88. Ruff

Ruff's creations have made Buggy interested in recruiting him. Technology & weapons are important for any big force. Marine & WG can be very strong because they have many great researchers, including the best scientist, Vegapunk.

If Buggy wants to make his crew become as strong as Marine, he will need a great scientist or researcher too. Buggy, Manba, & Palu can build good weapons, but they're not specialists.

The Clowns need someone who is specialized in weapons & technology to upgrade their crew's power. Buggy knows weapons & technology are important for any force.

Sure, he can train his crew and make them very strong. But not everyone has the high potential and ability to reach the top strength of this world. That's why weapons and technology are used to cover that.

But Buggy won't ask Ruff now. He wants Ruff to focus on creating the suit for climbing the volcano first. He can talk to Ruff later after they succeed. Besides, Ruff's current ambition is to climb the volcano.

Ruff starts to craft the prototype of the suit using some materials. Buggy can only watch from the side and doesn't understand a thing. He can make bullets or explosives, but this is beyond his brain's capability.

After half an hour, the prototype has been finished. It is shaped like a shiny small ball instead of clothes. Ruff says it is just to test the heat resistance, not for immediate use.

Ruff then open the ball and put an egg inside it. Then he places the ball on fire for 20 minutes. After that, he takes the ball and cracks the egg.

The egg is half-cooked, but it still makes Ruff happy. 20 minutes is enough to cook the egg perfectly, but it's only half-cooked. That means the theory worked, but he still made some errors.

Ruff then starts to evaluate the prototype and make some changes. Then he starts to make another prototype following the changes. He is very focused on making the prototype and ignores Buggy.

"Sigh, I can't do anything here, so I will go to the town. Do you want me to buy something for you?" asks Buggy.

"No need, I have what I need to make the prototypes now. Maybe we'll need to buy things after I succeed to make it," says Ruff.

"Alright, I'll just buy some food then," says Buggy.

Buggy can't do anything now, so he leaves the workshop and let Ruff work. He goes to the town and walks around to find interesting stuff.

This town has many unique items because of its geography. Many items that are sold on the town are made of volcanic materials or inspired by the volcano. Even some food here is cooked using the Volcano's heat.

Buggy buys some items that he has never seen before for his collection. He has many collections on the ship and even has a special room for them. It's not like he has any use for them, but he just likes to collect them.

When exploring the town, Buggy also finds some unique foods. They're made of this island's unique animals' meat. Now he doesn't need to catch those animals and cook them, he just needs to buy the cooked ones.

Buggy also finds out that the animals here are unique because of the rich minerals from the volcano. It makes the animals healthy like the forest and gives them some unique traits.

The animals here are noticeably bigger than their normal version. They also have strong & bigger bones, while having thicker skin. Some of them even have additional organs like horns or tusks because of the rich minerals that they consumed every day.

Their meats are quite tough even though they're tasty. But the people here have found a way to make the meat more tender. Buggy knows Mantis will learn the method, so he can't wait to taste Mantis' meat cooking after this.

After walking around and buying things for hours, Buggy returns to Ruff's house. He can hear Ruff is laughing like a maniac from the workshop. It seems Ruff has succeeded to make the suit concept.

Buggy enters the workshop and sees Ruff running toward him. Ruff immediately tells Buggy to buy some materials that they'll use to make the suit. Buggy can't even say anything when Ruff runs off somewhere for an unknown reason.

He has no choice now, so Buggy returns to the town to buy the materials. It takes 2 hours for Buggy to find all the materials because he is not familiar with this town and doesn't know where he could find them.

When he returns to Ruff's house, he sees Ruff is preparing some tools to make the suit. Ruff doesn't immediately make the suit, but he takes Buggy to eat his mother's cooking first.

"You know, my dad was a geologist. That's why he climbed the mountain because he wanted to learn it," says Ruff to Buggy while eating.

"So you want to be a geologist too?" asks Buggy.

"No, I am more interested in technology, including weapons. But it broke my heart when he failed to fulfill his dream. My dad came from North Blue and when he arrived on this island, he immediately wanted to learn it," says Ruff.

Ruff's father has climbed the volcano for 20 years. He never succeeded because he didn't have the required knowledge to climb a volcano. He just kept climbing out of his persistency.

But years of climbing will take a toll on his body. The Volcano also released dangerous gases that make Ruff's father's health deteriorate. Then he finally died 5 years ago when he climbed because his body has reached its limit.

"I don't know what my father wanted to find there, but at least I want to see it on his stead. That's why I tried to climb and learn about many things that might help me to reach the peak," says Ruff.

Ruff has learned the volcano to find a safe way to reach the peak. He can solve other problems except for one, heat. The peak of this Volcano can reach 3000 degrees Celsius which is just too hot for anything that Ruff has made.

"What the-!? 3000?! Are you sure about that?" asks Buggy with a surprised tone.

"I am, it's very hot on the peak. The place that you reached, the 3/4 of the height only has 500 Celsius. But the temperature raised significantly after that and it reach 3000 Celsius on top. It's just my estimation though because I never reach it, so it might be higher," says Ruff.

"Oi oi oi, will our suit even survive that level of heat?" asks Buggy.

"It will, I've tested it with something hotter for an hour, and it doesn't melt. The main material is not Alumunium Foil, of course. It will just melt too fast. But there's no material as flexible as that, so I need to make one first," says Ruff.

"How long?" asks Buggy.

"It will finish tomorrow, then it will take another day to make the suit. So we can climb the volcano in 2 days," says Ruff.

"2 days, huh? The Log Pose will be full in 3 days and now is the first day. So it will be 2 days again, very right on time. Alright, it's not a problem," says Buggy.

"Nice, I don't want to climb alone after you helped me a lot," says Ruff.

"Well, it won't be a problem even if it takes longer. I am the Captain, so I'm the one who decides when we'll leave, haha," says Buggy nonchalantly.

"You're right, haha," says Ruff while laughing too.

They laugh and agree to finish the suit in 2 days, then climb immediately. They will work together, of course, because they'll climb together. In 2 days, they will create a history together.

______________________________________________________________

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

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1. Chapter 107 of Fairy Tail: Sun Eater

2. Chapter 118 of Transcended as Lord Buggy

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