Usopp picked the note off of the ground.
THE 88027 CODE FOR A TREASURE
"What's this mean?" Usopp called over the blaring of the sirens.
Zoro walked over. "You must be pretty stupid if you don't know what that means," he said.
"But what is the 88027 code?" he asked.
"It's pretty self explanatory," Zoro said, snatching the paper from Usopp. Then he walked away, back towards the police officers who were searching the ground for clues.
It might not be evidence, Zoro thought. Maybe it's just a note someone dropped earlier today. But honestly, what were the odds of that? Who would really drop a note on the roof of a ten story building? And plus, hadn't there been another note just like this one dropped at every crime scene for the past seven days?
Zoro didn't know for sure, but he had an idea. It was probably Captain Buggy at it again. There had been eleven crimes committed in the past week. That was more than one every day.
Yet, he wasn't even completely sure that it was Buggy. No one had seen him in months. But Zoro thought that Buggy had committed the crimes because of something he found a few weeks ago. He had been surfing the net, looking at nothing in particular, when a headline caught his eye. It read, "Captain Buggy Out of Hiding!"
That was definitely enough to make him click the link and read the article. While reading, he found out that Buggy had supposedly been spotted in three different places, all around their town, Prudgeville. It was a medium-sized town with a large main avenue and many large businesses. Unfortunately, it was an out-of-the-way place, located an hour away from the next nearest town, Loover Bay.
Now the crimes had started. For some strange reason, Zoro had always been present when each crime was committed. Sometimes by himself, and other times with another crew member, like today. And at every single crime scene, there was a note left in an out-of-the-way place where only Zoro would look. Zoro thought that Buggy was doing that on purpose.
So he had collected all of the notes. Now he had a total of twelve, including this one. He had spent countless hours poring over the notes, trying to find some meaning in them. So far, he had been unsuccessful.
When he had told Usopp that the note was self-explanatory, he honestly had had no idea what it meant. He had just been trying to get Usopp off of his back. He didn't want to talk to him right now. He had too much to worry about.
At first, he had thought that the notes were a code, but after trying a few code keys he had downloaded off the internet, he gave up on that idea.
Then he had thought about the message part of the note. On each note, there was a number, always a variation of 88027, like 80287 or 07828, and a message. The message was always different. This time, it was "for a treasure". Last time, it was "to be popular". But the most prominent one was the first. It said, "The 88027 code to get your butt kicked". That was the only one of the notes that even sounded like Buggy.
Suddenly Zoro had a thought. What if it wasn't Buggy who dropped the notes? What if Buggy committed the crimes, but he had a sleeper hanging around the crime scene who dropped the note before fleeing? Zoro made a mental note to pay attention to the people next time.
For now, the only he could do was continue helping the police look for clues. But, turning around, he could tell that the police were pretty much done and were wrapping things up.
He had become friends with the police several years ago when he had moved into the neighborhood with his captain and the crew. Since there had been a burglary or something before they arrived, the police were guarding every entrance to the town, making sure no one left and that anyone coming in wasn't a suspicious person. The police chief had been helping guard the main entrance, where Zoro had been. He had noticed Zoro's swords, and wanted to make sure he wasn't a threat. They had struck up a conversation and had been friends ever since. Since then, Zoro had also met the rest of the police force. He could have been part of it if he had wanted to, but he was an independent guy, never one to sign up for "group activities" or anything where he had to help people all of the time.
None of the members of the Straw Hat Crew lived together. Zoro had suggested this as a safety precaution, and Luffy had agreed. So, they all spread out. The town was shaped like an octagon, so one of them lived in every angle.
Seeing that the police were leaving, he walked over to the police chief, Harold Prety. After shaking his hand and bidding him good night, he climbed inside and down the stairs. Then he began to walk home. Usopp, he presumed, had gone home earlier.
Zoro had done a lot of thinking since the crimes had started, and he was glad that he hadn't turned out the way Buggy had. Doing crimes wasn't his thing. Swordsmanship was.
Zoro smiled, his smile turning into a look of determination after he had another thought. He made a pact with himself that he would try his hardest to figure out what the code was and how to solve it, and also to catch Captain Buggy. It was his time to shine.
For all of you who are wondering, Harold Prety's last name is not pronounced "pretty". It's actually pronounced "Prey-tee".
Anyway, this idea just came out of the blue. I was actually getting bored of just writing "Chopper's Worst Nightmare" every time I got on the computer, so I sat there until I came up with another idea.
Was it a good idea? I don't know. That's your job, to R&R.
