The Poor Buggy

"Is he dead? Is he dead?" Rodney picked up a branch and prodded Buggy's Red Nose with it. "Hey, hey, Red Nose, Big Nose, are you awake?"

"You little punk, who are you calling Red Nose? Are you looking to die?" At the words "Red Nose," Buggy seemed to react on instinct. He overcame the bone-deep pain and forced himself to his feet, bristling with fury.

Buggy couldn't stand being called Red Nose. Even if he was in a deep coma, he'd force himself awake. It was a pretty bizarre quirk.

After a brief flash of anger, reason reclaimed the upper hand. The two men stared at each other.

Rodney: (─__─)

Buggy: -_-#

The atmosphere fell silent, and the scene became unbearably awkward.

"Chop Chop—Emergency Escape!"

Buggy's body instantly split into dozens of pieces, which flew in every direction.

After flying only a short distance, the pieces reassembled into his body among the trees. He hovered in the air, but he was missing both feet.

"My feet!" Through the gaps between the leaves, he saw Rodney standing on top of them.

Now this was a problem. Buggy's feet were a weak point of his Chop Chop Fruit ability: he couldn't fly without them, and his body couldn't get too far away from them.

"Heh heh, luckily, my ability makes me invincible here." Since he was immune to slashing attacks, he didn't need to worry about what might happen to his feet. All he had to do now was figure out how to get them back and rescue his crew.

Although he often bullied his crew, Buggy still cared about them.

Meanwhile, Rodney looked down at the feet beneath his own and grinned. Knowing that cutting wouldn't work on Buggy, he didn't bother using any more ninjutsu. He pointed at the remaining crewmen and said, "Carry the unconscious ones back to the ship, and then..."

He glanced back toward Buggy in the woods and grinned. To Buggy, the smile looked anything but friendly.

"Just who is this guy, anyway?"

Buggy still couldn't remember anything about Rodney, but he knew the man was trouble, so he decided to wait and see what happened.

Under Rodney's threat, Buggy's crew had no choice but to obediently carry the unconscious men aboard their pirate ship.

As for Buggy's feet, Rodney was still standing on them. It was obvious he had no intention of letting Buggy go, which made Buggy furious.

"Damn it, you don't plan on leaving, do you?"

It felt awful to have someone standing on your feet.

Just then, Rodney moved. He kicked Buggy's feet along, one after the other, until he had sent them flying onto the pirate ship.

"Oh no! Wait..." Buggy's body couldn't help flying after them. Any other part of his body could be missing, but he absolutely needed his feet.

"Set sail," Rodney said.

Frightened by Rodney's strength, Buggy's pirates had no choice but to get the ship moving. They cursed under their breath, but didn't dare show it.

Buggy dangled behind the ship. While Rodney wasn't looking, he quietly climbed aboard.

"What's going on?" Buggy asked one of the crewmen.

"I don't know, Captain. This guy just told us to sail to the nearest Marine branch. What should we do, Captain Buggy?" the crewman asked.

Buggy was the strongest fighter in the entire Buggy Pirates, since he was a Devil Fruit user. In the East Blue, people with Devil Fruits were few and far between, so his crew had always followed their captain's orders.

Buggy pondered for a moment, then said, "Let me think. Let me think this through. But first, go steal my feet back."

He had to get his feet back, or his ability would be limited.

"Are these the ones?" A hand reached over from the side, holding out a pair of feet.

Without thinking, Buggy took them. "Yoshi, that's right! Nice work, kid. I hereby promote you to first ma—" After reattaching his feet, Buggy smiled—and found himself face-to-face with a pair of red eyes.

Buggy: (⊙x⊙;)

"Hello, Captain Buggy."

"You! Those eyes... I remember now! You're the pirate hunter who's been making a name for himself lately, Red-Eyed Rodney?!" Buggy shouted the nickname Rodney hated. "You've had your eye on me this whole time? Damn it!"

A vein bulged on Rodney's forehead, but he kept smiling. "Captain Buggy, call me Fate Weaver Rodney. I wasn't planning to capture you, but now it looks like I'll have to send your whole crew to Loguetown. The town of beginnings and endings—sounds perfect for you, doesn't it, Buggy?"

Buggy shuddered, cold sweat running down his forehead. "You... could you be..."

"Ah, I have a special intelligence network. I know everything there is to know about your identity."

"What... what are you going to do?" His identity as a crew member of the Pirate King must never be revealed. Otherwise, a whole bunch of Marines might come after him, and he wasn't strong enough to take them on.

Rodney smiled faintly. "This."

He punched Buggy to the ground. Buggy had been about to use his Chop Chop Fruit ability, but then his wrists suddenly went cold, and his whole body went limp.

"Th-this... could this be..."

"Yep. Seastone Handcuffs. You're not going anywhere. I'll send every last one of you to Loguetown." His gaze swept over the crewmen, who had been watching from the side. "What are you staring at? Hurry up and sail! If you don't, I'll toss you overboard to feed the Sea Kings!"

"Y-yes!" The crewman hurried away.

"Mm, the scenery here is nice. You can stay and enjoy it." Rodney turned his back on Buggy and walked away.

Buggy didn't have much strength left, but that didn't mean he was out of tricks.

Seeing Rodney turn his back, he aimed his feet at him. "Special Buggy Ball!"

A pea-sized cannonball shot from the soles of his feet and flew toward Rodney at high speed.

Rodney spun around in a hurry. White Fang sprang from its sheath, with Lightning Style Chakra coursing along the blade.

He cut the Special Buggy Ball in two with a single slash.

Boom!

Even though Rodney had cut it apart, the Special Buggy Ball still exploded. Its violent destructive force sent him flying. Buggy burst into laughter. "Hahaha! You took a hit from my Special Buggy Ball! There's no way you're still standing, right?!"

Rodney flew off the pirate ship, but instead of plunging into the depths, he skimmed across the surface like a stone skipping over water. After several bounces, he stopped, standing on the water.

His clothes were in tatters, and burns covered several patches of skin. His face was black with soot, and the fire had singed a little off his bangs.

Buggy: Σ(っ °Д °;)っ

"That monster! He took my Special Buggy Ball head-on and still survived?!"

Rodney: (╬ ￣?皿￣? ╬)

Under the gaze of those blood-red Sharingan, Buggy felt like he was about to die. What should he do?

Was he going to meet Captain Roger?

No! He hadn't found all that treasure yet!

He was starting to regret using the Special Buggy Ball on Rodney.

"Good. You're really something, Buggy!" Rodney gritted out. His body was in a lot of pain. Medical Chakra glowed in his palm, stimulating his cells to heal. A cool sensation spread through his wounds.

"Wh-what are you going to do?! D-don't come any closer!"

Buggy kept backing away, but Rodney grabbed him and pulled a length of Steel Wire from his waist pouch. It was specially made and incredibly tough; as long as it wasn't cut, it was nearly impossible to pull apart.

One end was tied to the Seastone Handcuffs, the other to a railing nearby.

"Wait, you're not thinking of..."

"Exactly what you think." Rodney kicked Buggy off the pirate ship, leaving him to be dragged along the surface of the sea.

"I—glug glug...I—glug glug...wait—glug glug..." Dragged along by the ship, Buggy bobbed above the surface and sank beneath it again and again. His body was limp, and he couldn't use his ability. He was utterly miserable.

"Haul him out every half hour. He won't die. If you don't do as I say, or if you pull him aboard and I catch you, you'll end up just like him." Rodney grinned at the pirates beside him, making them shudder.

"Understood!"

Poor Captain Buggy. You'll just have to hang in there a little longer.

So, for the next few days, Buggy spent all his time in the sea except when he was eating or sleeping. He was lucky to have a decent constitution; an ordinary person might not have survived.

As for Rodney, he really had let his guard down this time. He hadn't expected Buggy to have another trick up his sleeve. It hurt like hell.

It took him several days to heal all those burns, and now he'd have to grow his hair back.