I'll let you know that this chapter caused me trouble, at the same time I thank those of you who sent their opinions on my using the Japanese or English translation of Buggy's attacks. I've decided to keep Zoro's attacks in Japanese due to all of them being food puns and I kind of like that (since I have the opportunity to finally use it for a joke ;P) From now on, depending on the character as well as how the attack names sounds, I'm going to use the word that sounds the best. The reason is that some attacks are really hard to translate and even if you manage sounds dorky. I don't think I'll have much trouble in a long time. There are two I've already foreseen, but let's take them as they come :) Now my only hope is that this chapter is satisfactory.
For those of you waiting for the Star's last chapter; I'm working on it.
Enjoy, and please don't forget to review to let me know how I'm doing with this :D
Part 4; The Thief and the Clown
Chapter 4/4; Battle! The Buggy pirates VS. The Straw Hat pirates
It was with a skip in her gait that Ruffy strolled through the streets towards the drinker bar where Buggy and his gang were hanging out. Zoro didn't rush either, and it made Nami near hysterical.
"Hey. Shouldn't we run? What if the chief is killed before we get there."
"He's in no danger of dying," Ruffy said reassuringly and hummed a little tune, as if she wasn't on her way to battle.
Nami couldn't really name what she felt getting mixed with her anxiety, but it wasn't something pleasant. "Just where does all that confidence come from? He's an old man!"
"Old is the oldest" Ruffy sang, ticking off Nami even more. "He's hanging in there quite well if you ask me."
Zoro huffed. "That's quite a useful ability you have, Ruffy."
"It is sometimes."
Nami quirked a suspicious eyebrow. "What ability?" she demanded to know.
They rounded a corner and in front of them the chief was floating a few inches above ground level, kicking with his legs. Ruffy quickened her pace to bring the old man back to earth.
Zoro turned to the thief girl to answer her question. "Ruffy told me she can hear heartbeats. I'm not sure what it means exactly, but that way she can tell who and where a person is."
Nami was about to retort, saying how ridiculous that sounded, but Buggy's voice echoed through the area. "So you came back here by your own will? This time I'll make sure to kill you all!"
"Whatever," Nami scoffed, deciding whatever Ruffy said about herself had nothing to do with the mission at hand, and she pointed at the swordsman. "You can fight all you want, but I'm going to collect the treasure."
"Suit yourself," Zoro shrugged, not caring either way.
"You little brats," a hoarse voice sounded.
The trio looked down at the wheezing chief. His voice was hoarse and he was rubbing his bruising throat. Ruffy had positioned herself in front of the chief, but from the old man's voice it wasn't a popular move. The glare he gave her only further proved how he liked them being there at all.
He growled at them. "This is my fight. Outsiders should stay out." He grabbed his spear from the ground and jumped to his feet, starting to walk by Ruffy, something she didn't appreciate. "I'm the chief. I have to protect my own town!"
Without warning the pirate girl flung her arm out and sent the old man flying head first into a wall.
Nami gasped, watching with horror as the man fell into an awkward heap, unconscious. She turned furious eyes to Ruffy. "Wha… what did you do that for? He's the chief! An old man!"
"An old man in my way," the other girl answered lightly and cracked her knuckles.
"Good thinking," Zoro said. "He'd die for sure if we'd let him fight. He's safer like that."
Nami found she really couldn't argue with that, but still! "You didn't have to be that reckless!"
Ruffy turned to her friends as she stepped closer to the bar. "You two stand back. I'm gonna try something."
It was the look on her face that made Zoro grab the navigator and put a safe distance between them and his captain.
"What? What's she gonna do?" Nami wanted to know, or not, she wasn't sure.
Zoro just shook his head as he watched his captain's back. "I don't know, but I'm sure it's something crazy."
Ruffy inhaled as much as her lungs could expand and used all the air to scream; "BIG RED TOMATO NOOOOOOSSSSEEEE!"
Nami almost died. "You're right! She's crazy!"
It took Buggy a full ten seconds to regain enough of his senses to decide on an action and speak. "FIRE HARD! BUGGY BALL! BLOW THAT GIRL TO SMITHERIEES! DIE IN A FLASH!"
"I'm outta here!" Nami declared and turned on her heels as the cannon aimed at them and the fuse was lightened.
"Ruffy, watch out!" Zoro called and reached for his captain, feeling his heart jump into his mouth when he heard the boom of the cannon. They wouldn't make it.
But the girl didn't move. What she did do was a move unseen ever before in the East Blue; she rapidly spun around, caught the cannon ball flying and sent it straight back to its owner.
Buggy only had time to start screaming before the explosion cut him off. The whole building blew up.
Ruffy threw her arms in the air and cheered. "Yahoo! I always wanted to try that!"
Zoro sighed and rubbed his forehead in both relief and annoyance. "Warn me you can do things like that."
Nami hadn't gotten very far. Actually she had only taken a few steps before the cannon had fired and she turned to see what happened. Now her legs felt wobbly and gave in at Ruffy's display of a strength her skinny little body definitely shouldn't be able to host.
It was a little difficult to breathe with her heart pumping from the fright she just had, but Nami still managed to find the breath to yell. "Just what kind of monster are you?! What the hell was that?"
Ruffy turned around with a wide grin and stars in her eyes, giving her friends a thumb up. "Old bastard methods."
"Old bastard? What does that mean?" Nami jumped back to her feet and grabbed Ruffy by the shoulders. "I thought it was strange you could fight with that lion and come back alive! Are you even human? A scrawny little girl like you throwing back a cannonball shot from a cannon! That's just not normal."
"I told you the old bastard taught me," Ruffy explained.
"Make sense when you talk!"
"I don't think she can," Zoro said with a wave of his hand.
Nami gritted her teeth and was about to say something more, but the sound of a now familiar voice stopped her.
"You little maggots."
They turned towards the rubble that once was a bar where the growling voice had come from. Now that the smoke was clearing they could see two people and the belly of a lion there.
Nami realized first what it was they saw. "His men? He used them as shields."
The lion was lowered to reveal a slim man in a blue coat, blue- and white scarf and a funny haircut standing behind it.
"We've never been this humiliated before, captain."
The other two people fell. Buggy stood there with his head lowered. "I'm so angry I can't find a word to say."
A third person stood from the debris, one with white hair and bear ears on top of his head. "Ouch. Damn, I must have fainted…" He looked up, rubbing his head and found his best friend unconscious in the hands of the crew's strategist. "Hey, Cabaji! What are you doing to my Richie?!"
"This kitten?" the man holding up the lion asked nonchalantly. "I didn't want my cloths to get dirty, so I used it as a shield." He threw the lion away from him with disinterest. Moji crawled over to his beloved lion and worriedly fussed over it. Richie was still alive, but badly burnt and wounded.
Beast-tamer Moji glared angrily at his fellow. "Cabaji, you freaking…" He paused, because he saw something familiar beyond the slim man that his poor Richie's body had covered from his view before. Standing a short distance away was a person he recognized. One he had returned to the base to warn his captain about, but his strength had failed him after struggling to carry Richie with him and he had collapsed before he could bring the news about the girl standing before them now.
"No! The straw hat! Not you! Captain Buggy, be careful. That girl has eaten a devil fruit too! She's super strong!"
Nami turned back to the other girl. "Devil fruit?"
"Yup."
"So you really have eaten a devil fruit," Zoro said with a slight smirk, pleased he'd guessed right.
Buggy stared into the eyes of the girl across of him. The straw hat on her head and the straightforward look in her eyes made her resemble a certain bastard that made his blood boil even hotter.
"So she's eaten a devil fruit. That would explain a few things," the clown captain mused mostly to himself before his freely flying hand grabbed his first mate around the collar. "Moji," he started calmly. "If you knew about that," Buggy threw his nakama towards Ruffy with a roar, "WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY SO?!"
"I tried…!" Moji saw the straw hat girl standing in the course he was flying. "Get out of my way!" he cried at her.
"I'm already done with you," the girl scoffed, flung her arm out again and sent the guy flying into another wall. He fell into a graceless heap, unconscious. Ruffy snorted at him. "Stay down or you'll just die."
Someone was yelling, and when Ruffy spun around, the slim man seated on a unicycle and swinging a sword was coming at her fast.
"I am the strategist, Cabaji the acrobat!" he introduced himself.
Ruffy jumped backwards, and then Zoro stood in front of her blocking the attack.
"Swordfights are my specialty," was all he said.
The acrobat backed away slightly, smirking with self-confidence. "I'm honoured, Lolonoa Zoro. To think I'll be the one to take you down."
Ruffy frowned worriedly as she glanced at her friend's side. Zoro had been too weak to move from the blood loss before, and now the wound Buggy had caused him had reopened.
"You sure about this, Zoro?" she asked cautiously.
"I'm sure. Get out of my way."
The girl only nodded and backed away. Zoro was grateful. Women didn't always understand what honour meant to a man.
"As expected of the great Lolonoa Zoro," the clown smirked. "As a swordsman, I would have lost my respect for you if you took help from a girl."
Zoro decided not to answer. Obviously this clown hadn't met many women in his life or he wouldn't have opened his ugly mouth.
The acrobat pulled his scarf down. "Have a taste of my Fire trick!"
He breathed fire! Zoro closed his eyes and staggered backwards, one arm up to protect his face. The next second all he could feel was a terrible pain in his side searing through his whole body. The surprise had him screaming before he realized what happened. That damn clown had kicked him!
"What's this? I didn't kick that hard, did I?"
That priggish voice. Zoro gritted his teeth as he tried to catch his breath enough to get up from the ground.
His enemy wouldn't let him though. "My next performance is," the acrobat stuck the tip of his sword into the dirt and waved his swords-arm around like a windmill. "Murder mist trick!"
"Not much of a performance," Zoro scoffed. "You're only pulling up dust."
A sword cut through the cloud and Zoro had to use both his swords to block it, which was difficult enough in his half-lying position, and he had no chance of avoiding the foot he saw from the corner of his eye once again aiming for his side.
'What the hell!'
It hurt. But even so; what was he doing?! Rolling around on the ground screaming like a loser. He had always known pirates played dirty.
'Fine,' Zoro thought angrily. 'If he wants to play the game that way, go ahead.'
The clown charged again. "You're mine! Lolonoa Zoro!"
He was right-handed, so Zoro dodged to his right and planted a good left hook in his opponent's face that threw him right off his annoying unicycle.
"Stop yapping, you dork. Is hitting my wounds really that much fun?"
Turning his sword around in his hand, Zoro cut his side open worse than it was before. It hurt more than he had expected, and the loss of blood had already started to get to him, but he had to endure. If he didn't, a life in shame was all that awaited him, and that was no future.
He glared at his enemy. "My sword will be the world's greatest," he stated firmly.
"What?" the acrobat voiced stupidly.
"Is this enough of a handicap for you?" Zoro went on and unsheathed Kuina's katana. "I'll prove that you and I aren't playing in the same dimension."
"Lolonoa Zoro. You are a fool," the clown acrobat said with heartfelt pity, easily kicking up his unicycle and getting back up on it.
"Whatever," Zoro snorted. "I won't allow myself to lose even once against someone who calls himself a swordsman." He bit down on the handle of his white katana.
The clown laughed. "Are you ambitious or just stubborn? I'll give you points for having willpower though. Don't worry; you couldn't win against me before you cut yourself, but if it makes you feel better you can use that wound as an excuse to have lost against me."
"Wrong." Zoro stood with a snarl. "If I lose to someone like you with a petty wound like this, nothing will become of me."
The acrobat growled. "Don't get so cheeky bastard. Have a taste of my best performance." He lifted his hands where he had gotten a few spin tops to spin on his palms. "One hundred cutting tops typhoon!" he cried and a storm of the spinning child toys came flying from his coat.
Zoro didn't know if she should snap or cry. 'Spin tops? Seriously?!' And this guy actually dared calling himself a swordsman?! Just because you could hold and swing a sword it didn't make you a swordsman! This guy wasn't even using the sword half of the time!
With the speed the tops came at him by Zoro could easily cut them. It hardly even hurt when the cut halves hit his body save the wounded area.
"Wall climbing!"
Zoro blinked. "What?"
When the spin tops stopped coming Zoro's opponent was not in front of him, but there was a strange shadow on the ground.
"Rising fireworks!"
Looking up Zoro found the acrobat high in the air and soon on his way down sword first.
"Cabaji. I'll hold him, so finish him off!"
Buggy's voice! Zoro turned and saw a hand without the rest of the body coming at him. Growling with dismay he still jumped out of the way for the falling sword hoping his luck was enough to save him.
He managed! The hand didn't come and pull him back into the line of the blade and the unicycle guy hit the ground a few feet away. Hearing Buggy howling in pain Zoro looked up with surprise and saw Ruffy's thin back in a slightly crouched position and digging her heel into the ground. Under her foot was Buggy's hand.
"Don't interfere with Zoro's fight," Ruffy's dangerously level voice sounded.
Zoro couldn't help but let his breath out, and send a silent thank you to his captain as he heard Buggy curse her loudly.
His opponent was looking down at his slumped form with disapproval. "You dodged it, Lolonoa," he stated as if it was a crime.
"Enough," Zoro voiced hoarsely. "I'm sick…"
"Sick?" The man on the unicycle laughed, completely dropping his guard. "You're getting low on blood? Giving up at last? I understand you, Lolonoa. I'm impressed you can even stand up with a wound…"
Zoro kicked out and the unicycle rolled away without its rider, the clown landing on his butt. Zoro stood and glared down at his opponent with utter contempt. "I said I'm sick… of watching your dorky circus performances."
The acrobat wasn't laughing anymore. Without his dear unicycle his speed was cut down and with his opponent in between him and his wheel he couldn't make a run for it either. His pride forbade. "Whatever! I can finish you off either way, with my real sword skill!"
Zoro crouched down deep and crossed his arms over his chest with his katana pointing upwards, waiting for his enemy. The acrobat just charged, holding his sabre to stab, looking clumsy when running on his own two feet and without much technique. Because this man was a clown pirate, not a real swordsman.
Zoro's body moved forward so fast it was like his legs were made out of springs, his three katana crossing each other in a star shape. "Onigiri!"
The one who was cut was the acrobat.
Buggy cried out in surprise and anger. Ruffy cheered. Cabaji… he felt the cuts on his body, how deep they were, and watched his own blood dance like raindrops in front of his eyes. How could this be? How could he be defeated with only one attack? Even though it was the rumoured Pirate hunter Lolonoa Zoro, this shouldn't have happened.
"We are… the Buggy pirates…" the he gasped in shock, watching as the world darkened. "How…? Against some common thieves…?"
Zoro pulled his bandana off. He had called Ruffy an idiot more than once, but these clowns were way stupider than even her. Quite a feat actually. "We're not some thieves," he informed his already unconscious opponent. "We're pirates."
His legs gave away under him and the ground was hard and cold to land on. His head was spinning from the blood loss and he was quite hungry. Maybe cutting himself up had been stupid of him after all. Well, what's done is done and his weary eyes caught sight of Ruffy's proud face looking at him.
"Ru… Ruffy. I'm tired, so I'll sleep for a moment," he told her weakly.
The girl smiled at him. "Sleep tight, Zoro. I'll take care of the rest."
And Zoro fell into a deep sleep.
Ruffy turned towards the last man standing; Buggy the clown. He was giving her a rather scrutinizing glare.
"You are… pirates?" he asked doubtfully.
"That's right," the girl confirmed easily. "So we're taking the chart of the Grand Line you have."
Buggy made a sound in between a scoff and a laugh. "I see. Pirates huh? That explains why you've been such a bother. And you want to go to the Grand Line as well? What for? That's not the kind of place you just go to, especially not nameless pirates like you. So what are you going to do in the Grand Line? Go sight-seeing?"
"I'm going to be the king of pirates," Ruffy told him with a clear voice.
The clown gaped, and then laughed until he lay on the ground holding his stomach and with tears rolling down his cheeks. Ruffy thought the paint on the clown's face must be water proof since it wasn't ruined by the tears.
"You?!" Buggy cried in between laughs. "The king of pirates?! Buwahahahaha! That's the most hilarious thing I've ever heard! A scrawny little girl like you as the pirate king?" He laughed a bit more before he dried his eyes, still chuckling as he got to his feet. "Don't kid yourself, girl. Let me give you a piece of free advice; give up on such big dreams. You'll just die."
"Why don't you try me then?" Ruffy shrugged, having waited patiently for Buggy to stop laughing. "If I win, it proves I'm as good a pirate as anyone and you'll give me the chart."
"Oh?" Buggy voiced, now interested. "So what will you do when you lose?"
"I lose when I die," the girl declared with a slow smirk.
The clown chuckled. "You're funny," he told her. "No brain, but that conviction burning about you is a tad bit admirable. Though that stupid straw hat you have is annoying. Reminds me of that despicable redhead."
Ruffy's heart jumped. "Redhead?" she repeated. There was only one red-haired person the straw hat could remind anyone of. "Shanks?"
Buggy blinked in slight surprise. "Hm? You know him?"
"Do you know where he is now?"
"What's this? You seem awfully interested." Buggy smirked playfully, rubbing his chin in a feigned thoughtful manner. "Do I know where he is? Maybe I don't."
Ruffy gave him a strange look. "You don't know whether you know where Shanks is or not? Are you really stupid?"
"Watch your little tongue, midget! What I'm saying is," he made a move with his hands and eight knives appeared in them, hilts between his fingers, "I won't answer that question. I'm not the kind of nice guy to hand over information just because you want it."
"Oh," Ruffy voiced as she understood, so she smirked excitedly and cracked her knuckles, getting into fighting position. "So I just have to beat you until you tell me."
"Watch your tongue, I said." Buggy kicked his heels into the ground and like stilettos blades came out from the tips of his shoes. He leered at the girl pirate. "You can throw back cannonballs, but that kind of strength doesn't work against blades, correct?"
Not catching the mockery of the clown's voice Ruffy nodded her head. "That's right."
"Good. Chop Chop Bug Saw!"
The clown came apart at the middle and sent his lower body spinning like a saw blade at high speed. Ruffy grabbed Shodai and jumped high into the air, pulling her legs up as close to her body as possible.
"In the air you're nothing but an open target!" she heard Buggy yell.
Looking up she saw how knives came flying. Unable to dodge in mid-air, Ruffy swiftly took out Shodai from her belt and countered instead.
The knives harmlessly clattered to the ground, Buggy's legs returned to him and Ruffy landed softly on her feet, unscratched and with Shodai still sheathed.
Buggy glared at the weapon. He hadn't paid too much attention to it before since the sheath didn't make an impression of high value. "A katana? You a swordsman?"
"Nope, not at all," the pirate girl answered and picked up a loose cobblestone the size of her fist from the street. Though Buggy wanted to know what the girl was doing with a sword if she couldn't use it, he realized she wouldn't give him the time to ask when she threw the rock at him as hard as she could.
Ruffy didn't rest. When Buggy's eyes followed the course of the rock she ran after it with the sheathed Shodai ready. Unfortunately the clown wasn't that easily fooled.
"Chop Chop Escape!"
Buggy's head flew away and Shodai's sheath cut only the air between head and body, and with the speed Ruffy had with her the lack of an impact had her stumble straight into the rubble of the former drinking bar.
Sitting up from the debris Ruffy fixed her hat and looked to the chuckling clown. "Damn, that was a surprise. Never fought with someone who picked himself apart before."
"I'm one of a kind, girl," Buggy proudly and happily informed her, playing with yet another knife in his hand.
The girl smirked and got into fighting position again. "My strength doesn't protect me against blades, but your ability doesn't protect you from fists. If I can get in a punch you're done for."
Buggy smirked back. "If you can manage to get a punch in you mean. Good luck."
The girl beamed. "Thanks!"
"Don't take it as encouragement! Chop Chop Cannon!"
Taken by surprise and at the same time knowing this wasn't a projectile she could dodge Ruffy dropped Shodai to catch the wrist of the knife-armed hand that came at her, the knives only inches away from her face.
"Release."
It was instinct that saved her when she only just managed to move the arm sideways and tilt her head the other way to save her eyes when the hand parted from the wrist. But it was a close call. The knives cut through the skin of the side of her face and her ear.
Falling on her butt the straw hat fell off her head. Ruffy dropped the clown's wrist and swiftly rolled over to get back up, reaching for Shodai first and then her hat.
She froze.
Buggy wasn't late to notice the girl's suddenly rigid form. "What happened now, Mugiwara?"
With blood slowly dripping down her face and neck the girl scrunched her nose up and sent a cold, golden-eyed glare at the clown. "Now you've done it," she growled deeply.
"Done it?" Buggy tilted his head. The girl's glare didn't faze him as he continued to mock her. "Didn't you like being cut in the face? Oh, of course, my bad. For a girl to be cut in the…"
"…hat."
The clown paused, not sure he had heard that right. "… Pardon?"
Ruffy held up her straw hat, her eyes fixed on the torn brim of it. "You cut my hat," she repeated stiffly. "This hat…!" She jumped back to her feet and yelled. "I got this hat from Sun! It's not mine! I was going to find Shanks and give it back to him!"
Buggy scoffed. "So it is Shanks' hat. No wonder it's so familiar. He always wore it beside me back when we were pirate trainees. Used to be my nakama, that cheeky bastard." He chuckled low in his throat and glanced behind the girl towards his hand hiding in the debris. "But if it's that precious to you…"
Following the clown's gaze to behind her, Ruffy quickly jumped sideways with the hat pressed to her chest, just barely avoiding the knife aiming for her back, but she stumbled on a piece of wood and flapped with her arms to regain her balance.
"Protect it better!" Buggy finished his sentence and watched his enemy's chocked face with satisfaction when his hand returned to its owner, along with a pierced straw hat.
Ruffy heard the clown laughing from far away. Her eyes were fixed on the straw hat, her promise and the memory of Sun flashing through her head as fast and merciless as lightning.
"This straw hat belongs to Akagami no Shanks?"
"I think so. It looks the same as the one he had."
Sun examined the hat she had been fanning herself with. "Hm? It's not much of a hat really, and I don't actually need it. I just found it floating on the sea, so I picked it up."
Found it on the sea? Did that mean that Shanks was hurt? Was he dead? No, that couldn't be! But he had said that straw hat was really important to him, so why had it been floating around on the sea?
She looked up in time to see Sun smile and the straw hat landed on her own head.
"Hey, it looks good on you."
She looked up into Sun's beautiful face. "It does?
"Of course, so you keep it. Since you say you know him already, and I won't go around making friends with just anyone, you can take that back to Shanks."
"Really? I can?" If Sun said she had to return the hat, it meant Shanks was still alive right?
Sun laughed heartedly. "No, you have to. Keep holding on, stay alive until you find that man. Promise me that, okay, Ruffy."
Buggy was still laughing. The straw hat was still pieced on the knives in his hand. Ruffy had promised Sun she would live, and as long as she had the straw hat she wouldn't lose her way.
Buggy was still laughing.
Ruffy cried a shrill battle cry and charged for the clown, eyes glowing almost like fire. "I promised Sun to return that hat! Stop laughing!"
"Chop Chop Escape!" Buggy called and his head flew straight up again. But the girl didn't aim for the head. Instead her knee made hard connection with Buggy's stomach, causing him to double over and gasp for air.
Ruffy stood over him, trembling with anger, looking at her treasure lying where it had dropped to the ground with the knives still in it. When had she last felt this sort of red-hot anger? She didn't know. Most of the time anger was a cold feeling.
"You cut my hat," she spat at Buggy. "You laugh at Sun, and to top it off you dare to say you were Shank's comrade? Don't fuck with me!"
Buggy rolled around and got up on his knees, holding his stomach, no longer laughing. Moji hadn't exaggerated when he said this girl was strong. That kick had felt like something Richie the lion could deliver.
"I don't know what sun you're talking about," he coughed, "but I can say whatever I want about that blasted redhead."
Ruffy tackled him and straddled the clown's waist, held him by his throat and pulled her arm back, ready to punch.
"Chop…!"
She relaxed her arm and used it like a whip, "Stop that!" she ordered angrily, slapping Buggy clear across the face before his head could fly away again. She got a better hold on the throat and made the clown look her in the eye. "You? Shank's comrade? The two of you aren't alike in the slightest. Shanks is a great man. Don't compare yourself to him."
The clown struggled to breathe. "Who cares? I'll not forgive him for as long as I live!"
Ruffy jumped back when her opponent suddenly shattered beneath her, but he put himself back together just as fast, holding his sore throat as he stood up.
"That airhead is the only man on this earth I will never forgive. He made me eat a devil fruit that robbed me of the ability to swim. Most of the world's treasures rest in the sea! How can I get to them if I can't swim! As if that wasn't enough the treasure map that I had found was lost because he distracted me. My great plan to sell the devil fruit and claim the treasures of the map to build my own ship and have my own crew was delayed by ten years! But I've gotten a hold of myself and decided. If I can't get the treasures under the sea, I'll just grab all the treasures on land with the help of this devil ability." The clown's body raised into the air, leaving the legs standing in front of Ruffy. "That's why," he continued, his eyes moving to something behind the girl, "anybody who touches my treasure, even the slightest little bug… will die hard!"
Buggy attacked, but his aim was not Ruffy. The girl pirate turned around looking for her enemy's new target. It was Nami.
Ruffy had almost forgotten. When Zoro had fought Cabaji, the thief had excused herself to go look for the treasures. From the sack she carried it was obvious she had found them, and seeing how possessive Buggy was about his treasures it caused him to completely lose sight of his previous enemy.
He learnt the hard way that ignoring Monkey D. Ruffy was a bad idea. Letting her out of your sight and leaving your unprotected legs with her was even worse. As Nami turned and tried to run with the too heavy load, Ruffy used as much force as when she kicked his stomach, only in the most sensitive place.
All of Buggy fell to the ground in pathetically trembling and moaning heaps. "You… you dare… my balls… balls…"
Ruffy turned to where the clown's upper body lay, only an arm's reach away from Nami's feet. "You're fighting me, Buggy" the girl pirate reminded. "Don't change target before we're done."
Nami sighed with relief, grateful for the pirate girl's fast thinking. The bag was really heavy this time and there was no way she would have managed to outrun Buggy, especially not since he didn't need to run.
The thief took a better grip of the bag, fully intent on getting as far away as possible while Buggy was still squirming like a worm on the hook.
Ruffy didn't agree to that idea though. "Oi, Nami. Drop that sack and get the hell away," she called.
"Never!" the thief yelled right back, holding the bag even tighter.
Ruffy blinked. Nami's heartbeats defied the idea of letting the gold go as much as her voice did, but that wasn't what caught Ruffy's attention. There was something there that wasn't just the love of treasure, it sounded like a need for them, almost like a deep wish…
"Drop the treasure? No freaking way!" the thief shouted in absolute refusal. "Why would I leave my treasures behind?"
Buggy recovered faster after hearing that. "Y… your treasures…?"
"Damn straight!" Nami declared boldly. "I'm a thief who steals from pirates, and just now I've stolen this loot from you, which makes it all mine."
Ruffy hit her palm. "I see. Yes, that does sound logical."
"Like hell!" Buggy roared, though still with a squeak of pain in his voice as he started to get up. "That treasure is mine! It won't become yours just because you steal it! Just what kind of idiot brought you up?"
The thief girl narrowed her eyes and scoffed. "A crook lecturing a crook in how to be a good girl? Don't make me laugh!" Then, in a moment of mischief, she playfully smiled down at the man before her. "I haven't sunken low enough to let a pirate bastard make remarks on what I do."
Nami impishly stuck her tongue out. Buggy didn't take that too well.
"I hope you're prepared to die, Nami," the clown growled through clenched teeth, as he took a deep breath. "Chop Chop Festival!"
Both girls jumped when Buggy's body shattered into pieces. Ruffy got hit when the parts of the clown's legs moved past her towards Nami.
"See if you can protect your friend now, Mugiwara!" Buggy howled.
It didn't look too good Ruffy admitted. There seemed to be a reason Buggy had wished her good luck in getting a punch in on him. "Damn! Splitting into so many parts. How am I supposed to hit… this…?"
Buggy the clown still hadn't learnt the lesson to not ignore Ruffy. The girl had sharp eyes. So while the clown pirate went to hunt down Nami for the treasure, the one he should be paying attention to found his weakness.
With a gleeful smirk Ruffy got a hold of one of Buggy's feet, because they were the only parts of him that couldn't fly.
Nami was running for dear life, holding onto the treasure with desperate strength as Buggy's body parts kept hitting her, knives tried to stab her and his head was almost close enough for Nami to feel his breath on the back of her head. Why wasn't Ruffy doing anything?! Buggy was going to kill her for sure if Ruffy didn't find a way to protect her because Nami wasn't letting go of the treasure, even if she died. But she couldn't die! What could happen to everyone if she died?
"Give back my treasure!" Buggy roared, and from the corner of her eye Nami saw the flash of a knife that would surely hit her in the side.
'Bellemére-san!'
Just like that, it was like Buggy dropped dead. The shattered body fell to the ground and didn't move anymore. Nami looked around at the bloodless body parts with chocked disbelief.
"Didn't you hear me, Buggy? Your opponent is still me," Ruffy's voice called from the other side of the wreck of the bar.
Oh, so this was Ruffy's doing Nami thought with relief and feeling very stupid for her moment of belief in supernatural involvement. The thief looked up, and was honestly surprised to see Ruffy hold the clown's naked foot to her throat.
"You… little… I know this feeling." Buggy's head lay on its side right behind Nami and it didn't seem like he could move it at all, but he could still shout. "This feeling… You mean to tell me your strength doesn't come from the devil fruit?!"
"I don't know," Ruffy responded with a shrug of her shoulders. "I am strong, but I don't know if it's because of the fruit or not."
"Who the hell cares?!" Buggy howled as if he hadn't asked anything in the first place. "Remove that from me! Lying like this is embarrassing! I can't move!"
Nami was looking down at a severed head still talking. A severed head that was still talking. The thief's stomach turned and turned until the top of her disgust-meter was reached and she kicked Buggy's head away from her with a shrill scream. But she had kicked the head in Ruffy's direction and the surprise made the pirate girl drop the foot. She caught the head, and the clown started to recover immediately.
"Unforgiveable," he near whispered.
Ruffy thought about it, but instead released the head with a disgusted expression. She could hold Buggy's foot to her throat but she would rather die before she did the same with his head. It wouldn't win the battle for her anyway.
His head levitated in front of Ruffy's face. "Don't worry, Mugiwara. I'll come and get you as soon as I've gotten my treasure back. It won't be too long," he said, and almost at the same time Nami shrieked.
The thief felt a pull on the sack of treasure, but couldn't find anybody pulling it at first. That is, until she managed to twist the bag and catch sight of just what she was having a tug of war with. The most annoying thing about Buggy the clown was that he could do two things at the same time. While his head was with Ruffy, his feet had run off and his hands had gotten a hold of the sack Nami was carrying.
"What the hell!?" she protested. "Let go! This treasure is mine."
"You let go!" Buggy screamed back at the thief, once again hitting her with his flying body parts and pulling at the sack with his hands.
Even though he should have learnt it the first time he'd done it, Buggy still didn't get the hint. Ruffy ran faster than the clown's head flew.
"Stop ignoring me!" she cried angrily and kicked the floating head with all her might.
Nami yelped and fell on her butt when the tug of war between her and Buggy was interrupted, or to be more precise, there was a forceful shove from the other end and the sack passed over Nami's head as she fell back, accidentally releasing her hold. Turning around she found the material of the sack torn and Buggy's unconscious head on top of the treasure.
Ruffy smirked. "That kick was from the old chief," she informed the clown. Not that he could hear her, but still.
Nami sighed with relief. "Th… thank you."
"Don't mention it," Ruffy grinned at her before she seemed to be hit by another thought. "Hm? Oh yeah, the chart. It should be here somewhere."
The chart wasn't the only thing that lay around Nami realized. "My treasure! It got scattered everywhere." She moaned a little and glared at the dark-haired girl. "And you, dry the blood from your face, it hurts to look at it."
The other girl stared blankly at her. "Why does it matter to you? I'm a pirate, remember."
"Even so, you're a girl," Nami lectured. "Well, I am impressed you defeated Buggy and all, but you're bleeding a lot. Here, use my tissue."
Ruffy clumsily accepted the white thing forced on her. She muttered a bit, but at the same time she was a little happy, because Nami worried about her, so Ruffy used the tissue and dried her face as she looked for the chart. Her sharp eyes spotted it quite fast among the scattered body parts of Buggy's hips.
"Found it! The chart over the Grand Line," she called in victory.
"Good," Nami voiced as she gathered half of the treasure in half of the torn sack, making a tight knot on it to make sure not to drop anything.
"Wait just a minute there," a dog-like growl suddenly sounded.
The girls turned around to see Buggy's head floating again, burning with anger.
"Darn. He's still alive," Ruffy complained and rolled up the chart, putting it into the safety of her bra.
Nami by all means didn't want to be involved in a fight between those two monsters and looked around for an escape, or at least a safe place to hide, but found something better.
Buggy smirked, his eyes glowering with blood thirst. The face of pure madness. "I'm alive, Mugiwara, but you will die! All of you will die right here! Gather up, all parts!"
Ruffy grit her teeth, keeping her eyes on Buggy's head as she ducked away from flying body parts. She was going to finish this the moment the clown came back… together…
Buggy stood with his mouth open, feeling very strange. "What…?" he squeaked, blinking repeatedly. He had called for his body to gather and pulled the strings that were his connection to every part. So why… didn't it feel right?
Ruffy couldn't help but giggle at the sight in front of her. Sure, Buggy had gotten his body parts back together, but he was missing a lot of body. Quite frankly he was only feet, hands and head.
"Are you looking for these, Buggy?" Nami's voice sang out sweetly and Buggy's head whipped around, only to find something he really didn't want to see; tightly secured in a rope under the thief's foot was Buggy's missing body.
"Yikes! My parts!"
Ruffy couldn't stand up straight. She was shaking with giggles, tears forming in her eyes and her face was reddening.
"Stop laughing you fool! This isn't funny! Release my body parts, you little thief!" Buggy cried and waved with his hands, which only caused Ruffy to laugh harder.
"I said stop laughing you flashy idiot!" Buggy roared. "Nami! Untie my body parts at once! I'm gonna kill you!"
"You actually expect me to let go of my upper hand after hearing that declaration?" the thief queried with a lifted eyebrow.
Still giggling Ruffy used the sheathed Shodai to juggle the little Buggy up from the ground, like a baseball, and she swung the sword like a bat. "Cursed Power…"
"Wait! No fair!"
Shodai hit Buggy right on the nose. "Home Run!"
Nami was done gathering all the treasure, this time divided in two sacks since her big one had been torn, and turned to look at the dark-haired girl. After the mirth had passed, Ruffy had sat on the ground with her torn up hat, staring sadly at it as memories flashed in her eyes. Nami couldn't help but pity her a little bit.
"Is it really that important to you, that straw hat?"
"Yes." Ruffy replied quietly, managing a smile as she sat the hat on her head. "But I can still wear it, and I beat up Buggy too, so I guess we're even."
Still, Nami could see in the way Ruffy wobbled when she walked that she was still very upset.
Pirates trampled and destroyed everything that was important to others. That was Nami's unchanging view of pirates, but Ruffy had something that was dear to her too. Pirate or not, she wasn't a bad person. She had even fought for a dog's sake.
"I can mend it for you," Nami said softly.
"Huh?" Ruffy turned to her and blinked. "Did you say something?"
"Nothing," Nami denied and instead held up one of the two sacks of treasure. "Here, carry one of these will ya, they're really heavy." She couldn't help but smile brightly in satisfaction at that statement. "That Buggy really had a good eye for treasure. This is worth at least ten million beli!"
There was a softness around her mouth when Ruffy smiled back at her and accepted the load. "Fine, I'll help you carry that. But I'll probably have to carry Zoro too."
Nami blinked and shook her head. What was that just now? Ruffy's smile, it had almost looked like she… knew something.
Shaking her head again Nami dismissed the feeling as an effect of the battle she had just witnessed. Buggy's body splitting apart, the hands and head flying around as well as the body parts coming back together had been like seeing a dream while your eyes were still wide open. It was bound go cause her brain to short circuit at some places. Damn, she was going to have nightmares tonight.
Ruffy kneeled down beside her male friend and patted his head rather than shook him. "Oi, Zoro. Time to wake up. We're leaving now."
The swordsman groaned. "Is it over already?" He could have used another few hours of sleep before getting up.
"Yup," Ruffy smiled widely. "I got the chart and… Oi, Nami. You our nakama now?"
The other girl sighed. "I told you a dozen times; I won't become a pirate, but I can agree to work with you. With your strength I can gather the treasure from even stronger pirates than before."
Ruffy grinned. "Good. See, Zoro. We got a navigator too."
The man tried to fully understand what that meant but his head spun like a merry-go-round as he sat up. "Whatever, I don't think I can walk yet," he muttered, holding his head.
"Of course you can't," Nami scoffed. "If you could, I wouldn't call any of you guys human."
"Why not me?" Ruffy asked blinking.
"Guess three times! Because you're so skinny and still so strong! There's definitely something weird about you, and I'm not talking about eating a devil fruit."
"Hey. I didn't get to guess a single time."
Nami slapped a hand over her eyes and counted to five. This girl. "Why do you have to be like that?" she moaned.
"I don't know…" Ruffy hoisted Zoro up on her back to give him a piggy-back ride before she paused. "What do you mean?" she asked and stared at Nami.
Zoro struggled weakly against his position. "Isn't there a better way to carry me?" he near whined where he hung over his captain's shoulder.
Ruffy didn't answer. She stared at something behind Nami's back.
"Oi, you there," a sharp voice rung out behind the thief, causing Nami to tense up.
"Townspeople," Ruffy said, like a greeting.
"That's right," a young man in the front of the mob of people confirmed, his eyes flickering over the scene of destruction. "What happened here? Did the pirates fight among themselves? If you know anything, please tell us."
"Oh, I see," Nami sighed relieved and relaxed. "For a second I thought there were more pirates." She turned to fully face the people to give them a proper explanation. At least that was her intention. She never got the chance though. Somebody had spotted the still unconscious chief.
"Chief!" a male voice cried and the townspeople turned to look for the old man. Seeing his beaten form they all ran to his side.
"How terrible!" a woman cried angrily.
"Who could have done something like this?"
"Is he even alive?" a worried voice choked out.
"It must have been the pirates!" a man spat.
Hearing that last bit, Ruffy being Ruffy took a step forward. "I'm sorry. I did that to him."
A lot of angry faces turned and glared at the one who had admitted to crime. Nami almost swallowed her tongue.
"Why did you have to say that?!" she squeaked.
"But you saw I did it," the dark-haired girl replied.
"Ye… yes I saw you, but the situation…"
The villagers had heard enough. This girl had beaten down their chief, their kind leader who bravely continued to march into the town just to give food to Shushu, the late pet food store owner's little dog. They stood up clutching to brooms and farming tools they had probably grabbed to use for weapons.
"How dare you attack an old man!?"
"We won't accept excuses!"
"What are you? Pirates?"
Nami stood stiff, searching for the right words to say.
Ruffy opened her mouth. "Yup, we're pirates."
A hush fell over the crowd at that blunt confession and Nami knew right then that she had never met anyone as stupidly honest as Ruffy. Zoro laughed hard, clutching his hurting side where the wound was still bleeding a little. Nami couldn't see the humour of the situation.
"IDIOT!" she screamed at Ruffy.
"But we are," Ruffy defended.
"GET THEM!" the townspeople cried in union.
The two girls, one crying and one laughing, turned their tails and ran the other way with a mob of furious people picking up the chase. Zoro groaned slightly and tried to hold his side and Ruffy's neck at the same time, but he shouldn't complain he supposed. His captain was probably carrying him as carefully as she could. He wasn't a small load after all, almost the double size of Ruffy.
"I hate you!" Nami cried out, mentally cursing the girl with the straw hat she had pitied only moments ago. "Why did you have to say that? They got so angry."
Instead of answering Ruffy kept grinning. "Isn't this a good place?"
"What was that?"
Ruffy had some trouble holding on to both Zoro and one sack of gold, but she still ran as fast as she could and smiled brightly. "They got so angry because they love their chief. No matter what we had said, they'd still be mad at us. Turn into that alleyway."
The thief spied an opening between the houses and quickly dived into the narrow path. From the corner of her eye she saw something small and light grey, and thought she saw the other girl bend down to it.
"VOFF!"
"What? Shushu?!"
Nami dared a look over her shoulder. The townspeople had stopped, because in their way stood an angrily barking little dog. A very familiar angrily barking little dog.
"Shushu?"
"I really like that dog," laughed Ruffy. "Thank you, dog!"
They kept running all the way to the sea, and when they finally reached the harbour safe and sound, Nami stopped to catch her breath. "We got away, thanks to Shushu," she said and inhaled deeply, letting the air out in a long sigh. "Man, I don't think we deserved that."
"It doesn't matter. We're finished in this town anyway," the dark-haired girl said lightly, still grinning. She had almost dropped Zoro during the run, so she let the sack of gold down to get a better grasp of him; holding one of his thick arms around her shoulders and her other arm around Zoro's waist, half carrying and half dragging him along instead of the piggyback ride. He was quite heavy and Ruffy didn't really like the feeling of blood being soaked up by her cloths. Zoro had bled so much.
"Yes… but still," Nami mumbled to herself.
They walked up to their separate boats, and Ruffy gawked at the one Nami headed for. It was partly painted in bright colours and had a little cabin.
"Hey, is that your boat? Cool! You're so lucky!"
"You think so?" Nami shrugged, not sharing the opinion but not complaining either. "I stole it from some dumb pirates earlier."
"Dumb pirates, you say?"
Both girls looked up in surprise to hear the boat talk. It wasn't the boat though. Three men, clown pirates from the looks if it, stood up from where they had hidden in Nami's vessel, or their own more accurately since it was originally theirs. The men all glared at the thief girl with vindictive eyes and wide smirks. None of them seemed to have weapons though.
"We've been waiting for you, thief girl."
"To think we would find our stolen boat in this port."
"You didn't forget about us, did you?"
Nami laughed nervously, still not fully recovered from seeing them. This was unexpected. After she robbed them of everything but the cloths they wore she had thought they had drowned, or that the marines had picked them up, or that some other ship had done so and dutifully handed them over to the marines. How could they have come all this way? Swimming?
"Friends of yours?" Ruffy asked.
"We sort of met before," Nami shared uneasily.
"Not sort of! We have a long history together, thief girl," one of the pirates said and walked up to Ruffy. "So you got some friends with you now? Good. Then we can take you all out and give you to captain Buggy as a gift."
"He's not there anymore," Ruffy told them.
"Yeah right, you little liar," the fattest of the pirates scoffed. "We've heard a lot of explosions from captain's special cannon balls."
The man in front of Ruffy shook his head like a parent before a troublesome child. "Don't you know it's bad to steal other people's stuff? Hey you!" He patted the green head resting over the girl's shoulder. "Don't hang your head like a dead man when I'm talking to you."
Zoro, irritated from lack of blood and fatigue and the fact nobody let him sleep in peace, growled and looked up. Ruffy had never seen grown men scream so girlishly before, or swim so fast, straight into the open ocean too. Nami was now seriously wondering if those pirates really had swum all the way here from where she left them.
"Zoro has a scary face," Ruffy figured when the men were almost out of sight.
"No, I don't," Zoro denied sourly, his feelings a little hurt. Those guys hadn't had to scream that loud. He hadn't even wanted to scare them, just shut them up.
"Really? Well, it doesn't matter." The girl captain gently lifted her friend into her little boat before releasing it and kicking out from the dock. Nami followed the Ruffy's example and they both opened the sails.
"Hey, you're flying Buggy's mark," Zoro pointed out.
"Yeah, it was their boat to begin with," Nami explained with a shrug. "I'll take it down as soon as I can."
A voice suddenly echoed over the waters. "Hold it right there, you little brats!"
The three pirates turned back to the dock to see a man with white hair and a yellow shirt supporting himself on his knees as he seemed to be out of breath.
"The old chief," Ruffy voiced with slight wonder when she recognized him.
Boodle stood there gasping for air, tired from running all the way down to the harbour. He was an old man; he shouldn't press his body so hard he thought as he rested his body's weight on his knees. But Buggy's gang was gone and the people of the town were unharmed. His town and his life had been saved by the three children sailing away with the winds.
"Thank you!" he called after the small boats. "I will never forget you!"
The dark-haired pirate girl grinned. "Anytime. Take care of yourself!"
"Ah," Zoro breathed in content and sank deeper down the railing. "It's the second time we run out of a town and are thanked at the dock. Just what kind of pirates are we?"
Ruffy just laughed.
"All well that ends well," Nami sighed, but didn't feel that bad about being chased away now. After all, she had her reward. "The treasure was certainly worth it. Hey, Ruffy, give me the treasure," she said holding her hand out for the sack of gold.
The other girl stared at her. "Treasure?"
"Yes, the sack I gave you earlier," Nami reminded and waved her hand more impatiently. "I saw you were carrying it before, give it to me."
Ruffy blinked blankly and looked around in her little boat. There was a rug lying there so she checked it, but it was just the sack that had held the food from Masako-baasan.
"Where. Is. The treasure?" Nami asked slowly.
She couldn't find it in her boat. Ruffy scratched her head in thought before she remembered she had let go of the sack when she tried to get a better hold of Zoro. "I must have left it on the dock."
The thief's eyes bulged out of their sockets. "You did what?! That was my treasure! Five million beli!"
"But I was minding Zoro," Ruffy pointed out with a whine.
Roaring like a lion the navigator reached over, grabbed the girl captain's cloths and tried to haul her overboard. "Baka!"
"Stop! I can't swim! Go back and get it if you want it so badly!" Ruffy cried, desperately clutching to the railing and fought back when Nami shoved her head into the water.
"Then I'd be killed! If you ever lose my treasure again I'll feed you to the fishes!"
"I don't wanna be fish-food!"
Nami let go, sat back and laughed. She couldn't help it. Ruffy's shout just now was too funny. Zoro laughed too. Ruffy shook her head, trying to have some sort of revenge by showering her laughing friends with little droplets of seawater. It didn't work and with a glare of hurt pride Ruffy picked up her torn hat floating on the surface of the sea, walked to sit in the bow and resolutely sat the hat back on her head.