Chapter VII: Introducing Buggy the Clown
Set in Orange Town, a village in the East Blue.
On the rooftop of Drinker's Pub, a large patio area was currently hosting the 'Buggy Pirates.' The non-stop party a top the establishment had finally come to a screeching halt however, as one of the pirates Luffy had taken care of earlier reported to his leader on the days happenings. "I'm telling you Captain Buggy, that lousy girl tricked us before having her boss attack. And he was incredible too, definitely not a normal human being! We saw him fall out of the sky, get up like it was nothing, and before we knew it he had defeated us like we were nobodies!"
A dark look covered Buggy's face, as he struggled to contain his rage. "There is more to this story, right? You're about to tell me that you managed to track her down, right?" Seeing the man squirm beneath his gaze, he twisted the screw one notch further. "I'm sure you know better then to return to me empty handed..."
Worried for his crew mate, one of the pirates that had spent the morning partying spoke up in the poor man's defense. "We're in the middle of searching. We haven't found her yet, Captain, but it's only a matter of time. We sent out a larger group to track them down, as well as a trio of men to guard the ships moored at the port." With a nervous chuckle, he tried to smooth over the brewing conflict. "There is nowhere for them escape!"
Ignoring the report from the subordinate coordinating the search effort, Buggy continued to tear in to the whimpering pirate. "You are talking about my 'Grand Line' map, correct? How on earth did it get stolen so easily? It should have been under lock and key!" He couldn't believe the incompetence of his newest recruits, and was about ready to stuff them in the town's prison and leave them there for good. "We are so close to making our way to the 'Grand Line,' so close to treasure troves beyond your wildest dreams!"
Grasping the back of his head in both embarrassment and fear, the subject of the interrogation reluctantly told the tale. "Well you see Boss, we kind of lost it by mistake." His opening line was not well received by Buggy, as made obvious by the expression on his face, so he quickly changed his tune. "What I mean to say is, that nasty woman tricked us! She started asking questions about all of the cool stuff we've been collecting for you, and when we mentioned the map she seemed so interested. She asked if she could see it... and well, the rest is history." Not wanting to end his reply on a sour note, he tried to improve his lot by finishing with a compliment. "I'm sure she will see the error of her ways once she realizes she can't escape though. Everyone around knows it isn't smart to mess with you Captain, especially about your nose."
He would have been better of not saying anything else. Despite his rough exterior, Buggy was notorious thought his crew for his short temper when it came to his appearance. "What did you just say? Does my nose look funny to you?" The captain had an oddly shaped nose that had led to ridicule in his earlier days as he was establishing himself as a pirate. It was bulbous with a faint hue of redness to it, and was the namesake of his moniker. Naturally he was quite sensitive about it. "You think I have a big and round nose?"
Realizing his mistake too late, the henchman grasped his neck as he felt it constrict. He was seemingly being lifted into the air by nothing more then Buggy's force of will, and the rest of the crew looked on in muted shock. "No Captain, I swear I never said that... I was just trying to reference your menacing aura!" His remaining oxgen was rapidly dwindling, causing the words to trail of. He managed to speak one more time before passing out. "Can't breath..."
Tossing the man aside like a rag doll, he addressed his two officers who flanked him on each side. "I don't care which of you it is, but I want you to take over the search effort. I wan't you to bring me that map back, along with our little thief and her boss." Pausing, he added one more comment. "And do another sweep of the town for treasure, I don't want a single stone left unturned."
His two commanding officers merely nodded, but the rest of the men quickly snapped to attention after witnessing his devil fruit abilities. "We will not fail you Captain Buggy, sir! Let's go!" And with a roar they took of into town, led by the burlier off the two put in charge.
... Inside one of the towns many abandoned homes ...
Nami has a force of personality much like Luffy, in that when she wants something she does not take no for an answer. She had followed him through town doing everything in her power to change the strange young man's mind, from offering rich rewards to flirting shamelessly with him, all to no avail. The cat burglar was persistent though, and finally found her toehold when she heard his stomach grumble. With an offer of food Nami had him following her into the house she had set herself up in upon arriving at Orange Town. "So you got separated from your crew, huh?" Her curiosity getting the better of her, as always, she prodded him for more details. "I gotcha. How many shipmates do you have?"
Plopping himself down at the table, Luffy answered absentmindedly as he made quick work of the food the weird girl had set out for him. "Just two so far, but they are pretty awesome." Licking his plate clean, house guest let out a quick laugh before changing the subject. "Whose house is this anyway? I can't imagine it actually being yours..." Seeing his host looking slightly miffed, he trailed off quickly. "No offense..."
Letting the minor slight go, Nami refocused on developing their fledgling rapport. "Nope, your right. I have no clue whose house this is." Seeing a chance to make herself seem useful, she gave Luffy a rundown of what had been taking place on the island. "All of the villagers are hiding out in a shelter on the outskirts of town. They are hoping to avoid any conflict with the Buggy pirate fleet."
Able to guess why his new companion was being so helpful after her repeated attempts to form a team with him, Luffy took the opportunity presented by her pause to poke fun at her. "Hmm. Is he really that scary? That pirate that you are talking about, Nami?" He didn't need to wait long to earn the reaction he had been aiming for.
Nami blew up at the obnoxious teen before regaining her calm. "I'm Nami you idiot, don't go switching our names! I just told you the pirate is called Buggy!" Taking a deep breath, she remembered her objective and continued her explanation. "About Buggy... well he is a famous pirate in the East Blue, known for his fondness of cannons." With a purposeful shiver, she tired to play the character of a frightened damsel. "He's... he is really scary, you don't want to go messing around with him. A couple years back some kids from an island he was occupying made fun of his appearance. That was all it took to set him off. With a single cannonball he wiped their entire village of the map." With a real shiver now, she added on one last juicy tidbit. "And that was without using whatever strange power he supposedly has. All in all he is just another no good pirate, undeserving of his strength."
Luffy grew cold at her words, not liking the double standard she seemed to be setting, but he did not let his anger show. Instead, he decided to take it out on her with some good ole' fashioned teasing. "Huh, so why isn't there anyone staying in the village then? If you told the townsfolk that, all they would need to do is not insult the guy, right?" On a roll, his monologue went on. "And who knows, if they actually had to deal with having people around instead of having free reign over this town, they might have left already. Of course, I can understand why you wouldn't want to tell them..." Grinning at her confusion, he let the shoe drop when he lifted up his empty plate. "I mean, it would be a lot harder to steal from these houses if people were actually living in them."
With that Nami gave up all pretext, slamming the table and shouting at her accuser. "What? No way, that's despicable! Food is one thing, but I would never steal anything else from these people!" Fuming she grabbed the source of her vexation by his shirt. "I told you, I only steal from pirates! Don't put me on the same level as those common lowlifes." Letting go of the man, she fell back into her seat with a sigh. "Talking with you is so tiring."
Luffy still found her hypocrisy irritating, but the genuine hurt and anger that had managed to make an appearance during her last admonishments gave him some pause. 'Maybe I should tone it down some, there's more to her then meets the eye...' Putting his hands up in surrender, he pleaded for forgiveness. "Ha ha ha, sorry about that, really! My crew says the same thing all the time. Shishishishi!"
Not convinced by his apology, Nami huffed at him and sat quietly for a moment. When she resumed talking again, she forgot to put up her usual pretenses. "The only reason I'm stealing anything at all is to earn $100,000,000. There is a certain village out there that I have to buy, so I won't stop until I reach my goal."
Her face was set with fierce determination, and Luffy suddenly found himself liking this girl much more than before. With a whistle of appreciation he seized the shifting tides of their conversation. "You want to buy a village? $100,000,000 is a lot of money... how do you expect to get that much if you're only stealing from pirates? That's going to be a lot of pirates you'll have to steal from, one slip up and it could all be over for you."
Nami fielded the question without batting an eye. "Ha, I've got a plan for that!" Reaching beneath her shirt with a flirtatious wink, she pulled out the reason why those goons had chased her around town earlier. "Look! This here is a map of the Grand Line I just stole off those guys you beat up for me!" With a guilty look she mumbled out her next exclamation. "I guess I never really thanked you for helping me... so thanks." Refocusing she went back to explaining her plans. "The next step is stealing all of Buggy's treasure though. Then I can head out to follow this map to richer and richer pirates awaiting!" Nami was practically drooling by the time she finished her rant, but managed to recover in time to mold her face into an expression of adorable pleading. "So what do you think? How bout we team up and make a bucket load of money together? Your really strong, and that would compliment my skill set quite nicely if I do say so myself. I'm sure we can reach a god deal on what your share would be."
Luffy paused to consider her request for the first time. With a look of concentration he finally came to a decision. "Well... it sounds like you know how to read that map right. If your any good at it, would you be able to serve as navigator?"
Grasping he arm in a very 'Rosie the Riveter' manner, Nami scoffed at him. "Are you kidding me, don't go underestimating my skills!" With a soft smile she answered his question. "Navigation... well I doubt there are many people out there that know more about the weather then I do. Not that it's hard to learn when you love the sea as much as I do."
With an excited shout Luffy settled the matter. "That's that then! My crew and I were headed toward the Grand Line anyway, so it only makes good sense to team up." The happy moment was too good to be true though and Luffy threw his usual monkey wrench into the conversation. He laid bare his lifestyle choice to her with the subtlety of a brick-pillowcase sucker punch to the face. "Welcome to the 'Straw Hat Pirates!'"
The temperature of the room took a sudden precipitous drop at her frosty reply. "No way, never mind." Raking her eyes up and down him once more, appraising him anew, she looked at him with disgust. "So you're a pirate, huh... well then, you can just forget all about this conversation; it never happened." Starting to question what she thought to be honest words at the time, she pointed her finger at the pirate to level an accusation. "I get it now. You're planning to use that map your hiding in your hat to find some treasure... I should have known you were no good."
Luffy brushed aside her suspicions with an irritated huff. "I already told you, there is no treasure map in my hat. Lifting his prized possession from his head, he gazed at it fondly. "A long time ago this hat was gifted to me by a dear friend as he set sail. Then and there I promised him that I would gather up a crew better than his, and become 'King of the Pirates!'"
Nami softened her expression before realizing what she was doing, but by then it was tool late to take it back. She cleared her jumbled mind by shaking her head and letting out a sigh. "Why is every thing 'pirate this' and 'pirate that' now? This whole pirate era we're in is just sad." Slamming the palms of her hands down onto the table, the girl vocalized what she had already made abundantly clear. "The things that I hate most in the world are pirates! Of course, this whole world is screwed up. The only things worth my time are money and good oranges."
Instead of brushing aside her concerns, this time Luffy just ignored them completely. "So, as our navigator, where would you suggest we go next if we have less than a month to make it out of the East Blue?"
The pirate Captain would have continued to ramble on, but Nami shut him down instantly. "What part of 'no way' don't you understand dummy? How many time do I need to say it before you get it through that thick skull of yours!" But before she could finish berating the annoying companion she had picked up, a plot started forming in her brain; 'Damn it, he's just some stupid pirate. But I could work with this... its not like he has anything worth stealing but his help.' Putting on her best show of irritation, she made her move. "It sounds like you are in a fix, so I suppose we might be able to reach an agreement here."
Naturally this made Luffy ecstatic; and he made no effort to hide his glee. He could see the shiftiness in her eyes, but he liked her. Teaming up was as good a place to start recruiting her as any other. "Really? Phew... I'm not sure how much longer my crew would have put up with getting nowhere fast. You're a lifesaver!" Laughing to himself, he decided to share his internal musing. "At the very least you're a crew saver! Welcome aboard."
Resisting the urge to slap him upside his head, she added more. "Not so fast. I'll only consider it under one condition." She held up a single finger for emphasis. "You have to go with me to where Buggy the Clown is currently staying. That is all I ask."
Without any hesitation Luffy agreed, followed by hopping out of his chair and making his way to the door. "That's all? Okay, let's get going then. Where is this Buggy fellow anyway?"
Taken aback by his newfound willingness to go along with her plans, she yelled after him as he walked out the door. "Ah, hold up a second! I've got to grab something before we head out!" Quickly snatching up the item she needed from the house, she ran out the door to catch up with the pirate. As she caught up to him, she scolded him for walking off. "You just admitted you have no idea where Buggy is. Wait for me before you run off like that, okay?"
Turning his head around, Luffy did his best to pacify and distract the irritated thief. "Shishishi, sorry about that Nami! What's that rope for anyways?" He had a sinking feeling in his stomach that her intentions were no longer pure. Deciding to go along with it though, he turned his head back around and kept on walking. "Also, you never answered my question. Where is Buggy?"
The moment his head was facing the other way, Nami's face split wide open into a satisfied smirk. 'As if I'd ever become a pirate.' She started uncoiling the rope as quietly as possible while she gave her answers. "I brought it along just in case, got a problem with that? You never know when you might need to restrain someone." Nearing their destination, she timed her second answer to ensure his attention would be diverted. "As for Buggy, he's straight ahead of us, just at the end of the road, in that bar."
Her tactic succeeded, and Luffy stopped to look at their destination analytically. "So that's the place... why are we going there again?" Scratching his head, he put on his best goofy expression. "You said something earlier about stealing their treasure trove."
Before the boy could turn back around for her response, Nami jumped into action and made her move. "Oh that?" A flick of the wrist was all that she needed to loop the rope around her target. "Well, you'll figure it out later you dumb pirate!" Luffy didn't show any outward reaction as his new ally executed her maneuver. On the inside however, he was waiting to see just how far his new navigator would be willing to take this ploy of hers.
... On the roof of Drinker's Pub ...
The latest report from his search teams had just come in, and Buggy was not happy about it, to say the least. "You've lost track of the map thief? How is it that I send out nearly half my crew, yet none of you seem capable of bringing me the head of just one woman!" He sat on his makeshift throne as he descended into contemplative seething.
His mulling was interrupted, reluctantly, by one of his lackeys that had remained behind to guard the bar. "Excuse me, Captain Buggy, sir." Receiving the stink eye for his troubles, the pirate quickly carried out his duty. "That thief you have us looking for... well, she just knocked on the front door. She returned here of her own free will."
His previous frustration having left him on auto-pilot, Buggy acknowledged the report absentmindedly. "I see. Bring her in!" It didn't take long for him to wake up to what had been said though. With a slack jaw he declared his disbelief. "Wait, wait, wait... what did you just say? She came here by herself? Why would she do something as stupid as return to the scene of her own crime?"
Relieved to have avoided Buggy's wrath, the henchman followed up as best he could. "Er... well I'm not really sure on the why, but I can let them in so you can ask her yourself." Receiving a nod from his Captain, he scurried down the stairs.
As he reappeared on the roof followed by Nami and the tied up Luffy, the trio of pirates gasped upon seeing the 'Straw Hat.' "That guy! Captain Buggy, that's the guy! It's that thief's boss, the one who dropped out of the sky and took us down before we could retrieve the map!"
After directing the new arrivals to stand before Buggy's seat, the door guard quickly scurried off to return to his post. Everything in place for her ploy to proceed, Nami threw the tied up pirate onto the ground beneath her intended audience. "I have captured the thief for you Captain Buggy, leader of this pirate fleet." Proffering up a piece of paper in her hands, she sweetened the deal. "I also have your map here."
Quickly Snatching up the supposed map, Buggy grinned. "I see, this does appear to be authentic..." But something was bothering him. This seemed a bit too easy, even by his standards. "Why would you return to the scene of your own crime? What was the point of all this, risking your life to steal from me, only to bring back what you have stolen immediately after?"
Putting on her most adorable looks, Nami began to work her silver tongue on Buggy and his crew. "Well you see, my boss here and I kind of got into an argument." Having laid out the bait she started to reel them in, hook, line, and sinker. "I'm tired of doing what he says. Please let me join the Buggy pirate crew!" For her finishing flourish, she pouted her lip and clasped her hands together as she looked up to hear his decision. "I promise, I'm a great navigator! I can also hold my own in a fight if I absolutely have to, but I know you'll protect me Captain Buggy."
On the ground, Luffy had a pretty good idea where Nami was going with her gambit. Her earlier disgust towards pirates had been one of the few honest moments between the two, so the thought that she would actually join up with the pirates for real just didn't seem right. He considered causing a scene briefly, but in the end decided to just play along. "Hey, you tricked me!" With an impish wink she stuck her tongue out at him and held up a 'V' with her fingers.
Buggy remained dumbfounded for a considerable pause before regaining his composure. Barking out in laughter he accepted her offer. "So you're tired of working with him now, huh? Ha! You are one amusing girl. Okay, I'll let join my crew. Welcome to the 'Buggy Pirates.'"
... at the town's pier …
Alvida, Zoro, and the three members of Buggy's crew arrived in Orange town with little fanfare. The nervous trio of pirates quickly jumped out of the tiny vessel in order to moor it for the clearly dominant 'Straw Hat's.' Still fearing for their well-being, they announced the journey's end submissively. "We're here Master Zoro, Mistress Alvida!"
Jumping onto the dock deftly, Alvida whacked the henchmen upside their heads. "Who said that you could refer to me in such a manner!" Sighing, she continued with her rebuke. "Seriously... Mistress? Such an undignified term. You will refer to me as Lady Alvida or nothing at all."
Ignoring his crewmate, Zoro took in the surroundings instead. Noticing something odd, he directed his concern to their chauffeurs. "What's up with this... this place looks empty. I don't see anyone; where are the townsfolk?"
Recovering from his previous wallop, the heftier pirate addressed the questions. "Well you see... the truth is our 'Buggy Pirate Fleet' is stationed here at the moment, and is probably still raiding the town as we speak."
Off to the side, the other two were whispering amongst themselves. "What do we do now? What do we say to Captain Buggy?" Gesturing about wildly, the pirate added one last defeated line. "We've got nothing now!"
The leader of the trio was not feeling very optimistic about their circumstances, but he had to respond with something. "We'll just have to tell him the truth, we've got no other option. That bitch is probably long gone from this area by now, if she knows what's good for her."
Dismissing the concerns of the no longer relevant captive they had picked up, Alvida turned to Zoro. "I guess our best bet would be to meet this Buggy character then. Knowing Luffy that would be the first place he decides to show up." With a shrug the swordsman agreed, and the two started walking into town.
