Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Buggy is eight the first time he hears about soulmarks. Captain is lounging around looking bored and Buggy knows that unless he distracts him, he’ll come up with a ‘fun’ idea that will ruin Buggy’s perfectly calm day. Problem is, he’s already suggested fishing, pranking Reyleigh-san and even sparring lessons and nothing seems to spark any interest in Captain. Then he gets that light in his eyes that makes Buggy break into a cold sweat and he proclaims he’s had the best idea ever. Buggy reacts before thinking and grabs his left arm to stop him from going to do whatever moronic, probably dangerous, thing he has come up with. That’s when he sees the name scribbled on Roger’s left wrist.

“Why do you have Garp’s name tattooed?” He blurts out. He knows Garp, Garp is the scary marine that sometimes follows them around. One of the very few people that can fight Captain on an even ground.

“This? This isn't a tattoo, it’s a soulmark,” he explains like that’s supposed to mean anything to Buggy. “You do know what soulmarks are, don’t you?”

Buggy shakes his head, how could he know it when no one has bothered to tell him?

“I see, does Shanks know?”

“He better not!” Buggy won’t forgive him if he does. Buggy is the smart one, he’s the one that’s supposed to  know things.

“Red! Come here!” At Captain’s yell, Shanks all but runs to them, abandoning the broom he was just using. Lucky bastard, it was his turn to do chores! Buggy would complain (he did them yesterday!) but whatever this soulmate business is seems to have distracted Captain from his newest hare-brained scheme. “Do you know what soulmarks are?”

Shanks looks at Buggy for an answer before shaking his head. “No idea.”

Roger nods, looking as serious as he did when he explained the Code to them, and shows them his wrists. 

“Monkey D Garp,” Shanks reads, tracing the letters softly. “That’s the vice admiral, right?”

“Yup, he is my rival for life,” Roger declared proudly. “That’s what names on the left wrist means. If it were on my right, it would mean that I’ve decided to spend the rest of my life with him.”

“Like a marriage?” Shanks asks, looking weirded out.

“Not necessarily, though a lot of people get their names when they propose. Soulmates can be platonic too.” Captain's grin turns a bit soft. “Rayleigh got my name when he decided to take to the seas with me.”

“But you don't have his,” Buggy points out. Roger's right wrist is devoid of any name.

“I don’t,” Captain admits. “But that doesn't mean he isn’t important to me. Marks appear after you make a choice that alters the rest of your life. When we met, I wanted to go to the sea and have adventures already but Rayleigh didn’t. Regardless, he chose to come with me, that’s when the name appeared. He had the gall to sigh and moan that he was now trapped playing babysitter for the rest of his life.”

“And you decided to fight with the Fist forever?” Buggy asks incredulously. He knew Captain wasn’t the smartest, but still!

“I decided to join forces with him, somehow that marked both of us as rivals,” Roger shrugs. “These marks are weird, some are very easy to understand but others are unfathomable.”

“I want to spend the rest of my life sailing with Buggy!” Shanks declares, looking at his wrist with anticipation. No name appears and he pouts, looking up at Roger with betrayed eyes. “Why isn’t it working?”

“Maybe it would work if you vowed to be my first mate,” Buggy suggests, trying to fight the heat in his cheeks. “It did for Rayleigh-san.”

“No way! I wanna be captain!” Shanks protests. “You be my first mate.”

“Never ever ever.”

The conversation dissolves into bickering and Shanks ends up not having to do the chores after all, since a very mad Rayleigh-san appears and forces Captain to do them because he ‘started another war’ or something like that.

After that Buggy doesn’t exactly forget about the whole soulmate business (how could he when Shanks insists on looking at his wrist every time he agrees to go with Buggy anywhere?) but he doesn’t think too much on the subject either. He does start noticing it, though, because that’s free information that people literally wear on their sleeves! (Or right under them, but the point stands). And information is very useful, especially during fights. 

That is, of course, unless you are fighting the Whitebeards. Because of course more than half of those weirdos have their ‘daddy’ as their soulmate. Including the chicken that Shanks is so in awe with. Talk about a family complex. 

Birdie and Sparkly don’t even have the courtesy of looking embarrassed when Buggy points it out. They just laugh happily and tell him that he’ll get it one day. Which is stupid, Buggy gets it now. He gets that they will never truly allow themselves to spread their wings, they will forever stay with Newgate, playing second fiddle. It’s a shame, really, Marco would have made for a wonderful Captain.

How can they be okay with this? Buggy’s watched Rayleigh-san and Captain. Observed that one is free and the other is always following. It’s not something he’d ever want for himself and can’t imagine why they do.

Sparkly must read it in his face because he pauses in the middle of their fight and gestures towards their Captains who are still not done splitting the heavens and doing all that flashy stuff. But that’s not what gives Buggy pause, he is used to that. No, what catches his eye is Newgate’s right arm.

“That’s cheating!” Buggy declares. Because it is! Most people don’t even have one name, so why is Newgate allowed to have enough to reach his elbow!

“Mine is the first one,” Marco declares proudly. “That’s why it’s the closest to his wrist.”

“But you are only supposed to get them if your choice changes your life, right?” 

“Yeah, he says we all are his kids and every new kid is a new blessing and responsibility for life,” Jozu says, rolling his eyes but looking pleased. His name is about three up from Marco’s.

“So what happens when he has to choose?” asks Shanks from under the choke hold Marco has him in. 

“Why would he have to?!”

“We’d never make him!”

Whitebeards are weird, Buggy decides. But it must be nice to know that your Captain's first priority is not adventure or treasure but you yourself. For the first time ever he thinks it wouldn’t be that bad to have his name adorn someone's wrist.

The fight with the Whitebeards ends, like always, with a party and Shanks and Buggy manage to convince Whitey Bay to get them a bottle of sake to share between themselves. They escape before a member of their crew (or worse, Marco) realizes it, and settle onto a rock that allows them to look over the beach.

“They are a bunch of crazy people,” Buggy complains.

“Sure, but they're kind of cool,” Shanks retords. “What do you think of their new guy?”

“The one that attacked Roger? He was mental!” He shakes his head. “But I guess he was kind of funny.”

“And really strong too!” Shanks points out. He lowers his voice even though Buggy is the only one around. “I think Captain wants him to join us.”

“Really?” His friend nods and Buggy bits his lip. “I guess that would be okay,” he decides. “Does that mean the babies will come too? A pirate ship is not a place for kids!”

“I guess so, he and his wife have each other’s names after all.” Shanks rubs at his blank right wrist. “It’s kind of romantic.”

“Why? All the people dressed like New Guy had his name on the right wrist.” Even the minks had it! Buggy had been fascinated at seeing that in their case, the fur just turned into a darker color to form the name.

“Well yeah, but Toki and Oden are husband and wife and they both have the other's name! That’s different!”

“Don’t tell me you’ve been reading Gaban’s trashy romance novels!” Buggy laughs and Shanks face goes red which only pushes him to tease him more. “Do you want your name to appear after your first kiss, is that it, Shanks? Maybe you’ll find your one and only on a beach during sunset and as your lips meet, so will your hearts.”

“Shut up!”

“No, no! It’s cute! Tell me Shanks, is there anyone playing the violin in that fantasy of yours?”

“Just a bunch of rowdy pirates singing in the background,” Shanks is still blushing but he looks determined and Buggy realizes that they are on a beach and that the sun is going down.

“What…”

He doesn’t get to finish his sentence before Shanks leans down to press his lips on his. It’s weird, just a pressure on his mouth and Buggy will forever deny the spark of electricity that curses through him. He pushes his friend away, aware that, for once, his nose is the least red thing on his face.

Shanks isn’t looking at him, though. He is looking at his, still blank, wrist and pouting. And that’s just insulting! He doesn’t get to shake Buggy up so badly only to be disappointed! Who does he think he is! He just stole his first kiss! Why is he looking like it wasn’t enough?!

Buggy is so mad that he doesn’t hesitate to lift Shanks face up and press his lips back into the other’s. The yelp the redhead lets out is weirdly satisfying. Not that he gets to enjoy it, since Shanks decides that wrapping his arms around Buggy’s neck is allowed for some reason, so Buggy has to deal with the skin there heating up uncomfortably.

“What do we have here, yoi?”

Buggy pushes Shanks hard enough that the other boy almost goes tumbling down the slope. He doesn’t care. All he cares about is wiping that stupid smug grin off Birdie’s face. “Nothing! You saw nothing!”

“Awwww, don’t be embarrassed,” Marco says, his grin expanding.

“What’s going on?”

Great, now Vista is here as well. And he is followed by Gaban of all people. And he can not find out, if he does Buggy will never escape the teasing.

Buggy is not proud of what he does next, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do. “Please, Marco.”

He must sound sufficiently pathetic because the older boy sighs and turns towards the newcomers. “Nothing major, just caught those two drinking.”

“What? Where did you get that bottle from?” Gaban asks, crossing his arms.

“Rayleigh-san gave it to us,” lies Buggy unabashedly. “He said it was okay just for today.”

“He did, huh?” 

“Totally!” agrees Shanks who for some reason sounds a bit breathless. “You can ask him if you want.”

Gaban sighs and takes their still half-full bottle. “Right. Well, since Ray’s hands are already full enough babysitting our idiot of a Captain, I’ll pretend that I believe you. But you better come back and stay where I can see you.”

“Okay!”

Good for Buggy. The last thing he wants is to be alone with Shanks anyway. The other boy may want them to talk about this!

They rejoin the party and Buggy knows that Shanks wants to get him alone again which is why he decides to go talk with Jozu. He likes the diamond boy, he is quiet and doesn’t tease. Not like that stupid bird that keeps smirking over at him and wiggling his eyebrows.

“Sorry about him,” Jozu tells him. “Want me to sic Whitey at him?”

Buggy relishes the mental image of a humbled Marco before shaking his head. The last thing he needs is to get on his bad side, he could talk! Nah, if he gets too bothersome, he’ll just suggest to Shanks that it’s been too long since he challenged Birdie.

He looks around, realizing that Shanks has not followed him here and he sees him talking to the creepy new kid the Whitebeards have picked up.

Jozu follows his gaze and must misinterpret his expression because he says, “That’s Teach, he is nice but I don’t think he’ll be able to keep Shanks' attention for too long.”

But that’s not the problem. Buggy isn’t worried about Shanks ditching him. He is, and it pains him to admit it, worried about Shanks full stop. Because the kid feels creepy for some reason. Buggy can’t really explain it, except by saying that he makes the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

He knows better to say it to the ever protective Whitebeards, but he also knows better than to ignore it. He sighs, resigns himself to another smug smirk from Marco, and calls out to Shanks.

The other boy comes running to him, like he always does, and Buggy keeps him close, and away from ‘Teach’, for the rest of the party. He isn’t sure what bothers him more, the weird teasing expressions Marco sends their way or the unbridled joy that Shanks seems to radiate.

Chapter Text

Captain is standing tall on the scaffold and Buggy wants to look away.

But he can’t, this is the first time he’s seen Captain in years.

This will be the last time he sees Captain.

He is talking, saying something about a treasure and the rest of the square is listening, enthralled.

Morons.

Captain’s treasure was never a pile of gold.

His eyes search for Captain’s wrist but he finds it covered by his long coat.

It’s the same he was wearing when he announced he was leaving the crew all those months ago. And just like back then, Buggy knows, he just knows, that his right wrist is not blank anymore.

He wonders if the other Rogers also suspect that. But of course they must, right? It’s the only way it makes sense that someone like Captain decided to step down from his adventures to lay low for a couple of years.

Buggy wonders who the lucky person is and where they are now. He hopes they aren’t watching and that they are safe.

He wishes he could have been enough to make Captain stay.

The blades fall down and the smell of blood hits Buggy like a train. 

Captain is smiling and for once it doesn’t feel reassuring in the slightest. How could it, when he is kneeling in a pool of his own blood.

He keeps his eyes trained on that smile though. He knows that when he diverts them, he won’t ever see Captain again.

A hand tugs on his sleeve but Buggy ignores it.

“Bugs, we need to leave,” Shanks insists.

He is covering his tear-stricken face with his hat (with Captain’s old hat) but he makes no attempt to move.

Around them people are cheering. They are excited and hopeful and greedy and Buggy wishes he could shut them all up. Make it so the only people left in the world are him and Shanks so they could be granted a quiet moment to grieve.

He can’t do that, though. He can’t do most things he wishes he could.

But what he can do is get himself and Shanks away from all this mirth. This fucking celebration of the dead of the man that raised them.

“Come on.”

Shanks doesn’t protest when Buggy starts tugging at his hand and allows himself to be pulled through the crowd and into a deserted harbor.

“Was it…” Shanks starts. “Was it a trick?”

He sounds hopeful and Buggy hates him for it. Shanks’ Observation is not as good as his own but he must have felt Captain’s Voice leaving, he has to have. “He’s dead, Shanks. And he's managed to screw the marines over one last time. He’s gone exactly the way he wanted to.”

He is bitter and doesn’t even attempt to hide it. Because why? Why hadn’t Captain decided to die surrounded by the people that loved him? The people that would have, the people that had, followed him into hell and back.

“Yeah, I guess he has.” Shanks seems to find some comfort in his words and Buggy just wants to smack him.

“We need to leave,” he says instead. “Too many pirates in one place, the marines won’t stay quiet for long.”

“And where are we supposed to go?”

Buggy shrugs. “Didn’t you hear Ray-san? The crew is no more. Go wherever the fuck you want to.”

“Wherever we want to,” Shanks corrects him. “It’s we, right Buggy?”

Buggy doesn’t say anything. He can’t.

“Buggy, we are sticking together, right?” At this point, Shanks is sounding almost hysterical. 

“I don’t…” Buggy trails off. Because what? He doesn’t want to? That’s a lie and Shanks knows it. Still, it’s enough to get the message across to his friend.

“Come with me!” Shanks pleads. “We can make our own crew and keep traveling together. Please, Buggy.”

And Buggy wants to. He really wants to say yes, to keep the only sliver of home he has left. What does it matter that everyone will look at Shanks instead of him? Is that too high a price to pay to stay together? If he says yes, he knows that Shanks’ name will appear on his wrist and they will be tied to each other forever.

But no. He will be tied to Shanks forever. Not the other way around. It will be like Rayleigh-san and Roger were, Buggy forever a step behind. He can’t help but remember their first mate’s state when he told them the news of Roger ‘capture’. The way his voice had broken. Rayleigh-san hadn’t even come to the execution. How could he? It would have meant watching Roger leave him behind again, this time for forever.

Buggy roughly shakes Shanks’ hand away. “No,” he declares. “I will never sail with you as my Captain.”

And that’s when he feels it. The weird sensation of a ghost writing lightly on his wrist. On his left wrist. He tugs at his sleeve trying to put it down as much as he can. It’s a good excuse to not look at Shanks’ heartbroken expression.

His friend sighs in defeat and Buggy feels something in him break. He’s finally done it, he’s finally managed to make Shanks give up. It should feel like a victory but it feels like the most crushing defeat. 

“Okay,” Shanks’ voice is quiet and Buggy doesn’t want to hear it. “Okay. You won’t sail under me,” his voice is stronger now and Buggy has to raise his gaze, he has to look Shanks in the eyes because he knows that tone. “But that doesn’t mean this is the end, Buggy. We will meet again.”

Shanks leans down and kisses him on the cheek. “We’ll go our separate ways for now, it wouldn’t be fun to travel with you if you didn’t want to anyway. Become a great Captain, okay? I’ll wait for you.”

“If anything, I’ll be the one doing the waiting!” Buggy protests but Shanks isn’t paying attention to thim, he is too busy staring down. “Are you listening to me?”

“Finally,” Shanks voice is so full of awe and relief that it kills all of Buggy’s anger. “Look Buggy, you know what this means?”

Buggy would like to say that he is surprised when Shanks raises his right wrist to proudly show him his name but he’s known Shanks for way too long. “It means you’ve finally managed to con the universe into giving you what you want. Again.”

“No!” Shanks declares with bright eyes. “It means that it’s official! We are partners for life.”

And that can’t stand. Not when Buggy has the prof against it inked into his skin. “We are enemies for life,” he corrects, showing Shank his wrist.

Shanks’ smile only widens. “Anyway we are linked. We can roam different seas with different crews but you are mine and I am yours!”

Shanks is sickeningly sweet and Buggy turns around, wanting to be away from his stupid hope and bright smile and not at all because he is red up to the tip of his ears. 

Shanks doesn’t stop him but Buggy can still hear his smile when he declares, “See you soon, Buggy!”

And with that, Buggy’s alone.

He doesn’t stick around Loguetown, he’s not an idiot. But he doesn’t go back to the Grandline on his own either. That sea is too dangerous to face without nakamas and he just said goodbye to his last one.

It’s difficult. East Blue may be the weakest sea but a lot of old timers have decided to sightsee since they were already here to watch Captain board the Dutchman. And they all want blood.

He is shot by a seastone bullet before the week is up and by the end of the month he’s doubled his amount of scars. 

It doesn’t matter how he tries to disguise himself, they always recognise him. He’s always that ‘red-nosed brat Roger kept around’.

He hates his nose. 

He hates it.

Hates it.

Hates it.

Hates it.

Hates it.

Hates it!

If it was normal he could hide away, color his hair and lay low until all the big names sailed back to the New World.

But no amount of makeup can cover the hideous red of his nose nor can it alter its shape.

He’s so tired. He just wants to rest without fearing that some new threat will appear.

Maybe next time it won’t be a pirate. 

The marines have taken the threat to this peaceful sea seriously and there’s word that Garp’s on the chase. If Garp finds him will he arrest him too? He should recognise him, right? Maybe they’ll take his life in the same place they took Captain’s.

He doubts a lot of people will show up to that though.

“Hey, are you the new clown?”

Buggy turns around, ready to spat at this imbecile that just decided to insult his nose but he freezes mid-word.

It’s a boy. A boy younger than him, dressed too lightly for the weather and looking far too thin. He is holding a lion cub in his arms and doing his best to hide his face behind it.

“Who are you?”

“Mohji,” the boy replies. “I work in the circus too.”

“And the lion?”

The boy clutches the beast closer to his chest.“He’s mine!”

Buggy raises his arms in surrender. “I just wanted to know his name.”

“Oh, sorry. He’s Richie. He’s a good boy,” he says, scratching under his chin.

The lion whines and presses his nose into the boy’s neck. Mohji shivers but doesn't attempt to move him away.

He’s interesting. Buggy decides. And as much as he hates the idea, a circus may be a good place to lay low. 

“I’m Buggy, you said you're looking for a clown?” He has to force that last word out but he’s pretty sure he’s managed to sound casual.

Mohji nods hesitantly. “We are but…”

“But what? Aren’t I good enough?”

He is a pirate! He is more than qualified to be a clown.

The Rogers used to laugh at him often enough.

“You are, but…”

“There you are!” A big man rudely interrupts them. “You done slacking off?”

“We weren’t-”

“Of course you were, you always are.” The man waves a dismissives hand in Mohji’s direction and Buggy has to push down the sudden urge to punch him. Who does he think he is? “And who’s this? Clown’s auditions are in the tent, though I’ll give you credit for coming in with your own costume.”

“He’s not auditioning,” Mohji declares loudly. The boy moves so he is between the big bastard and Buggy. He is trembling like a leaf but he manages to square his shoulders and look the big bastard in the face. It’s oddly touching. Buggy is not accustomed to having people weaker than him try and protect him.

“Actually I am,” he says and smiles brightly at the bastard. His fellow crewmates would recognise that that smile means nothing good but this idiot has yet to witness Buggy at his worst so he just nods with a smug grin of his own. “Please lead the way.”

He’s acting on a whim, which is not like him at all but it feels oddly refreshing. He has no idea what he is walking into but he knows he’ll be the strongest one there, for once. And he can walk away the second he wants to. Not to mention that it’s the perfect place to hide.

So really, what's the harm of taking a bit of an interest once in a while?

Chapter Text

The circus is big and noisy. Not to mention smelly. It’s also a very depressing place. Everyone’s haki is either screaming that they want to leave or exuding an uncomfortable amount of greed. 

Buggy breathes deeply and tries to concentrate on making a clear distinction between his feelings and those of the people around him. It’s difficult, Rayleigh-san only taught them how to tap into their Observation, not how to tap out .

He’s finally managed to put them in some order when a wave of concern and guilt hits him like a train. Mohji is running towards him and doesn’t look particularly pleased. He’s also managed to acquire a new bruise on the cheek while Buggy went on ahead.

“Who did this?” he asks even though the answer is obvious.

“It’s not important,” Mohji tells him, brushing him off. “You need to leave, there’s more circuses out there. You don’t need to stay.”

“You are staying though,” Buggy points out.

Mohji shrugs. “Richie and I need to eat and what circus would hire a couple of incompetent kids like us? You seem smart though, you have options.” 

“I am smart,” Buggy agrees. Smart enough to call bullshit to that for starters. “And I’ve decided that I want to work in this circus.”

“You don’t understand, it’s not safe here.” Mohji is starting to sound really alarmed and Buggy finds it oddly charming.

“The amount of injured workers did give that away, yes.” Buggy gestures to a woman on crutches passing them by. 

“Then why do you want to stay here?”

It’s Buggy’s turn to shrug. “It’s not that safe outside either and this seems interesting.”

“You are insane!”

Buggy is about to protest, because really, he knows insane people and it’s insulting to be grouped up with them but the man from before interrupts once again.

“New guy, show me what you can do, make me laugh.”

What? Does he expect Buggy to actually perform? Is he supposed to do what, thow pies? Yeah, he’ll take seastone cuffs and bullets any day.

“I’m waiting!”

The man is wearing a hideous top hat, Buggy notices, suddenly having an idea.

He smirks and reaches for his knife. It flies true like it always does and in a second, the bastard is hatless.

“How’s that for a performance?” he asks while the man pats his (bald) head.

The man nods. “Not bad, but why the clown costume if you are a knife-thrower?”

“Why fill one position when I can fill two?” Buggy asks with a smirk. “Let’s face it, no one goes to the circus to see clowns, but they have to be there. So with me, you can have a clown without having to put on a clown act. Oh and you won’t have to waste any perfectly good pie anymore.”

“Save time, save money, I like it. Cabaji will show you around.” The bastard dismisses him with a gesture and Buggy considers throwing another knife, this time to his throat. “Oh and new guy?”

Buggy forces a sweet smile on his face before answering. “Yes?”

“The cost of fixing my hat will be deducted from your first pay.”

He takes a step towards the bastard but Mohji is quick to grab his arm. “It’s not worth it,” he whispers. “They don’t pay us anyway.”

“What do you mean they don’t pay us?” Captain paid him and he was a pirate!

“He always says there’s no money,” Mohji shrugs. “We do get meals for free though.”

Considering the thinness of his arms, Buggy highly doubts that.

“New guy!” 

Another boy approaches them and to Buggy’s surprise, Richie begins to growl.

“Cabaji,” nods Mohji, looking extremely tense.

“Mohji,” the boy replies. “I’m in charge of the new clown.”

“But I met him first!”

“Tell that to the Boss then.”

“Why don’t you both show me around?” Buggy tries.

“I’m not working with him!” they both reply in unison.

They glare at each other until Mohji just sighs. “I’ll see you later, I’ve gotta go train with Richie anyway.” He starts walking away, but he stops after a couple of steps. “What’s your name?”

Buggy hesitates. Should he give it? He’s a wanted man after all. But none of the bastards after him ever bothered to learn his name so it should probably be fine, right? “It’s Buggy.”

Mohji smiles at him before nodding and leaving him alone with the new boy. 

The new boy who is staring almost longingly at his and Richie retreating forms. 

“You know, I’m sure they’d be your friends if you asked,” Buggy promises.

“I don’t wanna be their friend!”

Buggy doesn’t need Observation to see that for the lie it is.

“Of course you don’t.”

“They are both smelly and loud,” Cabaji continues to protest. “And they wouldn’t want to be my friends anyway.”

“Oh? Why not? Are you that awful?”

“I’m not! He’s the stupid one that can’t let go of the past and…” Cabaji shakes his head. “Doesn't matter. Come with me, I’ll give you the tour.”

It’s almost sad how little there is to see. Which Cabaji seems to realize, because he starts justifying himself. 

“There’s usually more stuff,” he promises. “It’s just that we are moving to another island and most of the tents have already been packed.”

“When are we leaving?” Buggy asks casually. 

“Tomorrow I think. Depends on whether the Boss manages to get the money for the ship.” 

He has to, the sooner Buggy’s away from this island the better, too many enemies know he’s been here.

“What are the chances he’ll have enough?” he asks.

Cabaji hesitates before lowering his voice. “The truth? Probably zero. The man gambles away everything we earn.”

“He really doesn’t pay you, does he?” The boy shakes his head. “Why do you stay? You could leave.”

“ I could,” Cabaji agrees. “But if I do… Anyway, at least I get to eat here!”

Well this won’t do. They have to make that ship.

“Where can I find the bast-… boss,” Buggy asks. “I’ve got something for him.”

It takes a while to convince Cabaji, until finally the boy points him in the right direction. 

He heads towards it but not before instructing the boy to go look for the ship’s owner and making him promise he’ll bring him here as quickly as he can.

Buggy takes a deep breath and knocks on the doors of the office. It’s a sad office for someone that claims (demands) the title of boss but it has four walls and a desk, so Buggy supposes it will do.

“What do you want, new guy?” the man grunts.

Buggy schools his face into the perfect mask of innocence before replying. “I wanted to apologize about your hat.”

“I’m not changing my mind,” the man declares. “I will cut your pay.”

“Of course! I’m sure it will be very expensive to repair,” Buggy lies. “Will my pay be enough?”

Suddenly the man’s eyes are a lot more alert. “Probably not, but what can you do? If I made you pay it back in full you’d be in my debt for years.So I’ll only take your first check and forgive the rest.”

“How nice of you,” Buggy says, trying really hard to keep the sarcasm out of his voice. “I know it’s not much but please take this as well as compensation.”

It hurts handing him the purse that ‘fell’ out of that noble’s pocket but he needs to get away from this island fast and this will be the safest way. The man snatches the money up quicker than Buggy can blink and is already counting it before he can react.

“You are right, it’s not much,” he says with a smirk. “But I thank you all the same.”

Buggy takes a deep breath and reminds himself that while stabbing him would be really satisfying, in the long run it would work against him. 

Okay, he’s done it, now he just needs to stop him from spending it before the merchant comes to look for the payment of their passage

“Let’s have a drink then, to celebrate my new job.” The alcohol he brings out is cheap, he only stole it to disinfect his wounds after all, but the man seems to want it regardless.

He brings out a couple of glasses and gestures to Buggy to serve him.

“It’s nice to find a youngster with manners, they are so rare these days,” the bastard declares before drowning his glass in one go.

“Really?” Buggy asks innocently. He takes a small sip and rushes to refill the man’s glass. “Cabaji and Mohji seemed okay.”

“Worthless, the both of them. I only keep them around due to the goodness of my heart.”

“How generous.”

“I know. They are both orphans, you know? If I left them behind they would be all on their own.”

“I see.”

“Yeah, it’s actually a fun story,” the man confides, leaning down so his foul breath can hit Buggy square in the face. “Want to hear it?” he asks, handing Buggy the glass for his fourth refill.

Buggy fills it to the brink, “Of course.”

“Cabaji’s dad killed Mohji’s mom.” Buggy’s blood goes ice cold. “Scandalous, isn’t it?”

Buggy tries to answer but can’t find his voice.

It doesn’t stop the man from continuing. “He died in the process too, which only makes it more interesting!”

“What happened?”

“Oh, they were both as useless as their kids are. They were training and the idiot slipped and instead of falling to his death on his own, he decided to land on my beast teamer. It’s hilarious in hindsight but back then it was such a problem! The marines had the nerve to question me! Me! They insinuated it was my fault because there wasn’t a net but I told them off! Made sure they understood that a true artist can only perform when the danger is real. It’s what the public wants, you see?”

“I do see,” Buggy answers, refilling the glass once more. “I definitely see.”

“And you know what the worst part was? That woman had gifted my cub to her idiot son and I could not sell it! You know what a lion cub goes for these days? But no, that selfish brat refused to part from it.”

“How horrible of him. But could have been worse, he could have left with it.”

“Oh no, he couldn’t. It’s forbidden to have a lion pet unless you are a noble or a member of the circus in this Blue. And no other circus will hire him, I made sure they all knew what a horrible trainer he is. That lion once bit my hand, can you imagine that?” Oh Buggy can imagine. He also can imagine what this poor excuse for a human being was going to do with said hand before Richie intervened.

There’s a knock on the door and Buggy lets out a sigh of relief. “I see you have company, I won’t take more of your time.”

He opens the door to let the merchant in and leaves, closing it after himself.

“So?” asks a panting Cabaji. “Are you going to tell me what this was about?”

“This was about us leaving this stupid island,” Buggy answers. “Tomorrow we are off.”

“But how?”

Buggy winks at him. “I have my ways. I could show you, if you have dinner with me, Mohji and Richie, that is.”

Cabaji hesitates but ends up nodding and Buggy has to suppress a smirk. Great, now all he needs to do is point these three in the direction of the real enemy. He has a feeling they have all already figured out who it is anyway.

Chapter Text

Cabaji does end up joining them for dinner and Buggy isn’t surprised when Mohji doesn’t complain. Richie does growl a bit but a couple scratches from his owner are enough to pacify him.

“What happened to your hair?” Mohji asks, pointing at his newly blond locks. “I liked the blue.”

Buggy did too, he’d always been proud that his hair was the color of the sky but well, it’s his second most recognizable trait so it needed to go. Even if it meant turning it into this horrible canary like yellow.

“I dyed it,” he answers curtly. “It seemed more appropriate.”

“Blue is more eye-catching,” mumbles Cabaji, on his other side Mohji nods energetically. “It’s a good color for a performer.”

Buggy pouts, it’s not like he wanted the change! “Look at you two, already agreeing on everything!”

He smirks at them while they both splutter trying to deny it.

It’s… nice. He’s been alone ever since he said goodbye to Shanks and he’s missed having someone to share his meals with. He wonders where the red idiot is, probably in the Grandline causing problems already.

Is he alive?

Has someone hurt him like they have Buggy?

Does he miss Buggy at all? Or has he already realized that he only ever held him back?

Mohji and Cabaji are nothing like Shanks. They are scared and cautious which Buggy can respect. They will be good company, at least for the time being. Shanks was never any help when they needed to lay low.

Shanks would hate it here, he would have already punched the bastard for one. And the food! Yeah, there’s no way he wouldn’t have whined about being forced to gulp down this suspicious stew they’ve been served. 

Mohji and Richie seem to be enjoying it, considering the way they are wolfing it down. 

“I can’t believe you can stomach this,” Buggy comments. “Bad doesn’t begin to describe it.”

“It’s food,” Mohji shrugs. “And we need to eat a lot if we want to grow up strong, right Richie?”

The lion cub nods at that and Buggy can’t deny he is starting to find him cute.

“You shouldn’t spoil him so much,” he says, trying not to sound so fond. “Otherwise he won’t be hungry when you feed him his actual food.”

Mohji and Richie blink at him. “When I what?”

Cabaji clears his throat. “Feeding animals is their owner’s responsibility,” he says softly. “The Circus only provides for those it owns.”

Does that mean that Mohji has to pay for Richie’s food? But Mohji is a kid and he doesn’t get paid. All he gets is a measly meal a day!

A meal he’s sharing with Richie right now.

A single bowl of stew that has to feed a teenager and a lion cub.

No wonder they are so scrawny!

Buggy is almost trembling with anger at this point and Cabaji must notice because he squeezes his arm.

“Hey, who’s that?” Mohji whispers, hugging Richie against his head.

That distracts Buggy and Cabaji who follow his gaze to the entrance of the tent where there’s a rough looking man.

“No idea,” says Cabaji. “Maybe a new member?”

Buggy shakes his head, grateful that he had thought of the dye already. He tries to lean into the shadows so they cover as much of his face as possible.

Mohji must have noticed because he turns towards him. “You know that man?”

“I don’t.” It’s not a lie, not really. They have only met twice and once was during the Edd Wars years ago!

The bastard had remembered him, though. Remembered him well enough to come with seastone bullets ready.

Fuck.

He looks anxiously towards where the boss’ office is. Why isn’t the bastard already back to tell them all about their new ship? Buggy had given him the money!

“Why is he walking towards us?” Cabaji asks in a terrified whisper.

Buggy wants to run, leave towards somewhere safer.

And that’s when he notices it. 

Cabaji and Mohji are trembling. They are trembling and pale and leaning forward so they can be closer to him . The three of them (four really, since Richie is still in Mohji’s lap) are huddled together sharing their fears and their safety. 

Shanks never did this. He always jumped into danger to protect Buggy at the first sign of trouble. It was nice in a way but also terrifying because it left Buggy alone. Alone and scared because Shanks was in danger and the only thing he could do to help was jump in too and protect him.

But now he has options. Mohji and Cabaji won’t start anything. Will they leave? The way they are leaning towards him, makes him doubt it.

There’s safety in numbers, Ray-san said once. Maybe the old geezer was right about something after all.

One thing is for sure, Buggy is the strong one now and he’s the person that’s brought the danger here. So it’s his turn to do the protecting. But that doesn’t have to mean that it’s his turn to jump into conflict.

The pirate is close enough too close so Buggy raises his voice. “Are you looking for the boss?”

His question seems to puzzle the man who stops dead in his tracks. “What?”

“The boss? If you want to work here, you’ll need to talk to him.” Buggy is sweating but he needs to pretend this is normal. He needs to make it seem like he belongs here.

“I don’t want to work here?” The statement comes out as more of a question and Buggy has to stop himself from laughing hysterically. 

“Then you should leave,” Mohji pipes in.

“Yeah, there’s no function tonight,” Cabaji agrees.

“But you, you are the brat, aren’t you?” he asks, pointing at Buggy.

Buggy tilts his head to the side. “What brat? Are you a fan? Because I’ve been thinking of a new routine and I could show it to you if you pay me.”

If the man insists, Buggy will show him how he throws his knives alright.

“But the nose!”

“What about it?” Mohji feigns confusion well enough to almost fool Buggy. “It’s a bit old but we are still waiting for the new one. Clown noses aren’t that easy to get, you know?” Buggy could kiss him right now. The brilliant boy is playing perfectly off him.

There’s a ruckus from outside the tent and an even bigger man appears in the entrance. “Did you get him?”

The pirate sends a last puzzled look at Buggy before shaking his head. “Nah, the idiots must have gotten confused, there’s only real clowns here, not worth our time.”

“Then come out already! We can’t let that rat escape!”

The man turns around to leave and Buggy is so relieved that he can help but shout at him sarcastically, “You are welcome!”

Cabaji and Mohji shush him at the same time but the second the man is out of the tent (completely ignoring Buggy’s last remark) they all dissolve into giggles.

“I thought… I thought we were dead,” Cabaji mutters between breaths. “I really did.”

Somehow that sends them all into a fit of laughter again.

“His face,” points out Mohji. “He was just so confused!”

Buggy is so relieved that he doesn’t realize he is talking until the words are out. “He’s an idiot, bastard’s been chasing me for a week and couldn’t recognize me with a different hair.”

That kills the laughter instantly. Why has Buggy revealed that? Is he an idiot? He just met these boys! They could sell him out or decide not to hang out with him anymore since he’s clearly trouble! Why has he gone and opened his stupid big mouth?

“Are you okay?”

What?

“You look really pale.”

Didn’t they realize that he’s the reason that man came here? He’s so dumbfounded that he doesn’t notice that Richie has climbed into his lap until the lion starts licking his face.

“I’m fine,” he growls. And no, this is wrong they are the ones that should be mad at him not the other way around.

Mohji and Cabaji share a look, afterwards Cabaji sighs. “I’m gonna go look to make sure he’s actually leaving.”

“You haven’t finished your food,” Buggy points out.

Cabaji shrugs. “Like you said, it’s awful. And I’m already full anyway.”

That’s a lie, he looks too thin to actually know what fullness feels like.

“Cabaji never finishes his food,” Mohji explains to Buggy. “Don’t worry, it’s not because this happened.”

No indeed it’s not, Buggy realizes when he sees that Richie has started to snack on the leftover food. 

These boys really. How can they be this cute?

“Why aren’t you and Cabaji friends?” he asks half to distract Mohji from what just happened half because he’s truly curious.

“We used to be, when we were kids,” Mohji answers. “Then there was an incident and well, things changed.”

“Yeah, the boss told me about the incident,” Buggy admits. “He believes you blame Cabaji for your mom’s death.”

“What? No! Why would I? It was an accident! If anything, it’s that ogre’s fault, Cabaji’s dad was always telling him he needed a net but of course, that was ‘too expensive’.” Mohji sounds outraged by the mere suggestion.

“Then what’s going on?”

“It’s just, Cabaji is good at what he does, he could leave, go to another, safer, Circus. I don’t get why he stays here,” Mohji grumbles. “I would have left, if it weren’t for Richie.”

So he’s trying to push him away for his own safety? Still, how can he not realize it? “You could, you know? All you have to do is leave Richie behind.”

“Never!” 

“So you would rather stay here than leave a friend behind then?” Buggy asks with a raised eyebrow. Really, how dense can a person be?

“I know that’s why he’s here,” Mohji grumbles. “That’s why we can’t be friends. I don’t want to tie him to this hellhole.”

Buggy can’t suppress the urge to pat Mohji’s head anymore. His hair is softer than he had imagined and while the boy grumbles at this treatment, he does nothing to avoid Buggy’s touch.

“Everybody, listen up!”

The bastard has entered the tent and Buggy has to suppress a sigh. Finally. Now he can announce that they have a ship and he can leave this godforsaken island!

“I know you have all been wondering when we were leaving this island,” he starts. “The answer is, not yet!”

What?

“I have just had a talk with my old friend here and we’ve decided that this town still needs a Circus! So unpack everything, we need to put on a good show tonight!”

What happened? Buggy had given him the money! He’d even brought the merchant to him!

The merchant who must be the man oppoluntely dressed that’s standing by the bastard’s side and looking at him with eyes full of greed.

Shit, Buggy’s misscalculated. He thought that as long as the bastard had the opportunity handed to him he’d do the smart thing.

But that man’s not smart and the merchant is.

So now Buggy’s out of money and still stuck on this island.

“New guy!” The bastard calls to him. “You are performing tonight, don’t let me down.”

Wait, does that mean he’ll have to go on stage? Be there for all the audience to gawk at? What if his enemies are there? There’s no way they won’t recognise him! What has Buggy gotten himself into this time?

If only Shanks were here.

Chapter Text

When Cabaji comes back he does so with a trunk in tow.

Buggy is still debating what to do. Should he leave? Sure the Circus has proven a good place to lay low but he highly doubts that he can remain hidden if he jumps onto a stage and starts throwing knives. The lowlifes after him are morons but not even they are so stupid.

Leaving is the best option, the safer one.

And yet.

And yet, if he leaves, what will happen to Mohji, Cabaji and Richie?

He cannot take them with him, not with New World crews after him. And leaving them behind means allowing the bastard to keep abusing them. Neither option is acceptable.

“Aha!” Cabaji’s triumphant yell breaks Buggy out of his cavillacions. 

“What…”

Cabaji is holding a weird yellow thing made of plastic and attached to a rubber band.

“That’s old Lyra’s fake nose,” Mohji points out. “She used to say that reading fortune is a witch’s job and what witch doesn’t have a crooked nose and a wart?”

“I miss the old bad,” Cabaji sighs. “Her prophecies were fun. Remember when he said we were destined to be pirates? Dad almost had a heart attack!”

“Why were you looking for a fake nose?” Buggy asks, still looking at the thing with disdain.

“Well, you need a disguise, yeah? Those men were after you.”

That’s… not a bad idea. 

“Will it fit?” Buggy asks, looking at the thing with suspicion. His nose is ginormous after all, chances are not even this atrocity can cover it. 

“Won’t know until you try it!”

The two boys all but force the thing on him and yeah, it covers his nose! It’s a tight fit and Buggy feels like someone is squeezing his nose but when he looks into the mirror, he almost can’t recognise himself.

He laughs.

“Well, if I’m gonna go with the witch aesthetic, I better find that wart as well. And robes. What else do you have here?”

It’s really fun to design his costume.

Buggy is not reminded of that time he and Shanks went through Captain’s wardrobe, he isn’t.

And in the end, he ends up with a flashy enough outfit.

What’s more, it works.

No one recognises him in that night's performance and he is good enough to get a standing ovation. It feels nice, he’ll admit as much.

The next day's performance also goes without a hinche.

And the next one.

And the next one.

And soon, it’s been a month and Buggy hasn’t had to run for his life even once!

Sure the bastard is still annoying and the pay’s non existence but that’s a very small price to pay for a bit of peace and quiet.

Not to mention that Cabaji and Mohji are here and hanging up with them is still really fun.

He still misses Shanks, misses having someone who knows him better than he knows himself.

It should be safe to leave soon. Most veteran crews have already gone back to their territories and even the marines seem to have calmed down. 

He’s also managed to spread the rumor that a blue haired, red nosed boy has been found drowned and with bullet wounds on his back so with a bit of luck, everyone should stop searching for him altogether.

He hopes Shanks never hears those rumors.

He wonders if the rest of the Rogers will even care if they do.

Point is Buggy has started to relax, and he really should have known better. Just because his enemies have been fooled for now, it doesn’t mean the world has stopped sucking.

They should have known someone was wrong when the bastard had gifted Mohji new clothes. 

They should have realized that no noble would want to meet with a poor teenager to ‘congratulate him on his performance’.

They should have never let Mohji go there on his own.

They start worrying when Mohji and Richie don’t return for dinner. It’s a tradition now, the four of them always eat together.

“The boss is already back,” whispers Cabaji. “So why is Mohji not here?”

“We’ll go ask,” Buggy tells him and at this point, they have been together for long enough that Cabaji knows to shiver at his smile.

The bastard is drinking alone in his office and looking really happy for some stupid reason.

Buggy doesn’t even attempt to be civil. “Where’s Mohji?”

The bastard smirks at him. “None of your business.” 

“Oh?” At this point, Buggy’s smile is starting to become painful.

“That boy is no longer part of this Circus,” he declares. “So forget about him and go polish your routines.”

“What? But what about Richie then?” Cabaji asks, horrified.

The owner’s smile turns even more ugly. “Richie’s been confiscated by the lord of the city, after all it’s illegal for a boy not affiliated with any Circus to own him.”

The bottle he is drinking off is expensive and so is the new ring adorning his fingers.

Buggy feels himself tremble with rage.

This bastard has finally found a way to sell Richie and he’s gotten Mohji arrested in the process!

How dare he? How dare he ?

A knife is in Buggy’s hand before he can even blink.

“What are you doing?” the man asks and for once there’s a smitched of fear in his voice.

“What I should have done a month ago.”

Buggy’s never found the sight of blood as satisfying. The cry of pain that accompanies it is also quite melodious.

“Don’t be hasty, I can share the profits with you if you want!”

Is this man trying to buy him off? Buggy scoffs and cuts the man’s finger so his new ring is easier to remove.

“Don’t misunderstand,” he tells to the whimpering mess on his feet. “I don’t need you to share your profits. I will hurt you, kill you and I will take everything you own. That is a promise.”

“My money is in a safe!” the bastard still tries. “You won’t get it unless you spare me.”

“Cabaji,” Buggy says, ignoring him. “Open the safe, the combination should be 1572.” The bastard’s face goes pale and Buggy can’t suppress a smirk. “You should be more aware of your surroundings.”

Cabaji hurries to follow his orders and Buggy smirks when he realizes that the bastard was not as broke as he had let them to believe.

“Split that with the rest of the performers. Tell them it’s their final cut and to leave before this place goes up in flames. Don’t forget to keep yours and Mohji’s share.”

Cabaji hesitates.

Is he afraid of Buggy now? Buggy can’t hardly blame him, not when he’s stained with the bastard’s blood and declaring he’ll burn this place to the ground.

“Can I do something before I go?”

Buggy is so surprised that he almost drops the knife. “Sure? I mean, you are free to do what you want.”

Cabaji's smile turns sharp. “Good. You see, there’s something I’ve always wanted to do.”

He helps the bastard get back on his feet and the idiot seems to think it’s for his benefit.

The bastard is still clutching his bloodied hand but he manages to stand on his trembling legs with Cabaji’s help.

Cabaji smiles. Takes a deep breath and kicks the bastard as hard as he can in his sensible parts.

The man lets out an agonizing scream and doubles over in pain and Cabaji quickly takes advantage of his lowered position to punch him on the noggin hard enough to bloody his knuckles. 

Buggy is so proud.

“The kick was for Mohji and Richie,” he explains, rubbing his fist. “The punch was for me.”

And with that, he steps over the sobbing idiot and leaves the room, carrying with him the bastard’s whole fortune.

Buggy smiles down at the corpse-to-be. “Finally alone,” he signsongs. “Now, you’ll tell me everything you know about the noble that’s taken Mohji.”

“And why would I do that?” He’s trying to sound tough but it doesn't really work with his new falsetto.

“Because once I know everything I want, I will kill you.”

“That’s not much of an incentive,” the man laughs, still trying to negotiate.

“Oh, I disagree.”

Buggy sends a glance towards the door to make sure Cabaji isn’t there. Wouldn’t do to traumatize the kid, after all.

Once he’s confirmed they really are alone, he starts making the bastard see things from his  point of view. It doesn’t take much. His knives are sharps and the bastard has a lot of things that need cutting. 

His non-stop whining is annoying though. Considering the amount of pain he’s been dishing out, one would think he would be able to take some, right? Oh well, it’s never too late to learn, like Captain used to say.

It doesn’t take too long till he’s shared everything Buggy needed to know so he finally rewards him with a cut throat.

The body falls to the ground and Buggy cleans his knife with the bastard’s shirt. Then he removes all the jewels and valuables he has since it’s not like he’ll be using them anymore.

He steps out of the room and is surprised when he sees that some of the Circus members are still hanging around.

“Didn’t you tell them to leave?” he asks Cabaji. They should have received six months of wages in one go so why are they still here?

Cabaji shrugs. “I mentioned we were setting fire to this dump and they wanted to participate.”

“I’ve been waiting five years to see this hell reduced to ashes,” the strong-woman pipes in. “If it’s finally happening, I want first row seats.”

“I’ve got supplies,” offers the fire-eater. “More than enough for all of us.”

He’s not kidding, there’s at least three gallons of oil by his side.

Buggy nods at them with appreciation. “Alright, do your thing, I'll leave this to you.” Their answering smiles are brilliant. “Cabaji and I will go pick up Mohji.”

They nod, looking pretty disinterested in anything that’s not the destruction of the Circus. 

“What about the boss?” asks one of the acrobats.

“Dead,” Buggy replies shortly. “So you should probably scram before the marines come to investigate the fire.”

“We will, don’t worry, it’s not our first time having dealings with the seagulls.”

And with that, they start dousing everything with oil.

Buggy turns towards Cabaji and gestures to him to follow him outside.

“Did you find out where Mohji and Richie are?” he asks anxiously.

“Of course I did,” Buggy tells him with a smirk. “Let’s go get them.”

Behind them, giant flames light up the night. People are waking up and running to see what's going on. Good, it will make for a nice distraction.

Chapter Text

It’s not hard to find the noble’s house, they just have to go to the biggest, gaudiest building in the city. Getting inside is another matter altogether, though.

“Why aren’t they going to help put the fire out?” Cabaji asks with a whisper, pointing at the two armed guards in front of the main door.

“Because that’s not what they are paid to do,” Buggy shrugs. “Come on, let’s find the servants' door, getting through this one would be more trouble than it’s worth.”

Cabaji blinks at him. “How do you even know there’s one?” 

“Because someone that decorates their door with gold paste won’t want to share it with the help.”

It’s easy enough to find the back door and, much to Buggy’s relief, it doesn’t seem to be guarded at all. Cabaji stands forward and attempts to open it.

“It’s closed!” he declares and he looks so crestfallen that Buggy has to resist the urge to pet his head.

“No, it’s not,” he declares, taking a couple of pins out of his hair. Rayleigh-san was right, long hair really is more practical.

He makes quick work on the lock. Really, it’s not even a challenge! Is this the level of security East Blue nobles have? They are lucky this sea is so tame!

Well, not anymore. Buggy’s here now and he is a lot of things but ‘tame’ is not one of them. Especially not when people have kidnapped his friends . And if they have hurt them…

Buggy shakes his head, no point dwelling on it for now.

He and Cabaji sneak inside, closing the door behind them but not locking it.

There’s a long corridor with voices coming from several rooms and Buggy leads Cabaji onwards, making sure they stick on the shadows. They hear steps coming towards them and Buggy turns towards Cabaji.

“Trust me,” he says and grabs him by the waist before lifting himself and the boy to the ceiling.

Cabaji’s eyes bulge, especially when he realizes that Buggy’s feet are still on the ground, but he is sensible enough no to say anything with the guards so close by.

And they are guards, Buggy notices. Their armor makes it quite clear. They also seem to be on their break and happy to gossip.

“How long till that beast bites Master, you think?”one asks and his voice is maliciously gleeful.

“I don’t know, it seems pretty cowardly to me but then again, a lion is a lion no matter what age or temperament it has,” the other points out. “At least he is keeping it caged for now.”

“Yeah, well, he should have kept the tamer instead of sending him to the dungeons.”

“That one would have definitely bitten him.”

Well, Buggy’s heard enough. He looks at Cabaji who nods at him and they both jump onto the guards.

Cabaji hits his guard on the head, causing him to lose consciousness but Buggy limits himself to putting his knife right beneath other’s adam’s apple.

“If you scream, you are dead,” he warns calmly. “If you move, you are dead. If you don’t give me the information I want, you are dead. Do we understand one another?”

The guard notes minutely, clearly too afraid of Buggy’s knife to risk moving his head too much.

Good, a smart one. Buggy will let him live just for that. “The tamer and the lion, what do you know?”

To his credit, the guard doesn’t need any further incentive to start speaking and he tells them everything they need to know about Mohji and Richie’s whereabouts. Buggy thanks him before knocking him out.

“So…” Cabaji says, looking at the reattached feet. “Is that a medical condition or…?”

“A curse of the Sea,” Buggy corrects. “But it does come in handy sometimes. I’ll explain later.”

Cabaji just nods, practical as always, before turning his mind to the more pressing matter. “Alright, what do we do now? Do we get Mohji or Richie first?”

It’s a difficult choice. 

Richi is ‘entertaining’ the noble in the main hall while Mohji is rotting away in a dungeon. Getting one may risk putting the other in danger if the alarm is raised. But to get both at the same time would mean…

“Maybe we should split up,” Cabaji suggests.

“No,” the answer is out of his mouth before Buggy has the time to think it. “Too dangerous.”

“If we don’t, we forsake the element of surprise and considering we don’t have their numbers or strength I don’t think we can afford it,” the boy points out.

“Believe me, I could take on every single guard in this place. Together. With me blindfolded.” The boast it’s a bit of an exaggeration but only a bit.

“Well, I can’t. And neither can Mohji or Richie. If they are alone when the bastard noble realizes that something is going on, they could get hurt,” Cabaji replies, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “I’ll go get Mohji, I doubt there will be too much security in the dungeon. You go to the main hall and free Richie before they get bored and decide to give him incentives to perform tricks.”

“Are you sure you’ll be fine?” Buggy asks. He hates the mere idea of letting Cabaji out of his sight on enemy territory. 

Cabaji nods but Buggy can feel that he’s uneasy.

Wait, Buggy can feel Cabaji’s Voice. Buggy is very good at feeling Voices. Too good. It’s usually more trouble than it’s worth but Rey-san always used his Observation to keep an eye on Oden and Roger so maybe…

Buggy takes a deep breath and concentrates.

It’s hard. There’s just so many Voices around and every single one is screaming at Buggy. He usually tries to block out all the noise but today he forces himself to dive in. To separate all the irrelevant presence from the three that matter to him. Cabaji’s easy, he’s just right there, but he has to focus to find the others.

He gets to Mohji first. The poor boy feels terrified and worried and frantic. Buggy frowns, trying to focus only on the Voices in Mohji’s surroundings to find out who they are. One guard and four prisoners. And luck’s on their side since the guard’s Voice is so faint Buggy is pretty sure he’s sleeping.

He relays that information to Cabaji who, to his credit, doesn't question how Buggy knows.  

“What about Richie?” he asks instead.

Richie’s voice is fainter, animal’s Voices usually are, so Buggy tries to find the loudest, most disgusting Voice around, wagering that it will be the noble’s. There’s a conglomerate of greedy, sadic voices coming from close by and, in the midst of it, Buggy recognises Richie’s terrified presence. 

“Richie’s… not fine,” he admits. “He needs us now.”

Cabaji nods, looking very serious. “Go to him, I’ll make sure Mohji is fine.”

They part ways but Buggy keeps his Observation trained on Cabaji. It’s distracting. He is used to monitorizate his own surroundings to prevent threats from getting too close. Having his focus follow somebody else feels off and he’s painfully aware that it leaves him more vulnerable.

But this doesn’t matter here, Buggy reminds himself. These guys are all weaker than him. They can’t hurt him. It’s okay to unwind his Observation a bit to ensure Mohji and Cabaji are covered too.

He hears the noble before he sees him. The main hall’s door is open and light and noise pour out of him. Apparently the man’s having a party and showing Richie off to all his rich friends.

Richie is in a cage in the middle of the room, curled over himself and trying to make himself as small as possible while the assholes poke him with metal poles from between the bars.

Buggy sees red.

He wants to burst into the room and start throwing knives. He wants to paint the carpet red with the blood of these douchebags. He wants to take Richie away and never allow any harm to come to him.

He forces himself to take a deep breath.

As satisfying as walking in and masacrating the whole room would be, it would also be reckless. He may be far stronger than the guards, but that’s no reason to make himself into a target. Not to mention that he’s just managed to convince the world that he’s dead, the last thing he needs is for rumors about a red-nosed teenage pirate spreading around.

The noble grabs a sword and starts walking towards Richie.

A single, gloved hand enters the room and catches him by the neck, pinning him into the wall, his feet kicking wildly in the air. He drops the sword, trying to grab at Buggy’s hand and wrench it away from his miserable throat but Buggy holds firm.

The bastard is already turning blue when the guards finally react.

They fumble around trying to understand what’s going on since Buggy’s hand is hidden beneath the nobles cavrat. Buggy wants to laugh, the guards are trying to pull the noble down by the legs which only increases the pressure on the pig’s neck.

The noble’s lips are getting bluer and bluer by the second and the guests are starting to panic. One screams something about a ghost and Buggy decides that yes, that’s a good idea, so he sends his other hand and left foot in too to cause some mayhem.

It doesn’t take much, a kick to the table makes it rattle, a couple of windows snapping shot from behind the guests’ backs, a knife to the candelabra to make it fall in the middle of the room setting on fire the very expensive rug.

And suddenly there’s a stampede of guests, all trying to be the first out of the door.

No one has even seen his body parts yet.

Buggy toys with the idea of sending his severed head into the room but as fun as that would be, it would draw too much attention.

The Voice of the noble has finally gone quiet so he lets him drop to the floor and while the remaining guards are busy going to their master’s corpse, he opens the door to Richie’s cage.

The lion runs out the second he’s free, straight towards Buggy’s chest, his sense of smell allowing him to find him despite his hiding place. A guard follows Richie halfheartedly so Buggy hugs him tightly and flies to the ceiling.

The poor lion is trembling and snuggles his face to Buggy’s chest for warmth and comfort.

“Let’s go to Mohji,” Buggy whispers into Richie’s fur and the cub lets out a whimper of agreement.

Buggy is going to burn this place to the ground.

He’s been keeping his Observation on Mohji and Cabaji so he knows that they have already left the dungeon. They seem to be waiting in some room which makes sense, Cabaji knows that Buggy can find them after all.

Buggy flies there, his feet silently trailing behind. Some people pass beneath him but they all seem too busy panicking to raise their gaze or notice the shoes moving apparently on their own by their feet.

The room where Mohji and Cabaji are waiting has a sturdy, metal door and Buggy finds himself smiling, already knowing what’s behind it. They got the keys to the treasure room, the smart cookies, he knew he liked them for a reason!

The door is unlocked and as soon as he opens it, Richie jumps out of his arms and into Mohji’s.

“Richie!” the boy cries. “Are you alright? Did they hurt you?”

The lion whines, reveling in the attention while Mohji fusses over him. Buggy, on the other hand, feels the need to fuss over Mohji himself. 

“They hit you!” he accuses, pointing at his new black eye. “And they cut you!”

“Only a bit,” Mohji shrugs, his attention still on Richie. 

“It was a bit too many,” replies Buggy frostily. No one touches his people. No one.

“We are taking compensation,” Cabaji says, pointing at several sacks full of jewels.

Buggy nods in approval. “Take one of gold coins too.”

Mohji pouts. “But they are worth less.”

They are so smart, Buggy really couldn’t have chosen better friends. Still, they’ve got lots to learn yet. “Yes, but they are also very easy to exchange for goods. We’ll have to find a good broker to get a fair price for the jewels and if we trade too many of them, we’ll get too much attention. Gold coins, however, are accepted at almost every store in this Blue.”

They nod in understandment, and grab a bag of gold coins each, sacrificing one of jewels with a small wince.

“To the harbor then?” Cabaji asks. Mohji nods but still turns to look at Buggy, waiting for him to take the lead.

Buggy grins. “To the harbor!”

On their way out Buggy knocks over a couple more candles. There should be a better way to set fire to things, he muses, maybe a way that came with explosions? He’ll have to look into it.

Chapter Text

The harbor should be dark at this time of night but the fires that are raging over the posh part of the city are keeping it nicely lit with an orange glow.

It’s deserted at least though so the absence of dark is not too much of a problem. 

Now which ship to choose. There are so many beauties here. Should they go for fast and discreet or big and intimidating?

Buggy smirks to himself. Is that even a question? The answer is to always go for the flashiest ride possible, of course.

A big ship will deter most would-be attackers and it’ll be nice to have their own rooms. On the other hand, there’s only six hands and four pawns between them and it wouldn’t do to take a ship they can’t steer on their own.

He examines the ships at his disposal. The flashiest ones are, of course, the nobles’ personal ships but none of those are any good. They are impractical and badly armed since they rely on the smallest ‘service’ boats to actually do the defending and storing. The service boats are also no good, too uncomfortable and crammed even for a crew of four.

No, a merchant’s ship would be best. Well, a marine flag ship would be ideal but there’s none of those lying around here and anyway, stealing one would bring them too much attention anyway.

There’s a couple ships that seem like they will do, medium size, heavily armed and roomy. Buggy nods to himself.

“Stay here,” he tells his friends. “I’m going to check those ships' cargo.”

The boys nod so Buggy starts walking towards the ships before realizing that he doesn’t need to hide anymore. Cabaji knows which means Mohji and Richie will find out soon enough.

Buggy turns towards them. “Don’t freak out, okay? I’m fine, it’s just something I do.”

“What?” Mohji blinks at him. “What do you… OH MY GOD! YOUR HEAD!”

“Yeah,” says Buggy from his floating head. “It’s freaky, I know. I’ll explain later.”

“It wasn’t just the feet?” Cabaji asks, looking white as a sheet.

“Nope,” Buggy says. “It’s all of me.”

He lets his arm float around in a dozen pieces to prove the point. 

“That’s weird, like really, really weird,” Mohji says, looking a bit green. “Does it hurt?”

Buggy has to suppress a smile at his concern, up until now, only Shanks had bothered to ask him. “Not anymore. Look, I promise to tell you everything, but let me get us a ship first, yeah?”

The two nod so Buggy lets his head float towards the ships.

He eliminates the first one immediately. Its crew is on board, sleeping without a care in the world. They don’t even have anyone on watch! Really, what’s with this Blue? Is it really this toothless or are the people here simply that naive?

Anyhow, Buggy is not stupid enough to steal a ship that’s already occupied so he moves to the next one. 

That ship’s acceptable. It’s big enough, he supposes and the cargo’s valuable. Too valuable maybe. It’s mainly full of fabrics and, while Buggy can appreciate they are pretty good ones, he was hoping for something more edible or easily sellable.

He sighs before boarding the third ship.

All it takes is one look at its pantry for Buggy to make his decision.

The ship’s well stocked with both fresh and canned food. There’s also barrels of water (and beer, thanks the seas!) ready to go. 

Buggy smirks and keeps on exploring. 

The ship’s got a Captain’s room, a first mate room and a second mate room. That’s good, Mohji and Cabaji deserve to have their own spaces after everything they’ve been through.

The survey room is pretty well equipped and of course it is, one look at the maps lying around tell Buggy that their destination had been Alabasta and no merchant would be stupid enough to send an ill-prepared ship to the Grandline.

Or a defenseless one. There’s at least twelve cannons, an armory and so much gunpowder. So much! Buggy feels himself smirking. He hasn’t been able to do any experiments since the Oro but he’s got to have a couple of his old notebooks somewhere.

His body claps Mohji and Cabaji on the back and starts walking towards the ship with the two of them and Richie following him.

“We are taking this one,” Buggy says, re-attaching his head to his neck. “Do you like it?”

To their credit, the boys just smirk at him and start working on the ropes while Richie walks towards the stern to keep watch.

No one stops them. Between the hour of the night and the raging inferno in the city, no one even notices that a ship is leaving port when it shouldn’t.

“Where are we going?” asks Mohji once they are far away enough that they can’t see the harbor.

Buggy pulls out the map he’d acquired in the survey room and points towards an unnamed archipelago. “Here. There’s half a dozen inhabited islands where we can lie low for a while.”

“I was getting tired of the city,” Cabaji says with a nod of approval.

With the route mapped out and the ship out at sea there’s not much to do but steer it and keep watch so Buggy leaves one of his hands in the helm and starts climbing up to the crowsnest. 

The other three follow him and Mohji has the presence of mind to bring a crater full of bottles of booze and glasses with him.

“Is it time for that explanation?” Cabaji wonders.

“Wouldn’t you rather go to sleep?” Buggy counters but he knows what their answer will be before they shake their heads. “Okay, fine. Have you ever heard of devil fruits?”

Most people in this Blue haven’t, much to Buggy’s amazement. How sheltered can a population be? No wonder Garp is so protective of it!

“The curses of the sea?” asks Mohji. “I thought they were a myth.”

“They are real, I’m afraid to say,” Buggy confirms, holding up his arm so they can see the clean slump where his hand should be. “And I may have accidentally eaten one.”

“Accidentally?” Cabaji raises an eyebrow.

“It was Shanks’ fault!” Buggy protests before delving into the story as how exactly that had happened.

Mohji, Cabaji and Richie listen enthralled, gasping at all the right places and oh, but Buggy loves to have an audience.

“Well,” Mohji says when he’s done. “No wonder he’s your nemesis. If anyone stole my ability to swim I’d kill them.”

Buggy frowns before remembering the name on his left wrist. Right, they had seen that. “It’s a bit more complicated than that.”

Cabaji raises an eyebrow at him and Buggy feels his cheeks heat up a bit.

“Shanks my rival,” he hastily explains. “But we grew up together so I don’t really want him dead. Just humbled and kneeling at my feet? Maybe saying how great I am and begging to be part of my crew?”

“Right,” Mohji agrees. He seems to understand it, Cabaji on the other hand just smirks.

“Enough about Shanks, he’s probably in West Blue by now anyway,” he says, making a sweeping gesture. “Let’s talk plans, what do you want to do now?”

The three of them blink at his question.

“Weren’t we going to a deserted island to lie low?” Cabaji asks.

“Well yeah, we all need not to show our faces for a while, just in case,” Buggy says. “But after that, what will you do?”

“We’ll do whatever you want to do,” Mohji declares. “You’re the Captain, aren’t you?”

Is he?

Buggy hadn’t…

Well, he had thought about building a crew but one had to ask people to join, yes? Convince them that it was worth their time and anyway…

“But you guys aren’t pirates.”

“We could be!” Cabaji answers, crossing his arms and Richie growls in agreement.

“I have to become a criminal either way in order to keep Richie,” Mohji shrugs.

“Oh, about that,” Cabaji says, rummaging his pockets. “Look, I got it from the Boss’ safe. It’s the permission to have a circus. With this we could say we are a three person circus and no one could steal Richie away.”

Mohji grabs the paper with trembling hands and Richie nuzzles Cabaji’s leg in thanks.

“See?” Buggy points out. “You don’t need to become pirates. You can just create your own circus and keep working together.”

“I don’t see why we can’t keep working together and become pirates,” Mohji grumbles.

“And a circus can be a good cover for our crew if we ever need to lay low,” Cabaji adds.

“Roar, roar,” Richie agrees.

But, but.

“I’m being hunted!” Buggy protests. “You saw the men that came for me.”

“Yeah, and you send them packing,” Cabaji reminds him. “Also wouldn’t it be easier to hide if you are with us? They seemed to be looking for a lone pirate.”

“Anyway, didn’t you spread the rumor you were dead?” Mohji asks. “You should be safe now.”

Buggy hasn’t felt safe since Captain died and he doubts he will ever feel safe again.

“I may have fooled them, for now, but at any moment, someone could remember me and they would start hunting me all over again. You may get hurt, or worse.” And Buggy would never forgive himself for that.

“Why are they so obsessed with you anyway?” Mohji asks. 

Buggy bites his lip.

Does he tell them?

If he does, they will probably turn their backs on him, Leave him behind at best, betray him at worst. But don’t they deserve to know? If they stick with Buggy, they need to understand the danger they will be in.

“I was a Roger pirate,” he confesses before he loses his nerve. “An apprentice on the Oro Jackson. That’s why they want me dead.”

There’s a couple of seconds of silence before Cabaji speaks.

“So we are going with the circus aesthetic for the crew then.”

What?

“And maybe lying low for a couple of years before debuting,” Mohji adds.

Did they hear Buggy?

“I used to be on the crew of the Pirate King,” he repeats.

“We know,” Mohji tells him. “Stop bragging.”

“A circus theme will probably make people believe that your nose is a prop so they won’t make the connection, right? Especially not in this Sea,” Cabaji says. “That’s why you came to the circus in the first place, it’s a great way to hide.”

“We are sticking with you, Captain,” Mohji tells him. “You didn’t leave us behind so it’s only fair.”

Buggy looks at them for a long moment before asking. “Are you sure?”

In answer the two boys thrust their right arm forward. There, written on their wrist is his name.

When had that appeared?

No, that didn’t matter. What matters is that they have his name and Buggy doesn’t have theirs. And that’s not fair. Buggy doesn’t want people tied to him in any way he can’t reciprocate. If Mohji and Cabaji (and even Richie if the way he’s sitting in his lap is anything to go by) want to follow him, Buggy will make sure to never lead them to anywhere they can’t go.

And he is going to do it right.

He rummages through the crater that Mohji had brought until he finds four sake cups, one a bit bigger than the other three.

He places them on the ground, one in front of each of his friends, before pouring a bit of sake in all of them.

“I swear by the Sea that you’ll have shelter in my ship,” Buggy says, trying to remember the words Roger had taught him as a lad. “I swear by the Wind that you’ll be free in my ship. I swear by the Foam that my ship will provide for you. I swear by Davy Jones that I’ll be your Captain and my ship will be your home.”

They don’t answer, no one has taught them the Code yet, but it doesn’t matter. The words are just dressing. They understand the ritual, they get that Buggy is pledging himself to them as much as they are pledging themselves to Buggy.

The three raise their cups and down them in one go while Richie does his best to lap up his own despite the taste. Buggy rubs his head, before smiling at his nakama. It’s good to have a crew again.

Chapter Text

Buggy had been planning to use their time on the deserted island to lay low and relax but that was before they had become a crew. 

He had sworn by Davy Jones to be their Captain and that meant ensuring they had all the tools they needed to survive. So he teaches them the Code, and how to fight, and how to survive in the wilderness, and even the basics of Haki. 

Cabaji, Mohji and Richie don’t complain. Well, they do complain and call him a slave driver, but they train daily anyway and never suggest that they regret joining forces with him.

They progress fast and, after a few months, Buggy’s convinced they can take on anything in the island on their own so he lets them roam as they wish. 

He’s training too, of course. Trying to develop his Observation so it can cover the whole island. It’s going well, but the effort usually leaves him too exhausted to use his Haki for at least a couple of hours. He’d thought it would be fine, what was the worst that could happen if he didn’t use Observation for an afternoon?

Well, apparently the worst that could happen is having no warning when his crew gets attacked.

Mohji and Cabaji’s screams are what alerts him, they are too far away for Buggy to see what’s going on and it feels so wrong not to be able to just know . He hadn’t realized how much he relied on his Observation before. Now that he can’t use it, he feels blind.

He doesn’t let that stop him from running to his nakamas’ rescue of course.

He’s got his knives already on hand when he makes it to the small harbor Cabaji and Mohji had been fishing in. What he sees almost makes him drop them. There, trapped in their fishing net, is a very familiar face.

“Ray-san?” Buggy stops dead in his tracks. “What are you doing here?”

Last he had heard of their vice-captain, he had been on Sabaody. 

“Buggy-kun,” Rayleigh says and he sounds awful.

He looks awful too. There’s bags under his eyes that make it seem like he hasn’t slept in days, his hair is in complete disarray and his skin is white as a sheet. He’s also sopping wet and out of breath. Buggy hadn’t known Rayleigh could get out of breath. 

He takes a hesitant step towards them, “Are you okay?”

He hates that it still matters. That he still cares. It’s not like Rayleigh does.

Rayleigh laughs at that. “Yeah,” he says, and he still sounds weird. “I’m fantastic. And so are you.”

“I guess so…” Buggy trails off. He shares a look with Mohji and Cabaji who, wisely, have decided to take a couple steps back, away from the crazy old man.

“I heard…” Rayleigh cuts himself off and starts disentangling himself from the net. “It doesn’t matter. It looks like rumors of your death have been highly exaggerated.”

“Oh yeah,” Buggy nods. “I spread those. Have they reached Sabody already?”

“And the New World,” Rayleigh confirms, rubbing a fading bruise on his jaw, and once again there’s something in his voice that Buggy can’t quite understand.

He really wishes he could tap into his Observation. He’s going to have to alter his training to ensure that he’s always left with a small reserve no matter how safe he thinks he is. No way he is allowing something like this to happen again without being able to sneak a peek into the Voices around him.

He looks around, trying to get a clue from his regular boring observation and realizes that he can’t see any ship. “Did you swim here? From Sabaody?”

Reyleight shrugs, “It’s faster, especially if you take the short way.”

His tone is dismissive but Buggy can’t help but remember that the short way includes crossing the Calm Belt.

“Can’t imagine what had you in such a hurry,” Buggy comments trailing off in the hopes that Reyleight will explain more.

“Nevermind that,” he says instead. “Care to explain why you faked your death?”

Buggy sighs. “Not sure it’s any of your business but fine. Mohji, Cabaji, go hunt a boar or something for dinner.”

They both look extremely relieved to be dismissed from the Dark King’s presence but Mohji lingers enough to ask, “You sure, Captain?”

“Yeah,” Buggy smiles at him. “Ray-san and I will be on the ship catching up. No need for you to sit in on a boring conversation when you could be doing something useful.”

Mohji nods, “Richie’s on the ship, he’ll keep you company.”

It’s kind of adorable how protective they are of him. Not that Richie would be able to do anything if Ray-san lost it completely and attacked Buggy but still.

“Is Richie another one of your boys?”

Buggy bristles at that. Boys ? Really? Seas, he had forgotten how condescending the old bastard could be.

“He’s our lion,” he grumbles and is rewarded by Ray-san doing a double take.

“We never had one of those in the Oro,” he comments and Buggy feels himself puff up a bit. 

Once on the ship, he leads Rayleigh to the Captain’s room and allows Richie to join him in the armchair he has claimed as his throne. Rayleigh doesn’t even ask before he lets himself drop on the bed, wet clothes and all. Great, just what Buggy wanted, a soaked mattress. 

Buggy’s of half a mind to just throw him out but Richie has just curled in his lap, clearly intending to take a nap, and he’s not cruel enough to dislodge him.

“I’m still waiting on that explanation,” Rayleigh says, like he is owed anything at all. “Why did you fake your death?”

“Not much to explain, really,” Buggy shrugs. “Some of Captain’s old friends were following me since Logue Town. I figured I’d give them a reason to stop wasting our time and get back to the Grandline.”

At this, Rayleigh crosses his arms. “When you say they were following you…”

Really, does he have to spell it out for him? “I mean they had seastone bullets and a couple of scores to settle. They couldn’t have Captain so they decided I’d make for an adequate substitute.”

Rayleigh’s eyes narrow. “They were hunting you?”

“Of course they were,” Buggy laughs humorlessly. “Easy prey, old grudges, the math’s pretty simple, old man.”

“Why didn’t you call me?!”

And that’s just rich. “I didn’t have your number. And I wasn’t aware that you’d care enough to help me anyway.”

Rayleigh splutters at that. “What do you mean by that? Why wouldn’t I care?”

“I mean that you made it pretty clear two years ago that we were done. You didn’t care then, why would you care now?” Buggy’s really getting tired of this conversation. Really if Rayleigh had cared, he’d have given him and Shanks a way to reach him and he wouldn’t have just abandoned them to fend for themselves.

“I…” Rayleigh tries, but words seem to stick in his throat. “I really thought you had died. When the Phoenix told me…”

“Marco told you?” That’s weird. “He’s in the New World, shouldn’t the news have reached Sabaody first?”

“Probably,” Ray-san admits. “But I wasn’t in the mood to hear them. I’ve been pretty disconnected from the rumor mill for a while.”

That’s probably code for black-out drunk. Which is fair, maybe, Captain’s death had left them all reeling and he had been Rayleigh’s soulmate after all. But still.

“Good to know the Whitebeard’s cared enough to keep an ear out for us,” Buggy says and maybe he enjoys the way Rayleigh flinches in response. “Tell Marco thanks and that I’m not dead when you see him again. But please, don’t do it too loudly, I’ve just gotten rid of my pursuers.”

“Give me their names, you won’t have to worry about them ever again,” Rayleigh says darkly. 

Buggy scoffs at that. “Are you going to hunt every survivor of the Edd Wars then? And every marine that’s afraid of Roger’s legacy? What about the newbies with something to prove? As long as I’m ‘Roger’s red-nosed apprentice’ I’ll have people gunning for my head so just let the world think I’m already dead, it will save me a lot of trouble.”

“I could send a message,” Rayleigh retorts and his hand goes to his sword. It would be nice, if it wasn’t too little too late.

“You already did,” Buggy answers a bit cruelly. “When you left me and Shanks to fend for ourselves in the New World for two years while we ‘waited for Captain to come back’. When you didn’t come to Roger’s execution with us. When people started hunting me and Shanks and suffered no consequences. When someone from another crew had to tell you about the rumors of my death. It’s too late now, the world knows all they have to do is wait a bit, and you’ll forget about us again.”

“I didn’t forget you!”

“Of course you did,” Buggy laughs. “You forgot about anything that wasn't your own grief and maybe the nearest bottle you could find.”

Rayleigh’s voice breaks when he all but shouts, “I lost my soulmate !”

Buggy would pity him but, “Shanks and I lost our father. And our home. And the people that were supposed to care for us. And the safety that was promised to us when we tagged along on an adventure that pissed off half the world. You are an adult, Rayleigh- san , and powerful enough to protect yourself from all of Captain’s old enemies. We were not. And you just threw us to the wolves!”

The man raises a hand, like he wants to grab Buggy’s arm so Buggy splits it, sending it to the other side of the room. In his lap, Richie grumbles a bit, so Buggy places his other hand over his head, petting him soothingly.

“We needed you and you weren’t there. Any of you. So don’t tell me you didn’t forget about us. The whole crew did.”

Rayleigh brings his hand to cover his face. “I’m sorry, Buggy-kun. I’m so sorry.”

And this is just uncomfortable. What’s Buggy supposed to say? ‘I forgive you’? He doesn’t. He doesn’t think he ever will.

“Why are you in East Blue?” he asks, trying to change the subject.

Rayleigh looks at him like he’s an idiot. “Why do you think? I heard they had killed you!”

“So you came to find out if it was true?” Buggy asks.

“I came to find whoever had done it and make them pay,” he corrects, sounding furious and Buggy doesn’t need his Observation to feel the air around them crackle.

Okay, that’s nice. In a way. Still. “Not much good it would have done me, considering I would have already been dead.”

“I suppose not,” Rayleigh allows. He takes a deep breath and Buggy can see him getting himself back together “So, what can I do? You aren’t dead so I can still help you. What do you want me to do?”

He’s all but begging for a way to make it better and Buggy doesn’t need to think before answering, “Find Shanks.”

Rayleigh’s eyebrows shut up. “I’d assumed you’d know where he’d be?”

“Of course I know where he is,” Buggy answers. “He’s in West Blue. That’s not the point. I need you to go to him, tell him I’m not dead before he does something idiotic, and train him and protect him until he’s ready for the Grandline.”

Ray-san nods. “Yeah, I can do that. Actually, you and Shanks-kun should just come with me to Sabaody. I can teach you how to fight in the big leagues and if you are with me, no one will dare touch you.”

Buggy’s shaking his head before Rayleigh can finish the sentence. “I’m not going, just find Shanks okay? If I was hunted, then so was he and he may be stronger but he’s a total idiot, he’ll face them head on until one of them gets a lucky shot. It would never even occur to him to lay low.”

“I will keep him safe,” Rayleigh promises. “But why wouldn’t you come? You can bring your friends if you want.”

Buggy looks at his lap where Richie’s still sleeping. He could take them to Sabaody, have them trained by a living legend who’d bring out their full potential. Shanks would be there, they’d be together again, safe under Rayleigh’s watch.

If his goal is to surpass Shanks, then it’s stupid not to go. To let Shansk be apprenticing under Silver King Rayleigh while he plays the clown in East Blue. He’ll fall even more behind and he’s aware the red headed idiot is already at an advantage.

But Mohji and Cabaji are not Grandline pirates. At this point they aren’t even East Blue pirates. They would hate it in the Grandline and they would need constant protection to survive there. If Buggy slipped just once, he could lose them.

He promised himself he wouldn’t go where they couldn’t follow. And they can’t follow him to Sabaody.

He looks at his wrist.

If he declares that he won’t go, he’ll be choosing Mohji and Cabaji over his rivalry with Shanks. Does that mean…? He’s seen it once, how a decision can make a name disappear, just like it can make it appear.

He doesn't want to lose Shanks’ name. He can’t. It’s the only thing that still ties them together.

“Buggy-kun?” Rayleigh’s voice is hesitant and Buggy realizes that he’s been silent long enough.

“Shanks’ an idiot,” he repeats. “I know you think you know that but you don’t, because I’ve always been there looking after him and doing damage control. He never treats his wounds and he always jumps head first into anything. He needs someone to hold him back, to remind him that not all battles are worth fighting and that he should think before he acts. You can't let him go off on his own because something will get his attention and he’ll forget about where he was going. He’s a scatterbrain and it’s really difficult to get him to focus on one thing but once he does, he’s all in so you better schedule some breaks in his training because if you leave it up to him, he’ll keep going until he drops. He really is the stupidest man I’ve ever met.”

“Then maybe you should come keep an eye on him,” Ray-san tells him softly. “I’m sure he’d be more than thrilled to have you as his second in command.”

It should sting but Buggy’s always know that that’s all the Rogers ever saw him as.

“I’m sure he would,” he says, finally making his decision. He covers his left wrist with his hand, hiding Shanks name just in case. He doesn’t think he could handle watching it fade. “But I won’t be coming to Sabaody.”

“Why not?”

“Because I want more out of my life than just being that bastard’s babysitter,” he spats. “I refuse to spend the rest of my life standing a step behind him.” Shanks never looks back, never has, never will. “I’ll be by his side or nowhere near him at all.”

He carefully removes his hand from his wrist and lets out a sigh of relief. Shank’s name is still there. Rayleigh must see it because he goes all soft. He doesn’t comment though.

“Will you be alright, all alone?” he asks instead.

“I’m not alone,” Buggy reminds him, gesturing towards Richie with his head. “And this Blue is extremely peaceful now that all the big shots have returned to the Grandline.”

Rayleigh frowns, “Don’t forget that it’s the same Blue that produced Garp and Roger.”

“So the chances of another insane monster appearing here in the next twenty years is remote.” Really, there’s a limit to how many freaks of nature can pop up in a single Sea. “I’ll be fine. I’ve got a couple of ideas on how to make this Sea mine. Do you know there’s basically no contact between the crews here and the rest of the underworld? The only network that operates ìn East Blue is the marine’s and we both know how well that one works. People here don’t even believe in Devil Fruits and only the rich have access to Den-Den’s.”

“Sounds like a Sea of opportunities,” Rayleigh smirks and grabs a piece of paper from Buggy’s table, without asking of course because what are manners. He returns it to Buggy with two den den numbers noted down. “The top one is mine, if anyone tries to hunt you again, you call me. Believe me, I will care.”

Buggy nods, still not completely sold on that. “And the other one?”

Ray-san’s smirk widens. “Remember Shakky?”

“Former Empress of Amazon Lily and Captain of the Kuja’s Shakky?” he attempts to clarify. It’s not like he knows any other Shakky’s but better safe than sorry.

“The very same,” Ray-san nods. “She’s an information broker now, if you want to build a network, I’m sure she’ll have some tips for you.”

It sounds great, only one problem, “Information brokers sell their knowledge and I don’t have anything to pay her with.”

The old pirate just shrugs, “Put it on my tab, she knows I’m good for it.”

It’s a nice gesture. It doesn’t make up for anything but Buggy’s not an idiot. He’s a teenage criminal with a target on his back and very few allies, he’s not about to look a gifted horse in the mouth. So he allows Rayleigh to stay for dinner and even introduces him to his crew. And if he feels a bit relieved, knowing that Shanks’ will be protected for at least a couple of months, then that’s nobody's business but his own.

Chapter Text

The next years pass in a blur. Buggy builts and trains his crew and, if the News Coo are to be believed, so does Shanks. Buggy memorizes all the names that start appearing next to him in the papers: Benn Beckham, Lucky Roo, Yasopp... And Mihawk. Dracule Mihawk . Shanks’ rival.

The red haired bastard has no shame, leaving his left wrist uncovered in all his wanted posters, the warlord’s name there for all to see.

Buggy’s name remains hidden though, behind an awful blue wristband that clashes terribly with the idiot’s outfits. Buggy does not find it terribly sweet. And if he buys a red wristband of his own, it’s only because the store had run out of every other color and he really needed to stop advertising that he’s connected to the moron now that he’s starting to become a bigshot.

Despite the blue wristband, he has his doubts that his own is still on Shanks’. After all, the idiot’s been using East Blue as his base for years now and he has yet to come and see him. He’s all but giving up on seeing the bastard again when he feels his Voice sailing alongside the Big Top.

Buggy’s so surprised he almost falls down from his bed but he quickly goes to relieve Cabaji from night watch. He’s going to be awake anyway, may as well give his nakama some more time to sleep.

Once he’s all alone, he walks towards the stern and he’s not surprised when a familiar voice asks him for permission to board the ship.

“Out of curiosity,” Buggy says in his most casual voice. “What would you do if I said no?”

“I would leave,” Shanks answer is concerning enough but it’s his voice that scares Buggy the most. He sounds defeated.

“Granted,” he says immediately because like hell is he allowing Shanks to go away like this. “Tie your boat here and follow me, we are on watch duty.”

“Just like old times then.”

Shanks looks good, damm him but he’s still a handsome devil. He’s no longer a teenager and it shows. He is taller, his shoulders are broader and his muscles far bigger. He is also missing an arm.

Buggy has to make a fist to stop his hand from reaching out. “So it was true.”

Shanks follows his gaze and a soft smile relaxes his whole face. “Yeah, I had to give it away to save a friend.”

“And you couldn’t save him without losing it?” Buggy asks incredulously. The man’s a beast, he’s always been a beast. And this is East Blue! Buggy outranks everything in this sea so what could have managed to maim Shanks ?

Shanks winces. “Probably? But it all happened so fast and I…”

“You jumped in front of the danger without a second thought,” Buggy finishes letting out an exasperated sigh. Great, Shanks has been here for a grand total of five minutes and he already feels a headache coming.

“You know me so well,” Shanks says and there’s something almost hesitant about his tone, like he’s asking Buggy instead of telling him, and that simply won’t fly.

“Too well,” he answers categorically. 

Shanks rubs his right wrist before smiling up at him, half raising his remaining arm to show Buggy. “At least I kept the important one, didn’t I?”

Buggy flushes a bit at that comment, biting back the scolding he wants to give Shanks for letting anyone else hurt him. He is his rival, after all, Buggy’s the only one allowed to hurt him!

It wouldn’t help though. Not now. Not when Shanks is already in such a melancholic mood. Instead, they sit in silence for a while. 

There’s a hundred things Buggy could say or ask but he does know Shanks. And he knows that he is here for a reason. So he just waits, Shanks will come out with it when he’s ready.

“I have… had a rival,” Shanks admits after a while.

Like Buggy hadn’t known that. Known that, unlike himself, Mihawk had managed to be strong enough to be acknowledged as Shanks’ equal. But, wait, what has Shanks said? “ Had ? Is Mihawk dead?”

“Nah, he just doesn’t want to fight me anymore.” Shanks shrugs like it doesn’t matter to him, like his Voice isn’t crying out in pain. “Turns out sparring with cripples is not his style.”

“He’s an idiot then,” Buggy decides because how dare he? How dare he toss Shanks away? “It’s not like you are any weaker just because you lost a meager arm.”

Shanks laughs but there’s no mirth in it. “He disagrees with that. Took one look at me and decided I wasn’t a challenge anymore. My name disappeared from his wrist faster than it took him to turn me away.”

“Shanks…”

“Well, I guess I lost his name first,” Shanks admits gesturing at his empty sleeve. “Hey, do you think that if I had lost my right arm and not the left, you would have been the one to lose my name and not him?”

The moron actually believes that Buggy would have turned his back on him. Even worse, he is making it a joke, something he can say with a laugh.

Buggy can’t remember the last time he was this furious.

He quickly separates his left arm and throws it into the sea startling Shanks badly enough that he stops his pity party.

“What are you…” Shanks is already halfway into standing up when Buggy grabs him by the shirt and drags him down, making him sit again.

“Don’t you dare,” Buggy tells him and he coats the hand that’s grabbing him in Armament just for emphasis. “That arm is staying underwater for now.”

“But…isn’t it painful? You hate it when your body drowns!” 

He does, but Buggy can stand it. What he can not stand is Shanks’ attitude right now. 

“So, I don’t have your name anymore, is mine gone?” Shanks shakes his head, gaze still fixed to the spot where his arm has sunk. “I thought so. And for your information, neither is my desire to beat you at everything, okay? I will be a better pirate than you and a better captain, and that doesn’t change regardless of if I have my arm or not. And of course, it won’t change either because you decide to lose a limb or two.”

At that Shanks does turn to look at him and to Buggy’s horror, his eyes are suspiciously wet, “Buggy…”

“Oh, don’t look at me with those sappy eyes. I’m just stating a fact.” Buggy tries to cross his arms in front of his chest but it’s pretty difficult with only one.

“A very sappy fact,” Shanks points out.

Oh so now it’s Buggy’s fault? “What’s sappy about bringing you down? If anything you should be scared.” 

Shanks laughs, bright and loud, and lets his head fall into Buggy’s shoulder. 

“And yet I feel comforted, isn’t that weird?” he murmurs and Buggy should push him off but Shanks is back to sounding like himself and he’s not going to risk sending him back into the state he was before.

“It is.” he says instead. Buggy’s traitorous hand starts playing with the hair at the back of Shanks’s head. He had thought his memory had exaggerated the color, that no one actually had such a flashy, vibrant shade of red, but now that he’s seeing it again he realizes that if anything, his memory had dulled it. “But you’ve always been weird so I guess it’s nothing new.”

They stay like that for a couple of minutes until Buggy can feel Shanks’ Voice settle down.

“Hey Bugs?”

“Yeah?”

“Can I go get your arm back now? I mean we are getting further and further away and you can’t call it back so…”

This time Buggy does shove him away. “Do as you please.”

“Aye, aye, Captain.”

Shanks jumps into the water and starts swimming back. Annoyingly he’s gotten even faster than when they were young, regardless of the missing arm. Buggy’s only comfort is knowing that they are in deep enough waters that Shanks will have a bit of a rough time recuperating the arm.

Sure enough, Shanks takes a long while to resurface and when he does, he is panting. He also has his left arm so Buggy takes pity on him and sends his right one to drag him back.

As soon as he’s back onboard, the inconsiderate bastard drops by his side again, completely disregarding the fact that he is dripping wet. He also holds Buggy’s arm carefully into position for him to reattach it though, so Buggy decides to not complain too much.

“I was afraid it was gone,” Shanks admits, tracing the name with his thumb. “I’m glad it’s still here.”

“What about yours?” Buggy can’t help but ask. It’s not his fault, he’s not seen Shanks bare arm in years, no one can blame him for being curious.

“Still there, of course,” Shanks says proudly, presenting it to Buggy. “I told you it was there. Did you doubt it?”

“Well, you never came to see me.” The words escape his mouth before he can’t stop them and he bites his lip. Still his stupid mouth keeps going off without his leave, “I mean, the second I heard you were staying in East Blue I assumed I wouldn’t be able to get rid of you for five seconds so I was surprised you made no attempt to contact me, that’s all.”

“You are an idiot.” How dare he? “I was waiting for you.”

That declaration stills all the insults Buggy was ready to throw at him. “What?”

“East Blue is your turf, everyone knows that, I thought me coming here was a clear enough message,” Shanks confesses and Buggy can’t help but notice that his cheeks look as red as his hair. “But I know I have a reputation now and I didn’t want to drag you into it without your consent so…”

Oh fuck, maybe Buggy really is an idiot. 

“You were giving me the option to come to you.”

“Not that you ever did.” And there’s that stupid laugh again, the one Buggy hates because Shanks never uses it when he’s truly happy. “At the end it was me trailing after you once again.”

“Shanks…” It’s not often Buggy finds himself lost of words but Shanks’ been known to have that effect.

“Well, I’m going to the Grandline first,” Shanks continues with the same fake cheer. “So at least it will look like you are following me this time.”

Buggy knows Shanks is expecting an angry retort, for Buggy to start another round of bantering to wash this moment away, but all he can offer him is silence.

Shanks frowns, his fake cheer replaced by true concern. “Bugs, what is it?”

“I’m not going,” he admits and he hates that his voice comes out as a whisper. “To the Grandline. I’m staying here.”

For the first time ever, Buggy doesn’t dare to look Shanks in the face. He just can’t. Not when he knows he’ll only see disappointment.

Shanks is silent for a whole minute before uttering a single word.

“Why?”

“My crew, they are amazing,” Buggy says and he means it, he means it so much. “They are smart and loyal and so great. I love them.” Yeah, he wouldn’t trade them for anything. “But they are not the kind of pirates that thrive in a crazy sea or that seek thrills and dangerous adventures just for fun. And… And neither am I, Shanks. I loved traveling in the Oro, I did. But I also hated it.”

It’s shameful to admit it, to tell his old rival that he will be staying behind. But it’s a choice he made a long time ago and he’s managed to come to terms with it.

“Bugs,” Shanks begins, but he’s quickly cut off.

“You are not going to convince me, so save your breath.”

“Bugs,” he tries again. “You said you’ll be a better pirate and captain than me.”

How dare he throw those words back to his face? “So what? You think I can’t do it from here?”

He raises his head to glare at Shanks and he is met with a dazzling smile.

“Of course you can,” he declares, like he’s never doubted Buggy. “A good Captain knows what’s best for his crew and acts accordingly. And a good pirate does what’s right for himself and to hell with what other people say or think.”

The stupid, brilliant bastard is actually cheering him up. What’s worse is that he truly believes every word he is saying and he is making Buggy believe them too.

Oh well. Buggy sighs, he knows when he’s lost a round. 

“What…?” Shanks' words are cut out by the press of Buggy’s lips on his. “Buggy?”

“Shut up and let me kiss you.”

Shanks' smile widens even more. “Only if I can kiss you back.”

Buggy knows that they are probably not going to see each other again for a long time. Shanks is going to leave in the morning and travel to the other end of the world while Buggy will stay here and continue to make East Blue his.

But that will be tomorrow and right now there’s nothing stopping Buggy from leading Shanks back into his cabin.

Chapter Text

When Shanks leaves the next morning, he does so looking far chipper than when he’d arrived and Buggy can’t even be mad at him for the obnoxious way he is whistling. He also finds that he can’t hate how their relationship shifts after this visit.

They start talking more for one. Buggy had always kept tabs on the idiot but up until now their communication had consisted of small updates passed through Rayleigh-san once a year or so.

Clearly though, poor Beckham isn’t enough to keep Shanks from being an idiot and if the moron can manage to lose an arm in freaking East Blue , Buggy can’t imagine what’s going to happen once he’s back on the Graveyard.

So Buggy gives Shanks his number and Shanks gives Buggy his vivre card. And they agree to speak at least once a month. Or well, Shanks tells Buggy he will call him and Buggy doesn’t take the number back which is basically the same as agreeing.

Ten years later though, Buggy finds himself thinking that if he had known what giving Shanks that number would lead to, maybe he would have thought twice about doing it!

At the very least, he may have said no when Shanks had asked him if he minded doing him the tiny teeny favor of testing if Garp the Fist’s grandson was ready for the big leagues once the kid turned seventeen.

But no, Buggy’s a pushover and now he and his precious crew are sailing the very same Sea he had once told Shanks he had no intention of going to. And to make matters worse, they have a freaking Whitebeard Commander just dropping by to eat their food and fall asleep in frankly ridiculous places.

Buggy sighs and explains to his crew why attacking a Whitebeard pirate is suicidal and just rolls with it when the boy wakes up and decides that it’s time for a party.

At least he is polite and has yet to threaten to set them on fire so Buggy makes his crew bring out the decent booze. Not the good one, mind you, just the decent one. The kid’s too young to appreciate the truly good stuff.

It’s not until the party is way into its last legs that Buggy notices the name on Ace's left wrist. His log pose has moved enough to reveal a familiar name: ‘Teach’. 

“So he finally betrayed the old man, didn’t he?” he asks to a surprised Ace. 

The boy blinks at him. “What?” 

“Come on, give me some credit,” Buggy tells him, rolling his eyes. “Whitebeard’s rarely come to this part of the Grandline as a whole. A commander traveling these waters alone? You must be on a mission. And that name in your arm doesn't look like it's from a friendly rival. So what did that smelly bastard do? Did he try for Newgate’s head?”

“He put Thatch in a coma,” Ace admits through gritted teeth.

Buggy lets out a long whistle. “I’m surprised Izo isn’t the one gunning for his head then.”

The boy crosses his arms, “Teach was in my division.”

“Well yeah, but Izo’s Thatch’s lover.” Or so Shanks had told him, not that it had come as a huge surprise considering the huge crush Tatch had had on them ever since they pulled a gun on him for questioning their clothing choice. “And very trigger happy if memory serves.”

This seems to grab Ace’s attention because his eyes narrow in suspicion. “How do you know that? Have you met them? Who even are you?”

Really great of the kid to be asking that of his host three hours into the party. Truly, this new generation shows great promise. “Buggy, Buggy the Clown. But I used to be a cabin boy in the New World back in the days. I met the Whitebeards a couple times and never did like Teach.” 

It is the truth, not the whole truth, of course, but nothing but the truth nevertheless.

It seems to anger the boy regardless. “Why? He was kind and always ready to help or joke around. He fooled all of us! How could you have known when we didn’t?!”

Buggy shrugs. This is maybe not be the best time to point out that the Whitebeards have always had a massive blind spot when it came to their crew. 

“He just felt creepy,” he answers instead. “I don't know, my Observation picks up on things I can't always put into words. He was just wrong . Though I had started to wonder if I had been mistaken, I mean it’s been over twenty years! Why did he act now? And why attack only a commander when he had the trust of Newgate himself?”

“It was that fruit,” Ace spits out with so much hatred that Buggy almost takes a step back. “Thatch found a devil fruit and Teach stabbed him in the back in order to steal it.”

Must’ve been one hell of a fruit.

“Which one?” he can’t help but ask.

Ace shrugs, “Dunno.”

“You don’t know?” Buggy repeats slowly.

The boy must have noticed his incredulity because he gets defensive. “Why should I?”

“Because he just burned a lot of bridges and pissed off one of the most powerful crews in the Seas to get it? And because he must have eaten it by now? Don’t tell me you plan on fighting him without knowing what he can do.”

The look on Ace’s face makes it very clear that he did indeed plan on doing just that.

“So what if I do?” And oh god, he really is young, eh? That petulant tone wouldn’t look cute on him otherwise.

Still. “You are a moron, then.”

This sets the boy off, “I'm not going back!”

“Did I say you should?” Really, kids these days. “But you need to know more if you want to actually get justice for Thatch. Otherwise you risk making your family suffer another loss. Not to mention that you’ll drag Whitebeard’s name even more through the mud by letting Teach take down another commander.”

That at least makes him pause to think. So death doesn’t concern him but people talking badly about Newgate and co does. Seas, he’s such a Whitebeard.

“How do I find out?”

Buggy sighs, he’s going to be helping this moron, isn’t he? Story of his fucking life.

“Did you see it?” Ace nods. “Okay then, I have a devil fruit encyclopedia, you can try and find it there”

It’s clear after fifteen minutes that Ace can’t remember much about the fruit but it takes the boy a whole hour to admit it.

“This is stupid,” Ace mutters darkly. “They all have twirls and weird colors. How am I supposed to tell them apart?”

“Okay,” Buggy says with more patience than Ace deserves. “What about yours? Let’s compare what you remember to the book so you can see how it identifies them.”

“Mine was twirly too,” Ace offers eagerly. “I thought it was weird but I was really hungry so I decided it was probably alright.”

He… He ate a devil fruit, a logia , by mistake. Of course he did. At least Buggy had known what it was he put in his mouth. He sighs and Ace deflates a bit.

“I’m terrible at this, aren’t I?” he asks, sounding far more unsure of himself than Buggy would have expected from the hotshot commander. “Any of the others could probably have already figured it out.”

“Are you kidding? You know your brothers, right? Marco and Jozu are the only ones that maybe would have even thought to look. Or well, the only ones out of the crew I used to know.”

Ace’s eyes suddenly brighten at that. “Marco! He saw it too! If I ask him...” And just as quickly he deflates again. “I didn’t bring my denden,” he admits. “And I’m not going back.”

“You can use one of mine,” Buggy offers him because at this point he is too curious to not find out which fruit is worth betraying the strongest man in the world for.

Ace shakes his head ruefully. “I don’t know their number! I wrote it in my denden so I wouldn’t have to remember it.”

“You really are a moron.” It comes out too fondly but luckily Ace is too distracted to notice it.

“I know that!”

He had really hoped he wouldn’t have to do this. But Ace is a nice kid and Buggy doesn’t want to see him dead. Not if he can help at least. 

“Come with me.”

He guides Ace to his room and makes him wait outside while he unearths a box full of things he doesn’t want. Full of things he can’t get rid off. He sends a quick glance towards Shanks’ vivre card and it seems well enough (not that he was worried the idiot had lost another arm). There’s also a lot of scraps of papers and it’s very easy to find the one he is looking for, that chicken scrawl is unmistakably.

Only after he’s put the box back into its hidden place does he allow Ace to come in.

“Here,” he trusts the number onto his hands and gestures for him to sit on his desk where there’s already a denden attached to its white companion. “It’s an old number but it should still work.”

“Why do you have this?” Ace asks looking confused. “That’s Marco’s handwriting.”

“I was forced to accept it under threats of violence.”

He had warned Marco he’d never use it but oh well, as a veteran, it’s his duty to assist the newer pirates. At least those that he likes.

Ace rings the number with trembling fingers and he looks so young that Buggy can’t help but feel a wave of protectiveness.

“Who’s this?” The voice from the denden is not one Buggy recognises but it sounds tired and sad and it makes Ace freeze. “Hello? This better not be a prank.”

The boy doesn't seem capable of answering so Buggy does it for him before the other person can hang up on them. “It isn’t. I want to speak with Marco.”

“And I want my brother to come back home,” snaps the other voice. “Looks like neither of us is getting what we want.”

“Having a bad day?” Buggy ventures. “I don’t think Commander Haruta will appreciate you airing the problems of the crew to a stranger.”

“Fuck you, I’m Commander Haruta!”

“And you think revealing to the world you are one commander down is a good idea?”

“I never said it was a commander!”

Buggy’ll have to give her that, “Fair enough. Can you go get Marco?”

“Yeah, no. Not until you convince me you are worth his time, he is dealing with enough as it is.” Yeah, Buggy can imagine that, the stupid chicken is probably running himself ragged trying to keep everything running smoothly. “And how did you get this number in the first place?”

“Marco gave it to me.”

Haruta doesn’t seem to like that answer, “Sure he did.”

“Just tell Birdie that Blue wants to speak, yeah?”

There’s a choked out snort coming from the other side and even Ace seems to break out of his trance. “Birdie? Okay, fine, I’m getting him just so I can tell him you called him that. He needs to blow off some steam. You should get started on your will while you wait.”

“But I already have my will in order,” Buggy protests. It’s a simple sentence that reads ‘nothing is to go to the red idiot’. 

Ace is looking at him with too much gratitude and Buggy doesn’t know what’s gone down between him and his crew but he’s kind of glad that he can get him in contact with Marco. Someone needs to help get some of this guilt off the boy’s back before it crushes him.

There’s the sound of running steps coming from the denden and Buggy sees Ace tense up again.

“Blue, is that you? Are you okay?” Marco sounds frantic and very, very tired.

“I’m fine.”

“You called, you said you’d never call.” Which is fair enough. “Are you dying? Please don’t be dying, that’s the last thing I need right now. Seas, Shanks would lose it.”

“Marco, do you actually know that guy? Does he know Shanks?” Commander Haruta sounds really confused. “He called you Birdie!”

“I earned that right when he lost a bet,” Buggy explains. “And I didn’t call you for me. I just decided to return one of those favors I owe you.”

“You don’t owe me shit.”

“So you don’t want to talk to your little runaway then?” Buggy asks, delighting on the three answering gasps. “Okay, I’ll keep him then, he’s cute enough. What do you say kiddo? Wanna join my crew?”

The brat makes a surprised sound which alerts the other two of his presence.

“Ace? Are you there?” Marco sounds almost lost and so, so gentle. Gentle enough to convince Ace to speak, apparently.

“Hey, Marco.”

“Ace.” The name is almost a sigh and Buggy decides to leave them some space. Haruta doesn’t seem to be of the same mind because when Buggy reaches the door he can already hear her giving Ace the mother of all scoldings. Ace looks a bit sheepish but happy so Buggy expects he will be fine.

Chapter Text

Ace spends at least three hours on the denden with his crew. Buggy keeps dropping by, wanting to see if he can finally use his personal quarters, and each time Ace is talking to a different person. Once he swears he can hear Whitebeard’s voice even though the door is closed and Buggy’s still outside so he just turns on his heels and goes to wait on the other side of the ship. No way in hell is he speaking to that geezer today.

His crew seems to have realized that something is going on but they are all too smart to want to dig deep enough to find out what it is. The only ones that actually ask him about it are his trusted officials and his new co-captain and ‘Whitebeard Bullshit’ is enough of an answer to satisfy them.

It’s late into the afternoon when Ace finally exits Buggy’s room, looking sheepish but far lighter.

“Thank you for letting me use your denden, and your cabin, and for getting me the number,” he tells Buggy a bit awkwardly. 

“That’s fine,” Buggy brushes him off. “Any updates on Thatch?” Ace shakes his head, and his eyes darken. “Was Marco able to help at least?”

The boy nods. “He didn’t want to, at first. Said to just come back.” He rolls his eyes at that. “But when I told him I was gonna face Teach with or without this information, he became a lot more cooperative.”

“You are a menace and will be on toilet duty for months once you go back,” Buggy informs him. “Blackmailing your vice-captain is never wise.”

“That’s what Marco said too!” Ace’s smile is blinding. “He also said you two were childhood friends?”

“Something like that,” Buggy admits. “We’ve certainly known each other for a long time.”

“Were you in the crew then? Jozu and Oyaji also knew you.”

Of course the brat had to go and remind Whitebeard of Buggy’s existence. Of fucking course.

“No, like I told you, I was in another crew.” His tone is harsh enough that even Ace picks up on the fact that Buggy doesn’t wish to be asked which one. “So which fruit was it then, the one Teach stole?”

“The Yami Yami no Mi,” Ace says darkly.

Well fuck. That’s not good news.

“I’m assuming I don’t have to tell you to read its entrance in the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia?” Buggy asks cautiously.

“I’m not that much of an idiot thanks,” Ace retorts, despite all evidence to the contrary. “I’ve already read it. Fighting Teach will be tricky, I’ll give you that.”

“But you are determined to face him despite that?” Ace nods. “As soon as you find him, without training or finding a counter first?” Another nod. “When are you leaving?”

Ace shrugs. “As soon as this conversation is over.”

Buggy sighs, “Yeah, I thought so.”

This is going to end in tragedy.

“Please tell me your full name includes a D at least.” That’s like the only chance the kid has. D’s are Fortune’s favorites after all.

The boy seems confused, “Yes? I mean, I’m Portgas D Ace.”

That’s one check of his list. “And how’s your Haki?”

Ace winces which is not a good sign. “I’m pretty good at Observation.”

He stops there, cheeks burning and resolutely not looking at Buggy.

Buggy sighs before asking, “And Armament?”

“I… I’ve been taught it? I can use it, sometimes.”

Fucking logias.

“Let me guess, since you are an avatar of fire you decided it was not important to learn how to protect your body from physical attacks.” Ace shrugs, still not looking at Buggy. “How on earth did Marco allow this?”

Buggy would have thought that Marco would have given Ace a five hours lecture the second he sniffed this overconfidence and insisted on regular training until the boy had mastered the technique. 

“He tried to teach me,” Ace is quick to point out, sounding almost defensive on Marco’s behalf. “And I was making progress, I just left before we were done? I had to track Teach down! I’m also like… bad at it? But it doesn’t matter, I’m really strong even without my fruit, as a kid I got used to Grandpa’s punches and everyone else is just pretty weak in comparison.”

Okay, lots to unpack.

“How bad are we talking here?”

The kid crosses his arms. “It took me several months to actually manifest it. I kind of just tanked the punches with my body. Like I don’t get why I can’t just take a hit from Jozu without using Haki? It’s not like they hurt that much. So making myself activate it was pretty difficult.”

“We are talking about Diamond Jozu using his fruit, aren’t we?”

Ace nods.

Great, so he was a monster before he got his devil fruit. Good to know. With a constitution like that, it’s no wonder he doesn’t see the need for Armament, especially not now that he has the Mera Mera no Mi.

Buggy closes his eyes and focuses on the kid’s Voice. It’s a lot. Even when Buggy wasn’t looking straight at it, he had noticed how loud and strong it was but staring directly at it is like looking at the sun. 

He’s got a Voice like Roger’s, like Rouge’s, like Whitebeard’s and Oden’s and Shanks’. Like the brat Shank’s gave his hat to.

He looks away, massaging his temples to try and stop the headache already forming there.

“You’ve got Conqueror’s.” It’s not a question so Buggy doesn’t phrase it as such.

“I think so?” That’s weird. People with Conqueror’s usually either know they have it or don’t know what Conqueror’s is. “I only managed to activate it once, when I was a kid. Oyaji was helping me with it but I didn’t… Look, I told you, I’m not good at Haki.”

And then it clicks for Buggy.

The uncertainty. The way his Voice is loud and strong but it seems to try and make itself small. The guilt he carries. How surprised he was that his crew had been happy to hear from him. Why he’s in a suicidal mission without any regard of what his death may mean for his family.

“Who were you saving?” he asks softly. “When you activated your Conqueror’s, who were you saving?”

“My little brother.” Just mentioning him, makes a flash of protectiveness and pride surge through his Voice and Buggy has to close his eyes at the intensity of it.

“The thing about Haki is,” he starts gently, “that it’s a manifestation of the user's Will. People are not bad or good at it. There’s just some people that don’t want it strongly enough.”

And what does it say about Ace that the one brand of Haki he’s innately good at is the one that allows him to know where people around him are? What does this say about Buggy?

“So what, you think I just wanted to waste Marco and Oyaji’s time?” Ace asks, looking offended. “I worked my ass off training with them!”

“Of course you did,” Buggy agrees. “Because you wanted to make them proud. And I’m sure you wanted to be good at Haki. But did you truly want to learn how to protect yourself? Did you think it was necessary? Worth all that trouble?”

Ace is back to looking like Buggy’s caught him with his hand on the cookie jar. “I don’t… I don’t know what you mean.”

“I mean that if a part of you doesn’t think it’s worth it, then it’s going to be really hard to learn Haki,” Buggy tells him. No need to delve into the reasons behind that, Buggy’s not paid enough to be his therapist. “So you need to convince yourself you want it. Maybe because it can help you protect someone. Maybe because it can protect you and save others some grief. Maybe just because you don’t want to give Teach the satisfaction of taking you down. Spite works a treat when self-worth is not available, trust me.”

Ace nods slowly, “Okay. How do I do that?” 

Buggy shrugs. “I don’t know, everyone is different. But you are powerful, a lot more than you are allowing yourself to be. So the day you find a reason to let it all out, you’ll probably be able to take down Teach, his crew and maybe Kaido too for good measure.”

“That doesn’t help me if I cannot do it now!” he grumbles.

“Yeah, and that frustration is not doing you any favors either,” Buggy tuts. “You know what Haki master’s have in common?” Ace shakes his head. “They are all selfish bastards without a care in the world and a very clear idea of what they want and what they are fighting for.”

“Oyaji isn't selfish,” he grumbles, though the fact he isn't punching Buggy for the accusation probably means he agrees.

“Yes, he is, he hoards his family like a dragon hoards gold,” Buggy laughs. “And he keeps doing whatever the hell he wants without a thought of how worried Marco and the nurses are for his health. But if you prefer, I could say instead that he’s one of the freest people I’ve ever met. Shanks is a self-satisfying airhead who decided his life was going to be a continuous party and no one was going to stop him. Big Mom’s world revolves around getting instant gratification. Kaido’s convinced he’s the protagonist of this universe. All the Emperors are egotistical and confident, that’s why their Haki’s so fucking strong.”

“I’m pretty selfish,” Ace musses. “I’ve been told so. Marco’s always said I’m a loose cannon.”

“Yeah, that’d be the D,” Buggy nods. 

“And I want my family to be safe,” he continues.

“Do you think they won’t be, if you fail?” Buggy asks with little hope.

Ace’s sighs. “Honestly, I think they’ll be just fine. That’s not good, yeah?”

“No, I don’t think that will help.”

“Yeah.” Ace shrugs again. “Oh well, I have time to figure it out while I find Teach.”

Seas, this kid! “You are going to be the reason Marco finally goes gray.”

Ace smiles cheekily, “That’s my goal.”

And then the boy bows. He actually bows.

“Thank you very much for the advice. I will not forget your generosity and I apologize for boarding your ship without asking for permission first. That was rude of me and won’t happen again.”

What’s Buggy to do with this? He just awkwardly pats the boy's head to try and diffuse the heaviness of the air. “Just don’t get killed, yeah? You’ve got a family waiting for you.”

Ace smiles and jumps into his death trap of a boat.

“And remember that you’ve got a knife! You punching types always forget about stabbing!” Buggy shouts after him. Ace’s responding laugh stays with him for a long time.

Chapter Text

Buggy isn’t surprised at all when his denden rings again that very same night.

“I don’t remember saying you could call me Birdie,” he says with far less vitriol than he was intending. It’s just, Marco had sounded so tired.

“If you didn’t want me to call, you shouldn’t have given me your number, yoi,” Marco points out.

“I didn’t,” he feels compelled to protest, “it was Ace!”

“Sure, but the end result is the same.”

Buggy sighs but decides that he can afford to lose this battle. “So? What did you want to talk about?”

The snail shrugs. “Couldn’t I just want to chat with an old friend?”

“Marco, stop bullshiting.” Buggy orders, it’s way too late at night to play games. “Is this about Ace?”

“Yeah, of course it is, yoi,” he readily admits. “Could you… stop him? Or talk to him or something? Make him give up and come home?”

Buggy lets out a short laugh at that. “What makes you think he’ll listen to me?”

That earns him a snort. “Most people do, yoi. And you did manage to make him call.”

His tone is light but Buggy can hear the desperate hope beneath it and he resents Ace for putting him in the position of having to crush it.

“I can’t, Marco, he’s already left.”

Marco lets out a long sigh. “Of course he has. He’s such a reckless idiot, yoi.”

The insult would probably be more believable if Marco didn’t sound so damn fond.

“Well yeah, he’s a D ,” Buggy points out since Marco is one of the few people that actually get why that’s such a terrible thing. “He’s also right.”

This statement seems to take Marco by surprise. “What? You think that running into conflict with a traitor is sensible? Who are you and what have you done with Buggy?”

“Oh, the way he is going about it is idiotic, don’t get me wrong,” Buggy hastens to clarify, lest Marco thinks he’s completely lost it. “I mean, have you seen his boat? That’s a death trap if I ever saw one. And chasing after a crew on your own is never a good idea, especially if you don’t have any intel about their abilities. He hadn’t even thought about investigating that damn fruit!” Buggy shakes his head, exasperated once again by the bullshit D’s do. “But leaving Teach unchecked would have been even more stupid, Marco. You should be hunting him down like the dog he is.”

“Oyaji disagrees,” Marco points out and Buggy can’t help but notice that he isn’t mentioning his own feelings on the subject.

“Your old man has always been a father before a captain and that’s good but sometimes it blinds him to the bigger picture.” And Buggy is not bitter or jealous at all that Marco gets a father captain that actually puts him first. “He wants you all safe and close, especially after such a blow but that means he’s letting Teach do as he pleases and that’s not something you guys can afford right now.”

“Don’t overestimate him, yoi,” Marco growls and Buggy’s never heard him sound so full of hate. “He’s just a coward that stabbed us in the back. Now that we know what he is, he won’t be able to touch us again.”

“Says who?” Really, Marco is usually so much more sensible! “He won’t attack you upfront Marco! He’s proven that already! He waited 20 years to do this, do you honestly think he won’t have anything planned? And he knows your crew, he’s been observing you for decades. He knows your safety nets, your strategies, your strong and weak points. He knows who your allies are and I’ll eat my hat if he hasn’t been thinking of ways of turning them against you.” Marco starts to protest but Buggy cuts him out “Yes, I know they are loyal but everyone can be tricked.”

“More reasons why Ace shouldn’t be going after him alone! He must have seen it coming! And he’ll be ready for him,” Marco all but screams.

“He will,” Buggy agrees. “I tried to help Ace but I don’t like his chances.”

“So why didn’t you stop him?” 

“Because I couldn’t, Marco.” And that’s the heart of it, no one, not Buggy, not Marco, not even Whitebeard himself could have stopped Ace. “He knows the danger but he wants to protect his family. Would you let anyone talk you out of doing that? At least now he knows what fruit the bastard ate, so he’ll be a bit more ready.”

“But not ready enough, will he?”

Buggy can’t answer that honestly.

“Right,” says Marco, taking his silence for the answer it is.

“D’s do make the impossible happen,” Buggy ventures.

“That would be more reassuring if Teach wasn’t also a D.”

That’s not good.

“Shit, sorry.”

“What do I do, Buggy?” Marco asks, sounding so lost Buggy has the sudden urge to hug him. “I just want my family safe.”

“You prepare for war,” Buggy declares. “Because like it or not, it seems like it’s coming.”

“War?” And the fact Marco has to even ask that, makes Buggy worried about how complacent the Whitebeards have become. “You really think that it will come to that?”

“He attacked a Whitebeard , everyone knows you guys don’t take that lying down.” Really, he could have burned their Jolly Roger and the message wouldn’t have been half as clear. “One doesn’t do that without a solid plan on how to proceed. And he’s waited 20 years. I don’t know what he’s planning but it won’t be pretty. Call your allies, watch over your territories and stock in supplies. Make sure you are as ready as you can be for whatever it is that’s coming.”

“It’s pretty difficult to prepare for a battle when you don’t know where or when it will be,” Marco complains, sounding almost like a sulking child. 

“I can help with the where at least,” offers Buggy magnanimously.

“Really? Did Teach call you to explain?” Marco better turn down the sarcasm if he wants Buggy’s help.

“No, but he’s in Paradise right now which is smart. You guys don’t have a lot of presence here and the marines won’t care as much as if he went to one of the Blues to start trouble.” Buggy almost wishes Teach had gone to East Blue, he’d have paid to see Garp’s reaction. “If I were him, I’d choose this as the battlefield as well.”

“Then let’s hope he doesn’t want to fight till next year at least because that’s how long it will take me to get us some decent supply routes and safe harbors there,” Marco grumbles and Buggy can almost see him messing his hair.

He sighs. “Marco, aren’t you forgetting something?”

“Am I?” Again with the questions, and here Buggy had thought Marco was quick on the uptake. “I mean we do have some contacts in Water Seven and some of our allies have territories there but it’s not enough, we are too many people, yoi. We’ll need a lot of medical supplies, repair materials and islands to lay low in.”

“Marco, I’m in Paradise,” Buggy points out with a huff. “I have contacts from Sabody to East Blue and they are solid and numerous. You need your crew to disappear here? I’m your man. You need anything at all while in the Grandline, I can get it for you.”

“You…” Marco’s voice has gone hoarse. “You’d get involved?”

“My crew and I are not fighting,” Buggy quickly clarifies. “That’s not our specialty. But yeah, if you need non-combative help Marco, you just have to ask. Like I said, I owe you. And I liked the kid, can’t let him die on my turf, wouldn’t look too good.”

“I… Thank you, Buggy, thank you.” Marco almost sounds in tears and Buggy fidgets suddenly feeling very awkward.

“I told you to call your allies,” he reminds the bird-brain. “I didn’t just mean your dad’s. I’m not the only one that would come to your aid.”

This time, Marco is quick to understand his meaning. “Oyaji is mad at Shanks right now, he didn’t appreciate being told what to do.”

“If Shanks went out of his way to do so, it must be because Newgate needed to hear it,” Buggy retorts sharply.

“We can deal with our own business, yoi,” Marco huffs suddenly on the defensive. “Shanks didn’t need to give us ‘advice’ and we won’t need his help with Teach. We’ll get through this without him.”

“Sure, if you are willing to sacrifice half of your crew,” Buggy answers mercilessly. 

“Blue,” Marco’s voice has gone dangerously low.

“No,” Buggy cuts him off. “I mean it. Shallow your fucking pride and. Ask. Shanks. For. Help.”

The snail shakes its head. “I won’t be able to convince Oyaji.”

“I didn’t mention him, did I?” Seas, this is exasperating. “For goodness sake, Marco, you are a fucking pirate! Stop being such a goodie two shoes and go do something behind your father’s back for once! Shanks may not agree to an alliance with Whitebeard but he’ll always be ready to do a favor for a childhood friend.”

“He wouldn’t-”

“He will!” The nerve of this chicken, is he telling Buggy he knows Shanks better? “Trust me on this one. So you have my network and you’ll have Shanks’ army, pretty sure Teach won’t see this coming. Start prepping the rest, put everything in order so you can focus on this when the time comes and keep me posted, okay?”

“Aye, aye, Captain,” says Marco with a dry smile. “No wonder you’ve had Shanks at your beck and call since childhood, you are bossy , yoi.”

“What I am is right and you know it,” Buggy answers, resisting the urge to stick his tongue out.

“Yeah, that too.” Marco's smile softens and Buggy finds himself returning it. “I mean it Blue, thank you.”

“You are welcome,” Buggy answers. “Marco I… Well, I’m in a bit of trouble myself. Nothing major,” he clarifies before the man can freak out. “But could I put my first mate in charge of this party for now? He has my absolute trust and access to all my resources.”

“Of course,” Marco responds. “But are you sure it’s alright? If you need help…”

“I’ll ask for it,” Buggy lies. “I’m fine, promise. And I’ll be available if you ever need another pep talk.”

“Oh fuck you, this was not a pep talk,” Marco complains indignantly. “I’m the one that gives pep talks.”

“Sure Birdie, you keep telling yourself that.”

“I’m hanging up on you.”

“Finally!”

Buggy is laughing when Marco’s face disappears from the snail and keeps laughing while dialing Shanks’ number.

“Someone sure is in a good mood,” Shanks sounds hungover which only makes Buggy laugh harder. “Bugs! My head! It’s killing me!”

“Sorry, sorry,” he says insincerely to his drama queen of a friend. “What is this I heard about you telling Newgate how to do his job?”

“You heard about that, eh?” Shanks smiles cockily. “I try to help, I even bring him the good sake and he goes and attacks me! How is this fair?”

Buggy has a question of his own now. “How did Marco not dismember you for bringing his sick old man alcohol?”

“I’m not afraid of that turkey,” Shanks retorts insincerely. “He refused to join me again, Bugs!”

“How terrible of him.” He smirks. “Who wouldn’t want to be on your crew?”

“Idiots, that’s who,” the redhead grumbles. “There’s no smelly back-stabbers here.”

This grabs Buggy’s attention, distracting him from their banter. “So you went to warn him against Teach then?”

“Luffy’s brother is chasing him,” Shanks explains. And wait what? Ace was Strawhat’s brother? But he had been so polite! “Told him to call him back.”

“No wonder he was mad!” Buggy sighs in exasperation. “The kid left on his own, Whitebeard told him to stay.”

“Oh.” Snail!Shanks face grimaces. “I poured salt on the wound, eh?”

“I’m afraid so,” Buggy agrees. “Anyway, the kid’s in Paradise now and has no intention to come back unless he does so with Teach’s head in tow.”

“You’ve met him?” Shanks asks, sounding really curious. 

“Yeah, and let me tell you, he’s far more pleasant than his brother, he didn’t once kick me in the balls!” So Buggy is still salty about that, sue him!

“Yeah, he was a good kid.” Shanks’ tone is pretty serious now and Buggy doesn’t like it. “He’s walking into a trap.”

“I know and so does he.”

“He’s not letting that stop him though, is he?” Shanks asks in a very hypocritical exasperated tone.

“He’s a D Shanks, what do you think?”

“I think you’re right, D’s are bullshit.” For once, Shanks sounds as tired as Buggy usually feels. It’s weird. “So it will be war then?”

The fact that Shanks reached this conclusion before Marco reaffirms Buggy’s convictions that the Whitebeard needs a nap, only sleep deprivation could have made him slower than Shanks.

“Yeah, and I told Birdie we are helping.”

His statement is met with an avalanche of questions. “ We ? Are you fighting? Wait, you talked to Marco? Since when are you two in contact? Why didn’t I know this? Are you coming to the New World? What about your crew?”

“Calm down, Shanks,” Buggy orders though he can admit this is a bit entertaining. “Ace stopped by my ship, pure coincidence, I promise. So I made him call Birdie because you know how he gets when his chicks are away from him and I have a feeling he’s particularly protective of this one.”

“Okay,” Shanks says slowly. “I follow you so far.”

“Problem is, he didn’t have a denden so he had to call from mine, which allowed Birdie to call me back later,” Buggy waits for a nod before continuing. “It was bad Shanks, he needs help but he won’t ask for it because he’s got that big brother complex that makes him feel responsible for everyone in his crew up to and including his Captain.”

“But you aren’t in his crew,” Shanks points out. “So he could talk to you freely.”

“Exactly,” Buggy nods. “And well, like you said, there’s a war coming. And considering Teach’s actions it will happen in the first part of the Grandline. They don’t have too many contacts here.”

“But you do,” Shanks finishes with a smile. “They will owe you big after this.”

“I’m paying Marco back for that time he didn’t snitch on us making out,” jokes Buggy trying to wave Shanks' words away. “And it’s not like I’m getting involved with the dangerous part.”

“But apparently I am?” asks Shanks, raising an eyebrow.

“Yup,” Buggy says with a smirk. “I volunteered you. You’ve got a score to settle with Teach anyway and Marco covered for you too.”

“Marco saved my life and yours more than once back in the days,” Shanks reminds him with his serious tone. “If he needs my help, he’ll have it. Now tell me what you’re planning.”

Buggy smiles before launching on an explanation about his contacts and what they can do, sometimes he really likes how well Shanks knows him. Only sometimes though.

Chapter Text

Buggy’s room is not small but it feels a bit crowded with him, Mohji, Cabaji, Richie and Alvida all standing there. Normally they have their meetings in the communication room or out on deck but right now, privacy takes precedence over comfort.

“What’s going on, Captain?” asks Mohji who is trying unsuccessfully to keep Richie from laying on Buggy’s bed.

“It better be important,” declares Alvida with a flip of her hair. “I was in the middle of training the men.”

“Torturing them, more like,” mutters Cabaji under his breath.

“It’s important,” Buggy confirms. “Something big is coming and I need our contacts to be ready. We are preparing for a worst case scenario which means being able to give aid to a thousand and six hundred pirates and hide them all away so they can recover. Wait no, that’s just the crew, if we count the allies let’s say over two thousand. Also materials to fix over fifty galleons, and probably at least twenty spare ships in case the damage is too big. Food for everyone too, of course, and medical supplies.” 

All his officials are looking at him like he’s mad.

“Who are we aiding?” Mohji asks dumbfounded.

“With those numbers, I’m more concerned with who they need aiding from ,” comments Cabaji.

“What are we getting involved in?” wants to know Alvida.

“Whitebeard drama.” For some reason, it seems like his answer only shocks his nakama more.

“Whitebeard?” Mohji yelps. “That’s way out of our league.”

“Yeah, Ace was nice and all but I don’t wanna play with those big names,” Cabaji nods, for once completely fine with agreeing with Mohji.

“Agreed, why should we help them anyway?” Alvida demands. “They are stronger than us, they can deal with their own problems.”

Buggy chuckles, pleased that his people are capable of thinking critically and applying common sense even if it means going against him. “Don’t worry, we are not getting involved with the fighting, I left that bit to Shanks.”

“Shanks?” Alvida shrikes. “Redhead Shanks? What do you mean you’ve left that to him? Do you know him?!”

“Oh yeah, Captain and Shanks go way back,” Mohji brags.

“Used to be in the same crew,” expands Cabaji. “Captain’s got him wrapped around his little finger.”

“Shanks and I have an understanding,” Buggy corrects, smacking Cabaji lightly for the last comment. Mohji snorts at his phrasing and Buggy glares at him, luckily Alvida is too busy processing this new information to notice. 

She’s a pragmatic woman though, and goes back to asking the important questions quickly enough, “Still, what could threaten two Emperors and their crews?”

“I don’t know,” Buggy admits. “But the man behind this has been planning it for 20 years while pretending to be a good son to Newgate so anything is possible.”

“Again, why are we getting involved with such dangerous monsters?” demands to know Alvida.

“Because I owe Marco.”

“Marco? As in Marco the Phoenix? That Marco?” Mohji’s eyes seem about to pop out of his face.

“The very same, I’ll introduce you two later since you’ll be in charge of communicating with his crew.”

“What?!” Richie has to go curl around his master to stop him from fainting. “Captain, please, can’t you do that?”

Buggy sighs, he had been hoping he could postpone this particular conversation for a bit longer but it seems like now is the time.

“I think it will be pretty difficult to do so from Impel Down.”

His statement is met with complete silence. On one hand, they have all stopped freaking out, on the other, they are now pale as ghosts.

“What do you mean?” Cabaji is the first to break the silence but he does so in a whisper.

Buggy sighs again.

“I tried to kill Monkey D Garp’s grandson in front of hundreds of people,” he reminds them.

“If you wanted that brat dead he would be,” declares Alvida with a huff.

Mohji nods. “Yeah, and we can keep running away from Garp, that’s the reason we are in the Graveyard anyway, right? Easier to hide.”

Buggy hates that he has to shatter their hopes but, “That man’s like a dog with a bone, he’ll follow us till he gets me in shackles. And he’s too strong to fight, sooner or later he’s catching me.”

“So you’re just giving up?” Alvida asks angrily.

“I’m changing strategies,” Buggy corrects. “Let the man catch him and scratch his itch. The marines don’t know a thing about me, they have me down as a non user. And do you really think they will care that much about an East Blue pirate? No, they will put me in the upper levels without seastone cuffs.”

Cabaji smirks though his face still looks ashen. “You are planning a prison break.”

“Isn’t that flashy?” Buggy winks at him. “But in the meantime I need you guys to keep an eye on this drama. And keep my… vacation away from Marco’s and especially Shanks’ ears. They can’t afford to be distracted right now.”

“I don’t like it,” Mohji declares, still looking unsure. 

“But you will obey me anyway, right?” Buggy asks. 

Mohji sighs but nods reluctantly. “Of course, Captain.”

Buggy ruffles his hair, he hasn’t done it in years but he has the feeling the beast tamer will allow it for once. “Good, while I’m away, Alvida will be in charge, we can meet again tonight to discuss that and what I want you to do for Marco but now I need a word with her.”

Cabaji and Mohji grumble a bit but they obey. Richie does not, sitting himself down right in the middle of the room.

Buggy gently pushes him towards the door, “You too, big guy.”

The lion doesn’t move.

“Come on, I promise you belly rubs tonight if you go.” Still nothing. “And my share of the steak?”

This finally seems to work because Richie sends him a calculated gaze before deciding that he can be trusted and starts walking towards the door very reluctantly. Buggy watches him go with a smile and closes and locks the door to his room the second he’s out.

“You are a liar,” Alvida points out as soon as they are alone.

“I’m a pirate,” Buggy shrugs. “It does come with the job.”

“But still, why lie to those two?” It’s three but Alvida still hasn’t fully grasped that Richie is as much an official as Cabaji and Mohji. “They would walk through fire for you.”

“And that’s exactly why,” he retorts. “I can’t involve them with Garp or Impel Down, it’s too dangerous.”

“And the Whitebeard situation isn’t?” Alvida asks, raising one of her perfect eyebrows.

“Marco and Shanks will keep them safe, they know what will happen to them if they don’t.” Buggy may not be strong but he is very good at blackmail. “And you will ensure that they don’t try to do anything stupid like breaking me out.”

“Right, because they would be interfering with your amazing plan of escaping from the most secure prison in the world,” she says with a tone that Buggy doesn’t appreciate.

“Yes, that’s exactly what you’ll say to them,” he agrees, ignoring that it had been sarcasm.

“But you don’t have a plan, do you?” she insists.

“I have… an idea,” Buggy answers.

“And is that idea ‘they won’t take my devil fruit into account so that should be useful’?” Alvida asks with a huff. “Because let me tell you, you’re going to need a lot more than just that.”

“I have a bit more prepared,” Buggy protests. He raises his arm and separates it in the middle to show the blade he’s hidden between his flesh. “I, at least, got a way to smuggle things inside.”

“Great! You’ll be able to do your make-up there,” Alvida says with fake cheer. Buggy frowns and pointedly doesn’t tell her about the eyeliner pencil hidden between his ankle and leg. He’s got an image to maintain, okay?

“Look, will you help me or not?” he asks. “I need to know I can count on you to keep the crew safe while I’m away.”

Alvida frowns. “I don’t know how long I’ll be able to fool them into believing you’ve got everything under control.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve been doing it for over a decade and they still haven’t caught on to the fact that I’ve got no idea of what I’m doing!”

She has the gall to laugh at his face. “The only one you are fooling is yourself if you truly believe that.”

“Not the point,” Buggy protests. “I need you, Alvida, I need you to take care of them. So yes or no? Will you do it.”

Alvida lets out a long sigh. “Yes, of course I will. We are in an alliance after all.”

“Thank you,” he says, and it comes out far more raw than he intended.

“Just, tell me why,” she asks. “Why go after that brat if you knew this would be the result?”

“How could I have predict-”

“Don’t bullshit me, Buggy,” Alvida cuts him out. “You offered me this alliance even before Loguetown, it didn’t make sense then. You are stronger than me, and more knowledgeable. Sure, I helped you out but you didn’t have to make me your co-captain. You did it because you saw this coming.”

“Monkey D Garp is… unpredictable,” Buggy starts, ignoring Alvida’s eyeroll at his understatement. “I didn’t know if Orange Town would have been enough to make him come after me.”

“So you decided to ensure he did? Instead of laying low?” Yeah, her incredulity is fair, it does not sound like him at all. “And why engage with him in the first place? Orange Town didn’t need to happen either”

“Shanks asked me to make sure the brat was ready.” It’s something he’s said a hundred times but today, he’s saying it to someone that calls him out his bullshit.

“And you do everything he asks?” she asks with a frown. “Did he threaten you? Didn’t he care about you ending in Impel Down.”

“I don’t and he didn’t,” he quickly points out. “Threaten me, that is. He’ll care a lot when he finds out I’m there.”

He’s already dreading that. The idiot may destroy Impel Down after his escape.

“So…”

“So Orange town was a calculated risk,” Buggy admits. “Loguetown was me being an idiot.”

“Which is rare for you, so why?”

She’s not going to drop it, is she?

“Because Shanks gave him that stupid hat, okay?” he finally admits. “I needed to know why. That’s one of our last mementos from our Captain. Shanks wore that from age seven til meeting the boy. He once punched Marco for damaging it and then came to me in tears, begging that I fix it. It was his treasure so why would he give it to some snooty East Blue brat? What made that boy so special? I needed to know.”

There’s a moment of silence before Alvida lets out a long-suffering sigh. “And did you? Find out, I mean.”

“You also fought him,” Buggy reminds her. “You must have noticed it too.”

He doubts Krieg or Kuro did but that’s the reason he didn’t offer this alliance to them.

“He’s strong and determined,” Alvida begins. “But it’s not that, there’s hundreds of strong, promising pirates. When you cornered him in Loguetown he accepted death with a smile and didn’t give up on his dream even when he knew his life was forfeit. That’s a bit more special but not the reason either, is it? No, he… he inspires people. He gave my choreboy the courage to rebel and follow his dreams and he convinced pirate hunter and pirate thief to work for him. That’s what it is, right?”

Buggy nods. “Yeah, he has a way to turn everybody into his allies and to force them to give him the best out of themselves. I wanted to see how his nakama would react to seeing him beaten, if they would come to his aid or be disillusioned.”

“And? Was the answer to your satisfaction at least?” 

“I don’t know,” Buggy shrugs. He hadn't known what answer he wanted in the first place. “He’s got some of the same qualities as my old Captain, that's for sure. And he took being executed the same way he did. It almost brought me back twenty years but then again we were in Loguetown.”

Alvida gasps and Buggy realizes what he’s just admitted. Only one pirate has been executed in Loguetown in the past twenty years. He sighs, oh well, she’s his ally, and he’s already trusting her with his most precious treasure.

“At the very least,” he says with fake casualness. “That whole debacle ended with that fucking platform destroyed so I’m still counting it as a win. I’ve hated having to look at it every time I went to Loguetown, it’s not the monument Captain Roger should have had.”

“Are you telling me that you were on the crew of the Pirate King?” asks Alvida, and for the first time since Buggy’s known her, she actually looks a bit afraid.

“Surprise.” Buggy flashes her a peace sign. 

It seems like Alvida is having trouble finding her words because she opens and closes her mouth several times before managing, “But then, why…”

“Why did I turn out like this?” Buggy finishes for her. That’s the question probably everyone has when they learn of his ‘glorious’ career start.

“What? No, that actually explains quite a lot about you,” Alvida tells him, and Buggy feels torn between pride and indignation. “I mean why would you risk Impel Down? They will kill you!”

“They would, if they knew who I was,” Buggy admits. “Luckily, the less gifted of Roger’s apprentices died a couple of months after he did. He was hunted down by his enemies and one managed to drown him. There were a lot of rumors going around about how bloated his corpse had become.”

Alvida chuckles at that. “You’ve always been smart,” she admits. “Still, there’s a lot of old timers in Impel Down, if one recognises you…”

“They are all in the deeper levels, I won’t go there,” he promises. “And the only marine that could recognise me is Garp who won’t say anything.”

“You sure about that?” Alvida asks. “He does have a grudge against you.”

“Yeah, but he’s never said anything and I’ve been active in East Blue for a long time. He’s not going to speak now, he’ll just let them judge me for the crimes that I have actually committed, not for those of my former Captain.” That’s one of the only things Buggy can respect about the marine.

“If you say so,” Alvida doesn't look too convinced, hell if Buggy didn’t know her better, he’d say that she’s concerned about him.

The denden on his desk rinks and Buggy suppresses a wince. That’s probably gonna be Jozu, he really should have talked with him last night. He’s gonna be mad he reached out to Marco and not him. Seas but the Whitebeards can be so needy sometimes. “Alvida, we’ll continue this conversation later.”

“I’ll make sure that we do,” she declares before leaving the room.

Buggy sighs, of course she will. Why can no one in his crew ever just obey him without question? Then again Alvida is a Captain in her own right so maybe she should be granted some more answers than the others.

When he moves to close the door he realizes that a name has appeared on his right wrist, he pauses and looks at Alvida who’s already barking orders to some of their men. There’s something written in her right wrist as well though she’s too far away to make it out. Not that Buggy needs it, she hadn’t had a soulmark before their conversation so there’s only one name it could be.

Shanks is going to be unbearable.

Still, it’s nice to have confirmation that he and Alvida are partners for life, it will make it easier to leave the crew in her capable hands.

Chapter Text

Impel Down sucks.

And yeah, that’s fairly common knowledge. But Buggy cannot emphasize enough just how much it sucks.

He’s been here for a couple of weeks and he’s already had enough.

It’s cold, damp, noisy and full of the worst roommates Buggy’s ever had. And he’s including his time in the Oro and his time in the Circus when he says that. He’s used to sleeping surrounded by drunkards, criminals and what politie society would charitably refer to as ‘the scum of the earth’. He’s served his time! But at least back then there were a couple of redeemable people he could turn to. Also he was allowed to go for a walk when the urge of punching someone got too much. Or disappear into the crowsnest if they were too far away from land.

He’s tired of seeing the same four walls, the same fifty idiots and the same atrocious decor. 

He’s going insane and it’s not because of something that’s happening. No. It’s because of all the things that aren’t .

The worst thing about the ‘prison from hell’ should not be the boredom.

Okay, the torture at the begining had been pretty inconvenient too. But stretching the user of the Bara Bara no Mi is pretty useless. All Buggy had to do was make sure he was being discreet when separating his body and put on a show of screams and whines.

He could also have done without the scorching hot water. Then again, after two weeks of living in filth without a shower in sight he’s almost tempted to anger the guards enough to make them put him back into the boiling bath. Almost.

And for all he complains about roommates, he’ll admit that his cellmates could be worse. 

They are brutes and uncivilized but they are too dim to be actually cruel (or entertaining much to his annoyance). They haven’t even tried to rough him up since he smacked their leader in the head on the first day. Which is good, of course, nice that they are  fast learners and don’t want to bother Buggy. But by the Seas, would it kill them to just provide a bit of excitement to Buggy’s hellish stay?

One of them at least managed to smuggle in some cards and Buggy’s played some hands with them here and there. And by playing a couple of hands he means that he destroyed them. Too bad they can’t play for money but then again, favors are a far more useful currency in this kind of environment.

All in all and despite all his petty grievances, he’s not doing too bad. The first level really is a joke and Buggy’s lived in far rougher conditions. It would be bearable if it wasn’t for the noise. And he doesn’t mean the snoring. No, he means the Voices. Thousands of them, from prisoners in guards alike. All ranging between discontent and in agony.

Buggy wants to tune them out, he wants to stop hearing and feeling their pain and fear and despair.

But he’s not an idiot. He’s never been the strongest, able to rely on instinct and brute force. The way he fights, the way he wins, is by knowing more than his enemies. He cannot afford to close himself off to the wealth of information his Observation Haki provides him. Even dulling it would be too dangerous. He needs to know how many presences he has around and the level of bloodthirstiness they have.

That doesn’t make his headache any less painful though. Once this is over, he’ll find a nice deserted island and take a week long nap in blessed silence.

But first he has to escape.

He’ll grant that it’s a bit more difficult than he had previously thought.

Not impossible of course, nothing is. But he’ll need to carefully choose his moment. Failure means coming to the attention of people Buggy really doesn't want to know he exists. Also more security and probably being dumped into one of the lower levels.

So he waits.

Something is going to happen at some point. Some prisoners will be brought in or out and Buggy will have a ship to smuggle himself away in. It just needs to be a prisoner famous enough that the attention of the guards is on them and not on whoever is slipping into the cargo for a ride to the nearest island.

But Buggy’s patient, he’s always been. He just hopes Fate doesn't decide to screw with him again this time, it stopped being funny years ago.

Not two seconds after he’s had that stupid, irresponsible thought, one of his cellmates burst into the room, coming back from his bathroom break.

“Did you hear?” he asks and without waiting for an answer he continues. “They’ve caught a Whitebeard.”

Of fucking course.

Buggy wants to bang his head against the bars until it learns not to think stupid things again that dare the universe to mess with him. The universe doesn’t need to be dared, the universe fucking loves messing with him so why is he making it worse?

“A Whitebeard?” one of the others asks. “Are you sure it’s not someone just claiming that for protection?”

“I’m sure. Guy’s a commander, I’ve seen his wanted poster before.”

It’s not like Buggy hadn’t known exactly who it was when he’d heard ‘Whitebeard’ but he can’t help but sigh. That kid really likes to cause problems, doesn’t he? Maybe he truly is Strawhat's brother despite all his politeness.

“The young one right?” he asks, just to have it confirmed. “Fire logia, in charge of the second division?”

“Yeah, Fire Fist,” his cellmate nods.

If one of them had half a brain cell bouncing around in their brain, their next question would have been ‘who’d you know that?’. Of course, none of them do, they just continue to gossip about this new arrival.

Well, this changes things. If Ace stays here for longer than a week, the Whitebeards will storm down the place and Buggy can catch a ride with them. If they don’t, Buggy’s just found his high-ranking prisoner to keep the guards distracted while he slips away.

It’s just that…

Well, this is Ace . He’s Marco’s nakama. And Jozu’s and Vista’s. And the brother of Shanks' little protegee who’s definitely going to get himself involved in this somehow.

And this is probably related to Teach so Buggy’s already volunteered to help. Not to mention, he’s volunteered Shanks to help too.

He’s going to do something really stupid, isn’t he?

Sometimes he worries that spending his formative years with the Rogers messed him up somehow. 

A normal, sane person would just use this opportunity to escape. But no, Buggy had to go get attached. And now he knows himself well enough to realize he’ll try and free the idiot boy that didn’t listen to his warning and was stupid enough to get caught.

“What level are they keeping him in?” he asks, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Level 6, apparently,” his cellmate shrugs.

“That doesn’t exist,” another of the prisoners snorts. “It’s just a rumor.”

“Does so.”

“Does not.”

Buggy massages his temples, tuning out the two idiots bickering.

Of course. Of fucking course. Really, why is this his life? Does the universe enjoy watching him suffer?

How the fuck is he going to manage to rescue the brat?

Buggy takes a deep breath and starts thinking happy thoughts. Like what he’s going to ask Marco as a payment for this. A treasure chest will most definitely not be enough. Maybe a ship full of treasure? That’d be a start. And of course an IOU, so many in fact that Buggy will never need to hire muscle ever again. The Whitebeards can take care of his dirty work from now on. 

If he survives long enough.

Happy thoughts, he reminds himself. Happy thoughts.

“Isn’t that where the warlords are?” The idle chatter of his cellmates has continued, completely uncaring of Buggy’s internal crisis. When the bickering seems to be about to start again, he clarifies. “Level 5 or 6, I do not care, but the deepest one.”

“Sure, Crocodile is there, and Jinbei too.”

What the fuck is Jinbei doing in prison? And why didn’t Buggy know about it? Really can the world calm down for two freaking minutes while he gets his brain caught up?

“I heard some old-timers are there too, guys from the Silver Age.”

Sure, several of Captains old enemies are definitely imprisoned there. Buggy’s not really looking forward to meeting them again. Chances he’s going to be recognised are high especially since Bullet’s probably there too.

Wait.

Bullet is probably there too.

Well now, that changes things.

For some reason Bullet seems content to stay in Impel Down, he must be or he would have escaped by now. But the guy’s always been a pushover, at least when it came to Buggy and Shanks. And sure, that may have been because they had been children when they traveled together, but Ace isn’t that old. If Bullet’s not willing to help Buggy, he’ll just play the ‘the marines are going to execute a guy that’s barely in his twenties’ card. That should work well enough, Bullet will definitely be able to relate.

Because they are going to execute Ace, aren’t they? They must know they can’t keep hold of a Whitebeard for long. There’s no prison strong enough to prevent the rest of the crew from rescuing him.

Buggy was convinced that the marines were under strict orders not to catch Whitebeards so Sengoku didn’t have to deal with the ramification of the arrest. 

But there’s one way the marines can make use of the Whitebeards' crazy protectiveness of their own. Spring a trap masquerading it as a public execution. Both sides will suffer tremendous losses but if Sengoku’s smart, he can swing it so they end up on top.

Buggy will have to hand it to Teach, making your enemies deal with your other enemies is quite the smart solution to his little problem. It’s also slimy and underhanded though so Buggy will not be calling to congratulate him any time soon.

Well, at least he wasn’t wrong. There will be a war and it will be on the sane side of the Grandline. He just hadn’t accounted for the enemy to be the marines.

Suddenly escaping this shithole is the last of his problems. Really, can’t things go to plan at least once?

So how does one get to the lower levels? What’s in the lower levels? Who can he recruit to help with this crazy plan? How long does he have to implement it?

Buggy needs to start getting information yesterday. Well, he has been building something of a network since he got here, time to see how efficient it is.

A nice deserted island. He reminds himself. Treasure chests, silence and the chance to take a nap undisturbed. And maybe Shanks too. If he brings the good booze he can stay for a couple of days.

Oh well, he knew what he was getting into when he let Marco get a hold of his number. Nothing good ever comes from involving oneself with people that willingly live in the crazy side of the crazy sea of the crazy world they are in. Too bad Buggy’s also a pushover when it comes to his childhood friends.