Making Friends with Buggy

"Mr. Zoro, Captain Buggy is in the town up ahead," Buggy's three subordinates hurriedly said, afraid that Zoro would slaughter all three of them if he got displeased.

Sure enough, a pirate ship flying the Buggy Pirates' flag was docked by the shore of an island town not far ahead. To keep the three pirates before them from warning their companions on the island, William knocked them unconscious and tied them up.

"What a quiet town!" William said as he adjusted his cap. The three of them docked both ships at the coastal port, but there was not a soul in sight. Were they too lax, or too confident? Although the town's residents had hidden themselves away, where had the pirates gone?

"Buggy is said to be a Devil Fruit user too, though I don't know what his ability is," William warned after they landed. However, he concealed Buggy's ability. They would encounter many unknown Devil Fruit powers on the Grand Line in the future, so they had to discover the traits and weaknesses of those abilities themselves.

"Another ability user?" Zoro was no longer surprised by such things. In his eyes, as long as someone was an enemy, he could cut them down without mercy.

"Another monster!" Nami said, rubbing her forehead. Still, she had more or less gotten used to the existence of Devil Fruit users.

"Then let's split up. I'll go steal the treasure!" Nami said. When it came to treasure, she would not leave it in someone else's hands. If necessary, she would even abandon—

"Then I'll go find Buggy and pick a fight with him!" Zoro said eagerly.

"Looks like I'm the one who has to go find Luffy," William said helplessly. Still, he did not want to reveal his appearance in a crowded place.

"Then it's settled!" With that, Nami slipped away. To her, the three of them were nothing more than free bodyguards, and she still deeply resisted pirates.

Although the three had split up, all of their targets were the Buggy Pirates' headquarters. Not only was there treasure Nami wanted there, but there was also an opponent Zoro wanted to fight. Their idiot captain might show up there too.

"Who are you? How dare you barge into the Buggy Pirates' camp?" Cabaji, the Buggy Pirates' chief of staff and strongest swordsman, shouted as he led his men to surround the unknown William.

William had not expected Zoro, who had run ahead of them, to have not reached the Buggy Pirates' camp yet. From the look of things, Luffy was not here either. Only then did William suddenly recall that in the original story, Nami met Luffy at this point. Because of him, the plot had already changed.

"My name is William. I'm a pirate." William habitually lowered the brim of his cap. "I've come to visit the famous Captain Buggy."

William did not want to fight the Buggy Pirates, but Nami seemed to have already infiltrated Buggy's headquarters. If he did not draw the Buggy Pirates' attention over here, Nami would be in danger.

"You came looking for Captain Buggy?" Cabaji did not easily believe William's words. Instead, he became even more wary, especially because William lowering his brim had made Cabaji mistake him for some kind of bounty hunter.

"Who's looking for me?" A red-nosed pirate in clownish makeup sitting behind Cabaji asked.

"Clown" Buggy?

The moment William saw that huge red nose, he recognized the man sitting there as Buggy without a doubt. He was even more imposing than William had imagined. No wonder he had once been an apprentice pirate aboard Pirate King Gol D. Roger's ship. William had no idea why he was hiding out here in the East Blue.

"You must be Captain Buggy, right? Seeing you truly lives up to your reputation. You have far more presence than my captain." To buy Nami time, William actually began flattering him. In William's eyes, Buggy and Luffy were both idiots. If Buggy joined the Straw Hat Pirates, it would definitely be lively, but the grudge between Buggy and Shanks made that impossible.

"You're a pirate? Are you trying to join the Buggy Pirates?" Hearing William's praise, Buggy naturally felt somewhat pleased.

"Sorry, but I'm afraid my captain wouldn't agree to that." This time, William was not deliberately deceiving Buggy and the others. Luffy would never give up any of his companions.

"If he won't agree, then make him join us too!" Buggy did not mind having a few more subordinates at all. He even looked at William with a little more fondness, entirely because of William's "loyalty."

"Haha, that's right! Join us together!" Buggy's subordinates shouted along with him, seeming very eager for newcomers to join.

"I see. But I got separated from my captain. If I can find him, I'll persuade him to join." William's true purpose was to cover for Nami while getting Buggy to help find Luffy. As for that directionless Zoro, he should find his own way here eventually.

"What does he look like?" Cabaji asked. As chief of staff, he knew Buggy intended to recruit the young man before them.

"He wears a straw hat and has a scar under his eye." William briefly described Luffy's features.

"What? Buggy Pirates, move out and find him at once!" Upon hearing William's description, Buggy actually sprang up from his chair, visibly agitated.

Buggy's subordinates mistook the man for an old acquaintance of Captain Buggy's and immediately rushed out to look for him. However, only William knew why Buggy had reacted like that. An old acquaintance, indeed—and one with an especially bad relationship.

Buggy did not know Luffy yet, but the features William had just described greatly resembled the former image of a certain great pirate from the Grand Line: "Red-Haired" Shanks.

Back then, the two had both been apprentice pirates aboard Roger's ship. During a battle with another pirate crew, they successfully obtained two Devil Fruits. Buggy used a sleight-of-hand trick to eat a fake Devil Fruit, planning to sell the real one, but Shanks startled him into accidentally swallowing the real Devil Fruit instead.

From then on, the treasure-loving Buggy was forever cut off from undersea treasures. He had hated Shanks ever since. Now, more than twenty years later, aside from people mentioning his red nose, the thing Buggy hated most was a "straw hat."

"William, why do you follow someone like that?" Although Buggy did not know Luffy, anyone wearing a straw hat was no "good person" in his eyes.

However, Buggy's words only deepened his subordinates' misunderstanding. They believed Luffy was definitely an old acquaintance of Captain Buggy's, just one with poor character.

William had no choice but to tell them how he had encountered a shipwreck, been saved by Luffy, and then forced by Luffy to join him. Although William did not slander Luffy, he did alter some of the details.

"Men, hurry and bring it over! I'm going to properly entertain William," Buggy shouted after hearing about William's experience. In his eyes, William shared the same misery as him. Both of them had been screwed over by some bastard in a "straw hat."

"What a shame I can't switch crews!" William said apologetically as he picked up a wineglass. However, he still could not resist stuffing himself with the delicious food on the table.

"It's fine. Even if we're enemies tomorrow, we're still friends today!" Buggy said boldly, one hand on William's shoulder and the other raising his wineglass.

It was rare for him to meet someone so loyal whose experience was so similar to his own, especially someone who admired him. Yet Buggy never imagined that William had completely fooled him. In William's eyes, Buggy and Luffy were idiots of the same level.

"Just as expected of Captain Buggy. You truly are a hero among men!"

"Captain, this is bad! There are intruders!" A burst of fighting suddenly erupted outside Buggy's headquarters, and then two familiar figures gradually appeared before everyone.

"William? Why are you here? Where's Nami?" Zoro asked after sweeping his gaze around the area.

"Three swords? You're Pirate Hunter Zoro!" Cabaji, the Buggy Pirates' acrobat and chief of staff, stretched out his arm to block Zoro and Luffy.

"That straw-hatted one is your captain? No, your former captain, I should say!" After seeing Luffy's straw hat, Buggy suppressed the fury in his heart and asked with a cold laugh.

William did not answer Zoro or Buggy. From the look of things, the Straw Hat Pirates and the Buggy Pirates were bound to fight.

"Roronoa Zoro? Did you come for my head?" Ignoring Luffy, Buggy asked Zoro.

"Not interested. I'm not a pirate hunter anymore!" Zoro answered indifferently, his tone clearly showing that he did not take Buggy seriously.

"Is that so? But I'm very interested in you! If I kill you, I'll become even more famous." Buggy said as he played with the knife in his hand, clearly not taking Zoro seriously either.