Golden Lion Shiki had drilled into the dense forest and led him in circles.
It was simple: to obstruct his vision and delay time, preventing him from realizing that the island was descending during the chase, and that they were on their way beneath another island that had already been flipped upside down.
Not only that, old-school experts truly left no stone unturned in their schemes. Listening to the old fellow, even if the two islands merged, he wouldn't stop there; he would directly sink both islands, giving an ability user like himself not even the slightest chance to turn things around.
Impressive. Truly, he either doesn't strike, or when he does, it's a killing blow.
But you think you can end the battle just like that? Have you asked me?
Going full throttle, Buggy forcefully pushed off from where he stood, his blackened hands furiously bombarding the falling island above.
Outside the island, Shiki, witnessing this scene, laughed even louder. This damn brat must have gone crazy from fear! Do you think you're Whitebeard? Even Whitebeard, under these circumstances, might not necessarily have the ability to shatter the island above his head.
Two seconds later, when a loud boom sounded, Buggy's fists fiercely struck the ground of the island above him. Then, there was no reaction. Oh, no, a mouthful of dark blood spurted out directly.
"Shihahahahaha!" Shiki, seeing this, laughed even more delightedly.
Not afraid of being cut, are you? But you're not a great swordsman either! If you were a great swordsman, I'd really be afraid you'd slice an island in half with one stroke. Unfortunately, you're not. So, facing this situation, just wait peacefully to be suppressed at the bottom of the sea and suffocate. What's the point of resisting?
Facing Shiki's increasingly rampant laughter, Buggy, after brewing for a few seconds, finally spoke: "Break for me!"
In the next second, Shiki's laughter came to an abrupt halt.
Because he saw countless cracks beginning to appear, spreading across the entire island in almost the blink of an eye.
How is this possible!
After a loud bang, a huge island was actually blasted into countless chunks of earth by Buggy, scattering in all directions.
"Heh-ha! You dead cripple! In terms of raw power, I'm a far cry from Whitebeard. But if it's about who can destroy more islands in one go, Whitebeard couldn't catch up to me even if he rode a horse! You think only your ability can affect external objects? So can mine!" In mid-air, Buggy, having shattered the entire island, turned his head, a trace of blood at the corner of his mouth, and spoke to Shiki.
After speaking, he dashed towards the Golden Lion's lair.
Having witnessed such a trap, to be honest, Buggy now dared not fight this legendary expert on any island other than the Golden Lion's main base.
Seeing Buggy flee, and in the direction of his own lair, Shiki couldn't afford to be stunned any longer and immediately gave chase.
After half a minute of pursuit, just as Buggy reached the edge of the lair island, he and Shiki clashed again at close quarters. Unlike the previous times, Shiki initiated the attack this time.
"I want you dead!"
Along with this furious roar, Buggy instantly unleashed his full Haki. His fists, wreathed in Conqueror's Haki, carried an unparalleled aura as they began their fourth close-quarters confrontation.
"Brat, you think you're the only one who understands Conqueror's Haki?!"
Having fought countless experts in the previous pirate era, how could Shiki not perceive the Haki Buggy was using?
As fist met fist, an astonishing aura erupted from the point of their collision. In an instant, the clouds above the island seemed to be affected as well, consciously splitting into two sides and beginning to clash.
And as their battle intensified, the clouds in the sky grew darker, and even the sky itself turned dim. Dark clouds obscured the bright sun, replaced by streaks of lightning streaking through the clouds.
After another fierce collision, Buggy and Shiki temporarily separated.
They had to separate. This intense fight, lasting less than two minutes, had caused an enormous drain on both Buggy's and Shiki's Haki and stamina. They couldn't continue without catching their breath.
Up to this point in the battle, Shiki was frustrated, and Buggy was even more frustrated.
Shiki was frustrated because the two famous swords under his feet were completely failing to serve their proper purpose. Buggy, on the other hand, was even more frustrated that Shiki wasn't making his two famous swords serve their proper purpose.
Fighting up to now, Buggy really wanted to shout at the Golden Lion: Besides slashing, hacking, parrying, and deflecting, can't you damn well stab with your swords?!
It's unknown if the Golden Lion suddenly awakened telepathy, but in any case, after the battle resumed, Shiki actually did incorporate stabbing into his attacks.
Buggy, as a Chop-Chop person, was, strictly speaking, subconsciously unafraid of linear attacks, but he couldn't avoid point or surface attacks.
Finally grasping the trick, Shiki naturally integrated point attacks into his surface attacks when linear attacks proved ineffective.
Merely by adding a point attack, Shiki almost instantly turned the tide of the deadlocked battle, because he saw Buggy, for the first time since the fight began, dodge.
Yes, since the battle started, in close-quarters combat, Buggy had never retreated. Even if he took two more punches, he would definitely return the favor, never letting Shiki have an easy time, truly embodying the essence of "overwhelming the old master with a flurry of punches."
After a few exchanges, Shiki was even getting a bit scared of Buggy's self-harming style of combat.
Therefore, when he saw this damn brat actually dodge his sword stabs, the excitement in Shiki's heart was simply indescribable.
Finally found a weakness! Then it's time to end this farcical game of death!
Taking advantage of his height advantage over Buggy, Shiki, who had already landed on the ground, began a final quick assault around Buggy, not using his fists, but his two famous swords enhanced with Armament and Conqueror's Haki.
How to use famous swords while standing on the ground? The answer, of course, was leg techniques.
The Haki-wreathed sword tips replaced the soles of his feet, directly increasing the destructive power by more than tenfold. Attacking from above, aiming either for the head or the heart, Shiki, having shed his earlier helplessness and finally seized the offensive initiative, attacked with increasing ferocity.
Pfft! With a flash of blood, Buggy's left arm was pierced. This was the second time Buggy had bled since the great battle began!
Seeing that Buggy's Haki had finally been breached by him, Shiki's attacks became even fiercer.
And facing those cold glints that came faster and faster, Buggy was desperately enduring.
In the next second, as Shiki stood on his left leg, lifted his right leg, and launched a powerful stab at Buggy with Oto, Buggy didn't even dodge but directly met it with a swinging fist.
The opportunity to decide the victor had finally arrived!
(End of this chapter)