"Hey, are you alive?"
Josie registered the question with a pained moan, coughing as what felt like a marching band banged around the corners of her skull.
"Well, she's not dead." another voice, different from the first, commented in a dry tone.
"I wish I was…" Josie mumbled and tried to pry her eyes open enough to figure out where she was.
It was dark, thankfully, and she could just make out the shapes of more people around her. There were no more than three from what she could tell and — after a moment of pointed squinting — she saw that one of them was a girl.
Someone was squatting in front of her, barely visible in the darkness until they grinned. Their teeth practically glowed in the low lighting.
Josie's eyes focused a little more and she realized that there was some light filtering in through the spaces between wooden boards. She tilted her head back to look at the low ceiling in confusion.
"Where are we?" she murmured, having never seen such a small room before. There wasn't even a door, just bare wooden walls and a ceiling. It looked low, but she was much shorter than the others. Her hair would probably just brush the wood once she was on her feet. She ran her hand along the ground and found that it wasn't connected to the rest of the room, being only tightly packed dirt
"We've been captured." the person in front of her — likely a boy by the sound of his voice — informed her with a grin. "By pirates."
Josie stared blankly at the ceiling as the memory of the Big Top and the Buggy Ball returned.
"Aw, shit." she sighed, scrubbing a hand over her face.
Part of her had the good sense to wonder why she wasn't flipping her lid. It was mostly held in check by the reasoning that this could be a dream, what with all the time/universe travel and the comic book villain brought to life.
Which also gave her pause.
If the comic book villain had been brought to life, then shouldn't the story's hero be around, too?
She chanced another look at her companions.
A girl and two boys, one of which was wearing a ratty old straw hat… and grinning like a loon.
"So, uh, what's your name again?"
The boy grinned and offered her a hand up.
"I'm Monkey D. Luffy." he said cheerfully. "And I'm gonna be King of the Pirates."
Josie stared blankly at him.
Yeah, that checks.
"Ignore him," the unfamiliar girl sighed. "He's an idiot. I'm Nami and that's Zoro. I'm guessing you're not part of the pirates who kidnapped us? At least, I hope for your sake you're not."
Josie shook her head slowly.
"First time ever seeing pirates up close." she admitted, moving to peek through the spaces between the boards. She didn't remember any of this from either the manga or the anime and being trapped in a small space made her skin prickle uncomfortably. She could handle small spaces temporarily if she wasn't restrained, such as in a roller coaster or car, but this was a bit much. "My name's Josie. Josie Harper."
Trying to see through the walls around them proved fruitless, so she turned to the others in hopes of answers.
Different faces, different clothes and a sense of awkwardness between the trio told her that, though the setting was off, she could be sure that they were in the early stages of their adventures. Meaning Luffy was the only one who had blind faith in his 'crew'. The others were still probably ready to run at the first chance, Nami more so than Zoro.
"How did you get roped into this?" Zoro asked suspiciously as he crossed his arms. Considering Josie hadn't been captured with them, nor had she even met them before, trapping her alongside them didn't really make sense. She didn't blame him for looking at her like some sort of spy or plant for the Buggy crew sent to gain their sympathy. "We have something they want. What did you do?"
Josie shrugged, honestly clueless about her place in the whole thing.
"Wrong place, wrong time." she shrugged, a weird sense of deja-vu settling over her. "Wouldn't be the first time something like that happened."
parties on olympus, hades thought wearily as he nursed a cup of wine, were kind of a drag.
it was always the same old thing, the same war stories and drama, zeus' paramour of the week, hera glaring at anything that moved and dionysus doing his best to drive everyone insane.
honestly, hades didn't even know why he came anymore.
habit, perhaps, and a change of pace. though, leaving the cool shadows of the underworld for the obnoxiously bright and loud pantheon was less and less appealing.
he liked his underworld. everything was exactly where he wanted it to be and ran just like he wanted things done. he didn't have half of the conflict zeus had to deal with on a daily basis nor the angry wife to deal with when his affairs ultimately went sideways.
hades had enough sense to avoid all that — and the ability to keep his eyes to himself.
unlike his brother… and the rest of his family, apparently.
"remove your hand before i remove it from your wrist, sun boy." hades grits out from between a clenched jaw.
apollo chuckles, only somewhat nervous, and ignores his uncle's icy tone.
"imagine running into you here!" the sun god grins cheerfully. "aren't the folks here too lively for you? ha! geddit? lively?"
hades gives him a deadpan stare.
"hilarious. what do you want, you overgrown sunflower?"
"why do i have to want something to talk to my favorite uncle?" apollo pouts before wincing. "don't tell poseidon I said that."
"see — you don't want me to tell him. that's something and whatever else it is, my answer is no." hades sighs, rolling his eyes and moving to walk away.
he would find hephaestus. they could sit together in silence and drink. it'd be wonderful.
apollo scrambles after him.
"whoa, whoa, whoa!" he yelps. "okay, yeah, i need a favor! but not for myself ― for a friend."
"i deal with the dead, not your bastard children." hades scowls, remembering the traits the boy had inherited from his sire. it seemed hypocritical of him, given his own father, but hades was a one in three exception. perhaps he could convince the sun god to be better. "i'm not hiding your lover from a vengeful goddess or anything else, 'pollo."
the sun god winces self-consciously, but pushes on.
"no, no babies here to hide… this one's all grown up already."
hades groans. fates have mercy on him!
"kid—!"
"her name is kore, daughter of demeter." apollo drags hades around to point at a rather nubile goddess lingering at the edge of the party. "she needs a place to lay low for a while and no one would ever look for a goddess of spring in the underworld."
maybe so, but it'd be a terrible idea.
hades frowns as he observes the glowing female.
she'd stick out like a sore thumb among his shades — and when her mother found out!
kore looks up from her cup of wine, her beautifully despondent expression lifting into sheer radiance when she notices hades staring at her.
she smirks and offers him a subtle toast, her eyes glinting with mischief.
hades swallows thickly.
an absolutely terrible idea.
(he should have stayed home that night)
"So," Josie cleared her throat, shaking off the mild stupor she had fallen into. "You said pirates. Which crew? Maybe they can be reasoned with."
It was a long shot, especially given Buggy and Luffy's differing views, but she was in this thing blind with the script so flipped. If there was a chance to get out with her skin intact, she had to take it. She couldn't fight, but her past job experiences had taught her to be blunt, straight to the point, and practical. Working with small children and understanding how the brain worked before being conditioned to the ideas of society helped her understand how to deal with adults. At their basics, people were still controlled by their desires and emotions, though some hid it better. She had a decent understanding of Buggy's character via the animation. She could use that and her experiences in defusing tantrums to her advantage.
"They're pirates," Nami said sternly, the barest hint of pity in her eyes. "There's no reasoning with them."
"You never know!" Luffy argued cheerfully. "Shanks told me that not every situation can be solved with violence. I bet I can get us out of here!"
It was solid reasoning, but Josie doubted the boy actually had the skills to talk a rival pirate down. Not yet anyway. He didn't have the experience he needed, despite his natural charisma.
"Pirates are all the same." the red head hissed, leaning close to her almost-friend. "All of them."
Josie shared a look with Zoro.
"Awkward…" she mumbled, stepping a bit closer to the swordsman.
And then there was no time to talk, the ceiling suddenly lifted away and the walls of their crate fell apart around them.
Josie scooted even closer to Zoro, nearly hiding behind him and her fingers brushing against his haramaki like a child behind their mother's skirt. Perhaps her belief that he would protect her was misplaced, but he was the logical choice for protection at the moment. Nami wasn't the hard-hitter of the three and couldn't be trusted to do more than save herself at the moment. With the fate of the girl's whole village hanging over her head, the navigator had to make the hard choice to think for herself first. Luffy was a bad option simply for the fact that he was the main target and would get someone caught in the crossfire by accident. Or force her to fend for herself on the grounds that a person had to always be willing to put their life on the line.
Luffy was a good friend, in theory, but he had an unreasonable amount of faith in pure strangers.
It made his crew push themselves to their limits and become the best version of themselves that they could be, but they may have been the exceptions.
And Josie didn't even know him past an introduction, yet.
Zoro cut his eyes to her briefly, but made no comment as he took in the grand display put on around them.
Juggling unicyclists, acrobats and fire-breathers surrounded them and, for a moment, Josie had the oddest sense of normalcy.
She'd only been to the circus a few times in her life, before her mother realized that she would just continue to get sick on the smells and atmosphere before they could settle in for the finale. The woman had given up on taking her anymore and Josie lost what little interest she'd had in the whole affair.
Not to mention the fact that she was allergic to camels, which were always an attraction and she couldn't resist going to see them every time regardless.
Josie and the Straw Hats watched the display in bewildered surprise, blinded by the sudden light and deafened by the applause from the shadowed crowd. Luffy clapped along before Nami forced his hands down.
"No. No, no, no, no!" an unfamiliar voice shouted from the stands. "Stop clapping! No, stop! It's all wrong!"
The speaker stalked into the center ring, an irate expression on his painted face, and Josie took in this world's version of Buggy the Clown.
He was… younger than she expected. Or at least, better maintained than his animated self — which had always screamed 'mid-life crisis' to her. And more critical of a crew that, as was normal, seemed totally terrified of him.
Even Mohji and Kabaji seemed less confident before him.
"The spotlight was late," the man criticized. "You completely missed my entrance!"
He held out his hands towards the white haired man holding a cue card before bringing them back to his chest pointedly.
The spotlight swung over to him, squeaking loudly in the sudden quiet.
The clown looked at the white haired man again. "And where, oh where, was the dancing lion?"
The white haired man ducked his head in shame as his captain leaned into his space pointedly.
Well, that explained the absence of… Ritchie?
Luffy, though, lit up at the sight of him when the spotlight swung over to highlight the clown.
"Hey, I know you!" the rubber man grinned. "I saw your wanted poster in Shells Town. You're the clown guy! Uh, uh — Binky, right?"
Despite the remarkable situation where he recognized someone (which told Josie that this particular Luffy wasn't a total moron), he still got the name wrong.
Josie covered her face and groaned.
"His name is Buggy." she corrected with a muffled sigh. "Buggy the Clown. Not… Binky."
The man in question looked a bit pleased with the corrected recognition.
Nami swung her gaze around to glare at Josie.
"I thought you said you hadn't met any pirates before?" the navigator demanded, suspicion evident in her tone. "How do you know who he is?"
Josie looked unimpressed. "I can read. And like your friend said, he's got a bounty poster — the whole point of them is to inform people of who to look out for… Besides, Buggy is more infamous than you might think."
"Ooooh," the clown cackled. His painted grin stretched until his eyes crinkled at the corners. "I like her! So, you've heard of Buggy, the Genius Jester. Want my autograph, girlie? Or a… more private show?"
Buggy stepped closer, running his eyes over Josie in a way that made her feel slimy.
She tugged the lapels of her sweater around her more tightly, suddenly aware of the amount of cleavage displayed by the blouse she'd worn to dinner. It had been a fairly modest outfit when she'd chosen to wear it to dinner with her grandmother, but it now clung to her in a more evocative manner after being soaked in salt water, the pale blue silk practically transparent.
"No, thanks," she mumbled, now actively trying to hide behind Zoro.
The swordsman glared at Buggy and rested a hand on the hilt of his sword. At least he wasn't looking at her like a spy anymore, her discomfort evident to everyone.
Fortunately for Josie, Luffy still couldn't read the atmosphere too well and drew Buggy's attention away from her.
"Wow, you have a lot of names." he glanced over at his friends with the beginning of a grin, no doubt excited to encounter a new pirate of fame. "I bet everyone in the East Blue knows who you are."
Around them, both the audience and the Buggy Pirates gasped in horror.
Josie glanced around at the crowd, parsing through Luffy's words to try and understand where the teenager had misspoken.
Buggy cocked his head at the teen, his voice losing its Ringmaster persona.
"What did you just say?"
"Just that everyone knows who you are." Luffy blinked a few times and shared a confused look with Zoro.
Josie gasped, finally making the connection, and dropped her head to rest against Zoro's back in exasperated horror. She ignored the way the man tensed at the contact.
She had forgotten the clown captain's apparent body image issues when it came to his nose. Of course the man would perceive anything that sounded similar to an insult in subtext to be asking for a fight.
As if they didn't already have the odds stacked against them here.
Josie wondered just why it had to be her caught in these odd circumstances.
"Nose!"
Buggy lurched forward, grabbing Luffy by the face, and Josie watched Zoro and Nami's reactions as the rest of the foreign crew advanced on them.
Zoro, as expected, seemed unphased by it all. He glanced away from the interaction between captains only to stare at the enemy crew impassively.
Nami, on the other hand, seemed to just barely be holding it together, her whole body tensed in preparation to run. Her eyes, a surprising shade of blue, were wide and fixed on Buggy as he berated Luffy.
"Are you making fun of my nose?"
"Well… I wasn't. But now that you mention it, is that thing for real?"
When the clown slapped the teen's hand away from poking at his prominent nose, Nami flinched like she was the one being struck. Behind them, the crowd cried out in dismay.
"What's real is I've been scheming for months to steal that map from old Axe-Hand Moron…"
Still, the red head held herself with remarkable poise when Buggy approached her next, searching for a reaction for his pun. He waited a moment for Nami to respond and shrugged her off before moving back to stand before them.
"Only to find out that I was upstaged by three little nobodies, who stole it from right under my no— No! It's in my head now."
Josie pressed a hand to her mouth, stifling the giggle brought on by the clown's sudden aggravation with himself. He looked like a toddler having a tantrum.
His eyes are pretty, she noted the way they grew clearer and sparkled beneath the spotlight. It really was a shame people didn't seem to see them past his most prominent feature.
Maybe he'd have more true self-confidence if they did. Honestly, he was more attractive than his animated counterpart.
"Hey! I'm not a nobody." Luffy called, his tone a bit sharper than normal. Josie turned to watch him in surprise. The boy grinned. "I'm Monkey D. Luffy — and I will be King of the Pirates."
The statement drew a laugh from Buggy, but Josie ignored him in favor of the shift she had felt in the atmosphere.
When Luffy had first made the statement, it was like someone tacking on their age or blood type to an introduction. Like a simple statement of fact — his name was Luffy and he would one day be King.
Now he had thrown it out there like a challenge, one pirate competitor to another.
And Buggy rose to the occasion, commanding his stage like a master ringleader as he made clear his own ambitions for the top.
"Oh! Now that's funny!"
The crowd laughed appropriately as their cue cards were held up again, the sound cutting off abruptly when the clown made a practiced motion Josie recognized from her school choir days.
"My bounty poster graces the marquee of every Marine outpost for miles. And my menagerie of outcasts and freaks is the most dreaded pirate crew the East Blue has ever known." Doubtful with Arlong roaming free, but the Fishman was bribing the Marines to stay under the radar… not to mention the fact that Roger hailed from this particular ocean. "I am destined to find the One Piece. And when I do… I will be king."
She was a bit surprised at that.
For all Buggy's boasting in the anime and manga, she couldn't actively recall him trying for anything more than simply being rich until the story had passed the Wano Arc. It made him a staunch contender for the title, given his knowledge of the Grandline and his past as a Roger Pirate. Even if he hadn't been along with the rest of his crew for the end, he had still made it further than most. And this version of Buggy didn't seem much weaker for all the time he had spent skulking around East Blue. In fact, it seemed as if this version of the pirate had just been biding his time and making careful plans for his shot at the top.
"No. You won't. 'Cause I'm gonna find it first."
"You? Don't make me laugh." Behind them, the Buggy Pirates enticed the audience into poorly timed laughter, causing their captain to whirl around in annoyance. "I said don't make me laugh!"
Josie wondered just how Buggy was keeping the villagers in the stands, but couldn't take a closer look due to Zoro stepping forward.
"Alright, listen up." the swordsman called out suddenly, striding into the spotlight so everyone could see him clearly. "I'm Roronoa Zoro. Drop your weapons now and I may let you live."
It was surprising, the way the swordsman seemed to bank on his name being enough to intimidate the enemy crew into letting them go. The pride was expected, yes, but the man wasn't one to blatantly announce himself in the animation. Real life Zoro was more hot-headed and rash than Josie had given him credit for.
Buggy, however, was unimpressed and laughed at the younger man. He had, no doubt, dealt with bigger fish before and Zoro still didn't know just how small his world was yet.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we have a celebrity in our midst!" the clown laughed mockingly, spinning around to wave at the audience before turning back to the crew with a flat expression. "Too bad I hate sharing the spotlight."
He looked up and the literal spotlight swung over to illuminate him as he stared apathetically at the teens. Josie lingered off to the side, no longer hidden from his attention, but not associated enough with the Straw Hats to garner her own conversation with the clown.
"Now, maybe we should skip right to the finale." She was grateful for the lack of attention on herself when Buggy pulled out a collection of knives, holding them between his fingers like a Wolverine cosplayer. "My freaks have put quite a bit of rehearsal time into this little abduction. And if I can't reward them with that map… I suppose I'll have to offer them a pound of flesh instead."
Josie tried to slide further out of the ring and yelped when she backed up into a pair of pirates who grinned at her menacingly.
They startled her so badly that she nearly missed Nami speaking up.
"Wait! Wait. What if I have something else to offer you?" she stepped in front of the boys with false bravado. "Something more valuable than the map?"
Buggy looked her over with interest, his eyes flickering past the enemy crew to Josie. She gasped at the sudden attention and hoped Nami had a good idea.
"What if I give you a new freak for your crew?" Buggy's eyes returned to the red head in front of her and Josie's heart plummeted. She looked at Luffy. "A rare talent. The most spectacular act in all of the East Blue. Besides you of course."
Luffy leaned in over Nami's shoulder, eyes wide with excitement, no doubt wondering what spectacular secret the girl had been hiding from them.
She wouldn't…
She would.
"Go on." Buggy inclined his head with interest.
In one swift movement, Nami snatched the hat from Luffy's head, making the boy cry out in shock. The hat was tossed high, like a frisbee, and Luffy's arms stretched unnaturally in a desperate desire to have it back.
The navigator was quick to abandon them, racing outside without a backwards glance.
Zoro scowled, but Luffy just looked blank.
Buggy gasped, blue eyes wide as he looked the youngest male over.
The rubber boy's expression barely changed when a pair of Buggy Pirates dragged the navigator back, her cool persona dropped in favor of near hysterical anger towards their captain.
"What did you do?" she demanded, her voice shaking. "What did you do to their town — you destroyed everything!"
Luffy's brow furrowed as he watched Nami, likely coming to the realization that her anger had a more personal note to it.
Josie's chest ached, knowing how the other girl was intimately familiar with the destruction a pirate could bring, and was surprised how vulnerable the girl's reaction made her.
"Not everything." Buggy shrugged casually. He leaned on a barrel and made a lazy gesture towards the crowd with a knife. He pulled an apple from the barrel and cut a piece off to eat before clarifying. "I let 'em keep their hands."
The villagers clapped when the cue card was lifted, barely concealing their fear and sobs as they survived the only way they could — by catering to the clown's ego. The spotlight trailed over them briefly, glistening on metal chains around their ankles, and Josie felt her breathing quicken with fear.
"Okay," Buggy sighed, moving forward once more. The spotlights converged on him and the Straw Hats, illuminating them, "Here end the theatrics — I know one of you has my map, and I'm gonna get it back. What was it you said, Rubber Boy? That it was in a safe place?"
Luffy's expression dropped and his eyes darted towards his friends. He kept his mouth stubbornly shut.
Josie's brow furrowed. She couldn't even remember him saying anything of the sort and wondered how long they had been in the crate together.
Buggy scoffed at the teen's reaction.
"Don't look so surprised! I've got eyes and ears everywhere." He looked towards his crew and jerked his head at Nami and Zoro. "So, please make our guests uncomfortable in the green room — except for that curly haired babe. I've got special plans for you, doll."
Josie shrieked as the pirate behind her seized her around the waist, carrying her out of the center ring and through an exit. Behind her, she could hear Nami doing the same as she and Zoro were carted off, screaming at the pirates. Josie tried to make a break for it, but she was too short to reach the ground and her wild flailing did little to deter the sharp-toothed man carting her around like a sack of potatoes. At the most, the man only got a mouthful of hair for his trouble.
"Leave me alone!" she shouted, kicking at his shins. Her heart felt like it would leap out of her chest at its earliest convenience and she felt sick to her stomach. The man's arm tightened around her torso, squeezing her painfully and making it difficult to catch her breath. Not that her hysterics gave her an opportunity to. As expected, the man ignored her, shouldering his way into a fairly large room filled with dressing tables and trunks. To the side, there was a large desk and a set of chairs before it. Along the wall behind, there was an impressive collection of alcohol stored on a mirrored shelf. It didn't seem like a room that belonged in a circus tent. It was ostentatious and it suited Buggy.
Her captor dropped her roughly in the chair before the desk and leaned into her space. Josie gasped in fear and drew her arms up defensively.
"Don't even think about running," he growled, baring a set of filed fangs at her. It gave him a demonic look.
Josie's breath hitched on a sob.
What kind of American Horror Story season did she get dropped into — and what did she do to deserve it?
"Hey, hey — enough of that." Buggy commanded, striding into the room with a huff. "I've got it from here. Go help the others get the rubber brat on the stretching post. I want that map."
The sharp-toothed man bowed his head in response and offered Josie a final glare before stalking out of the room, the door locking behind him. She lowered her arms hesitantly and watched the clown warily.
"Sorry about all that," Buggy grinned unapologetically as he poured himself a drink. "It's all for show and mine have to be perfect."
"... I've noticed." Josie said carefully. She sat stiffly in the chair she had been left in, a tall wingback with thick armrests. A mimicry of a throne in the captain's office. "Must be frustrating when the others can't live up to your standards."
Buggy shot back the whiskey with a loud sigh.
"You have no idea." he huffed. "But you — I think you'll have no trouble with that."
Josie blinked, surprised by his implications. He thought she could be part of his crew? That she had even the slightest inclination of joining him? His alcohol tolerance had to be shit.
"I beg your pardon?"
"I beg… your pardon." Buggy mocked her words with a snort of amusement. "Such a proper young lady! How'd you ever end up washing in with the tide? Shipwreck? Ransom gone wrong?"
"Uh, more like family reunion gone wrong." Josie muttered, slumping a bit in bewilderment. What had happened at dinner still made her head reel with confusion — not to mention that she had been given no time to even begin processing her situation. She sat back up again when Buggy's expression turned victorious.
Just what was his interest in her?
"Family, huh? Not too familiar with that kind of thing myself, y'know? Always just been Buggy, no family to speak of. What about you, doll? What's your name?"
Did… did he think that she was some kind of important person in the East Blue? Josie's jaw dropped a bit in surprise. Was that why he was so curious about her history? Then why was he speaking about her being part of his crew, of his show?
She thought about lying, about telling him she didn't have a family either (true, in terms of this world), but he began to advance on her. Buggy loomed over Josie, caging her against the chair with his upper body. His hands rested against the high back of the chair and left her nowhere to run.
"Well, doll." he purred against her ear. "I'm waiting."
Despite the fact that her whole being was screaming at her not to, Josie found herself unable to do anything but answer honestly.
"M-my name is Josie. Harper Josie." she stammered, just barely remembering the correct name order for this world — she had forgotten that the first time she introduced herself. She felt frozen to her seat, too afraid to turn her head to face the clown captain. She tried to lean away from him, the feather-like touch against her ear sending shivers down her spine.
"Hmm, you sure about that?" Buggy crooned, almost mockingly. He released a hand from the chair to slide it up her throat, squeezing briefly in warning. He trapped her from moving, Josie's pulse rabbiting against his gloved palm. "Are ya adopted? Using good ol' mom's name?"
Her jaw dropped in shock. "How'd you know that?"
Slowly, a wicked grin slid across Buggy's face, really sealing his image as a 'deranged clown'.
"I thought you looked familiar when we spotted you on the docks." Buggy commented offhandedly, bringing his hand away from her throat to twirl one of her inky black curls around his finger. Like it was some casual flirtation. "Not every day you see the ocean pick up someone and put them down like that. It's been a while since I've seen anyone from your brood, but you look just like your Aunt Phoebe."
Josie jerked up at that, bringing her nose-to-nose with the pirate captain, but she disregarded the close proximity in favor of searching his eyes for the hint of a lie.
Crazy as Buggy came off, his sea foam green eyes were unsettlingly honest. They held her gaze steadily.
"There's no way you know my aunt!" Josie denied, finally finding the will to raise her voice and her hands in an attempt to gain some free ground. She pushed against Buggy's chest, denying him and the comparison. It was impossible! "She's never been anywhere near here!"
If that was the case, then, how would Buggy know her name? Or how the woman was related to her?
"Maybe you're right," Buggy shrugged, moving forward in spite of Josie's struggles until he was practically straddling her lap. "But the last time I saw Phoebs, we were pretty far into the Grandline. I gotta say, though, you definitely got the better part of the gene pool."
Josie pressed her lips into a firm scowl as Buggy blatantly peered down her blouse, a lecherous smirk on his lips. How dare he!
"Down, boy." she hissed coldly, swinging an open palm at his face. She had never slapped anyone before, but she had no doubt it would be satisfying.
"And so fiery!" The clown laughed mockingly as he caught her hand. He leaned even closer, pressing her against the cushions. His chest was surprisingly firm against her own, his muscular frame well-hidden beneath his long coat. "I wonder just how much more like your family you really are."
Josie gasped in shock as Buggy closed the distance between them, capturing her lips in a brutal kiss. He tasted like whiskey with a hint of something sweet. She whimpered against the embrace, unable to escape as Buggy's hand descended from the chair to squeeze her jaw and prevent her from biting him.
The pirate nipped at her lower lip, drawing a whine from the younger woman before he soothed the sensitive swell with his tongue.
Josie felt her body grow warm, an unwelcome frisson of pleasure wracking her body with the sensation and making her shiver. She couldn't stand the man, but hot damn could he kiss! Her body betrayed her. Her strikes turned to fingers clutching at the lapels of Buggy's coat and her back arched, pressing them closer together. The soft fur that lined his jacket tickled her through her thin blouse, her nipples perking in response..
Damn him!
Buggy grinned against her mouth, aware of the struggle within her, and pulled back to press an open-mouthed kiss against the corner of her jaw. His teeth scraped the skin there, pulling a punched out gasp from the woman. Her hips jerked, searching fruitlessly for friction to soothe the ache that settled in her core.
He growled as she brushed against the bulge in his pants. He let go of her face and neck in favor of gripping her hips tightly and anchoring her against his body as he flipped their positions. He fell heavily into the chair, sliding his legs between Josie's and bringing their hips flush together.
She shrieked in alarm at the sudden change, a low keen leaving her lips as her center was wedged against his bulge. Buggy caught the sound with another brutal kiss, his tongue dragging against the roof of her mouth. Her thighs shook at the sudden pleasure forced on her and she pulled back from the kiss, burying her face in his neck. He rocked his hips up, grinding against her until she moaned.
Buggy hummed in satisfaction at the sound, trailing his lips down her throat to suck a bruise against her pulse point. He kept up the movement of his hips, rocking them against each other in slow grind until Josie's eyes rolled back, her thighs tightening around his waist in search of more.
Josie was helpless against the rising heat brought on by the pirate's teeth and tongue. She flinched, a bit of the fog in her mind clearing as his hands traveled in opposite paths: one to grip firmly at her jean covered ass and the other to palm at her breast, the tender flesh of her nipple barely guarded through her thin blouse and lacy bralette. He caught the perked nub between his fingers, undeterred by the layers separating them, before ducking his head to continue his attack with his mouth.
A steady chorus of "ah, ah, ah" escaped Josie's lips, each one punctuated with a rolling thrust from the man beneath her.
He was turning her into a mindless doll — without even removing a single article of clothing from either of them.
She would never be able to think of Buggy as someone going through a midlife crisis again. If she ever managed to look at the animation again without wanting to die of embarrassment.
Her hands fluttered against his chest, dimly registering the definition there as Buggy played her body like a finely tuned instrument. Without thinking, she ran her hands over him in return, feeling the man shudder beneath her. He pressed himself further into her hands, his body curling around her in a way that screamed touch starved.
If only he were someone else, someone who wanted her for her and not a villain with secret intentions. She could have easily accepted the advance. She would have been happy to, given that the man seemed a more skilled lover than she could ever imagine.
She'd had her share of flings and shared a few beds — but always with a familiar partner or a trusted friend.
Never with a stranger, let alone one as notorious a villain as Buggy the Clown.
"S-stop!" she gasped, flinching when Buggy's hand slipped forward to her inner thigh, knuckles brushing the inner seam of her jeans. Everywhere he touched felt electrified, her blood rushing to the surface wherever his fingers pressed in a hard embrace. This was going too far — too fast!
Buggy scowled against her chest, biting down more harshly when he drifted up to mouth at her collarbone.
Josie yelped in pain, the sound broken off into a confused whine when Buggy ground his hips into hers mercilessly, prolonging the movement until she was writhing against him with overstimulation. The balance of pleasure and pain was evenly tipped, leaving her body uncertain of its response. She was so close to the precipice of release, but needed more. And she couldn't stand the fact that — if she were honest with herself — she truly wished she could find it here.
Damn her edging kink!
"Don't get confused, doll." the pirate growled as he brought his eyes up to level with her own. "I'm in charge here — captain's orders only."
"Not my captain!" Josie gasped in protest, arching away from Buggy in search of relief from the unwelcome arousal. Her body was burning, begging her to find release, but she refused to let it be with this man.
"When I'm done with you," Buggy snorted, yanking her flush against him again. "You'll be begging to be part of my crew so you can have this all the time."
Josie shuddered, flailing in earnest now and hitting the clown wherever she could. He had her legs pinned against the armrests with his thighs, refusing to allow her the leverage to raise herself out of his lap, but she managed to shift back and away from his clothed bulge. The man groaned in displeasure, eyes flashing angrily.
"Not a chance." Josie hissed, lunging forward to smash her forehead against his face.
Buggy jerked back, but his biggest insecurity became his downfall.
He shouted in pain, throwing Jo to the floor as blood spurted from his abused nose. The pirate snarled at her, chasing Josie as she tried to scramble away. He clutched at his nose with a gloved hand.
The other detached itself and flew at Josie, gripping her once more around the neck. He crouched over her, disheveled and brimming with barely concealed rage.
"That," Buggy said darkly, grabbing her jaw with his bloody hand. "Was a mistake, doll."
Josie's cry of pain was muffled by her inability to breathe, choking on the sound as his fingers tightened around her throat.
"I tried to go about this the nice way." the pirate sighed, seemingly unbothered by the blood dripping down his mouth and chin. "But we can do this the fun way, instead! Wanna see my knife collection? It's quite… extensive."
Josie's breath quickened, fingers scrabbling against the gloved hand at her throat fruitlessly.
The glove protecting it was just too thick and her own strength and reasoning weakened with every passing moment. She felt like she was treading water, drowning again in the unforgiving sea.
The same color as his eyes.
"'M s'rry!" she wheezed, eyes rolling wildly. "'M s'rry!"
Buggy grinned darkly. "And you won't do it again? I was hoping this could be a pleasant experience for both of us, doll."
"Pr'mis'." Josie choked, her vision beginning to darken around the edges.
How long until she passed out? Until the oxygen deprivation killed her brain — killed her!
The pirate let her hang in the balance for a moment, watching her struggle and squeezing just the slightest bit harder to see her squirm. He let go.
Josie rolled away from him, harsh coughs wracking her brutalized throat. Her eyes watered. She gagged at the pain, the horrible taste of bile searing up until she retched. The acidic stench of vomit burned in her nose, causing her to heave again.
Buggy sneered and nudged her ribs with his boot.
"Ugh, looks like I won't be getting any head tonight. I'll get someone to bring you a toothbrush — and a mop to clean up your mess. I gotta go deal with that brat, so think about how you wanna play your part while I'm gone, will ya?"
Josie couldn't even turn to watch him go, trapped in a series of breathless sobs and listening as Buggy strode purposefully out of the room. She felt wrung out. There wasn't even strength enough in her to roll away from the vomit soaking in her hair.
Behind him, the door slammed with a resounding clang, locking her in.
Just what had she been thrown into here?
Later, Josie wouldn't be able to say just how long she had laid there on the floor until her tears dried and her breathing evened out into something more manageable.
She felt like the scum of the Earth, like Plankton when he got stuck to the bottom of Spongebob's shoe and squished repeatedly.
And Buggy had hardly done anything but choke her out.
What a fucked up situation it was, to be… seduced into nearly giving in to a damn clown's bed.
She blamed her obsession with Stephen King's IT and Bill Skarsgård's portrayal of the killer clown. Who the fuck made baggy pantaloons attractive?!
Something had obviously been scrambled in her brain when she was dropped into the ocean. Because now she was sure she wasn't dreaming.
Josie had dreams of nearly dying in her sleep over the years and always woke up just before her final death. Every time, without exception. And this was just too painful, too frightening.
Which meant that somehow she had found herself in some sort of isekai situation.
And apparently so had her aunt, some years before.
It gave her hope, to know that Aunt Bee had been in her shoes before, stuck in a strange world only found in fiction.
Because Josie had grown up with her aunt as a constant presence in her life, the woman alive and well and raising her own child — Sterling — a man who had turned into Josie's closest companion. Her favorite cousin and nearly another brother.
If Aunt Bee could survive the world of One Piece and find a way home, then Josie and her extensive knowledge of the storyline had a chance.
But first… she had to get out of Buggy's office.
Sticking close to Luffy and his crew for a while would likely be her best bet. Despite the apparent differences between the story Josie knew and the reality of her situation, there were bound to be some secrets she could discover to help her on her way back to her world. A portal or ancient power of some sort. Robin alone would be a vital source of information — and just wait until they found Vegapunk! It would take a while, but there was more to this world than it appeared. The latest chapters had been hinting at that for a while.
So Josie would be along for the long haul if she managed to successfully integrate herself with Luffy and his crew. Possibly all the way to his claiming of the One Piece. Which was something she had been desiring to see for years and with the chance to do so in person? How could she turn down the opportunity?
After all, she was already attached to the character — meeting the real deal would likely have her falling head over heels for the boy like everyone else he ever met.
She just hoped her family wouldn't worry too much in the meantime. Aunt Bee might be the only one who understood.
Josie forced herself to her feet, swaying slightly. She pressed a hand gingerly to her throat to check the damage.
It was sore and tender, but she could breathe easier now and her reflexive swallowing didn't pain her as much. Perhaps her panic and volatile reaction made things worse in the moment — it didn't actually seem that bad now that she was calmer, focused. Had a goal in mind.
She was no stranger to powering through pain and discomfort to get her job done.
The chronic pain she dealt with every day was worse than this.
She stumbled over to Buggy's dressing table. An examination through the mirror showed the damage to be less than she'd thought, the skin red and a bit inflamed, but not darkened with bruises.
Which told her that either Buggy was actively holding back or she was exceedingly weak to fall so easily. She would have to get stronger, much stronger given that this was just the beginning of the adventure.
Any way she looked at it, she was only getting out of here if she had a weapon to defend herself with.
She'd never been in a fight before and only knew from secondhand knowledge to go for the soft parts. Gouge the eyes, pull the ears, aim for joints and kidneys, hit them in the throat if she could. Her brothers, though younger than her, made sure that their sisters knew the soft points to go for if they ever found themselves in a bad situation. They'd be so angry to know that Josie had forgotten once. She would make sure it didn't happen again.
She was up against pirates — if they fought dirty, then so could she.
Josie took a few deep breaths to prepare herself and looked over the dressing table absentmindedly.
She paused as something curious caught her eye.
Made of glass in signature Buggy colors of turquoise-blue and red, was a short pipe twisted to resemble a spiraled seashell. One end was thick and bulbous with a shallow bowl that tapered down only to thicken back up again with a small hole leading back to the bowl.
"Sonnavabitch." Josie muttered, picking up the weed pipe in disbelief. She stared at it for a moment before ransacking the table for the rest of Buggy's stash.
She squealed gleefully as she came across a midsize leather pouch with a generous amount of weed and a metal zippo.
Josie hugged the discoveries to her chest and sighed at the possibilities.
It'd be good stress relief for her when she had the chance to indulge. A distraction from her situation and a way to deal with the chronic pain in her hips that flared up at random — at least, until Chopper joined up and could offer her an alternative.
Also, it would piss Buggy off if someone stole his weed stash.
"Payback's a bitch and so am I!" she sang to herself, feeling more lighthearted as she continued her search for a weapon. The mood swing probably wasn't healthy, but she didn't have the time to whine and cry when someone could come back at any moment.
Despite Buggy bragging about his extensive knife collection, Josie couldn't find even a single damn blade in the room. Not that she was sure she'd be able to use one if she got her hands on it. She honestly didn't think she had the stomach to stab someone.
If her life depended on it, though, the choice might be made for her.
Still, even the idea made her queasy.
In the end, the solution was simple enough.
Josie sat back on her haunches after digging through yet another chest filled with tacky costumes, some of which didn't even belong to Buggy by her understanding. The man was practically a hoarder by the way he collected random sequined and striped pieces, likely held onto in hopes of finding someone to fit the roles he dreamed of one day. And didn't that defeat the purpose of a circus, anyway? Of ostracized people, turned away by what was deemed polite society, finding their own niche in a world that would accept and even revere them for their differences?
Buggy seemed to have an idea of what he wanted and Josie still couldn't see where she fit into his plans for the world.
Apart from being a convenient fuck, that is.
She ground her teeth in frustration, resisting the urge to pull her hair to relieve some of the stress. Her curls were already tangled enough and everything that had happened since her lunch with her grandmother wasn't helping it at all. Seawater, vomit — it was going to be a bitch to clean.
Behind her, the door clicked as it unlocked and Josie dove behind the collection of trunks without a second thought, her heart in her throat.
The Buggy pirate who entered the room looked confused by her absence, his brow furrowing, and Josie recognized him at once by his odd hairstyle. Her memories of the Buggy Arc were coming back in flashes, mostly the bits about the dog.
Mohji looked around the office suspiciously, peering at the messy dressing table and the open trunks with dawning comprehension.
Josie pressed her hand against her mouth, squeezing her eyes shut, and tried to control her breathing. But what did it matter? The office wasn't that big — he was going to find her. Sooner, rather than later if the way the crashing of furniture was any indication. Mohji was tearing the room apart in search of her, the toothbrush and mop he'd been ordered to bring her left forgotten in the doorway.
She hoped he slipped in her vomit and gave her the chance to run away.
Mohji drew closer to her hiding place, now, and Josie's free hand curled against the floor in response.
Cool metal brushed her fingers.
Josie's eyes flew open, her head swinging towards the discovery, and found a long metal bar sitting innocuously beside her. It was a crowbar. A long stretch of dark metal made of porous iron and a flat end that resembled a flathead screwdriver. The other end was curved with another, wider flat ended lever for prying things open.
It seemed out of place here in Buggy's office, but Josie could care less.
She knew what it was and what it offered her. It was familiar.
It was a weapon.
Josie lunged for it, just barely managing to get a decent grip before Mohji was upon her. He loomed over her hiding place like a lion about to pounce.
She swung at him once and missed, the pirate just managing to sway back in shock. Josie pulled back, gripping the crowbar like a baseball bat, and swung with all her might.
It met its mark this time in Mohji's face, ringing with a dull thud, and the lion tamer went down with a pained moan.
Josie stood over him, mouth open in shock, and found herself trembling.
When the man didn't move for several long moments, she stumbled forward, gingerly checking him for a pulse. She sat back in relief, her legs giving out, and stared at the open door in disbelief.
She had done it, had taken down a man twice her size and history of violence. Had done it with a crowbar, no less — and won.
And there was the door, unlocked and open and waiting for her.
In the distance, she could hear Buggy, his voice loud and mocking.
Josie's eyes hardened.
He wouldn't be mocking anyone much longer.
She gripped her crowbar tightly and used it to help her to her feet.
Luffy was waiting and she was done being a victim.
She hurried out into the corridor, passing the greenrooms without a second glance, and entered the center ring. For a moment, she lingered in the shadows, taking in the sight of Buggy and his crew gathered around a tall tank of glass.
Inside, she could see Luffy, mostly drowned and struggling to free himself.
The clown's laughter filled her ears and her heart with fury.
She couldn't wait to see Luffy take him down.
Filled with spite and adrenaline, Josie darted across the ring, ducking under a heavy-handed grab from an acrobat and slammed into the tank.
Luffy slapped his hand against the glass weakly, his eyes wide and frantic.
"Oh, I hope this works!" Josie moaned, drawing back and swinging her crowbar at the glass as the Buggy Pirates converged on her.
The iron collided with the thick glass with a thundering crack, causing the collective audience to flinch.
It didn't break all at once, but a thin spider webbing crack in the glass began to form.
"No!" Buggy bellowed, detaching a hand to fly for Josie's throat.
"Welcome to the Loser's Club, asshole!" Josie quoted with a snarl, swinging her crowbar like a bat and sending the wayward appendage flying off to the side.
She whirled back around, letting out a warcry as she swung at the tank again.
"Where are my freaks?" Buggy bellowed, whirling around in search of backup. His crew was nowhere to be seen.
With a final resounding crack, the panel shattered, sweeping Josie off her feet in a wave of icy seawater.
As if hailed by some silent signal, Zoro and Nami burst onto the scene in the nick of time to see their captain freed from his bonds and collapse to the ground beside Josie.
"They're not coming." the swordsman said quietly, two swords drawn at his sides.
The dark haired pair spluttered and wheezed in the aftermath of their escape, Josie clinging to her crowbar like a lifeline.
"I'm alive." Luffy gasped from somewhere near her hip. "That's lucky. Thanks for that."
"You're welcome." Josie mumbled into the mud. "Get me out of this place and we'll call it even."
Luffy's reply was a gag.
She sat up in alarm, just in time to notice Buggy had been knocked down in the flood of water as well.
The clown flailed a bit, seeming weakened by the seawater, and joined everyone watching in horror as Luffy choked up a long, metal tube.
The map Buggy wanted, Josie realized with no small amount of disgust. She had to admit though, that probably was the safest place for it at the time — and very clever of Luffy to utilize his powers in such an unusual way.
Reality warping, indeed.
To Luffy, though, the map was inconsequential compared to his hat. The boy crawled right past Buggy to reclaim his treasure.
Josie lunged for the map instead, shrieking when Buggy's desperate grab landed on her again.
"Thought you were gonna be a good girl for me, doll." the clown snarled, wrestling her down. He reached for her throat. "Guess it'll be the fun way after all!"
"Go to hell." Josie gasped, kneeing him in the crotch.
There was a collective wince from the audience as Buggy rolled off of her with a wheeze, leaving Josie to make her escape.
Once again, she darted behind Zoro. The swordsman regarded her with bemusement.
"Nice to see you're still in one piece." he said off-handedly.
Josie couldn't help but giggle at his unintended pun. She tucked the map into the waistband of her jeans, tying the bottom of her sweater tightly around her waist to help hold it in place.
"Give. Me. My. Map!" Buggy growled, staggering to his feet. He sneered as Zoro sauntered forward, eyeing his swords with disdain. "Oh, you wanna piece of me? Let's see what you got?"
Zoro swung at him, a move that should have swiftly decapitated the pirate failing due to Devil Fruit powers.
Buggy's head bounced against his neck with a grotesque squelch. His torso did the same as Zoro continued to attack, each attempt failing as badly as the last.
The clown laughed mockingly.
"Surprise, shithead!"
"That's disgusting." Josie muttered, feeling a bit queasy before a thought occurred to her. "I wonder how he'd do against someone with the Ope Ope Fruit?"
"You know a lot about Devil Fruits, then?" Nami asked from behind as Buggy's body split into dozens of pieces, sending the girls back to back with Zoro as they tried to fend him off.
"Fair bit." Josie grunted, batting away a stray… something. It had a part of a shirt on it.
"How am I supposed to slice a guy who's already in pieces?" Zoro huffed.
Nami shot him an annoyed look over her shoulder. "This was not part of the plan!"
"A plan sounds like a good idea." Josie mumbled, wincing as something struck her in the ribs. She wracked her brain, trying to remember how Buggy had been defeated in the manga. "Any ideas?"
"Set him on fire?" Nami mumbled sarcastically, whacking at a flying kneecap.
"Good idea — too much collateral damage." Josie huffed, running through her memories of the manga as best she could.
It had been a while since she'd done any rereading or watching of the series, only occasionally remembering to catch up on new chapters after they'd had a chance to build up.
The answer was there, just lost in the memories of Buggy's escapades in the New World, in Impel Down, meeting Alvida as Little Buggy…
Little Buggy!
"I've got it!" Josie gasped, nearly clocking Zoro in the head as she sprinted for the pile of empty trunks and crates on the side wall.
Distantly, she could hear Nami trying to call her back as Buggy's attack pushed her and Zoro apart, but she ignored the navigator in favor of snapping up a small box.
Josie snatched a stray Buggy-fragment out of the air and grinned maliciously as she stuffed it in the box.
"Guys!" she called gleefully, waving it in their direction. "Problem solved!"
Buggy snarled at her and sent a hand flying in her direction.
"You brat! I'll show you not to cross me — right before I tear apart this sad excuse for a crew!"
Luffy, who had been struggling back to his feet after retrieving his hat and recovering from his time in the tank, stepped in between Josie and the clown.
"You can dump seawater on me and I'll let it slide." He slipped his hat back on, voice trembling with barely suppressed rage. "But don't you ever threaten my friends."
Almost unnaturally quiet, the rubber man began fighting Buggy in earnest.
He threw a fist at Buggy, knocking a hole clean through the clown's torso that was quickly repaired. Like a puzzle piece slotting into place.
"So you want to die first?" the older man asked, holding up two handfuls of knives. The most effective attack against the rubber boy. "Be my guest."
He launched a Chop Chop Cannon at Luffy, the boy rushing forward and dodging strikes with ease until he was on top of Buggy. The teenager pinned him down for a moment before being tossed off. He barely dodged a knife to the head, his hat not being as lucky.
Buggy brutally pinned it to a post before withdrawing his knife. His disembodied fist buried itself in Luffy's gut, knocking the wind out of him. He knocked the boy off his feet before going for his favorite move.
He squeezed the boy's throat, pinning him to the ground.
But Josie still had her plan.
"Hey, kid!" she called, tossing him her crowbar. He had experience fighting with a pipe — a crowbar was about the same shape, right? "How's your aim?"
She hefted up an empty crate and opened the lid.
"Zoro! Nami!" Luffy shouted with a fierce grin.
The rest of the crew threw themselves into the fray like passionate members of a baseball team, using their weapons to knock Buggy-fragments into the crates and trunks. Josie raced to keep up with them, locking lids and flipping open ended crates over until she was panting.
Buggy tried to follow their movements as best he could, distracted by his attempts to control his body. His eyes were wide and frightened.
Josie tried not to feel bad for him, given all he'd done, but she'd always had a soft heart.
He just looked so pitiful.
Soon, all that was left of Buggy was a culmination of hands and feet beneath a comically large head.
Josie sat down on a rattling trunk and laughed at the sight.
"What have you done to me?" Buggy demanded, looking down at himself in horror.
Luffy grinned. "Cut you down to size."
"Not so extensive, is it?" Josie mocked.
Buggy growled in outrage.
"The One Piece will never be yours!" he spat. "You're just a sad, lonely little boy wearing another man's hat!"
Josie sobered a bit at that, wondering if the real reason Buggy despised Luffy so much was that the boy didn't know the true significance of the Straw Hat. She wondered if Buggy himself knew there was more to it than the relic just being an old possession of his late captain.
Roger really did a number on their world, she thought to herself.
"I know exactly who I am." Luffy fingered the brim of his hat fondly before putting it back on. "I'm Monkey D. Luffy — and I'm gonna be King of the Pirates."
And that was all there was to it.
Buggy was sent flying with a Gum Gum Bazooka. Josie joined the StrawHats in the center ring, handing the map back to Luffy with a smile. He returned the gesture before he handed it to Nami in turn.
The red head looked at him in surprise. "You're giving this to me?"
"You're the navigator." the boy said with a nod.
"Let's get out of this clown show." Zoro said, looking around the tent with a sour expression.
Luffy stopped him from leaving with a hand to the shoulder.
"Still one more thing we have to do." he said firmly, patting the older boy.
Josie shrugged and followed after the young captain when he approached the villagers. Zoro and Nami caught on to their plan quickly, the four of them turning the lights on and unshackling the prisoners with reassurances that they no longer served anyone and could live their lives freely. She wondered how long they had been trapped like this, why the Marines hadn't come to their rescue.
Did Buggy bribe the Marines like Arlong? Or was this island just too poor to warrant the notice of their so called government protectors?
Josie fielded off grateful strangers with as much poise as she could manage, giving the credit freely to Luffy and his crew. Still, she couldn't quite sway a few of them from their admiration, the children in particular.
They heralded her as some kind of superhero with the way she had rushed to save Luffy from the tank and then devised a way to trap Buggy.
"They're right, you know." the savior in question told her, knocking their shoulders together gently as he fell into step with Josie. They followed the crowd towards the exit. "You really helped us out back there."
Josie flushed, feeling a bit starstruck. Luffy was even younger than her baby brother, but he was adorable and had a strong presence.
"You would have been fine." she shook her head. "Your friends were already there."
"They were." Luffy agreed simply. "And you helped. Still wanna get out of here?"
He offered her the crowbar back.
Josie hesitated, fingers barely brushing the now warm metal, before she accepted it firmly.
"Where to, captain?" she grinned hopefully.
Luffy beamed at her in response and led her along with the crowd to the docks.
Zoro and Nami walked on ahead together, heads bent close in quiet conversation.
In a stark contrast to the anime or manga, the villagers followed them gratefully, even offering them a small platter of food as 'thank you' for their actions. A little dog, unnamed but recognizable, followed at their feet. Josie stopped for a moment to give him a quick pet. She wondered what happened to the pet food store his owner had owned in the animation. She was glad the little dog hadn't been forced to fight a lion for it in this world.
"We don't have much, but please — take this as a token of our… of our gratitude." Mayor Boodle looked at the Straw Hats fondly, their captain no doubt changing the man's mindset on pirates with just a few words.
It was amusing to watch Luffy try to resist his stomach, insisting that the villagers keep it for their own needs, only to fail and rush back for a quick snack.
Josie remembered another version of the rubber man and his words in Wano, where he wanted the world to be a place where his friends could eat as much as they wanted.
She thought she could see a shadow of that man in the boy before her already.
Josie carefully made her way across the rickety dock and onto the boat — a sloop, as Nami called it — and perched tentatively on a stack of crates as the others cast off from the docks.
She had no nautical knowledge of which to speak and stayed largely out of the way, though she did ask Nami a number of questions about their actions and how they tied in to sailing the sloop. It was good knowledge and Josie already felt like she fell behind the others in terms of skill. She could at least learn to do this. Besides, it would help keep Nami off her back when they got into a situation where they had to make a quick escape.
There would surely be a lot of those waiting in their future.
The red head seemed wary of her to begin with, but gradually relaxed when she deemed Josie to be genuine — and more concerned about navigation than either of the boys sailing with them.
Under Nami's command, they were out to sea in no time and Luffy was begging her to fix his hat as they continued on to their next stop. He watched her intently as she threaded a needle and straw through the tear until it was finished.
"You fixed it!" Luffy said with grateful awe.
Nami smirked. "Well, you said it was your treasure, right?"
The others spread out, Josie making herself a seat within a coil of spare rope. Nami took the chance to slip away inside when she was finished, eager for a moment alone.
Josie couldn't blame her.
The day had been intense.
"Is every day gonna be this crazy with you?" Zoro asked, settling in for a nap against the cabin wall.
Luffy returned his hat to its rightful place atop his head. A crown fit for a Pirate King. He moved to sit in front of the swordsman, thinking for a moment before smiling.
"Shanks always said that if the path to what you want seems too easy.. Then you're on the wrong path."
Zoro glanced over the water. "This Shanks guy sounds alright."
Luffy kept his smile, heading to sit at the prow.
Josie looked up to find the young captain watching her intensely now that everything urgent had been seen to.
"So, what was your name again? I forgot!" Luffy said cheerfully, turning around to face her. He beamed eagerly, his entire attention on the older woman.
"My name is Harper Josie." she smiled back, finally feeling able to relax now that Buggy and the island were behind them. "And you're Luffy, right? Only, I heard you say it a lot — before long, you'll be the one everyone in the East Blue knows!"
The boy looked pleased. "That's the plan!"
Now that she was seeing him in better lighting, Josie could see that the human embodiment of the future pirate king was spot on. At first glance, he was just like any other teenage boy — albeit an attractive one. Luffy had an open face, wide expressive eyes, and the cutest smile Josie had ever seen on a teenager. He wasn't quite the beanpole Oda-sensei portrayed him as, but there was definition to the body hidden behind the thin, white T-shirt he wore. He was even wearing tennis shoes!
The change, however, did seem to suit him.
Their other companions, however…
"Roronoa Zoro."the swordsman stated quietly, his voice an uninterested monotone. He laid back, eyes drifting shut.
"Are you the first mate, then? The other girl, Nami, is your navigator — and Luffy the captain?"
"That remains to be seen." Zoro's muttered response was so quiet Josie nearly missed it beneath Luffy barreling on with his words.
"That's right! We're headed to the Grandline in search of the One Piece." The young pirate tipped his head back, blissfully breathing in the salty air. "Now I have three crewmates — it's so awesome! Hey, can you cook or play music? Pirates really love to sing, y'know? So finding a musician is important!"
"I can do a little of both, but they're not my specialty." Josie answered slowly, now nervous of just how she would fit into this crew. "I'm good at foreign languages though — and inventory."
"How'd you like to be the boatswain, then?" The other female on the crew asked, finally emerging from the cabin. She jabbed a thumb in Luffy's direction. "With the way that one eats, managing supplies could be a problem."
Josie glanced at Luffy for approval before bobbing her head in agreement. "If you're sure that's what you want from me. I don't know anything about nautical travel, so I'll need someone to fill me in on the basics — but I'm a fast learner."
"Then it's settled!" Luffy declared, waving his hat at the crew. "Josie will be out bo'sun — and our linguist! When we get more crewmates, you three will be in charge if I'm not around. Shanks told me that it's important to have strong leaders who can take charge in an emergency — but remember, we're all friends!"
"Makes sense to me." Josie murmured, surprised by the wisdom Luffy showed and his willingness to actually give them titles aside from their roles as… Well, characters seemed the best term for it.
It was a smart move, making them a sort of pseudo-council in place of leaving all the authority to one person.
Though, she did get the idea that her place in it was more of a tie-breaker between Zoro and Nami when the situation called for it.
Josie worried her lip, absentmindedly running her fingers through her hair and wincing when they snagged against a knot.
All that seawater had left them in a truly atrocious state.
"Hey, are you alright after what happened with the clown back there?" Nami asked suddenly, waving a hand over her face. "You… kinda have a little something on your face."
Josie blinked in confusion, rubbing her fingers across her forehead and staring at the rust-red residue clinging to them. Her mouth felt weird as well, like she had tried to apply chapstick and missed. She rubbed her hands across her mouth and they came away red, Buggy's face paint lingering from their makeout session. She blushed.
"Oh, it's not mine." she said faintly, aware of how it would look to her new crew. "Actually, is there somewhere I can wash up?"
She rubbed at her face in earnest, almost frantic, before Nami caught her hand in a firm grip.
"There's a sink inside." The redhead informed her softly. Josie felt like a cornered animal, meant to be handled with care. "It's not a lot, but we could wash your hair, too."
Josie slumped in relief. "Please. I'd like very much to be clean again."
Nami nodded, helping her to her feet, and pinned the boys with a stern glare.
"Nobody open this door." she commanded as she shut Josie and herself inside.
It was a bit of a struggle, washing Josie's voluminous curls and detangling them without shredding her scalp. Still, the girls managed, leaving Josie half-drowned again by the end of it, but relishing the unhindered bounce around her shoulders.
Her blouse — bloodstained and sea soaked — was a hopeless case. It was set aside to be torn into spare rags and she was given a shirt of Luffy's for the time being. It was big in the shoulders, but tight around her bust. Josie grimaced at the feeling, but tucked the hem into her waistband without complaint. Thankfully, jeans went with everything, even if they were a bit grimy. They were all that would fit her though, Nami's figure being much smaller than her own. She'd have to make do.
Until they could get her some new clothes of her own, Nami informed her with a thoughtful frown. The redhead had looked over Josie's curvier figure with interest, blue eyes lingering on thick hips and thighs before turning away with a mild blush.
Finally clean and with the events of the day catching up to her, Josie followed Nami back onto the deck where everyone shared a ration of salted meat and dried fruits — typical fare on such a small vessel — before the navigator was ushering her back inside.
The boys slept out on the deck, neither seeming bothered by the arrangement.
The younger woman insisted on having a separate, private space for the girls — as private as they could get in this scenario, anyway.
Josie almost thought it would be better to sleep on deck, just for the extra room.
But Luffy and Zoro snored, the cacophony audible through the cabin walls, and Nami was a decent bedmate.
True, she did hit Josie with a pillow a few times while trying to get comfortable, but once unconscious, the younger woman turned into a cuddler.
It reminded Jo of sharing a bed with her own sisters, both of them younger and just as clingy to their oldest half-sister, and she found herself drifting off to sleep with the scent of citrus shampoo in her lungs.