160. Escaping

Buggy leaves the Red Hairs and goes to his ship. After he left, the Red Hairs also leave because an Admiral will come soon.

"He is a little different than what I imagined," says Benn Beckman.

"Well, he's also a little different from what I remembered. He has changed, and it's not a bad change," says Shanks.

"So, what will you do with his invitation, leader?" asks Lucky Roo.

"We'll see about that. For now, we need to leave this place and go to our next destination, Fishman Island," says Shanks.

The Red Hairs also go to their ship to leave Sabaody. Just like them, the Clowns are ready to leave too. They just need to wait for Buggy and he arrives a few minutes later.

"Let's go, an Admiral is on the way," says Buggy.

Everyone nods and they immediately start to sail. They leave Sabaody and go in the direction of Water 7. Buggy tells them to stay vigilant for the enemy attack that might come anytime.

On Sabaody, the CD group finally wake up from their sleep. They're a little confused, but then remember what happened. A guard immediately calls Marine HQ and asks for an Admiral to be sent.

"WHAT?! THE CD GOT ATTACKED? WHAT ARE YOU DOING AS HIS GUARD?" asks Kong in rage.

"T-They used an unknown power to knock us out instantly before we can do anything," says the guard through the denden mushi.

"What?!" says Kong in surprise.

"It must be Conqueror Haki. Damn, those who have it always bring trouble through ages," says Sengoku who is in Kong's room.

"Who are they?" asks Kong to the guard.

"We don't know for sure. But one is a man with short red hair, while the other one is a man with long blue hair and a big red nose," says the guard.

"There's no mistake, it must be them. 'Red Hair' Shanks and Buggy 'The Clown'. They are last reported to be seen on Sabaody," says Sengoku.

"Roger's 2 apprentices, huh? Tch, still giving us trouble even after his death by leaving these 2 brats. Sengoku, you go there now," says Kong.

"Are you sure you'll just send me? He is there too, after all," says Sengoku.

"I know, but we still need to show our effort even though Rayleigh might hinder you," says Kong.

"A formality, huh? There's no choice, I guess," says Sengoku as he leaves the room.

Sengoku moves fast to Sabaody with his unit. They arrived shortly after that because the distance between Marineford and Sabaody is not too far. Marine battleship is also fast, not to mention an Admiral's ship which must be the best.

However, they are still too late because the Clowns & Red Hairs have left the Archipelago. The CD group's report is late too, so the Marine couldn't reach the location on time. There's nothing they can do now because they thought both crews has gone to Fishman Island.

"Admiral Sengoku!" calls a Marine soldier who runs up to Sengoku.

"What is it?" asks Sengoku.

"We found out that the Clown Pirates weren't leaving to Fishman Island, but they went somewhere else. We still don't know where they want to go, but they must be still close by now," says the Marine soldier.

"Hmm, is that so? Alright, keep it a secret," says Sengoku.

"Yes?" asks the marine soldier confusedly.

"Keep it a secret. Or do you want to waste your time chasing them without knowing where they want to go? We will eventually get news about them when they reach an island, so no need to rush it," whispers Sengoku to the Marine soldier.

The marine soldier doesn't think that it's right, but he can't object to an Admiral's order. So he agrees to it and Sengoku also tells him to inform his friends about this. He can only nod and return to his base nervously.

Sengoku sighs and orders his unit to search for their targets around the Archipelago. Kong himself has said that this is just formality, so there's no need to work too hard. They can just say that the report came too late, so the targets have left before they even arrived.

"Sigh, I think Garp has influenced me too much," says Sengoku while eating his rice crackers.

Meanwhile, the Clowns have gone far from Sabaody now. They are still vigilant for any possible attack from the Marine that chase them. But even after a long time, no battleship appears in the vicinity.

"It seems they can't track us, but we can't put our guard down yet. Anything can happen in the sea," says Buggy.

Just after he said that their ship shakes violently. The seawater is moving violently and then some snake-like currents appear. The currents move around and shake their ship until it flies up to the sky.

The Clowns try to control their ship to not flip and sink. Little Hunter gets damaged by the violent currents, but they can't do anything about it. They can only try to not make their ship sink or it will be the end.

It finally ends after half an hour and they all are exhausted. But they can't rest because they need to patch up some damages on their ship or they'll sink because water has entered their ship's lower cabin.

They worked fast to fix the damages with their lousy skills. But at least they can prevent their ship from sinking so they can resume their way. They leave the area and follow the Eternal Pose to Water 7 again.

6 days later, they finally enter a very dark sea covered in thick fog. It is dark even though night hasn't come yet. Buggy knows this place, Florian Triangle. This is the place that he wants to find.

"We need to sail slower because the ship is not in good condition. But we finally reach this place, Florian Triangle," says Buggy while grinning.

"Is this place really have many ghosts in it, I wonder," says Cricket.

"I want to see the infamous ghost ship," says Deon.

"What do the ghosts eat?" ponders Mantis.

The 4 of them aren't scared at all by the rumor about this place. They've seen many absurdities in Grandline, so some ghosts won't be too strange. It even makes them excited because they never see a ghost.

"Be careful guys. The rumor about ghosts might be an exaggeration, but this sea is truly dangerous. Many ships disappeared here every year. They say there are gigantic unidentified creatures that live here. These creatures might be the reason for the ships' disappearances," says Buggy.

"Is that true? The rumor about ghosts sounds more believable to me than these gigantic creatures. If these things really exist, then there's no way they'll remain unknown," says Deon.

"It's up to you whether to believe it or not. But remember, this is Grandline. Even after hundreds or thousands of years, this place is still full of mysteries," says Buggy while grinning.

Deon blinks his eyes and just remembers that simple fact. Now both rumors about ghosts and gigantic creatures seem to have a high possibility to be real. But it just makes them even more curious now.

They sail in the dark fog while looking around and spread their Observation Haki. Buggy tells them to do so to find any life sign in this place. They do as he says because they might find the ghosts and gigantic creatures.

For a day, they don't find anything, until suddenly they hear a faint sound from afar. They get silent and focus to hear the sound that keeps getting closer to them. It is a creepy singing voice, but it makes Buggy excited rather than scared.

"Yo-ho-ho-ho~, yo-ho-ho-ho~," sings someone with a very slow tempo.

"He's here," says Buggy excitedly.

______________________________________________________________

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 184 of Fairy Tail: Sun Eater

2. Chapter 195 of Transcended as Lord Buggy

https://www.pa_treon.com/CaptMermain

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