Chapter 102: Chapter 103 : Inheritance??
"Hahaha, Buggy, you don't want to start some sort of ridiculous family on the sea like Whitebeard did, do you?"
If it were anyone else, Buggy's audacious claim of wanting to be their father might have incited anger, but Blackbeard isn't just anyone. Having been a son for decades, he was quick to suppress his anger and laugh heartily.
Buggy grinned, "Don't misunderstand me. I'm only here for Shiki. Teach, open it yourself; I won't look down on you!"
Blackbeard:
"..."
Even though Buggy's words were peculiar, there was no denying the hint of appreciation in them.
Buggy patted Blackbeard on the shoulder with a smile, saying, "Don't make any hasty decisions. You might have a different perspective when the Cross Guild is established in a few months!"
With that, Buggy disregarded Blackbeard's sour expression and, with Domino in his arms, proceeded into the naval base.
After several stops and starts, Buggy and his companions finally arrived at the prison used by the G2 Base, situated in a remote corner, after thoroughly exploring the base.
At that moment, the prison was packed with hundreds of individuals, mostly pirates gathered by the Golden Lion for his scheme to wreak havoc on the East Blue.
These prisoners lacked any real strength—thousands of them couldn't even match up to the Straw Hats and their few members. They were essentially minor underlings!
Buggy wasn't interested in them and headed straight for the deepest part of the prison.
There, he sensed a powerful presence, weak yet resilient, like a flickering candle in the wind.
It had to be the Golden Lion Shiki!
At that moment, the Golden Lion's hands and feet were shackled in special Sea-Prism Stone restraints, and he slumped against the wall, his head bowed, eyes dull—a far cry from the formidable pirate he once was!
"Time truly is the sharpest blade. The Golden Lion of the past has become a shadow of his former self," Buggy remarked, shaking his head slightly as he stood before the Golden Lion's cell, gazing at the once-mighty figure and sighing.
The Golden Lion didn't even lift his head, as if he hadn't heard Buggy's words at all.
Another powerful figure defeated by Luffy.
In the original storyline, the formidable figures who escaped from the hellish depths of Impel Down, like the Golden Lion, Bullet, the Red Count, and World, were all eventually subdued by Luffy and his crew.
At the beginning, their goal was to defeat Luffy. Defeating Luffy was akin to defeating a child of their own, but they couldn't bring themselves to kill him. So, Luffy kept getting back up, like an indomitable little warrior who just wouldn't die!
In the end, these powerful figures found their beliefs shaken under the overwhelming aura of Luffy's protagonist presence. They lost to Luffy, causing their hearts to collapse and their strength to plummet!
It was like the Golden Lion at this point; he had no intention of fighting at all, merely a lonely old man resigned to waiting for his end.
Buggy paused and said, "I didn't expect you to lose to Captain Roger in the end. At least Roger was far more composed than you were in his final moments!"
Upon hearing the name of his old rival, the Golden Lion finally reacted. He lifted his head and stared at Buggy for a while before responding, "I remember you now. You're the red-nosed brat from Roger's crew. Buggy, right?"
After being re-imprisoned by the Navy, the Golden Lion could only reminisce about the past, with his memories frequently returning to his old rival, One Piece Roger.
Furthermore, Roger's crew wasn't very large, and Buggy and Shanks were among the youngest members. So it didn't take much for the Golden Lion to recognize Buggy's identity!
Buggy chuckled, "It's an honor to be remembered by the legendary Golden Lion!"
The Golden Lion responded coolly, "There's no need for flattery. I'm just a washed-up old man now! I only remember you because you were the only one on Roger's ship who wanted to surrender to me!"
The smile on Buggy's face froze. He almost forgot about that incident—it was indeed a part of his black history!
"Hahahahaha," Blackbeard's eyes gleamed with amusement as he remarked, "Buggy, you've had quite an experience! I can't believe someone like you ever wanted to surrender!"
Buggy huffed and retorted, "Those who achieve great things aren't concerned with such formalities! Didn't you, Teach, kneel and beg for mercy in front of Whitebeard at Marineford?"
Now it was Blackbeard's turn to feel embarrassed; his dark past was far more severe than Buggy's!
"Whitebeard?" The Golden Lion turned his gaze to Blackbeard. After a moment of thought, he said, "I remember now. You're that young punk from Newgate's ship! But it seems you've betrayed that guy, Newgate!"
The Golden Lion had been captured not long before the onset of the Summit War. Although he was unaware of the battle between the Whitebeard Pirates and the Navy Headquarters, he did know about Blackbeard's defection to the Whitebeard Pirates!
Blackbeard looked at the Golden Lion with a smile and said, "Don't speak so harshly. You must know that the Whitebeard Pirates no longer exist, and I have inherited Whitebeard's power!"
Upon hearing this, the Golden Lion's eyes flickered as he murmured, "So, it seems the old man, Newgate, is also dead!"
Buggy chimed in, "Whitebeard is indeed dead—I was the one who killed him! Alongside Whitebeard, Admiral Sengoku met his end as well. Now, I'm here to grant you a proper death!"
"Characters like you don't deserve to die in a dark prison!"
The Golden Lion regarded Buggy seriously and said, "I'm glad you have this intention, but you must have another motive besides sending me off, right?"
"You don't need to use my death to make a name for yourself by killing Newgate and Sengoku. But now that I'm alone, I can't imagine what else you could be after."
Buggy didn't hide his intentions and said directly, "Sending you to your end is just a side matter. I'm here mainly to inherit everything you have! Your strength, power, and ambition!"
The Golden Lion was stunned by this revelation. Did he still possess strength, power, and ambition? How had he not realized this?
Seeing his confusion, Buggy continued, "Of course, your strength comes from the Float-Float Fruit you possess, and your power is represented by this!" Buggy gestured toward a man dressed like a clown in a nearby cell.
"Indigo?"
The Golden Lion was taken aback. Indigo, in the adjacent cell, also pointed at himself, performing a dance and making gestures.
Buggy nodded and elaborated, "More precisely, it's the technology he holds in his hands!" It's a valuable asset, but it seems to have been misused before!
"As for your ambition, it's the 'king'!"
"I will use your power to help me become the only 'king' in this world!"
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