One Piece - Tales of the Pirate King

Disclaimer: One Piece is property of Eiichiro Oda. I am not Eiichiro Oda

Chapter 3 - Meeting the 'Legend'

"Hm~, sea bird~"

"Luffy, we don't have anything that'll reach it"

"I know, but I can dream, can't I?"

The journey towards Organ Island and its sole city, Orange Town, was, putting politely, very, very boring. It was just a long stretch of ocean travel, with no island or ship in sight, much to the annoyance of the captain of the dingy

But it did pay off, the trio soon finding a ship containing another trio: - "Halt! This is territory of the terrible Buggy's pirates!" - Spoke the central one, wearing a yellow shirt with purple lining, wine-coloured shorts and a black cap with his crew's Jolly Roger, an 'Yeah' shouted by the leftmost, fat and dark-skinned, wearing an open black vest and white pants held by a green sash

"If you want to get out alive, give us all your treasure" - Spoke the rightmost, wearing a stripped purple and yellow sleeveless shirt and grey pants held by a blue sash, alongside the most ridiculous haircut since Helmeppo: - "Come on, we don't have all day!"

"Yeah, but we have, since you'll have to reach us first" - Deadpanned Luffy, not even looking at them, digging at his nose and gazing at the skull with a big red nose and the black spikes blooming from the eyes, making them four-pointed stars. Exactly the man they were searching for: - "Nami, keep us going. If they reach us, we'll deal with them then"

A clunk had the three looking up, as they realized the Buggy's pirates boat had a set of oars, put to good use to reach the 'Straw Hat' Pirates

"Now" - Grinding his teeth in anger, the middle one again spoke: - "Hand. Us. The. Treasure"

"Nope" - Luffy proceeded to punch him in the face, the other two gaping at the aggression, before roaring in turn, preparing to attack. However, the delay was enough for Zoro to get bored and Nami to get annoyed, the green-haired man greeting his opponent with a punch of his own, and the ginger delivering an outright brutal slap from a collapsible staff she pulled from…

"Where did you get that from!?" - The cheeky minx just winked at Luffy, who watched baffled as she broke her weapon in three parts and guarded it… somewhere

Luffy was still metaphorically scratching his head when they arrived at Orange Town, only stopping upon noticing the state of it. It was a complete ghost town, with entire city blocks demolished as if struck by a massive explosion

Considering the massive and fancy ship at floating a fair distance away, it was rather easy to puzzle the situation

"How disappointing" - Muttered Luffy, much to the confusion of Nami and indifference of Zoro: - "After hearing Shanks talk about Buggy, I'd expect better" - Really, he expected someone who navigated with his idol to be more focused on adventure than the treasure that comes with piracy

"Shanks? 'Red-Haired' Shanks? What does he have with this?" - "Hm? Oh, Shanks spoke of Buggy to me before" - Spoke only for a few minutes, before departing, but still spoke of him

Nami processed the answer, and her jaw dropped - "You know 'Red-Haired' Shanks? One of the Yonkou?"

"He used my home village as a base of operations for a year. He was really cool Nami, he'd change your mind about wanting to be a pirate" - Declared Luffy, laughing at the face Nami made at the statement

"Now what, captain?" - Interrupted Zoro, not having any of the fun, instead focusing on scanning the deserted streets for any possible threat, and finding nothing

Turning to face his first mate, Luffy scratched his hat, and decided: - "Well, we know that Buggy is here, so we just need to find him and steal the map, right?"

"And his treasure, yes" - Cheeky and greedy, the minx was!

"Shishishi, sure! Zoro, we're the distraction again, and the captain is mine!"

The search for Buggy was quite short, the trio not even needing to look far; with the ship of the pirate so close, it was only logical that the man himself would be close. Indeed, he was, in the Drinker's Pub, a massive bar that occupied its entire block, and the only part where there was any noise in the entire place

"Good luck Luffy; I'll search for the map now" - Declared Nami, separating from the group with a sway on her hips, the prospect of treasure filling her voice with happiness

"Fine Nami! Be careful!" - Called back Luffy: - "Now, Zoro, any ideas?"

"Nah; just find the nearest enemy and cut them up"

Luffy wasn't fond of cutting, but he could beat them, and he did just that, increasing the size his hand and shaping it into a massive fist, before destroying the door of the establishment

Curses and cuss words followed from inside it, the drunken pirates surprised with the intrusion and mostly defenceless against the barrage of fists and blades from Zoro, wielding two of his katanas, and Luffy, pummelling his enemies without even needing to call upon his powers

"What the flashy hell is going on here!?" - Came from the ceiling, of all places, the two realizing that Buggy must have been at the rooftops. Soon after, the man himself appeared in front of them, jumping from the building and landing at the entrance, as the rest of his crew appeared from the stairs, surrounding Luffy and Zoro

Buggy looked quite a lot like a clown, completely justifying his epithet, with a big red nose, a tattoo of crossed bones on his face, crossing over his eyes and forehead, two blue lines sprouting above his eyes, an orange hat with his Jolly Roger and two blue tassels, and red lipstick; he wears an orange captain's coat with white fur trimmings, a stripped red and white shirt, cyan pants held by a green sash, a purple scarf, and pointy boots over socks stripped like his shirt

The most important feature, however, was the quartet of daggers held in each hand, between his fingers, one of them launched in a wave at the pair. Luffy ducked out of the way of the pair of daggers that went in his direction, while Zoro deflected the sole one going at his with one of his own blades, the last dagger flying harmlessly between the two

"Heh, you're Buggy 'the Clown', eh? You're mine!" - With the exclamation, Luffy bounced forward, reaching the roof of the building with a single leap, and from there launched himself forward

Zoro had his own problems to deal with. His was the duty to ensure no mook or cannon fodder interfered with his captain's fight, and that meant dealing with the roaring pirates. Unfortunately for the bloodthirsty ex-bounty hunter, most were weaklings: - "Bull Needles"

With his two swords held forward, the green-haired man charged, stabbing repeatedly with his blades at anyone who stood in his path, jumping over an attempted tackle and finishing his attack with a spin: - "Dragon Twister!" - The sheer air gust of the attack sent enemies flying, and those too close were carved into bloody pieces

With an order to die, another hapless pirate attempted to jump at him, but was punted aside by one of his own crewmates:

"Stop trying to die, you fool" - The man black hair had a special haircut, parallel shaved in the right side and long enough to hide his face on the left, with his face further obscured by a checkered blue and white scarf, while also wearing a sleeveless purple long coat, white pants held by a cyan sash, and white shoes; perhaps most uniquely, he was riding an unicycle, and from his mouth, he pulled a sabre, holding it comfortably in his hand

"Indeed. While he holds two swords, the third on his hips is a great clue of his identity" - Muttered another, wearing what appeared to be a white fur vest that bared his midriff, and a hood, again of white fur, with teddy bear ears, completing his look with blue pants held by a yellow sash, and brown boots. He also had a unique mount, and a much more intimidating one than a unicycle: a ferocious golden brown lion with a vivid pink, almost red, mane

The same man, facing the swordsman, identified him: - "That is Roronoa Zoro, the bounty hunter. He must be here for the bounty on our captain"

"Well, he'll receive something else, right, Mohji?" - "Indeed, Cabaji. Richie! Attack! Special Sideshow!"

The identified Mohji snapped forward with a whip, his lion mount Richie roaring alongside the weapon, Zoro evading both by running and ducking under the beast's tackle. When he stood up, he was with his white katana on his mouth and rushing after his opponents, Cabaji meeting his charge head-on

"Acrobatics! Murder at the Steam Bath!" - As he dashed forward, the unicyclist spun his sword in a circle, slashing at the ground and creating a cloud of dust, pivoting in place to continue spinning and launching said cloud at Zoro, who dived head first through it. Unable to see through the cloud, Zoro simple kept charging, until he exited it, right in front of Mohji

"Hi-yah!" - The lion rider attempted to attack with a high kick, but was foiled by a shoulder tackle, sending him to the ground. Zoro, in mid-air, spun in place, his swords ready to lash out, but was interrupted in turn by a roar and a charging lion

The spinning motion of his cancelled attack ensured Zoro stood a few feet away from the beast, and right into the path of Cabaji, who had somehow climbed into the rafters and was poised to fall right on top of the green-haired swordsman: - "Sting of the Unicycle!"

"Special Sideshow!" - The whip lashed again, this time trapping Zoro's wrist, the swordsman slashing and cutting it with a grunt, before diving away from the falling acrobat. From so close, it would be impossible to miss his next attack, but Cabaji reacted first:

"Acrobatics! Old Man's Flame!" - The breath of flames licked at Zoro, who, surprised by the unexpected heat, backed down. The two opponents of the newly minted pirate stared at him with, and Zoro stared back, as Richie joined his master's side

Two became three, then two again, as the lion roared, then one, as Cabaji charged right behind the feral beast. Zoro decided to put an end to it then and there, first by moving aside and holding all three of his blades parallel to each other on his right side, right where the lion passed: - "Crab Grab!"

"R-Richie!" - The lion moaned in pain, and fell aside, a single deep wound on its side, the acrobat swordsman right behind the beast slashing forward, just to be blocked by two of Zoro's swords, the green-haired swordsman leaning forward with the third blade in his mouth: - "Wolf Blade Stream" - And slashing at his opponent's stomach with it, Cabaji falling forward, defeated and bleeding heavily from the singular slash

"Gah! Ca-Cabaji! W-w-wait, wait, Zoro, wai-" - Zoro did not wait, charging forward at his sole remaining opponent, who attempted to turn and run away. To his unpleasant surprise, the swordsman was faster, and was already in front of him as Mohji turned away: - "Demon Slash!"

And as Zoro stood up from his last attack, Mohji falling with three bloody cuts on his chest, he turned to face his captain

"Candy Candy Axe!" - Whose extended leg descended like the hammer of an angry god, crushing an oddly small Buggy

"Hey!" - Luffy's first action was a punch. Do remember that said punch was delivered while launching himself at high speed from the building's rafters

"Who the flashy hell are you!?" - Buggy had no troubles evading the attack, lashing out with his dagger filled hand, but missing the attack, Luffy passing right alongside him: - "With three swords, I can suspect your flashy partner's identity, but who the flashy hell are you!?"

"I'm Luffy, nice to meet ya" - Laughed the boy with the straw hat, as he stood up and started walking back inside the building he just skipped from: - "And you're Buggy, right? Damn, Shanks never told me you were so funny looking, shishishishi"

"S-S-Shanks? You know that bastard!?" - The comment made Luffy stop, not because of the insult, but because Buggy walked out of the building: - "Hm, yeah, I can believe you; I'm flashily certain I've seen that boring hat on his empty head before"

"Yeah, he used my village as a base of operations for a time when I was a child. He gave me his hat back then"

Buggy snorted in his place, drawing four more daggers for his empty hand: - "Spare me the flashy life stories, brat; you just attacked me and my men"

"You'll pay for that with your flashy~ life~"

Luffy outright guffawed at the comment, not intimidated at all: - "I-I'm sorry Buggy, b-but" - With a deep breath, Luffy controlled himself: - "Sorry, but I'm going to be the Pirate King!"

Buggy's jaw literally dropped, separating from his body and hitting the ground. Sputtering, he spoke: - "Are you out of your mind!?"

The battle begun in earnest then, Buggy starting: - "Chop Chop Cannon!" - And sending his recently rearmed hand at his opponent, who grasped the flying appendage firmly, moving his head aside before releasing it harmlessly past his ear

Already with the idea that the attack would turn at his back, Luffy rushed forward, an arm cocked and ready to deliver a devastating punch. Buggy grinned, and met the charge head-on, his remaining hand poised to strike

A punch deflected on Buggy's forearm, a quick swipe that brushed on Luffy's shirt, a kick that Buggy jumped over, another blocked by a raised knee; Luffy and Buggy, in pure physical strength, were evenly matched, which, quite frankly, disappointed a lot the boy with the straw hat

"This-" - A dodge, ducking under another kick: - "Is the guy who sailed with Shanks? Ya know he's one of the Yonkou, right?"

"Don't remind me of that flashy bastard!" - Punch, punch, and uppercut, all evaded, forcing the defender back to evade the daggers: - "Thanks to him, I'm here; thanks to him, I lost all the flashiest treasures of the world!"

"… The hell you're talking about?" - Luffy knew, thanks to Garp blurting it out, that Shanks was one of the Gold Roger's crewmates, and thus, so was Buggy; what bigger treasure could there be than sailing with the King of Pirates himself, and burying the One Piece?"

"It was a dark and flashy night" - Began Buggy, crossing his arms, his dismembered hand snapping its fingers as if demanding attention: - "We had just finished taking the treasure of a ship, when Shanks informed me that amongst the treasures was a Devil Fruit-"

"Oh! And they're really valuable, aren't they?" - In fact, if not for his desire to save as many lives from the fire, he wouldn't have gambled with his Devil Fruit

"Don't interrupt me! Flashy bastard! Ahem" - Buggy shouted, pointing with both his attached and floating hand, before coughing in said floating hand: - "But yes, they are"

"I myself had also found a map to an underwater treasure. I had then the perfect plan to start my own crew: Take the fruit with me, sell it, and use the money gained from it and the treasure to become rich! Flashily brilliant!" - Shouted 'the Clown', his arms open, his hand back to its place at the end of his arm: - "I made a fake of the Devil Fruit and ate it, and was preparing to depart when he appeared"

"Who, Shanks?" - "Yes! Shanks! To hide my devious trick, I put the Devil Fruit in my mouth to hide it" - Luffy started snickering, hiding it behind his hand: - "Then, right after he turned around, he turned again and surprised me!"

"He made me eat the fruit, and drop my map in the ocean!" - Shouted Buggy, an aura of violence around him, intensifying as Luffy outright laughed at the story: - "I dived to try and retrieve the map, but by them it was too late; I couldn't even move while underwater! If not for Shanks, I'd have died!"

"It's all his fault! I become a weakling for eating the Devil Fruit! At least half of the flashy treasures of the world are gone from my hands! What are you flashily laughing about, you bastard!?"

"Of you" - Here, Luffy's laugher turned outright mocking, the boy smirking nastily at Buggy: - "You stole from your crew, tried to run away, and was still spared, and you dare curse the one who saved your life?"

"E-eh… w-when put like that…" - Stammered Buggy, Luffy smirk turning into a frown:

"You steal from others, attack innocent people, and goes against your own crew? And dare be ungrateful when they save your own life!? You're a horrible pirate, Buggy, and I'm going to put an end to you right now!"

"Candy~ Candy~, Cannonball!" - His hands latching on the ground, Luffy skipped backwards, stretching his candy arms, then dashed forward, launching himself through his improvised slingshot at his baffled opponent, not expecting another Devil Fruit user. Buggy still evaded the attack, sweating as he noticed that Luffy transformed into whatever he was, and was thus a Logia

"Y-you think that you can deal with me!?" - While Buggy never learned Haki to the extent of Shanks, and was thoroughly out of practice, that didn't mean he was defenceless, drawing a hidden, special dagger: - "Come and get it!"

"Candy Candy Pistol!" - The fast punch almost struck Buggy again, barely evading the stretched fist and slashing with his special dagger, made of Seastone, touching the syrup and making it decay, turning into nothing and leaving the candy to splash on the ground, separated from its user. That, however, did not weaken said user: - "Candy Candy Pistol!"

That punch did struck Buggy, the blow separating his jaw from his body and sending the man flying in the air, until he snapped back, held by the sticky substance to Luffy's fist: - "-And Cannonball!" - The body blow that followed finally separated the two, while also separating Buggy from his valuable dagger

Throwing the handful of daggers he still held, Buggy scrambled to grab his prized Seastone dagger, but failed, as Luffy didn't gave him a second of rest: - "Candy Candy Axe!" - He exclaimed, his leg launched high and solidified, turning into a pillar of rock hard candy, and falling at high speed at his opponent, who divided himself in two to evade the attack

Linking himself together, 'the Clown' shouted: - "Chop Chop Festival!" - And dismantled his body into various small parts, sending them scrambling everywhere

"Whoa!" - Jumping around, Luffy was able to evade the cloud of body parts, doing so more by instinct than anything else, as he lost track of the mysterious dagger that had cut through his syrupy attack

With his head and hands floating up, Buggy, panting and huffing declared: - "I don't understand why you're so flashily pissed off, 'Straw Hat' Luffy, but I don't care! All I care about is treasure! Gold, silver, jewels!"

Then he spied, a little orange-haired lass with a massive sack on her back, tiptoeing away, making his greedy instincts blare: - "Like the ones that brat just stole!"

"Eh!?" - In face of the accusation, coming from a head and two hands floating, Nami couldn't help but flinch: - "M-m-me? I-I'm j-just t-taking some t-things from h-h-home!?"

"Which is treasure! Minemineminemine!" - Cried out Buggy, charging forward, and making Luffy snarl. The snarl turned into a nasty grin as he realized that Buggy's feet where walking rather than floating

"Gimme! Give me the treasure!" - "N-no way! It's mine!" - Nami tried to slam the heavy sack of stolen treasure into the charging head, but it simply stopped, his hands halting the treasure and gripping it

"Mnhehehe, no, little girl, this treasure is mine no- hurgh!" - Buggy tried to gloat. Tried, as Luffy shouted: - "Candy~ Candy~"

Buggy turned to look at the boy plaguing him, and saw that his hands where on the floor, anchoring him as he stood high above: - "Press!" - And fell, pulled by his arms, crushing his feet, which were walking too slowly to evade the attack

"Grrr~, I'll deal with you later" - Grunted 'the Clown', turning to face his opponent, who simply grinned unrepentant: - "I'm your opponent Buggy, don't forget it"

"Oh yeah, well, prepare yourself 'Straw Hat'" - Declared Buggy, revealing his special dagger, which he recovered somehow: - "I'll deal with you this time! Chop Chop Harpoon!" - The bladed hand charged forward, joining with most of his forearm in mid-air, making Luffy snort:

"This just makes it easier to grab-" - "Disassemble!" - The real attack of the technique showed itself, as Luffy grabbed the arm, and the hand separated, stabbing forward, only barely missing Luffy by sheer luck, through still knocking his hat from his head

"… Okay, that was creative" - Luffy dusted his hat, putting it back on his head, and ducking as the hand tried to stab him in the back, passing harmlessly over him, the dark-haired teen charging forward right after it: - "Candy Candy, Pistol!"

Calling his attack and launching his fist forward, the attack almost struck the flying hand, who hastily evaded the punch; Buggy smile faded as he discovered the attack was now reading straight at him, 'the Clown' outright squawking at being struck and launched, landing right in front of the Drinker's Pub

However, 'the Clown' wasn't down yet. Panting, he stood up, and declared: - "Y-you think I'm down? Not yet… not yet! Chop Chop Assembly!"

His body parts floated in the air… but all that he received was his hands and feet, attaching themselves to his head like a demented caricature of a human. Luffy couldn't resist, and outright fell down laughing 'till it hurts, yet kept going, especially as he realized what happened, glancing backwards and seeing Nami, of all people, standing on a tied-up pack of body parts

"N-Nami, y-you're the best, shi, heh, now I really want you on my crew!" - And with that, he launched his leg up, again turning it into a pillar of solid candy, before slamming it down on the shrunk Buggy, ignoring his stammering and begging: - "Candy Candy Axe!"

The aftermath of the fight was spent mostly winding down and carrying away all the treasure of Buggy, abusing his unconsciousness to take even more than the tangerine-haired thief could take, much to her happiness. Included, was the Seastone dagger, who now rested in a hidden sheath alongside her staff, which meant Luffy had no idea where it was guarded

It helped that shortly after they reached the harbour, they met the trio of stooges they defeated while at sea, who promptly ran away, leaving behind their relatively bigger boat, with a treasure chest already present and already filled, to Nami's further glee

All the fun went away as Nami found herself sitting in front of Luffy, who sat in seiza, with a serious expression and dressed with his coat, Zoro somewhere behind her, which was much more intimidating than they probably meant. Right?

"Nami" - Started Luffy, his gaze softening at the lass: - "I'd like you to join my crew"

"… Don't we already have a deal?" - Fidgeted the ginger, looking back, relaxing only slightly at the sight of Zoro fast asleep

"Yeah, we have; and I want to change it" - She hastily turned to stare at him, blinking: - "You're awesome, Nami; you're also probably the best navigator on the East Blue"

"I want you to permanently join the 'Straw Hat' pirates" - Declared Luffy, standing tall and proud, a happy smile on his face as if expecting a positive answer

Nami didn't want to give him a negative one. She, however, couldn't give a positive one, her hand hovering over her right shoulder: - "I… I- can't accept"

Luffy, to her relief, appeared confused, but nodded in agreement, though he asked: - "What do I need to do then?"

"Luffy-" - "Nami, hear me out"

Nami did shut up, and listened: - "I can already tell that you like us; even more than you hate pirates"

"The fact you can't accept also means that you like us enough to stay with us. So something is stopping you from accepting"

Luffy's legs moved, the boy exiting his seiza position for a much more comfortable one: - "So, what do I need to do to help you? Is it a sick family member? Are you being threatened or something?"

"Something" - Muttered Nami, who flinched. She hadn't meant to actually answer that out loud. Then the lass squeaked, as Luffy, suddenly, hugged her

"Then let me help you"

"… You know… you might" - Nami suddenly realized something very important. Luffy didn't just manipulate candy syrup, he also transformed into the material

"I'm from Cocoyashi Village in Conomi Island, and we have a big problem…" - She said, a devious idea forming on her head

AN: Okay, and~ cut. Shorter than average, but then again, it is Christmas, I can get away with lazing a little

So, Merry Christmas! Or merry holidays, or merry whatever else you might commemorate this day!

On towards the reviews: Awareness Bringer, thank you for the review. I personally don't mind the spoiler, but others might, so be careful with them; the fruit you mention is, canonically, the Lick Lick Fruit, and nothing else I'll say of the matter, to not spoil it for others. The one I'm using for Luffy is the Candy Candy Fruit, in the original Japanese the Ame Ame no Mi, used by Gasparde, the villain of the fourth movie, Dead End Adventure. It was a Logia Devil Fruit that gave him the power to transform into a green candy syrup

Johnny Spectre... knowing Luffy, he'd probably taste like meat. How that would taste like is a mistery even to me; meanwhile, I believe not even a complete glutton like Bonney or Luffy himself might be curious enough to find out...

sudhush, thanks again for the review; and concerning your question, fire would totally hurt Luffy. The fact he can drown flames in candy syrup doesn't make him immune to said flames

And to both guests, thanks for the review, and don't worry; the only pairing I can confirm right now is Usopp x Kaya; everyone else can still be paired with everyone else

About differences with canon, the second principal one here is that Luffy is far less forgiving of Buggy for, basically, stealing from his crew. The fact that he also was ungrateful and attacking the idol of Luffy didn't help, even if rationally 'Straw Hat' knew he didn't need to care about the insults

The one even further important, is that Nami is planning to betray Arlong; the minx is a devious girl, she's a trickster, she's a thief and a damn good one, and she doesn't trust Arlong even with his words about money. So she is preparing a back-up, in case the fishman tries to spoil her Plan A

Last and least, is the dagger I gave to Buggy to combat Devil Fruit users. I believe he has some sort of complex, believing himself inferior, considering how his old crew saw his act of eating the fake Devil Fruit; it resulted in him seeing himself as weak, as everyone believed that losing the ability to swim was too big a cost for something that could be useless. That is why he decideed to stay on the East Blue, rebuilding his forces on a weak environment, not realizing he was strong, and was in fact getting weaker and dependant of his weaponry, even if he was getting more and more creative with his Devil Fruit and more knowledgeable about his chemistry and explosives

That doesn't stop him from being an ungrateful arse, in my opinion

And that's it. Review, comment what you like, point out what you dislike, and again, Happy Christmas Holidays from Brazil to everyone reading!

Peace!