The story is betaread by Checkmate-13, because English is not my first language.
Warnings: this chapter contains Buggy. Urgh.
Chapter 8. Protecting the Captain's Back
"Luffy, are you coming?" called Nami.
"Yeah!" Luffy patted the dog sitting in front of the pet food shop one last time and grinned. The small, white beast had woofed at him, happily wagging its tail. "You be careful too! Bye, doggie!" Luffy waved and ran over to his two waiting companions.
The orange-haired girl met him with a scowl on her face. "You remember our plan, don't you?"
"Of course, Nami, don't worry," the teen reassured her. "Zoro and I will kick Buggy's and his crew's asses, while you go and steal the map to the Grand Line and his treasure."
All three started to walk. Nami was still slightly limping, but she swore to the others that she could sustain the weak pain in her sprained ankle until their business here was concluded.
"You better not underestimate Buggy. He's a pirate with one of the highest bounties in the East Blue!"
Luffy tilted his head, closed his eyes and brought a hand to his chin, like he was seriously assessing something. After a moment, his eyes opened, and he shook his head before grinning. "Nah, these pirates aren't strong enough to take us!"
"How do you know if you've never met them?!" demanded Nami in exasperation.
"You sound very sure of that," Zoro agreed. He didn't doubt that they could take these people, but Luffy's absolute confidence in what he said piqued his interest.
"Shishishishi, it's a mystery power!" the captain laughed, causing Nami to facepalm and Zoro to groan. "Although," he continued in a serious tone, "those three morons from the sea said that Buggy is a Devil Fruit user. First, we need to learn which fruit he has."
"A Devil Fruit? I thought they were only a myth," said the thief.
"Nope," Luffy denied. He hooked a finger around the edge of his mouth and stretched it.
Nami's eyes widened and she took a step away from him, making him laugh mirthfully.
"I ate the Gum-Gum fruit and became a rubber man," explained the straw hatted pirate. "There are a great variety of fruits. Some are rather funny. One time I met a guy with–" he cut himself off. A painful expression flashed across his features for a split second, and he unconsciously touched the left side of his neck.
The thief was too immersed pondering Devil Fruits and monsters, but the swordsman's sharp eyes caught it. A subtle frown found its way onto his face.
"Anyway," with a small, strained smile, Luffy continued, "some fruits may be very dangerous. Until we know which one Buggy has we should be careful."
"Roger that," muttered Zoro, before looking around. "Are we going in the right direction?"
"Yeah!" the captain confirmed firmly.
"How do you know?" Nami doubted.
Luffy's lips curled into a mischievous smirk. "Mystery power!" he yelled in delight.
This time Nami groaned. Zoro just sighed, and Luffy burst into laughter.
Whatever mystery power Luffy possessed, Zoro had to admit that first, it was actually real, and second, it was extremely useful. Just around the corner, the captain had suggested to Nami to split up because of the trouble ahead. And just like that they were ready for Buggy's crew's ambush when they stepped into the town square.
A man with a coat over his shoulders, a cap with the Jolly Roger symbol, and a very conspicuous red, round nose scornfully looked them over. "So, you're the flashy bastards who attacked and beat up Mohji?"
"So, you're Booger?" innocently retorted Luffy, at the same time picking his nose.
Zoro had to suppress a snicker.
Buggy clenched his teeth in anger. "WHO ARE YOU CALLING BOOGER?!" he screeched then cocked his head arrogantly. "I'm the great pirate, Captain Buggy-sama!"
"Bogey?" Luffy mockingly tilted his head to the side.
This time Zoro couldn't hold in the laughter. The clown in front of them turned the color of his nose.
"You'll regret insulting me like that, Straw Hat," he said in a dangerously low voice, causing the black-haired boy to grin widely. "Why are all straw hatted brats so flashily cheeky?" Buggy murmured under his nose. He motioned to his men and screamed, "ATTACK!"
Roaring war cries, a bunch of circus pirates jumped onto their two opponents. The green-haired swordsman unsheathed two of his katanas and started cutting through the crowd. The hatted teen was laughing merrily while weaving around all the hits, punches and slashes from his enemies, at the same time successfully counterattacking and taking down them in groups.
Zoro lazily fended off a clumsy attack from one of the few pirates still standing and slashed him across the chest. Again, Luffy was right. These guys were nowhere a challenge for either of them.
"So," a smug voice sounded near him, and swordsman spun around to face Buggy, "you two are bounty hunters? Pirate hunter Roronoa Zoro, did you come here for my head?"
"Not interested. Besides, we're not bounty hunters," Zoro smirked. "We're pirates!"
"Pirates, you say?" laughed the clown, pulling out several knives and spinning one of them between his fingers. "It doesn't matter, because I'm interested. If I kill you spectacularly, my name will become more famous!"
Without diverting his eyes from Buggy, Zoro took his black bandana from the left bicep and tied it around his head. He unsheathed the white katana and put it into his mouth before grabbing the other two and shifting into fighting position.
"Come and get me," the green-haired pirate taunted his opponent.
The clown chuckled and dashed towards the three-sword user. "Show me your true skills, or you'll soon be covered in blood!"
Zoro took one step forward, preparing his blades, and when Buggy was right in front of him, he swung all three of them simultaneously. The feeling of cutting through the flesh washed over swordsman's body, and he shot a short glance over his shoulder to the defeated clown. He started to slide swords back into their sheaths.
But something was amiss. Buggy clearly was dead, nobody could survive having his torso cut in two, but Zoro's instincts told him otherwise. "Anyway, some fruits may be very dangerous. Until we know which one Buggy has we should be careful." Luffy's words rang in his mind, and it suddenly clicked. Swordsman looked back again, just in time to see a separate hand with knife moving through the air towards him. His eyes widened. It was too late to dodge!
An unexpected pull by his shirt collar threw Zoro to the side. The knife flew an inch from his waist, twisted mid-air, and assaulted swordsman again. He repelled the strikes and jumped away.
"Zoro," his captain's voice beside him startled the green-haired pirate, "time for the clown swap."
"You bastard, Straw Hat," growled Buggy, while reassembling himself, "I almost got him!"
"That was a nasty move, Buffoon, attacking Zoro from behind."
The swordsman glanced at Luffy. The boy was glaring icily at the clown who was completely unharmed by the swords.
So it was Luffy who saved him from the stab. It somewhat hurt Zoro's pride. From the very beginning he wasn't able to show any of his skills to his chosen captain, always having his hide saved by him instead. The swordsman wondered how the kid even decided to recruit him in the first place without seeing what he was capable of. He clenched his teeth. He really needed to get his shit together.
Ignoring Buggy's shouts of outrage from butchering his name again, Luffy gazed at his nakama, slight frown present on his face. In these couple days he got used to Zoro's strong and determined presence, and a sudden wavering shift in it made him worry.
An image of an incoming attack from behind flashed through Luffy's mind. At the same time, Zoro started to move, and the hatted teen knew that he didn't need to dodge this time. As blades clashed behind his back, he smiled.
"This whole circus consists only of cowards," growled Zoro, standing back to back with Luffy, and with one of his katana deflecting a sword hit from a pirate on the unicycle. "I got this, captain."
"Yeah," Luffy nodded, not even glancing behind, showing the absolute trust in his nakama to protect his back, "I'm counting on you, Zoro."
The swordsman smirked.
"That's seems fair, Roronoa Zoro, to fight you as a swordsman," said the acrobatic clown. "My name's Cabaji, Chief of Staff of Buggy's pirate crew."
"Fair? I don't think so." Zoro's pleased smirk changed into a demonic one, his eyes glinting dangerously. "You attacked my captain's back. I'm not in a mood to play games." He crossed his two katanas across his chest with the third one in his mouth horizontally behind them.
Cabaji scowled. "Then I'll finish you with only one strike!" he bellowed enraged and launched himself on the green-haired swordsman with an outstretched sword.
"Oni Giri!"
Zoro's swords cut through his opponent, leaving three deep slashes on his chest. The man fell from his unicycle and onto the ground, blood splattering from his wounds.
The swordsman breathed out and scanned the area. If there were any pirates left, they were all in hiding. He re-sheathed all three katanas, before tying his bandana back on his arm.
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING BABOON!" roared Buggy nearby. "NOW STAY STILL YOU LITTLE SHIT SO THAT I CAN HIT YOU!"
Zoro turned around to watch the fight between the captains. Luffy was grinning, openly enjoying teasing his enemy by giving him different names. Buggy was so red from fury that even his nose paled before the color of his face.
"No way!" laughed Luffy. "I don't want to be hit!"
He ducked below the flying hand with knives and simultaneously dodged to the side to avoid the kick. The straw hat slipped from his head and floated in the air.
Buggy smirked deviously. "That hat is important to you, isn't it?"
Luffy snatched the straw hat by its rim. His eyes widened as he saw a thrown knife nearing it. He instantly hid the hat behind his back, and at that moment another knife, held by Buggy's de-attached hand, sunk into his shoulder.
"Luffy!" yelled Zoro from the sidelines, worry underlying his voice.
The clown burst into hysterical laughter. "You and your stupid hat! You remind me of that red-haired idiot, who liked to wear a similar thing!" he cackled. "That's what you get for trying to protect such stupid things!"
"This hat is my treasure," Luffy said calmly, while plopping the straw hat back on his head. The blood from the wound slowly ran under his shirt's sleeve and dripped to the ground from his fingers. But he didn't seem to be feeling anything. His face was now emotionless, the previous smile nowhere to be found.
The teen grabbed Buggy's hand which still held the knife and squeezed it. "So, you want to play rough?" he asked, amused by his opponents painful pleas to let go of his limb.
An evil smile slipped on the hatted youth's lips. He smashed the hand on the concrete and stomped on it with all his might. Luffy grinded it for a good measure without any mercy or sympathy after the clown started to scream from pain.
Zoro cringed from the sight. He still couldn't get used to the drastic personality changes, and it was all because of that straw hat. The swordsman scratched his head as he remembered yesterday morning. Luffy gave it to him willingly though.
"That's for trying to damage my hat," the black-haired pirate declared. Despite everything his voice was still calm and composed.
Luffy yanked the knife from his shoulder and chucked it at Buggy. Not waiting for him to finish dodging it, he threw both hands backwards and shot them at the clown's stomach. The man didn't even have opportunity to come apart. He flew across the square and crashed into the fountain.
The hatted pirate started to walk over to the fountain. Buggy barely rose from the rubble, coughing and struggling not to go down onto his knees. His second hand with the knife soared through the air towards Luffy's throat. The teen easily sidestepped the attack and kept walking. The hand turned around and chucked the blade. Luffy tilted his head to the side, avoiding the knife, without even looking at it.
Buggy narrowed his eyes. That kind of agility reminded him of Observation Haki. But there was no way that a no-name brat from the weakest Blue had a Haki.
"You better prepare yourself, Straw Hat!" the clown smirked. "Bara Bara Festival!"
Buggy's whole body separated into pieces, floating all over the place. Only his head hovered in one spot, laughing hysterically.
Luffy glanced over all the parts, before stretching his arm and catching the clowns head by his nose.
"Wha…! What are you doing?!" he screeched. "Let go of my nose!"
The future Pirate King grinned. "See ya, Booger!"
A solid fist planted itself into Buggy's mug. It smashed into the house on the other side of the square, with all the other pieces of the clown flying after it.
Luffy waited a few moments before nodding to himself. "Shishishishi, I won!" he cheered.
Zoro stopped near him. He eyed the bloody shirt. "How's your shoulder?"
"Eh?" the teen looked at him with surprise. He glanced at the wound. "It's nothing. I've had much worse many times before."
"You should at least bandage it."
"I guess you're right," Luffy smiled warmly at the swordsman, before turning to the side and yelling, "Nami! How long do you plan to hide there?!"
An orange-haired head popped up from an alley, a nervous smile on the thief's face. "I-I wasn't hiding, or anything," she said quickly. "Just… you know… letting you finish your fight!" Nami dragged a big bag as she crossed the square to reach them.
"I see you found your treasure," Luffy remarked. "Did you get the map?"
The thief smirked. "Who do you think I am, captain?" She pulled out the scroll and showed it to the boy. A happy grin broke across his face, and he lifted his hands to take it. "No touching with bloody hands!" Nami immediately ordered.
"Okay, okay!" Luffy submitted. "I'm going to clean myself up." He promptly strolled to the nearest house and entered it the same way as before – kicking down its doors.
"Do you need help?" wondered Zoro, amused as he watched Nami haul the loot bag with all her strength.
"I can do it myself!" she assured as she stopped for a breath, panting. "Just… Just need to take it to the boat." The thief stared at the house Luffy disappeared in, leaned closer to Zoro and quietly asked, "Is he always so ruthless?"
The swordsman rubbed his neck, thinking it over. "I've known him for only a couple of days, but I would say no," he replied. "It seems he's just overprotective of that straw hat."
"Only for a couple of days?" Nami skeptically raised her eyebrow. "Why would a pirate hunter suddenly turn into a pirate anyway?"
Zoro pondered on his answer to that. There were several reasons. He went against marines, so either way he would had become a criminal. Luffy saved his life. But the most important one was that Zoro deemed someone worthy enough to actually pledge his loyalty to that person. "He saved me from the execution," he finally decided to say.
"Execution? By whom?"
"Some marines that were corrupt to the core," the swordsman smirked. "Luffy took them down."
Luffy slowly moved his bandaged shoulder. He felt a pain pierce through it, but he didn't flinch. It was nothing compared to what he had survived in the past.
His old bloody shirt was thrown on the floor. Fortunately, the teen found a new red shirt to change into in the house he'd broken in. He was holding it in one hand, ready to put it on. Dark thoughts spun around his head, so Luffy passively stared through the window. He was so lost in it that he didn't hear the door open behind him.
Zoro entered the room with his usual bored expression. His sharp, silver colored eyes instantly fell on the back of his captain, and he stiffened on the spot.
What he saw was an ugly burn mark.
Next Chapter: The Truth Behind the Mark
A/N:
Sorry that this chapter is a bit on shorter side, and also for a very anticlimactic fight with Buggy. Maybe even a bit rushed, but I really wanted to be done with him. I racked my brains for something more interesting, but nothing came to my mind. So, I just used it to deepen the bond between Luffy and Zoro as between the captain and his first mate. I mean, Luffy in this story is much stronger than canon Luffy (if you still haven't figured that out), and Booger is just really weak everywhere. Besides, there are a lot of more interesting things to do than linger on Buffoon! So… yea. Hope you still enjoyed the read ;)
As I already doing this long A/N, so I may also ask - please review! I love reviews, especially the long ones. But all reviews are a fuel for my desire to write this story further! :)