Brawl at the Big Top

The evening had passed over into morning since Buggy's party was crashed during Nami's arrival and backstabbing; Luffy was still in the cage being dragged by a bleeding Zoro and Nami was rightfully worried while keeping an eye on their tail considering what had happened plus the threat of Buggy sending his more competent lieutenants after them.

"So you mind explaining who this is, Ford? Because I was so close to getting Buggy's treasure before he showed up and made all that noise!" Nami asked Morgan who was still tied up in the cage while Zoro was catching his breath next to him; "Besides this is not a good place to stop, knowing Buggy….he's already got someone after us."

"Will you give it a rest? Zoro managed to get us away from the dock and into the town….We just need a key to get me out of this cage and then we can double up on a plan." Morgan sighed as he gazed up at Nami; "Besides, I'm still mad at you for that double cross back there…" He would admit and then glanced over at Zoro who was clutching a hand to his wound.

"Oh, that….I managed to swipe this out of Buggy's pocket so we should be able to get you out in no time." Nami piped up as she reached into her shirt and pulled out an iron key before tossing it to the two who quickly got mad.

"We've been running all this time with Morgan/Me in the cage and you had the key with you?!" Both Morgan and Zoro would yell at Nami in frustration but she would wave them off.

"Look, just be glad that I could get the key at all…it's no chest of money but you two as bodyguards will do better for now anyway." Nami remarked casually as she watched Zoro try to unlock the door before freezing when she heard a set of deep booming footsteps coming towards them; "Come on! Come on! Wait…..what about your swords? can't you cut through the bars?" Nami asked Zoro as she grabbed her staff to defend herself.

"If I could then I risk cutting up Morgan, but thanks to the clown….I've lost a lot of blood and I can't even focus right to do it." Zoro pointed out as Morgan was struggling to get out of the ropes. The footsteps were getting closer and it had Nami more on edge as she could barely see what was coming.

"What about your hideout? wasn't it nearby here?" Morgan asked Nami frantically as he knew something big was coming but being tied up was not something that he was enjoying in combination.

"I was following your friend! Plus we can't fit you in the doors as you are now, the cage is too bi-LOOK OUT!" Nami screamed out as she pushed Zoro out of the way just as a giant paw came crashing down on the cage, smashing it to pieces.

Morgan was luckily able to roll out of the way before he got crushed under it though the ropes still kept him from making a fight back; "What…is that?!" he would yell out in shock as he saw a monstrous lion that looked to be twice the size of a horse and on it's back was an odd looking man who had tufty ears and a furry shirt holding on to the lion's mane with a menacing smirk.

"Good boy, Richie….you managed to find our targets, I had hoped to crush your friend with the cage but it's not like he's in any position to do anything." the man gloated as he eyed down Zoro and Nami.

"Who the hell are you…and what's with the lion?" Morgan would ask curiously, he seemed more intrigued that there was a lion this big then the impending doom of a lion snapping down on him.

"It looks like Buggy's men caught up with us." Zoro mentioned as he gripped the hilt of his sword as a defensive position.

"That's right, buddy…..I am Mohji! The Lion Tamer of Buggy's pirate crew and this cute lil guy right here is Richie." Mohji declared in a theatrical manner as Richie roared in recognition.

"So I'm guessing you're some kind of beast man with all that fur on you….Did you eat a Devil Fruit?" Morgan asked as he did a kip up and got to his feet.

"Oh…that's just my regular hair….all of it." Mohji replied with a more than prideful grin on his face though that just seemed to disgust Nami and Morgan when they realised that it was all body hair.

"That's just….Anyway, I'm guessing you're here to bring us back to Buggy?" Nami inquired as she got the topic back on track as she pointed her staff at Richie the Lion; resulting in the bigger creature cutting the wooden rod down a size or two with his claws.

"Well….The captain was preeeeetty sore about your little betrayal, Nami…so he wants you back dead or alive, though he wasn't exactly specific on which one." Mohji explained as Zoro staggered to his feet with a sword in hand and laughed; "Oh don't even try….Richie's claws are tougher then steel so that little blade of your's could barely qualify as a toothpick for him."

"Swift Style Kenpo….." Morgan would start as he rushed forward with his upper half still tied up; Richie got aggressive as he roared and took an easy swipe at Morgan but the bound martial artist quickly rolled around the swipe. Quickly hopping into the air and with Haki imbued legs: Morgan drove both feet into Mohji's chest to knock him off of Richie's back and propel himself backwards; "Kangaroo Stomp!"

Richie let out an intimidating roar as he felt the weight of Mohji disappear from him; snarling and rearing his claws back to start pouncing and trying to maul Morgan who was desperately trying to dodge each one.

"I can't focus enough to get my Observation flowing….each swipe keeps getting closer to hit skin and I'm not keen on becoming cat food!" Morgan thought to himself as he then winced in pain as he felt Richie's claws sink deep in his leg and knocked him down to his knees.

"Good job Mohji….now I can finish them off!" a second voice could be heard as a man on a unicycle zoomed over to the trio with a sabre in hand; ready to cut down the tied up Morgan but found himself caught by Zoro's sword.

"You have to get past me first, freakshow." Zoro would warn as he pushed off with his sword and held a second sword in his free hand.

"The name's Cabaji, I'm the Acrobat for Buggy's crew and much like my friend Mohji here….I'm after your heads….though in which order doesn't matter to me." he would smirk as he started swinging his sword more against the wounded Zoro.

"H-Hey Nami….I don't suppose you've got a knife or something?" Morgan asked Nami as she was trying to avoid the fighting. He quickly frowned once he saw her shake her head and then staggered to his feet; "Then I just gotta hope for the best." Morgan remarked as he rushed forward to help while blocking out the pain.

"ARE YOU CRAZY?! THE BOTH OF YOU ARE ALREADY INJURED ENOUGH AS IT IS!" Nami would yell out to the both of them as she could only keep at a safe distance but started to run as Mohji began to chase after her.

"We either fight back or we get killed by Buggy's crew! Your choice!" Morgan retorted as he saw Richie rearing back again to start pouncing; "But right now, I'm more concerned about getting my arms free!".

Richie seemed more and more frustrated as his "prey" was more interested in dancing around him then sitting still, though Morgan was counting on his frustration as one angry swing from the giant cat managed to cut him free of the ropes.

Grinning widely and stretching his arms out as he eyed down the lion; "Let's see you tangle with someone who can fight back now." Morgan taunted the lion as he got into a low stance; "Swift Style Kenpo!"

The lion had more then enough of being danced around and teased; with an impatient roar, he jumped into the air with his claws extended and ready to tear into Morgan.

But this was what the pirate martial artist was counting on as he swept his feet under and pressed them against Richie's stomach before kicking him upwards into the air; "Climbing Goat!" He proclaimed before leaping up into the air to meet the airborne Richie; "This is going to be tough, I've not used this move on a non-human before…." Morgan would think to himself before deciding not to take chances with a man-eating lion by wrapping his arms around the waist and pressed his knees into it's stomach before letting gravity take them both back down to the ground with Morgan's knees driving the wind out of Richie; "Strong Style Kenpo: Crashing Waterfall Drop!"

Richie let his head fall back as he fell unconscious while Morgan climbed off of the lion; noticing that Mohji stopped chasing Nami whe n he heard the crash and was distraught to see the lion prone on the ground.

"RICHIE! That does it….I'm going to make you pay for killing my friend!" Mohji threatened Morgan before roaring in anger and started rushing at him with the knife; frantically trying his hardest to get him.

This was a remarkably more easier time for Morgan as he kicked the knife out of Mohji's hand when Nami jumped in with her partially sliced up staff and slammed it into Mohji's face, sending him into a heap next to his lion. "That really was a close one." Morgan sighed in relief as the fight was over for him before dusting off.

"W-Wait….You just….killed a lion with your bare hands, are you even human?" Nami would ask in shock as she saw the remains of the unconscious Richie before looking back at Morgan.

"It's not dead; even if I did want to try, I can't….I'm not exactly THAT strong, plus I'm not gonna kill an animal for acting like an animal….the only times I kill an animal is if I intend to eat it." Morgan explained to her as he then looked over to check on Zoro who was still fighting before he collapsed after Cabaji kicked him in his wound. The dirty play irked Morgan as he made his way over to help out.

"Stay Back! He's my enemy to fight and I'm not letting him go after trying to fight dirty." Zoro would say as he held up his third sword in his mouth.

"Alright, in that case I'll trust you and leave you to it." Morgan remarked as he grabbed Nami's arm and headed in the opposite direction before the two were cut off by none other then Buggy.

"Leave him to what? Getting more sliced up by that guy?! Aren't you at all worried about him?" Nami would ask as she ran along with him.

"I trust Zoro and I've seen what he can do, besides…he wants to become a great swordsman like I wanna become the first Martial Artist to become Pirate King." Morgan remarked back at her with a confident smirk however neither he or Nami were prepared for pieces of Buggy to fly down in front of the two and reconnect to form the Jester Captain.

"Leaving so soon? But I still have a score to settle with you and your crew for messing up more of my guys." Buggy sneered as he readied his knives in both hands.

"Funny you should mention that, I still have to pay you back for trying to attack me with a lion and a cannon." Morgan retorted as he let the straw hat rest on his head; "Hey Nami, you all set t-" He started but turned to see Nami was hightailing it away from the two of them.

"Sorry Ford! Fighting's not my thing so have fun duking it out, you two~" Nami called back happily as she waved at them and disappeared behind a building.

"YOU COULD AT LEAST OFFER TO HELP!" Both Morgan and Buggy dramatically yelled at the ever shrinking dot that was Nami as she rounded deeper into the city. "Honestly I don't know why I offered to let this girl join my crew." Buggy bemoaned as he looked back to Morgan.

"Well, she has her eye on SOMETHING all right…" Morgan grumbled before getting into a stance; "In any case, I'm not gonna settle for anything less then punching that big red nose of your's."

"That attitude of your's just irritates me even more….and that hat doesn't help either! It reminds me too much of Red-Hair and the sin he committed against me!" Buggy snapped once he heard the comment about his nose, though his tangent changed when he saw the straw hat sitting on top of Morgan's head.

"Wait…you know Red Haired Shanks? He's the guy who gave me the hat!" Morgan grinned once he realised that someone else knew Shanks besides him and Luffy.

"Of course I know him, he was on Roger's crew like I was! Though I was the more talented and more handsome looking one." Buggy boasted proudly as he took one of his signature "Flashy" poses; "But in all seriousness….I'm gonna kill you and rip that hat to pieces." He remarked darkly as three knives plus Buggy's fist was flying fast towards Morgan's face.

His eyes widened and Morgan tried to duck his head back to avoid what was coming; however he wasn't quick enough as one of the knives managed to cut his right cheek from the jaw to just under his eye before the whole fistful of blades caught his straw hat in the upswing; Buggy started retracting his hand back to him.

"Ugh…just looking at this thing pisses me off." Buggy grimaced like the hat like it had a stink, driving the hat all the way down to the bottom of the knife blades and widening the holes in them before throwing it to the ground. "You said you wanted to be Pirate King? Well look no further because if you think you're good enough to be king, then I'm the GOD of Pirates!" Buggy bragged in between each slow stomp on the hat.

It didn't take much after that for Morgan to close the distance between him and Buggy; there was no martial arts with this….only an enraged Morgan drawing his clenched fist back and throwing it into Buggy's face so hard that it knocked the clown's head off of his shoulders and into a nearby window; "DON'T TOUCH MY TREASURE LIKE THAT, CLOWN!" Morgan yelled angrily as he watched both the head float out of the now broken window and the decapitated body get up like nothing happened; "What the hell even are you?" Morgan asked in surprise while picking up the now partly tattered hat, his anger quickly dwindled from the shock of seeing Buggy literally piecing himself back together.

"Heh, You can start apologising because no amount of swords or knives can hurt me…I ate the Bara-Bara no Mi and I became a Chop-Chop Man…you can't slice up what's already in pieces!" Buggy smirked before starting to laugh graphically.

"Great….Just when I thought Luffy's powers were bad enough….But on the plus side: I can at least still hurt him with my Haki." Morgan thought to himself as he started taking more care around Buggy by keeping his eye on his body in case he separated; "Well, good thing I've got something to counter your weirdness." he would remark as he focused himself to keep his Armament Haki flowing over his body.

"Call it what you want, pal….Because without powers of your own, you ain't gonna last long as a pirate!" Buggy declared as he twirled his blades.

——Meanwhile back at Buggy's hideout——

"Perfect, while those two are fighting each other…taking out the two guards was a cinch, now I can take Buggy's map to the Grand Line AND his loot." Nami thought to herself as she pocketed a parchment and started shoveling gold and jewels into a sack, "Though I'm still surprised Buggy doesn't have one of those books around…then again, considering him; it's not as if he really needs it." Nami shrugged as she hoisted the giant bag over her shoulder and started to head out.

Her plan was simple; 1. Sneak into Buggy's hideout, 2. Steal every gold piece and Belli that she could find in there and 3. Grab a ship and move on to her next target! "Simple right? Though those guys from earlier could be useful with clearing out some of the goons to make stealing easier…." Nami's steps started to slow as she looked back at the town square where she could hear the fights still going; "Though I'm not exactly eager to deal with Ford's attitude, those skills of his and that sword guy's could be something worth….Aw damn it!" Nami growled in frustration at herself as she turned away from the dock and ran towards where Morgan and Zoro were.

——Back with Morgan and Buggy——

Morgan rushed forward as he managed to land several quick hits on Buggy's abdomen and finished his salvo with a twist on his heel and a spin kick into Buggy to knock him back.

"GH….The hell? I thought you didn't have powers!" Buggy growled as he was surprised that Morgan was able to hurt him like this.

"Oh, I am still powerless but I've made it a point to take up Martial Arts and learned Haki from a certain old coot…so I don't exactly need a weird fruit to bring the pain." Morgan would quip as he began to dodge and move around Buggy's jabs and swings thanks to his Observation Haki.

"Great, another Haki user too…I should've guessed a backwater hick like you would have something up your sleeves!" Buggy yelled out in frustration as the constant dancing around his attacks was starting to tick him off; though that only seemed to grow when he saw Nami coming back and that all too familiar sound of money jingling.

"The old fart did say that Haki gets stronger the more you fight with it…I just gotta keep i-NAMI?!" Morgan barely managed to duck under a wide swing from Buggy's right hand as he saw the redhead with a bag on her back and running towards them both or rather in the direction of the dock.

Needless to say; fighting someone with Haki was a pain on it's own, but watching Nami rushing down the street with what looked like all of his loot bagged up with her was the proverbial straw that broke this red nosed camel's back. "That thieving little….Fine, I'll finish the both of you off! BARA-BARA….FESTIVAL!" Buggy screamed out as his body practically exploded into pieces, his head and fists started to home in on Nami as she ran; screaming in terror when she saw them inching towards her.

Morgan was trying to block the spinning Buggy pieces around him but noticed his feet were still planted firmly on the ground; giving the martial arts using pirate an idea; "Alright, if this pirate likes playing dirty…then I'll just do this!"

"YOU GIVE THAT BACK RIGHT NOW! GIMME BACK MY TREAS-AAAAAAAAAH!" Buggy was using his disembodied hands to try pulling the bag off of Nami but then screamed out in pain as he dropped it; When Nami looked back at Morgan, she could see he had dropped a large brick on one of Buggy's clown shoes. "D-Damn it! You're really gonna get it now!" Buggy yelled out as he began to piece himself back together: "I AM GOING TO….Huh?" Buggy was ready to threaten Morgan again but realised something was wrong as he was now roughly the size of a toddler with only his head, hands and feet attached.

"Nice to see your rope work does wonders on more then just random guys off the street." Morgan remarked to tease Nami who punched his arm in return.

"Don't give me that pervy crap! If I hadn't kept that spare rope around, Buggy would be kicking you around more!" Nami snapped back at him as she tightened the knot around Buggy's limbs, keeping the thrashing appendages out of the clown's reach and unable to reform.

"Still, now we can put an end to Buggy…or at the very least, let the townsfolk deal with this crummy clown." Morgan shrugged as he wiped the blood from his cheek and stared down at the pirate who was now at knee height for him.

"A-Alright, let's think about this….if you can let me go, I can give you a cut of my loot….how about it?" Buggy would desperately try to bargain with Morgan and Nami but suffice to say, both were not impressed at all.

"Time to put down the clown….Strong Style Kenpo!" Morgan smirked as he got into his boxer's stance.

"A-A bigger ship! all the food you could want! ANYTHING!" Buggy continued to beg as he could see the light flash before his eyes.

"RUNAWAY BOULDER!" Morgan yelled out as he drove his elbow into Buggy; sending the pint sized pirate bouncing off of the ground, the walls before colliding in a heap next to Mohji and Richie, soon followed by a cut down Cabaji and a broken up unicycle.

"You know he's still alive right?" Zoro piped up as he staggered over to the two; "A pirate shouldn't take chances of someone coming back to finish what they started."

"I already said, I'm not the kind of pirate to go around killing people…sure I'll steal their money and beat the snot out of them, but doing that just leaves a bad taste…get what I mean?" Morgan explained as Nami gave the two a weird look once she realised they were both pirates through and through.

"HEY! That loot's mine to begin with, so don't think about getting your grubby mitts on it!" Nami warned Morgan as she pointed a finger at him though that defensive glare turned into one of resigned acceptance as she saw the two guys collapse on the ground from bloodloss and general fatigue.

—Time Passes—

Morgan groaned to himself as he woke up in a bed; his body ached from the fight and the only thing that hurt more then his muscles was under the bandage on his face, with Zoro lifting weights in the bed next to his with a large set of bandages wrapped around his waist; Morgan saw Nami talking with a poodle haired man wearing what looked to be wooden armour.

"Oh, they're awake…thank goodness." The man would say as he marched over towards Zoro and Morgan to get a better word in; "It's a tad late but Welcome to Orange Town….my name is Mayor Boodle and I have you three to thank for dealing with that vagabond Buggy." Boodle said with a thankful smile.

"It's nothing really." Morgan downplayed it before wincing in pain as his cheek stung despite still feeling woozy; "It was a case of wrong place, wrong time, we can be out of your hair soon."

"And so humble too, though I would be careful with that bandage on your face…Our doctor was able to stitch you up but that was a nasty cut you received so it's not likely to heal." Boodle explained as he then looked to Morgan; "Though you have that young lady to thank, she helped us with getting you to the house and finding someone to patch you two up."

"Right…her…yeah we're not exactly working together, so if you can show us to a cartographer or someone who can help us navigate…we'll be on our way." Morgan inquired as he was still looking for someone to help them out.

"A Cartographer…Are you two sailors? Marines?" Boodle would ask in confusion as he looked to both him and Zoro.

"Oh no, we're pirates actually…we were looking for a third part of our crew." Morgan admitted, though he could see Boodle's expression change from kindly to growing anger.

"You're…no…we are NOT having more pirates in our town! it's bad enough that Buggy robbed us blind but we're not going to take it from more pirate thugs!" Boodle would roar in anger as he grabbed a nearby pitchfork.

"Time to go, Zoro!" Morgan would say hurriedly as both of them jumped out of the window and started running; "I honestly can't blame them! Someone like Buggy can really rile you up!"

"It also might have something to do with the fact that I've got Buggy's loot loaded on a ship nearby last night….so some of it might be their's….Plus this little bonus right here~" Nami said with a cash hungry grin as she was hauling a bag of loot on her back.

"You again? what exactly do you want, Buggy's all done with so why are you hanging around?" Zoro asked curiously as he was clutching his side and running for the dock from the growing mob of people.

"Well, I was thinking about expanding on our arrangement…I need money and you need a navigator right?" Nami would ask them both as they nodded in agreement. "Well then, you help me get the cash I need and I'll help you get to the Grand Line, Whaddya say?" Nami offered to Morgan as he saw the ship ahead with two large bags sitting in the back.

"Well…I don't think we could ask the townsfolk now…we're not exactly welcome, so alright…welcome to our crew Nami-OW!" Morgan would accept though was caught off guard by Nami bonking him on the head with a piece of her segmented staff.

"Don't get me wrong….I still hate pirates so consider this a business arrangement more than a crewmate!" Nami corrected him as they climbed into the ship; with Nami rolling down the sail, Morgan got himself sitting in the back and rowed, seeing as Zoro was still healing from his gut wound.

"THAT'S RIGHT! NOW STAY OUT OF….huh?" Boodle yelled out to the departing boat but was surprised when he saw a bulging sack of money sitting near the dock where they were, putting two and two together started to make him tear up with joy; "Go on, get out of here you little devils!" The Mayor said with a small smile on his face.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU TOSSED OUT ONE OF THE MONEY BAGS?! THERE WAS 50,000 BELLIS IN THERE! WE'RE GOING BACK RIGHT NOW!" Nami was livid and continuously hitting Morgan on the head in anger at the diminished funds with Morgan arguing back about there being no room for him to sit.

"Man….I can already tell this is going to be a long trip…." Zoro would think to himself as he stared out to the ocean and tried to ignore the two's arguing.