Chapter 271: The Unfortunate Clown

Dialogue "sample"

Thoughts 'sample'

Author notes -sample-

Disclaimer: One Piece and all of its characters belong to Eiichiro Oda.

Chapter 271: The Unfortunate Clown

Just when Buggy thought he had found a safe place to hide from those ruffians chasing him…the ground started to shake.

It was somewhat mild at first, but it quickly became a powerful earthquake. Just strong enough to tear down the small house where he was hiding. Forcing him to leave the place in a hurry.

"Damn it!, why did this have to happen now?!" Huffed Buggy.

As soon as he found himself on the street again, he spotted the men who had been chasing him.

Buggy froze in place, unsure of where to flee now, but then he noticed something odd.

All of the men were staring at the sky and pointing, completely oblivious to his presence.

'Fools…getting distracted by an earthquake.' he thought with amusement.

He did not waste this chance and ran in a different direction.

'If I reach the coast, I should be able to spot some ships.'

He has learned that many pirates leave their ships on the east side of the island, away from the city, so they can avoid the heavy taxes of the port.

As he ran through the streets of the city, he took notice of the lack of fighting in the streets. 

After Doflamingo's declaration, a massive battle had started, but now, most people were staring at the sky with shock.

'What a bunch of idiots, are they that scared from a simple earthquake? and why are they looking up? they come from below!' 

But he did not have time to teach these country bumpkins, he had a ship to steal.

Buggy had finally found the east gate and left the city behind after much running around the maze of streets.

He failed to notice the lack of Doflamingos birdcage, which should have made it impossible for him to exit the city.

His mind was too preoccupied with the idea of finding a ship he could take.

It had to be a small or medium-sized vessel at most. Anything bigger would be impossible to navigate by himself, even with the use of his ability.

'If there are only big ships, I might have to sneak on board and figure things out on the next island…or maybe I could take out their captain and declare the crew for myself.' He thought about the possibility with joy.

Traveling for so long with those monsters of the straw hats had done a lot of damage to his self-esteem. 

But any normal crew would be lucky to have a great and powerful individual like himself.

"Hehehe, that's right, I could…wait a moment, what is that?!"

He barely had the coast in sight for a minute but he had already spotted a ship on the hot iron, it looked to be docked very close to the coast.

The ship was on the small side and had a pirate flag attached to its mast.

"This is perfect!, a small pirate ship!"

The symbol was of three scowling skulls with some bones behind them.

He did not recognize the flag, so it must belong to some nobody.

'There are always some lucky ones who get further than they should in the new world ' Buggy thought with bitterness. After all, his crew didn't get this far before being captured by the Marines.

He stopped at the beach and took a closer look at the ship. There didn't seem to be anyone around.

'The owners must have gotten involved with all the fighting in the city. Maybe they even died…perhaps they left some treasure for me in there. Buggy smiled.

"Looks like today is my lucky day! this ship is mine now!. This is the return of the great Buggy the clown!" the happy man proclaimed to the skies above.

"No, I don't think it is." A lazy voice spoke from behind.

"This clown wanted to steal our ship? let me kill him, captain!" 

"Zehahahaha, I like daring individuals…you said your name is Buggy?" 

He turned around slowly… there was now a black cloud covering the area, like a fog.

Behind him were three suspicious-looking individuals.

On the left was a massive muscular man with a mask.

In the middle was a hairy man smiling at him. He was carrying someone on his shoulder, a small girl.

On the right was a lazy-looking fellow…no….he recognized that man.

"Admiral Aokiji?!"

"I'm not an Admiral anymore. just a pirate." Said Kuzan.

"So, you like our little vessel, huh?" Asked the hairy man.

Buggy did not need to be a genius to realize how dangerous these people were. One of them was a former Admiral, and he didn't even look to be the one in charge. 

"I was just joking, of course. I mean, look at me!, I'm just a clown!, hehehe…" Buggy was sweating profusely.

'How do I get out of this one?'

"Let me just rip his head off!. That coliseum fight has left me a bit…angry." Burgess clenched his teeth. He could not forget about the events at the arena.

Not only he was unable to stop Vivi from stealing the devil fruit but then, he was also incapable of destroying Sabo, who ended up escaping his grasp. 

"Now, calm down Burgess. Here, take out our new recruit into the ship and secure her properly." Black Beard handed the girl to the other man.

Buggy was now able to take a good look at the girl. He recognized her immediately.

"Is that Sugar?, from Doflamingos crew."

"Oh…you know her?. Yeah, she will be a very useful asset for my crew." Answered Blackbeard.

"Now…what do we do with you?"

Darkness started to spread out of him and engulfed everything.

Buggy took a step back. He has never been so terrified in his life

"Stop!, I….I'm with the Strawhats!. If anything happens to me… they'll come after you!" Buggy shouted. This was his last resource, to use the name of the ones he loathed to intimidate his enemies.

"Oh?, the Strawhars you say?" Blackbeard looked at him with interest.

"Did they have a clown in their crew?" He asked his companion.

"Mmmm, no…but I heard some rumors they were traveling with one now. Could be a new member." said Aokiji.

"Then, I decided….you are coming with us." 

"The hell I am!....bara bara…huh?" Buggy stared at his limbs in confusion. He was trying to separate his hands but his powers were not responding.

"Sorry fellow. Devil fruit powers don't work well around me."

Blackbeard was now right in front of Buggy, he never saw him move but was now just inches away from him.

The darkness became thicker and covered the now screaming clown until this one disappeared.

"All ready, we can leave now. This is not the Strawhat I wanted, but…we can call it a consolation prize. "

Aokiji looked back at the island. It was just minutes ago when they saw the water giant moving around.

"She has awakened now."

"Yeah…that was not supposed to happen yet. This is the first time that girl gets it wrong. Say…can you stop her? if she stood against us?" 

Aokiji seems to consider it for a moment.

"Is hard to say…it will depend on how much influence she can exert on my element. I won't know for sure until I try."

"Mmm…we may need a plan B, just in case then."

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