Somewhere in the east Blue
The duo of Luffy and Zoro had been sailing towards Orange Town for the past six days. However they had not simply been sailing, Luffy had used this time to bring Zoro up to speed on everything he learned from Shanks and the red hair pirates. Zoro visibly perked up at the explanation of haki understanding immediately how it could help him progress as a swordsman. Luffy's attempts to teach Zoro anything else however proved almost entirely futile and the less said about Zoro's navigational skills the better, as Zoro genuinely believed to go east you just had to turn right, this gave Luffy the impression that Zoro would be able to get lost travelling in a straight line.
It was around midday that island Orange Town was on appeared on the horizon. Taking out a spyglass that had belonged to Alvida that Luffy had found in the captains cabin he observed Orange Town. "It would seem Buggy isn't the man I hoped he was," Luffy stated grimly.
"Your orders captain?" questioned Zoro.
"Bring us into dock. We'll talk a walk through the town and gather some Intel on the situation." It was at this point that Zoro noticed a vein on Luffy's temple bulging slightly and he realised that whatever it was that Luffy had seen through the spyglass had well and truly pissed him off.
A short while later Zoro and Luffy were walking through the deserted town noticing several destroyed buildings and others that had clearly been looted, this only serving to increase Luffy's anger as well as Zoro's desire for a fight. As they made their way down a street they heard a commotion behind them and turned to investigate. Running towards them was Nami being chased by three rough looking men, as she neared Luffy and Zoro she smirked.
"Cheers for having my back boss, I'll just leave these three to you," and that was all she said before she took of running once more and slipping down a side street.
"So that little bitch works for you does She? Well guess we're gonna have to kill you too before we get captain Buggy's map back," sneered one the Buggy pirates.
"I thought you said it was just me and you on the crew captain?" questioned Zoro in an unconcerned tone.
"It is," stated Luffy with a large smile on his face "let's just deal with the trash first."
Zoro dashed towards the three pirates, drawing two of his katanas as his he did. His dash carried him half a dozen feet past the three pirates where he calmly resheathed his swords and turned around to face them. Moments after he turned around several deep wounds appeared on each of the three pirates spraying blood everywhere before they fell to the ground dead.
"Tch leave some for me next time, yeah," said Luffy in amusement.
It was at this moment that Nami reappeared from the rooftop of a nearby house and she looked at the scene in amazement. "Wow you guys are really strong, even those guys had sabres and everything they didn't stand a chance against you."
Luffy looked up at Nami and channeled his inner Shanks letting a charming smile overtake his face. "It's wonderful to see you again Nami, it would seem fate keeps bringing us together."
Nami blushed at Luffy's words and attempted to change the subject. "Say how about I treat you guys to some food as thanks for dealing with those goons."
Upon hearing the word food Luffy's stomach let out a loud growl startling both Nami and Zoro.
"How are you hungry? You stuffed yourself stupid just over an hour ago!" barked Zoro at a sheepish Luffy.
"Come on you two this way," was all Nami said before jumping down from the rooftop and leading them into a nearby house.
"So is this your house Nami?" asked Luffy as he began looking round the house.
"Nah, the whole town was already deserted when I got here so I'm just borrowing it for the time being." As she said this Nami begain preparing a meal for just Luffy as Zoro simply waved her off and sat down with a bottle of sake. After placing the food down in front of Luffy Nami jumped back in surprise and a slight bit of fear as Luffy began devouring the food with such speed and intensity that he was practically inhaling it.
"You know you can chew your food!" yelled Nami. Luffy whose face was only an inch or two away from his plate looked up.
"Mmmffhh mmf sshhhoow bud."
"Don't talk with your mouthful captain."
"Sorry it's just so good. Hey Nami you said you're the best navigator in the whole East Blue before right?" At seeing her nod he continued "plus you cook good food and your talents are matched by your beauty." again he flashed her his charming smile. "You should definitely join my crew."
Up until Luffy said that Nami had a faint blush on her face and a small smile on her face from Luffy's flattery but upon hearing him mention his crew her whole demeanor changed she tensed and a look of anger crossed her face.
"You never said you were a pirate when we travelled to Shells town," spat Nami at Luffy.
Luffy however didn't let Nami's change in demeanor affect him "you never asked," said Luffy with a small grin.
At this Nami faltered as she was unable to refute Luffy's point. "I'd never stoop so low as to be a pirate, all pirates are nothing but scum."
Luffy could tell from this that her hatred of pirates ran deep and that for such deep seated hatred something significant must have happened to her at the hands of pirates. Nami's past was her own however and Luffy was unwilling to pry.
"You know Nami not all pirates are like the ones you met," this immediately got Nami's attention and she fixed her gaze onto Luffy once more. Seeing that he had her undivided attention he added "when I was just a kid a load of pirates showed up one day. We thought they were here to raid and kill us all but they never did. They traded peacefully with the town, played with the kids and even fought off a bandit gang that was causing trouble."
Hearing this Nami began to tear up a little at the perceived injustice, why couldn't those pirates have come to cocoyashi village instead of Arlong. Just like always the mere thought of Arlong caused Nami to hear Arlong's distinctive laugh echo in her mind.
Seeing her shift in mood Luffy sought to truly drive her point home using the same line that he did with Coby. "Look Nami not all pirates are bad and not all marines are good, the world's not black and white like that. All you can really do is judge people as you see them."
Despite the fact that Luffy's words had an obvious effect on her she was unwilling to abandon her lifelong belief so suddenly and easily Nami refused to back down. "I still won't become a pirate."
Before Luffy could argue to get her to join his crew Nami continued "but I don't see any reason why we can't join forces to achieve a common goal."
Despite Nami only agreeing to temporarily join forces Luffy took this as her joining his crew and as such he jumped up and yelled in celebration while doing a fist pump.
"So what you guys doing on this island anyway?"
"Captain wants to kick this Buggy's ass," grunted Zoro between swigs of sake.
"You want to fight Buggy!?" screamed an incredulous Nami. She let out a deep sigh to steady herself after seeing Luffy's big cheshire grin and nod. "Look Buggy is a monster with a fifteen million beli bounty there's no way you can beat him."
"Don't worry about me and Zoro we can take him, speaking of Buggy though why were his men chasing you?"
"Because I stole this from him," stated Nami as she pulled out the spoil of her last venture. "It's a map of the Grand Line."
At this Luffy's mind began working overtime and began putting a quick plan together. "You know Nami while me and Zoro are fighting all their attention is gunna be on us right?" After seeing her nod he added "well while there attention is on us it'll give you the perfect opportunity to do what you do best and rob them blind." Luffy said with a big grin.
"And I'm sure I can be persuaded into letting you keep more than your fair share," said Luffy once again channeling his inner Shanks which once again caused a slight blush to appear on Nami's face despite her best efforts to fight it.
Despite attempting to fight off her blush Nami was still able to nod her agreement to Luffy's plan which just caused Zoro to smirk slightly and shake his head in amusement. Despite only having known his captain a short amount of time he had already realised that his captain fancied himself as something of a ladies man.
The trio exited the house and began making their way towards where Nami told them Buggy had set up camp in the local tavern. While on their way there they came across a dog sitting directly outside a pet shop. Seeing the dog caused Luffy to almost vibrate in excitement and he ran up to it with Zoro and Nami following him at a far more sedate pace.
"Shake, shake, I said shake," getting no reaction from the dog he turned to Nami and Zoro "hey guys I think this dog is broken."
Before Nami or Zoro could respond to this a voice called out surprising them both. Looking over ath the new voice they saw an old man making his way towards them.
"Hey what are you three doing to Shoo-shoo?"
"Huh is that the dogs name?" questioned Luffy.
"Yeah, are you three with the Buggy pirates?" asked the old man guardedly.
"Don't worry old man we ain't with them," stated Zoro as reassuringly as he was able to.
"Yeah we're here to kick Buggy's ass old timer," said Luffy with a grin.
"Just who are you three?" asked the old man incredibly confused.
"I'm Monkey D. Luffy and I'm going to be king of the pirates," yelled out Luffy jumping into the air in excitement. "So anyways who are you and what's the story with the broken dog?"
"My name's Boodle and I'm the mayor of Orange Town or at least I was before the Buggy pirates showed up, can't exactly be the mayor of a ghost town now can you? As for Shoo-Shoo he isn't broken! He belonged to Hocker the man that built that pet shop there, it was his life's work, his treasure. When Hocker died the last thing he said to Shoo-shoo was to ask him to watch over the shop while he was gone."
"Haven't you told Shoo-shoo that his owner isn't coming back?" asked an empathic Nami.
"Of course I have! But he still continues to sit there day and night."
"Of course he does the shop is all he has left of his owner meaning it's his treasure." said Luffy. Looking over at Zoro and Nami he added "not all treasure is gold and silver you know, take me for example this hat is my treasure," as he said that Luffy took off his hat and smiled fondly at it.
Interrupting any further conversation was the sound of heavy footfall. The pirates and mayor turned to see a giant lion being ridden by a middle aged man with fluffy white hair and what appeared to be two animal like fluffy ears atop his head.
"Well what do we have here? If it isn't the little sneak thief and some accomplices. Buggy will be pleased when I return with his map, get 'em Ritchie."
At that command the lion began getting ready to pounce. With this aggressive action Luffy raised his hand with his index finger and thumb in the shape of a gun, when Luffy pulled his thumb down a small bullet of lightning shot out from his index finger hitting the guy on top of the lion and sending him falling of thr back of it. As soon as Luffy had done that Zoro jumped forwards with all three of his blades slashing at the lion several times in the space of less than a second. The pain from numerous slashes coupled with blood loss caused the lion to pass out.
With the fight over Luffy turned to his crew and asked "hey guys this guy said he's a pirate right? Well do either of you know if he's got a bounty on his head?" questioned Luffy.
Zoro approached the downed figure "yeah thats beast tamer Mohji pretty sure he's got a bounty of two million."
"Great! Hey old man can you do me a favor and tie this guy up then dump him on my ship?" asked Luffy.
"My name's Boodle not old man," Boodle grumbled under his breath. "Yeah sure i can do that," with that the mayor left only to return a moment later with some rope and began tying the downed Mohji.
"Come on guys we've got a clown to take down," grinned Luffy and with that the three teens set of once more towards Buggy's base of operations.
It took a few minutes of walking beofre the trio arrived outside the tavern. Without taking his eyes off the tavern Luffy said to Nami "sneak round the back and do what you do best."
Acknowledging this with just a nod Nami disappeared around the side of the building making sure to stay out of sight of the windows.
"Well guess it's time to get Buggy's attention." Pausing to take a deep breath Luffy bellowed at the top of his voice "BBBBBUUUUGGGGGYYYYYY"
"Seriously? That was your plan to get his attention?" asked an incredulous Zoro.
"What flashy bastard dared call my name," shouted a voice from within the tavern. A moment later a man exited the building followed by two dozen men dressed as various circus performers. Buggy was dressed in loose fitted blue pants, a red and white striped t-shirt and a fur lined captains coat.
Seeing Buggy caused Luffy to break out into hysterical laughter "hahaha Shanks was right you do have a big red nose."
Hearing the insult to their captains nose caused the Buggy pirates to tense in fear as it was well known amongst them how sensitive their captain was about his nose. Buggy however was nearly apoplectic and he grit his teeth as a vein bulged in his forehead.
"How dare you insult my nose you flashy bastard! Kill them i want their heads!" Buggy screeched at his men.
At this order the Buggy pirates lept forwards ready to rip Zoro and Luffy limb from limb. Before they could take more than a single step forwards Luffy let out a wave of haki knocking out all the pirates save for Buggy and a man on a unicycle.
Seeing what just happened to all his men Buggy began to sweat slightly 'what the hell, how does some no name brat like this know haki'.
"You gunna tell me what the hell that was captain?" asked a slightly freaked out Zoro.
Luffy turned and looked at him with his usual cheshire grin and said "it's a mystery power."
"Cabaji kill the swordsman I'll deal with the flashy straw hat bastard myself."
The man on thr unicycle immediatly jumped towards Zoro while staying on his unicycle and brought his sword down in an attempt to decapitate Zoro. However Zoro saw this strike coming a mile away and easily intercepted this strike with the sword held between his teeth.
As Zoro and Cabaji clashed Luffy darted forwards, his fist pulled back and covered in lightning. Unfortunately as Luffy attempted to land his blow Buggy seperated his entire body into nurmous segments.
"You're not the only one that's eaten a devil fruit, I ate the chop chop fruit making me a chop chop man."
"Tch what a pain," muttered Luffy. Quickly drawing his pistol he fired two shots one into one of Buggy's feet and another hitting one of Buggy's hands. The sudden pain from the gunshot wounds caused Buggy's concentration to slip and he lost control of his various body parts that had been floating seperate to his body causing them to fall to the floor. Capitalising on this oppertunity Luffy quickly grabbed Buggy's head and smashed it off the floor knocking out Buggy and ending his fight almost as quickly as it started.
Looking around he saw that Zoro was just delivering the finishing strike to his own opponent and that Nami had returned bringing with her four overflowing bags of treasure.
"Wow nice haul Nami!" yelled Luffy.
Nami looked around at the bodies strewn all over at looked back to Luffy "thanks. You know I've gotta admit I had my doubts you'd be able to take down Buggy and you did it so easy."
Ignoring Nami'sstatement Luffy cast a quick glance at their surroundings. "Hey Nami can you throw me over that crate?"
"Erm sure...but what do you need a crate for?" asked Nami as she brought a large crate over to Luffy.
"To put Buggy in of course," replied Luffy in a tone that conveyed how stupid he found Nami's question. "Yo Zoro."
Before he got any further Zoro interrupted "already on it captain."
"Hey how did you know what I was gunna say," asked Luffy with a childish pout.
"I'm your first mate, your vice captain, its my job to anticipate what you need," grunted Zoro as he began tying up Cabaji.
"Let's get these two and the treasure onto the ship." said Luffy
It took two trips between the three of them to get everything back to the ship however as Nami made to bring the final bag of treasure onto the ship Luffy told her to leave it, seeing that she was about to protest he said "these people need that treasure to rebuild the town, it's only right."
Letting out a disappointed sigh Nami agreed and she'd just made it back onto the ship when Luffy said to her "besides I did say i could be persuaded into letting you keep that treasure." The resulting blush from this statement only caused Luffy to laugh at her discomfort.
"Where to next captain?" Shouted Zoro from the upper deck.
"Plot a course for the Gecko islands."
"What's on Gecko island captain?"
"Half a day west of there is a marine base that should make us twenty million beli richer and in Syrup village is our next crew member.
"Aye aye captain."