Buggy the Clown

Beneath the azure sky, the pirate ship Big Top sailed across the sea, its passage gently parting the waves and leaving a distinct wake.

A man wrapped in an ornate captain's cloak leaned against the railing, his expression gloomy.

"What's been up with Captain Buggy lately? Why's he always so down?"

"Maybe he's lost the motivation to hunt for treasure. We haven't seen any villages or pirate ships in ages, so Captain Buggy's lost his drive."

"That's not all it is. Captain Buggy looks like he's lost his soul!"

Two pirates stood nearby on deck, whispering among themselves.

Buggy's eyelid twitched. His hands and torso quickly detached from his wrists and body, streaking through the air in a blur. His white-gloved hands clamped around the necks of the two talking pirates and hoisted them high. Then he turned around, his expression icy. "Hey, hey, hey! Who are you saying has a big red nose?"

Buggy's eyes shifted slightly in their sockets. "You? Or you? Answer me!!!"

Cold sweat trickled down the two pirates' faces, and their bodies shook like leaves. "Captain Buggy, we... weren't saying..."

Buggy's hands quickly returned to his wrists. His expression wavered between stormy and calm, then he suddenly burst out laughing. "So what if I have a red nose? Hahaha! You think I'm afraid of people saying my nose is big and red..."

The two pirates dropped onto the deck and caught their breath. Afraid that their mercurial captain might toss them overboard to feed the fish, they hastily forced out a laugh along with him. "Hahaha..."

"Not..." Buggy's voice abruptly cut off. "Funny at all."

The two pirates' faces stiffened. They swallowed nervously.

"Er... Go take your posts."

Buggy waved the two pirates away and rubbed his forehead in frustration. Ever since he'd been transported into this world, he kept hearing things.

Ji Ba had been a university student who'd taken out loans to start a business. With a drive to prove himself and a keen eye for opportunity, he'd entered the renewable energy industry and made quite a bit of money.

Just as he was riding high and feeling on top of the world... he'd suddenly been transported to another world. Apparently, it was because he'd drifted off to sleep while reading the One Piece manga.

When he woke up, he'd found himself in the body of Buggy the Clown, a man said to possess Conqueror's Haki-level luck.

That had happened half a month ago...

Ji Ba took out the mirror he'd been carrying around these past few days and touched his big red nose. After repeatedly confirming that the person reflected in the mirror was indeed himself, a strange irritation welled up inside him. Damn it, this was the cruel reality. He'd been a young man in the prime of his life, but after waking up, he'd become a man in his thirties—as if more than a decade of his life had been instantly stolen from him. And the worst part was, if he'd been transported into the body of someone with a cool look, like Shanks or Rayleigh, he could've made do. But instead, he'd ended up looking like Buggy...

He grinned, trying to look harmless, but the result was a sly, sinister expression. He sighed in frustration. Was he just born this way? There was no way to even make fun of it!

But none of that was the real problem. The biggest issue was that Ji Ba had taken over the original owner's body and absorbed some of Buggy's memories and personality along with it. As a result, he sometimes couldn't control his temper, like when he'd started hearing things just now. He always felt that people were talking about strange things, and he couldn't help getting worked up.

These aftereffects had plagued him for half a month. At first, even the sea breeze had given him a headache, but his symptoms had eased with time.

On the other hand, the effects of the soul fusion had helped him piece together a lot of information. It was now the twentieth year after Roger's execution, Sea Circle Calendar 1518.

Straw Hat Luffy wouldn't set sail for another two years.

In other words, the original story hadn't yet been set in motion by Straw Hat Luffy. That was probably his biggest advantage for now.

Unfortunately, he had absolutely no memories of One Piece.

The reason was that Laugh Tale, the end of the Grand Line, wasn't a place an apprentice pirate was allowed to set foot in. Even though Buggy had sailed to the end of the Grand Line with Roger, he'd been left behind to guard the ship because he lacked the experience. But after absorbing Buggy's memories, Ji Ba could feel how deeply the man still cared about the One Piece.

Whether or not his personality had influenced that decision, now that he'd come to this world, Ji Ba had set his sights on Laugh Tale. He would find the One Piece, which every pirate dreamed of, as well as the truth of the world.

But compared to those East Blue pirates in the original story who were blindly overconfident, Ji Ba was much more levelheaded. Over the past half month, he'd come to terms with reality and started planning his next moves.

First, there was the matter of his crew. Take the Krieg Pirates, for example. That idiot had five thousand subordinates and fifty pirate ships, yet after reaching the Grand Line, he'd been slaughtered by Mihawk and driven out of the Grand Line in just seven days.

That showed that sheer numbers couldn't make up for a lack of quality. At least in the East Blue, finding a crew with real combat strength would be extremely difficult. On this point, Ji Ba preferred to build a lean, elite crew rather than recruit a bunch of ordinary pirates to serve as experience fodder for the enemy.

There were already more than forty pirates aboard the Big Top. The cost of feeding and supplying them, along with their daily rewards in gold, added up to no small sum.

The only way to get wealth and food was to plunder villages or raid enemy ships. But if he kept recruiting pirates, the expenses and burdens would only grow.

In the original story, Buggy had kept expanding his pirate crew by plundering towns throughout the East Blue and searching for treasure.

But as a fine young man from the twenty-first century, Ji Ba had no interest in looting villages and towns or bullying the elderly, women, and children. In fact, he found the idea rather repugnant.

That made resupplying all the more important.

"Captain Buggy, I think that's Gali Island up ahead!" shouted the pirate lookout perched on the mast, holding a pair of binoculars.

Buggy's upper body detached and floated into the air, giving him a wider view.

Houses crowded the distant island. It looked like there were several fairly large villages there.

He could make out a few cargo ships at the harbor in the distance, but the docks were quiet. It seemed to be the off-season for trade; there were barely any dockworkers around.

He gave the order. "Get ready to lower the mainsail. Find a place to anchor near the shore."

The skull on the mainsail was far too conspicuous and would make his next move difficult.

"Aye!" The pirates immediately set to work.

"Captain Buggy." The cabin door opened, and a cold-faced man stepped out. "We think we should make a grand show of force and plunder the villages and towns on the island. That's what the Buggy Pirates are known for."

He wore a blue-and-white checkered scarf and a long cloak. His hair covered his left eye. With his arms folded across his chest, he leaned against the wall.

"Cabaji!" Mohji, the animal tamer, somersaulted three hundred and sixty degrees from the upper deck and landed lightly on the deck. "Are you trying to question Captain Buggy..."

Before he could finish, the enormous lion Richie let out a roar and leaped down, landing squarely on top of Mohji. Then he looked around in confusion, oblivious to what he'd done.

"You damn lion!" Mohji's eyes rolled back as his body trembled. He spoke weakly.

Richie glanced down, a humanlike bead of cold sweat running down his lion's face, and carefully shifted his paws away.

Thump, thump, thump...

Richie held his head in misery, three huge bumps swelling on his forehead. Only then did Mohji lower his burning fist and turn to Cabaji, demanding, "Captain Buggy surely has a brilliant plan. How dare you, you one-eyed bastard, question him!"

Cabaji's mouth twitched. "White-haired freak, who are you calling that?"

"I'm talking about you, the guy trying to look cool in his cape!"

"What's the deal with that round-eared hat you're wearing?"

"What do you think I mean?"

"Are you looking for a fight, you bastard?"

The two of them traded words, their tempers flaring as tension filled the air. Buggy watched from the side and nodded solemnly. "Mm, the mood's even better than I expected."

The pirates watching them shouted, "What's so great about this mood!!!"