"I'm sorry about before," said Nami, who had come next to Luffy. "Hm?" "I lost control of myself." Luffy looked up at her with a smile. "It's okay! I'm sure you had your reasons." She stood back up and started brushing the dust off her clothes. "You don't have to explain yourself." "I'm so useless!" growled the mayor, clenching his hands into fists. He suddenly had a spear at his back. "Both ChouChou and these young one fought so hard and I, the mayor, am completely powerless to save this city!" The girls ran in front of the angry mayor. "Now calm down, Mr. Mayor!" said Nami. "There was nothing here 40 years ago. We worked together to make this land livable. We built homes, opened businesses, and created a community. This city and its people are my treasure! I won't let these Vandals go on like this anymore!" An explosion and more rows of houses were in ruins. "That was my house." Luffy suddenly remembered something scalding hot. She screamed and said, "Ahhh! Zorro was in there!" "I wonder if he survived." "Hey, Zorro, are you still alive?!" Nami looked at the ruins in shock. There was no way Zoro could have survived that! "Did you have to wake me up so rudely?" came a sleepy voice from the rubble. Luffy's face lit up and a wide grin spread across it. "Damn, I'm still tired," Zoro said, holding his head. A bandage had been tied around his stomach. "How come he's not dead?" Nami asked, stunned. "Great. You're still alive!" "That's unforgivable. I have enough! They have no right to destroy our 40 years of hard work just like that! I am the mayor! It is my duty to protect this city!" Luffy and Zoro looked at him silently while he spoke. He grabbed his spear and was about to charge when this time Nami grabbed him. "W-wait, Mr. Mayor!" "There are fights from which a man cannot run away! Isn't that true, kids?!" Luffy smiled. The man had the right spirit, but it would be certain death if he did it alone. "You're right, old man." "Don't goad him! What could one person do alone? It's too risky!" Nami gritted out the last sentence. "I'm aware of that." Surprised, Nami let go of him and watched him disappear. "Here I come, Buggy the Clown!" "He was crying." "Really? I didn't notice." "It's going to be really intense." "Shishi, yes, it will be." "It's not something to laugh at!" "It's okay. I like the guy. I won't let him die." "I assume that's an order." Nami looked after the two in disbelief. "You're going too?! You're hurt!" Zoro grinned and tied his headscarf around his head. "They may have wounded my body, but it's nothing compared to the wounding of my pride if I allowed myself to be defeated!" As Luffy ran past her, she said, "We're on our way to the Grand Line! I'll get the map back! Join us, Nami!" She held out her hand. "I refuse to become a pirate!" She slapped the hand offered to her and said smiling. "But why don't we form an alliance and help each other?" Luffy grinned broadly at her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~ Camp oft he Buggy Pirates ~

The three arrived just as Buggy had grabbed themayor by the throat with his severed hand and was holding him in the air. Shegrabbed the hand and ripped it from the mayor's neck. She held the gasping manin one hand while squeezing the hand in the other a little tightly. "It's theStraw Hat brat!" Buggy shouted. She looked up, grinning. "I'm here tofinish you off, like I promised!" Behind her stood Zoro and Nami. Buggyreached for his arm where his hand was missing, we seemed to be trying hard tofree his missing body part from the woman's grasp. Grinning, she let themtwitch and fidget a little before she took pity and let go. The hand flew tothe roof towards its owner, who looked down grimly. "Straw hat!" Coughing, themayor knelt behind her. Behind her on the right stood Zoro, his hands in thepockets of his pants and on her left had Nami positioned herself. "You brat!You really dare to come back," the clown nose said, before screaming,"and challenge Captain Buggy?!" Nami looked at the grinning Zoro andsaid, "Listen! All I want is the map and the treasures. That's all.""Yes, I know." "What are you doing here, children?" askedthe mayor, coughing, "You outsiders should stay out of this!" Luffywatched as the man slowly pushed himself back to his feet . "This is my fight.This is my city and I will protect it!" He reached for his spear. "Don'tinterfere!" The next moment Luffy had smashed the mayor's head against thewall of the next house. "Wha...?" Nami looked at the black-hairedwoman in shock. Zoro just watched this quietly from the corner of his eye. Eventhe Buggy pirates were surprised by the action of the straw hat wearer. Themayor fell unconscious to the ground while Luffy patted her hands together. Hereyes were in the shadow of her straw hat. "What the hell are youdoing?!" Nami shouted, "Why did you do THAT to the mayor?"Smiling, Luffy turned to her. "He was in the way." Nami looked at herwith her mouth open. THAT was her reasoning?! "Good idea. If the old manfought, he would only kill himself. It's better this way," said Zoro. "Don't beso hasty!" Luffy looked at the fanning orange-haired woman, a little confused.When Nami was like that, she reminded her a little of Dadan. "That could havebeen handled differently!"

Luffy stepped back into place and looked up atBuggy. He watched her carefully. "Then let's get started." She took a deepbreath and shouted: "Hey big red nose!!" The pirates stared at the woman indisbelief with their mouths wide open. She didn't seriously say that again.Startled and panicked, Nami clutched her head. "You shouldn't have said that!"Had she a death wish?! "You made me fucking mad!" Buggy growled. His face wascontorted into a mask of anger. Some veins stood out and pulsated noticeably."You dare to call me that? Fire the buggy cannon immediately!" The cannon wasaimed at the three. "Why did you say that, you idiot?" Nami saidbefore she started running. Zoro looked at it a little nervously, while Luffyonly smiled mischievously. They'll be amazed! "Hey, Luffy, run!" Zorosaid frantically. "It's nothing," she said, her eyes on the cannon. "Go zo hell!"Buggy shouted angrily. "That doesn't work on me." Luffy said quietly.The cannon was fired and flew straight towards Luffy. " Gomu Gomu no Fusen!" Her stomach ballooned into a huge ball. Hervest rode up to her neck but still covered her chest. The stomach itself wasexposed when the cannonball hit. Everyone present, except Zoro, stared in shockat the pompous girl. "What is she?!" asked one of the shocked pirates.Horrified, Buggy said, "Don't tell me that Buggy cannon..." The cannonballbounced off Luffy's stomach and flew towards the pirates. "She sent itback!" Zoro hit his head before muttering: "Tell us thatfirst..." The ball hit. A huge cloud of dust rose. Because of theexplosion, Luffy had to hold on to her straw hat. Nami had sat down on thefloor and was holding her head protectively. "It's all ok. "I met them,"Luffy said, smiling. "What the hell are you?!" Nami shouted from thefloor behind her. Zoro stepped towards her before saying in a serious voice:"Don't surprise people like that!" The house the pirates werestanding on was in ruins. Some of the knocked out pirates lay scattered acrossthe rubble.         

Zoro stood behind his captain with his armscrossed and looked at the ruins. Nami immediately got back on her feet andcontinued to snap at Luffy: "Ever since you fought the lion, I knew therewas something strange about you! That's something a human can't do!" Surprisedbrown eyes met angry ones again. "Explain me that balloon thing you did! Whatwas that?!" "It was a rubber balloon," Luffy said with his arms crossed and agrin. "I asked you WHAT the hell that was?! Are you some kind of monster?" Anoise was heard from the ruins of the house as a person stepped out. "Howdare you do this to us?" asked Buggy, who was holding two of his men, whowere unconscious and steaming, by the neck in front of him. He let them go. Hisarms were crossed over his chest as his hands flew in front of him. He himselfseemed unharmed. Disgusted, Nami crossed her arms over her chest as she said:"He used his subordinates as a shield, disgusting." Suddenly a voicecame from the rubble: "What happened here?" The person jumped out andlooked around, it was Mohji. When his eyes fell on Luffy, he screamed inhorror: "Ah, it's YOU!" Smiling friendly, Luffy held up a hand andsaid: "Hi." He began to fumble around in panic before turning to hiscaptain. "It's the girl with the straw hat! Ca-Ca-Captian Buggy, becareful! She also has devil fruit powers! She's a rubber human!" "What?!""Rubber human?" Nami asked. "Yes." She reached for her cheeks and stretchedthem. Nami put her hand over her mouth in shock. Buggy grinned as he said, "Thedevil fruits. That's how she was able to send the cannonball back." BehindMohji, someone else rose from the rubble. He held the unconscious Richie in hishand. "This is our greatest humiliation, Captian." The man had astrange hairstyle. On the left side he had long, black-green hair that coveredthe left side of his face. The other side was cropped and had three blondestreaks. He wore white trousers, a long, gray and blue, sleeveless vest withfringes, which was open and showed his muscular upper body. He also had aturquoise waistband tied on his waist and a white and blue checkered scarf thatreached to the floor. "Oh, Kabaji, I can't even describe my anger,"he said, looking over his shoulder. "Kabaji, you bastard! What did you do to myRichie?!" Mohji growled. "This cat? I didn't want my clothes to get dirty.So I used it as a shield." He dropped said lion. "RIECHIE!!!," Mohji shoutedworriedly and knelt down next to his lions, "Hey, Riechie, pull yourselftogether! Are you okay?" Luffy didn't know what the lion saw, but the nextmoment he was standing trembling behind a wall that was still standing. "Riechie.You bastard!" He tried to hit Kabaji, but he dodged and kicked him towards thesmall group. Screaming, Mohji shouted, "Get out of the way!" Smiling, she turnedher upper body slightly and lifted one of her legs. Nami suspected what she wasabout to do and ran for cover. "You..." she kicked. "...move!" She hithim in the side of the face and kicked him against the nearest wall. Nami lookedat the now unconscious man, before she turned to the black-haired woman. Shelooked back at her opponents.                    

"Captian Buggy," Kabaji said. The personaddressed looked behind him. "What's up Kabaji?" "Should I take care of thebrat?" "Yes. Show our wannabe acrobats a few of your tricks!" Kabaji grinnedbefore suddenly jumping high into the air and over his captain. He was holdinga sword and sitting...on a unicycle? As the bike touched the ground, he rode upto the small group and shouted: "I'm the absolute best juggler! Captian Buggyseems pretty mad at you. Be prepared, Missy!" He stabbed. However, before hecould hit the black-haired woman, Zoro stepped in between them. He had blockedthe blade with one of his swords, in his other hand he held the counterpart, thewhite one was still in its sheath. Surprised, Luffy looked at her first mate'sback. "I'm much better with the sword than you." "Roronoa Zoro.It will be my pleasure to end your career as a swordsman!" The two stared intoeach other's eyes before Kabajis spotted Zoro's bandaged wound. Luffy steppedaround him and, standing next to him, said: "Hey, Zoro, you're hurt. Betterlet me take care of him." "Don't interfere!" Kabaji's grin grew wider. "Nice wound that the captain gave him.""Clear the ring for the fire breather!" Suddenly he pulled his scarfdown from his mouth and spat fire into Zoro's face. He screamed and tried toprotect his face from the flames. His opponent took advantage of this and, toLuffy's horror, kicked Zoro's wound. Blood spurted after Nami squeezed her eyesshut. Zoro screamed before dropping one of the swords in pain as he fell to theground. "What is? Did that hurt?" Kabaji asked mockingly. The girlshad stood on the edge so as not to get in the way of the two. "That scum! Hithim again hard in the side," said Nami. Luffy just watched the action quietlywhile Buggy was still grinning with his arms crossed. Kabaji slammed his swordinto the ground before saying, "And now we come to the ever-popular saberdance!" Zoro had managed to get halfway up when Kabaji began to spin hissword like a propeller, kicking up the dust. "No saber dance number! All I seeis a lot of smoke about nothing." At the last second, Zoro was able toraise his swords to block when Kabaji's fell on him. He kicked Zoro's woundagain, causing Zoro to scream. He rolled across the ground as a result of thekick when Nami said tensely: "He got him again!" Sitting on hisunicycle, Kabaji looked at him lying on the ground. "Tired already? Youshould be ashamed of yourself. A man doesn't just lie down on the street."Zoro was breathing heavily. "Did you finally get it? Pretty stupid of you tochoose Captian Buggy as your enemy!" Sweat ran down Nami's face. "I just don'tunderstand how he can still fight with such a serious injury! It's unbelievablethat after everything he's had to endure, he still doesn't give up." Luffydidn't say anything, but continued to watch what was happening quietly. "Whyare you just standing here?! Can't you see that Zoro needs help?!" Namishouted at her. Luffy's eyes were still on her first mate. She knew men likehim and knew that it was not in there honor to let someone help them. Kabajihad one hand on his hip as he said with a malicious grin: "That's it, myfriend!" He got back into fighting position and drove off after shouting:"On to the finale!" "Oh man, that's it a disgusting guy!" Zoromuttered and stood up again. His gaze was directed towards the ground and hisposture was open as the scarf wearer raced towards him. He raised his sword ashe approached. "Well, did you enjoy stepping into my wound?" asked thegreen-haired man before staring at his opponent with cold, gray eyes. His lookcould have sent a predator fleeing. "You have no style!" Kabajistabbed Zoro's wound. But he didn't move a muscle. Those present looked at himin shock. Nami even clapped her hands over her mouth. "Zoro!" Luffyshouted worriedly. Why had he allowed himself to be met? He could have easilyavoided it. Blood sprayed and some pieces of the bandage flew through the airas Kabaji pulled out his sword and drove past Zoro. As he stopped he turned hishead to the swordsman. "But wh-why didn't you avoid him?" Nami asked,still shocked. Zoro didn't respond to her question as he began to speak. "Are youhappy now, you cowardly braggart?" He turned to him. "Now I'll show you thedifference in terms of "class" between YOU and ME. You can still learn a lot."Kabaji's eyes trembled. Luffy pushed herself in front of Nami and shouted:"Hey, Zoro, that's really cool!" Some veins began to pulsate onKabaji's forehead. "I underestimated you, Roronoa Zoro." "My goal is to becomethe best swordsman in the world. I won't lose to a circus performer who doesn'tdo more than just wave around with a blade!" "You just talk. You have a strongwill, but it won't do you any good! You don't have to blame yourself later.With such a serious injury and an opponent like ME, you have no chance ofwinning the fight!" He held his sword in front of him again. Was he seriousnow?! But this strange unicycle was VERY confident in himself. Well, as Garponce said: ''Those who roar loudest turnin their tails quickest!'' Or something like that. "Is this a joke. If Ilose because of a few scratches like that, I would have to seriously worryabout my future. I don't think about losing. You can bet on that." Zoro pulledout his third katana and put it in his mouth. "We'll see about that.""Finish him, Zoro!" Luffy fired at the swordsman from the side."I'm leaving, I've had enough!" Nami said and slowly walked into thealley behind them. Luffy looked at the thief in surprise. "As far as I'mconcerned, you pirates can smash each other's heads in. Have lots of fun withit! I couldn't care less who wins and who loses. I have none of it!" She lookedat the black-haired woman. "I don't feel like watching your fights. I can thinkof something more interesting. Maybe we can work together again once you'vecalmed down a bit. So until then, do well!" And with that she disappeared intothe alley. Luffy looked over her shoulder after her, raised her hand and calledafter her: "Yes, you too. See you again!" She turned back to the fight."Let's see if you're as good a juggler as me." With that, Kabaji spunsome orange tops in his palm. Zoro looked at him blankly. What was thatsupposed to be? Before he threw them at Zoro, he shouted: "Have fun with thekamikaze tops!" In flowing movements, Zorro cut them in half. Kabaji grinned."Continue with the program! Kabaji the steep wall driver!" He drove towards ahouse wall and, to the amazement of Zoro and Luffy, drove up it at a 90° angle.He was high in the air when he shouted, "The danger coming out oforbit!" With one hand shielding her eyes from the sun, Luffy looked intothe air. "Oh oh. Pretty high!" Kabaji pointed the blade to the ground withboth hands. "The Sword of Damuklas!" Grinning, Buggy pointed his arm, which hewas holding with the other, towards Zoro. "Chiwo Hau Bara Bara Hō!" He shot his hand off. This flew low over the groundtowards Zorro. "Kabaji, get that guy! I'll hold on to him for as long as Ican!" "Thank you!" he said as he raced towards the ground. Zoro knew hecouldn't concentrate on both of them. "Thesecowards!" The hand had almost reached Zorro when the sandal wearing woman steppedon it. Screaming in pain, Buggy reached for his severed area. Zoro dodgedKabaji's attack at the last moment by rolling forward. "Shit!" Zorolooked over his shoulder at his captain. "Hey, Luffy!" "Aaaah!You lousy little rat!" She grinned at Buggy, part of her face hidden by herhair. "Don't get with you're hands nere Zoro! Is that clear?" Buggy didn'tknow why, but this girl's behavior sounded familiar to him. He had never seenher before, and he was 150, no, 250% sure of this. He looked at her growlingwhile she just grinned at him. Zoro breathed heavily and supported himself alittle. "I'll end you even without the captain's help," said Kabajiand looked down at Zoro again, "I'm a size too big for you!" Luffyreally fought against rolling her eyes. How cocky was the guy?! "I haveenough! I'm fed up whith this!" Laughing, he grabbed the short-croppedpart of his hairstyle. "Haha. So you're giving up? A wise decision. It'samazing that you went against ME with these injuries anyway." Sweat randown Zoro's face while his eyes were in shadow. "What I mean is: I'm fed up ofwatching your boring acrobatic number!" The veins in Kabaji's face began topulsate again. He said angrily, "So you're bored? We can change that, it's noproblem. Then you'll feel my sword again!" Concerned, Luffy glanced overher shoulder while Buggy grinned. Kabaji drove off. "Go to hell!"Zoro stood up, his eyes still shrouded in shadows. He crossed his arms, theblades in his hands pointed towards the sky. "Oni Giri!" They met, blades swinging. Zoro was still standing inplace, Kabaji was behind him. For a moment it seemed as if nothing hadhappened, until Kabaji screamed. Blood flowed from the wounds on his chest.Shocked, Buggy shouted, "Kabaji!" Luffy looked over her shoulder anda small smile crossed her face. She had suspected that Zoro would win. He was,after all, the future best swordsman in the world. As he fell to the ground andend up laying there unconscious, he said: "I'm really sorry, Captain Buggy. Ihave been defeated by a thief." "I am not a thief!" Zoro fell to the ground.His headscarf slipped off his head as the swords clashed. With his eyes closedhe continued: "I am Zoro the Pirate! Luffy, I have to get some sleep now!" Ashe spoke, the black-haired woman looked at him. "It's okay," she said, turningto Buggy with a grin and putting her hand on her upper arm, "Then I'll do therest quickly!"                                            

Buggy looked at her through gritted teeth. Onthe ground lay the unconscious mayor, Mohji and Kabaji as well as Zoro, who wassnoring peacefully. "You want to be pirates?" "Yes, we're on the way to theGrand Line." "Ts, that's not a place you just go, you fool. Even if you make itto the Grand Line, what are you going to do there? An exploration tour?" Buggystarted laughing. What great things did these would-be pirates want to do onthe Grand Line? "I will become Pirat King." Buggy looked at her in amazement.So he definitely didn't expect THAT statement and then she says it as if itwere the obvious thing in the world. "Stop fooling around, you idiot!" heshouted at her, "YOU want to become the Pirate King?! Then I am a god! Besides,you're a female, so you can't even be KING!" She had her hands in the pocketsof her shorts. "I will be king! The fact that I'm female doesn't matter at thispoint. A king doesn't let anyone dictate anything to him and I won'teither." "The one who becomes the pirate king and receives all thetreasures in the world will be me! Stop daydreaming!" "You talk too much." Shegot into a fighting position. "Let's get started." Buggy lowered his arms. Witha small movement he had placed four daggers in each of his hands. His eyes hadnarrowed. "When I look at your straw hat, it reminds me of a certain man andthat just makes me angrier! That despicable red-headed bastard!" "Redhair?" Does he mean...? "Did you just say red hair? Do you know Red-HairShanks? What's with him, where is he?" "Huh, where he is? Why are youso interested in him?" "Tell me WHERE he is!" "Maybe Iknow, maybe I don't, that's a thing." He grinned. He could really make thebrat fidget now. "It could also be that I don't even know." She looked at theclown incomprehension. "What kind of rubbish are you talking about? Are youstupid?" "You impudent snotty brat!" He raised his hands. "As if I were tellingyou something you want to know! I'm not that kind of nice guy." She gotback into fighting stance. "Well then I'll have to beat it out ofyou." Buggy laughed again. "You'll be dead before you can evenreact!" He stepped on the heel of one of his shoes and a small blade cameout of the tip. "Rubber has no chance against a blade!" Luffy nodded briefly.It was true that blades could be dangerous to her. But first he had to meether. "Maby. So?" "BaraBara Senbei!" He took a swing, jumped into the air and let hissevered, rotating lower body fly towards her. It moved across the ground like awheel. Luffy jumped into the air as the missile whizzed under her legs. "Let'ssee how you avoid this..." He kept his arms crossed. " ...in mid air!" With a scream,he threw the daggers at the black-haired woman. "You can't get me!"She stretched her arm and grabbed a beam before letting herself be pulledtowards it, thus avoiding the daggers. When she was back on the ground, Buggy'slower body had also returned to him. He had crossed his arms again over hischest. "I didn't think you were so fast," Buggy said as he looked ather, "Really interesting." "Indeed, I think so too." Shereached out with her right arm. "Now it's my turn. Gomu Gomu no Pistol!" Buggy was just able to dodge to the side. Herfist shot just past his face. "I'm really impressed," he said beforesquinting at her, "but you still need to work on the hit rate." Heraised another dagger. Luffy grabbed a tree that was behind the clown. "Butthat won't matter once you don't have an arm anymore!" shouted Buggy as he wasabout to cut off her arm. She allowed herself to be pulled forward. She heldher other arm outstretched. " Gomu Gomuno Kama!" "Bara Bara KinkyūDasshutsu!" His head flew into the air in time, avoiding the arm of thestraw hat wearer flying past. She hit one of the ruined houses behind him. Hishead flew around laughing before settling back on his torso. "Poor performance,rubber girl!" She stood up again with the straw hat in her hand. Some wood flewaround as she stood up. "Not bad, Buggy. You can be completely taken apart,"she said and put the hat back on. Laughing, Buggy picked up new daggers. Namipeeked out from behind a corner and murmured, "Oh my god. The guy doesn't shyaway from anything. That's where the worst nightmares come from." Even amongthe "unconscious" buggy pirates, something was stirring imperceptibly. Sweatran down many of them as one said quietly: "Tell me, did you see that too?" "Idiot!Better pretend you're unconscious! If we get involved, it doesn't matter howmany lives we have." Buggy pointed his hand with the daggers at the strawhat wearer, with the others he held his arm. "Bara Bara Hō..." He shot his fist at her. She grabbed the handin time and pressed it. The blades were dangerously close to her neck and sweatwas already streaming down her face. "...Kirihanashi!"Suddenly the upper part of the hand detached. She leaned her face to the sidein time as the dagger hand shot forward. Blood spurted before she fellbackwards. Buggy said with a laugh: "Well, have you finally understood WHO iswearing the pants here?!" He looked at the black-haired woman in surprise. Shesat on the floor, blood running down from the wounds on her face that Buggy hadinflicted on her. Her eyes were obscured by her hair as she picked up the strawhat that had fallen off her head and looked at it. She jerked her head towardshim, her eyes blazing with anger. "Look at this!" she screamed. Buggy backedaway slightly when he saw her look. WHY did this person look so familiar? Hecouldn't remember where he had seen her before. He downplayed his nervousnesswhen he said sarcastically, "What's wrong? You have a few scratches on yourface, that's no big deal!" Her gaze rested on her hat again. A corner of thebrim had been cut out when Buggy attacked her. How dare he destroy Shank's hat,the hat that had belonged to her father?! He was lucky that her mother's photowasn't damaged. Otherwise she would have gotten REALLY mad! Trembling withanger, she said: "You dared to cut a piece out of my hat with your stupidknives!" He looked at her incomprehensibly. The brat was upset about that rattyold straw hat? "This hat is my most valuable treasure! I won't forgive anyone whocauses even the slightest damage to this hat!" Her eyes sparkled with hatred.

Nami was still standing behind the corner andwas watching everything. She remembers the words that the black-haired womanhad said to her in the house: "Yes,I swore to the man who gave me this hat to put together a powerful crew andbecome a famous pirate." "I've never seen her like that before. Ireally didn't think she could go crazy like that," the thief muttered. Andturned her head back to the action. "What's wrong with Luffy? I don't evenknow she could be that angry."

Gritting her teeth, Luffy stared at Buggy."Why are you so angry? Is the old hat valuable to you?" "Yes, sure!" Shewas still holding the straw hat in her hand. "Yes? Well then, if I wereyou, I would be careful now!" Behind her, Buggy's severed hand rose from therubble. He threw one of the daggers at the black-haired woman. Luffy lookedover her shoulder and quickly turned out of the way. She lost her balance andfell. Still holding the straw hat in her hand, it now lay open. Buggy hadspeculated on that. "If it means so much to you, then protect it better!"His hand shot forward, the daggers piercing through the straw hat and tearingit from her hand. "Ahh, no!" Shocked, Luffy started looking at herhat, which was getting further and further away from her. Her eyes narrowed.Memories of her time with Shanks came flooding back to her. How he put on hisstraw hat and smiled at her when he saved her from the monster and sacrificedhis arm, when he gave her the straw hat before he left and she fell on his neckand the promise they had made to each other : "Promise?" "Yes, the promisethat one day you will become a great and infamous pirate. And when you becomethis, then you will come to me and then you will be the one to tell me aboutyour adventures." Groaning, she hit the ground as the hand reconnectedwith the rest of Buggy's body. He starts grimly at the straw hat. "I don't getit. Why should this old lid be a treasure?" He laughed and held it up, stillpinned on the three daggers. Nami looked around the corner worriedly. "I have adifferent meaning with the word treasure. A treasure is a box of gold andsilver and that means the owner has power and wealth! But this frayed licetamer is your treasure? You are crazy! Don't be ridiculous." He startedlaughing again. Luffy gritted her teeth, her eyes obscured by her hair. "Thisis about a promise! Shanks gave me the hat many years ago!" She certainlywouldn't tell the fool that the hat had belonged to her father! Buggy'sexpression darkened even more before he looked at the straw hat. "What? Thenthat is really Shanks hat? I could have guessed it." He threw it to the groundin disgust. "Now I recognize it too! This hat is only available once. He alwayswore it when we went to sea." She looked at him in surprise. "Huh? What? Youwere on a ship with Shanks?" That meant he was on her father's ship! "Yes.We were sailed on the same ship back in the days. But you can't necessarily saywe were friends. He caused me a lot of trouble. That red-headed rat!" With thathe kicked her hat. Luffy's eyes sparkled with anger. He had stepped on her hat!On HER hat that had HER mother's photo in it! And he had insulted the man whowas like a father to her! That big nose was due! She stormed towards him andshouted, "Shanks is the nicest guy I know! Besides, he's my friend! So don'ttalk about him like that!" She grabbed her upper arm with her hand, ready tostrike. "Bara Bara Kinkyū Dasshutsu!"Buggy shouted and separated his head from his body again. However, sheunexpectedly kicked him in the stomach. Groaning, he fell backwards: "Ahh, ithit his stomach." In a very calm voice she said: "I'm warning you, Buggy. Don'ttalk about Shanks like that, it could have very bad consequences!"Coughing, Buggy's head sat back on his shoulders. "It's none of yourbusiness, what I call Shanks!" She reached for his cheeks and pulled them.Since he wasn't made of rubber like she was, this caused him of course a lot ofpain. She pulled him up to her. "Spit it out! What happened between Shanks andyou? I have a right to know!" She pulled his face again before letting him go.Luffy turned to her lying straw hat, looked at him and said with anger in hisvoice: "You mean dog! You have completely ruined my beloved straw hat!" The manstood up, coughing. "So you really want to know?" The black-haired woman lookedat him. "He is the only man I will never forgive! I will curse him for the restof my life! I will never forgive this guy!"

And so Buggy started talking. He talked abouthis time on the ship he sailed on with Shanks, although he didn't mention WHOthe captain was. How he and Shanks had clashed over the most petty things. Howthe two had talked about forming their own crews one day and Buggy evensuggested to Shanks to sail together under his flag, to which Shanks said thatwouldn't be possible because they had different attitudes towards beingpirates. How the crew got a devil fruit and Buggy got a treasure map. How hehad made the crew believe, with an imitation to help, that he had eaten thefruit and that there seemed to be nothing in the legends about it. How heplanned to run away, sell the fruit and retrieve the treasure from the sea. HowShanks had appeared and in his panic he had hidden the fruit in his mouth. How,when Shanks made another surprise appearance, he swallowed the fruit in shock.How he then shouted at him and was only made aware of the map by Shanks, whichwas slowly blowing away towards the sea. How he jumped after it and suddenlycouldn't move anymore when he was in the water and ultimately Shanks saved himfrom drowning.            

Growling, he stared at the black-haired woman in front of him. A small smile crept across her lips before she said, "Ah, then Shanks saved your life." "That wasn't the point I was making!" he shouted angrily, "Because of him my plan fell through postponed by 10 years! I realized that if I can't get the treasures under the surface of the water, then I'll just grab all the treasures on land. With my ability to separate..." With that, he separated his upper body from the rest and rose into the air. Luffy followed him with her eyes. "So if anyone dared to touch my treasures. No matter who this might be, I wont let them stay alive!!" Suddenly Buggy fell into the depths, his knives drawn. But he didn't throw himself at Luffy but at the person behind her. The person who carried a huge sack on they back. "Give me my treasure back!" She turned around and saw...Nami! "Ahhh! Oh no! Let's get out of here!" the thief shouted as she started to run away. Luffy watched them go for a moment and turned her head back to Buggy's lower half. He stood there with his legs spread apart. A mischievous smile appeared on her lips as an idea occurred to her. "Don't think you can outsmart me forever, Nami!" he shouted after the thief, getting closer and closer to her. Until a terrible pain made him freeze and fall silent, a few meters away from her. Nami had narrowed her eyes and now looked up, a little scared. Her eyes traveled from Buggy's gaping mouth and widened eyes to the black-haired pirate standing a short distance away. She had kicked one leg directly between Buggy's legs. Suddenly Buggy's upper body fell to the ground with a groan. Tears streamed from his eyes as he said in pain: "You...you're getting on my nerves more and more, rubber-rubber-rubber brat!" Luffy turned back to him. "It's you're own fault. This round goes to ME!" she said with a grin. Behind her, Buggy's legs were flailing in pain, holding them in the air. These had tipped over at the same time as Buggy fell to the ground. "Hey!" Nami looked at the black-haired woman. "Leave the treasure here and run or you really get caught this time." "No!" Luffy looked at her in surprise. "'Leave the treasure here!' you say? Certainly not! Why should I leave MY treasure behind?!" Buggy stirred again and looked up grimly. "Your treasure?!" "Of course! I am a thief who steals from pirates. Since I stole it from you, it is now MINE!" Luffy slapped her fast on her open palm. "Ohh,...now I understand!" "Nonsense! This treasure is MINE! Do you really think it's yours just because you stole it?! What kind of upbringing did you get?!" Nami looked down at Buggy. Her eyelids had drooped a little. "A crook wants to lecture another crook?" She looked away. "How silly." "What?!" Luffy looked at the two of them a little confused. What were they talking about? Nami looked back at Buggy as she said, "I certainly won't stoop to the same level as a pirate." She cheekily stuck her tongue out at him. He was shaking with anger as he said, "Better you prepare for what's coming for you, Nami!" His body rose into the air again as he screamed, "Bara Bara..." The legs behind Luffy jumped up. "...Festival!" His body split into many small pieces. Even the one behind Luffy, who was surprised she couldn't do anything when they flew past her to their owner. Buggy looked over his shoulder and shouted, "Come on! Help your little friend if you're still able!" Luffy gritted her teeth. "I can't believe that. Now the old crook has completely fallen apart." The sound of footsteps made her look down in surprise. There Buggy's feet walked comfortably towards their owner. "Ah, great." Another idea came to her. Buggy turned back to the orange-haired woman. "Nami!" The person mentioned winced. Luffy grabbed one of the feet. "Give me back my treasure!" he shouted as Nami hugged the bag, start raning away and he flew after her. Holding a dagger in each hand. "No, forget it!" Luffy sat down on the floor and took off his shoe. "Uh, what?" Buggy felt the grip on his ankle. Grinning, she began to tickle the sole of his foot. "Tickle, tickle, tickle, tickle." Laughing loudly, he flew after Nami. She didn't dare look around as her hair stood on end from the laughter. Luffy tugged on Buggy's skin a little and watched what happened. He gritted his teeth and hissed at the pulling. "Let's see how much you can hold out!" Luffy shouted and slammed his foot, toes first, on the ground. Buggy screamed and his eyes nearly popped out of his skull. Panicked, Nami ran faster. Buggy stopped his pursuit, turned around and yelled, "Stop! Stop right now!" "The one who should stop is YOU!" Nami shouted and swung the bag. She had hit his face with the bag with all the strength she had, or so she thought. Grinning, Buggy held the bag tightly. Startled, Nami looked up as Buggy lowered the bag a little so that his face could be seen. "Finaly. I have my treasure back." Nami began to shake the bag to get his hands off. "Take your paws away from there! The treasure is mine! Get your handles off of it! Come on, take your dirty paws away from there!" "I should take my paws away? This is MY treasure, it belongs to me! So YOU take your paws away! And a little fast!" Luffy sprinted forward and dropped his foot. Buggy sent one of his hands flying up, holding a dagger in them. Suddenly he let go of the bag and sent it towards Nami. "Die!" Nami was shocked to see the daggers flying towards her. Buggy laughed as Luffy shouted, "Forget it Buggy! I am your opponent!" She reached out and kicked. Buggy's head hit the bag, forcing Nami to let go. Due to the force, it tore open and the treasure was scattered on the ground. Buggy flew on the ground, leaving a small furrow in it. Buggy's body parts fell to the ground, motionless. He lay unconscious on his treasure. Grinning, she said after putting her foot back on the ground: "My little kick must have worked quite well. Our friend seems to take a nap." Nami looked at Luffy from the floor, stunned. "Thanks, Luffy. You saved me." "You're welcome." Nami had stood up again and was leaning on her legs, smiling at Luffy. A noise made them look back at the clown, who was no longer as unconscious as he had been a few seconds ago. Luffy had to hand it to the big nose, he was tougher than he looked. "That was a short nap." "Oh, no. MY treasure!" Buggy's head flew over the treasure lying on the ground. For some reason his coat did the same, although no shoulders were visible. "We're not done with each other yet, Straw Hat!" "He just doesn't give up." A bead of sweat ran down her face as Nami slowly backed away. "Shut your mouth! YOU weren't really nice to me earlier and I'm going to kill you for that!" Nami ran away when no one was paying attention to her. Luffy furrowed her eyebrows a little. "All body parts to me!" Buggy shouted. Luffy really tried not to laugh. In front of her was a Buggy that wasn't even half a meter tall. His head was sitting directly on his feet and his hands were stuck between them. It didn't help that he had opened his mouth so that they were at the same level as her ankles. They stood like that for a while until Buggy finally noticed the difference in size. "Huh?" Nami stood a little to the side with one foot on her latest prey. Well tied up, Buggy's missing and twitching body parts lay there. "Are you looking for THIS?" she asked cheekily. "My arms, my legs!" Now Luffy couldn't take it anymore and started laughing. She slapped both hands behind her and let them stretch as she said, grinning broadly, "You really steal everything!" "Oh, no!" Buggy shouted. That couldn't be good! "Good bye, Buggy. Gomu Gomu no Bazooka!" Her palms shot forward. "Have a good trip!" She met the man who was screaming in panic. He shot high into the sky and was soon out of sight. Nami didn't know what to think when Luffy raised her fists to the sky and shouted: "I win!" On the pile of rubble, Buggy's men's sweat ran like streams down their bodies. "Hey, Captian Buggy's been defeated!" "Wh-what should we do now?" "Let's just pretend we're unconscious." "Good idea."

Luffy slowly walked towards her straw hat andpicked it up. She looked at it for a while, her hair covering her eyes. Nami,who had already collected the treasure again, looked over at her. "Your strawhat was pretty badly damaged." She put the hat back on her head. Some of theirhair came out through the dagger holes. "That is allright. I can stillwear it after all." She was glad that Nami was standing behind her andcouldn't see her face at the moment. She didn't know if she could have hiddenher dismay well. "I'm not angry anymore because Buggy was defeated."Nami looked at her. She realized how angry Luffy had been just because a pieceof the hat had been cut out. She couldn't imagine how it must be look insideher right now. She looked to the side and mumbled: "Don't worry, I'll helpyou fix it later." Luffy turned to her in surprise. Had she heard thatcorrectly or just imagined it? "Uh, what?" "Oh, nothing.Whatever." She picked up one of the two treasure bags. "I had to split it intotwo. Can you help me and carry one? They're really heavy." "You nevergive up, do you?" "Buggy is very picky about his treasure. That's whyeverything here is of the best quality." Nami pressed her face against thebags and smiled contentedly. "All of these are certainly a good 10,000,000berries!" Luffy smiled. The way Nami was happy about it, it felt like areflection of herself if she got an all-you-can-eat meat buffet. Nami looked ather a little guiltily. She had gotten the black-haired woman into quite a mess.She walked up to her, put down her bags, took out the map and held it out toLuffy. "Here, take this." Luffy looked at her confused. "The map tothe Grand Line. You want it?" "You're giving it to me?" Luffyasked happily. Nami looked away slightly before replying, "You saved mylife after all." "Thank you, Nami." She took the map and turnedher back to her. "I finally have the map to the Grand Line! Great!" She flappedher arms in the air again. Nami couldn't help but smile. Luffy's behaviorreminded her of a child who had just been given a bunch of candy. The straw hatwearer turned back to her with a grin. "Does this mean you're joining my crewnow?" Nami put her hands on her hips. "Didn't I tell you I'm NOT going to be apirate? But that's okay. Traveling around with you two will make me a lot ofmoney. However. I only WORK with you. Remember that!" Luffy grinned widely ather. "It's fine." Zoro was still snoring when Luffy walked up to himand said: "Hey Zoro. Wake up!" No reaction. She crouched down and began tolightly hit him on the head. "Zoro, let's go!" Grumbling, he stood upagain and held his head. "Is the fight already over?" "Yes, I got the map and anavigator!" she said with a grin. Zoro turned his head to Nami. The two lookedat each other for a while before Zoro turned slightly pale, put his hand in hisface and said, "Oh, damn. I think I'm about to pass out. I can't moveanymore." "Of course you can't move anymore! If you could still doit, you two certainly wouldn't be human," said Nami sternly. Confused,Luffy turned her head to the orange-haired woman and asked, "Why am Iincluded?" "YOU are the strangest of the two of you!" she shouted,before continuing more calmly, "Whatever. We should check on the mayor.""Oh, right!" She stood up and looked at the unconscious man on the ground."We have to think of something to get him awake again."

"Hey, you!" came a voice in front of them. The girls looked surprised at a crowd of men and women holding sticks, rolling pins, and other things, looking at them. "Say, where are you from? Who are you?" "And who are you?" Luffy asked a counter question. "What do you think? We are the residents of this city! What happened? Did the pirates fall out among themselves? Please tell us if you know something." "Ah, now I understand. So you live here. "I thought you were part of Buggy's crew," said Nami, relieved. Then one of the residents noticed the mayor lying on the ground. "Oh no! The mayor!" "Boodle, what's wrong?" "Hey, mayor!" "He's unconscious, it was definitely the pirates!" Luffy looked silently at what was happening, while Nami looked innocently to the side. "He needs a doctor! He urgently needs a doctor!" "I'm sorry, I couldn't help it. I knocked him out," Luffy said. Nami looked at her in shock. Did she have a full tit?! Why did she say that?! The townspeople looked at the black-haired woman angrily. "You really are completely stupid! Why did you tell them that?!" "I never lie!" "That's really a wonderful character trait, but..." Nami stopped when she saw the look from the crowd. They stared angrily at Luffy and had their improvised weapons ready. "So girl, tell me! Why did you beat our mayor so brutally?" "And don't give us excuses!" "Who are you? You're definitely one of the pirates too!" Nami clenched her teeth tensely. "These people seem pretty bloodthirsty. If we now tell them WHO we are, then..." "We are pirates," Luffy said simply. Silence fell over them as Nami slowly began to fall to the side. She really didn't say THAT, right?! "We thought so straight away!" the residents shouted at the same time. Zoro held his stomach laughing. He really didn't regret going with her. "You idiot!" Nami shouted at her. "Don't shout at me!" "Dirty pirate pack! You have completely plundered our city!" Luffy calmly walked towards Zoro. "Even if you are so young, you have to pay for it!" Luffy crouched down in front of Zoro. "What should we do now?" he asked her smiling face, "They don't believe a single word we say." She grinned at him as she lifted him onto her back and started to run away with Nami while she grinned shouted: "GET OUT OF HERE!" "Stop them!" "Don't let them escape!" The angry mob ran through the streets after the trio. Nami clutched her money bags tightly to her as they ran. "Was this necessary? Why do you have to complicate things so much?!" said Nami. "These are good people, don't you think?" "What?!" "They're all going to the barricades for their mayor, I think that's really great." Nami briefly looked back at the mob. Luffy was actually right. People like their mayor so much that they even hunted them, pirates. "No matter what we would say to them as an excuse, they would still be so angry," said the straw hat wearing woman, grinning, "Come on, in here!" With that she suddenly turned into an alley. Nami slammed on the brakes to avoid running past, which wasn't exactly easy given the weight she was carrying. "W-what? Hey, wait for me!" She ran after Luffy into the alley. Behind them they could hear someone shouting: "They're in the side alley!" The two jumped over something, or rather someone. Nami looked down in surprise as she jumped. It was... "ChouChou?" " That way!" The residents had almost caught up with them. They continued running when they heard ChouChou barking behind them. They looked back in surprise. ChouChou had stopped the mob. "Stand aside, ChouChou!" "Get out oft he way!" "Don't you know they're pirates? You're barking at the wrong people!" „Why won't you let us through?!" " ChouChou, get out of the way!" But ChouChou didn't move. He continued to bark at the townspeople, allowing the trio to escape. Luffy grinned as they continued running. "Thank you, ChouChou!"

Soon they had reached the harbor and notownspeople could be seen or heard anywhere. Out of breath, Nami stood in thesand with the bags. They stood in front of their boats. Luffy was stillcarrying Zoro on her back. His head hung over her shoulder. Nami sat up andwiped the sweat from her forehead. "Thank God! We somehow managed toescape thanks to ChouChou. Why did we have to get into this situation?""It wasn't THAT bad, we finished what we wanted," Luffy replied. IfNami thought that was bad, she didn't want to know what she would say if shemet a huge tiger or bear! THESE were bad situations! "Well, that'strue." Luffy opens the black sails of there boat. "Hey, is that yourboat?" "Not really. I got it from some stupid pirates." "How dare yousay something like that?" a voice suddenly came from the boat. Nami recoiled.Three men stood up from the bottom of the black-sailed boat. "We've beenwaiting for you, thief!" "We knew we'd catch you on the beach!"Nami laughed somewhat awkwardly as Luffy turned to her. "You know them?" "Yes,a little." "Not just a little, we have a common past! So you have friends. Wewill teach you a lesson in how terrible things can end if you dare to stealfrom pirates!" Luffy turned her head back to the speaker and looked at himunimpressed. He noticed Zoro and hit him on the head."Hey you! Don't actlike you're sleeping! Hey!" Zoro looked up angrily. The pirates turned deathlypale, their mouths wide open and tears streaming down their faces before theybegan to scream. Confused, Luffy watched as the three of them ran away. Whatdid they have?

After the three had launched the boats and setsail, they continued side by side further and further away from the island.Nami stood alone in the boat with the black sail while Luffy and Zoro sat intheirs. "Your boat still has Buggy's markings on it," the green-haired mannoted. "Because it belonged to him. I'll take it off later." "Hey,wait!" the three looked back at the stick. The mayor stood there, nolonger in his strange armor. "The mayor," Luffy stated the obvious.He gasped. The three looked at him excitedly. "I always thought it was okay for me to die. In this dire situation, Ithought it wouldn't matter if I died." Tears streamed from his eyes ashe cried, "Thank you! I'll pay you back the favor one day!""Don't worry about it! It wasn't a big deal!" Luffy shouted back. "Idon't have anything else to say." He suddenly noticed the sack that wasstanding on the stick. It was one of Nami's.

"What did you just say?!" Nami snapped. She was clutching the railing of her boat and looked at Luffy angrily, "You left him a sack of the treasure?" She looked at her over her shoulder, smiling. "Yes." "Do you realize that was AT LEAST 50,000 berries!?!" "And if so. The mayor needs money now to rebuild the city." "That's my treasure, you understand! Do you know how difficult it was to steal it?!" Luffy looked at Nami, a little intimidated, when she suddenly grabbed her head and pushed her towards the sea. "Do you even know what you've done?!" She only had one foot left in the boat and clung to the railing as she fought against Nami's pressure and shouted in panic: "Stop! Please stop! I can't swim!" "I don't care!" "Then go back and steal another one!" She briefly managed to get her upper body upright again when Nami increased the pressure and pushed her down again. "No, YOU do that! YOU go back!" "Out of the question!" Zoro laughed as he watched the fight between the two. "Stop, I'm drowning!" "Then you'll drown! Go ahead and cry!" "Ahhh!" "If you do that again, I'll personally will kill you!" "No, please don't!" Zoro looked at the sky. "You can see it however you want. Luckily or unluckily for us, we now have a female navigator on board to accompany us on our journey."

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Well, that was it with the Orange Arc. I would finally like to thank you very much and I'm glad that you like the story.

I hope you'll all be there next time when it's called "The Boy with the Pinoccio Nose". I wish you all a nice and relaxing holiday.

Your Kitsune Nee-chan