Zane (dressed as a Circus Ringmaster): "Welcome back, one and all, to the greatest show on Earth! After a lengthy intermission, we now direct your attention back to the center ring, where the clown prince of piracy himself makes his grand debut. But before the show starts, give a round of applause for our ringmaster himself, Gammatron, as he gives the obligatory disclaimer. Take it away, buddy!"

GammaTron: Thank you. *turns to the audience* We do not own anyone here. However, I-GammaTron-do own Rico. Everything else? Nope. Do not own. Not one bit. They are owned by Nintendo and Mr. Oda.

Chapter 8: "Terror Under the Big Top! The Clown Pirate, Buggy!"

In this life, there are some who believe that the path of betrayal and misfortune is the only true path of life. For others, they never think that they will be betrayed. Luffy was one of those people multiplied by a thousand. Even though he was tied up, in a cage, surrounded by pirates and Nami and Rico that were partying, and Nami tricked him, he still wanted Nami on his crew.

"A TOAST!" the leader shouted, "TO OUR TRIP TO THE GRAND LINE AND TO OUR NEWEST MEMBER NAMI!"

The leader resembled a clown. The big, red nose on his face was, in fact, his real nose. He had crossbones going down his face forming an X; he also had two blue lines near both of his eyes, red lipstick and his jolly roger, the skull bearing a clown nose, on his hat. His hat had two blue tassels. He wore an orange cape with white fuzz on the ends, a red and white striped shirt, blue baggy pants, pointed clown shoes, and red and white-stripped socks. The pirates on the roof of the tavern, all dressed up and performing like clowns, were celebrating and drinking to their hearts content. Nami was amazing everyone by out drinking nearly half the crew so far.

'Once they're all out from drinking and partying, I'll steal the treasure and the map to the Grand Line, take Rico to the townspeople, and leave,' Nami thought.

"Come on… I'm hungry…" Luffy whined, his stomach growling.

Rico stared at Luffy for a few minutes before nodding and running off. He came over to Luffy with a large plate of meat.

"YAY! MEAT!" Luffy cheered, "Thanks, Rico! You're a good boy."

Luffy began to eat with his face while Rico just stared at him in shock.

"Men, what are festivities without fireworks? Load the Buggy Ball!" the leader ordered.

"Aye-Aye, Captain Buggy!" the group saluted.

"Buggy Ball?" Nami repeated.

Two clown pirates loaded a red cannonball with the Buggy Pirate Jolly Roger on it into a cannon. The cannon was aimed at a set of buildings. One lit the fuse. The cannon fired.

BBBBBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM!

The cannonball shredded everything in its path before exploding a mile away. Nami's jaw fell, Rico's eyes widened as he began to shake, and Luffy just stared at the damage.

"Hey, Rico, get out of here," Luffy said, "It's about to get dangerous."

The cannon was reloaded and aimed at Luffy as Rico ran behind Nami's legs.

"Now, Nami, light the cannon! It's time to sent your former business partner to meet his maker," Buggy ordered.

Nami's hands shook as she took out a match.

"What's the matter?" Luffy asked, "Your hands are shaking."

Nami's eyes widened.

"The strong oath is what a pirate has sworn himself as," Luffy said, "and you lack the strength of that oath."

"Oh, strong oath. Wonder what that is…" Nami began sweat, "…Is it killing innocent people like insects? Is that the pirate's oath?"

"No, it's not," Luffy replied.

"DON'T WAIT AROUND!" the clown pirates cheered.

"It's the idea of being strong enough for risking your life!" Luffy grinned.

"Don't you know how to light a cannon, missy?" one clown pirate asked as he took the match and matchbox, "You just light the match and put the flame to the rope."

He was about to put the lit match to the cannon rope when Nami whacked him on the head with a collapsible staff.

'Oh no!' Nami thought.

Rico hid behind the cage.

"NAMI, WHAT HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" Buggy demanded, "I LET YOU LIGHT THE FUSE BECAUSE YOU WERE PART OF MY CREW!"

"What, you're saving me now?" Luffy asked, "I knew it! You want to be on my crew!"

"SHUT UP!" Nami barked, her eyes losing color and her teeth shark-like, "I DID THAT NOT ON PURPOSE!"

She calmed down as she turned to face the clown pirates.

"Even though it was an act, I refuse to become anything like an evil, low down, crooked pirate!" Nami said, "Pirates stole the life of someone close to me and the lives of Rico-chan's parents! I hate pirates more than anything in this world!"

"Aah…so that's why she hates pirates…" Luffy said before noticing something, "AAAAAAAHHHHHHH! THE FUSE IS BURNING!"

He began to gnaw on the bars of the cage.

"GRUP…! UM GUN-NO BY!" Luffy said as he gnawed. (Translation: CRAP…! I'M GONNA DIE!)

"KILL HER PAINFULLY!" Buggy ordered.

Three pirate clowns charged at Nami with swords and knives out.

"CRAM-MIT! SUN-BUN, LUTE BAT DOUBT CHOOSE!" (DAMMIT! SOMEONE, PUT THAT OUT FUSE!)

As Nami swung he staff at the clown pirates, Rico began to chew on the part of the fuse that wasn't burning. He stopped when the lit part got to close to him and burned his cheek a little. Three more clown pirates charged at him while the other three were about to jump on Nami when… "STRONG RIGHT WHIP!"

"Tō Rō Nagashi!"

The bleeding out cold bodies to the clown pirates were tossed to the rest of the clown pirates by Zoro and Franky as Brook sliced the fuse off the cannon.

"Oi, oi, Straw Hat, you okay?" Franky asked.

"Franky! Zoro! Brook!" Luffy gasped.

"EEK! Is that skeleton moving?!" Nami and the pirate clowns gasped. "My-my, such a beautiful woman," Brook said as he patted his afro and fixed his blue bow.

He walked over to Nami, who looked up at his skull.

"May I see your panties?" Brook asked.

"YOU PERVERT!" Nami barked as he whacked the skeleton on the side of his head.

"Oh, how harsh!" Brook exclaimed as he fell over with a smoking bump visible in his afro.

"Hey, do you poop?" a clown pirate asked.

"DON'T ASK HIM THAT!" the other clown pirates barked, their eyes white and their teeth shark-like.

Brook got up as corrected his outfit and afro.

"…Yes, I do," Brook replied.

"DON'T ANSWER THAT!" Nami barked, her eyes white and her teeth shark-like.

"Luffy, how do you always end up getting into trouble at least once when we're in a town?" Ash asked.

Luffy shrugged as Monferno squeezed through the bars and used Scratch to slice the ropes..

"Now get me out of here!" Luffy barked.

"H-Hey… Did that guy in the cage just say 'Zoro?'" a clown pirate gulped.

"As in 'Roronoa Zoro?'" another paled, "We're screwed."

"This…is your crew?" Nami asked.

"Yeah. But we're missing someone," Luffy said.

"She said she was going to go get supplies," Ash replied.

"So, Roronoa Zoro, you're here to claim my bounty, aren't you?" Buggy asked.

"No, I'm through with being a Pirate Hunter," Zoro replied.

"Well I'm interested in you," Buggy said. "If I kill you, I'll become world famous."

"Heh. Let's see you try," Zoro shrugged.

"KILL HIM, CAPTAIN BUGGY!" the pirate clowns chanted.

Zoro took out his three swords in a flash and sliced through Buggy like it was nothing.

"That was easy…" Franky sweatdropped.

Suddenly, Buggy's crew bean to chuckled.

'No blood…' Pikachu thought.

His eyes widened.

"Pika! Pi-Pikachu!" (ZORO! HE'S NOT DEAD!)

Zoro turned to Pikachu only to grunt in pain. His blood splattered the ground and the knife sticking through his left side held by a floating gloved hand. He fell to his knees as the knife was pulled out.

"ZORO!" Luffy gasped.

"WHAT?!" Franky gasped.

"That hand is floating!" Nami gasped.

"GHOST!" Brook screamed.

"How is that hand floating?!" Ash asked.

"That's because I ate the Bara-Bara no Mi," Buggy replied as the top half of his body began to float, "You can slice me and dice me, but you'll never kill me."

He body came together.

"FOR I AM A CHOP-CHOP MAN!" Buggy laughed.

"Chop-Chop Man? That's stupid," Luffy stated.

"AND BEING A RUBBER MAN AIN'T?!" his crew demanded, their eyes all white and their teeth all shark-like.

"I see I've missed your vital organs," Buggy sneered as his crew cheered, "But give me another try and you'll be six feet under."

"THAT WAS A CHEAP SHOT, YOU BIG NOSE!" Luffy roared.

Suddenly, everyone was quiet.

'YOU IDIOT!' Nami roared in her mind, 'THAT'S A TABOO WORD TO BUGGY!'

"WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?!" Buggy demanded as he shot a knife at Luffy.

Luffy caught it in his mouth.

"Nice try," Luffy chuckled, "But not good enough."

He then bit through the knife.

"I'm going to kick your ass," Luffy stated.

"Oho? You kick my ass?!" Buggy laughed, "You've got a lot of nerve, kid. No, I'm afraid all of you are going to die by my hand today. So if you want to do any ass kicking, you'd better do it now!"

Luffy looked at the cannon before the gears turned in his head for once.

"Franky, flip the cannon! Monferno, use Ember on the fuse!" Luffy ordered.

"You got it, Straw Hat!" Franky posed before easily turning the cannon so it faced the pirates.

"Mon…FERNO!" (Eat my… EMBER!)

The small red sparks Monferno released from his mouth lit the fuse.

"OH NO! THAT HAS ONE OF MY BUGGY BALLS IN IT!" Buggy screamed as his crew pissed themselves.

The fuse went into the cannon.

BBBBBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM!

"Let's get out of here!" Luffy ordered.

Franky picked Zoro up as Ash went into his Half Form. He lifted Luffy's cage and the Mugiwara Pirates and Nami carrying Rico ran off.

A while after the Mugiwaras got away, Buggy and his crew had recovered and were dusting themselves off.

"This insult to our name won't stand," the clown pirate captain growled. He snapped his fingers, and three forms rose up within the still floating around dust, obscuring their features.

"Men, we have been challenged," Buggy informed them, "and our pride won't allow this to go unanswered. One of you go out and kill those brats, I don't care who."

"Then allow me, my captain," the one in the middle said, leaping onto the back of a large creature also obscured by the dust. "The first of the Three Rings of the Pirate Circus, the Wild Animal Show, will devour these fools."

"Fine, just get on with it," Buggy sneered as the beast the man was riding began to leap from the roof of the building and bounded through the streets until it was out of sight.

GammaTron: *hiding in a corner* Sorry, just...uh...just been watching Five Nights at Freddy's 3 gameplays. *shudders* Freaky. Just...Just ignore me. Good chapter. Good chapter.

Zane: "Astounding, simply astounding! In the next act of the show, our heroes will face a ferocious feline foe the lengths of which have never been seen! And to add to the suspense, a new companion to the Straw Hats will show that loyalty truly has no bounds. Will Luffy reign supreme as the top dog around town, or will Buggy's Wild Animal Show turn him into kitty treats? Stay tuned, ladies and gentlemen!"