I LIVE!! I'M BACK! YES! Oh my goodness, I cannot believe why this took so long to do! Well, as a explanation, this is what happened: Last year my computer broke but I didn't know what was wrong with it and at the time we were all so busy with other stuff and we didn't have the money to get someone to look at it. The computer sat dusty for a long time. Now I could have just taken the flash drive with my story on it yes but... that broke too. So months went by and we finally had enough to see if we could get it fixed or at the very least get the files back. That's all I wanted my files for my stories, but apparently the motherboard was fried or something so nope! No stories! none of them! And I had quite a few I was just ready to publish too. You know when you finally have all the correct words in place and all it needed was one final proof check?

yeah... So I kinda got depressed about it after that and thought I'd take a break from it all. Part of me thought of just forgetting about it all together. However someone very kind gave me some encouragement that motivated me to at least finish this. So special Thanks to ChuckTheEon! Stay Awesome dude! and have a fantastic day!

Same goes to the rest of you!

Now then remember kids: I don't own anything except my OC's

And without further ado enjoy~


Chapter ten

Everyone followed after the old man down the quiet streets, each eager to find the mayor; though for different reasons:

Nami for her fear of the mayor's life- 'That old man better not die! He could reward us if those crazy pirates manage to actually defeat Buggy... Pfft! Like that'd ever happen, but this is a perfect opportunity to find Buggy's treasure and the map!'-but mostly to satisfy her greed.

Luffy and Zoro for the thrill of defeating the Buggy pirates. 'Save the old mayor, beat big nose, get Nami to join, head for the Grandline and start looking for a musician...' Luffy grinned and sped up, eager to face off the clown pirate.

'I wonder if there are any swordfighters. Otherwise it's going to be a boring fight...' Zoro wondered eager to fight someone properly.

Ash in hopes to execute her plan of revenge against Buggy. 'That fake nose is mine... I'm aware this is a reckless thing Rita would come up with but what else am I going to do really, sit on the sidelines?'

And Rita-'This is going to be so cool to see in person!'...Was just excited to be a spectator.

Soon enough they all caught up to the mayor in time to see the old man being strangled by Buggy.

"I won't let you wreck this town!" The Mayor gasped for breath before continuing even louder. "Come down and fight me!"

"Pfft! Yeah right HAHAHA! As if-Huh?" Buggy was so caught up laughing and mocking the old man that he never noticed the new arrivals until he felt someone pluck his hand away from the old man's throat.

"We're back," Luffy grinned. "I told you I'd clobber you!"

"I don't believe it!" Buggy frowned as his hand zoomed back to him. "You all must have a death wish. In any case you won't be able to escape this time!"

"If anything I think it would be easier to escape: we know what your powers are, Luffy is no longer in a cage, and most of your crew members were probably injured from that bomb earlier, so we don't have to worry about being out numbered." Ash deadpanned.

"QUIET YOU!" Buggy hollered from his place atop of a building.

"Okay just as a reminder I'm not fighting," Nami pointed out. "I'm just here for the map and the treasure got it?"

"Sure." Luffy and Ash nodded absent-mindedly while Zoro rolled his eyes.

"You young whippersnappers..." the crew blinked back towards the old man who was trying get up on his feet. "You're outsiders... It's not your fight,"

"This is my fight! So don't interfere, it's my town so I'll be the one to protect-"

The mayor was rudely interrupted by his face being smashed against a wall.

"WHO'S SIDE ARE YOU ON!?" Nami yelled at Luffy as he was the one to smash the poor old mayor into the wall; much to the confusion of those around him.

"He was in the way!" Luffy explained.

"You didn't have to shove him so hard," Ash mumbled looking down in pity of the old man who looked like he may have lost a few teeth. "But I can see your point."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Nami growled wondering how anyone could justify hitting an old man.

"It means that if we let him fight he would have gotten himself killed and since there was no way to talk him out of it we're left with little option," Zoro shrugged. "Luffy made the right call; the old man's safer this way."

"Safer? He's bleeding all over the place!" Nami growled and gestured to the blood that was pooling under the mayor's head.

"Ah head wounds always look worse than they are." Ash waved off Nami's concern.

"What about his teeth?" Nami frowned placing her hands on her hips, but she seemed to be more annoyed then angry now.

"He's old I doubt those were his real teeth and even if they were he can get new ones at a dentist or something." Zoro shrugged.

"Unbelievable." Nami grumbled.

"Now that that's out of the way," Luffy looked Buggy straight in the eye and yelled out as loud as he could. "HEY BIG NOSE! COME ON AND FIGHT ME ALREADY!"

"Luffy, why would you say that...?" Nami groaned as everyone's jaws dropped.

"I think I'm going to have a headache..."Ash grumbled as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

"That idiot..." Zoro frowned as he readied himself for whatever Buggy will come up with in his temper tantrum which should begin in 3... 2... 1-

"KILL HIM! GIVE HIM THE BUGGY BALL!" Buggy roared right on schedule.

"You idiot! Don't you know when to shut up!?" Nami yelled at Luffy as she ran for cover.

"Luffy get out of the way!" Zoro yelled at Luffy as well when he noticed that his captain wasn't fleeing from the bomb that was hurling towards them.

"That'd be our cue to duck for cover...Rita?" Ash mumbled to Rita only to realize that the little Ottsel was nowhere in sight. Glancing down the street she could see Rita speaking to that dog they had met earlier.

'When did he show up...?' Ash wondered before shaking her head. 'Now's not the time to worry about that! We have to get away... from... How is he-why is he doing that!?'

Ash stared in amazement as Luffy inhaled deeply causing his stomach to swell in size, like balloon, just in time for the cannon ball to hit him. It bounced back.

"... I feel like that's something that shouldn't work." Ash mumbled her mind trying to wrap around the idea of a bomb being bounced back from a rubber man. The rubber man thing itself was hard enough an idea to swallow as it was.

"That evens the odds a little let's get them!" Luffy grinned as the cannon fell down along with the building, glad to not have to worry about cannons anymore.

"WHAT ARE YOU!?" Nami yelled at him.

"Have me worried for nothing..." Zoro grumbled.

"HOW COULD YOU DO THAT? WHAT WAS THAT EVEN!?" Nami demanded.

"It was the Gum Gum Balloon." Luffy smiled in reply.

"THAT DOESN'T ANSWER ANYTHING!" Nami growled her teeth practically becoming fangs in her frustration.

While Luffy began to explain to Nami that he was made of rubber Ash took this opportunity to get Rita's attention by yelling for her to come over already. As the little Ottsel cheerfully walked near, Ash noticed the dog from earlier was following her.

"What's with the dog?" Ash asked when they made it back over to the group.

"Oh Chou-Chou? He decided to help out." Rita replied.

"Serious?" Ash rose a brow and glanced at the small grey dog who seemed to glare at most anything.

"Yeah see I got distracted thinking a bit earlier and then he showed up and we started talking..." Rita began to explain.

*Flashback*

Rita stayed behind the group, too caught up in her thoughts about how the next events may play out.

'Okay so with Zoro no longer being injured Cabaji will probably go down pretty fast, but then what's he going to do after-'

"-Hey wait!" Rita blinked in surprise before looking behind the group to see that Chou-Chou was running after them.

"Chou-Chou? What are you doing here?" Rita asked stopping to allow the small canine to catch up.

"I want to fight!"

"What?" Rita blinked in surprise.

"I said I want to fight! These crazy humans have been destroying the town and have finally destroyed my home and treasure! And that straw hat wearing weirdo defeated those goons before I could even lift a paw! I don't want to owe anything to him so I'm going to help whither you like it or not got it?"

"...Oh... well in that case I guess," Rita scratched her head and looked at the others who were all too busy watching Luffy saving the old man, before an idea struck her. "You know what? I got a plan!"

"Does it involve me getting to fight?" Chou-Chou deadpanned while Rita nodded her head eagerly. "Alright let me hear it-Wait what is he doing!?"

Rita looked back to see Luffy inflate his body to bounce the buggy ball right back at the Buggy pirates. "Ah... yeah he can do that. Don't worry some of those guys are smart enough to get out of the way or are strong enough to take it. We'll have our chance for action!"

"For some reason your words don't seem very reassuring." Chou-Chou deadpanned.

Rita grinned and tried desperately not to laugh as she marched towards the group. Just in time too as Ash was yelling at them to get over there already.

*End flashback*

"And that's what happened." Rita finished her explanation and then turned her attention towards the Buggy pirates.

"Huh, okay then." Ash shrugged and also turned to see that Buggy had used his men as a shield against the bomb. Honestly they were lucky they weren't blown to pieces.

'Still they could have been and that makes Buggy almost as bad as that Morgan fellow. Almost.' Ash frowned as one of Buggy's men said that this was the worst disgrace they have suffered or something along those lines. 'His men actually seem to like him for some reason I'll give him that.'

Back to the point, it seemed that some of his men were coming too. Including that weird animal haired guy she saw Luffy blast away earlier.

"Ow... what hit me?" the man mumbled until he noticed that one of the other pirates was holding onto his lion as his own personal meat shield. "CABAJI! WHAT DID YOU DO TO RICHIE!?"

"Used him as a meat shield." The pirate, Cabaji, carelessly admitted.

"YOU WHAT!? Oh Poor Richie are you okay?" the man panicked and ran to his large feline companion to check for any major injuries.

"Mohji..." Buggy growled with his veins looking ready to burst from his head. The man, Mohji, gulped as he timidly looked up from Richie towards his captain, who looked ready to kill him.

"Why didn't you tell me...," Buggy continued before shooting his hands out to grip the lion tamer's throat and then fling him towards the straw hats. "THAT HE WAS MADE OUT OF RUBBER!?"

"I TRIED TOO!" Mohji screamed as he flew through the air.

"...Hey Ash? Do you think you could summon your shield right now?" Rita asked as her eyes followed the flying man.

"My what-oh right. Why do you ask?"

"Because he's heading straight at us!" Rita yelled and pointed at the man before wrapping her arms around Chou-Chou's neck for comfort. Much to the Dog's annoyance as he was trying to back up and move out of the way.

'Oh, so he is,' Ash's eyes widened as the man was almost there to crash into them. 'How do I make the shield thing work!? Uh, shield! Shield!? Come on do something!'

But no matter how hard she thought and or how much adrenaline was pumping through her veins, the shield would not come forth. So left with little choice she ducked just as Mohji reached them letting him continue to fly down the street until he crashed into a building. Doing this caused her injury to flare up as the bandages pulled at her skin. However this was far better than the alternative where the bandages could have torn, and take some of the more fragile skin off with it, if the man were to have crashed into her. Still it hurt and as she fell on to the ground she couldn't help but let out a painful wheeze.

"Hey, Ash you okay?" She could hear Luffy call out in concern.

"Super." She groaned and held her thump up in the air.

"Heh," Cabaji smirked as he watched from afar. He swiftly grabbed his sword and began to move towards the group... by riding a unicycle. "This will be easy pickings! Bringing a wounded girl and a couple of weak, scrawny animals? Really what were you all thinking?"

"Oi!" Rita frowned as she and Chou-Chou's fur bristled at the insult. The closer Cabaji came the louder Chou-Chou growled at the man, just itching to fight someone. Rita glanced at Ash and saw her sitting up. Relieved that she really was okay Rita looked back at the acrobat with confidence as she knew that the rest of the crew wasn't going to let him have an easy time.

And (As Rita predicted) right before Cabaji could get any closer to them Zoro swiftly blocked the Acrobat with his own blade. "If it's a fight you want I'll happily volunteer."

"Ah, Roronoa Zoro the famous pirate hunter. I must say it'll be an honor to have the chance to fight you myself, I'm sure you'll provide a fun challenge." Cabaji smirked.

"Okay you guys have fun!" Nami waved to group before heading down an alley way towards where she knew to be Buggy's ship. "Try not to die~!"

'She's just going to leave…?' Ash wondered but then realized it was for the best. Nami did only want the treasure and why fight if you can't or if you don't have too? Still it may be better if someone went with her just in case.

"Oi Rita," She caught Rita's attention. "Think we should follow after her?"

"Hm…" Rita hummed thinking about options presented to her. Zoro and Luffy had Cabaji and Buggy covered so there's no real reason for her or Chou-Chou to be there besides being spectators and she could be remembering wrong but was there a few guards at Buggy's ship that would be safe for Chou-Chou to go after…?

'Or was that with Alvida?' Rita struggled to remember, again it had been a long time since she had last seen those episodes. Still it seemed like the best plan or far. "Yeah, let's go do that. What do you say Chou-Chou?"

"So long if I get to bite somebody today I'm good." He grumbled and started to walk after Nami.

"Coming with Ash?" Rita asked.

"No, if too many people leave then the clown might get suspicious." Ash frowned and jerked her head at Buggy who seemed to be ranting about Luffy's hat of all things.

"Alright if you're sure…" Rita glanced at where Chou-Chou ran off too and back at Ash's wound a few times before her friend sighed.

"Yes, I'm sure. I'll be fine now go before someone decides to throw another bomb at us alright?" Rita nodded, then proceeded to run after their newest navigator.

Ash decided to lean against a wall and watch what the others were doing, seeing as at the moment she didn't have much to do. Zoro and the unicycle man had begun fighting, with the man throwing around exploding tops all around Zoro's feet, but Zoro was clearly in control of the situation. Leaping from the ground Zoro swiped at the uni-cyclist and kept him too busy blocking to go for anymore of his tricks.

'Hey this is kind of entertaining…' Ash could begin to see a little why her best friend was into these comic book people… cartoon people? In any case it was hard for her to picture them as fake or 'not real' when she had personally been stuck with them for about a month. And having to deal with their smell after being out a little boat for a week with no shower, but she digresses. To her it was interesting seeing Zoro go at it after they had to sit around doing nothing for so long, but just look at him! 'You don't get to see a man sword fight with another man riding a unicycle every day you know…'

"The Breath of Death!" Cabaji yelled before blowing a fume of fire at Zoro's face who narrowly dodged the attack. Taking this opportunity of distraction Cabaji threw more of his exploding tops at the swordsman. A few of them headed towards their target but most of them seemed to pass by harmlessly.

'He missed? Why would that happen Zoro was right in front of him how could he…? Oh wait,' Ash's eyes widened when she realized that the tops weren't really aimed at Zoro as they started to get closer and closer. 'Crud he was aiming at me!'

She swiftly got up and started to run to the other side of the street, just in time too, as the tops began to explode one by one. She could feel the heat brush up against the back her legs and knew that it was amazing that she noticed the tops when she did or else she'd be toast!

'Great with this stupid injury and no weapons around I'm a sitting duck!' Ash grit her teeth as frustration began to build up when she noticed that the unicyclist was beginning to taunt Zoro about her. Mostly saying something along the lines of 'ha you almost let your friend die some bounty hunter you are!' or some other thing to that effect. But then he decided to climb the wall using his unicycle to get high, high into the air and then yelled out some kind of attack that basically looked like he was going to jump and stab Zoro from the air.

"STING OF THE UNICYCLE!" He yelled as he made his descent.

'But that'd only work if Zoro doesn't move out of the way so he must have a plan to keep Zoro from moving…' Ash looked around to see what the circus freaks were planning and saw Buggy shoot out a hand as he kept talking to Luffy about his hat. 'Oh come on! Again!? Seriously?'

Ash ran and easily grabbed ahold of Buggy's hand before it even reached Zoro who wisely stepped back a bit as Cabaji crashed to the ground.

"I HATE YOUR STUPID STRAW HAT-Huh? HEY YOU! LET GO OF MY HAND!" Buggy yelled to her once he realized that she had caught him trying to multitask between helping Cabaji and yelling at Luffy.

"What hand?" Ash gave him deadpan stare as she started squeezing, twisting, stretching the hand mildly wondering if it would have an effect.

"Don't play stupid you know very well that you're holding my hand!" Buggy yelled his teeth practically becoming shark teeth.

"Ew, who would want to hold hands with you? You're a greedy selfish jerk." Ash's face scrunched up her face and stuck her tongue out in disgust at the image.

"NOT LIKE THAT YOU WERIDO!" Buggy yelled with a bare hint of a blush. "Besides who would want to hold hands with a girl who has massive ears!?"

Ash glared at him before aggressively pulling his fingers back.

"OW! HEY FINGERS AREN'T MEANT TO BEND THAT WAY!" Buggy cried as his face scrunched up in pain. Luffy took this time to laugh at the man.

"Shishishi what a funny expression!"

"SHUT UP STRAW HAT! I'M GOING TO WIPE THAT STUPID GRIN OFF YOU'RE FACE!"

"Hey," Ash blinked when she felt a hand pat her shoulder. Looking up she found Zoro staring at Buggy before glancing down at her hands. "What's up with the hand?"

"Hm? Oh hey look a hand." Ash dully looked down at the twitching hand as if she hadn't realized it was there.

"STOP FAKING IT YOU'RE NOT FOOLING ANYONE!" Buggy yelled. Ash rolled her eyes before looking back to what had happened to Cabaji. The man was unconscious in a puddle of his own blood, his unicycle dented, and there were three distinct wounds on the man's chest. Clearly Zoro had won the battle.

'Aw, I missed it… Oh well I got to help out in some way at least.' Ash shrugged before turning back to see what Buggy was planning on doing next.

"GRR THAT'S IT I'VE HAD IT UP TO HERE WITH ALL OF YOU!" Buggy growled before shooting out one of his legs with the intent of kicking Ash. At the same time he flung his other hand at Luffy, which was grasping three daggers, and planned to stab his face. Zoro swiftly brought up his swords and used the side of the blades to block knowing that this way he would still able to hit Buggy instead of cutting him. Luffy was easily able to duck however Buggy did manage to get one casualty in. Luffy's hat…

"MY HAT!" Luffy gasped in horror at seeing his beloved hat practically ruined by Buggy's daggers.

"Oh no…" Ash mumbled. She had never seen the happy go lucky teen this angry before. She and Zoro watched as Buggy stomped on Luffy's beloved hat then told everyone his history with Shanks and why he hated him so much.

"…I don't get it. Why does he hate him? It sounds like it was an accident and the guy saved him afterwards I mean he didn't even know if someone had found that treasure before he got his hands on that map anyways and he could just have asked somebody to help him out on his little treasure hunt, heck I bet Shanks would have helped out just for the adventure aspect alone…" Ash mumbled out, confused by the huge amount of pettiness Buggy seemed to possess.

Zoro shrugged, not really interested in the motivations of the pirate clown. However he was interested in how Luffy would react to the damage Buggy was inflicting on his hat.

Luffy reacted as most would expect. Punching Buggy in the gut.

Buggy grunted as the air was forced from his lungs but decided to use his chop-chop powers to escape. Except Luffy foiled that plan when he punched his face and pulled on his cheeks yelling for him to stay put. Buggy growled and somehow managed to shove Luffy off of him and took to the sky.

"LISTEN STRAW HAT! THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS TO ME IS TREASURE! TREASURE IS GOLD, JEWELS, AND DIAMONDS! AND I WILL DO ANYTHING TO OBTAIN AND KEEP MY…my…" Buggy looked up from his rant and saw Nami creeping down the street with a large bag strapped to her back. It didn't take a genius to figure out what was inside. "MY TREASURE!"

"Great he's going after Nami." Ash scowled and followed after the pirate as he sped after their navigator.

'Where is Rita anyway…?'

Earlier…

"So there will be someone we can fight if we follow the girl right?" Chou-Chou asked as they passed by several of Buggy's men who were unconscious.

"That's the plan anyway." Rita nodded, though she wasn't entire for sure if there was anyone. She figured if nothing else they could help Nami gather up Buggy's limbs later if nothing happened.

"ACHOO!"

"Eh?" Rita blinked and looked around in confusion. That sounded an awfully lot like a sneeze…

"Ah-ACHOO!" Okay now that defiantly was a sneeze.

"Who's making that noise?" Chou-Chou glanced towards where they thought it might have come from.

When heard the sneeze the third time it seemed to have come from the collapsed building Buggy and his crew had been standing on. "A-ACHOO! Wh-what- ACHOO- is making me-ACHOO! AH-AHCOO! SNEEZE SO MUCH!?"

"Dude shut up or they'll realize we're awake...!" Another voice hissed out trying to be quiet himself, but was unable to because of the sheer volume of the other man's sneezes.

"Huh?" Rita tilted her head in confusion just a strong wind whipped by taking with it dust and fur from both Chou-Chou and herself. The wind flew directly at the poor man who had been laying completely still up until the wind came.

As the wind flew by the man's eyes began to water, his nose ran, and he began to violently sneeze. Unable to take not knowing what was causing it he decided to sit up and look around despite his friend's whispered protests. At the sight of the dog and orange weasel he paused. A brief moment of silence passed as nobody moved. Until the man sneezed again that is.

"I-it's that weasel thing! I-achoo-think I'm allergic!" the sniffled and began to rub his eyes in a desperate attempt to drive away the itchy feeling.

"Does he mean me?" Rita asked Chou-Chou stunned as she pointed at herself.

"Yes." Chou-Chou deadpanned.

"…Huh, never thought about that." The thought she could cause an allergic reaction to anyone had never once crossed her mind since becoming an Ottsel. She kind of felt bad for the pirate as more tears were streaming down his face as he furiously kept rubbing his eyes.

"Okay this is just getting sad." The man's friend, who had been trying to play dead this whole time, sighed and sat up to rub his back. "Listen Bobby why don't you try to make it back to the ship and I'll fight off the animals and keep them as far away from you as possible okay?"

"B-but Fred what if that crazy straw hat kid sees you? ACHOO! Or Roronoa? You wouldn't stand a chance!" Bobby whimpered as snot began dribbling down his chin.

"I know. However, Cabaji is busy with Roronoa way, way down the street and the captain is too pissed at the weird kid to notice I'm up. I'll be fine. Besides it's only a couple of animals think I can't handle them?" Fred reassured his friend and patted his on the shoulder.

"You-ACHOO-You're right. You can handle this…" Bobby wobbly stood up and ran towards their ship.

"Wow you're a cool guy Fred…!" a few other crew mates whispered with streams of tears following down their faces because of the touching scene they just witnessed.

"HEY! You guys could have volunteered too!" Fred yelled at them.

"Man, is it bad that I feel bad for having to fight with them now?" Rita mumbled feeling uncomfortable at the comradery between the crew. It made her sad that they would have to fight an actually somewhat okay dude out of all the buggy pirates.

"…They have been blowing up my town for days, locked the straw hat kid in a cage which they planned to also blow up, and stabbed your friend." Chou-Chou reminded her.

"…bad feeling gone you're right LETS GET THEM!" Rita yelled as her previous anger returned.

"Now you're talking!" Chou-Chou smirked and glared at the pirate who started running towards them wielding a knife. As the man approached the two waited for the last moment before running around the man in opposite directions. Fred cursed before deciding to go after Rita as she was the one who was causing his friend's allergy to spike up. He quickly found this to be difficult as she was much faster than he was and always seemed to be out of arms reach.

"Would you stay still for like two seconds!?" Fred yelled.

"Why would I do that?" Rita frowned as she dodged another swipe from the man's knife.

"It has a point Fred! If it were me I wouldn't stop for a second either." One of Buggy's men called out from where he laid, still trying to play dead so he wouldn't have to fight.

"SHUT IT TOM! I didn't ask for your opinion!" Fred fumed back before pausing when he realized something. "…wait a minute… THE WEASEL CAN TALK!?"

"NOW CHOU-CHOU!" Rita took advantage of the pirates shock to call out to the dog who smirked, ran up to the man, and chomped on his sorry butt.

"OW!" Fred yelped and tried to turn around to kick Chou-Chou but Rita hopped onto his shoulder and started to yank on his hair. Fred swung his knife at her but she leapt off to fast and he nearly ended up cutting himself. Chou-Chou then rammed his head against the back of Fred's knees while Rita lumped and kicked the man's head. This caused him fall painfully unto the ground. "This day isn't going well for me…"

"Huh guess you really couldn't handle those animals by yourself…"

"TOM! EITHER HELP ME OR KEEP QUIET!"

"You can ask for help nicer then that…"

"TOM!"

"Alright, alright. I'll get up…" Tom stretched and sighed before running over to help the fallen pirate. Now with two extra hands the pirates each followed after one of the animals swinging their knives dangerously close to the animal's flesh. Round and round they went and nobody could tell when they'd stop.

'This is getting us nowhere.' Rita frowned and she could tell that Chou-Chou was getting tired of running around as well. Then she had an idea that would hopefully work. "Hey Chou-Chou! Run this way!"

The gray-white dog looked at her oddly for a moment but followed along what she said anyway as the pirate behind followed after him.

"Don't think changing directions is going to stop us!" Fred growled as he sped up, eyes solely on the animal in front of him. Tom gave a similar response and was also intensely focused on following his animal.

'Perfect…' Rita smirked and sped up the pace running towards Chou-Chou. As they drew close Rita kept running and ran past Chou-Chou narrowly avoiding colliding with him. The same could not be said for the pirates chasing them.

CLUNK!

"OW!" the men cried when their foreheads bashed into each other. The shock and momentum made each fall backwards as they cradled their heads tenderly.

"Ha, the old head butt trick! Classic!" Rita grinned glad that she was able to run under and through the man's legs in time before he fell. She was also glad Chou-Chou picked up what her plan was.

Tom groaned and glared while she was snickering to herself before he swung his arm down.

"Whoa-OW! THAT STINGS!" Rita yelped when she tried to leap out the way of the knife that was swung only to find that the knife has left a nasty gash on her leg. Thankfully it seemed to be a shallow wound but that didn't stop her eyes from tearing up. Tom raised his arm again, fully prepared to stab her, when Chou-Chou ran up and bit his arm.

Surprised Tom dropped the knife before trying to pull Chou-Chou off his arm. Fred decided to help as he reached over to try and help pry the dog off when he tripped on Rita and ended up collapsing on top of Tom just when managed to Chou-Chou off.

"…Fred we need to have a discussion about your tripping problem later."

"Oi Rita are you okay?" Chou-Chou asked after running up next to where she had decided to roll to.

"Y-yeah I'll be okay. It really stings though…" Rita bit her lip knowing that she was going to have to 'man up' so to speak if she wanted to survive in this world.

"Can you walk?"

"…Sure-AH! NO! I mean yes! Yes! Totally fine! Ash's wound is like way worse than this so-"

"-Hey," Rita blinked as she watch Chou-Chou lower himself down and nod his head at her. "Get on."

"…Okay!" Rita gasped felling a childish feeling of glee swell up inside at the idea of riding a dog into battle. And even better was when she noticed a stick laying near them. Grinning she grabbed a hold of the stick with one hand and with the other gripped onto Chou-Chou's fur to light herself up onto him.

"Alright then… CHARGE CHOU-CHOU! INTO BATTLE WE GO! MWAHAHAHA!" Rita laughed once she was comfortably onto of Chou-Chou and held her stick high in the air. Chou-Chou howled in agreement and ran towards the pirates as they finally managed to get back up. With an extra burst of speed Chou-Chou leapt into the air baring his teeth while Rita smashed the stick against Fred's head. Fred's eyes bugged out for a moment before they rolled back and he crashed back to the ground unconscious. Tom yelled and charged at the two but Chou-Chou ran underneath his legs then turned around to leap at the man's back, digging his teeth into the man's shoulder. Tom cried out in pain but was swiftly silenced when Rita slammed the stick to the side of his face and he too fell unconscious.

Rita and Chou-Chou blinked at the collapsed men and Rita mumbled out "Did… did we just win?"

"Yep." Chou-Chou barked.

"That… Is awesome! We were so cool Chou-Chou!" Rita began to ramble and praise Chou-Chou while the dog wagged his tail, happy he was able to do something against at least some of the pirates who had been plaguing the town.

Then he noticed the navigator woman they had originally been following sneaking down an alley with a large bag strapped to her back.

"Hey there's your friend. Should we follow her still or…?" Chou-Chou asked.

"Eh? Oh yeah! Yeah we should follow after her onwards Chou-Chou!" Rita patted his side to get him moving. Which he growled at her for. "Oh, right sorry heh, got carried away there, but we really should go and follow her."

The two started to make their way to Nami when a dismembered arm zoomed past them. Staring in shock the two jolted when they heard Buggy screaming about his treasure and could hear Nami scream in fear. Rita gasped and yelled for Chou-Chou to follow that arm. They turned a corner, absently mindedly noticed that they were back where they started, and found that Buggy was giving chase to Nami.

"Okay Chou-Chou the plan is to tackle one of his arms to the ground. Biting won't do us any good because our teeth are too sharp to do any damage." Rita explained.

"But his arms are too high off the ground we'll never be able to reach them!"

"Then we have to distract him…" Rita noticed the look Luffy was giving Buggy's feet from the corner of her eye and smirked knowing Buggy was going to be in a lot of pain soon. Then she noticed the lower half of the clown's body and a mischievous smile spread across her face. "Hey Chou-Chou…"

"Yeah? You have a plan?" When Rita nodded he asked just what the plan was.

"We have a stick."

"Yeah…?" Rita chuckled evilly as she pointed at Buggy's lower half.

"…Ooohhhh got it." Chou-Chou then ran with all his might after Buggy while Rita got ready.

Once they were close enough Rita swung hard at Buggy's family jewels.

"AHHHHH!" Buggy paused in his chase as tears gathered in his eyes and he turned around to glare at the one who would dare attack such an area. "Y-You Bas-AHHH! STRAW HAT KNOCK IT OFF WITH MY FEET! HAVEN'T YOU ALL CAUSED ENOUGH DAMAGE ALREADY!?" Buggy screamed at Luffy, however his voice was shrill from the vicious attack on his most prized and treasured jewels of all.

Rita blew a raspberry at Buggy then patted Chou-Chou's head gently telling him it would be best if they got out of the way for a bit.

"OH NO! THIS IS THE SECOND TIME YOU GOT AWAY WITH HITTING ME WITH A CHEAP SHOT! YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST WALK AWAY THAT EASILY!?" Buggy screamed and launched his head at them looking mad enough to bite them himself. The only thing to stop him was a body that tackled him to the ground and held him in a headlock.

"Whoa, way to go Ash!" Rita cheered for her best friend who was struggling to keep Buggy from flying off.

"No Problem, now get out of here and help Nami or something...!" Ash growled as she twisted and turned to keep Buggy in place.

"AH! THAT'S RIGHT! LET GO OF ME I NEED TO KILL THAT WOMEN AND GET BACK MY TREASURE!" Buggy renewed his efforts and even attempted to bite Ash's arm to get her to let go. Ash scowled and smashed his head against a wall to get him to knock it off, then she addressed Rita and Chou-Chou again as they were still sitting there watching them fight.

"Oi! Beat it already!" Rita and Chou-Chou jumped for a second but nodded and started to run off to where they last saw Nami.

"Okay Ash be careful!" Rita called back and hoped that Ash would be okay, though she was reassured by the thought that Luffy was still nearby. 'If anything happens he'll take care of it so stop worrying Rita and focus on helping Nami…'

Meanwhile back with Ash...

"Man, it's really stuck on there isn't it?" Ash grumbled as she repeatedly tugged at the red spherical nose in hopes of removing it.

"LET GO OF MY NOSE THAT HURTS DAMN IT!" Buggy cursed as he tried to escape the tight grip of the enraged women above him. Ash frowned when she realized that the removal of the nose just wasn't happening.

'Wait... knives and swords doesn't harm him, but what about sharp glass?' She wondered when she noticed a large piece of glass (no doubt it flew out of some poor destroyed building) sitting innocently on the ground next to her. A determined glint in her eyes shined as she rearranged Buggy's head in her arms so he couldn't get away as she let go of his nose in favor of wrapping her sleeve around her hand. Safety first after all when you're planning on handling glass.

It certainly wasn't easy handling a struggling disembodied head that could float around; not to mention he kept making weird noises and jerked movements because of the more creative bruises Luffy was forcing upon the man's feet. But Ash somehow managed to force Buggy's head into the ground (mostly thanks to Luffy who was making sure to stub every toe on the man's foot) and made sure he stayed there by putting all her weight on top of him.

"You're crushing me!" Is what Ash was sure the pirate clown wanted to say but it all came out in garbled gibberish.

Ignoring the pained cries of the man Ash stretched out her covered hand and gripped the shard, being careful not to cut herself. With the sharp edged glass in hand she took a deep breath and moved her arm before she could give herself time to rethink her next actions. The glass easily slid into his skin with little to no resistance and just like that the deed was done. Ash swiftly grabbed her prize and ran off leaving buggy's head in the dust as it slowly hit him what just happened...

She cut off his nose.

A deep internal rage coursed through his veins as his head turned so red it looked near purple. He cursed so loudly that everyone had to pause what they were doing in order to appreciate this moment of raw anger. Well, everyone except for Ash who knew to run as far as possible less she gets stabbed again. Repeatedly.

"Why does he care so much about this thing?" Ash hissed as she ran behind a building in order to take a breather and examine the perfectly round 'nose' in her hand. In the distance she could hear Buggy screaming and ranting about all the different ways he was going to kill her, but her attention seemed to be captured by the two incredibly small holes upon the nose. "I wonder if it honks..."

"Ah! What am I doing?" Ash hissed to herself. "There are more important things to worry about like the crazy clown... and is it just me or is his screaming getting louder?"

"I'LL DESTROY YOU!" Buggy's enraged screams could be heard drawing nearer as he rushed through the streets searching for a speck of blond hair or a pair of abnormally large ears. "COME OUT YOU COWARD!"

Ash barely held in the yelp that wanted to spring forth when Buggy zoomed by her hiding spot. Quickly turning she dashed the opposite direction hoping he hadn't noticed her yet and she could make a sneaky get away. No such luck.

"THERE YOU ARE! NOW LET GO OF MY NOSE!" Buggy screamed as his disembodied head followed after her. Ash finally let out that yelp as she ran even faster away from the blue haired pirate.

'You know now would be a nice time for that shield thing to come up...!' Ash thought as she had to swiftly duck when one of Buggy's floating hands flew in front of her with the intent of slicing her neck. She could hear her sneakers squeal as she made a sharp right before leaping up to avoid his other hand which was aiming for her leg.

Ash ran back to the wide open street vainly hoping to find another alley system to loose Buggy in when she heard someone shout.

"HEY! YOUR FIGHT IS WITH ME BIG NOSE!" Luffy's fist slammed into Buggy's head knocking the pirate off course. Luffy blinked when he saw the blank spot where the infamous nose use to be. "...Or well 'no nose' now I guess..."

"I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR YOU STRAW HAT I'M IN THE MIDDLE OF DESTROYING THE BLOODY FAIRY WHO STOLE ME NOSE, SO STAY OUT OF IT!" Buggy roared before looking back at the spot Ash had been only to find she had disappeared. "DAMN IT!"

Ash tried to catch her breathe at her new hiding spot. If it were up to her she would still be running as far as she could, but the wound at her side was getting worse the more she ran.

'I'm not sure how much more I can take of this... wait what's that on my hand?' Ash thought when she noticed something lukewarm and somewhat sticky was on her palm. Looking down at her hand that was clenching the red nose (Which did not honk unfortunately) she felt her whole face turn white at what she saw.

Snot. Snot was covering her hand. Snot that come out of the two little holes when Ash clenched the red nose as she was running. Those two little holes? They were nostrils which meant only one thing...

The nose was real.

"EEEEWWWWW! Ew, ew, EW!" Ash shrieked flinging the nose as far away as she could. She quickly slapped her hand against the wall next to her and tried to wipe off any trace of the horrid green substance on her person. "That thing was real!? Why didn't anyone tell me? Oh I think I'm going to be sick...!"

Meanwhile with the nose...

"A ball! I gotta catch it!" Chou-Chou ran after the red spherical nose as it bounced onto the ground.

"Chou-Chou that's Buggy's nose don't put that in your mouth!" Rita scolded the canine as she gripped onto his fur trying not to fall down.

"So what if it's a nose? It looks like a ball, bounces like a ball, and rolls like a ball. It's a ball. What does it matter where it came from?" Chou-Chou reasoned as he started to chew on it.

"I-How are you supposed to argue against dog logic?" Rita groaned and slapped her hand against her forehead.

"MY NOSE ISN'T A SQUEAK TOY!" Buggy shrieked when he saw the current fate of his poor nose. "DEAD! ALL OF YOU ARE DEAD! YOU HEAR ME!?"

"CHOP CHOP PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER!" Buggy screamed as he tried to summon all his limbs back to his person. Tried being the key word, because all that he managed to summon back were his hands, feet, and nose (Much to Chou-Chou's disappointment). "WHAT!? WHERE IS THE REST OF ME!?"

"Oh you mean these?" Nami smirked at distance as she and Zoro tightened the rope that held Buggy's torso, arms, and legs captive.

"WHAT!?"

"He's all yours captain!" Zoro smirked. The crew all eagerly waited for Luffy to give the finishing blow, including Ash who came out from the alley way grumbling about needed some kind of hand sanitizers…

"NOOOOOOO!" Buggy shrieked.

"Alright! Gum Gum…" Luffy stretched his arms behind him with a delighted grin upon his face.

"STOP! HOW COULD A BUNCH OF BANDITS DEFEAT US!? STOP THIS RIGHT NOW STRAW HAT!"

"We're not bandits…" Ash called out to him.

"We're pirates." Zoro smirked. Buggy started yelling out some more gibberish but it was too late, Luffy's arms shot forward with a tremendous amount of momentum.

"BAZOOKA!" And with that Buggy was blasted high into the sky screaming until he was nothing but a speck disappearing with a quiet 'ding' noise.

"WOO HOO!" Rita cheered and everyone began to relax.

"You guys actually did it!" Nami laughed impressed.

"Course we did! Now then…" Luffy picked up his beat up hat and gently sat it on his head. "We should probably check to see if the mayor is okay."

"HEY!" everyone looked behind them and saw a large crowd of angry and worried people. "WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE? ARE YOU GUYS PIRATES!?"

"AHH! WHAT HAPPENED TO THE MAYOR!?"

"HE'S BLEEDING ALL OVER THE PLACE! DID YOU GUYS DO THIS!?"

"Uh…" Ash blinked at the angry mop of people and wondered how they were going to get out of this.

"Of course we didn't-" Nami tried to reason with the people but was interrupted by her new captain.

"Yeah I hit the old guy. He was in the way." Luffy shrugged like it was no big deal.

"LUFFY SHUT UP!" Nami shrieked and proceeded to smack him upside the head. Ash slammed her hand against her forehead, mentally counting down when they were going to have to run for their lives.

"Ow, what did I do?"

"So then… YOU ADMIT TO BEING PIRATES!?"

"NO!-"

"Yeah." Luffy admitted.

"GET THEM!"

"Time to go everyone!" Zoro yelled as they began to run away from the townspeople.

"Luffy why did you go and tell them all that!?" Nami yelled in exasperation.

"These are nice people…" Luffy grinned causing the woman more confusion. "Look how much they care about their mayor!"

"Yeah well their 'care' is going to get us killed!" Nami shouted which only made Luffy laugh. "Oh if you're just going to laugh then do something helpful and carry my treasure!"

"…Hey I can distract the townspeople but you're going to have to get off if you want to leave now." Chou-Chou spoke to Rita who was still clinging to his fur.

"…Alright. Thanks Chou-Chou it's been fun! I'll miss you!" Rita smiled and patted his head.

"Heh, yeah you guys were alright I suppose…" Chou-Chou smirked. Rita smiled before getting the nearest person's attention.

"Hey Zoro! Could you pick me up? I can't ride on Chou-Chou anymore!"

"Run for yourself you lazy rodent!" Zoro grumbled as he struggled to remember which way the ship was.

"I can't! I hurt my leg! Please~?" Rita whined. Zoro rolled his eyes but swiftly grabbed Rita by the scruff her neck and continued to run while Rita waved back at Chou-Chou one last time. "Bye Chou-Chou!"

"Hey I see the ship!" Luffy cheered once they made it to the docks. There were three of the Buggy pirates from earlier sitting there, but with one glance at Zoro they immediately jumped into the water and swam away. "Huh… that was weird. Okay everyone ready to go?"

"Yeah just a little help with my treasure won't you please?" Nami smiled and handed them a bag filled with treasure.

"…When did you put them into two separate bags?" Ash asked feeling like there should be question marks above her head or something.

"When Zoro was helping me collect Buggy's limbs. Said it'd be easier to split the load… hey wait a minute." Nami's eyes narrowed when she only spotted one bag of treasure. "Luffy… Where's my treasure?"

"Eh? Oh I left that near by the mayor. His town is going to need it if they want to fix the place." Luffy replied as he got the sails ready for departure completely unaware of the dangerous aura surrounding his new navigator.

THWACK!

"OW! NAMI THAT REALLY HURT!" Luffy yelled as he cradled his injured head.

"GO BACK AND GET THAT TREASURE!"

THWACK! THWACK!

"NO! OW! QUIT IT!"

Rita and Zoro snickered as Nami kept smacking Luffy with her staff leaving large lumps on his head.

"Guys we need to head out now they're getting closer." Ash informed them. Nami grit her teeth before cursing and leapt into the boat to help make their getaway. Once they were a good distance away most of them sighed in relief. Except for Nami who was still pissed.

"Luffy if we are going to work together you got to remember one thing…!" Nami snarled as she gripped her captain's vest and shaking him until he actually looked a little nervous. "Never EVER touch my treasure!"

"But you still have your treasure!" Luffy gestured to the bag they did keep.

"You're missing the point!" She then tried to drown their captain.

"AH! HELP! I CAN'T SWIM!"

"THAT'S THE POINT!" the others just watched in amusement knowing that they could easily save him should he actually be thrown overboard.

"HEY WAIT!" Everyone looked back towards the docks to see the mayor panting and yelling at them. "I'VE GOT SOMETHING TO SAY TO YOU KIDS!"

"THANK YOU! I WON'T EVER FORGET THIS! THANK YOU!"

Everyone smiled feeling touched at the old man's gratitude. Nami even sighed and let Luffy go back to the safety of the middle of the boat.

'Aw… this is a nice feeling.' Rita smiled then smiled even brighter when she saw Chou-Chou come up by the mayor where he howled his goodbye and thanks as well.


And that's the end of the buggy arc woo! Man it was difficult writing some of the characters makes me almost miss Helmeppo he's easy to write for! but anyways, I kinda feel bad I put Buggy through so much abuse I actually find him kind of funny. as for Bobby, Fred, and Tom just pick what ever back ground character you want for what they look like I just had a funny idea of what would happen if someone was allergic to Ottsels. And also I dreamed of the scene where Rita was riding on the back of Chou-Chou like some kind of knight and i just had to put it in. It was fun.

anyways hope you all enjoyed! Planning on what to do next because I'm debating on making a true difference in the story now or later. I have big plans... maybe too big but yeah plans...ish. I am going to make some changes to the story though, because while I DO enjoy these stories of characters joining the crew... but I mean, rereading everything with like no changes... ever? yeah... tired of that... and i'm rambling again sorry. Anywho! have a fantastic day everyone!