Chapter Three- Another Return of Buggy the Clown! A Battle of Hands!
After their musician had just stormed out of the restaurant, crying, the Straw Hats had responded in a usual fashion. That is to say, that they did nothing at all, at first, then felt a twinge of guilt, before going to look for him.
The small runaway had finally stopped, the running having gotten too much for him. He sat down and hugged his knees, sobbing into them. He was too busy sobbing, to notice a certain group of figures, one of which was a lion, and two of which were very odd in appearance.
One of the odder looking characters put a gloved hand to his roughly shaven face, just grazing the large red nose, which made him stick out like a sore thumb. "Well, well, what do we have here? Why, if it isn't old Straw Hat!" He spat out the words, with distaste.
A rather slender looking woman- a woman who had been a fat old hag, before eating the Sube-Sube no Mi- who went by the name of "Iron Mace" Alvida, tapped Captain Buggy on the shoulder. "Um, Buggy? If that is Straw Hat, then he certainly has shrunk some."
Buggy the Clown looked down at the crying child, who turned to look at them, and gave a sweatdrop. Indeed, it was not Straw Hat, but some kid with red hair, who wore the hat. Buggy frowned, with a growl, all the same. This kid reminded of that dog, Shanks. Especially with the red hair.
"Alright, kid, just who the hell are you?" He bent forward, so he was at eye level with Kenni, and gave him a penetrating glare, just daring him to talk.
Teary-eyed Kenni blinked the tears away, and took a good look at Buggy, leaning in closer, assaying him with squinty eyes, then poked Buggy on the nose. "Whee! A clown!"
Buggy jumped back, red in the face, more infuriated than embarrassed. "NOBODY TOUCHES MY NOSE!" He yelled, his jaw opened very wide, so you could see the way his teeth had turned temporarily jagged with the rage.
Kenni blinked, brushed a hair back into place, and beamed, his eyes closed. "But it's so big and red and shiny!" He replied, happily. This was a big mistake, to say that Buggy had a big nose. Buggy was very sensitive about his clown nose.
"BIIIIIG?" He roared, having such a loud volume to his voice, that it echoed. "HOW DARE YOU! YOU'RE AS ANNOYING AS THE PERSON YOU LOOK LIKE! THAT RED-HEAD SHANKS!"
Kenni's eyes widened, and he jumped onto the clown, tugging at his feather-boa, enthusiastically. "You know where he is? Tell me, tell me! Please tell me, funny clown man!"
Buggy was almost about to punish this insolent brat, when he realised that the reaction to the name "Shanks" was an uncanny resemblance to the one from Straw Hat, that kid called Luffy. "So, you want to know where Shanks is, huh? Well, maybe I do know where he is, and maybe I don't." He was playing the same teasing game he had played on his first encounter with Luffy.
And just like Buggy had said the same thing as before, the answer was the same as before. A blink from the young boy, and a "What do you mean? Are you stupid or something?", to which the same reply of "Watch your tongue, boy!" was given.
Buggy stepped back, and cleared his throat, trying to regain what dignity he had left, while his crew- a unicycle-riding acrobat by the name of Cabaji, a beast-tamer, by the name of Mohji, whose hair resembled that of his lion, the lion, Richie, and Alvida- all watched on, sweatdrops on their heads.
Kenni just looked at Buggy, with a slightly annoyed expression. "Well, do you know where he is, or not?" He liked clowns, and all, but this one was getting to be very annoying. Plus, he seemed to smell a bit.
Buggy gave a grimace, remembering how Shanks had "ruined him", by coming up behind him, and surprising, which made him swallow the Bara-Bara no Mi, thus making Buggy's plans sink like he now would, if he were to go in water. It was no secret that anyone who ate one of the Akuma no Mi would sink, not being able to swim.
"Of course I don't know where that red-headed hound went to. Nor do I really care! May he die in a whirlpool for all I care!" This was now a mistake on Buggy's part. He had insulted Shanks.
"What did you say?" Kenni sounded perfectly happy, perhaps a bit too happy, but the somewhat sinister grin on his face gave it away completely. "Would you care to repeat that? Reiterate? Run that by me again? Let me hear it nice and clearly?" He stood up, and came a little closer. "Would you care to die for saying such a thing about Papa?"
Buggy was taken aback. That hound had had a pup? Well, this explained the red hair and fondness for wearing a straw hat, at least. "Shanks is your father, you say?" His eyes narrowed, almost coming two green circles, as the painted green rings around them almost engulfed them. "Well, if that's the case, then how come your precious Daddy left you all alone in the world?"
Buggy had done it again. However, this time, he had uttered a taboo, about Shanks leaving Alabasta.
This time, though, Kenni did not react. This time, he froze up, tears springing back to his eyes, and he knelt down, holding his arms, giving a small whimper. Buggy took this chance to kick the small boy across the ground, and readied his arm.
"Bara-Bara Hou!" His hand shot from his arm, like a piece from a model kit, leaving no sign of amputation. There was no blood, or anything. It was as though he was a wooden figure. As usual with the Bara-Bara Hou technique, Buggy had knives in between his fingers, ready to impale this brat pup of Shanks.
Kenni saw the knives shoot towards him, and winced, with a squeal for help. He winced and felt something appear on his shoulder, but it did not seem to hurt. He opened one eye, and saw a smooth feminine hand sprouting from his shoulder, holding Buggy's gloved projectile.
"Are you okay, Musician-chan?" A familiar voice came from behind. Kenni turned round to see Robin, the hems of her velvet coloured shirt floating in the breeze, in the cool hero fashion. Behind her was Vivi, who looked relieved to have found the young musician, but she also looked like she was near laughter, at the sight of Buggy the Clown.
Robin, however, was not laughing. As Buggy tried to pull his hand back to his arm, Robin's sprouted hand let go, and dissolved from Kenni's shoulder.
The little one gulped and looked up to Robin, stammering. "H-How did you do that?" At this, Robin gave a bit of a smile, and made three hands sprout from the ground. "I ate the Hana-Hana no Mi, which gave me the ability to sprout extra hands from anything solid."
Buggy gave a growl, glaring at the two new arrivals. "Who the hell are you?" He spat at Robin. "Are you one of the pup's friends? Or are you just a meddling person, trying to get in my way? Or maybe you're just a thief trying to steal what is mine!" With that, he fired another Bara-Bara Hou, using his other hand.
Robin raised her hands to her chest, and crossed them over each other, closing her eyes. From the ground burst five hands, one sprouting from the palm of another, until the last one, on top, grabbed hold of Buggy's wayward Bara-Bara Hou. "Cinco Fleur," was all that Robin muttered as she counterattacked thus.
Buggy gave another snarl, and was about to retaliate when he saw another one of Robin's hands sprout from his shoulder, and advance towards his neck, ready to use the "Strangle" move. Buggy's eyes widened, and he uses his defensive counter.
"Bara-Bara Kinkyuu-Dasutsu!" The "Emergency Escape" technique made Buggy look like a child's game, in which a toy pirate in a barrel has plastic knives slotted in, until the pirate's head would pop up out of the barrel. As Buggy's head sprung from his shoulders, he gave a cackle.
Robin gave an annoyed sniff, and turned to Vivi. "Vivi? Take Musician-chan back to the ship. I want to face this man alone." Vivi nodded and scooped the small one into her arms, rushing into a sprint. Giving chase was Cabaji on his unicycle, his sword bared.
Kenni was blushing bright red as she held him close and looked up to her. "Princess Nefertari, should you really be holding me in such a way!" He asked, bouncing up and down a little, as Vivi kept running. The ponytail-haired Princess looked at him, with a rather exasperated expression. "Now may not be the time, but just call me VIVI!"
Meanwhile, back on the Going Merry, Luffy and the others had given up, not too sure where their musician could have gotten to. Nami was furious at the others, for not having been able to find him, but she cracked down especially on Luffy.
"Luffy, how could you pressure him into talking about the Akumi like that? He obviously felt bad about it!" She slapped him across the face, and turned away, fuming. Her sour look disappeared when she heard a cry for help, which sounded like Vivi.
Zoro smirked, as he heard the voice of the swordsman Cabaji. "Looks like he wants some more. He must be a glutton for punishment." He stood up, and strode outside, swords unsheathed.
As he stepped out onto the deck, he saw Cabaji chasing Vivi and Kenni towards the ship, his sword pointed in the way he had done so, when he was trying to perform "The Sting of the Unicycle". Zoro gave a grin. "No Buggy to help you keep them still this time, circus performer!" The green haired man jumped to the ground, taking his haramaki mask from his arm, and tying it onto his head.
Cabaji froze. "Zoro! You are here!" His surprise turned to a grin. "Well, perhaps I should show you my new tricks, then." Zoro just stood there, unafraid, watching Vivi and Kenni run back into the ship. He then placed the hilt Wadou Ichimonji in his mouth, and placed the two other swords- Sandai Kitetsu and Yukibashiri- in a vertically parallel position behind the blade of Wadou Ichimonji.
"Toraaaa-" He charged, with both swords swinging over his head, clashing against Cabaji's bared blade. "GARI!" All three blades collided, and Cabaji's single sword was no match for a Nitoryu move. As the sword shattered in two, Cabaji looked at the remains that he had left to fight with.
"Perhaps I should not show you my new tricks today." With that, he immediately cycled off, back to Buggy.
Meanwhile, things had gotten tough for Robin. Buggy had used the Bara-Bara Festival, to split himself into many pieces and pin Robin to the floor, rendering her almost helpless. Every time she sprouted a new hand, Buggy would split more of his body up, to keep a hand occupied. Meanwhile, Alvida had pulled her iron mace, which had gotten her the name "Iron Mace", and had thrown it in Robin's direction, hoping it would hit.
"Gomu-Gomu noooooo... PISTOL!" A familiar cry rung through the air, as a stretched out arm flew towards the mace, punching it out of the way. Both Buggy and Alvida gave a grin. Straw Hat was here? This was going to prove to be fun.
"That was fun!" Luffy chuckled, dusting his hands off, Robin following behind him. "You put up a real good fight, from what I saw!" He turned round and gave the thumbs-up, with his trademark grin. The two of them had just come back from their fight with Buggy and Alvida, and had been victorious. The two Akuma no Mi eaters were coming aboard again, to be greeted by the sound of music, and the smell of food.
It was a party, in celebration of their musician, having come back safe and sound. The music, of course, was coming from Kenni playing on piano, and the food had come from Sanji's cooking. Kenni seemed to be trying to write a new song, the other Straw Hats suggesting certain lyrics. It could be noted that lots of balled up pieces of paper were lying unwanted on the floor.
Kenni, with a pencil balanced by his left cat ear, to keep it safe- much like other people would put a pencil behind their human ears- was currently going through his chorus line, before screwing up the piece of paper, and throwing it to the floor, with the rest of the balls of paper. "I can't think of anything!" With frustration, he ruffled his hair, the pencil falling to the floor.
By now, the song had been written, and to celebrate, the Straw Hats were all having a sing-along, using that very song. They had called it "We Are", because of the last line in the chorus. After Ussop had just his sung his part of the verse, the gang had all joined up in the chorus, until Luffy belted out his solo line, one he had suggested himself.
"A pocketed romance! And then you wanna be my frieeeend?" As it was in his nature to be loud and verbal, he found it necessary to hold the note on "Friend".
Upon the finish of their song, the party resumed. Ale was guzzled down, meat was torn between teeth- mostly Luffy's- and sea shanties were sung. All in all, the welcome of the musician to the Straw Hat crew was a warm one. The night promised to be fun, up until bedtime.
Nami had just tucked the small fifer into bed. To be truthful, it was not so much a bed, as it was a bunch of sheets and a blanket, with a pillow to rest one's head upon, however, this was the best there was to offer. With a smile, she gave him a peck on the head, wishing him a good night. As she was about to leave, she heard a little whimper from the little one. She turned back to see what the problem was.
"I can't sleep well. It's not because of what I'm sleeping on, though. I just- I- I need a little story to get me to sleep." He looked down, almost ashamedly. However, Nami did not seem taken aback. Instead, the craft thief girl had an idea.
"And so my ten thousand men had been lost at sea, and it was just me on the shore, having to face not only a vast amount of cannibals, but also a huge goldfish! It was enormous, so enormous that it could eat you whole in one gulp!" Ussop was deep in telling one of his stories, to try and get Kenni to sleep. However, the plan was not actually going well. Instead of soothing the little boy, it was just further scaring him. "Well, to make a long story short, I killed all of them, the end!" He nodded, his long nose waggling with his head, before slamming the door behind, having left the room after his ending.
Little Kenni, still not able to get to sleep, looked for someone to keep him company. Finally, he found Robin, in her little reading corner, a lamp on, so she could continue reading. She noticed his presence, and turned her head.
"Musician-chan? Why are you here?" She asked, a note of curiosity in her voice. "Did Long-Nose-kun's story not put you to sleep, like Navigator-san planned?" The answer was obvious, but she felt that she should ask. She furthered another question. "Would you like to stay here, and listen to me read you some myths from my books?"
Robin was not very used to children, seeing as, previously, Chopper had been the youngest one there, at the age of fifteen. She would have offered to read him a bedtime story, but she knew of none, and amongst her many books were none of the fairytale genre. Therefore, she had to make do with some of the myths and legends she had in her archaeological books.
Opening the nearest book on myths near her, Robin noted that it was full of Greek myths, and that they may hold scary parts. She was not too sure what to censor for the little one, so she chose the tamest one she could find. It was about how Atalanta, the goddess who would race any man who swore love to her, lost her first ever race, and became a happily married woman.
By the time she had finished, she looked up towards the small bundle of blankets and sheet in front of her, and smiled. He had fallen into a deep sleep, while she had been explaining some of the customs of the Grecian people. She turned back to reading her books, and anyone who had been watching would have seen a sprouted arm wrap around the small child, in a protective fashion. "Sleep well, Musician-chan."