Chapter Seventeen
"Okay guys, I told the serial number of the Transponder snail, so don't be afraid to call me." I said hurriedly, grabbing my bags and readying my boat. Dadan and Makino watched me, puzzled. I continued. "There's baby food in the cabinets. Oh and don't forget to bath him before he goes to bed but don't get any water in his ears cuz he freaks out. If he gets cranky, just put him in his favorite swing and sing any tune. Especially don't let the bandits get too near to him, they'll just make him stupid."
They both looked even more confused. I grabbed Makino and gave her a serious look. "If you feel like you're drowning in misery, just go get help from your mom."
"Why don't you stay here and take of him?" Dadan grabbed my arm in desperation. I shrugged her off. "I already have a man-child to take care on the ship."
Ace, in Makino's arm gave a gurgle and clenches his tiny fists towards me. I grabbed him and gave a gentle hug.
Makino looked between us. "Are you sure you aren't his mother or something?" I ignored her and baby talked to Ace. "Who's a good baby? You are! Take care of Dandan and Makino for me."
"Isn't it the other way?" Dadan muttered angrily. I gave her Ace. I ruffled Makino's hair. "Sorry kiddo. Wished I gave you more time."
She smiled at me. "It's okay. Maybe next time." "That's my girl. And Dadan don't forget to take pictures."
"Hey Cap. How was the trip? H-hey are you crying." Adam looked worriedly as his Captain boarded the ship and weird enough, his shoulders were shaking and sniffing sounds came from him. Hana and Toshiro turned to their Captain.
"Captain?" Toshiro grabbed his shoulder and recoiled back when Buggy showed his face. He was actually crying. Toshiro looked for help from Hana and Adam, unsure what to do. Hana sighted and gave Buggy a hug.
"Honey, what's wrong?" She softly asked him, stroking his back to comfort him.
Buggy sniffed and rubbed his eyes. "I-I can't leave him." And again went into a crying mode. Hana signaled a questioning look to Toshiro and Adam. They both looked clueless.
"Leave who? Cap." Adam asked him.
"My Baby!" Buggy cried even louder.
"WHAT!? YOU HAVE A BABY!" They looked at him, shocked. Suddenly Hana growled and slapped him across his face. His face connected to a wall.
"You Bastard!" She shrieked. Buggy groaned in pain as he slide from the wall. She approached him, furious. "I'll teach you a lesson about parenthood and how abandoning their children is bad."
"W-wait." Buggy groaned. Toshiro and Adam held back a furious and demonic Hana from tearing Buggy into pieces.
"It's not mine."
"NANI!?"
Hana handed me an ice bag and smiled sheepishly after I told them about Ace. I snatched the bag as I kept my glare on her. I put the bag near my burning cheek and sighted as I felt the cooling effect.
"I can't wait to meet your family." She tried to change the subject.
"Yeah. I bet there just like you." Adam said. I wonder what would their reaction would be if I told them a Marine vice admiral was a friend of mine and Ace, the son of the Pirate king.
I smirked. "That would be interesting."
Toshiro crossed his arms. "Not to be rude or something but do you mind if you look at the ship?"
"What the hell did you guys do to the ship!?" I looked around to see the ship had taken a lot of damage. Planks were poorly attached to the ship. The main mast was in the brink of collapsing. "Dammit! I told you guys to look after the ship, not damage it!"
"The marines had a good shots at her. We were too busy fighting them off." Adam said. I sighted. Blaming wouldn't help us now.
"Are there any leaks?" I asked Adam. He shook his head. "Thankfully, the cannons didn't hit the lower part of the ship."
I nodded and went to the check the keel. Hana looked at me in confusion. "What are you doing?"
"I'm just checking the keel of the ship." I replied.
"Since when did you become a shipwright?" Adam asked.
"I may know one or two things about ships."
I checked for any cracks on the keel or creaks of the floor. It was stable. We could travel 3 months on it if there isn't any more attacks. After that, I made up my mind.
"How is she?" Toshiro asked me.
I patted the ship. "Well I can't exactly say she's in good shape. We could probably travel on it for 2 or 3 months if there isn't any more attacks."
"We will be forced to get a new ship." Adam and Hana realized. I nodded and smiled. "I know where we could get the best ship from."
Water 7 was really in a bad shape. We anchored the ship near dock 1. There wasn't a single person in view. All shops were closed and streets were empty. Not a single soul was here.
"Err… are you sure we could find ships here?" Hana asked me.
"This place is too depressing." Adam whined. I glared at him. "Well we wouldn't be in this situation if somebody followed their Captains order."
They instantly shut their mouth. Toshiro gave a pointed look. I sighted. "Sorry. I shouldn't point fingers when I'm also at fault. I should've been there with you guys."
I walked towards Tom's house. The crew followed me. I knocked the door and waited. Instead of Tom, an old woman opened the door. She looked at us with a sneer.
"Well. What do you want?" she mocked. Hmm… seems like with the city, the people also changed.
"Hello, Madam." I started politely. "Do you know a Fishman called Tom? Have you seen him?"
She sneered. "That good for nothing fish? What do you want with him?"
"I want to meet him. Have you seen him?" I asked her again. I was getting annoyed by her rude behavior.
She smirked. "You'll find him where he belongs. In Garbage." She cackled madly. I clenched my fist in frustration. Hana put her hand on my shoulder and shaked her head.
"He's at Scrap Island." The old hag said. I nodded. "Thanks for all the help."
"People here aren't really a friendly bunch." Adam said after we left the old hag's house.
"It really isn't there fault. I mean look at the condition they're living in." Hana defended them.
"They are really cautious around pirates too." Toshiro observed. I saw some of the folks hiding in their home, afraid of us.
"I can't blame them. After the death of the King of Pirates, I'm sure pirates attacked them from every corner for a ship like Oro Jackson." I explained. We crossed the stone bridge to find wrecked remains of ships. I'm sure a shipwright could make a ship out of this remains. I sensed Tom with two unfamiliar teenagers. I started to make my way towards them. Hana tried to stop me.
"Hey, where are you guys going?" She put her hands on her waist. "We don't even know where they are."
I stared at her in confusion.
"Cap, we still didn't teach her about Haki." Adam said in obvious tone. I ohhed in realization and turned to him.
"Adam, you're in charge of teaching her Haki and increasing her stamina." I ordered him. Hana looked confused while Adam nodded. The sun was starting to go down.
"Cap, we should get going. It's getting dark." Toshiro said. I replied. "Lead the way then."
When we reached the shore side, a teenager was pulling a child's cheek while he was pulling his blue hair. Loud curses and stupid nicknames escaped from their mouths.
"Stupid-Berg!"
"Moron-ky!"
"TA HA HA HA HA!" Large hands split them apart. I recalled my memories of me and shanks fighting with Tom stopping us. Tom hasn't changed a bit. He continued laughing cheerily and said. "You said Stupid-Berg again!"
"Hey! Tom." I called out to him. He froze and turned around, shocked. I smirked at him. "Hey old-man."
"Buggy!" He head-locked and ruffled my hair. "Where have you been these years?" I laughed and escaped his head lock. I smirked smugly when he looked at me in shock. As kids, Tom loved to headlock me and shank. And he had the advantage of his strong fishman ability. I couldn't escape from those headlocks until today. He laughed. "I see you have trained with gusto! And even formed a crew."
I facepalmed when Adam and Hana awkwardly shook his hand and introduced themselves. I felt like a parent disappointed in their children. Thankfully Toshiro nodded his head in respect and introduced himself.
"Hey! Who is the red-nose?" A vein popped up as the bright blue haired rudely pointed at me.
"At least I'm not a pervert who wears an underwear!" I retorted.
My crew sighted. "Here we go again." Hana rolled her eyes.
"Hana." I whined and childishly pouted. "You should be on my side."
Tom laughed louder. "Buggy! You found a crew who has lots of gusto!"