Chapter 28 Catching a Blade with Bare Hands and Sucking Out Bucky's Severed HandWith a crisp snap, a pair of hands, seemingly appearing out of thin air, caught the Kitetsu once more with pinpoint accuracy.
Luffy glanced triumphantly at Zoro and casually tossed the Kitetsu to him.
"You promised this yourself. I've heard you have a fine sword, 'Yubashiri,' hidden in your shop. A fine sword for a hero, you have no use for it. You might as well kill some more pirates to accumulate good karma."
The shopkeeper, who had initially planned to just give him any sword to get rid of this nuisance, instantly turned pale, his heart bleeding: Does this guy have supernatural powers? How did he know I had a Yubashiri that I wasn't selling?
However, the shop owner, being from a family of swordsmiths, was truly impressed by Luffy's incredible swordsmanship. He gritted his teeth, nodded, and said, "No problem, a bet's a bet. I'll go get it for you right now!"
Tashigi, now regaining her senses, stared at Luffy excitedly, her face flushed. "Incredible! Your swordsmanship is just too strong! No wonder you're the legendary world's greatest swordsman who defeated Hawkeye! I never even dared to dream of such a level!"
Smoker took a deep drag on his cigar, forcibly suppressing his shock, and stared intently at Luffy, asking, "Defeat Hawkeye? Are you kidding me? But who are you anyway! That kind of skill is definitely not from an unknown nobody!"
Luffy casually pulled out his officer's ID and tossed it to Smoker like trash: "Monkey D. Luffy, Marine Headquarters Captain, Commodore's appointment letter is on its way."
Smoker caught it and his expression immediately changed. So this was the Luffy who had been rumored to have gotten promoted through connections?
He had been treated like a toy by Luffy, completely powerless?
Tashigi, seeing the ID, quickly straightened up and gave Luffy a perfect military salute: "Good morning, sir!"
Luffy, like an old cadre inspecting work, casually waved his hand: "Comrades, you've worked hard, don't be so formal."
Tashigi was immediately encouraged, puffing out her chest and looking proud.
Smoker scrutinized the 17-year-old boy, utterly unable to believe that this seemingly carefree fellow possessed such terrifying strength.
Just as he was about to invite Luffy to the training grounds for a serious sparring match,
Zoro's voice, filled with confusion and horror, rang out from the side.
"Hey, Luffy? Your Supreme Sword Intent... can it summon ghosts?"
"Huh?"
Luffy turned to look at Zoro, puzzled.
Zoro pointed to the two lone hands that had fallen to the ground, swallowed hard, and said:
"If I'm not mistaken, that last sword strike of yours... the one that caught it didn't seem to be a living person..."
Luffy looked down, carefully examining the severed hands on the ground.
His "100% Absolute Absorption of a Blade" technique shouldn't work without hands, but he'd never heard of forcibly summoning something just by having hands.
Luffy stared at the hands, the more he looked, the more familiar they seemed—the white gloves, the comical gestures.
Finally, Luffy exclaimed "Holy crap!" and suddenly remembered who the hands belonged to.
"Isn't that Buggy the Clown's hand?!"
Luffy picked up the severed hand, its cut clean and without a drop of blood, and shook it.
Clearly, having exceeded Buggy's control range of 200 meters, the arm had truly lost its vitality, like a plastic model, yet it still possessed the warmth and softness of a living hand.
Luffy gasped. This guy's Chop-Chop Fruit ability was truly monstrous!
Although he didn't have many scenes in the original work, mostly serving as a comedic relief, relying on his luck, comparable to Conqueror's Haki, to profit from seemingly hopeless battles.
However, the occasional details of his abilities that he revealed were already chilling upon closer inspection.
Initially, Luffy and Nami dismembered his body, the torso simply packed up and dumped on another island.
But Buggy, with only a head and half a limb, remained alive and kicking, completely unaffected. Even after being buried for an unknown amount of time, he could easily reassemble himself like building blocks.
This tenacious vitality is ridiculously strong, even in the monster-infested world of One Piece.
Even more astonishing is that Buggy easily withstood all of Mihawk's slashes during the Marineford War.
Although it appeared his body was sliced into countless pieces like vegetables by Mihawk, Mihawk is the world's greatest swordsman!
His black sword, Yoru, is a Supreme Grade Sword forged through long-term exposure to top-tier Armament Haki.
Even casual attacks are imbued with Armament Haki in Mihawk's sword, because he once sternly instructed Zoro that a true swordsman never allows his weapon to be damaged.
Therefore, the only explanation for Buggy's complete escape from attacks imbued with Armament Haki is that, much like Admiral Aokiji using his elemental transformation to avoid Whitebeard's sword, he used his superior Observation Haki to anticipate the attack and, at the last second before the blade touched his body, deliberately split his body, perfectly dodging every single one of Mihawk's slashes.
Luffy had initially approached Buggy with a tentative attitude, wanting to test if this guy with Conqueror's Haki and good luck was truly as useless as portrayed in the anime.
Unexpectedly, an unintentional use of his sword technique forcibly pulled Buggy's hidden hands towards him?
Luffy toyed with the hands with amusement, then casually grabbed them and shoved them into Samehada's gaping maw on his back.
Tashigi and Smoker, seeing Samehada's mouth full of sharp teeth revealed after the layers of bandages were removed, jumped back in fright: "Holy crap! What kind of monster is that?! It eats people?"
Zoro also looked at Luffy with disgust: "You're actually feeding this guy a human hand? That's so disgusting!"
Luffy rolled his eyes at them and pulled his hand back out of Samehada's slimy mouth: "Don't be so alarmed. This guy has its own internal dimension, like a living refrigerator. It's just used to temporarily store evidence."
Tashigi and Smoker breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that although this young reserve admiral acted strangely, he wasn't the kind of twisted naval scoundrel.
Tashigi watched curiously as Luffy wrapped Samehada around his neck again, cautiously asking, "Is this... your pet?"
Luffy chuckled, patting Samehada. "This is the famous sword, the ninja sword Samehada! How about it? Want it? If you like it, I'll be generous and give it to you."
Tashigi shook her head violently, her ponytail flying wildly.
Who would want something so ugly and disgusting!
A famous sword? You're kidding me! What famous sword eats meat?!
Luffy speechlessly slung Samehada back onto his back, thinking that if the people from Kirigakure in Naruto saw this, and their village's proud Seven Ninja Swords were being treated like this, they'd probably have a stroke.
At that moment, the shopkeeper, panting, came down from upstairs carrying an antique sword stand.
The shopkeeper solemnly grasped the Yubashiri in his hand, loudly introducing it: "The blade is made using the black lacquer katana technique! The edge features an extremely rare irregular small T-shaped pattern! The swift sword, Yubashiri! Light yet sharp!"
The shopkeeper reluctantly stroked the scabbard, then solemnly handed the Yubashiri to Zoro, saying, "I hope you will treat it well; it's a fine sword."
"Ah, that's for sure! I swear on my life!"
Zoro took the Yubashiri, feeling its lightness, and promised excitedly.
Seeing the loving and determined look in Zoro's eyes, the shopkeeper nodded with satisfaction: "I haven't seen such pure swordsmanship in a long time. They say a fine sword chooses its own master; it seems it has found a good home. Good luck."
Zoro immediately bowed deeply to the shopkeeper in gratitude, then happily tucked the Kitetsu and Yubashiri into his belt and patted them.
"Sure enough, I only feel at ease with three swords hanging on my waist."
"Really? I don't feel anything, they're terribly heavy."
Luffy shrugged, looking completely unconcerned.
"Of course! I haven't reached your supreme level of 'no sword in hand, but a sword in heart' yet!"
Zoro rolled his eyes at Luffy, his tone full of envy.
Luffy: "..."
Damn it, this idiot really took it seriously! What if he trains it wrong?
In the world of One Piece, swords are an indispensable part of swordsmanship; head-on clashes are the norm.
What if later on, someone wields a divine weapon like the First Generation Kitetsu at Zoro?
And this guy suddenly says, "The sword is in my heart, even grass and flying flowers can be swords!"
Then he charges at the opponent with three blades of grass in his mouth—the image is too beautiful; won't he die a horrible death?
Thinking this, Luffy wiped the cold sweat from his brow. Maybe, perhaps, maybe this guy wasn't that stupid after all…
Meanwhile, Smoker lit another cigar and asked Luffy, "I wonder what brings you to Loguetown, Commodore? If you need a detailed chart of the Grand Line, I'll send someone to deliver it to you immediately."
Luffy glanced at Smoker, who had been somewhat embarrassed and stiff from kneeling to receive the sword, then suddenly narrowed his eyes, revealing a meaningful smile:
"Charts are irrelevant. I came here specifically for you."
Smoker was stunned for a moment upon hearing this, forgetting to even light his cigarette: "Huh? Looking for me?"