Buggy Thought He'd Found a Son Who Didn't Exist

After a fierce battle, the evil and narcissistic Captain Morgan was finally overthrown by Luffy and the others!

With that, Luffy committed his first illegal act!

Well, overthrowing the centralized rule of the local government.

Alright, enough nonsense.

After Luffy successfully recruited Roronoa Zoro and dealt with Morgan's tyranny, they asked the townspeople for a boat, loaded up on supplies, and left the Marine base.

As for Koby, he stayed behind and joined the Marines to uphold his own justice.

Well, that was beside the point for now.

"Y-You're a pirate captain, but how can you not even have a ship?" When Zoro learned that Luffy did not own a pirate ship and that even the boat they were currently riding had just been requested from the townspeople, he could not help rubbing his forehead. A swordsman's intuition told him that he seemed to have stepped into an incredibly deep pit.

"Ahahahaha! What does it matter? Don't I have you guys?" Luffy laughed heartily as he took huge bites out of the chunk of meat in his hand.

At that moment, they were drifting across the sea. The sea breeze brushed over them as the three sat on the sailboard, each doing something different.

Luffy was wolfing down the meat people had given him, while Zoro leaned against one side with his swords in his arms. As for Aaron, he was hugging a bug-catching net, his eyes narrowed as he grinned foolishly and whispered sweet nothings to it...

"Hey, Luffy! Don't eat so much meat! That's our supply for the whole week!" Zoro reminded him.

"What does it matter? Don't we still have the burgers Aaron made? Right, Aaron?" Luffy said while chewing.

"Yeah~" Aaron grinned stupidly. He had not heard what Luffy said and merely responded on reflex, his eyes still gazing affectionately at the bug-catching net.

The bug-catching net had been given to Aaron by the girl who brought them food.

When she heard that Aaron was looking for a bug-catching net, the girl decisively gave him her own.

After Aaron got it, he tested how it felt in his hands, and then he became like this.

Well, he apparently was extremely satisfied with the net.

As for whether Aaron had owned a bug-catching net back in Foosha Village, the answer was yes, and it had been much better than this one.

However, Luffy had practically kidnapped him directly that time. He had not forgotten the most important shovel, but the bug-catching net had not been kept at the tavern. It was at Makino's house, so he had not taken it.

Well, with Aaron's brain, it was normal for him to forget it anyway.

"...You may have forgotten," a vein popped on Zoro's forehead, "but you ate every single burger Aaron made yesterday! I couldn't even have one!" Black energy seemed to swirl behind Zoro. The sheer resentment even made Luffy stop eating and snapped Aaron out of his lovesick state.

Aaron finally came to his senses. He walked over and patted Zoro on the shoulder. "Don't worry, Zoro! If we run out of meat, I can just go fishing in the sea! After all, I have my darling bug-catching net~~" As he spoke, he rubbed the net against his cheek and occasionally kissed it.

Ugh! Disgusting.

"Exactly! So don't worry about it, Zoro! Hahahaha!" Luffy also walked over and vigorously patted Zoro's shoulder.

At that moment, a shadow suddenly covered the sailboard. Luffy looked up and discovered a bird passing overhead.

After a moment of silence, Luffy looked at Zoro and Aaron with delight. "Let's eat that bird!!"

"Huh? How?" Zoro asked.

"Like this! Gum-Gum, Rocket!" As he spoke, Luffy loosened his shoulders, stretched both arms out to grab the mast, then leaped high into the air—only for the Giant Bird to grab him by the head.

Well, it was too high up, so he had misjudged the bird's size.

"Help me!!!" The Giant Bird carried Luffy away in its beak as he screamed for help.

"Do you have to be this unreliable?!" Zoro and Aaron roared at the same time.

Hey! Aaron, you had no right to criticize Luffy! You were even more unreliable than he was!

"Honestly!" Zoro hurriedly picked up an oar and prepared to chase after the Giant Bird.

"Wait, Zoro!" Aaron suddenly stopped him. He carefully set down the bug-catching net, then ran to the stern and plunged his head deep into the sea.

Slurp!

Aaron sucked in water forcefully, and his head rapidly swelled. He only stopped once it was as wide as his shoulders. Then he turned back to Zoro with difficulty. "Lower the sail and keep us pointed in the right direction. I'm starting." With that, he plunged his head back into the sea.

Spray!

A jet of water burst from Aaron's mouth like a high-pressure water cannon, propelling the boat swiftly forward.

Seeing this, Zoro unconsciously smiled. "You idiot." He quickly lowered the sail, gripped the helm with both hands, looked up at the Giant Bird, and controlled their direction.

"Hey! Boat up ahead, stop for a moment! Let us aboard!" A cry for help suddenly came from the bow.

"Shipwrecked people at a time like this..." Zoro muttered. "Hey! We can't stop right now. Climb aboard yourselves!"

"How could you..." Three people climbed onto the boat and caught their breath. Then they pulled out knives and looked at Zoro with sinister grins. "This ship is ours now. We're subordinates of Lord Buggy from the Buggy Pirates. If you know what's good for you, hand the ship over!"

"Huh?" Zoro's gaze suddenly sharpened.

Smack! Smack! Smack!

They were only three minor grunts. Zoro could teach them a lesson with his fists alone.

Well, they immediately clasped their hands and said ingratiatingly, "So this is the ship of Lord Zoro, the Pirate Hunter. We only acted this way because we didn't know..."

"Enough nonsense. Row in that direction!" Zoro looked toward the Giant Bird. It had already gotten far away from the boat. He pointed in a direction and ordered the three grunts, then turned to Aaron. "Hey, Aaron! Can you go faster? We're about to lose sight of him!"

"Glug glug glug!" Aaron made an "OK" gesture behind his back and plunged both hands into the sea.

Slurp!

His hands began desperately absorbing water, and the stream spraying from his mouth became even faster!

Aaron-style motorboat, full speed ahead!

Orange Town.

This had originally been an ordinary town in the East Blue, located on an ordinary island. The island was neither rich nor barren. People settled here and contributed to their home, and little by little, the town expanded until the entire island was developed.

But today, everything was gone.

"Ahahahaha! Eat more. This is your welcome party!" By the town's shore, a long-limbed man sat brazenly atop a crate, looking at the person before him with a vicious grin.

His face was painted with strange decorations, and his nose was unlike that of ordinary people—round and bright red. He looked like a circus clown, but no clown smiled as gloomily as he did.

A pirate ship was docked here, and beneath it, a group of people was partying wildly. Some were grilling meat, some were drinking and playing finger-guessing games, and there were all kinds of others.

It was clearly a pirate crew's banquet.

And that clown-like man was the captain of that pirate ship, the great East Blue pirate, Buggy the Clown!

Standing before Buggy was the girl Aaron had encountered on Alvida's ship—Nami!

"Hahaha! Of course!" Nami replied with a fake smile and drained the beer in her hand in one gulp.

"Hahahahaha!" Seeing how forthright Nami was, Buggy burst into laughter. "Not bad. You suit my taste perfectly! Nyahahahahaha!"

The piercing laugh made Nami frown slightly, but she quickly laughed along with him.

"I'm in an absolutely wonderful mood." After laughing, Buggy revealed an evil grin. He suddenly stood up and waved his hand. "Boys! Prepare the special Buggy Ball!"

The moment Buggy said that name, the surroundings fell silent. Nami observed the pirates and saw shocked expressions on their faces. There was even a trace of fear deep in their eyes.

This Buggy Ball looks pretty powerful. Nami guessed inwardly.

"Well, get to it!" Seeing that his subordinates had not moved, Buggy felt that he had lost face before the newcomer, and his expression darkened.

"Yes! Right away!" Seeing Buggy's expression, the pirates hurried into the cabin to bring out the Buggy Ball.

Soon, the subordinates wheeled out a cannon and several cannonballs. The cannon itself did not look special, except that its barrel was slightly larger than an ordinary cannon. The cannonballs bore the flag of the Buggy Pirates and were entirely red.

It looks pretty ordinary. Nami studied the cannon and cannonballs, puzzled.

The subordinates loaded a Buggy Ball into the barrel, aimed the cannon at the town, and lit the fuse with a match.

Three seconds later.

Boom!

With a thunderous blast, an entire row of houses at the front of town, stretching roughly a hundred meters, was blasted to pieces!

"..." Nami stared at the scene in shock.

Buggy turned to Nami. "So, Nami? The Buggy Ball's power is incredible, right?"

Nami quickly smiled. "Of course!"

"Then do you think there'll be any problem conquering the Grand Line?"

"Of course there won't!"

"Nyahahahaha..." "Hey!"

Before Buggy could laugh arrogantly, Luffy, who was locked in a cage nearby, interrupted him.

"The one who'll conquer the Grand Line is me! I'm going to become the Pirate King!"

"..." Buggy gritted his teeth as he looked at Luffy. "Nami, now I know why you abandoned your captain."

"Haha, right? His personality is really something. It gave me such a headache!"

"Then I'll reward you with a Buggy Ball. Go wipe out your former captain," Buggy suddenly said.

"What?" Nami was shocked. She had never expected Buggy to be this ruthless.

"It'll also serve as your oath of loyalty to me." Buggy looked at Nami with a gloomy smile.

A grunt immediately took out a Buggy Ball, aimed the cannon at Luffy, and handed Nami a box of matches.

"Alright, fire it." Buggy said.

Well, how could kind-hearted Nami possibly fire the cannon? She decisively turned on them, pulled out a staff, and knocked down the surrounding pirates, but she still lit the fuse.

...Her actions were a little hard to understand.

Just as Nami was about to be executed and Luffy was about to be blasted away!

Slash! Slash! Sizzle!

The grunt tying up Nami collapsed under the sound of blades cutting through the air, while the fuse, which was nearly burned down, was extinguished by a spray of water.

"Zoro! Aaron!" Luffy cried out in delight. "Aaron, your face looks a little bad. Did you eat something bad?"

The ones who had arrived were none other than Zoro and Aaron. Aaron's face was green as he looked at Luffy and forced out a smile. "I'm fine... hic! I just... hic! drank too much water!"

"You're really lucky that bird didn't carry you off," Zoro first mocked Luffy, then turned to the girl he had saved. "You weren't hurt, were you?"

"Huh?" Nami was a little confused.

"You weren't hurt, were you?" Zoro asked again.

"Ah! No." Nami finally came back to her senses.

"That's good." Zoro said flatly, then turned and walked toward Luffy.

"You're Pirate Hunter Zoro, aren't you? What are you doing here? Did you come to kill me?" Buggy suddenly asked.

"I'm not in that business anymore."

"Oh? I'm rather interested in you! If I kill you, I'll become famous across the seas, right?"

Hearing that, Zoro turned and stared at Buggy. "I advise you not to do that. You'll die."

"Hehehe, is that so?" Buggy took out his throwing knives and looked at Zoro with a cold sneer.

Their swordsman sighed coolly. "Honestly, you won't understand no matter what I say, will you?" As he spoke, he clenched Wado Ichimonji between his teeth and gripped two swords in his hands.

"Oh my!" Buggy shrieked as he charged at Zoro. "Die!"

Splat!

In an instant, Zoro cut him into four pieces.

Zoro sheathed his swords without turning around and sighed. "I told you, you'd die."

"Oh? Is that so?" Buggy suddenly spoke.

"What?" Zoro turned around in shock, only to see Buggy viciously stab a knife into Zoro's right kidney and slice outward!

Splat!

Zoro was... Zoro was actually fine, because at that instant Aaron suddenly jumped out and took the attack for him. However, due to the difference in their height, Aaron's neck was nearly cut through, leaving only a thin strip of skin attached. His head drooped down.

Well, if it had been nighttime, he probably could have scared someone to death.

"What?" Zoro stared at the dead Aaron in shock, grief surging through his heart.

He had not expected that his own carelessness would lead to a companion's death.

"You... die." Zoro stared at Buggy, his pupils constricting like an enraged beast's.

But just as Zoro was about to go dark, Aaron spoke. "Um... Zoro, can you help straighten my neck? It's hard to straighten it myself in this position."

"What? You're not dead?!" It was not just Zoro who said that. Buggy, Nami, and all the pirates did as well... Well, Luffy did not, since he already knew about Aaron's ability.

Zoro stared in shock at Aaron's dangling head.

"Of course I'm not dead! Hurry up and straighten my neck! It's so uncomfortable!" Aaron said irritably.

Zoro did as asked and straightened Aaron's neck. He discovered that some azure liquid seeped out from the cut in Aaron's neck, after which it healed at a visible speed.

"Ah~ It feels much better having my head straight again!" Aaron twisted his head around with a satisfied expression.

At that moment, the grunts watching from the side began whispering among themselves. Zoro had sharp ears and caught part of their conversation.

"I didn't expect that kid to be able to split apart too."

"Yeah, could there really be a second Chop-Chop Fruit in the world?"

"Could he be Lord Buggy's son?"

"Mm, that's very possible. Maybe he's Lord Buggy's long-lost biological son!"

"It was a pitch-black night. Lord Buggy lost contact with his wife and child during a war, but in the end! His son survived, and..." Alright, this was getting more ridiculous by the second, so Zoro stopped listening.

Leaving aside whether Aaron was even a Devil Fruit user, the whole son thing made no sense at all.

I've never heard of Devil Fruit powers being inherited. As Zoro thought this, a trace of curiosity appeared in his gaze toward Aaron, only for him to bury it a moment later.

As long as he was a companion, nothing else mattered.

"You... could you possibly be my son?" Buggy looked at Aaron and asked with a face full of confusion.

"Are you an idiot?!" Zoro and Nami shouted at Buggy.

He actually believed it. Was he an idiot?! At that moment, Nami and Zoro's thoughts were astonishingly aligned. Their synchronization rate was off the charts.

"Huh?" Aaron also stared at Buggy with a face full of question marks.

Still, with one big and one small staring at each other, they did look a little like father and son.

"No way. My dad died a long time ago." Aaron was the first to recover and shook his head.

"That's true..." Buggy nodded, then suddenly waved his hand. "Boys! Capture them!"

"Yes!"