374. Another Death

"What should we do to them, Lord?" asks Cricket.

"Just throw them on the nearest Marine base, they'll take care of these guys. Ah, leave that octopus though, he is Rayleigh's & Shakky's friend. Also, send a message to Jinbe, he better let them rot in prison because only that place can protect them," says Buggy.

His crewmates salute before they tie Arlong Pirates with a single rope. Then a male mermaid Fishman takes the rope before diving into the sea. He pulls Arlong Pirates into the sea and drags them away to find the nearest Marine Base.

The only one left is Hachan who is still tied up on the ground. Buggy orders someone to tie Hachan to their ship's mast so he won't run away. They will send him back to Grandline later, but he will freak out when he wakes up, so they need to tie him up.

"You don't look so good, Kyoushiro," says Buggy while smirking.

"I am not you, after all," says Kyoushiro while sheathing his sword.

Buggy just smirks before telling his medical personnel to treat the injured ones. He also orders the other crew members to sweep the village and help the villagers. They are quite well known here, so the villagers will cooperate easily.

"Where's the old man?" asks Buggy to Kyoushiro.

Kyoushiro gets silent for a moment before saying, "My father passed away a few days after you left for Grandline. He asked me to tell you that he was very grateful to you who has done something very great for his homeland. Even if he has left that country for decades, it was still the place where he grew up and made his masterpieces. He even had the chance to meet some people from Wano through you."

"So he has left, huh? Sigh, I still owe him a drink. Where's his grave?" asks Buggy.

Buggy's relationship with Kozaburo, Kuina's grandfather was quite funny. They were like a cat & a dog who would always bicker about many things. But they kept drinking together every time they met and they always talk happily about swords.

"Up on a hill, I'll ask Kuina to guide you there," says Kyoushiro.

Buggy just nods before following Kyoushiro back to the dojo. He isn't sure when Kuina dies in the original timeline because he doesn't remember all the details. Maybe it should've happened, or maybe not, but he doesn't really care.

He only cares about changing things including Kuina's death. Buggy didn't know Kuina that well and had just met her a few times. In the past, he didn't care whether Kuina will live or die because her death is important for Zoro's development.

But when he had kids, he started to feel sympathy toward Kuina. She is just a child and he thinks that a child shouldn't die before their parents. As a father, he really doesn't want to bury his children with his own hands.

Even if Kyoushiro seems cold, doesn't talk much, and even thinks that women can't be warriors, Buggy knows that he loves his daughter. That guy is just too good at controlling his emotions because, for him, warriors shouldn't cry. He needs to be strong and that's what makes him seem as if he doesn't care about his daughter.

Buggy has met so many kinds of people that he can understand someone's true feelings in a short time. And as a fellow father, he can understand Kyoushiro's feelings more. Some fathers have difficulties showing their love to their children, after all.

They arrive in the dojo and the students are getting checked by a nurse from Buggy's crew. The children's safety is their biggest concern in a conflict like this. So a nurse immediately came here to check them.

Kyoushiro calls Kuina who has been checked and deemed to be fine. She only has some bumps on the head because someone from The Caribbean hit her to knock her out. Kuina & Zoro were trying to join the battle persistently even though they weren't allowed to.

So someone from the Caribbean knocked them out by hitting their heads. The other kids get obedient after those 2 get knocked out so easily. They all stay in the dojo and Arlong's crew never came here, so they are fine.

"As I thought, it's you," says Kuina when she sees Buggy.

"AH, RED NOSE OLD MAN! OI, I'LL CHALLENGE YOU TO FIGHT ME AFTER I TAKE CARE OF THE ATTACKERS," shouts Zoro who is holding 3 training metal swords.

Zoro runs and wants to pass Buggy, but then he suddenly gets flicked in the forehead and gets flung to a wall. He gets knocked out by a mere flick from Buggy.

"I've always told you to stop shouting and stop calling me an old man. Also, everything has been taken care of, so your help is unnecessary," says Buggy.

Zoro often visited Kozaburo, so he has met Buggy a few times. He once challenges Buggy to a battle, but Buggy wasn't interested and refused. The little marimo is persistent though, and he just attacked Buggy.

Unhappy by that, Buggy just knocked Zoro out with a flick, just like now. Since then, Zoro would always challenge Buggy when he visited and Buggy just flicked his forehead. They never had a spar because Buggy always ended the battles before they even started.

Anyway, Kyoushiro asks Kuina to guide Buggy to Kozaburo's grave. She is quite reluctant because she doesn't really like Buggy, but she agrees nonetheless. The 2 of them then go to the grave which is quite close to Kozaburo's house after Buggy takes a small box on the ship.

"You still hate me for defeating your dad a few years ago, huh?" asks Buggy while walking.

"I don't hate you, I just don't like you," says Kuina.

Buggy's first visit to this village was when he was still a bounty hunter because he visited every known island in East Blue. He sparred with Kyoushiro at that time and a few more times on his next visit. Buggy used those sparring to improve his skills and Kyoushiro was stronger than him at that time.

Kuina was too young to remember that and even if she can remember those spars, she won't know that it was Buggy because he hid his identity. Even Kyoushiro still doesn't know that Bob the bounty hunter was just Buggy's disguise in the past. He just thought that Bob might have died or gone somewhere.

But Buggy stopped coming here because he had started his crew. The first time he visited after that was when he came back to East Blue again after defeating Kaido. He didn't hide his identity again and just came as Buggy, but he never told anyone that he was Bob the bounty hunter.

He challenged Kyoushiro again for fun and he won very easily. Buggy kept doing that every time he visited because it was fun. Kuina was still very young, but that's why the memory of her father's defeat is sticking in her mind strongly.

In her young mind, Buggy was a bad guy who hurt her father, and that's why she doesn't like him. And Buggy is enjoying that too because he could always tease the kid with that bad guy persona. It's always fun to tease children until they cry, after all.

When Buggy is thinking about that, they've arrived at the graveyard. It's a very simple graveyard placed beside another graveyard which is Kozaburo's wife. Buggy knows it because the old man took him here a few times.

"Yo, old man, you don't look great at all, hahaha," says Buggy while laughing before sitting down with crossed legs.

Kuina just stays silent because she knows this is how Buggy & her grandfather always acted when they met. She then sees Buggy put the small box he carried and open it. Inside the box are a bottle of sake and 2 sake cups.

"Do you know what this is, old man? This is Wano Country's best sake. Oden gave it to me a few months ago and I planned to drink it with you because you said you miss Wano's sake. But damn, you just need to die before I could deliver it to you. Well, a promise is still a promise, so I'll give it to you. The taste will change because of the soil, but I hope you enjoy it," says Buggy before pouring the sake into the 2 cups.

Buggy then clinks the cups and pours one to the grave while he drinks the other one. A drop of tear comes out of Buggy's left eye as he says, "Sorry old man, but I will drink the rest. I hope you don't mind me getting drunk a little for today."

He drinks the rest of the sake in the bottle without saying anything else. Buggy is mourning in his own way. He is a pirate who has killed people, but he is still a human with emotions who can feel sad about the death of a friend.

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