172. Preparing to Fly

Just like what Buggy ordered, the Clowns return to the ship at sunset. But some new guys are late, they aren't taking his order seriously. So Buggy punishes them as he promised before. Their punishment is to be tied upside down on the mast for the whole night.

After that, they go to the other side of Jaya to prepare their ship. Cricket has gone there first to dive and search the gold city in the sea. He wants to see if Norland's theory about the sea being sunk is true.

"So, how is it?" asks Buggy to Cricket after they docked their ship.

"I didn't find the gold city, although I found some gold down there," says Cricket while pointing at 4 gold ingots and a gold Southbird statue.

"Hmm, they must be the traces of that gold city," assumes Deon.

"I told you there's no gold city underwater," says Buggy.

"I just want to see it myself, it's a pure curiosity," says Cricket as he lights a cigarette up.

"Sigh, now you've filled your curiosity, so it's time to work for the real thing. Palu, take some guys to help you make a pair of temporary wings for the ship. We need to stabilize the ship while it flies later. Asks Ruff to help you find the best shape, size, and position."

"The rest of you, go find a bird that looks like this statue in the forest. Do it as fast as you can. I've heard in the town that our ticket there will appear tomorrow at noon. So finish everything tonight," says Buggy.

"Can you at least explain to us about how we will go up there?" asks Palu.

"No, it won't be interesting that way. You just need to know that we will fly," says Buggy while smirking.

Everyone can only sigh at that before doing what Buggy ordered. They know he really won't say anything if it entertains him. What they need to do now is do their task perfectly and make sure the ship is strong because they know it will be very dangerous.

The crew splits into 3 groups, one group prepares the ship, another group searches the Southbird, while the last group is doing other things. The last group is composed of Buggy, Jude, Mantis's team, and the 2 kids.

Jude & Mantis's team are cooking food for their dinner. While Buggy is training the kids while supervising the crew's work. He is the Captain and has many crew members, so he doesn't need to work, right?

"What's wrong, kids? Is this all you have? Can you protect yourself with this? Can you protect your sister if you're this weak, Alan?" asks Buggy as he blocks the kids' attacks easily.

"Damn!" curses Alan as he punches Buggy but gets dodged very easily.

"Brother, no bad word!" says Elen angrily.

"So-sorry," says Alan apologetically.

"Don't lose your focus," says Buggy as he flicks their forehead, flinging them back a few meters.

The kids grunt in pain while rubbing their foreheads. This sight makes the crew who prepare the ship sigh.

"Captain doesn't show mercy even to children, huh?" asks a man.

"Yeah, his flicks must be very hurt even for us," says another man.

"Stop your talk and move your hands! The nails won't stab the wood by themselves," says Palu as he knocks the 2's head.

"Ouch! So-sorry, Palu-san, we are just concerned about the kids," says the 1st man.

"Captain is concerned about them even more than you, that's why he does that. Some pain in training is better than losing their lives in battles. If he is too soft, then they won't be ready for real battles where their lives are on the line. Well, he is still quite soft now because they are still new to this," says Palu.

The 2 men look at each other and think that Palu is right. The enemies won't show mercy even if they are children. It can be even worse. After all, they might get captured and sold as slaves because they are still young.

Buggy keeps training the kids until both of them are dead tired. Of course, Elen stops first while Alan stops half an hour later. It's only been half an hour since Elen stops. They still haven't had much stamina so they need to work on that.

The crew then has dinner after Cricket's team returns with 20 Southbirds. They were troubled by the animals in the forest that got controlled by the Southbirds. That's why they caught as many birds as they could.

"We just need 1, release the rest," says Buggy.

"Eeh~, but they've troubled us, can't we sell them as compensation for the trouble?" asks Deon who is in Cricket's team too just now.

"No, it will be more troublesome. Have you forgotten where our next destination is? If you want to sell them, then you need to wait until we return to the blue sea. Do you want to take care of the birds until that time?" asks Buggy.

They all shake their heads and finally agree to release the bird. But not before they give the birds some hits to release their frustrations. They finally just keep 1 bird and tied it on the ship, near the steering wheel.

The boys are playing with the bird's inability to look elsewhere other than the South direction. It makes them get scolded by Palu because they stop working. They need to finish the ship in a night, so they can't slack off.

The crew resume their work and finally finish the wings at 3 AM. Their ship's wings are long and shaped like a plane's wings. Buggy is quite surprised by it because he thought Ruff would design them like bird's wings.

"It's quite strange, but this is the best design that I can think of. These wings will help stabilize our ship and have good aerodynamics. Our ship is long and tall, so I must design it like this. It can also be controlled to make our ship move up and down so we will be safe when flying," says Ruff.

Buggy smiles and says, "It's not strange at all, it's good. What we need is utility, not shape. As long as the wings can help our ship to not flip, then I'm fine with any shape. You all can rest now, we will go immediately after breakfast."

The Clowns nod and they sleep immediately to save their energy. Only a few people stay awake to guard the ship. Buggy also sends a few people to Mock Town to buy a few things before they leave.

At 7 AM, they have breakfast before leaving the island. They go to the south with the Southbird's help and the sky gets darker as they move forward. Buggy orders them to watch the surroundings carefully and report if there's something unusual.

"CAPTAIN, I SEE A GIANT WHIRLPOOL IN THE FRONT. WE NEED TO MOVE AROUND IT," shouts someone from the crow nest.

"Good, let's go there," says Buggy while grinning.

"Huh? HUUH!?" shouts everyone questioningly.

"Ca-Can you repeat it, Captain? I think I misheard it. There's no way we'll enter the whirlpool, right?" asks Jude nervously.

"We'll enter the whirlpool," says Buggy while smirking.

Most of the crew members have horror looks on their faces. It gets even worse when someone shouts from the crow nest.

"CAPTAIN, THERE'S A MARINE SHIP BEHIND US!" shouts the man.

"It's just a Marine ship, no need to worry about it," says Enel.

"B-BUT, IT'S LEAD BY VICE-ADMIRAL SAKAZUKI!" shouts the man, surprising everyone.

"Akainu, huh? Heh, what a bad timing," says Buggy while grinning.

______________________________________________________________

You can read up to 35+ chapters ahead of this fanfic novel & the other one on my Pa_treon page if you are interested.

Clicking that power stone/like also seem to be a good choice, hehe.

I've uploaded:

1. Chapter 196 of Fairy Tail: Sun Eater

2. Chapter 207 of Transcended as Lord Buggy

https://www.pa_treon.com/CaptMermain

(the web didn't use _underscore_, it's to avoid censorship)