It's been 3 months since The Clown Pirates arrived on Conomi Islands. The Marine's surveillance on them has reduced since they don't do many activities. They all just stay on Conomi Islands, which eases the Marine a bit.
Bellemere's house has been renovated and it looks good now. It's not that fancy though, just looks like other normal 2 story houses. But it's sturdier than any other house here because Palu & his team have learned a lot about woodworking on Wano.
Currently, Palu's team is hired by people to fix their houses. They take the job to fill their time and train their skills. The others also train themselves to prevent their skills from getting rusty.
Buggy also trains Belle every day and she improves at a fast rate. His training method is very efficient and Belle herself is a fast learner. If she was trained well in the series, then she would be very strong.
'With her current strength, she will dominate East Blue and will survive the early Paradise. She will be able to defeat Arlong with her current strength. But it's not enough, she needs to get stronger to make sure she'll be able to handle most problems after I leave to Grandline again,' thinks Buggy.
What she needs the most to increase her strength isn't training anymore, it's battle experience. So Buggy sets some sparring between Bellemere and his crewmates. Her sparring opponents will be the normal members first because the executives are still too strong for her.
She will fight against Jack as her first opponent. He has improved a lot too and his violent nature has reduced a lot since he joined The Clown Pirates. Enel has disciplined him well and now he becomes more like a normal kid.
The fight starts and Belle is hesitating because her opponent is a kid. It allows Jack to push forward and suppress her. Buggy doesn't say anything because Belle needs to go through this herself.
She shouldn't hold back even though her opponent is a kid. Jack isn't a normal kid, after all, he is a very strong & talented guy. If he isn't that talented then he won't be able to be one of Beasts Pirates' All-Star at the age of 28.
Jack keeps attacking Bellemere using his Mammoth form that has grown bigger than when he fought against Alan. His technique also gets better and he doesn't just rely on brute strength now. He even uses feints and tricks, which overwhelm Belle.
She uses her transformation into a full Archdemon form. But her dark red flame isn't as hot as usual and she is being defensive against Jack. So her flame can't hurt Jack and she hasn't landed any hit on him.
After being pushed for a long time, Belle finally decides to not hold back anymore. Nojiko & Nami are watching her, and she can see their worried eyes. Nami who has just learned to talk even almost cries seeing her getting hurt.
Bellemere unleashes her full power and her flame becomes much hotter. Jack is rushing toward her and she also rushes toward him. She jumps to his big head and Jack swings his trunk from the left. They almost hit each other but Bellemere makes a maneuver in the air and avoids Jack's trunk attack.
"Ho, she is quite agile," says Cricket.
"Well, those wings aren't just decoration," says Buggy.
Bellemere then gets closer to Jack and sends an uppercut punch at his forehead. Her punch is actually strong enough to flip Jack in his Mammoth form, and she hit his forehead, not his jaw. Most of the crew members are surprised, this is a shocking result for someone who has just trained seriously for 3 months.
She then stands on top of Jack's mammoth body and places her flaming hand on his throat. He gets defeated just in one move which is quite surprising because Jack is by no means weak. He is strong enough to defeat most pirates on East Blue at his age.
After Jack gets defeated, Yamato raises her hand and says she wants to spar with Bellemere. They start their sparring and Yamato gets defeated with one punch too. Bellemere has become more serious now, so the kids won't be enough as her opponents.
Buggy will send the normal crew members to spar with her. Now the sparring will get more interesting as the adult members have more experience than the kids. They will also fight more like pirates with trickery so it will be more difficult for Bellemere.
The first member that she'll fight is the only Mermaid in The Clown Pirates. Her name is Dory, she is a Clownfish mermaid, a perfect mermaid member for Clown Pirates. She is actually Deon's girlfriend and he was the reason why she joined because he saved her from slavery on Sabaody.
Lucia wasn't a fighter, but she trained to fight since she joined the crew even though she is a part of Manba's medical team. As a nurse, Dory doesn't like to fight and hurt people. But she needs to be able to fight if she wants to survive, after all.
That's why Deon & her brother, Ade, a Stingray Fishman, who also joined the crew persuaded her until she agreed. Then Siman, the Orca Fishman, who is the strongest Fishman in the crew, taught Fishman Karate to both Ade & Dory.
Ade improved fast while Dory's pace is far slower than her brother's. But it's good enough to make sure she survived in New World. So she is still a strong opponent for Bellemere even though she is one of the weakest adult members of the crew.
Both girls get ready and then Bellemere rushes to Dory while Dory just sits on the ground because she can't stand. Bellemere sends a flaming punch and Dory does the same. Their punches almost get into contact but then Bellemere's flame on her fist disappears into steam.
Bellemere gets surprised and she jumps back because she doesn't know what had just happened. She only looks at Dory who seems relieved that nothing bad happened. It just makes Belle more confused and curious.
So she attacks Dory again with different techniques, but the result is the same. All of Belle's attacks are useless and her flame always disappears into steam. Even when she doesn't use her flame, her hot skin suddenly becomes cold, and steams come out of her skin.
"Is it water? You use water?" asks Bellemere in realization after some minutes.
"Yes, that's right. Fishman Karate uses water, but because we aren't near any water sources, I used the water vapor in the air. My attacks aren't that strong, but they counter your power perfectly because I use water while you use fire," explains Dory happily.
Ade & Deon slap their forehead because Dory has just explained how her power works to her opponent. It's always better to keep your cards hidden even if the enemies realize it. But Dory explains it happily instead.
"Well, at least this is just a sparring," says Deon to comfort himself.
"Yeah, and it's not like the Madam can do anything to it for now," says Ade.
The crew members are calling Bellemere as Madam now because she is their Captain's lover. They also call Nojiko & Nami as Young Misses because they are Buggy's & Belle's daughters. Both Nojiko & Nami have accepted Buggy as their foster father too, so it's not wrong.
Buggy has taught Nojiko & Nami to call him & Bellemere Dad & Mom. Nojiko was shy at first, but she finally called them like that last month. While Nami's first word just 2 weeks ago was Mom, which made Bellemere cry.
The way Nojiko & Nami called Bellemere with her name in the series isn't a problem for Buggy. But he prefers them to call her Mom even though they are adopted. He also wants to be called Dad, so he worked hard to make it happen, and it has happened.
"Dad, will Mom be okay?" asks Nojiko worriedly.
"She will, but she won't be able to win," says Buggy.
Just like what Buggy just said, Bellemere can't win, but she also doesn't lose. The sparring with Dory ends as a draw as both of them can't land any hit on their opponents at all. Their powers are just countering & canceling each other.
Buggy thinks for a while before saying, "Let's keep having a sparring session for a week. Then we will go around East Blue with Belle & our kids. She will need real battles, and I think you all want to sail again after 3 months, right, lads?"
"YEAH!" cheers the Clowns because they're happy to sail again.
Their next plan has been set. A big storm will hit the peaceful East Blue.
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