Chapter 23

Rouge stared at the very familiar spot of blue hair she could see in the Saboady crowd blankly. The only reason she had noticed Buggy handing around the fair grounds was because of his haki, his very well hidden haki. He had only flickered it briefly for her to notice, and notice she did. Rouge followed him into a back alley, leaving Ace to be distracted by Sabo. Ace had been losing focus more and more lately, hardly sleeping, and dreaming constantly about a throne room.

It was making her very worried. Rayleigh needed to hurry up and coat the Piece of Spadille before she lost her mind. They needed to get out of here.

Rouge followed Buggy deeper into the shadows of the alley before they both finally stopped, out of sight of everyone.

"Long time no see, Blue," Rouge greeted softly.

"That's all you have to say after all this time?" Buggy crossed his arms. "I thought you had died!"

"I did," Rouge sighed. "I'm a ghost."

Buggy shivered. "Only you of all people would come back as a ghost. That's never happened in my bloodline."

Buggy was the witch head of the Knowledge clan, the only problem was, their clan name was lost to history, and Buggy had never revealed his clan name to anyone, well, probably everyone except Shanks. It was pretty impressive actually. Rouge had kept her full name off the newspapers for like a week, maybe two at best.

"It seems to be a rarer thing than I originally thought," Rouge admitted. "I knew that it happened, but I had to admit I thought it happened to more clans."

Buggy huffed. "It's the 'D' in your name. It makes you crazy."

Rouge chuckled. "Fair."

Buggy eyed the end of the alley then her. "I wasn't expecting to see a mini you running around."

"Rahahaha, he's gotten taller than me now. They grow so fast." Rouge softened. "You all did. You and Shanks look amazing, Buggy. You've grown up to be great pirates."

Buggy crossed his arms, and he looked oddly defensive. "I only stay in East Blue."

Rouge tilted her head. "So?"

"My crew and I don't leave it, at least I haven't until now." Buggy's brow furrowed. "We don't want to deal with New World bullshit."

"Understandable."

"I'm still a pirate," he insisted.

Rouge's brow furrowed. "Of course you fucking are. You're a child of the seas. What are you-" She paused, the dots slowly connecting. All the times the Roger pirates told off Buggy for not being brave enough, for not fighting, forgetting the fact that he was just a kid. "By the seas, they are all fucking idiots. This is why you didn't come to Shakky's bar to see us then? Avoiding Roger Pirates?"

Buggy grimaced.

"The Rogers were always hassling you about not fighting," Rouge bristled. "I made it clear to them that you weren't a fighting type of pirate. You were for the adventure and the treasure like me, and that your strength wasn't throwing a fucking punch, it was for using that cunning head of yours."

"You liked fighting too-" Buggy protested.

"Aye, I did, but that wasn't my main goal," Rouge said, crossing her arms. "Roger meanwhile would charge into every battle he could find. It was kind of annoying sometimes. I would be in the middle of stealing something quietly, then he'd come in like a wrecking ball!"

"Sounds about right."

"Assholes." Rouge shook her head. "I wish I had been around to help you and Shanks at the time, but I was stuck in Baterilla-"

Buggy shivered. "I heard about that..."

"The Marines didn't know there was a witch clan member involved, otherwise they would have shat their collective asses," Rouge grunted. "I kinda wish I had told them, just to see their faces, but I was protecting Ace."

Buggy groaned. "You named him after his sword?"

"Roger picked it," Rouge snorted. "Ace for a boy, and Ann for a girl, and I liked the names so I went with them. That beautiful sword. I hope he didn't hand it over to the Marines."

"Knowing him he was probably stupid enough too," Buggy sighed.

Rouge chuckled bitterly. "Probably." They both fell silent after that, and Rouge closed her eyes when she felt the first few raindrops hit her head. She relaxed against the wall of the alleyway as the rain began to grow heavier. Buggy leaned against the wall next to her, pulling up his hood.

She saw a flash of his belt beneath his jacket and Rouge couldn't help but soften. That dagger he had on his belt... That was the first dagger she had taught him to throw with. Rouge smiled and leaned her head against Buggy's shoulder.

"Thank you."

Buggy paused. "For what?"

"For growing up into an amazing man."

Buggy softened against her. "I missed you so much, Rouge."

.::.

Ace did vaguely remember the name Buggy. Mum had mentioned him in passing by with Shanks, but she didn't talk about either of them that much. They were all seated in a cafe now, out of the rush of the crowds, and out of the rain pouring down from the skies. It was a nice distraction, having Buggy here to finally meet after all this time, and kept Ace from staring up too much.

It was difficult, trying to concentrate these days. Ace hadn't realised it would have been this bad in Sabaody, and couldn't help but wonder if that was the main reason he had run into Sabo here. Yeah, it could have been just good timing for them to meet up, but Sabo was also very clever and sneaky.

"I still can't believe you spawned a child," Buggy said to mum, studying Ace closely. Ace had to fight off the urge to squirm, and instead sipped at his hot chocolate. "He looks so much like you, except for some of the colouring, of course, but even then that's not all from my old Captain."

Ace had to admit, he liked the careful choice of words. The cafe may not be all that busy, but it was still better to be careful than sorry.

"So nobody remembers who you used to sail with?" Sabo frowned.

Buggy snorted. "Nah. I was an apprentice until I was fifteen and tended to remain out of the fighting when I could."

"Buggy was more like me. We both preferred treasure," Mum admitted. "I mean don't get me wrong, I do like a good fight now and then, but I wasn't going around looking for it on every island, unlike that stupid moron." Mum groaned. "Such a goof ball."

"How did he even managed to win you over?" Buggy asked. "He kept falling head over heels for you and squawking about like an idiot. Do you know how many times we had to stop him from just giving you all our treasure?"

Mum cackled. "He was adorable."

Ace cringed.

Buggy snorted. "Sure, a tall, adorable moron."

"It's weird hearing you talk about Roger this way," Sabo admitted, his voice low, almost a mere whisper.

"Now don't get me wrong, he could be a monster when it came to a fight," Buggy explained. "And even worse when it came to defending someone. I remember when there was these thugs saying nasty stuff about Rouge, and Captain overheard them talking. That entire bar was destroyed in a blink of an eye."

Mum snorted. "Sounds about right. Overprotective dumbass. It's not like I would have cared about what some pathetic little shits said about me."

Buggy huffed. "Well he did."

"Sensitive soul." Mum rolled her eyes, but there was a lot of fondness and love in her tone, one she rarely used with anyone but Ace.

He still had no idea what had made his mum love Roger so much. Ace struggled trying to learn more about him, considering how much it all hurt hearing how horrible he had been, but Dragon had insisted that a lot of those stories had been propaganda. That Ace needed to learn the real stories.

He wasn't sure if he could.

Ace hated to admit it, but he was scared.

"Do you remember when we used to play Davy Jones Declares?" Mum grinned.

"You were terrible to the others!" Buggy laughed. "You used to make the adults jump off cliffs, and even worse, you used to steal the coin we used to keep track on whose turn it was, so you always got extra."

Mum smirked and reached down, digging into her boot.

Buggy groaned. "You don't-"

She slipped it out with a giggle. "Still got it."

"Pirate thief you are indeed." Buggy shook his head fondly.

"I must have gotten buried with that thing," Mum said. "That or it is some ghostly bullshit I have yet to understand. I can sometimes get things I used to have or wear to appear, like my hat, that thing comes and goes whenever it wants. It's like a cat now."

Ace had to fight off a wince at the buried part. It was always a hard reminder that his mum was actually dead. That once he was no longer an heir witch and became a head, he would probably lose her completely. Yes, he was a lot luckier than most people, getting to be by her side now, but it was still terrifying to think he would lose her sooner rather than later.

Buggy raised a brow. "A cat? Really?"

"My best description of it at least," Mum mused, and Ace could feel her eyes on him. "You thinking big thoughts, Ace?"

Ace grimaced. "Trying not to."

She reached over and gently prodded his head. "We've got time, and I know we both like to live in the now, rather than later."

Ace grabbed her hand and gently squeezed it. "I know, but still."

Sabo leaned in against him, pressing their arms together, and Ace breathed out softly, trying to calm his thoughts.

"Sorry," Ace mumbled. "I might have just ruined the good chat we were having."

Mum frowned. "Don't be sorry for having bad thoughts. I'd rather know about them than not as we can try help."

"The same for you, Mum," Ace said softly. "I want to help you too."

"Thank you, Ace." Mum smiled, and Ace paused when her hand squeezed his. "But do remember one thing. I'm the adult here, and I'm also your mother, and the good ones will go to the ends of the world to help their kids."

"Yeah, you took on Shiki to protect Shanks and I," Buggy said.

"The Golden Lion?" Sabo raised a brow.

"Yeah, he took Shanks hostage and threatened Roger," Mum said, her eyes brightening with a spark of anger. "The fucker had this flying or floating fruit? Can't remember which one..."

"Float," Buggy said. "And you decided to tackle him mid air and grab Shanks. You took a nasty poisoned wound for that one."

Mum grimaced. "Yeah, almost forgot about that part."

"You had a nasty fever for almost a week!" Buggy hissed. "How could you forget about that?"

Mum smirked. "Like the one you had before the last stop in the world?"

Buggy groaned. "I hate that so much."

"Rahahahaha! It was such bad timing, Blue."

"The last stop?" Sabo tensed up.

"Well duh," Mum chuckled. "Buggy was on an apprentice on his ship for years, both him and Shanks, but they both remained behind when Buggy became ill with a nasty sickness. I caught up with the kids after that and stayed with them for a bit." Mum glanced over Buggy, a sad smile on her face. "You grew up way too fast." Mum laughed. "I can't wait to see what all the others look like now."

"Whitebeard got old," Buggy said.

Mum eyed him. "Makes sense."

"You going to see him?"

Mum stilled. Buggy stared at her, his eyes slowly growing wide, then he cackled.

"You're nervous!"

"I'm not!" Mum protested.

"The fierce pirate thief of the seas, Hibiscus Rouge, is nervous to see an old friend." Buggy grinned. "I need to mark this on my calendar."

Mum crossed her arms and huffed. "Little shit. I'm gonna tell Red you're being an ass whenever I see him."

"He'll laugh."

Mum sighed. "Yeah."

"So you're planning to see Shanks, but hesitant about Whitebeard?" Buggy frowned. "Wasn't he your best friend?"

"Still is in my mind," Mum admitted. "Him and Shakky, but yeah. I mean, Ace was planning to see Shanks because he wanted to thank him for saving Luffy's life-"

Buggy groaned. "I've heard so much about this weird kid ever since Shanks met him."

Ace grinned. "He's our little brother." He pointed at Sabo.

"And you were all pretty much raised by Rouge," Buggy sighed. "The seas will become an even more chaotic place soon enough."

"Yeah they will," Ace laughed.