68. Torino Kingdom

After Gaban agreed to protect Dina & Robin, the Clown Pirates decide to leave. Their route might have been discovered by the Marine and this island might get found.

It will endanger Dina, Robin, and the villagers because, with Gaban here, the Marine will send strong officers like Garp, Sengoku, or other Admiral-level officers.

"Gaban-san, I hope you will have some kids when we meet again," says Buggy while waving from his ship.

"SHUT UP, YOU MONGREL!" Gaban yells at Buggy with a red face while throwing one of his axe at Buggy.

The axe hit Buggy and split his body before flying away to the sea. Luckily it's just a common axe, not Gaban's high-grade axe that he used when he's still active. So it's not a problem if the axe is gone.

Buggy laughs and waves again at Gaban, Dina, & Robin. They sail away from the island to resume their journey. They will explore South Blue before they go to the Grandline.

"Where will we go, Captain?" asks Jude.

"Let's try to get a doctor first. We'll go to the Torino Kingdom," says Buggy.

The Clown Pirates now sail to the Torino Kingdom. It's the Kingdom where Chopper learns for 2 years in time skip. That Kingdom looks very undeveloped, but it's actually quite advanced, especially in medical terms.

That's why Buggy wants to find a doctor from that place. Chopper can learn a lot in 2 years of training, so their medical knowledge must be very high.

Buggy doesn't care about their plump and short appearance. In his crew, the normal ones are only the girls. He & Cricket are strange enough, so another strange-looking member isn't a problem.

It takes three days for them to reach Torino Kingdom. When they see the island, they are amazed by the very tall tree that has some giant bird nests on it. They've seen some unique islands, but something like this will still amaze them.

They come ashore and dock on an empty coast. Then Buggy, Mantis, & Jude go down to explore the island. Cricket stays on the ship to guard it. He's also still injured so he can't explore the island.

The trio moves together to find the inhabitants of this island. They walk through the forest while looking around at the vegetation here.

They find some native plants in the forest but ignore them. Some plants might be dangerous, so they don't want to touch them.

While walking in the forest, they hear a loud cry from the sky. They look up and see a giant bird with blue feathers & a red beak. The giant bird is the native bird of this island and is considered its ruler.

Buggy & co just look at the bird that flies away to its nest. Then they resume their exploration to find the human natives. It's hard to find the village in this thick forest.

It takes them 2 hours before they finally find the village. Buggy & co see the human natives of this island. All of them are fat & short. Their clothes also look very primitive as they're made of leaves & straws.

"Captain, are you sure that they have high medical knowledge?" asks Mantis with a doubting tone.

"Don't underestimate them. They might be smarter than any one of us here," says Buggy.

Mantis still doubts it, but she doesn't say anything else. Buggy then calls the natives, "Excuse me, people of Torino Kingdom."

The natives look in Buggy's direction with a curious gaze. Then a man comes forward and asks, "Who are you?"

"We're pirates, but don't worry, we won't attack you or do bad things. We just want to explore the island," says Buggy while raising his hands.

"You want to explore the island? Okay," says the man.

"He allows it that easily?" asks Jude.

"Well, they are confident in protecting themselves, after all. Look at their spears, those are not normal spears but bazookas," says Buggy while pointing at the spears.

Jude & Mantis get surprised and look at the spears carefully. Now they realize that those spears are not real spears. They're amazed by these natives' advanced technology now.

Buggy then approaches the native man and asks, "My name is Buggy, and they're my crewmates Mantis & Jude. What's your name?"

"I'm Nhiba, the current leader of our tribe. This is my son, Shanba, and my wife Mayba. This is...." Nhiba introduces his tribesmen one by one, make Buggy sweatdrop at him, but doesn't stop him.

After Nhiba finishes the introduction, Buggy asks him, "Nhiba, we want to explore the island, but we are worried about some dangerous plants or something like that. Can you help us with that?"

"That's an easy matter," says Nhiba.

Nhiba then asks someone to take a book for dangerous plants. After the book arrived, Nhiba open it and show the dangerous plants to Buggy & co. Buggy & Mantis just look at it, while Jude notes it on her book.

After they look at all the dangerous plants, Buggy & co leave to explore the island. The natives tell them to be careful with the giant birds and they nod. They walk to the forest again in a different direction from where they came.

"I thought you want to recruit a doctor," says Mantis.

"We need to take it slowly. They haven't fully believed us, so we can't just ask something like that. Even you & Jude need time to trust me and join my crew, right?" asks Buggy.

"Hmm, you're right," says Mantis.

"Ah, Captain, there's a poisonous mushroom in front of you," says Jude.

Buggy stops and looks down to find the mushroom that Jude meant. Then he sees a red mushroom with some white dots like the mushrooms in games.

Buggy then takes the mushroom and place it in a special container. It might have a use in the future, so he keeps it. Besides, he wants to raise his poison resistance, so he will need some poisons for that.

"Why'd you want to raise your poison resistance?" asks Mantis.

"Because our enemies might use poisons in the future. Remember the Axe Gang leader that I fought on your island? He also used poison that gave me quite the trouble. In the future, our enemies might use deadly poisons, so we need to have some immunity for it," says Buggy.

"Hmm, I guess you're right. But I think to build up poison resistance isn't that easy, right?" asks Mantis.

"Yeah, we need to be careful and always prepare the antidote. That's why we need a doctor to help us. Well, even without that, we still need a doctor. Our health is important," says Buggy.

Buggy & co continue their exploration and find some poisonous plants & useful herbs that Nhiba has asked them to take if they find them. These herbs are useful to make medicines.

While they walk around the forest, Buggy suddenly senses something. He senses someone or something is watching them from far away. He doesn't sense any malicious intent from this watcher, but it is more like a curiosity.

Buggy thinks, 'Is it one of the natives here? Why don't they come out and just talk to us? But this guy is quite strong for a South Blue residence. Hmm, let's wait and see what this guy wants from us.'

Buggy ignores the watcher and continues his exploration.

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