Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Did he expect this? No. Definitely not.

But in hindsight, considering this boy’s nature and determination, they should’ve expected this. Him and Shanks.

Damn.

“Say Buggy, are you going to keep standing there gaping like a fish or what?” Luffy asks while waving his hand in front of Buggy’s face. He looks back at the pile of blugoris he managed to K.Oed before looking back at Buggy and beams, “man, am I glad to see you! How’s Shanks? Do you guys still travelling together? Where is he anyway? Ugh I’m hungry, do you have any snacks?”

So, initially Buggy had a plan when he decided to infiltrate Impel Down for his search of his late captain’s son. Step one, bait some pirate crew with a minimal bounty of 100 million berri into a fight, not too big just small enough to alert nearby Marine officials of a ruckus.

Step two, win said fight and immediately go into hiding when the Marine arrived.

Step three, in the middle of the arrest of those poor sacrificial offerings, sneak in to the Marine vessel unnoticed, but first make sure they will go straight to Impel Down (the first attempt at this plan, Buggy accidentally boarded a vessel heading to the G5 base, in the end he had to steal one of their dinghy to go back to Sabaody).

Step four, take a nap while waiting for the ship to arrive at Impel Down, saving energy is great when you never know what you’ll encounter, rumor has it Davy Jones himself is napping in  Impel Down.

Step five, the easiest part, steal a Marine uniform for easier disguise, punching a Rear Admiral in the process is a bonus.

Step six, find Portgas D. Ace, fight whatever shit comes in his way, free the damn brat, regroup with Shanks and got drunk! And coming across one Monkey brat was definitely NOT on the plan.

Buggy could see how his carefully made up plan slowly starting to crumble. Suddenly he really regrets his decision on coming here later than planned, it wasn’t his fault the first Marine ship was heading the other way, okay! Alright, enough being shocked.

“Luffy?! What in the deepest darkest ocean hell are you doing in Impel Down, you little pipsqueak?!”

“Hah? What’s Impel Down?”

One of these days, Buggy realized, he’s gonna have an early stroke thanks to this brat, oh he really wants to cry right there and then, “sometimes I think the ‘Will of The D’ is just a flashy mark for stupidity...” he grumbles under his breath.

“This flashy hellhole is the IMPEL DOWN, you moron! Again, what are you doing here???”

“Oh, um, I’m gonna free Ace!” The boy has the audacity to smile at him after that statement. That happily, carelessly said, statement. Buggy bet he doesn’t even have a plan. Oh how he suddenly feels so tired, he rubs at his temple, “tell me, brat, how did you manage to break into this prison—no wait, I don’t wanna know...”

Luffy just tilts his head and shrugs, “what about you Buggy, what are you doing here? I don’t know this prison have a hidden treasure.”

The older man perks up at the word ‘treasure’ but soon realizes it’s just Luffy’s stupidity talking. He moans at that, “No, you rubber brat, I’m looking for Ace too. Or so at first, before you decided to show up. Did you forget that I was searching for him too the last time we met in Water 7? In Alabasta??”

“Ah... I forgot. Anyway, you wanna help?”

“What the—no!!”

Luffy’s smile drops at that, “aw why? I thought we’re friends” he pouts.

Buggy stalks towards Luffy and grabs his shoulders hard, he needs to emphasize what he’s going to say, “I said no because you are the one who’s gonna help me find Ace, and help ME free him, because I bet you don’t have any plan, right?”

Guilty, Buggy also doesn’t have any kind of plan on how to get to Ace. His original plan was only on how to get to Impel Down and he had zero information on what he would face inside, at least Buggy’s confident in his fighting and stealth skills, and his own quick thinking so he had no worries for himself. But now Luffy’s in front of him, in Impel Down, on a same mission.

Oh, he has no doubt when it comes to the younger man’s fighting ability, but the boy is a walking hazard whose recklessness had caused several major incidents across the Grand Line. Buggy now feels like they have flashy huge signs pointing the jailers toward their whereabouts, even though the area they’re standing currently is deserted. Luffy broke free from Buggy’s grip indignantly.

“Hey! I have a plan too!”

“Oh really?” Buggy taunts. “What is it then?”

“Step one, break in to prison. Step two, save Ace and have lunch. See? It’s a plan!”

He doesn’t even have the energy to pull his hand across his face in exasperation. Whatever, there’s no way in hell he will let Luffy roams this shithole by himself, one brat in underwater jail is enough, let alone two.

Sometimes he’s still questioning why does he feel like he have such deep connections with those two boys, ugh Shanks probably influenced him too much, it really was a mistake docking at Foosha in East Blue all those years ago. Getting attached is really annoying.

“No.” Buggy scowls. They need to proceed to the next level now if they want to hurry, he decides it’s time to move again, now with a plus one.

“Come along, rubberband. Don’t wanna get caught now, are we? Unless your rubber ass wanna miss your brother’s execution.” Then, more softly to himself, “hope they don’t move forward the execution time”.

Suddenly a pair of long arms wind themselves around Buggy, followed by an entire body that send them both tumbling down the next hallway.

“I knew you want to help me, Buggy!” Luffy exclaims loudly, while still hugging his newfound partner-in-crime.

And loudness is not what they really need right now.

Because in front of them was a surveillance den den mushi and its eyes were flashing red.

“It’s too early for us to be caught.” Buggy sobs.

Chapter Text

10 years ago, Foosha village, Goa Kingdom, East Blue

“Tell me again, what. Are we doing here.” Was the same question Buggy had been bugging Shanks for the last couple of hours.

What were they doing here, in a little no-name island, in the middle of EAST FRIGGING BLUE, of all the other great seas! But no matter what his friend had been thinking of this unexpected turn on their en-route back to Grand Line, Shanks had to keep the reason a secret or Buggy would definitely scalp him alive.

He had a mission.

Just a little curiosity to quench.

He just hope the time they were back to Grand Line he would still has his limbs complete.

“Don’t worry your pretty little blue head, Bugs! The crew just need some days off after that last heist we did in South Blue.” He smiled to the rest of their crew. The crew however, didn’t seem to share the same sentiment with him and whined. He ignored them of course, because they were going to have fun here! If his intuition was correct.

“Call me ‘Bugs’ one more time—“

“Bugs!”

THUD

Benn Beckman, the only person with the most rational mind on the ship, just sighed for the thousandth time since his Captain-Number-One announced his wish that they made a turn towards East Blue. Truth was, he also thought the reason was quite unnecessary. All their supplies were enough till they reach the first island on Grand Line, all the crews were in perfect health and spirit, and their log pose was already set, well... weeks ago when they were ready to cross the Calm Belt. Not to mention the reason Shanks told them was so made up it was suspicious, he should’ve known, he could read both their captains like open books. So Benn just sighed tiredly when he heard Shanks’ head met the deck. Served him right.

Buggy step over the lying figure on the floor, walked to the starboard and jumped off the ship. Tiredly the others followed suit and jumped down to the landing dock below. Benn crouched down to grab the red haired man and proceeded to unceremoniously threw him over the ship, then he followed suit. Shanks landed perfectly standing unharmed and he then began to trodden down the dock towards Buggy in the front of the group, ready to enter the little island village.

The first thing they noticed was the silence of the village.

Too silent.

For a backwater village in East Blue, the citizens should not be too privy to pirate crews sailing around their peaceful sea, let alone an up and coming pirate crew with too hefty bounties on their heads. Shanks had hoped that their jolly roger wouldn’t be known here, but the emptiness of the village seemed to proved otherwise.

“See?! I told you we should put down our flag before we docked, captains!” said their sniper, Yassop, while shuffling his hair frustratingly, “this is a tiny island town, there is a huge chance no pirate crew ever been here before! We should've been a no-name group of explorers instead, they would love that and trust us more! I knew it ‘cuz I’m also from East Blu—”

“Shut it, Yassop! We know!” Buggy cut in before they need to hear another East Blue tale from their crew mate, who just grumbled.

The group stopped in their track when they heard several hushed voices from a pub called ‘Partys Bar’, then a kid’s voice yelled, “Let me go, Makino-san! I can punch them out of our village!” and an older woman’s, “Boys, no!“ They heard some more ruckus from inside the pub and then a pair of tiny feet running towards the pub’s entrance.

Without putting their guards down, Shanks, Buggy, and the rest of the crew shared questioning looks but none of them feel the need to raise their weapons yet. The pub’s door then opened to reveal two tiny children each holding a pan and a... knife? And boy, did they ready to charge at them. The taller one who held the pan was the first to ran with a battle cry and jumped straight to Shanks, aiming his head.

Unfortunately for the boy his target was a much larger person with an incredible reflex and power, but fortunately for the boy his target managed to easily captured him by the shirt.

Shanks, confused but amused by the boy, smiled placatingly at him, “That sure is an amazing jump, you little runt.” The boy then wiggled furiously, releasing a series of swear words no kids should ever known. But while the taller one aimed at Shanks, the shorter one, who held a knife, aimed the person next to Shanks, Buggy.

“AAAAAAA!!! LET ACE GO YOU BIG JERKS!”

Buggy being Buggy, smugly folded his arms and tilted his head, “Or what, you’re gonna chop me with that knife? Gyahaha! Try me, brat!” Said brat then ran towards him with his own battle cry. And then—

SLASH

The smaller boy gaped looking at Buggy who seemed completely unharmed. “Hmm... I didn’t feel a thing. What was that?” Next to him Shanks started to snickered while the taller boy in his arm, Ace, was also rendered speechless and stopped his wiggling. The smaller boy then looked at his surprisingly blood-less knife, then at Buggy, then at the sight of slashed limbs reconnected in front of him, then back at the limbs’ owner. The rest of the crew laughed at the boys’ surprised faces. “Did you really aim your knife right, little brat? Did you even know how to use that knife, huh? Gyahahahahah! You should've seen your face!"

Hearing the laughs outside, people started to trickled out from inside the pub, each person also carrying all sorts of made up weapons. A woman then ran to the still-shocked smaller boy and dragged him back. “Please! Forgive them, let the boy go!”

Shanks, who forgot his grip on the other boy’s shirt, finally lowered him down. The second the little feet hit the ground he was met with a kick to the shin, then the runt ran back to the smaller runt and the woman.

“Ow! You got the spirit, kid.”

“Who are you jerks and what are you doing in Foosha!”

“Calm down, kiddo, we mean no harm.” Shanks held up his hands in surrender, “We’re just explorers in need to restock our supply.” He said with a smile to the other villagers in front of the pub. The villagers, who all still held up their ‘weapons’ with wary but ready to threw their kitchen wares and garden tools at them, were not convinced at the word ‘explorers’. Shanks looked back at their crew who also turned out to be holding their own weapons. “Really?!”

“They started it first!” Yelled one his crew in the back.

Shanks turned to Buggy, who instead just seemed bored with the turn of events. “Buggy, help me out here.”

“Nah, it’s all on you. You’re the one with this plan.”

“Aw Bugs, c'mon!”

“No! And stop with the ‘Bugs’! It's so not flashy.”

“Buggy, my friend—“

“Hey red nosed mister—“

“WHO YA CALLING RED NOSE?!” Buggy turned on his heels only to be met with a sight of two full blown eyes no longer shocked but instead full of wonder directed at him. The two kids’ supposed guardian still looked at them warily while still trying to pull the two boys back with no success, the pair of them rooted on the spot with twinkles in their eyes. He silently questioned the red haired next to him who only answered with a shrug.

“Can you show us that trick again?? 'Twas so cool!” the smaller one exclaimed while the taller one nodded his head eagerly. “How did you do that?! I was sure my knife went through your feet! Like woosh! It sliced, then bam! They went back together again!! Are you a magician—OH ooh! Are you a travelling magician??”

Buggy looked panicked with the bombarding questions from the two kids while Shanks and the crew started to snickered clearly enjoying it, but before Buggy could utter a word to dissuade the two over excited boys, a short elderly man with glasses emerged from the crowd of confused villagers still huddling in front of the pub.

“You two there! I know who you all are. I knew it, I recognized those rainbow heads everywhere...” the old man exclaimed, his eyes squinting from behind his glasses.

In an instant the two groups of adults and the two children were silent. All of them glanced at the old man who slowly approached the red and blue haired men, waiting for him to continue. Both Shanks and Buggy tensed up but still managed to keep a calm appearance. The old man stopped his stride a few feet away from them, “My name is Woop Slap and I’m the mayor of this village. But before we continue—Makino, bring the boys back inside.” His order was met with protests from the two boys, but one glare from the mayor made them hang their heads and begrudgingly followed the woman back inside the pub. After only the rest of the villagers and their group of 'explorers' left then Woop Slap continue to speak.

“Save that 'explorers' nonsense for the Marine. What are you two Roger’s brats doing here?” he asked the two captains. That managed to surprised all of them.

Shanks always thought that their existence while sailing with their late captain was a little to none known facts only few enemies of Roger knew, like Whitebeard, Shiki, Garp—unless...

“Don't bother your thoughts, boy. Garp told me everything about Roger Pirates, including his two so-called apprentices with the straw hat and a red nose. Heh. He’d run after your asses if he knows that you two dare to come here with your own pirate crew. Should I try calling him now? The infamous up and coming new pirate crew, commandeered by not one but two ex-Roger pirates, have the nerves to show up in Monkey D. Garp’s hometown.”

Oh. Oh he’s right after all. This is old man Garp’s hometown.

Wait.

This is really Garp’s hometown.

Oh no.

Oh shi—

Before he could finished his train of thought or be proud that his gut never disappoint him, he felt two pairs of hands grip both his shoulders tightly. He didn’t need to turn his head to know Buggy’s and Benn’s angers oozing from each of his sides. He didn’t need to turn his head to see the rest of his crew’s glares directed at him. Nope, he could felt it all just fine. He knew and expected all of them would be flipping mad at him when they knew the real reason why he redirected their route to East Blue, but he had hoped it wouldn’t be this soon.

Hahah

Well, he's screwed.

Chapter Text

“Buuuuuuuuggyyyyyyyy we’ve been running forever!”

Gasps,

“Let’s stop for a while here!”

Another gasps,

“Okay, after this corner then!”

They’re still running,

“That corner then!!”

Not yet.

“BUGGY!!!”

Nope.

Buggy expects another yell from Luffy, but instead a rubbery arm winds itself around his torso. “OKAY, FINE! We’ll stop at that next turn.” He finally yields.

He feels a tug that renders his movement, and looking back he sees the rest of his companion’s form lying on the ground. Sighing he pulls the arm around him above his shoulder until the rest of Luffy’s unmoving form is on his back. “What the shit, kiddo, where’s this weight coming from?” He starts to jog towards the corner carrying Luffy on his back.

“That maybe my breakfast. Boa gave me a lot.” Luffy sighs tiredly.

Buggy frowns, “Boa who? Pssh, I almost thought you mean ‘Boa Hancock’.” He jokes while making the turn. When they arrives he puts Luffy down to sit against the wall. There’s no way this rubber brat knows the mysterious Shichibukai queen.

“Yeah! Y’know Boa too? Man, she’s so cool! And a lil bit creepy tho.” The younger man says casually while stretching his legs. Buggy is looking around the perimeter before doing a double take at Luffy, who only tilts his head.

“...Are you saying that you’re coming from Amazon Lily?” Buggy asks, squinting his eyes at Luffy. A nod answers his question. “Mmm it’s understandable what with that’s the closest island to this hell hole, but how exactly did you enter Impel Down?” He can’t take it anymore, he’s losing his own battle with curiosity and he needs to know.

“Well, she told me to hid under her clo—“

“WHAT?!”

“Yeah. She told me to roll myself around her body like a donut, then she covered me with her huge coat. And then she entered this place, I didn’t know what she told the Marine but it worked!”

“...Then she wondered around alone and released you to the wild? Is that what you're trying to say?”

“Eh, prolly.” Luffy says while picking his nose.

Unbelievable. Buggy sighs, okay so that was it, now he knows how the boy entered the prison. It amazes him how Luffy manages to made Boa Hancock helped him. There are still plenty of things he wants to ask Luffy but that can wait, they need to think of the next step on what to do... and hopefully fast, who knows how many guards were alerted by that cursed surveillance den den.

Years ago while he was still part of Roger’s crew along with Shanks, his captain always joked that Buggy was the luckiest person ever to sail the sea. Roger would go as far as to say that no one from Marines to pirates to bounty hunters, had the kind of luck that Buggy had. He used to think his captain’s claim was a big joke because he was the weakest member of the infamous crew, and what else could he do other than mastering the art of hiding, evading, and dodging attacks?

Oh Buggy was always annoyed whenever the others stated the same thing, so he secretly started to train harder than ever to prove them all wrong. That luck wasn’t the only thing he had, that he could also be physically powerful like the rest of them. That he also deserved to sail on the Oro Jackson, even though he was the only one with an additional ability from his devil’s fruit. And his flashy luck.

Okay, maybe after many years and experiences he finally conceded that maybe his captain was right after all. He has the best flashy luck ever. Because now he faintly hears the sound of keys jingling. Dozens of keys, if his ears are to be trusted. Hmph who does he kidding, he always trusts his senses. Buggy’s brain starts turning its gears into a plan, “Hey Monkey boy, you done stretching your legs?”

Luffy turns his head and merges “Mmhm” into both an answer and a question at the same time. So Buggy starts to whisper their plan and what they need to do.

Landed a position as a warden in Impel Down is a big accomplishment, that’s what Mohji keeps telling himself everyday. He has been working in the underwater prison for a year now, before that he used to work in a circus along with his lion, Richie. His lion who somehow also landed the same job as an Impel Down guard, just one floor below in Level 2.

Richie was placed there because he’s an animal, a huge lion, a pet, his pet; and not because Richie’s more fearsome than him. Definitely not because Saldeath decided that his pet lion is a more formidable guard than himself and stationed him in Level 1 instead. He’s definitely not jealous, Richie wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for him. No, he’s definitely not jealous. No. Shut up.

He’s very sure that his position here is just as important as those stationed on levels below, in fact he’s just got promoted as the vice caretaker of Level 1. The head caretaker just went on a lunch break, so he gave him the floor keys and ordered him to check on the surveillance room. In there Mohji saw that the two den den supervisors’ eyes were bloodshot red; they told him they haven’t slept for three days, so Mohji, as the new vice caretaker, told them to take a break for an hour and promised them that he would oversee the entire surveillance monitors. But after half an hour he didn’t think watching the empty hallways and corners on the monitors was that effective, so he took the initiative (definitely not because he was bored, of course) to patrol around the whole level and see the areas for himself. He doesn’t really trust those surveillance den dens with their creepy eyes.

And here he is now. It’s been another half an hour, the den den supervisors ought to be back to the surveillance room by now, he can tell them to rest assured. He also need to report to the head caretaker that he’s been patrolling the whole level and saw nothing’s wrong.

Mohji is now walking back to the surveillance room, pleased of himself of a job well done, he closes his eyes feeling relaxed.

Probably not the best thing to do because he stumbles on something and falls flat on his face. Quickly sitting up he looks back down where he came from, good, nobody sees him. He then look down on what he stumbled upon and finds...

A foot?

A detached foot.

Mohji is trying to process the lone foot and doesn’t see the footless person sneaking down on him soundlessly, and only interrupted from his trance by a pair of gloved hands suddenly covering his eyes and mouth! And something rubbery and flexible winding itself around his body!!

He’s being hoisted up and then pushed onto a nearby wall. The hand covering his eyes disappears and he sees—

Next to him is a boy grinning from ear to ear and apparently the rubbery thing around his body are his arms. He looks just like that infamous rookie pirate, Strawhat Luf—

Wait. That is Strawhat Luffy! What’s he doing here?! Did the Marine finally catch him?! He didn’t see any intruders on his patrols!

The hand on his mouth tightens its grip, Mohji finally takes a look at his other captor.

Oh no.

The fact is, Impel Down and its whole guards and wardens were already warned by Marine Headquarters prior to Firefist’s capture and upcoming execution, that there is a big chance of some big shot pirates trying to save Firefist, whether before or during the execution. Impel Down was ordered to tighten both their protection and defense, inside and outside the prison.

And now in front of him:

Red nose.

Blue hair.

Detached limbs—that's real?! Holy shit

“Oi sheephead, you’re going to help us or by Neptune, I’m going to chop your body to pieces. Understood?”

Mohji can only nod. What can he do, he's out of his league, he may sometimes be delusional but he knows when to stop. And that's because his other captor is none other than one of the mentioned big shot pirates.

Buggy The Clown.

Chapter Text

10 years ago, Foosha village, Goa Kingdom, East Blue (flashback continuation)

After much bargaining with Woop Slap, fortunately Shanks and Buggy managed to convince the mayor to not call Garp on them, unfortunately with the price of the crew’s entire alcohol provisions, much to Shanks’ dismay… he was saving that South Blue sake for when they finally re enter the Grand Line, but hey, so much is the price for not having Monkey D. Garp on their asses. Oh well… if Shanks shed a tear or two no one said anything, his crew probably thought it served him right.

“Mayor, now that you and the rest of the villagers here learned that we meant no harm,” Shanks ignored the muttered ‘that remains to be seen’ “will you give us the permission to rest here in your humble little village for a while? We are quite weary after our journey from South Blue.” He didn’t miss the chance to throw a charming smile for the entire bar to see.

“Hmm… how long is a while are we talking about here? Don’t get me wrong, but as you can see, our village doesn’t really have much to see here. So I think you understand where my concern is coming from.”

To be honest, Shanks couldn’t see where his concern is coming from.

“He means he still doesn’t understand our intention in coming here, captain.” Benn sighed from one of the nearest tables. “And honestly I think you owe the crew an explanation of your plan as well. You didn’t even tell Buggy and he’s also a captain.” Benn’s explanation was met with varying agreements from the rest of the pirates scattered around the bar, except from his fellow captain. Wait, that was weird, Buggy was supposed to be yelling at him right now.

“Wait, where’s Buggy?”

“Oh! The blue haired man? The boys pulled him outside asking him to show them his tricks, they looked so excited.” The barkeep, Makino answered him with a smile. Ah, he could already imagine the exasperated look on his nakama’s face having to deal with rambunctious children.

“Well okay then. Mayor, Makino-san, my fellow nakamas, and the rest of the people here. I admit, my initial intention in coming here was too brash and unexpected. I am but just a simple pirate with a thirst for adventure, and what could be a more exciting one than to come to the least pirate-invested sea of all blues? Who knows what could we found on this calm sea? I mean, beside the formidable vice admiral, my former captain was also hailed from East Blue, one shouldn’t blame me for being curious of it. For the uh… temptation of the unknown, shall we call it—”

“Cut the bullshit, captain!” Hongo cut him off while the rest of the crew yelled in agreement.

Damn, they called it. Okay so Shanks might not be the best in bullshittery alright, that was Buggy’s job, his blue haired compatriot was better than him in that department. But what should he say? He didn’t really have any motive in coming here other than curiosity, his lengthy explanation was half true anyway, Captain Roger and Garp were two big names that hailed from the East Blue, and Shanks was merely curious of the place. But he thought his crew wouldn’t be satisfied with that explanation…oh—

Wait!

“Hey Yasopp! You’re from around here as well right?” He was met with a multitude of groans from everybody while the man in question started to brighten up. A bright idea graced Shanks’ mind for once, which was a rare occurrence. “Why don’t you make a visit to your hometown while we’re here? I’m sure your son and your wife will be excited to see you!”

That was met with a loud gasp from the man and a raised eyebrow from Benn. Man, Shanks hoped it was convincing enough.

“Oh really, captain?! I can go visit them while we’re here?!” Yasopp stood abruptly from the table at the back, his fallen chair clattered loudly, Lucky Roux managed to saved the man’s drink from toppling over.

“Yeah sure! I think it’s about time you pay them a visit don’t you think? I don’t want us to be the reason for keeping you away from them.”

“No way! This crew is probably the best thing I have after Bancina and Usopp. And the fact that now you’re allowing me an excursion to visit them is j-just… the m-more reason…” Yasopp started bawling while the others next to him started to pat him on the back comfortingly.

“It’s about time he pays a visit anyway.”

Everyone turned to the new voice entering the bar. Buggy had the two kids each dangling from his detached hands, he sauntered with arms crossed to the bar and disposed the giggling kids on the bar top. “Benn, you should probably go with him. Neptune knows if he’s stable enough to navigate there himself, take Lucky Roux with you as well, in case Yasopp start going out of control and being chased off of the village.”

“I should take offense to that, captain Buggy, but I’m too happy right now!” Buggy just rolled his eyes at that.

Benn Beckmann squinted his eyes between his two captains, before releasing his biggest sigh yet ever since breathing in the East Blue air, “Fine. Mayor, do you have any small boat we could borrow? We’re going to Gecko Islands. Roux, take some supplies from the ship for around ten days, I think that’ll suffice. And captains,” Both the red haired and blue haired men flinched at their first mate’s tone of voice, “I trust you both to not start anything while we’re gone, and to be well behaved and civil with the villagers here. We don’t want a Marine hero tailing after us to the Grand Line for causing a ruckus at his hometown.”

“Hey! I’m the responsible one here!”

“That’s true, captain Buggy, but let’s be real for a bit, sometimes your luck would invite a huge surprise coming our way and with our other idiot captain over there, it could acclimated into something we wouldn’t want, especially in Garp’s turf.”

Benn’s snark was followed by a lot of amused chuckles from everyone at the bar. And Shanks should be mad at that but he was still relieved his impromptu plan seemed to be going smoothly, he didn’t want Benn to backtrack now so he kept his mouth shut. The red haired captain glanced at the other captain, whose hands were currently being chopped into tiny pieces by the two curious boys (no wonder it was quiet over there), and Buggy only mouthed at him ‘you owe me one’.

After seeing three of their crewmembers off for their little excursion to the neighboring islands, Buggy told the rest of their remaining crew to take a break and do whatever the fuck they want and made them promise him to be on their best behaviours (his subconscious that sounded suspiciously like Benn threatened him with a hypothetical gun for that), they were trying to lay low after all.

Buggy sighed, he tried to put his hands on his knees, only to be reminded that he was still missing both of his detached hands. “Damn brats” he grumbled to himself before started the trek back towards Partys Bar. He now felt someone caressing his hand, and he knew who was the culprit this time.

Entering the now empty bar, he saw Shanks speaking cheerily with the two boys, the younger one seemed delighted by whatever he was telling them while the older one tried to look uninterested but Buggy knew an act when he saw one. He reached the little group to the end of Shanks explaining what a devil fruit is. “And here’s Buggy. I think he would be better in explaining to you boys how a devil fruit taste like.”

“I had no idea how they tasted like since I swallowed mine whole. How could you forget that when you were the one who caused it, you moron. And give me back my hands!” Buggy snatched both of his hands from Shanks’ gentle hold. “Don’t you two rascals get hungry? It’s lunch time, where are your parents to drag you for lunch time anyway?”

“We don’t have parents.” The older one replied haughtily, while the younger one nodded.

“Ah… then where do you live?”

“In the forest.”

“…Huh?”

“They live in the mountain with their caretaker, Dadan.” Makino said coming from the backroom. She put two juices in front of the boys, and alcohol for both of the men.

“She’s a bandit, but terrible at it.” The older one, Ace, supplied, while the smaller one, Luffy, just snickered. “Grandpa cannot stay with us for long, so he made us live with Dadan, Makino sometimes visit us there.”

Buggy blinked, tried to grasp the info. Sure, he didn’t have the most typical childhood with Shanks and they were raised by pirates in the sea for Neptune's sake, but it sure was weird hearing children, other than them, being raised by criminals. Who was he to judge anyway, his nakama seemed to take the info with more stride and only smiled indulgently at them.

The conversation continued with Luffy shooting up rapid-fire questions to the two captains about their pirate lives; what is the biggest animal they’ve ever seen, is there any flying island, have they ever punch a marine, and so on and so on.

While doing so, Buggy kept his gaze on Ace. The boy kept trying to appear uninterested with the whole piracy thing, but the man knew he was as curious as his younger brother.

Now it's Buggy who was curious.

“Hey freckles, your brother had asked us a lot of questions, don’t you have one as well?”

Ace looked surprised by Buggy’s inquiry, like he didn’t expect the man to notice his silence this whole time. He gave Buggy and Shanks an intense stare, like he wanted to ask something but don’t know how to approach it. The boy finally relented, “Do you both know Gold Roger?”

Buggy raised his brows at that, perplexed at the question. Oh yeah, the boy was not there when Woop Slap clocked them as Roger’s brats. He glanced at Shanks, who seemed curious with the question.

“We both knew him, yes.”

“Is it true he was a monster?”

“Hmm you could say that, yeah.”

“… I knew it.” Ace muttered quietly, but Buggy heard it and he was sure Shanks too.

“Why do you ask that?”

“If he was truly a monster then he must be a terrible human. He must be a horrible father.”

Buggy’s face went dark at that, what the fuck did this brat mean. “What do you know about him as a father huh?”

“You said so, that he was a monster. Then he also gotta be a terrible father.”

“Watch your tongue, kid.” Buggy really did not wanna get mad here, in East Blue and Garp’s hometown of all places, but what the fuck is this random kid say about his late captain? He was starting to like these children earlier but now one of them was saying this kind of shit about beloved late captain?

“What, he’s dead anyway. We don’t need terrible father like him in this world.”

“You better shut your mouth now, you little shit.” Buggy usually never let any Roger slander to rile him up, but he had no idea why this one felt different. And this one managed to pissed him off better than the others. He ignored Shanks’ warning gesture to back off. He wouldn’t back off, not when some little fucker was spitting on his only father figure's image. Maybe it was because of that; no one that had talked shit about Roger in Buggy's face ever vilify his image as a father figure. Buggy never in his life fought a child but he was thinking of it now. “You don’t know anything about that man. What the fuck you know about a father anyway, I seem to recall you don’t have one.”

“Buggy.” Shanks warned him loudly. He knew he went too far, but he couldn’t help it. Luffy and Makino were silent during the whole thing, he thought they realized how tense the atmosphere now.

Ace was glaring at him challengingly now with fire in his eyes.

“Oh yeah? I didn’t have one since that monster is now dead. Good riddance!”

After that exclamation the young boy then ran out of the bar, Luffy hot on his heels with a cry of ‘Ace wait!’

It took Buggy’s heated brain a second longer to digest what the brat just said before running off.

And when he got it, his eyes widen in realization.

His jaw dropped.

His hands trembled.

Buggy fell to his knees.

He took a shaky glance at his fellow nakama in red.

He only saw Shanks’ eyes widen in shock.

Before his eyes started to blur.

Oh...

Captain…