The three deuces may be bruised and badly beat up, but they could still row a boat well. Zoro clicked his tongue in annoyance, "Now we've lost sight of our captain, no thanks to you dumbasses."

"I would assume he's been brought to wherever that bird's home is, which is highly on dry land," I sighed and tossed Zoro one of my granola bars. He caught it and stared at it like it was a foreign object to him.

"What the hell's this?" He asked me.

"Food," I bit into my bar. Then I noticed the three idiots staring at the food.

"Keep on rowing to the next island," I barked at them. Zoro looked at me funny when I said this, but I ignored him in favour on chewing on the food in my mouth. Mm, nutty.

"Anyway," Zoro shifted his attention to the three, "Why were you guys drifting in the middle of the ocean?"

All three of them perked up.

"Yes, yes! You finally asked the question we wanted to hear!"

"That girl!"

"Yeah, that evil girl!"

"She was pretty cute though…"

The both of us listened to the story they spun, of how they just came back from robbing a ship, and how they came across a girl in the middle of the sea. She had faked her being ill, and tricked them into boarding her own boat, making off with theirs and the treasure with it. And to top it off, she managed to tell that a storm would appear where they were, causing the boat they were in to get destroyed.

"She predicted the weather?" She sounded familiar to me.

"That girl must be something special," Zoro hummed, "Wonder if she'd join us…"

"If I find her, I'll kill her!" the one on the left oar fumed.

"We've gotta get our loot back first!" The middle one chided him.

"Yeah, if we go back empty handed, Buggy-sama will-"

"Who's Buggy?" Zoro interrupted the last deuce down the row.

All three of them stared at him like he'd grown an extra head.

"He's our pirate Captain. Ever heard of Buggy the clown?" the deuce in the middle asked, "He's a dangerous man who ate a Devil Fruit!"

"Buggy, huh?" I murmured. All eyes fell on me.

"You know something about him?" Zoro questioned me.

"Heard a few rumours here and there," I shrugged, "But to outright proclaim that he has a Devil Fruit speaks volumes of either his power or his stupidity. I bet it's the latter."

At this the trio started sputtering at my blasé insult of their leader.

"And?"

I knew about Buggy all right. Even so, I doubt that I should spill the beans on his power since I've never met him officially. That'll definitely rouse suspicion. A warning for Zoro should suffice though.

"I wouldn't recommend going up against him with your swords."

"The heck?" I'm a swordsman; there's no way I can't fight with swords!

"Eh, just don't underestimate him. Heard that guy's a tricky bastard," Patting Zoro's back, I chewed off the last bits of my bar. As nice as it tasted though, I was still slightly hungry. I hoped the next island had food to give.

Finally, the three deuces rowed us to port. We all got off the boat, and gave a once-over at the empty town.

"Where's everyone?" My green-haired companion asked.

"Hahaha! They ran off when they found out about how powerful Buggy-sama was!" one of them laughed.

I rolled my eyes. While it was the truth, he didn't have to put it that way.

"Just tell us where that guy is," Zoro growled, smacking the one who spoke up over the head.

"Ouch! O-okay! Stop hitting me, I'll tell you!"

Out of nowhere, there was a huge 'BOOM!' from the middle of the town. We looked up to see one direction of the town flattened by an explosion.

"What the-" I couldn't help but gape. Zoro stared at the destruction with growing interest.

"I-is that from one of Captain's 'Buggy Balls'?" one of the deuces spoke up.

"L-looks like it," another stammered.

"I've a feeling Luffy's wherever the cannonball came from," Zoro smirked, then dashed away into the distance.

"He- Wait!" I called out after him, but he was too far away already. I huffed, then turned around to the trio.

"Stay here and take care of this boat," I grumbled to them, then ran off after Zoro.

"K-kill that guy?" Nami stuttered, "Me?"

All she ever wanted to do was to steal Buggy's treasure; there was no way she's going to kill someone right now. Dirtying her hands with someone's blood was the last thing on her mind.

The girl laughed nervously, "Come on, Captain Buggy! Let's just ignore this guy and drink till we drop instead! It'll be more fun!"

Buggy's expression turned menacing.

"This is my idea of having fun. Now kill him," He ordered, handing a box of matches to her. His men started to chant after him, egging her to light the fuse and launch the dangerous cannonball. Nami soon couldn't help but be pressured by the atmosphere, stiffly turning around and walking up to the cannon.

She ended up having a staredown with the man the cannon was pointed at – Luffy. His strawhat casted a shadow on his eyes, yet on his face was a grim smile.

If she did this, she'll be no better than the pirates she loathed. If she didn't, she'll die. Nami bit her lip. What was worse?

"Nami! Stop spoiling the fun and hurry up and light the fuse already!" Buggy shouted at her, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Your hand is shaking," Luffy lowly said, referring to her right hand feebly clutching on the box of matches given to her. He looked up, and the shadows from his eyes disappear instantly. The redhead's breath hitched.

"That's what happens when you take on pirates with half-assed resolve," The strawhatter continued.

"Hoh, the resolve to do what?" She instinctively replied, "To kill innocent people like it's nothing?"

"No."

The chanting of the crowd gets louder and harsher, burning her ears.

"It's the idea of being strong enough to risk your own life!" Luffy declared.

Someone from Buggy's crew got impatient with her stalling, and he snatched the box of matches from her hand.

"Oi, stop wasting time if you don't know how to light the fuse," He picked out a match easily from the box ,"Lemme show you how it's done."

He strikes the match against the box, lighting it up instantly. As he started to bring the match closer and closer to the fuse…

Something in Nami snapped. She reaches her thigh for her collapsible bo and forms it up swiftly, swinging it around to ram into the man's head. He fell to the ground, unconscious. The whole rooftop goes silent.

"Naaamiiii!" Screeching, Buggy was the first to break the silence, "What the HELL do you think you're doing?!"

Said girl widened her eyes. She didn't even realize what she was doing.

"You're saving me now?" Wondered Luffy.

"Shut up!" She yelled at him, then turned to Buggy, "I didn't do that on purpose! Even though I was acting, I never want to become anything like a disgusting, inhumane and evil pirate!"

"Pirates stole the life of someone precious to me," The girl bravely continued, "So I hate pirates more than anything!"

"Aah… So that's why you don't like pirates," Nami heard Luffy say.

"So you think pirates are nothing more than just inhuman trash huh?" Buggy shouted, "Men, kill her flashily!"

Several of them started to charge at her with their weapons.

"Nami, the fuse!" Luffy's voice sounded panicked, "Put the fuse out!"

She glanced back at the canon – the long fuse was somehow lit, and was already steadily burning away. Cussing under her breath, she turned back to the men and swung her bo staff at their midsection.

To Nami's dismay, they all leapt out of the way. But she hadn't had time to care. Dropping her weapon, she rushed over to the cannon. She scooped up the fuse and pressed hard on it, not caring if she burnt her hands in the process.

The Buggy Pirates used this opening and came at her. And they would've sliced her back open too, if it weren't for the newcomer who easily blocked them all with his sheathed swords.

"Zoro!" Luffy delightedly shouted, recognising the green-haired man. Nami tentatively turned around to look at him.

"Did you get hurt?" Zoro asked her.

"I-I'm okay," She stuttered.

"Thank goddness you found this place!" Luffy interrupted them from inside the cage, "Get me outta here, quick."

The swordsman was not impressed.

"Is this your idea of fun?" He complained, "First you get carried off by a giant bird, then when I find you you're stuck in a cage! You're stupid!"

Wait, the crewmembers Luffy talked about… one of them was Pirate Hunter Zoro? Nami was internally freaking out. Behind her the Buggy pirates started to murmur amongst themselves, wondering if it was really the Pirate Hunter Zoro.

Buggy walked up to the green-haired man, looking up and down at him, "You're Zoro alright. Are you aiming for my head?"

"No, I've no interest in that anymore," The swordsman propped his swords back into his belt, "I'm no longer a pirate hunter because I've quit."

"But I have some interest in you," Buggy pushed on, "If I kill you, my name will become more infamous."

"If you don't wanna die, just leave me alone," Zoro sighed turning around.

The clown didn't care anyway, and charged at him, "Oh if you don't get serious now, you're the one who's gonna be DEAD!"

Zoro whipped around instantly, swords at the ready.

"Fine, if that's what you want!" He yelled back, dodging Buggy's own blades with ease and carved the man into three different slices. The body parts landed on the floor with a thump.

Zoro frowned, "He died so easily?"

Someone from the crowd of pirates let out a laugh.

"Heyyyyyyyyy let me out already Zoroooooooo," Whined the ever so patient rubberman.

Nami stared at the crowd in confusion as the two of them behind her started contemplating on how to get Luffy out of his bindings. Why weren't they reacting? Rebelling? Angry?

Another pirate started laughing, then another, and another. Soon, all the Buggy pirates were gleefully laughing away. Nami gaped at them. Are they all mad?

"What's so funny?" Zoro looked back at the crowd with annoyance, "Just get me the key to this cage already.

Suddenly, he lurched forward and fell onto his knees.

The pirates laughter increased tenfold.

"Zoro?!" Luffy cried out.

"Didn't I tell you not to underestimate Buggy?" A tired sounding voice rang out. Nami instantly snapped her attention to the voice.

A brown haired man stood behind Zoro's prone form. His right arm was outstretched, like he'd just pushed someone. His long fringe covered his left eye, the gold iris in his right staring intensely at a wriggling blob in his other hand. Nami paled with realization that it was a gloved hand with a dagger - not unlike Buggy's. He gave the extra hand a squeeze at its pressure points, and it involuntarily dropped the sharp dagger it held.

"So it seems like you know about my Devil Fruit powers," Buggy said. He started to re-form himself from the sliced body parts, sans his left hand.

"Devil Fruit?!" Nami exclaimed.

"Yes, I ate the Bara Bara fruit!" Laughed Buggy, "So now, I can become sections of myself! Swords and the like have no chance of killing me!"

"Fuck, so that was why you told me my swords were useless," Zoro groaned as he stood up, "Though you could've not just shoved me, Lyn."

"Sorry," The man didn't seem apologetic, "It was the only way I could save you from a back stabbing."

The hand in my hands wiggled, but I kept a firm grip on it as I turned it around to look at it. I didn't need Buggy to play his dirty tricks on me. From what I remember of the original plot, Zoro had taken a hit from the knife. I didn't like the idea of people taking unnecessary damage if I could help it.

I'm glad I made it in time.

"Stabbing from the back, that's dirty, you big nose!" Luffy suddenly hollered from the cage.

The crowd suddenly goes stock still in shock.

"That idiot! He could've said anything but that-!" Nami gasped behind me.

The clown had his eyes shadowed by the hat he wore, trembling with anger. He looked up, fury in his eyes.

"Who are you calling a big nose?!" Buggy launched his right hand off his arm, the dagger it held flying straight for Luffy's face.

My grip on the hand went slack as I cried out, "Luffy!"

Said boy's head was facing down, hat covering most of his face. Then he looked up, toothily grinning with the dagger caught in between his teeth.

"I'll definitely take you down!" He said confidently, despite the dagger he was biting on.

"Take me down?!" Buggy cackled, "As if you can take someone like ME down like this!"

And before I knew it, a hand closed around my neck and squeezed.

"!" I found myself lifted off the ground. I started panicking and futilely brought my hands up to scratch at the gloved hand holding me up.

"Lyn!"

I could barely concentrate on the people around me; my mind started to cloud. The chokehold got tighter, pressing hard against my windpipe. I couldn't breathe.

"Zoro! Run away!"

letgoletgocan'tbreathecan'tbreathe

"AHH! NOT THE CANNON WITH THE BUGGY BALL IN IT!"

gonnadiecan'tbreathletgopleaseleTGO

BOOM!

Out of nowhere, the pressure disappeared, and I fell onto the ground. Groggily, I noticed a huge cloud of smoke and dust around me.

"Alright, let's get out of here," I heard Zoro say, "Who are you anyway?"

"I'm a thief-"

"She's our navigator!" Luffy cheerfully chimed in, earning a scolding from Nami.

"You're an idiot, aren't you?! You're still hung up on that after what happened?! If you've got time to say things like that then think about getting yourself out of that cage!"

"Oh right, the cage!"

"It's alright," Zoro assured them both, "You just stay in the cage! Girl, you go grab our crewmate there!"

I was too busy trying to calm myself down, but Nami appeared in my vision and slapped my face.

"Hey, you okay?"

That snapped me back into action.

"Y-yeah," I managed and rose to my feet unsteadily. Zoro had hefted up the cage Luffy was in, and was already jumping off the rooftop. I steadied my breathing, and ran after Nami who did the same.

Nami and I ended up hiding a couple of houses down, barely catching our breaths. In the distance, the Buggy pirates were making a commotion on hunting us down. Zoro had apparently took a different route from us.

"You don't look so good," Nami noticed my pale face.

"I know. Had a panic attack right there," I groaned at my stupidity. I did warn Zoro about Buggy's tricksy nature, but I didn't take that advice of mine to heart either.

She raised an eyebrow, "Seriously? I thought pirates like you guys won't be afraid of danger like that."

"It just caught me off guard, that's all."

"Huh. Where do you think those two idiots ran off to?" Nami dropped the topic, and started wandering away. I straightened myself up, and walked behind her awkwardly. Man, that was shitty. I hadn't meant to panic like that, but it just hit too close to home.

We found the two in front of a pet shop. Zoro was on the ground on his back, trying to catch his breath, while Luffy sat cross-legged in his cage. Nami causally approached them, commenting on their idiocy in laying there in one place.

"Buggy's men will easily find you," She sighed.

"Hey, our navigator!" Luffy sat up.

"Says who?!" Nami screeched, but calmed herself down.

I ignore their conversation in favour of the fluffy dog that sat between Zoro and Luffy. The urge to pet it was there. It was sooo fluffy. Zoro eyed me as I got closer to the dog.

"He bites," The green head warned. Ah. I blinked, now noticing the slightly hostile aura the dog gave out. Oh my, were we trespassing its territory?

"Anyway, I'm only here to repay you for saving my life back there," Nami said, and tossed a metal key on the ground between them. Our eyes widened, and Luffy whooped in joy, "You stole the key!"

"Yeah, it was a stupid thing to do now that I think about it," She tried to play it cool, "Because of that I can't steal the other treasures."

Luffy reached out to grab the key, but the dog had other plans. It bit the tip of the key, tossed it in the air and gulped it down.

The four of us stared at it in shock.

"YOU STUPID DOG!" Luffy immediately started strangling the dog, "Spit that out, that thing you swallowed ain't food!"

"Luffy, no! That's animal abuse!" I groaned, trying to stop my rubber captain from choking the dog.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing to Chou Chou?!" Someone shouted from behind us.

We all turned to find a heavily armoured old man. He stood there with his fists clenched, trembling slightly.

"Who're you?" Zoro sat up.

The man introduced himself as the village Chief of this island.

"So this dog's name is Chou Chou, huh?" I commented, and the old man looked confusedly at me.

"How'd you know that?"

You called out his name earlier," Nami pointed out, "What's he doing here?"

"Guarding this store," The Chief jabbed a thumb to the right of him, towards the building we were in front of, "I just came here to give him food."

"Right, now that you mention it, he was being real protective of the area around here," I watched as the Chief poured dog food out into a bowl for Chou Chou to eat in.

I still really wanted to pet it.

With keen interest, I watched Chou Chou eat as a conversation happened around me.

The Chief told us about the pet store that Chou Chou and his owner opened together ten years ago. He told us of how much memories Chou Chou and his owner had made with the store. Nami asked if the owner was in the shelter where the rest of the villagers were at. The Chief shook his head and explained that the owner had passed away from sickness. He added on that the last words the owner said to Chou Chou were to look after the store for him.

"Does the dog still do it to wait for his owner's return?" The girl asked again. The old man chuckled.

"That's probably what everyone says. But I see it in another way," He gives the dog a fond glance, "Chou Chou's an intelligent dog; he knows that his owner's already long gone."

"Then why still guard the store?"

"Obviously," I eyed a light, slightly transparent aura tying the store to the dog, "It means a lot to Chou Chou." His feelings have already encompassed the store.

"That's right," The Chief confirmed, "He loved his owner and the store's what's left of him, so I think he'll continue to guard this store."

The old man sighed, complaining that Chou Chou wouldn't leave with him for the shelter. He added that he had to feed the little guy else he would starve to death, since he wouldn't move from the area at all.

The dog licked up the last of its food from the bowl, and I took it as a chance to reach my hand out to pet it.

"RROOAARRRRR!"

All of us jerked at that, the Chief instantly recognising what it was.

"W-what was that?!" Nami shrieked, making Zoro and I wince.

"T-that's from t-that guy! The Beast Trainer Mohji!" Exclaimed the Chief. I withdrew my hand and stood up, watching as the Chief and Nami scramble away from the area. Nami had instinctively grabbed Zoro by the arm as she ran away, effectively leaving Luffy and I behind.

"H-hey!" Zoro had protested, but he was still dragged away.

Luffy and I looked at each other. Then we turned our attention to Chou Chou, who was looking attentively at us.

"Y'know it would be great if you spat out the key you just ate," Luffy huffed.

"Don't you dare strangle him again," I warned the younger boy.

"You're not the one stuck in a cage!"

I was about to point out it wasn't my fault he was stuck in the cage, but a looming shadow fell on us and we all turned to look at what it was.

A huge ass lion that had a man with weird white hair around his head.

"Well look at what we have here," The man spoke, "I'm part of the Buggy pirates, the Beast Tamer Mohji. It looks like you've been ditched, after all that effort you put on running away…"

The lion growled lowly.

I mourned not running away earlier.

A/N: Aaa I apologise for the late update! School just started so I'm going to have to focus less on this story. I do apologise for the slow pacing as well; I did want to complete/wrap up the Buggy shenanigans, but I think y'all would rather have an quickly updated chapter than a long late one.

With that said, thank you for the follows favourties and reviews! See you bunch in the next chapter~

-Riki