175. Upper Yard

The Clowns go to Upper Yard after finishing their idiotic fights. Everyone except Buggy is stunned to see an island made of earth on Sky Island. They don't know how this can happen because the earth doesn't suppose to be in the sky.

"Captain, did you know the reason for this?" asks Palu.

"I know, but I won't tell you because it won't be fun. Go explore this place and find the answer yourself. That's how we always do things, right?" asks Buggy while smirking.

The crew sighs because Buggy always did this every time. But he is right because telling the truth now will reduce their fun by half. So it's better to find the answer themselves because that's what fun from an adventure.

They dock their ship near the Upper Yard and some people from Magnus's team are tasked to guard the ship. The rest go to explore the Upper Yard in big teams because this place is quite dangerous.

Buggy isn't worried about the Shandians or Skypieans, but something else, it's the giant snake. That snake can even eat Magnus, not to mention the normal-sized humans. So they need to move in big groups to ensure their safety.

Well, it doesn't apply to Buggy though because he can go alone. But he still goes in groups to protect the others He goes with Jude, Ruff, the 2 kids, and Brook's team. So there are 8 people in their group.

"The trees here are very big," says Jude.

"These trees must've lived for hundreds of years to reach their current sizes," says Ruff.

"I wonder why the Skypieans didn't use these trees to build their houses," ponders Jude.

"Maybe they like white, just like my bones. YOHOHOHO!" says Brook.

"Everyone's bones are white," says Ruff.

"Ruff-san, no need to correct my joke," says Brook.

"Eh? That is a joke?" asks Elen innocently.

Brook gets depressed because she doesn't know that he was joking. It makes everyone laughs at him and Elen now feels guilty. But Brook calms her down and says that they are just playing around, so she doesn't need to worry.

They continue their exploration while singing some anime songs that Buggy told Brook. The songs aren't the same as the real ones because Brook made the music himself. But they are still similar and sound good.

Suddenly, Buggy & Jude sense something moving toward them from the front. Buggy tells everyone to stop and put their guard up. Brook and Jude stand on the outside to protect the others with Buggy standing in the front.

Then the creature that moves shows itself, it's the giant blue snake. It is a lot bigger than what Buggy imagined it from the series. The snake raises its head and hisses at them intimidatingly.

"Ho, you want to eat us? Do you have the ability to do it though?" asks Buggy to the snake.

"Captain, why are you always talking with animals as if you understand them?" asks Ruff.

"Because he can. We met a giant snake too while we're on West Blue and he can talk with it normally," says Jude.

"Ooh, that's cool," says Alan impressed.

"I can talk with the ghost," says Brook jokingly.

"That's scary," says Elen.

"Such a contrast reaction," says Brook depressedly.

"Stop talking and focus on the snake please," says a woman from Brook's team, Karina.

They all get reminded and focus on the snake again. It hisses angrily at them because they ignore it so it attacks them. The snake opens its mouth and lunges at them, it tries to eat them, but it doesn't know who they are.

"Your mouth stinks!" says Buggy angrily as he kicks the snake's lower jaw.

The snake's mouth gets closed instantly and bites its tongue. Its head flings up and hits a tree branch very hard until the branch break. The impact makes the snake faint immediately.

"Damn snake never washes its mouth," says Buggy in protest.

"It will be more strange if it washes its mouth," says Ruff with a sweatdrop.

"Anyway, do you want a fun exploration?" asks Buggy while smirking.

They all don't understand what Buggy means and look at each other. Then they nod because there's no way they don't want to have fun. Buggy tells them to wait before he slaps the snake a few times to wake it up.

The snake wakes up slowly and looks around confusedly before looking at Buggy. It sees the smirk on Buggy's face and immediately feels cold sweats on its back. It wants to run away but Buggy suddenly calls it.

"Oi snake! I will hit you again if you run, so you better stay and be a good snake," says Buggy while intimidating the snake a little using his Conqueror Haki.

The snake stiffens and nods at Buggy docilely.

"Good, now lower your head so we can get on it. Take us on a tour around this place and you will get a good reward later," says Buggy.

"Hiss?" asks the snake happily while imagining a lot of food.

"Well, it depends on your performance. I am a fair person, so I will give you a good reward if you make us happy," says Buggy.

The snake gets excited immediately, its mood is really easy to change. Buggy's group then gets on the snake's head and they explore the Upper Yard again. The 2 kids are very happy now and so are the adults.

Brook's team start to play music again and now even the snake is enjoying it. The snake doesn't have any friend and hasn't gotten this happy for years. The last time it gets this happy was more than 400 years ago.

They explore the Upper Yard following wherever the snake goes. Buggy & co don't have any destination in mind, so they just let the snake goes anywhere it wants. It feels like they are on a vacation and touring on a bus.

On their way, they see some ruins that indicated this place was used to have civilization. Some ruins even have some gold coated on them. Of course, they take the gold, they are still pirates who love gold.

"Wow, there are gold pieces that are scattered in the forest and no one takes them," says Alan as he holds some small pieces of gold.

"Does no one here wants the gold?" asks Elen.

"No, they don't see gold as valuables like us," says Buggy.

"Really? They are really strange," says Alan.

"Well, you can't judge it from your point of view. You need to understand their position and needs before saying that," says Buggy.

This place still has much gold because Enel doesn't conquer it. The Shandians and Skypieans value the earth more than gold, unlike Enel. That's why they have a war to control the Upper Yard, to get the soil that they called Vearth.

Buggy explains it to them and they understand it now even though they still can't put themselves in that position. It's hard for them to see soil to be more valuable than gold because they've lived with soil around them since they were born.

*Puru Puru Puru* *Kacha*

"Buggy here," says Buggy after he picked up the call.

"Captain, I think I've found it," says Cricket very seriously through the Denden Mushi.

"What have you found?" asks Buggy while smirking.

Cricket gets silent for a moment befo8re saying, "The City of Gold is here."

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You can read up to 35+ chapters ahead of this fanfic novel & the other one on my Pa_treon page if you are interested.

Clicking that power stone/like also seem to be a good choice, hehe.

I've uploaded:

1. Chapter 199 of Fairy Tail: Sun Eater

2. Chapter 210 of Transcended as Lord Buggy

https://www.pa_treon.com/CaptMermain

(the web didn't use _underscore_, it's to avoid censorship)