Protecting Treasure

"You guys are pirates?" Buggy asked genuinely as he looked over Luffy's shoulder in an attempt to catch a glimpse of the vulnerable, sleeping Zoro.

"Yup! We're going to the Grand Line!" Luffy explained simply with a hand on his hip, and the other making gestures to accentuate the meaning of his words.

"Tch! There's no simple voyage nameless bums that you can handle. Dimwit!" Buggy insulted. "What're you gonna do in the Grand Line, anyway?" he asked rhetorically "Go on a sightseeing trip or something?!" He buoyantly laughed at his own 'joke'.

"Become King of the Pirates," Luffy said with a straight face, no sign of cowardly lying. Not even a ghost of a smile registered on his blank face.

"B-become King of The Pirates.." Buggy almost passed out at the ridiculous amount of cockiness he had. "Get real, you flashy idiot!" he crazily shouted. "You? King of the Pirates?! Would that make me god then?!" At that point, he had laughed all he could over the matter. All that was left was to beat some sense into the kid. "I'm gonna be King of the Pirates! And I will obtain this world's treasures! Quit dreamin'"

"You're annoying" Luffy casually remarked. He lifted his arms, one flexing outward, his hand squeezing the air as his other hand gripped onto the shoulder of the opposite arm "Just bring it on already!"

Buggy brought his arms down, only his hands sticking out from beneath his comfortable jacket that he refused to wear properly. His gripped hands made room for the four sabers that magically appeared in between the space of each finger. "Seeing that strawhat of yours brings back memories of him… and it irritates me! Memories of that damned cheeky red-haired man!"

"Red-haired?" Luffy's face lit up with recognition of the nickname. "Red-haired… does that mean you know Shanks?!" The grasp on the air and his shoulder grew tighter, though he hadn't noticed the light pain that came from it.

"Huh? Yeah. Why?" Now it was Buggy's turn to speak in an offhanded way.

"W-where is he now?!" Luffy couldn't hold himself or the questions back.

"Dunno! Maybe I know where he is, maye I don't. !" The clown teased.

Luffy returned to normal position, legs pressed together and arms at his sides as he yet again insulted Buggy with a blank face. "What're you talking about? Are you stupid or soemthing?"

"Not as much as you are!" Buggy defended. He was starting to reach his boiling point again. "I ain't nice enough of a guy to just tell you what you want to know" He said as he flaunted the swords he held in his finger webspaces.

"Then I'll make you tell me!" Luffy smirked as he retreated to the same pose he was in before.

Buggy giggled a chuckle that would send chills up anyone's spine, though Luffy continued to remain unphased. "I'll kill you before that ever happens!" He kicked up his right leg, awkwardly revealing yet another blade secretly tucked away in the sole of his shoe. "I doubt rubber can bounce back blades". When Buggy had directly shot Luffy with a Buggy Ball before, the kid had inflated like a balloon, causing it to bounce back. But this time, Buggy knew he had the upper hand.

"Nope, it can't," Luffy nodded.

"Whew" She silently sighed as she wiped the sweat off her forehead. She rested her back and the heavy bag filled with nothing but heavy gold, jewels, and other treasures, against the brick surface of a large house. It wasn't until a familiar voice shouted that she looked behind her and flinched in panic.

"Bara bara no!-" Nami watched as he jumped to great height, spinning at faster than speeds any normal human could ever hope to achieve "-Rice cracker!" Like a ball, Buggy rolled along the ground with his blades held upward, making him all the more menacing, depending on how you look at it. With ease, Luffy jumped over the rolling Buggy, and into the air, with more height than needed.

"Can't move in midair, can you, strawhat?!" Buggy remarked. Somehow, he escaped from his never ending wheeland jumped forward, all eight blades headed straight for Luffy's torso.

"Can too!" Luffy argued. In a hurry, Luffy whipped his arm out, conveniently grabbing a nearby post. His body flew to said post, dodging all the sabers by a hair.

He jumped from the pole and watched as Buggy's lower half flew back to its original place under his torso.

"Quite interesting" Buggy praised with disapproving crossed arms.

"You too!" Luffy replied back "Gomu gomu no!" He reached his arm back, a sign he was going to attempt to land another punch on the opponent before him. It wasn't until his arm stretched that he yelled "Pistol!"

Just like Luffy had, Buggy dodged the punch with ease by moving his head a quarter of an inch "Those are interesting abilities but they leave you wide open." Buggy's attention moved from Luffy's ever descending arm back to his face. The thing he hadn't noticed though, was that Luffy had grabbed the branch of a tree located far off behind him. "I'm going to carve you up!" Buggy ran to Luffy's arm, but what he hadn't accounted for was for him to start flying straight at him.

"Bara bara no Quick Escape!"

"Gomu gomu no! Sickle!" As he was being forced to fly through the air like a bullet, Buggy's head and neck ejected from the rest of his body, causing Luffy to fly straight between the narrow space of where Buggy's head severed with the rest of his body. His body crashed harshly into the tree, and as a result, Buggy laughed triumphantly.

"Not good enough, gomu gomu!" Buggy said.

The dust cloud that veiled his presence blew away with a light wind, only to reveal Luffy's legs sticking straight up while the rest of his body was covered in heavy pieces of wood, both from the tree and the house he had accidentally destroyed as well. He tucked his legs in, making his body small enough to switch positions, so his arms could easily clear his way of the debris.

"Damn, you keep breaking into pieces!" Luffy thought out loud as he readjusted the hat on his head.

Without a word, Buggy materialized some more blades, replacing the once he wasted in his last attack.

"What a fight… It's almost like I'm dreaming" Nami muttered, still hiding around the corner of the building.

"H-hey, you see that?" A man with thick eyebrows and a nose ring asked the person with him, who was equally as sweaty.

"You dumbass! Keep pretending to be knocked out! Get caught up in that, and you'd never have enough lives to survive!"

"Bara bara Cannon!" Buggy gripped his arm with his hand to steady it, as the other hand shot off in Luffy's direction. Miraculously, he was able to catch the wrist of the appendage before the knives it held stabbed straight into his neck.

"Separate!" he added. Buggy's hand separated from his wrist, and the section Luffy was holding onto. Thankfully, Luffy was able to maneuver his head just in time so only one of the four blades could cut him, though the momentum of Buggy's fast flying hand made him collapse back into the pile of rubble.

Very amused, Buggy cackled hideously "Well?! Now do you see, runt?!" But his joyous face didn't last long, because when he saw him move, his teeth clamped down.

Luffy lifted his hat off from the ground, staring deeply at the minor slit in the brim, and all the while disregarding the blood from that slid down the side of his face.

"Bastard!" Luffy yelled at Buggy through gritted teeth.

"Oh? Was I not supposed to scratch that face of yours or something?" Buggy taunted.

Luffy ripped his glare away from Buggy to gaze back at the damaged hat. "How dare you…" he spat "How dare you damage this hat!"

"Huh" Was all Buggy could respond with.

"This is my treasure!" Luffy announced for all nearby to hear. "Whoever damages this hat absolutely must pay!"

Nami recalled her first official meeting with the peculiar pirate. When she had asked about the treasure, he elaborated as to why the hat was so important to him. That he had sworn to the person who he received the hat from that he gathered a crew and become a great pirate. She remembered him talking about it so clearly, and with such desire and determination.

"I thought there was nothing that could faze him…" She thought aloud as she sheepishly looked down at her feet, but looked back at the fight scene so as to not miss another second, still though, his reaction to his damaged hat refused to leave her head. "To think he would get this upset"

"It would seem that hat has a history to it." Buggy interjected.

"That's right!"

"Is it that important of a hat?-" Silently, Buggy's hand that was still laying on the ground behind Luffy hovered with a tight grasp on all four blades. The hand threw the one of the sabers with great precision, though Luffy noticed it in the nick of time. He jumped away, but his arms that had the hat in its grasp lagged behind. "-If so…. Then protect it better!" Buggy vindictively smiled.

The hand with three swords left flew right into the hat, penetrating right through, and all the while flying away with it.

Luffy's eyes widened as he let out a short gasp. Memories of Shanks putting on the hat filled his head. Images of the sacrifice he had made replayed repeatedly. And the promise he made that caused Shanks to give up his hat… well that simply made him lose all reason. They all played like a movie through head as he watched Buggy's unattached hand hover away, gaining more and more distance by the second.

His body fell harshly onto the ground with no balance.

Buggy's hand connected back to his body, finally becoming whole once more. "How is this old, tattered hat a treasure?" Buggy asked with a disgusted face as he inspected it from every angle, expecting some ancient gold or gems to fall out. He laughed at his rudeness and the at the desperation of Luffy.

Nami stared nervously at Luffy's lifeless body as Buggy went on and on about what a treasure really is: sparkly gold and silver, valuable jewels and gemstones- all things Nami hated to admit she believed in not long ago.

"You call this filthy strawhat a treasure? Cut the crap!"

"That's the hat Shanks and I swore over! Luffy cried.

"What?!" Buggy's eyes widened in disbelief and looked over to the hat that was stuck on the blades "...Meaning this is Shanks' hat?!" He threw it down in revulsion over the man. "No wonder it seemed familiar! He always wore this by my side!"

Putting away his anger for a moment, he swung his head over to Buggy who spoke much too casually about the red-haired pirate to only have heard rumors of him.

"You and Shanks sailed on the same ship?!"

"Yeah, back when we were pirates-in-training." He recalled with a smile "We were comrades." He added "That damn detestable, red-haired bastard!" Just the thought of his cheeky smirk made his face boil until he couldn't contain the anger anymore and took it out on the hat again, this time crushing its somewhat sturdy structure underneath his unsightly shoe.

An apparent tic formed on Luffy's forehead and his nose scrunched up. He immediately bolted up and raced towards Buggy "Shanks is a great man!" he shouted all the while. "You, his comrade?! Don't compare yourself to him!" He gripped his shoulder as he wound it up for a punch.

"Bara bara Quick Escape" Buggy cowardly said as his head once again separated from his body. But instead of focusing on the separated body part, he aimed for Buggy's completely open gut. His head fell straight down to the ground, unable to hide any pain he felt. He lowered the leg he kicked when he saw Body's body fall completely.

"Never say you and Shanks are comrades ever again!" Luffy comminated.

Buggy hacked in agony when his head reattached to his body. "I can say whatever I want about Shanks!" he protested. Luffy stretched out Buggy's face, much wider than anyone's should.

"Tell me! What happened between you and Shanks?!" Luffy continuously pulled at his cheeks, but gave up when he refused to talk. "Damn it! How dare you tear up my treasure!" Luffy looked over to his abandoned hat and the three large slits that ran across the top.

"Do you want to know that badly?" Buggy wasn't exactly sure what came over him, but he suddenly had a change of heart that immediately grabbed Luffy's attention.

"He's the one person I absolutely cannot forgive! I'll curse him for the rest of my life!"

Buggy told Luffy all about the lively crew he was apart of. Of Shanks' behavior that still never really changed. About the treasure map, and how they had gotten a hold of a devil fruit. He told Luffy in all confidence about his plan to run away with both the real Devil Fruit and the treasure map. He explained all about how it was Shanks' fault for turning him into a splitting person. Nothing about that night was left out, though from Luffy's reaction, it seemed he stayed biased, and could only focus on how Shanks was the 'hero' of the story.

"Because of him, my plan in life was suddenly delayed for 10 years!" he argued." And then I had a revelation! If underwater's no good, then I'll obtain all the treasure on land... Using this Chop-Chop power. That's why I won't let anyone who steals my treasure live!" Buggy announced loudly.

Luffy watched curiously as Buggy's torso hovered high above the ground as his knives replenished.

"Let go…" Buggy blasted off in a fury, right over Luffy's head "Of my treasurer!" Nami anxiously turned her head around to see him fly straight for her.

"Crap! He spotted me!" Nami ran off lugging the weighty bag of treasure on her back. He stared at the scene of his redheaded "teammate" before looking back at the lower half of Buggy's body that he had left behind once more.

"You think you can escape me, Nami! I'm going to flashily chop you up!" Nami didn't take the time to look behind her because she knew every second wasted would mean another second dead, but to her surprise, he stopped mid air with a horrifying look on his face.

Nami inquisitively looked up from her hunched over position to see why she hadn't met her fate yet. Surely Buggy hadn't stopped out of pity or a very convenient change of heart.

Luffy lowered his leg from Buggy's crotch area, his knees buckled in agony

Nami gasped in surprise when Buggy completely just fell to the ground, abiding to the laws of physics and letting gravity take him.

"M-my balls…balls…" Buggy cried.

"You're still dealing with me! Luffy said as a triumphant smile tugged at the corners of his mouth

"Somethings wrong," An intelligent looking man with glasses and a thin ring of facial hair said in the tense silence. He snapped his shiny pocket watch close. "The mayor's never been gone this long before…"

"Something must be happening in town after all!" A woman donning a muted pink dress and short flaxen hair chimed in, worrying the townspeople even more. "There's been more cannon fire than usual, too!"

"Alright! I'll go into town and check it out! You all stay here!" A braver, older man joined in.

"I'm coming too!" A man with long greying hair tied up in a ponytail rallied.

Fool! There are pirates in town! The despicable Buggy Pirates!" he argued in a futile attempt to discourage the younger man.

"Exactly! I'm coming too!" Another, younger man joined in with a striped shirt and a matching hat. Soon, every citizen joined in the rally, even the children played apart in the rebellious yelling.

The older man finally agreed to stop resisting and allowed them to all throw their lives away at the hands of some detestable marauders.

"Oi!" Luffy rudely grabbed her attention. "Leave that treasure and get out of here." He instructed her with the one of the calmest tones she had ever heard him speak in, in their few hours of knowing each other. "He'll come after you again" cautioned her as he pointed his finger at her.

"No!" Nami stubbornly refused "Leave the treasure and go?! Absolutely not! Why should I have to leave my own treasure behind?" Luffy just stared at her unyielding face as her grip on the bag tightened.

"Your treasure?!" Buggy finally spoke as he pee;ed his face off from the ground.

"Of course! I'm a thief who only steals from pirates, and I just stole from one!" One of her hands let go of the large bag to make a fist "Which means this treasure is mine now!"

"Ah, I see!" Luffy smashed his fist into the palm of his other hand to communicate his understanding.

"Nonsense! That's my treasure! Do you think stealing it makes it yours?!" Buggy yelled, still on the cobblestone ground, even though the pain he felt had practically faded. "Honestly! What kind of parents did you have?!"

Nami ignored his question and narrowed her eyes in annoyance "A criminal, trying to lecture another criminal?" She turned her head away and gave a hearty smirk. "Ridiculous!"

"What?!"

Luffy continued to stare at Nami as she astutely rebutted every word Buggy said, though it mostly went over Luffy's head.

"Hmp! I haven't stooped so low that I need to be corrected by pirates!" She gave a cheeky smile, similar to the one Shanks always wore that was engraved in Buggy's mind. She stuck out her tongue for extra reassurance.

Buggy growled in annoyance. He had had enough of those pirates' attitudes. "I hope you're ready to face the consequences, Nami…" He threatened. "Bara bara! Festival!" Luffy and Nami all watched in complete surprise as Buggy's body split into umpteen sections, each sliver of his body had a thickness of about two to three inches.

All pieces of Buggy's lower half flew right past Luffy, each one headed straight for Nami.

"Just try and help your friend, if you can, Gum-gum!" Buggy teased with a huge leer.

"Damn, he broke into even more parts!" He looked from Buggy, as the parts and pieces flew to the clown, to the ground where he found Buggy's feet walking along the ground. "What the-?"

"Nami! Give me back my treasure!" Buggy yelled with two of his blades pointing straight at her.

"You wish!" Nami shrieked.

Luffy curiously took one of Buggy's feet and pulled it from its snug place in the tight fitting shoe, and Buggy flinched at the feeling of the cool air tickling his foot.

"Coochie coochie coo!" Luffy grinned as his fingertips gently ran over the surface of Buggy's foot in an attempt to slow or stop him completely by tickling him.

Buggy let out a cackle that sounded more or less like a scream as he continued to pursue Nami.

Seeing his first plan fail, he changed gears and decided to pull hard on the skin of his opponent's foot, hoping the stinging sensation of having his skin pulled violently would put an end to his pursuit, but Nami's distant squeal said otherwise.

"Geeze, you're stubborn!" Luffy yelled, smashing down the foot onto the tough ground, but even that didn't stop him.

"Knock it off!" Buggy shouted at Luffy.

"No, you knock it off!" Nami growled. She threw the hefty bag up with great force, in an attempt to knock him away like one of Luffy's punches.

"Wow!" Luffy commented with an impressed smile.

"Heh!" Buggy tittered, which made Nami look at his condescending smirk. "Thank you for returning my treasure!"

In an attempt to grab it back, she tugged on the knot, the place where one could have the best grip in the bag that was nearly bursting at the seams.

"Let go! Let go!" Nami cried like a child "That's mine!"

"Let go? This is my treasure!" Buggy fought. "You let go!"

Luffy finally let go of the foot, realizing it wasn't going to help him achieve anything, and sprung into action.

Both of Buggy's hands finally gave up on the game of tug of war. They slowly crept up behind Nami, each one a sturdy dagger in its grasp.

"Hey! You're supposed to be fighting me!" Luffy jumped up and pulled his leg back, and with enough height, he launched his foot straight into Buggy's face, missing Nami, who's knees buckled from the shock, by a few inches.

The bag of treasure tore open when Buggy's face flew straight into it. Its valuable contents, such as gold bars and coins, necklaces and rings decorated with colorful gemstones and beads, and other shiny looking articles spilled across the rocky floor.

Buggy's head skidded across the ground, causing a long, indented trail to notch.

Because of his lack of consciousness, pieces of Buggy fell limp to the ground.

"Consider that finishing move a kick from the old mayor guy!" Luffy cheered audibly. Nami stared at him in incredulity. To think someone who she had threatened with death only moments ago would save her life- and a pirate, no less.

"T-thanks. I owe you one…" she bashfully said.

"Yeah, no problem!" Luffy simply responded in such a nonchalant way, like she was just thanking him for doing her a small insignificant favor. Luffy broke the silence and looked away from staring at Nami's allayed face "Oh yeah! The map!"

"Ah! My treasure!" Nami remembered, though she wasn't sure how she could possibly forget something so important.

"This isn't over yet, Gum Gum!" Buggy said menacingly, even though at that point, he had been reduced to nothing but a head.

"He's still alive!" Luffy commented out loud.

"Shut up! How dare you flashily do this to me!" Buggy cried in sorrow as Nami slowly backed away, so as to not make her presence noticeable. She looked

over to Luffy, his profile still staring confusingly at Buggy, and dashed away. "You'll pay for this! Assemble, Bara Bara Parts!" he commanded.

Luffy remained unfazed, yet only became more confused when Buggy reassembled, and only a few parts had come back. Eyes wide, and mouth dropped to the floor, he looked down at himself. He only had his head, his two hands, and his legs, or at least from the shins down. "Huh"

"Looking for these?" Nami brought all attention to her. Her leg placed confidently on top of a tied down pile of Buggy's missing body parts.

"My parts!" Buggy exclaimed as Luffy let out a jolly laugh. "Way to go, thief!" Luffy praised with a blithe grin as he threw his arms back. They stretched quite a distance.

"S-stop!" Buggy cried in a futile attempt to actually make him halt.

"Go flying, Buggy! Gomu gomu no! Bazooka!" Luffy shouted as his arms flew back. His hands hit Buggy with great strength and actually sent him flying. He rose above the whole town and shot off like a star, becoming a mere dot in the sky.

A drop of sweat dropped from Nami's brow. She hadn't expected him to fly to such a height.

Luffy pulled his arms back with a smile "I win!" He cheered with his arms up.

Luffy walked over to his forlorn hat and picked it up. He gently held it by its brim and stared profoundly at the scratches.

"It's a bit torn up now…" Nami obviously noted as she stared at the back of his head.

"Well, that's okay! I can still put it on, plus I sent Buggy flying, so I'm satisfied." He placed the hat on his head with a smile. She couldn't tell how he could be so positive. Had any of her money been damaged, she was sure she'd have a complete meltdown.

Silently, Nami recalled how angry he had been from the smallest scratch. Whatever anger that was still left was surely being deeply repressed. Nami coyly turned her head. "It's alright. I'll fix it for you later." She said in a hushed tone.

"Huh? What?" Luffy looked over his shoulder to look at Nami, only to get a glimpse of her sullen face for less then a second, before she lifted her guard again and returned to her stubborn self.

"Nothing!" She denied. "Ah! I split the treasure into two bags, so carry half of it, yeah? It's too heavy for me," she sighed.

"There sure is a lot!" Luffy commented with wide eyes.

"You have to give Buggy credit- he had an eye for treasure! This here is first class booty!" She pulled the two, smaller bags of treasure, close to her face, smushing them against her cheeks as she smiled warmly. "It's easily worth ten million beli!" her voice was buoyant and carefree, a very nice change from the more demanding tone Luffy had heard her talk in.

As if her smile was infectious, Luffy felt one of his own form on his face as he stared at her.

Nami wasn't exactly sure why, but the small smile Luffy offered her made her falter. He watched as she dug through one of the two bags and pulled something out.

"Here" She handed him. In her grasp was a rolled up piece of paper.

"Eh?" Luffy couldn't see what it was when it was all rolled up, until Nami indulged him.

"It's a chart of the Grand Line. You wanted it, right?"

"You're giving it to me?!" Luffy was so surprised. It wasn't exactly prejudice, but Luffy assumed she wasn't one to easily give up something so important as a map of the Grand Line.

"You did save me." Nami hated to admit it, but she did say she owed him, and that map was her way of repaying him.

"Thank you, Nami!" A huge smile crept its way on his face "I finally got a map of the Grand Line! Hurray!" He cheered again. Nami couldn't help but let a hushed smile come out. He was acting like a complete child, and it amused Nami greatly.

"Oh! Does that mean you'll join our crew now?"

"I told you! I'm never going to join a pirate crew!" She fought, though from Luffy's smile she assumed saying no was not an option. "Alright. Sticking with you guys seems profitable enough! But I'm only teaming up with you, just so you know! Always remember that!"

"Yeah!" Luffy beamed.

A/N: Hey guys, I know this is another long chapter, but I hope you enjoyed the LuNa at the end. Please R&R! Also, please let me know if you want me to cut down on the context before the LuNa moments. I realized the chapters have gotten quite long, and a lot of it is just build up for the shortest moments of LuNa, so please give me feedback.