Ch 4 Buggy the Clown

Alex, Luffy, and Zoro sit in the rowboat as Alex rows through the ocean.

Zoro: " Where are you rowing to Alex?"

Alex: " A nearby island called Orange Town. It's a pretty nice place, the towns folk are very friendly, as long as we keep the fact that we're pirates secret."

Luffy: " Why?"

Alex: " Because like most people, the people of Orange Town don't like pirates, it doesn't matter what their intentions are."

The boat rocks, knocking Luffy's hat off his head. He frantically tries to grab it, but barely misses it. Zoro grabs the hat before it hits the water, and hands it back to Luffy.

Zoro: " So, why's that hat so important to you?"

Luffy: " It was given to me by someone very important to me."

A large pink bird flies overhead, catching Luffy's attention.

Luffy: " Oooh! Food!"

Luffy stretches his arms towards the bird, and grabs onto it. He tries to pull it down, but the bird pulls him away, flying off with Luffy.

Zoro: " Luffy!!"

Alex: " Mother fucker!!" He yells, rowing after the bird in a furry.

As they speed after Luffy, Zoro notices two men floating on pieces of wood.

Zoro: " Alex!! Look!!"

Alex notices them and stops the boat next to them, and Zoro pulls them into the boat.

Zoro: " Are they still alive?"

Alex: " Yeah, they're fine."

The men groan as they sit up, having regained consciousness.

Pirate 1: " We're members of Buggy's Pirate crew, and this is our boat now." He states holding his cutlass up at Zoro.

The other pirate points his gun at Alex.

Alex: " Really? This is the thanks we get for saving you?"

Zoro: " I'll give you one chance to drop your weapons, before I make you both sorry."

Alex: " I hate having guns pointed at me."

Zoro quickly beats them both, without even drawing a sword.

Alex hands them the paddles.

Alex: " Get to rowing or we'll throw you overboard."

Pirate 2: " Yes sir!"

The pirates row the boat towards Orange Town, the direction the bird flew in.

Alex: " So, what's the deal with this Buggy guy?"

Pirate 1: " He ate a Devil Fruit; it gave him incredible abilities. He's one of a kind."

Zoro: " One of a kind, huh? I know two other guys with Devil Fruits. Including this guy here." He states, gesturing towards Alex.

Alex responds by creating small explosions in his hands, this makes the pirates row even faster.

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The boat arrives at the island, Zoro and Alex disembark.

Zoro: " Where the hell is Luffy?"

Alex: " If I know Luffy, we'll find him if we follow the path of destruction." He states, pointing towards the row of destroyed houses.

Zoro: " Did Luffy do that?"

Alex: " If so, probably not on purpose."

The two follow the path of destroyed houses, it leads them to the other beach, where a large ship was docked. It was obviously a pirate ship, as the ship had a flag with a jolly roger on it, the jolly roger having a big red nose on it.

As they approach the ship, the two notice several things on the deck of the ship. The first thing being their captain locked in a cage, the second being a large cannon, and the last being a man dressed like a clown, wearing a captain's hat, wielding a knife in each hand. He was looming over a girl with orange hair.

Alex runs forward, pointing his hands at the ground, he lets loose a large explosion from each hand, sending him flying through the air and onto the deck of the ship.

Alex: " Hey! Leave the girl alone!" He shouts, Zoro running up behind him. Two of his three swords drawn.

Clown: " Who the hell are you?!"

Zoro: " Doesn't matter, you have our captain, and we'd like him back." He states, rushing forward, he slashes the clown into pieces.

Alex: " Zoro! Watch out!" He yells, as the clown's hand floats up and stabs Zoro in the side with a knife.

Zoro falls to the ground, holding his side. The clown's body puts itself back together.

Clown: " Heheh! That's what happens to those who mess with Captain Buggy."

Buggy: " Noone can hurt me, because I ate the Bara Bara no mi."

Luffy: " You're nothing but a coward with a big red nose!"

Buggy: " What'd you say!?" He yells in anger, as he throws one of his knifes at Luffy, who catches it in his teeth.

Alex dashes forward, propelling himself with his explosions. He nears Buggy and uses his explosions to launch himself over the clown, landing next to Buggy's cannon. Alex flips the cannon around, pointing it at Buggy and his crew.

Buggy: " Oh no!!"

Alex lights the cannon's fuse, using a tiny explosion. The cannon fires off, sending a Buggy flying at the clown and his pirates. The cannon ball hits them, creating a large explosion that throws back several of Buggy's pirates, and kicks up a large cloud of dust.

Alex drags Luffy's cage and helps Zoro up. Getting them all to safety.

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Alex stops outside of a building with a sign that reads 'Pet Shop'. He drops the rope he was using to drag Luffy's cage and carefully sets Zoro on the ground. Alex falls to the ground himself and rests up against Luffy's cage, panting from dragging the cage and carrying Zoro.

Luffy: " Is Zoro alright?" He asks from inside the cage.

Alex looks over Zoro's wound, he reaches into his trench coat pocket and pulls out a roll of bandages. He lifts Zoro's shirt just enough so he can bandage his wound.

Zoro: " The hell are you doing?"

Alex: " Making sure you don't bleed out."

Zoro: " I'll be fine."

Alex: " That's bullshit and you know it."

Zoro: " Hmph, thanks."

Alex: " No problem."

Luffy: " You're a doctor?"

Alex: " No, I just know how to bandage and clean a wound. We're still probably going to need an actual doctor."

???: " Ruff! Ruff!" A small dog runs out of the pet shop and up to the three.

Alex: " Hey there, what's your name boy?"

???: " That's Chouchou."

Alex looks behind him and notices a man with white hair.

Alex: " Who are you?"

???: " I'm the mayor of this town, and who are the three of you?"

Alex: " I'm Alex, and this is Zoro and Luffy.

Mayor: " What happened here?"

Alex: " We pissed off Buggy, he stabbed Zoro and locked Luffy in that cage."

Mayor: Sigh " That Buggy's been terrorizing our town for a while now."

Luffy: " Then why don't you stop him."

Mayor: " We can't, if we were to try, he'd no doubt blow our town to the ground."

Alex: " Do you have somewhere Zoro can rest; the bandages can only do so much."

Mayor: " Alright." The mayor grabs Zoro and takes him to his house, he then returns to the shop.

Alex: " So, what's the deal with the dog? Why's he here all alone?"

Mayor: " Chouchou and his master built this store together, but one day his master left, he was very sick, he thought he had found a way to cure it, but he never came back."

Alex: " He died, huh? Poor guy."

Mayor: " Yes, and now all Chouchou has left of his master is this shop, it's his treasure."

Luffy: " His treasure. No wonder he wants to protect it."

The three hear a loud growl as a man with ears rides up to them on a large lion.

Man on Lion: " I'm Captain Buggy's first mate, Mohji, and this is Ritchie."

Alex: " The hell do you want?"

Mohji: " We want the famous pirate hunter, Zoro. The captain wants to kill him, so he can prove his strength."

Mohji: " You're going to tell me where he is, or we'll destroy this whole damn village."

Chouchou: " Ruff! Ruff!" He barks at Mohji and Ritchie, standing in front of the pet shop.

Mohji: " The mutt thinks he can protect that house. Show him how wrong he is Ritchie!"

Chouchou jumps at the lion, biting onto its neck, but Ritchie simply swats him away. But Chouchou stands back up and growls at the lion and its tamer.

The brings its claws down on Chouchou. Alex jumps in the way, shielding Chouchou from the attack, he falls to his knees, three large gashes in his back. Blood falls from Alex's wounds onto the ground, painting it red as he smiles at the dog.

Alex: " Are you alright?"

Mohji: " Finish them both off Ritchie!"

Alex stands to his feet and turns to face the lion and tamer.

Alex: " I won't let you lay another hand on Chouchou or his treasure!"

Alex charges forward, and slams his fist into Ritchie, creating a large explosion that sends the lion and his tamer careening back.

Mohji: " W-what? Y-you have a Devil Fruit? Just like the captain. Please, show mercy."

Alex: " Did you or your crew show mercy to this town when you destroyed rows of houses?"

Mohji: " I-I...."

Alex slams his knee into Mohji's face, knocking him out without even using his explosions.

The mayor and the girl with orange hair named Nami, who had shown up during the fight, look at Alex in surprise.

Nami: " He has a Devil Fruit?"

Mayor: " I thought they were just a myth."

Nami walks over to Luffy's cage and uses a key to remove the padlock, freeing Luffy from his cage.

Nami: " I'm sorry about that, I had to fool Buggy."

Luffy: " I'll forgive you, if you join my crew."

Nami: " I told you; I'm not going to be some stinking pirate!"

Alex: " Better than being a marine."

As they're talking, a buggy ball slams into the mayor's house, destroying it. But miraculously, Zoro is unharmed. He makes his over to the other, rubbing his head.

Zoro: " That's one hell of an alarm clock."

Mayor: " That's it! I can't take it anymore! I'm going to go deal with Buggy myself!"

Zoro: " That's not a good idea."

Nami: " Yeah, he could kill you."

Mayor: " I'm not going to sit here and let him destroy my town!"

Alex: " We're going to."

Luffy: " Yeah! Hey Nami, join my crew!"

Nami: " Fine, but only for now, because we share a common goal."

The mayor storms off towards Buggy's ship, Alex, Zoro, Luffy, and Nami trailing behind him.

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Buggy: " Fire another Buggy ball!!"

Mayor: " Stop!! I won't let you fire on my town anymore; I challenge y....!" He can't finish his sentence as Buggy's hand grabs his throat.

Buggy: " I don't have time for this, so I'll just kill you."

Luffy runs up and rips Buggy's hand off of the mayor's neck, Alex, Zoro, and Nami walking up behind him.