"Man, I'm so hungry~," complains Luffy, hanging over the railing of their ship. Seen off with a salute by the Marines...what other pirates could say that they'd ever experienced such a thing. Run sits at the stern of their small boat, holding fast to the rudder as they sail onwards to parts unknown.
"When the hell are we gonna reach land?" Zoro wonders.
"As long as we don't lose the wind and tide," begins Run, sighing softly. "Should just be a few hours. At least that's what Rika's mother said, anyway."
"Aaah, I'm so hungry!" Luffy groans yet again, turning and leaning back against the railing of the boat. His head falls back and he stares up at the sky. "Eh? Oi, I think I see a bird." Run briefly glances skyward, squinting his eyes against the glare of the sun before looking away.
"I'll be damned, there is a bird...mixed in with these spots I'm now seeing." He raises his free hand and rubs his eyes.
"I bet I can catch it!" Without waiting for either Zoro or Run to respond, he suddenly stretches his arms out to grasp the top of the mast. "Gum-Gum...Rocket!" Luffy sails skyward, disappearing into the sun over head. Several long moments pass with no sign of Luffy before a voice finally reaches their ears. "Oiii! Help me!" Zoro and Run both scramble about the boat quickly, retrieving a pair of oars before beginning to row rapidly after Luffy. It seems that he's actually caught in the birds beak...just how massive is this bird?!
"Moron!" screams Zoro. "Just what the hell are you doing?!"
"Carried off by a bird!" adds Run. "You gotta be kiddin' me!"
"Hey! You! Stop!" scream the voices of several men. Zoro and Run look over their shoulders, surprised to find a trio of men bobbing about in the drink.
"Shipwrecked people at a time like this?" growls Zoro.
"We can't pass 'em by!" Run asserts. "Oi! We can't stop, so grab on as we pass by! You'll have to haul yourself in!" Thankfully, the trio of men actually manages to cling tightly to the edge of the boat, and even pull themselves up in properly.
"Well, well, I didn't think they would manage it!"
"You bastards!" growls one of them, drawing a saber. "Stop this boat right now! We're members of Buggy the Clown's crew! This boat belongs to us now!"
"Huh...?!"
Covered in bumps, scraped and bruises, two of the three men rapidly in an attempt not to further agitate the green haired swordsman sitting across from them. Run sits on the edge of the boat across from Zoro, watching the horizon as they're rowed along. "Don't slack off," Zoro tells them, glaring at them. "Because if you morons we lost sight of our friend. So you better row if you don't wanna doggy paddle to shore!"
"Aah, Luffy will be fine," Run assures him. "As long as the bird spits him out on dry land we should have any problems." The red head reaches up at scratches at the stubble along his jaw line before finally turning his attention to the men at the bow of the boat. "You three...you said your Captain was named Buggy?"
"T-That's right," says the man in the middle. "He's the one in charge around here. He's a terrifying pirate who's eaten-"
"A Devil Fruit, right? He's got a big red nose, and gets kind of sensitive about it?" The trio of men stare wide eyed at the red head who chuckles a bit in response. "Dahahahaha~! Well, I'll be damned! I heard so many stories about him growing up but I never thought I'd actually bump into him!"
"Oi, you know this Buggy guy, red?" Zoro questions him.
"Well, I've never met him personally, no. But I've heard all about him from my old man! He told me that he's a real riot! So, maybe this will be pretty interesting..."
To the eyes of Zoro and Run, the town was completely abandoned, as if every resident had decided at the same time to just up and move away...which when the two considered the presence of the Buggy Pirates probably was exactly what happened. Common folk just wanted to be left alone, and not get involved in the violence, after all. Making sure that the boat is properly moored, they follow the trio of men up the dock and into the city properly.
"Hmm, lets split up for now," Zoro tells Run. "We'll cover more ground that way."
"Right," agrees Run. "Let's meet back up here at sunset." Zoro nods in acknowledgement but before either of them can step off from the docks, however, a massive explosion rocks the whole island, destroying nearly an entire block of buildings. "What the hell was that?" Run turns to the trio of men they'd fished out of the sea. "Oi, what was that explosion just now?"
"One of Captain Buggy's beloved Buggy Balls," explains the man.
"Buggy Balls?" echos Zoro, brow furrowing for a moment before he turns to look at Run. "You think that this Buggy guy might have an idea of where Luffy is?" The red-head nods in agreement, a smirk appearing on his face as he does so, and the two begin walking in the direction that the explosion came from. Thankfully, it's easy to spot due to it's height, and the fact that the roof is occupied by a large tent. The closer they get the most noise they can hear, too. It sounds to them like a whole crowd chanting 'fire' again and again.
It becomes clear to the two that another 'Buggy Ball' must have been loaded, so they move a bit quicker in an attempt to avoid getting caught in a potential blast. They reach a set of stairs leading to the roof, just as the sound of fighting picks up over-head. They take the stairs two at a time, and reach the roof in time to see an orange haired young woman smothering the fuse of a cannon aimed at their Captain. Her agonized scream is like nails on a chalk-board, but she doesn't relent in her attempt to smother the lit fuse even as members of what seems to be Buggy's crew close in on her rapidly from behind.
"Oi, look out!" shouts Luffy, causing her to turn rapidly to face the men. She shuts her eyes tightly, awaiting the impending onslaught...and slowly opening her eyes after several tense moments of silence. The men who'd launched themselves at her all lie motionless before her, and beyond them a pair of men stand proudly.
"That was sure a close call!" laughs Run. "Exactly how many of you were planning to jump her at once?"
"Run! Zoro! Boy, I'm glad to see you two! I thought I was gonna be bird food for sure for a moment there! Hurry up and get me outta here, huh?"
"How long are you planning to keep playing around for?" Zoro asks him, turning his back on Buggy's crew. "First you let a bird run off with you, and now you're stuffed inside a cage." Zoro sighs and begins approaching the caged Luffy.
"Well, it's actually a pretty interesting story, ya know."
"So, you're Zoro, huh?" asks a gruff voice, giving the swordsman pause. "So...what do you want, huh? You here to take my head?" All eyes turn to a large man walking out of the crowd gathered in front of them. Run stares at the man in surprise. This man looks...almost exactly how Shanks described him. Blue hair with a great big round red nose that looks exactly like a clown's nose.
"Not really," Zoro tells him rather bluntly. "I gave up the pirate hunting business. So, I'm not interested in you at all, Buggy."
"Oh, but I'm interested in you!" Buggy flashes a grin as he reaches into his coat, pulling a pair of daggers that he rapidly twirls around in his hands. "See, killing you will undoubtedly increase my fame!" Zoro turns to face the man, drawing his swords quickly.
"Careful, Zoro," Run warns. "Remember what I told you."
"Yeah," grunts Zoro, shoving the tsuka of his third katana in his mouth. "I remember." Buggy charges forward, leaping in Zoro's direction quickly...only for the swordsman to lunge forward and smash him square in the face with the flat of his blades. The man recoils violently, bowling over several members of his own crew before eventually sliding to a stop flat on his back. "He ate the Chop-Chop Fruit, and can't be cut." The crew gathered before them all stare wide eyed at the swordsman who slowly sheathes his swords.
"Y...You...!" growls Buggy, slowly pushing himself up with a hand held to his face. "How did you know?!"
"Aah, that's my fault," Run tells him simply, drawing Buggy's ire immediately. He draws himself up to his full height quickly, raising his daggers as he stares at the red head...and slowly begins to furrow his brow. "The old man mentioned it in one of his stories, Buggy."
"You...that red hair...there's no way." Run flashes the man a grin in response, and his eyes widen in surprise immediately. "You've gotta be kiddin' me! I'd heard a rumor but I never believed it! That bastard...Shanks actually popped out a brat, after all!" A wave of murmurs begins to spread through the gathered crew as all eyes fall on the red head who simply offers a nod in response.
"Yup...well, technically two, but that's not really important." Several moments of tense silence follow before Buggy actually begins to chuckle...and then it turns into full blown laughter. It's an action that members of his own crew nervously follow, unsure of what to do exactly, at least until one of them steps forward with saber raised.
"C-Captain, what do you-" Before he's even finished his sentence, a dagger flies forward and strikes the ground in front of him and he rapidly scrambles backwards.
"Don't take another damn step, you idiot!" bellows Buggy. "Can't you even read the damn room?! That man...he's the son of 'Red Haired' Shanks, an old friend of mine! It's business that doesn't concern anyone else here!" Run reaches up to scratch the back of his neck rather sheepishly.
"Aah, there's no need to be so serious, Buggy," Run tells him. "I think that maybe we got off on the wrong foot here. See, Zoro and I are just here to pick up our captain-" Run raises a hand, and points his thumb over his shoulder in Luffy's direction. "-since we've found him, I don't suppose we could trouble you to cut him loose so we can be on our way."
"Who do you think you're talking to?" barks one of his crew members, a man wearing a checkard scarf. "You think you can just attack out captain and-"
"Shut up, Cabaji," Buggy orders, silencing the man. "This is between me and red hair."
"Look, Buggy, Luffy's in a cage, and we had a little scuffle but no one got seriously hurt. I say we call it even, personally. There doesn't have to be anymore fighting." This sends a murmur of disapproval through the men gathered, that's only silenced when a set of keys very suddenly lands at the red heads feet.
"Take your 'captain' and go. I don't wanna see any of you again."
"C-Captain! You can't be-" The mans protests are silenced by a dagger that strikes him in the chest. He staggers backwards before falling motionless.
"I said shut up! This doesn't concern any of you!" Run bends and retrieves the keys, tossing them over his shoulder to Zoro who catches them with ease. "Like I said, take your captain and go...and tell that bastard Shanks that he owes me a boat load of treasure for this the next time we meet." The red head nods in understanding, pacing backwards a few steps before turning away and walking towards the cage with Zoro. "Aah-ahh! I didn't say you could go anywhere, girl." All heads turn towards the young woman who now stands motionless beside the cannon. "Those three are the only one's free to go...did you think you could steal from me, betray me and just walk away?"
"E-Eh? No!" calls the woman. "That was just a little misunderstanding! I'm sure that we can work out some kind of deal, right?"
"Run, we can't leave, yet!" Luffy calls from the cage while Zoro quickly searches through the keys for the right one. "Nami is a navigator! I want-"
"Buggy," Run begins, turning to face the man again. "I'm afraid that we can't just leave her behind." There's a soft 'click!' and the door to Luffy's cage is finally opened, allowing Zoro to undo the ropes and finally springing Luffy from his confinement.
"Ehh?" grunts Buggy, focusing his attention on them once more. "Are you three still here?"
"Well, it just so happens that she's with us." Buggy narrows his eyes in response.
"Don't get carried away, brat. I'm telling you to just take your captain and go. Don't think that just because-"
"Treasure," Run tells him quite simply, interrupting the man. "Leave Nami, and this town alone...and I'll tell you where you can find more treasure than you could spend in five life times." Run offers the man a rather charming smile in response to his doubting expression. "Did you think that I could just come all the way out here without some kind of money?"
"Do you really think I'd fall for that crap?! Your father used to pull that same crap on me all the time whenever he wanted me to do something!"
"Well, I guess if you're not interested, then we can just go collect it ourselves. It's really your-"
"H-H-Hold on a damn minute! Alright, just wait!" Buggy stares at the red head for several long moments, brow furrowing before he finally snorts in response. "Fine! I got my treasure map back anyway, so I guess it doesn't really matter in the end if I cut that girl loose! So tell me where it is!"
"You want me to just blurt it out where everyone can hear? Or do you want the location written down?" Buggy snorts and reaches into his jacket, producing a piece of paper and a pen which he sends over to the red head via one of his own disembodied hands. "I'm glad that we could come to an agreement, Buggy. The old man said you were a reasonable guy." They watch as the red head scrawls on the paper, folds it up and finally hands it back to Buggy with the pen. Several long tense moments follow as Buggy opens the paper and scans it's surface before finally nodding. "Well?"
"Pack everything up! We're leaving!" After a few seconds of no response from the crew he rounds on them quickly. "NOW, DAMN IT! I want to get to that treasure by nightfall!" They're left to watch in silence as Buggy's men quickly tear down everything that's been set up and begin to rapidly make for their ship one by one until finally only Buggy is left standing across from them. "You...You're even slicker than your father, brat." When the last of his men has decended the stairs, Buggy finally turns away from them and follows. He stops abruptly at the top of the stairs and glances back at them. "You had better not be lying to me." With those final words, Buggy departs and they're left standing in silence.
"That went much better than I-"
"Are you an idiot?!" demands Nami, marching up to the red head who recoils in surprise. "How could you just give away that much treasure so easily?! You should have just kicked his ass and been done with it! Aaaaah! Enough treasure to last five life times! Don't you know what that kind of Beli means?!"
"There's no treasure there."
"Eh?"
"Well, that's not entirely true. There's probably still a few barrels of sake left lying around. We stopped to party on that island once before we landed in Foosha Village. It's completely deserted, so we could get as loud and rowdy as we wanted without bothering anyone." Run suddenly grins from ear to ear. "See, the old man told me that Buggy is a sucker for treasure. All ya gotta do is dangle a deal in front of him and he can't help himself. So, I just told him what he wanted to hear to get what we wanted."
"That's so dishonest!" exclaims Nami, Zoro and Luffy in unison.
"Hmph! I suppose I shouldn't have expected anything less from a bunch of pirates!" huffs Nami, turning away from the trio.
"If it's that big of a problem, I think I can catch up to Buggy," Run tells her, causing her to recoil quickly.
"N-No! I-I think you did the right thing! Sometimes the end justifies the means, right? What's a little while lie in the grand scheme of things, right?" Luffy and Run break out into laughter while Nami back pedals, earning themselves several angry glares in response.
"You damn pirates!" bellows a voice, attracting their attention to the stairs just as an old man clad in makeshift armor charges up wielding a rake. "I'm gonna beat...every...one of you?" The old man scans the raised platform, surprised to find only the four of them standing there. "What happened to the pirates? Did you youngsters...take care of the pirates?" It takes them several minutes to explain every thing to the man, who they learn is the mayor of the town and named Boodle. "You chased them off, then?"
"Well...not in so many words," Run tells him. "Bargained with them, actually. But I doubt that they'll ever come back. He'll be so angry when he figures out the truth that he'll be too busy chasing after us to even think about coming back here."
"You young'uns...I don't know how to thank you for what you've done."
"Don't mention it, old man," Luffy tells him. "After all, we finally got ourselves a navigator, so that's good enough! Ohh! We should get going!" Luffy turns to face them with a huge grin on his face. "Now that we've got ourselves a Navigator, we can finally set a proper course!"
"We're leaving already?" Zoro asks. "Hmph. I was really hoping for a good fight."
"There's always next time," Run says, watching as Luffy goes charging towards the staircase. Zoro and Run follow after him, pausing briefly at the top of the stairs. "Oi, you coming or what, Nami?" After a moment of hesitation the woman signs and follows after them.
"What have I gotten myself into?" mutters Nami...
Sailing onwards to parts unknown. Normally that would some cause for concern but with a competent Navigator at the helm it becomes fairly easy to relax a bit. They'd quickly set sail after lashing their boats together, a surprisingly easy thing to do given the small size of the two of them. Run reclines against the railing of their boat, elbows draped over the edges and head tilted back to stare at a sky dyed pink and red by the setting sun. Across from him, Zoro shifts and the clinking of bottles sounds, attracting his attention. The swordsman holds out a bottle in his direction which he takes with a grin on his face.
"Seems like a good time for a drink," Run says, uncorking the bottle and upending it to take several long pulls before stopping. "Whew~! Man, that is ROUGH! What is this?"
"Rum I found hidden away," Zoro tells him, turning his bottle up as well.
"Maybe it should've stayed hidden. Ugh." The two men share a brief laugh before settling back into a comfortable silence. "Well...are ya gonna ask or should I just start?"
"What?"
"You know what, Zoro." The swordsman nods and Run sighs. "Shanks is my father. He's waiting for me on the Grand Line...well, not just him. Two very important ladies are waiting for me, as well." He raises his bottle and takes several drinks.
"Your old man...is he as strong as I've heard?"
"No. Rumors don't do the real thing justice. It's the difference between someone describing a rainbow and actually seeing it for yourself." Run flashes the swordsman a grin. "And I'm absolutely going to have surpassed him by the time we meet again. You can count on that."
"Hmph. Well, 'll drink to that, then, red..."