The Clown Pirates arrived in Orange Town and it's still the same as how Buggy remembers it. It's still a peaceful little town without many activities, or so it seems. When Black Pearl gets closer to the town, many people suddenly run to the port while holding firearms.
"DON'T COME ANY CLOSER, PIRATES! WE WON'T SHOW MERCY IF YOU IGNORE THIS WARNING," shouts the old Mayor, Boodle.
The townfolks are pointing their weapons at the approaching ship. They all have very serious and scary-looking faces, making the Clowns a little dumbfounded. Buggy is the most surprised among them though because he doesn't remember these people to be so aggressive.
"Wha-what happened to them?" asks Buggy with a dumbfounded expression.
"I think that's a rather normal reaction when civilians see a pirate crew come to their town," says Magnus.
"I know that, but these people aren't that kind of people. Sure they will fight against pirates, but they look more brutal than normal people. Also, those weapons are too good for civilians like them," says Buggy.
Suddenly, 2 men come out of the crowd on the port. One of them only has his left arm, while the other one only has his right leg so he uses a metal stick to replace his left leg. Both of them go forward and tells the townfolks to stop rushing.
"Stop, guys! They aren't enemies," says the one-legged man.
"But, that is a pirate ship, they will attack us," says the old Mayor.
"Mayor, I told you to wear your glasses so you can see things clearly. Look at that ship's flag carefully," says the one-armed man.
The townfolks now look at the pirate flag carefully as they were told. They get surprised when they finally take a better look at the flag. It's not only them who get surprised, Buggy also gets surprised by what he sees.
Bellemere smiles and says, "It seems your old partners are here too."
Buggy nods and smiles, "Yeah, it's been a long time since I saw the 2 of them."
"Who are they, Captain?" asks Jude.
"Burton & Jimmy, my old friends, the ones who hunted pirates with me," says Buggy while smiling.
Burton is the one-armed man, while Jimmy is the one-legged man. They were Buggy's comrades when he was still a bounty hunter. Bellemere has met them, so she knows them, and they didn't change much, so she recognizes them easily.
The Black Pearl finally arrives at the port and The Clowns get out of the ship. Buggy walks to the crowd while the others walk behind him. He stops in front of Burton & Jimmy, but none of them say anything for a minute.
Then, the 3 suddenly grin, and they take out their weapons. Buggy draws his Kopis Swords, Burton draws a pistol with his left hand, and Jimmy moves the spear in his right hand. Buggy moves his swords to the 2, while the 2 move their weapons to Buggy.
They move at the same time at a very fast speed. Their movements just seem like a flash for untrained eyes and they seem equal. But the result shows that Buggy is much faster. His swords have hit the 2's weapons and pushes them back a bit.
"It's my 487th consecutive win," says Buggy while grinning.
"Sigh, we still can't beat you, huh? Damn," says Burton a little pissedly.
"Hey, he has become one of the best pirates in the world. There's no way we have any chance to beat him now," says Jimmy.
"Yeah, Mr. Great Pirate has left us in the dust," says Burton while grinning.
Buggy smirks and says, "Heh, you also have improved a lot since we last met. Long time no see, Burton, Jimmy. I see that you still haven't grown more limbs."
"Little bastard, your nose also hasn't shrunk," says Burton while grinning.
"Yeah, it also seems to have become redder in the last 3 years. You sure it hasn't ripened yet?" asks Jimmy mockingly.
The 3 mock each other and then get irritated at each other too. But then they laugh and the 2 older men hug Buggy on the shoulder from both sides. The Clowns who watch their interactions are quite stunned, but it also makes them understand that these 3 are very close.
Then, the townfolks surround the 3 and start to ask Buggy about many things. He can't answer them at all because they keep asking questions without stopping. Luckily, the Mayor interferes, and he stops the chaos.
"You can ask anything later. The most important thing now is to welcome the kid. He has returned home after leaving for 3 years, after all," says the Mayor, Boodle.
The townfolks get quiet and then they start to cheer, welcoming Buggy home. It doesn't take long for all of them to start a big party. Pirates & civilians are getting along very fast as if it's a normal thing.
"YOU HAVE WIFE AND KIDS ALREADY?" ask the townfolks in surprise.
Bellemere just waves at them while smiling, but Nojiko is quite shy, so she hides behind Bellemere. Nami just giggles happily in Belle's arms while shouting some gibberish things because she can't talk clearly yet.
Anyway, Buggy introduces his family to the townfolks and his old comrades. Then they all throw another party while they are in the middle of one. It makes Buggy realize that the people around him always like a party, well, who doesn't?
"So, why are you 2 here? Weren't you making a business in Loguetown?" asks Buggy to Burton & Jimmy in the middle of the party.
"We moved here some months after you started your journey. Loguetown has changed so much in the last few years after the Pirate King's execution. We thought it would be better for our business plan if the town gets more visitors, but it didn't," says Jimmy.
"Right before we started our business, we found out that we like a more peaceful place to live. We have quite a lot of money from our bounty hunting with you, after all, enough to live leisurely till we die. So we decided to move here because this is the only place that we visited the most other than Loguetown. The people here also know us because we were your partners, so it's the best place for us to move," says Burton, resuming Jimmy's explanation.
"We also want our children to grow in a more peaceful place. Loguetown gets visited by pirates too often, they might be bad influences on our kids. Not all pirates are like you, after all," says Jimmy.
"Most pirates aren't like me, they are just evil people without care for human lives. You made the right choice and I'm thankful for that. I was always worried about this place's safety. But with you here, I won't need to worry at all. You can handle any pirate in East Blue with ease, after all. So, how's your progress with Haki?" asks Buggy.
The 2 of them smile bitterly and Burton says, "We still can't use Armament, it's just too difficult. Maybe it's because we never fight people stronger than us since our bounty hunting team got disbanded. You always said that fighting strong people will stimulate our growth. But that's the only thing that we can't get."
"Don't worry though, our Observation Haki has gotten better. We can even cover this whole island with our Observation Haki," says Jimmy.
"Ooh, that's not bad, not bad at all. Then how about this? You guys can spar with anyone in my crew to improve your skills. I'll also make sure you awaken your Armament Haki," says Buggy while grinning.
"Is that necessary? We are good enough without that. Devil fruit users are very scarce on East Blue and it's even rarer to find the ones that are immune to physical attack like how you are immune to sharp weapons," says Jimmy.
Buggy gets serious and says, "You guys are too naive. Anything can happen and bigger threats might come to this place. This is my hometown, the hometown of an Emperor of the Sea. Do you think Marine or big pirate crews will just stay still if they find it out?"
Burton & Jimmy widen their eyes in realization. Marine might not be low enough to do it, but other pirate crews might come to use this place to threaten Buggy. Now they know that they need to get stronger to protect this place because they like this town already.
Buggy sees their strong determination and says, "Then, let's begin tomorrow."
______________________________________________________________
You can read up to 35+35 chapters ahead of my fanfics on my Pa_treon page if you are interested.
Voting for this book is highly appreciate.
I've uploaded:
1. Chapter 328 of Fairy Tail: Sun Eater
2. Chapter 339 of Transcended as Lord Buggy
https://www.pa_treon.com/CaptMermain
(the web didn't use _underscore_, it's to avoid censorship)