Chapter 11: Mama Bear
Buggy shivered as he felt fear go up his spine. He and Shanks had both been left on this godforsaken island. Every single day was a different season and on special days they could get all four seasons. They were tasked with surviving the island and its many dangers for a month. They'd been at it for a week and already Buggy was willing to say they would not be alive in a month.
We did something wrong. He thought solemnly. Next to him Shanks was sleeping. He'd given his brother his only two blankets. Can't let the idiot catch a cold. He thought with tinge of worry. I'm gonna kill Rayleigh for this. The man may have been like a second father to him; with Roger being his true father, but that meant nothing if Red got killed on this island!
Suddenly hungry red eyes could be seen glowing in the distance in the dark. Buggy glared at the beast, daring it to try and hurt his brother. They'd found that the mangrove trees were the safest from the monsters on the island; besides the giant ass snakes! His bloodied hand grasped the sword he had crafted all day long. It was a sharpened yellow and black stone that had the looks of a diamond but wasn't. He had been able to sharpen it to the point that it could pierce skin. It was nothing like Roger's Ace sword, but it would do in a pinch.
The beasts growls and snarls would keep him up all night and looking towards Shanks' sleeping form, Buggy guessed that would be alright. Shanks was younger and needed sleep. Buggy was use to not sleeping or had been until living on the Oro. So, deciding to stay awake, Buggy poked the fire to keep the flames from going out when it began raining; again. The snarls soon disappeared along with the red eyes but Buggy kept his vigil.
The bright morning sun woke Shanks who felt very warm and well rested. Sitting up he noticed the pile of blankets that fell from his body. Understanding why he'd been so warm he looked around for Buggy and saw his brother hunched over a fire that was still roaring with life. "Blue?" He said his brother's name half expecting him to explode at him with rage for not waking to take over in the middle of the night like he'd promised only to see tired eyes turn towards him.
"Sleep good Red?" Buggy asked, his exhaustion could be seen in the tired expression on his face and the dark circles under his eyes.
Shanks looked guilty, like the time he'd taken a bunch of cookies from the pantry and Blue took the blame because that's what big brothers did. "Yeah." He said quietly.
"Good." Buggy stated as he stood up with a giant egg in his hands. "You get to cook today. I'm gonna rest my eyes." With that the giant blue egg was placed in front of Shanks before Buggy took the blankets from him and quickly fell asleep.
Onboard the Oro the ship had become quiet without the two cabin boys. The crew tried not to be listless and kept busy but there was no joy or laughter. Jokes weren't being spoken, and even Roger was being quiet as he sat on the figurehead of the Oro. Rayleigh had about had it with quietness. It was getting to be too much. The island they had left the boys on was an island that his friend, Shakky, had recommended for intense training. Rusukaina Island was an island that had all four season, plus some, on it. The New World sized beasts living on the island could give any trainee a challenge. Top it off with it being in the middle of the Calm Belt made it a perfect place to leave the boys for a month so they could train. First lesson being survival. Second lesson would be weapons training. Third lesson were traps. Fourth lesson would be fighting him or Roger in a one on one battle. Of course he doubted either boy to get to the fourth lesson until they were ten or eleven. He was thinking ahead. Each lesson would take about a year or so for completion. He knew that the crew wouldn't want to leave the boys behind, so a monthly visit would be in order. However, he hadn't expected the full on depression that had overtaken the Oro. They needed a distraction.
A distraction that came in the form of Portgas D. Rogue.
It was Momora that caught sight of Rogue first. The bounty huntress was speeding towards them on her new flaming speed boat that was colored red with orange flames on it. The large fan on the back end of the boat allowed her to speed off at an incredible speed. Nobody could've outrun her boat, especially once she'd engage its secret weapon onboard.
As it was, Rogue docked her ship to the Oro and happily climb onboard to see her two husbands and her happier than life children. However, what she came to find was a depressed crew, an unhappy Roger and it was instantly Rayleigh's fault. "Whats's happened!?" She demanded as she stood on the edge of the ship railing.
Roger slapped a hand over his eyes. He'd forgotten to tell Rogue what they'd been planning to do. "We left the boys on Rusukaina for training." Rayleigh's voice caught Rogues attention away from Roger. "They'll be training-" He was interrupted by a slap to his face that stung like a hundred bees attacking his cheek. He stumbled backwards away from the red faced angry wife he suddenly had in front of him.
"Are you all mad!?" She screamed at them. "You left two children alone on Rusukaina Island! One of the most dangerous islands in the whole Calm Belt!" Her scream echoed across the Oro. All of the men looked ashamed, and they should be. "They're not even eight yet!" She yelled. "Hell, I'd be content if Blue was at least seven! But you left a six year old and a five year old alone! You fucking idiots abandoned my babies!" Her yelled had a hint of haki in it that left some feeling as if they'd had a two ton building slammed down on them.
"Rogue-" Roger began only for her to turn her angry eyes on to him. Roger took a step back.
"You have three days to get my babies back or else I've cutting all of your fucking family jewels off by day four!" She snarled, her eyes bursting with fire that most never saw from her.
"Love, they need this time to tra-" Roger was stopped again as she placed the tip of her green pistol to his lips.
"Finish that sentence Roger and you'll have a new hole in your head." Her words cut through him deeper than any sword ever could. "They. Are. Children!" She punctuated each word, as haki dripped from her words like a poison. Each word causing them to squirm to get away from her anger. She pulled her weapon away. "If I have to go get my kids, you'll never seen any of us again, Gol."
Roger's eyes widened at the threat. She meant it. Every word. She had only ever called him Gol once and it'd been the night he'd fallen in love with her. "Understood."
Buggy woke up to the sounds of sniffing. Pulling the blanket from his head, he found Shanks on a rock a bit further away from him. Noticing the sky was darkening, he figured he had slept all day. Standing, up the blue haired boy walked over to his little brother. "What's with the crying?" He asked as he stood behind Shanks.
"Did we do something wrong?" He asked as "Is that why we were left alone to train?"
Oh boy. Buggy thought. It wasn't like he didn't have this thought earlier the day before. "Doubt it." He said pushing Shanks to move over. "Dad and Pop just want us to toughen up..I think." He looked at Shanks before pulling him into his side. "I'm here. I won't ever abandon you."
"Promise?" Shanks asked as more tears threatened to fall down his face.
"Yeah. I promise." He swore as he held out his pinky to shake on it never realizing that one day that promise would be broken by them both.
Shanks wiped his face afterwords. "I'm hungry." He stated as he felt his stomach begin to rumble. A louder growling sound caught his attention causing him to look at Buggy.
"I could eat." The other boy admitted as his cheeks grew as red as his nose. Shanks laughed. It was the first laugh he'd given since coming to this place. "Shut up!" Buggy yelled though there was no real heat behind his words as his eyes sparkled with mischief. Shanks ignored him and suddenly Buggy attacked him by tickling his belly. Shanks' laughter soon filled the mangrove along with Buggy's.
It took the crew two days to get to the Calm Belt and just their luck there was no wind or sea kings to hook in order to get to the island. Roger looked towards Rayleigh. "If I loose my balls because of this hair brain idea of yours, Rogue is the last person you'll need to worry about." His threat was just as likely as Rogue's.
The blonde scratched the back of his neck. "I could call Shakky."
"Shakuyaku is going to kill you once she knows it was kids you wanted to train." Roger told him with a glum look. "I'd rather keep my husband in one piece."
Rayleigh snorted. "Either way, I'm going to loose my jewels." He stated. "Might as well make it quick and sweet."
Roger laughed.
Shakuyaku, former empress of Amazon Lily, was serving her newest customer when her denden began to make noise. The dark haired woman narrowed her eyes as she saw the image of Silvers Rayleigh appear on the snails face. "What did you do?" Her voice was a sweet as sugar and a balm on her former lovers soul; most days.
"Nice to hear your voice too, Shakky." Rayleigh said sweetly.
"Ray…" she warned her voice turning sharp like a sword.
"We're trying to get to the island but we've gotten stuck." He told her trying not to sound like a rookie begging for help.
"Of course you did." She chuckled as her customer left after finishing his drink. Sabaody was supposed to be easy money but it wasn't as easy as she thought it'd be. With a sigh she shut the open light off. "Okay. Tell me the story of this and then I'll decide whether to help or not."
The snail gave a groan.
One the fourth day the Oro Jackson made it to the island thanks to the large snake dragons sent by Amazon Lily and it's new empress. Nobody asked how Rayleigh had done it and nobody wanted to know why the first mate looked like death warmed over. The crew was, however, very surprised to find that the boys were not near the beaches or coves. This meant that they had gone inland and that made the pits in their belly's grow even larger.
Roger's laughter made that hole grow even bigger. "It would seem we'll all need to go hunting for the cabin boys." He turned towards the crew. "Do I have any volunteers?" His eyes sparked with a burning desire to go ashore. "First man to find them gets a week's worth of shore leave on me." The hands instantly shot up at the news of that kind of reward. Rayleigh groaned and knew that this misadventure was going to cost him dearly.
Meanwhile off shore Rogue watched with mirth growing at the sight through her spyglass of Roger and his men rushing off to go get her babies. "Well, I can't let the boys have all the fun." She said to herself as she ignited the engine and sped towards the back of the island. It was time to teach her husbands a lesson.
M-Angel: Teehee… Somebody is angry. Here comes my Rogue chapter. She's going to be teaching everyone a lesson.
Also, question, should I do a chapter or two on Roger's death or no? I am curious, since I've seen dozens of storylines do it already. Just want to get your take on it. I know personally when/if I do it, I'll cry.
