From Mafioso to Pirate

Chapter 9: Orange Town

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Child Lambo squealed in delight as the small boat sped through the water. "Wheee! Faster! Faster! Faster!"

"Hey, don't get so close to the edge! You'll fall out!" Zoro shouted at him as he rowed like a madman, trying to catch up to the bird carrying Luffy. He was worried about Lambo too, of course, but the younger boy seemed to know what was happening to him and didn't seem too concerned about it before he disappeared, so Zoro reasoned that he would be back soon. He just wished he knew who this kid was, though...

Lambo paused and looked past Zoro with a frown on his face. "Hey, Plant-Head, there are some weirdos in the water."

"Hey, don't come up with weird nicknames for me, kid," Zoro muttered before craning his neck to try and see what he was talking about.

There were in fact three people floating out in the middle of the sea, waving their arms vigorously to try and get his attention. "Hey! Please stop! Let us on your boat, please!"

"Dammit!" Zoro groaned, not even slowing down. "I don't have time to stop! Just grab on yourselves!"

"Wh-What?!" The three exclaimed, but obediantly grabbed onto the edge of the ship as it flew past them and heaved themselves onto it, causing Lambo to squeak in surprise and hurry to Zoro's side.

"Wow, you actually got on," Zoro remarked, smirking. "I'm impressed."

"Are you trying to kill us?!" They shouted back incredulously. It didn't last long, however, as one of them pulled out a sword and pointed it at him.

"Hey, stop the boat. We're with Buggy the Clown, and we'll be taking this boat, otherwise you and that little brat are gonna get it!"

Lambo made a fearful sound and hid behind Zoro. The swordsman, however, paused in his rowing and turned to give them a glare that rivaled hell itself.

"Huh?"

A few seconds later, the men, all bruised and battered, laughed nervously as they rowed as quickly as they could. "We had no idea you were the famous Pirate Hunter Zoro! Please forgive us!"

Zoro just scoffed and glared at them, causing them to flinch. "Thanks to you idiots, I lost sight of my friend. So shut up and just keep rowing."

"Y-Yes, sir!"

"Yahahahaha! That was cool!" Lambo exclaimed, jumping up and down in excitement. "Do that again, Plant-Head!"

"I said don't give me such a weird nickname," Zoro grumbled in irritation before turning to look the small boy in the eyes. "My name is Zoro, okay? Zoro," he pronounced slowly.

"Zo...ro?" The child asked, tilting his head to the side. "That's a pretty weird name."

"Why you..."

"What are we gonna do, Aniki?"

Whatever Zoro was going to say in rebuttal was quickly forgotten as he turned his attention to the conversation the three men were having amongst themselves.

"I don't know... If Captain Buggy finds out that some girl took the map and treasure..."

"Hey, who's this Buggy guy you keep talking about?"

The three looked at Zoro in disbelief. "You've never heard of Buggy the Clown?"

"Can't say I have."

"A clown? I wanna see! I wanna see!" Lambo cheered, jumping up and down.

"This is one clown you don't want to see, kid," the man said, glaring at the child, causing him to flinch and step back. "He's the captain of our pirate crew, and a Devil Fruit user."

Zoro's eyes widened. "A Devil Fruit user?"

Lambo, who was watching the conversation in confusion, whined when a familiar pink smoke started to engulf his body. "Aw! I wanna see the clown!"

"Huh?" Zoro turned to him only to be surprised when the child disappeared, leaving the older Lambo in his place.

"Wha?! Th-That kid just disappeared!" One of the men shouted as they all stared in shock. "And who's this new guy?!"

Zoro sent them a glare. "Just shut up and row!"

"Y-Yes, sir!"

The swordsman continued to glare at them until they picked up the speed. He then turned his attention back to Lambo, arching an eyebrow when he saw how disheveled he looked and how hard he was breathing, like he had just run a marathon. "What the hell happened to you? And where'd you disappear to? Who was that kid?"

"I-I'm fine..." Lambo said, panting as he slumped down. "I just...had to run for my life for a few minutes there..."

"Run for your life?" Zoro repeated, looking more confused than ever.

Lambo opened his mouth to say something when he caught sight of the three men, who were still shooting him wary glances. "...I'll explain everything later. What's going on here? Did you get Luffy down?"

"Unfortunately," Zoro started, sending another glare at the men, causing them to row even harder. "Thanks to these idiots, I lost sight of him."

"...I see," Lambo sighed before looking out at the vast sea. "Hopefully he hasn't gotten himself roped into anything stupid..."

"Why do I have to be tied up again, Nami?" Luffy whined as an orange-haired girl led him through an empty town. The girl, Nami, was holding the end of a long rope, which was tied around Luffy, keeping his arms pinned to his sides.

Nami looked at him and gave a smile that seemed more like a smirk. "It's part of the favor. Don't worry about it."

Luffy pouted. "Fine, if you say so..." He looked around and frowned as his gaze fell on a part of the town that had been completely destroyed. It looked like some kind of explosion had occured, leaving every building in its path a mess of wood and stone. "What happened over there?"

Nami turned to where he was looking. Staring at the destruction, her expression became hard. "Buggy and his pirate crew did that."

"Really..." Luffy muttered, looking at each of the destroyed buildings with a frown. His eyes widened when he caught sight of a rather colorful one, the sign, not having been completely destroyed, reading "Orange Town Toy Store." "Oooh! Look! Look!"

"What is it- Whoa!" Nami yelped as Luffy went running off towards the building, dragging her along with him as she desperately hung onto the rope.

Luffy looked around the ruins excitedly before frowning in disappointment. "Aw! They're all broken!"

"Well, what did you expect? And why is someone your age interested in toys anyway?" Nami said, scowling at him before turning to look at all the broken toys. Looking around, she spotted something that surprised her. "Hey, it looks like something survived."

"Really? Let me see!" Luffy said, hurrying over and examining the object she had picked up. He then frowned and tilted his head to the side. "It's a...necklace?"

"Yeah," Nami responded, examining it. It was a little plastic necklace that a child could wear. At the end of it were what looked like horns that one would find on a steer. She was about to drop it back down when Luffy spoke up.

"Hey, can I have it?"

"Huh? Why? What would you do with it?"

"Come on, please?"

Nami rolled her eyes and sighed before shoving the necklace into one of the pockets on the boy's shorts. "Fine, here. Now let's hurry, okay?"

"Alright! Thanks, Nami!"

The girl just rolled her eyes as she continued to lead him by the rope to their destination. "Whatever..."

An hour later, Lambo and Zoro finally made it to land. The black-haired boy stretched and looked around. "So, how do we find Luffy?" He asked, turning to look at Zoro.

Before the other man could respond, though, the sound of a devestating explosion cut through the air. The two of them, as well as the three pirates they had picked up, turned to stare in shock as, in a burst of light and fire, a quarter of the town was reduced to rubble.

"What the hell was that?" Zoro asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Th-That looked like one of Captain Buggy's Buggy Balls!" One of the pirates said as they all watched in fear.

Lambo, once he recovered, turned to look in the direction the Buggy Ball came from. "I'd bet money that Luffy's somewhere in that direction."

"Right, let's go," Zoro said before walking off.

"...Zoro, you're...you're going the wrong way."

After having to constantly stop Zoro from going in the wrong direction, Lambo had finally just decided to lead the way himself. "It looks like we're nearly there."

"About time," Zoro grumbled.

"You know, it's kind of your fault we took so long in the first place," Lambo pointed out, earning himself a glare.

"...Say, who was that kid from before?" Zoro asked eventually, earning him a confused look.

"What kid?"

"When you disappeared, some little kid came out of nowhere," Zoro elaborated. "What the hell happened then, anyway?"

"Oh, that," Lambo said, frowning. "Well, see, that little kid was me. From ten years ago, I mean."

Zoro frowned in confusion. "What?"

The younger boy shrugged. "You see, I used to have this machine called the Ten-Year-Bazooka. It switches out anyone with their older selves."

The swordsman's eyes widened in shock. "You're kidding! Something like that actually exists?!"

"Yeah," Lambo responded, looking back at him. "My younger self used it a lot, so I may get switched out from time to time."

"...A guy made out of rubber and a time machine," Zoro said with a sigh. "Now I've seen it all... How long are you going to be switching out for anyway?"

Lambo frowned in thought. "Well... I don't really remember when Tsuna finally took the Bazooka away from me... A few years, maybe?"

"Huh... Wait, if you've been doing this when you were younger, then shouldn't you recognize us or something?" Zoro suddenly realized. "I mean, you met us as a kid, right?"

Lambo paused at that. "...Yeah, you're right." He frowned and thought back to his childhood, trying to find any memories of Luffy and Zoro. "...I really remember only one thing. It was something about being on a boat and a clown..."

"Oh, that? That just happened," Zoro supplied. "Why is that your only memory of us?"

"I don't really know," Lambo admitted, troubled. "I guess I have some theories, though."

"Really? What are they?"

"Well, the first is that I don't stay with you permanently. I really doubt that, though."

Zoro nodded. "And the other theories?"

"Well..." Lambo thought for a moment on how to explain it. "The future isn't set in stone, it has endless possibilities, you know?" Seeing Zoro nod again, he continued. "When I was young, I never really thought about that much, but every action we do affects the future in some way. So, whenever I used the Bazooka, I most likely wasn't going to the same future that I traveled to the last time I used it, understand?"

"I guess that kind of makes sense."

"Right, so maybe me joining Luffy is kind of changing things...or something," Lambo said. He was starting to confuse even himself. "Time travel is just weird."

"Yeah, I really don't get it..." Zoro sighed. "But I'm glad to know what the hell happened back there. After we find Luffy, we'll have to explain it to him, too."

"Yeah... Hopefully he hasn't gotten himself into any trouble..." Lambo sighed this time as he remembered the explosion. "But that's probably just wishful thinking at this point..."

Ten Years Earlier...

"Hey, Tsuna, what's up with Lambo?" Yamamoto asked, staring at the small child as he begged Mama to take him to see a clown. "He's been talking about clowns for a while now."

Tsuna just sighed. "I really don't know... He's been at this ever since he came back...I wonder what happened?"