108. A Way to The Sky

After throwing the pirates to the faraway sea, Buggy walks back to Ruff. He picks Ruff up to his shoulder then he takes the fish bag.

"Little girl, where's your home?" asks Buggy to the little girl.

"It's-"

"NINA!?" shouts an old man who runs frantically from afar.

Buggy & the little girl look at the running old man. He is the fish seller that Buggy just met before.

"Grandpa, hua~," says Nina while crying and running to her grandpa.

"Are you okay? I heard some pirates are attacking you," says the old man while checking Nina's condition.

"*sniff* I'm okay, those big brothers helped me and defeat the bad pirates," says Nina while pointing at Buggy & the unconscious Ruff.

Nina's grandpa looks at Buggy and gets surprised. "It's you!?"

"Yo, old man. So you're her grandfather. I'll leave her to you, then. I need to treat him immediately," says Buggy.

"A-Alright. Thank you, young man," says the old man.

Buggy nods before leaving the location. He takes his denden mushi and calls Manba.

"Hello?" says Manba through the denden mushi.

"Return to the ship, now," says Buggy before closing his call.

Manba gets confused because Buggy does not explain anything. But he knows that it must be serious for Buggy to call him like that. He immediately returns to the ship even though he is still eating in a restaurant.

Manba arrived on the ship right after Buggy & Ruff. It surprises Manba when he sees Ruff's condition. Buggy tells him to check on Ruff's condition immediately before asking anything.

After some treatments, Manba tells Buggy that Ruff will be fine. There's no fatal injury and he will be healed in a few days. It makes Buggy relieved because Ruff is not that strong physically.

Buggy then explains what happened to Ruff before. It angers Manba, but he's glad that Buggy has taken care of it. They really need to train Ruff in direct battle so he can protect himself without relying on his weapons.

Soon, the other members returned and learn about the incident. They are relieved to know that Ruff is fine, although they're disappointed that they couldn't beat those guys.

"Do you find anything about the Sky Island?" asks Buggy to his crew.

Everyone shakes their heads because they didn't get any useful information. No one in the town talks about the Sky Island openly. It is like a taboo topic for them and no one believes that it exists.

"Sigh, people will never believe in something that they have never seen. Luckily, I found someone who might know something. We will go to his place after this," says Buggy.

Buggy will just bring the main members to the old man's place. But Manba and Mantis will stay on the ship to take care of Ruff. Manba stays because he is the doctor and Mantid stays because Ruff will need to eat after he woke up.

The new members will buy supplies for their ship. Buggy also tells them to find lodgings for their training on this island. They all nod and then they eat together before leaving to do their tasks.

Buggy goes with the main members to the old man's house. It's easy to find the house with the address that Buggy got. The house is near the coast on the other side of the island.

When they arrived at the location, they see Nina is playing with a dog. Nina notices them and smiles when she sees Buggy. She runs to Buggy and hugs his leg happily.

"Yo, Nina. Are you okay now?" asks Buggy while crouching and rubbing her head.

"Yeah, I am fine now, Red Nose big brother," says Nina innocently.

Buggy has a dark face while his crewmates try to hold their laugh. He can't get angry at Nina or he will be too petty. Besides, it is a fact that he has a red nose, and he has gotten used to it. But Nina's innocent words are hurting his heart somehow.

"Where's your grandpa?" asks Buggy to change the topic.

"He's in the backyard," says Nina.

Nina then guides them to the backyard while asking about Ruff. They say that Ruff will be fine and just need to rest. It makes her very relieved because she feels very guilty for what happened to him.

"It's okay to feel guilty after what happened before. But don't dwell on it too much. Ruff didn't save you to make you feel guilty like this," says Buggy.

Nina still looks down and nod slowly. It's not easy for a girl her age to get over something like this. Buggy just smiles and rubs her head to support her. She will eventually get over this and just need time for it.

They arrived in the backyard shortly and see Nina's grandfather is drawing something on paper. Nina calls him and he turns his head at them.

"Oh, young man, you've arrived at the right time. Come here! I want to show you something," says the old man.

The Clowns are confused, but they still go to the old man. They look at the paper that the old man shows to them. It has a drawing that makes them widen their eyes in surprise.

"Oi old man, is this really possible?" asks Palu hastily.

"Who knows? This is the only method that I've ever heard. Possible or not will only be known after you try it yourself," says the old man.

"Oi oi oi, if this failed, then we all will die, you know," says Cricket.

"If you're afraid, then just don't do it in the first place," says the old man.

The drawing that the old man drew is a ship that got attached to a big balloon. It will use hot air to lift the ship to the sky slowly.

"Hmm, it should be possible. But we need to measure the balloon's size, the ship's weight, fuel, wind, etc. There are many things that we need to think of," says Buggy.

Buggy knows this method is possible because there was such transportation on Earth in the past. But he doesn't know much about the mechanisms, so they need to think about it from the start.

"I think we need Ruff's help for this. He is the best for calculating something like this," says Palu.

"Alright, we will think about the details after Ruff woke up. For now, let's think of what we can do. Jude, how long will the Log Pose reset?" says Buggy.

"2 days," replies Jude.

"Then we need to finish it tomorrow or we won't be able to go there. Get ready to work all night without sleeping, you bastards," says Buggy while grinning.

"Aye aye," replied the Clowns lazily.

"WHAT'S WITH THAT ANSWER?" shouts Buggy angrily while knocking Palu's head.

"OUCH, WHY ME?" asks Palu while holding the bump on his head.

"Huh? Got a problem with that?" asks Buggy with a pissed tone.

"N-no," says Palu while smiling sheepishly.

"WHAT'S YOUR ANSWER?" asks Buggy while showing his fist.

"AYE AYE!" shouts the Clowns while saluting.

Nina giggles seeing the Clowns' antiques, "Hihi, funny pirates."

They start to work on planning the method to reach Sky Island. This is a difficult project that they need to finish. If this worked, then this will be one of their greatest achievements.

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A.n: Sorry for the late update. My relative passed away, so I need to help with many things. I hope you can understand.

Also, HAPPY NEW YEAR GUYS!

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You can read up to 30+ chapters ahead of this fanfic novel & the other one on my Pa_treon page if you are interested.

I've uploaded:

1. Chapter 127 of Fairy Tail: Sun Eater

2. Chapter 138 of Transcended as Lord Buggy

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