Meet 'The Buggy Gang'!

From what Zoro could see, the farm was surrounded. Cars decorated in spray paint formed a ten foot thick barrier around the house. Gangsters lounged around the vehicles, carelessly draped across the metal surfaces. But as he watched they perked up, their gazes locking onto the window. Must have noticed them staring.

How could they not stare though? The people were really strange. There were clowns, acrobats, people covered in feathers, lace, makeup, and more. Half of them had ridiculous pointy hats with a giant ball on top. The people looked more like they belonged in the circus than a gang. But they were a different kind of circus, one with guns, swords, other assorted weapons, and one ginormous cannon aimed directly at the front door.

Each side of the cannon was held a maniacally grinning clown without the trademark red nose that clowns typically had. They were excitedly switching their gazes from the canon to the house, fingers twitching to light the fuse. The only reason they didn't was because of the one person who stood behind the giant gun. The man was also a clown, but he had established himself as higher up the hierarchy by having a rubber nose. A rubber nose that inspired terror, because this flashy man was Buggy the Clown.

Buggy glared at Nami, and that seemed to break whatever freezing spell she was under. Almost instinctively, a smug mask fitted onto her face, and she smirked back. Nami dropped the curtain into place without moving the rest of her body, then swiftly turned on her heel and marched towards the front door. Luffy and Zoro scrambled after her.

"So what's that plan?" Zoro asked, fingers messing with his other practice swords. Why he asked her of all people for a plan, he wasn't quite sure, but it felt right in the moment.

"You two are doing nothing. I'm going to deal with Buggy on my own." Nami said, keeping focus on the front door. That was a half lie. The two boys weren't going to do anything but get captured as she booked for it. Nami hoped that Buggy was softer on kid captives. That was why she couldn't look at them. If she did, then the empty pit in her stomach wouldn't ache as much when she'd use them.

"Nah, let's just beat him up." Luffy suggested, warming up his arm by swinging it in a circle.

"Agreed. Oi Luffy, I bet I could take out more gangsters than you." Zoro perked up at the thought. The incident at the Dojo felt like forever ago, and he was raring for a fight.

"What! No way! I bet I can take out twice as many as you!"

Nami sighed. She was surrounded by idiots. "No. I've got this. Let me handle it."

Nami reached the door and flung it open, perching in the doorway with all the confidence she could fake. Luffy and Zoro popped up on either side of her, crossing their arms and glaring in an attempt to look tough.

Which was nearly ruined when Luffy spotted Buggy for the first time.

"Pfft!" Luffy almost spit, barely holding himself back in time with a hand to his mouth. But that didn't hide the big dopey grin plastered on Luffy's face. "His nose!" he whispered to Zoro. Zoro ignored him, keeping his eyes on the clown while dragging out another sword from his side.

"Hello Nami." Buggy grinned. Where did the other two brats come from? Probably some poor fools Nami dragged into clutches. He could ignore them for now. "How are you, you little traitor!?"

Nami stared blankly at the giant cannon, her smirk still locked onto her face. Then her eyes shifted to Buggy. "Hm? Oh, you know me. Doing well and all that."

Buggy sneered and eyed the two boys behind her. "Oh really? Are these two your new partners then? After we so kindly accepted you into our gang as well."

The one with black hair was standing straight with his arms crossed, and unabashedly staring at the clown. The other was leaning against the door frame, two wooden swords in his hands and another hanging at his side. Both were staring at Buggy with an unreadable expression. Looked like Nami found herself some weird ones. Buggy was hardly surprised. But why in the world was the green haired brat carrying those wooden swords? Didn't he know those were dangerous?

"We are not Nami's partners in robbing..." Luffy stepped forward, drawing all the attention to himself. Zoro let out a annoyed sigh. If what he had learned of Luffy in the past day or so proved true, then the idiot was only going to say something to make the situation worse.

"...but she is part of my crew." Luffy continued.

Nami instantly swirled and smacked the back of the boy's head with a reasonable amount of force. "I already told you I'm not joining!" she screeched. Zoro shook his head. He'd been right.

"Hmm." Buggy paused. So Nami was part of their group, and was denying it to prove that she didn't care for them so they'd be protected. Interesting. He didn't know that little witch even had a heart. Oh well, that meant he could take of the growing pest problem with one blow. Buggy grinned at the brat with the baseball cap. "I believe you, boy."

He snapped his fingers. The three kids had barely any warning before acrobats appeared like ninjas around the door and behind them from inside. They barely had time to react before chalk covered hands roughly grabbed them. Zoro was shoved against the door frame, curses of sort spewing from his mouth as he struggled to free himself under the two acrobats' grip. Nami let out an 'ompf' as she landed on her stomach as she was pinned to the ground, laying limp as a knee dug into her back. Luffy protested violently to his friends treatment even as he was left standing with his arms trapped by his wrists held behind his back by a single man.

"And as companions of Nami, you can be the first to be flashily killed by one of my new weapons, the Buggy Bomb." Buggy grinned maniacally. Any seconds now the blood would drain from their faces, and their short unflashy lives would flash before their eyes. Buggy was expecting it, counting on it. It gave one a little rush to have people on their knees begging for their lives to you. There was nothing quite like the feeling, and he thoroughly enjoyed it.

Luffy stared blankly at the clown. The Buggy Bomb? Did he name it after himself or something? How lame. As time passed and Luffy continued to stare, Buggy frowned at the kid. "Have you not heard of the might of my flashy weapon!? Am I really not that well known?!"

"Nope!" Luffy smiled. "I've never heard about you in my entire life!"

Buggy blinked, stunned. His face melted from an eager smile into a large frown. "Never heard about me!? How!? I am the Mighty Buggy the Clown!"

Luffy shrugged. "I know strange huh, especially with that red nose you'd think I'd heard of ya!"

The gangsters surrounding them let out a panicked gasp. All of the gangsters threw themselves back, scrambling to put distance between them and their boss, who was staring straight at the ground with his eyes shadowed over. And with his arms crossed, Buggy the Clown actually looked menacing. Tension soaked into the air.

"He mentioned the nose!" One of the clowns screamed.

The grasp of the acrobat holding Luffy's arm tightened, and then disappeared as the man vanished. The other acrobats followed the first one's lead, quickly abandoning their hostages in favor of living. Buggy was for sure going to kill them now. Zoro quickly straightened and placed himself by Luffy's side, rubbing his cheek with an annoyed glare. Nami hung out with the floor for a little longer, tears streaming down her cheeks. Of course, the idiot had to go and mention the one thing you don't talk about to Buggy the Clown. His nose.

"Turn the cannon 45 degrees to the right." Buggy ordered suddenly. With clumsiness born of hurry, the two clowns shifted the giant cannon as they were told. They were not about to mess the with boss when he used that voice while in that mood. The large muzzle swung from the house to the tangerine grove slightly to the right and behind the house.

When the cannon settled into the ground with a heavy thud that shook the earth, Buggy stirred from his foreboding pose. "So you think my nose is funny? Well, you should fear me boy. Here's why."

The two clowns scrambled up onto the back of the cannon. One pulled out a lighter from his front pocket while the other plugged a fuse into a hole at the bottom of the cannon. The cars that were in the path of destruction came to life and pulled away, people desperately trying to get out of the way. The clown flicked open the lighter, and placed the open flame against the fuse. It burned at an alarming rate, anyone not running before was almost flying now. When the fuse disappeared all the way, the entire circus seemed to disappear, crouching behind anything they could.

The Buggy Bomb barely skimmed the house before hitting a grove of tangerine trees.

BOOM!

The explosion was, in one word, 'flashy'. The actual explosion was huge, the smoke it emitted was eerily black, and the hot wind it blasted back was scorching, and it was unusually loud. It truly was bomb made after the flashiest man in the world. Even the wind seemed to explode. Any trees close by were either destroyed, knocked over, or sent flying. Clumps of dirt and branches shot everywhere, smacking into anything with a dull thump.

Buggy's maniacal laughter rang through the air as trees began to crash to the ground. The crazy clown was smiling, arms open wide to embrace the destruction and terror he conducted.

Nami stared at the giant crater, breaths heavily leaving her lips. That had just a warning shot. A show of power. They were going to be its next targets, she knew it. She was going to die, here and now, and never earn one hundred million berri. Dang it, she was only fifty-seven million berri off! That was still a lot, but she would gotten more and more as she got older and more experienced. She was only ten years old now! Nami could have easily gathered all the berri by the time she was twenty at the very least!

But that wasn't going to happen. Now Cocoyasi Town and everyone inside were going to remain trapped under Arlong's rule forever. Even worse, Nojiko and Genzo was never going to know what happened to her, cause Nami was about to be slaughtered by some gangster, and what remained of her would be left to rot in the blackened husk of this house.

Zoro barely reacted, instead he simply tilted his head, replaying the memory in his mind. The bomb itself wasn't that big, but Zoro bet he could slice it before it exploded. He was probably strong enough in his pirate body. And if he wasn't then at least he'd know if he survived.

Luffy stared at the crater too, just for another reason. "Cool!" He sparkle-eyed.

"That-!" Buggy dropped his arms and grinned at Luffy. "-was just a precursor my boy. That is what I am going to do to you and your friends!"

Nami stiffened on the floor. Silently, tears started falling from her eyes. But she kept her head down. It didn't do good to show gangsters tears. It only made them smile more.

Zoro grinned and brandished his two wood swords at Buggy. "Good luck with that. I hope you try. Been awhile since I've had a real challenge."

"Hey!" Luffy stood in front of Zoro, his arms and legs spread wide to cover both of them as much as possible. "You can't kill my crew mates! I need them to help me find the One Piece!"

The Buggy's eyes widened, and he took a step back. This, this brat wanted to find the One Piece? That was impossible! He barely looked older than eleven, and yet he already had such a high goal. That was unheard of. Thousands of others twice the kid's age were out there right now, searching for the elusive legendary treasure.

But the conviction behind the brat's voice was what made Buggy take the step back. This kid didn't think he'd find the One Piece. He knew he'd find it, like he had read ahead in the book called Fate and Destiny, and seen its ending. The kid was going to find the One Piece. He almost sounded like that stupid red haired idiot. Buggy's posture hardened, and his face grew stiff.

"Aim the cannon forty-five degrees to the right." Buggy snapped out emotionlessly. His voice was as hard as flint. There was no room for argument. This kid couldn't be allowed to live. Everything about him reminded him of Shanks, even the stupid baseball cap on his head. At the sound of his order, the rest of his gang started peering over the protection of the vehicles.

"What about the map?" one of the clowns gathered the courage to ask.

"Forget the map. I shall lead the way through the Grand Land." Buggy answered. "Now move!"

Muscles strained as the giant gun was heaved to face the farm house once more. The gangsters grinned at each other as another Buggy Bomb was loaded into the cannon. Finally, they were going to get a show. A single acrobat appeared on a car roof, and let out a loud cheer.

"The Buggy Bomb!"

Instantly the crowd exploded into sound, every individual cheering for their favorite weapon.

Zoro slid his swords back to his side. "You got this?" he asked as the first sword clunked into its place.

"Yeah. No problem." Luffy cracked his neck, face filling with determination. The second sword clanked. Nami stared up at the two utterly unruffled boys. How could they be so calm? Did they have a plan? What in the world could they do against that!?

"Hahaha! Tremble before the Mighty Buggy!-" The clown laughed, "-Even better, die before me!"

Luffy cracked his knuckles, staring unblinkingly at Buggy with narrowed eyes. Zoro stepped back and leaned against the house door frame. If Luffy said he had it, then he had it.

"Bye!" Buggy cackled.

BOOM!

The house disappeared behind the giant explosion, and scorching air blasted over the gang, knocking off hats and even shoving people over.

"Wasn't nice to meet ya!" Buggy continued, yelling into the giant cloud of hot ash. Satisfaction rose inside of him. Perfect, all three of the brats had to be dead. It take a miracle to survive that. Buggy spent a couple seconds of admiring his work before he turned to his men "Search the area. Take anything we can still use."

"Boss Buggy! Look!" An old-timey strongman pointed. A small white dog appeared from within one of the few standing trees and crossed the field in record time. With outstanding vengeance, it began latched one of the tires of the first car it came across. When that proved fruitless it switched to a nearby clown leg.

"Stupid mutt!" the owner of the leg cursed. He jerked his leg out of the dog's mouth, and then swung it forward to deliver a powerful kick into the dog's side. It instantly shot up again, barking and snarling as fiercely as it could.

"Shut up!" A acrobat appeared behind the dog, and slammed the tip of his foot in into the dog's chin. The dog let out a loud yip as it staggered back. "Get out of here!"

"HEY!"

Every single head snapped back to the remains of the house. As impossible as it seemed, it had almost sounded like the voice came from right there. But that was impossible, because Boss Buggy had destroyed it. To their immense confusion, a dark outline of the house formed amongst the dark ash.

"DON'T KICK THE DOG!"

A fist came flying out of the darkness, smashing into the acrobat's cheek. He spun around two full turns before he collapsed to the ground. The other clown was sent spinning as the same fist smashed into his face to.

"That's-that's impossible." Someone croaked. Someone survived the explosion. Not only that, they were well enough to start a fight. The outline of the house wavered, and separate outline formed. It looked like a man, but the head was shaped weird. The wind picked up suddenly, blowing some of the ash- no, dust away.

To the Buggy Gangs' immense surprise, the dust blew off to reveal a single teen with a straw hat, and then two other people behind him seconds later.

Nami nearly shrieked as she stared down at herself. "I-I-I'm big!"

Her hands came up to her head, trailing down the length of her long hair. This was impossible! It was barely to her shoulders only seconds ago! Nami's fingers trailed down her body, stopping when she reached her chest. What in the world was she wearing!? Why was she wearing a bikini top in the middle nowhere! Someone get her a shirt! Reluctantly, she moved down, over her smooth stomach until she hit the comfortable fabric of pants. Thank goodness, at least she had those. Nami kicked off her shoes to get a good look at her toes.

Buggy and his gang were frozen, their jaws metaphorically touching the floor.

"The brats grew!" a acrobat exclaimed, shock obvious in his voice.

"One of them quite well." another said, eyeing the still stunned Nami.

Nami's head snapped up to glare, and then gasped as images popped into her brain. Growing up in Cocoyasi Village, not Cocoyasi Town, and living on a tangerine grove with her mother and sister. All of her exploits with Genzo and the other villagers, and precious memories of Bellemere. And then they took a drastic turn, the fishman taking over, watching her mother get shot, and then the long years working as Arlong's navigator. Then she was watching teenage Luffy fall to the ground, inviting him into the house and having a chat, turning down his invitation to join his crew, tricking him into visiting Buggy with her and the party when Buggy had accepted her. Next, a teenage Zoro appeared. Then everything that happened in that small village, and running from the angry villagers. Next they stopped at a small island with weird animals and a bush-man stuck in a box. The last image to go through her mind was pulling up to an island with supplies in mind.

The scene faded to white, and a man flashed before her eyes. He was tan, with black curly hair, and the longest nose she'd ever seen. For some reason a vision of shaking knees and a trembling voice also appeared before vanishing.

"What was that?" Nami whispered, curling her knees to her chest and hugging herself.

"Memories." Zoro grunted.

Luffy burst into a smile, ignoring her confusion in his excitement. "Perfect! A navigator, just what we need!"

"Memories? Navigator? So you guys saw it to?" Nami repeated, glancing up. Her breath caught in her throat, and her eyes widened. Zoro looked different to! Even more different from the one in the... memories. He was all grown up and intimidating with the scar over his eye.

"I'll explain while the resident idiot beats up the clowns." Zoro crouched down besides her. He eyed her for a moment, then glanced to the north. The strange tugging wasn't pulling him to her anymore. It was trying to take him north-west. Shrugging, Zoro turned to Nami and began to talk.

Luffy glared at Buggy, his hat slanted at just the right angle to cast an intimidating shadow over his face. Buggy's jaw slowly came back up as he continued to stare in shock. The same mantra ran through his mind over and over again. "Small brat. Boom! He dead!... Then big brat?"

"Gomu Gomu no Pistol! That's for hitting the dog!"

An innocent gangster stand byer went flying. So did the jaws that had been slowly raising up.

"He stretched! Didja see that! He's a freak, just like Boss Buggy!" a female clown uttered in surprise.

"W-what are you?!" Buggy stuttered, surprise and shock coursing through his body.

"I'm a rubber man!" Luffy pulled on his cheeks til the stretched beyond normal human length, his tongue also coming out to stick at Buggy.

"I don't believe it." Buggy looked at his hands, flexing his fingers.

"Really? It's not that hard to believe." Luffy let go of his cheeks and they made a snapping sound as they went back into place.

Buggy stared at the teen, then his glance shifted to the side. Whispers of doubt were starting to float among his men. Could Boss Buggy really beat another freak? Of course he could! But he had never faced another freak before, so how could they be sure? That couldn't do, he needed his mens' full support. Buggy's determination rose and he turned to face Luffy. "Another person with superpowers. No problem. I'll flashily beat you up as well!" he announced.

Still the small doubts flew. He could see it in the way his gang muttered among each other, shifting uneasily on their feet. Should they make a run for it? Then Buggy added, "With my Flashy Super Secret Powers!"

Immediately the doubts stopped and his gangsters cheered. Buggy soaked in the admiration like a sponge. He could almost feel himself getting stronger with each cheer.

"Kill the stupid brat Boss Buggy!" One particularly loud voice cried out.

Luffy just stared at them, unconcerned by their cheers. Behind him Nami gasped and her hands fumbled down to her pockets. She pulled three blue sticks out of it, and without thinking she connected the together to form a staff. It was just like the weapon from her memories, but this one was blue and felt lighter somehow. Maybe metal instead of wood?

Zoro let out a satisfied grunt and rose to stand besides Luffy. His one-eyed glare sent chills down the gangster's backs, and many of the cheers shriveled into whimpers.

"Want any help?" He swung the mysterious black sword onto his shoulder, sending a bone chilling grin down at the crowd.

"Meh, not really. But the minions will get annoying." Luffy cracked his neck.

Zoro nodded, and pulled out the other mystery sword in the red sheath. He didn't want to use this one, the sword unnerved him in some way, but old habit wrapped his fingers around its hilt. "I got them covered."

He made eye contact with the old-timey strongman and grinned. But it wasn't the same grin as before. It was... bloodthirsty. It wasn't the grin of a man, this was the grin of an animal, waiting to tear open your flesh, enjoying the feeling of muscle tearing under his claws, of watching his prey tremble and collapse at his feet. This was a grin that promised pain, and lot's of it. The old-timey strong man trembled and seemed to shrink inside himself.

"Try to keep up, eh Luffy?" Zoro took a step back with one foot, his shoe clicked against the wood boards, and then he disappeared.

The reaction was instant. Gangsters screamed and scattered, hopping over cars and trampling over each other as they tried to get away. A lone clown tried to pull himself onto the top of a van, only to lose his grip and fall to the ground. Without a pause, the gangsters behind him used his collapsed form as a step-stool. The green haired man with the swords just freaking vanished in mid air! So he could probably reappear and kill them all! He was a freak like Boss Buggy and the straw hat kid.

The old-timey strongman hit the dirt with a loud thud, his head twisted at an impossible angle. Zoro launched off the dead man's back, swiping at two unfortunate clowns. Before they could blink, the clowns were on the ground and Zoro vanished once more In response, the screaming from the gangsters increased and the fleeing doubled its pace.

"Mohji!" Buggy yelled, struggling to keep the panic out of his voice. "Get Richie and do your job!"

Nothing happened for a moment, then a roar sounded as a bushy head emerged from some fallen trees. All movement stopped. Even Zoro paused his killing spree. Whatever made that sound, it had to have been the lion that Luffy and the others would tell him about occasionally. His lips tightened and he grinned. Finally, a semi-worthy opponent.

A full grown male lion popped out of the bushes. Riding on his back was a man in a lion suit, but the suit was unusually hairy and cut off midway down his chest. Both the lion and his rider's lips were sticky from orange juice, and the rider casually picked off a few leaves as he spoke. "What do you want us to do Boss Buggy?"

Buggy grinned. "Perfect. That's the attitude I expect from my second in command! Kill the man with the green hair and swords. This straw hat brat is mine."

The lion rider nodded, and with a tug of Richie's mane, directed the tamed beast to saunter up to Zoro. Zoro sighed and shook his head. The lion was average sized, not enormous like the others said it was. Disappointing.

"Hey," Mohji stated, overconfidence oozing from off the man. He didn't even properly look Zoro in the eye as he picked off another leaf from his lips. "I'm Moh-"

Richie jerked back and roared, a paw coming up to cover his face. Mohji startled, glancing down at his beloved pet. What happened? Ritchie lifted his paw, and Mohji gasped. A thin slice of red ran diagonally down the lion's head, and blood stuck to his paw. Ritchie was cut! How!? He didn't even see the man move! The more Mohji stared at the thin red crossing his pet's face, the more red the man saw. The anger bubbled up inside him..

"You jerk! How dare you attack my Richie! Go Richie, use Bite!" Mohji commanded, and pointed at the swordsman. The lion growled in what could only be agreement and charged.

Zoro huffed. What a pain. The guy didn't even realize how outclassed he was. Zoro tugged his white sword out of its sheath and clamped down on its hilt with his teeth. He stood still with one sword in each hand as the raging beast sprinted at him.