Capítulo 261: Crocodile's Eye, The Clown's Hope and Next Stop
__________ POV Narration __________
Buggy huffed as his face twisted into a fearful scowl. His face was filled with bruises, and his head had a few bumps on it, noticeable even through his long blue hair.
He was sitting on his nice and expensive velvet couch, all of his body parts were stuck to the couch, held tight against it with sand.
To his side sat a smoking and rather frustrated Crocodile. Wearing his usual tuxedo, black coat and golden hook.
"What the hell did you feed those idiots?!? Why can't they understand that you're not the leader anymore!?" Crocodile growled as he huffed a bit of smoke.
"How the hell should I know?!?" Buggy's squeaky voice in itself was grating on the former Warlord's ears.
Buggy noticed Crocodile's brows furrowing a bit, and he immediately shut up and looked to the side, a bit of snot coming out of his red nose. He was just as confused as Crocodile.
He didn't need a reminder of the fact that his men had doomed him.
The moment Crocodile arrived on the island and sought to form an alliance with 'Buggy's Delivery', all of Buggy's men instantly thought that he was their leader's subordinate now.
Countless voices praised and hailed Buggu, even more so when Crocodile drove Stussy, a government agent, away from their island.
Crocodile made sure to get rid of any agents he could find, he and Mr.1 swiftly took control of the joint, but despite all of that, Buggy got the credit for all of it in front of his men.
No one saw Crocodile as the leader or listened to his commands.
It was almost as if Buggy had managed to brainwash all of them. It would've even been slightly impressive to the former Warlord, were it not so annoying to deal with.
Still, Crocodile had somewhat decided to use Buggy as a figurehead now.
Killing him and taking control of Buggy's Delivery was an option, but some of the strongest members under Buggy were bound to leave if he did that.
In the end, the most optimal choice for Crocodile was to continue acting as the Clown's subordinate in public.
Thankfully, he could still take his frustrations out on Buggy in private.
Crocodile took one more huff from his cigar, before sticking the tip of his golden hook on the couch cushion beside Buggy's head.
He huffed one last time before putting out his cigar into the Clown's large hat.
'It's just a matter of time before the war starts, I wanted to gather some allies, just to make sure.
Buggy himself turned out to be a disappointment, but his men are quite capable, all New World-faring pirates...
I still find it difficult to understand how this Clown managed to get them to work for him...'
Crocodile closed his eyes for a few seconds one of his hands clenching some rocks and turning them into powder.
'You'd think that he must be some manipulative genius, but he's clearly a moron... Unless... Is that what he wants me to believe?'
Crocodile's eyes shot open, and he glanced at the quivering mess that was Buggy, who was currently ugly crying with snot still coming out of his red nose.
Instantly, his the veins on his forehead became more visible as his eyes almost turned bloodshot.
The former warlord immediately punched the clown in the head. He huffed in annoyance, he had gotten angry at himself as well, for even thinking that Buggy was in any way in control of the situation.
Crocodile was about to punch Buggy once more, but his hands stopped as his ears perked up.
He could hear it, the distant beat. A thundering drum that clearly signified one thing... The time for preparations was mostly over.
"L-leader!" Mr.1 immediately ran into the tent, looking panicked and rather frightened.
It was an unusual and rather unsettling look that Crocodile had never seen on Mr. 1. But Crocodile himself remained calm.
"There's a large cluster of islands flying towards us on the horizon!"
Although calm, Crocodile couldn't help but choke on his own spit as soon as he heard that. He immediately coughed and jumped out from the couch.
He dashed out of the tent and looked in the distance, it was still small, merely dots in the distance. But the sound was getting louder and louder.
He couldn't help but gulp a bit when he saw just how long the line of islands in front of him was. Each island in that cluster was likely larger than the one he was currently on.
'Damn... I guess he's not pulling any stops, huh?'
The former warlord couldn't help but sweat as more and more of his associates and subordinates took notice of the islands overhead.
Fear spread throughout the Buggy Deliver-owned island.
Crocodile closed his eyes tightly as his jaw clenched for a few moments. He had tried his best and struggled as much as he could, but it seemed that the war was a lot more grand than he had anticipated.
Hell, Enel may have explained his allied forces to him previously, but seeing them in person was something else entirely.
There was also the fact that Crocodile knew very well that Enel was absurdly powerful. So the Sky King gathering that many people to work with him meant only one thing.
'However you swing it, this war won't be an easy one...'
Even then, they seemed to be going around the world and collecting allies, and Crocodile knew that he was one of Enel's prospects.
And thanks to his appearance there, Crocodile could safely assume that Enel planned to take Buggy's Delivery with him as well.
Buggy himself walked out of the tent, somehow escaping the startled sand user's restraints.
His eyes widened instantly as he saw the scene overhead. He almost felt like fainting, every minute detail of his features was trembling in fear.
But his men were not interpreting the situation in the same way.
"Hah! The boss is out! Look, he's trembling in excitement! There's nothing to worry about!"
Buggy and Crocodile both heard that, and they both instantly cursed at their stupidity.
The last thing they needed was Buggy's brainwashed subordinates to piss off the strongest Emperor alive.
But thankfully, such a thing was unlikely to happen, Buggy sighed as he remembered Enel's offer clearly.
His mind lit up in hope actually. His gaze shifted slightly towards Crocodile.
'I can finally escape from this bastard!
Hehe! Your days are numbered, you crooked bastard! Enel will not stand by you mistreating me like this!'
Well, his misery was only amplified when Enel did not in fact fight Crocodile for him.
No, he just assigned Buggy's Delivery an island in the fleet, and they were all moved onto it to head for war.
Crocodile even held Buggy by the scruff of the neck as he briefly talked with the Sky King,
Enel either seemed to not notice it or did not care.
Buggy's men didn't need that large an introduction, they were willing to head into war for their captain.
And the fact that the Sky King was asking for Buggy's help was something that just made them idolize the Clown Pirate more.
Crocodile just looked up to the sky and thought about just getting rid of Buggy the moment they all boarded Enel's wild ride.
But a voice stopped him in his tracks.
'By the way, if you try and kill Buggy, Shanks will likely kill you... So you may want to just stick to beating him up for relief.'
He recognized the voice that rang right into his ear. It was that of Enel, but the man himself was nowhere near or in sight.
Crocodile just sweated a bit more as he felt almost as if even his thoughts were being intruded on whilst being there.
Enel likely just read his intentions and felt his killing intent, but it was still creepy to have someone spy on him at all times.
'Whatever... I just need to get used to the fact that he's a monster already... No point in overthinking things. Thankfully he didn't put me close to Dragon and his revolutionary bastards...'
Crocodile sighed and went back to his people, they still had to set up their tents on their new residence.
The former warlord wasn't going to help, of course. But he was going to find a good place to sit down and admire the view.
As for the next stop in the journey?
Well, it was rather obvious. A place that Enel both had some expectations from and dreaded going back to... Wholecake Island.
But of course, he was also going to run into Zuneasha along the way.
But Enel's most concerning matter was the fact that he now had to face the Big Mom Pirates after the whole fiasco that was Big Mom's last tea party.
'... Let's just hope they aren't the type to hold a grudge?'
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Hope you liked today's chapter!
Still getting back in the saddle and all that, kinda feels like I'm picking up momentum now :))
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