One Piece: Buggy the Clown Who Fell From Grace

Even deep down, there's a questioning within me, a relentless self-examination of my years of slacking off.

The humiliation of a great pirate being easily defeated by juniors time and time again.

It is the self that was full of ambition under the execution platform in the past, the self that dared to fight the strongest creature head-on, questioning the self in the present.

Moria saw the clown's grinning face again, and the shadow's grin slowly overlapped with it.

Dr. Hogback's greeting kept echoing in his mind.

"Welcome home, my master."

"Welcome home—"

"No, this is not home, this is a nightmare!"

Moriah's eyes were filled with tears.

"Hehehe, my fish finally took the bait."

Bucky had no interest in paying attention to Moria's wails.

He looked up at the sky, which was filled with shadows.

Pain and fear seemed to be the delicacy of this shadowy figure.

It quietly covered the top of the terror dart.

In the shadowy world, on that cheerful pirate ship.

Bucky, who had once again killed all his companions, also raised his head.

He's been staying here the whole time.

The ship's overhead light that had fallen onto the deck ignited a large, dark blue fire.

The slightly thin figure showed no fear amidst the flames, simply raising his head.

Their gazes met as they pierced through the shadowy figure's body.

"Caught you for the 489th time."

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 39 Dream Eater

The shadowy figure seemed to have no substance.

It was like a rolling, dark cloud pressing down on the ancient castle.

I was drawn in by the irresistible deliciousness below.

It smells like a nightmare.

A nightmare more delicious than any nightmare that had ever occurred on this ship.

Perhaps it was because the owner of the nightmare had an unexpectedly familiar scent?

The dark figure leaned down.

Like an ink waterfall cascading from the sky, it makes you want to devour the delicious food below in one gulp.

At the same time, the splashed ink, intentionally or unintentionally, kept a certain distance from Bucky.

There seemed to be some fear of him.

"Moo-"

Just as the shadowy figure was about to make contact with Moria, it suddenly tumbled.

The mooing sound was tinged with pain.

It's like having an upset stomach.

The pirate ship, engulfed in eerie blue flames, actually emerged from the shadows as it churned.

Along with this, countless distinct yet independently developing fantasy worlds also emerge.

There is a lean version of Moria, wielding a long sword and fighting against an enormous figure in the biting cold wind, with many living companions behind him.

There was a man on a small island who lived the life of a wealthy landlord, yet still dressed like a pirate.

A doctor in a white coat dances with a glamorous female star on a glamorous stage.

Dr. Hogback in the castle turned his head away, blushing slightly.

The Baku opened its eyes in the shadows.

Among these dreams, there should be one that intertwines loneliness and joy—a treasured personal keepsake.

But there was only one lone pirate ship.

A dark blue fire engulfed the ship.

That figure

"Moo-"

The eyes in the shadowy figure revealed obvious fear.

It remembered this person, a strange human with a neurotic smile, who was vomited out of the dream.

Why is it still there?

Cracks spread from the pirate ship as the origin to the entire dream world, and the overwhelming black shadow was instantly covered with long, thin white threads.

"This is really interesting."

Bucky grinned, enjoying his own contortion.

He left a part of himself in the shadowy dreamscape; it was his first attempt at splitting abstract concepts, which was himself.

The world seen through my eyes has always been divided into two.

A cycle of murder and arson repeating itself endlessly.

One is the world that Bucky sees before him.

Ironically, this tearing and distortion gave him a sense of fulfillment.

怪异

This is also himself.

However, he never denies this.

Strange and chaotic.

Isn't it so comfortable?

Something fell off Moria's enormous, dark figure.

The shadow of a hand?

Moria watched as the shadow walked past him and then fell at Bucky's feet.

Has my own shadow regained my control?

Didn't you say you were dissatisfied with me?

He felt his red-scallion-headed brain was suddenly overloaded.

When his gaze fell on the crazed clown, he suddenly shivered.

The opponent can actually split their own shadow?!

What's the point of having my Shadow-Shadow Fruit then?!

A sudden surge of absurdity overwhelmed Moria.

Accompanied by a nearly broken spine and wounds all over his body that made him look like a tattered doll.

Ah!

I'm sorry for being born a human being.

"."

"Moo—"

The cries from the shadows were even more painful.

It's like childbirth.

The layered, half-illusory world of illusion is gradually shattering under the encroachment of the white marks.

"To live or to die, we must choose one."

Buggy looked up, and another version of himself stepped out of the pirate ship engulfed in eerie blue flames.

Stepping on a pitch-black expanse.

"Moo!!"

The shadowy figure's cry seemed to be filled with anger, and the surging black ink, like the sea, was constantly fighting against the splitting force.

Click click

The first dream shattered completely under the erosion of the cracks.

Two pirates, enjoying a life of luxury on a scenic island, suddenly realize that the world before them is crumbling.

The fragments fell one by one.

When confronted with harsh reality, it dissipates like a puddle of gray mist.

Only two skeletons remained.

"Actually, I really admire those who refuse to give in even in the face of death."

"real."

Bucky added.

"That way I can keep seeing in them what is being played out repeatedly on a thin string."

A beautiful melody.