Looking at the feast spread across the table, Buggy soon forgot his earlier frustration. If they were going to settle accounts, he was the one in the wrong.
As it turned out, Zoro had inadvertently done Buggy a favor by luring Vice Admiral Momonga to Orange Town. That had set Buggy on his Pirate journey early. Otherwise, he might still have been holed up in Orange Town, playing king of his little domain even after Luffy set sail.
"Buggy, you've done well for yourself. I never thought you'd make it through the first half of the Grand Line. I'm more impressed with you by the minute."
The moment Ye Chen finished speaking, Cabaji, Mohji, and the others flushed. "Ha ha... Boss Ye Chen, our captain was actually caught as soon as we reached Loguetown. Worse, the people who caught him were from the Hunting Squad, the ones who go around capturing Slaves for the Celestial Dragons. We followed them all the way here. Captain Buggy got lucky: his ship ran into a huge storm, and he managed to escape. We didn't make it through the first half of the Grand Line under our own power at all."
"What? Is that true...?"
Buggy hung his head, his face red with shame. Ye Chen doubled over laughing. Poor Buggy had nearly ended up a Slave to the Celestial Dragons.
"Cabaji, shut up! Nobody will think you're mute if you keep your mouth closed."
It was hardly a heroic feat worth boasting about. Buggy wished the floor would swallow him up. Just thinking about it made him miserable.
That Hunting Squad had taken a liking to his red nose. They had said they would give him to the Celestial Dragons as a pet for their amusement.
If not for the storm, Buggy would