Chapter 29

Cabaji's sword stabbed through the broken half of Bartolomeo's guitar. Infused by the rage, Bartolomeo growled as he tightened his fist and threw it toward Cabaji's exposed face—

—before Cabaji breathed out a fire, catching Bartolomeo's entire form in fire.

"Hahahaha!!! How does my 'Acrobatics, Old Man's Flame' taste like?!!"

Buggy at the back pumped his fist up, "Gyahahaha!! Good one, Cabaji!!"

"GAHHHHHH!!!" Bartolomeo screamed as he began to roll on the ground, trying to get the fire off. With his eyes tightly closed, he was no longer in a state to care about the fight that just began.

"...Eh?"

Bartolomeo then continued rolling, away from the dumbfounded Buggy Pirates, into the forest just ahead...

"..."

Buggy Pirates stood frozen for a moment, trying to process what happened. Then,

"What are you all doing?!!" Buggy screamed in realization, "CHASE HIM!!!"

"""YAAAA!!!""" Like barbarians the Buggy Pirates all charged into the dark forest, leaving Rowan, Nami, Deuce, and the unknown sleeping guy by themselves.

Using this brief moment of silence to his advantage, Rowan processed his thoughts. Eventually, he smiled upon coming to a conclusion,

"Seems like the lady luck is on our side," Turning to his crewmates, Rowan spoke with a feral grin, "I wonder how rich those pirates are."

"Yeahh!!" Nami's eyes sparkled as she sprang up from her seat. Deuce, on the other hand, was expressing disbelief,

"W-What?! Raid the wealth of Buggy Pirates—oh wait, right." Deuce's reaction died down and he said in a deadpan, "My captain is the freaking 'Grimheart.'"

The three of them then began sneaking into the darkness, leaving the still-sleeping man by himself.

...

Boom!

"Anyone here?" Casually breaking open the huge ship marked with the jolly roger of Buggy Pirates, Rowan loudly stated. With his hands pocketed, he casually walked in, for he didn't feel the need to be sneaky.

"Hehe, we're rich now!" Behind Rowan was Nami who turned to her left and right, locking her eyes on anything of worth, and Deuce seemed to be amazed by his own right as he inspected the inside of what he considered to be a majestic-looking ship.

'The ship surely is large,' Rowan thought as he opened a door that led to the next room, 'Considering their number, I suppose that a ship of this size is needed. That means that to run a huge crew, more money is required... yeah, no thanks. In a world full of supernatural strengths, number is usually nothing but a hindrance—'

"Wowwww!!!"

Rowan's thought was cut short as Nami dove into mountains of gold that lied ahead of them. And that's when Rowan's eyes narrowed, having sensed a presence through his Observation Haki.

"Holy..." Deuce whispered in awe as he gazed around the room. The mountain of gold that Nami dove into wriggled, indicating that she was swimming in it. In this moment, Rowan said,

"Whoever you may be, you better show yourself."

As soon as Rowan said so, Nami jumped out of the gold pile and cautiously gazed around the room. Deuce looked at Rowan in confusion, wondering what he was referring to.

"I'll count up to three," Said Rowan, "Three."

Tightening his right hand into a fist, he without any hesitation smashed it right onto—

"W-WAITTTT!!!"

At the next moment, a purple-haired girl revealed herself from a relatively distant gold pile, one whom Rowan and Nami already met in the past. With her hands raised up, she was initially filled with terror, followed by confusion, then a realization.

Thankfully, the punch was inches away from Carina, much to her relief. Retracting his hand back, Rowan squinted his eyes,

"...Carina?"

"What are you doing here?!" Nami immediately expressed her annoyance, annoyed by the fact that Carina was here before them, undergoing her looting operation.

"The songstress?" Of course, Deuce wasn't acquainted with Carina, and hence, simply scratched the back of his head.

"W-What about you?!" Carina, taken back by the sudden reunion in Buggy Pirates' treasure room of all places, exclaimed, "Disappearing for 2 years to show up in here all of a sudden... imagine my surprise!!"

"We had a vacation," Shrugged Rowan.

Carina then pointed at Nami who crossed her arms and huffed, "And how come you became a pirate, when you hated pirates above all?!"

"That's none of your business!" Said Nami as she turned her head away.

Not stopping Carina pointed at Deuce who was awkwardly standing by the corner, "And who is that?!"

""Our doctor,"" Replied Rowan and Nami.

Deuce groaned, "Gahh!!! As I said, I am not a doctor!!!"

Thinking that Carina didn't change at all, Rowan asked, "So why are you here in the first place?"

Carina raised her eyebrow, "Isn't it obvious? I thought you guys also came here for that!"

"That? That what?" Smelling money, Nami instantly said with seriousness.

"That G—" Carina, who was about to speak, quickly shut her mouth before sticking her tongue out and mocking Nami, "Behh~ why should I tell you?"

"Urghh, fine!! We'll do this the pirate-like way!" Nami's hands then began emitting a red-hot fire, which earned a shock out of Carina.

"W-W-Whattttt?!!!"

"Here I go!! Take—kyaa!!!"

Before Nami could launch her attack, Rowan slammed her on the head, causing a lump to grow on it as Nami fell to her butt and caressed it with her hands.

"Calm down, geez."

Rowan then gained an excited grin as he turned to Carina,

"So, what's that information about?"

This smelled like an adventure to him.

__________

Bartolomeo Family was a huge organization that had control over numerous islands in the East Blue. However, that didn't correlate to the strengths of the crew; in contrast to the named pirates in the East Blue, Bartolomeo was definitely weaker, and his usual means of standing victorious in a battle was to overwhelm the enemies with numbers.

"You can't run forever, gyahahaha!"

Hiding in the dark forest, Bartolomeo huffed rapidly, trying to seize a chance against the clown-like pirate, Buggy the 'Clown.'

'Why isn't the reinforcement coming yet?!'

Alone, Bartolomeo was weaker than Buggy; he could tell that right away from the start.

'Desire! Gambia! C'mon, you two!! I'm about to die here!!'

In one area of the forest, there randomly lied a wooden table, and a lonely Den Den Mushi on top of that. Why? No one knew, but such was Bartolomeo's decision.

And in this state where Bartolomeo was being chased by the Buggy Pirates, it rang all of a sudden,

<<Purururu! Purururu!>>

Buggy Pirates came to a stop as they heard the noise.

"What is this snail doing here?" Frowning in confusion, Buggy motioned one of his subordinates to pick up the call. Shrugging, the subordinate complied,

<<B-BOSSS!!! >>

Then, there was the shriek of a man whose voice was only recognized by Bartolomeo who hid behind a bark.

'G-Gambia?!'

<<RUNN!!! IT-IT'S KURO OF A HUNDRED PLANS!!!>>

"...Eh?" Hearing that, Buggy blinked his eyes, and a snot dropped out of his nose, "Kuro...?"

"No need to worry, captain!" Cabaji immediately gave a thumbs up with a confidence-filled grin, "Your bounty is worth 15 million and his is 11 million... meaning that you're stronger! The treasure is still ours!"

Buggy immediately brightened up and laughed, "Gyaaaaahahahaha, well said, Cabaji!! You're right!!" He then pointed his finger at nowhere in particular, "Keep searching for that rat, my dear crew!! The night is on our side!!"

Even now, they didn't know that their ship was being raided.

__________

"Treasure is worthwhile, but what I currently am interested in isn't just the gem," Whispered a ferocious-looking man with round glasses, "What I seek for... is your entire organization itself. The system that connects multiple local gangs across the world—one that grants me a continuous influx of wealth without having to do anything."

This man, Kuro of a 'Hundred Plans,' surely was a frightening fellow, managing to slaughter hundreds of members of Bartolomeo Family by himself alone.

Desire, a red-haired woman who is considered a co-founder of Bartolomeo Family along with Bartolomeo, was currently having her neck exposed against Kuro's 'cat claws,' which is a pair of furred gloves with full-length katana blades at the end of each finger. A trickle of blood ran down from her neck as the tip of one katana blade grazed against her skin, but Desire nonetheless continued glaring at Kuro without bothering to open her mouth.

"But... I guess it doesn't matter whether you open your mouth or not. Soon, we will gain what we want," Said Kuro before ordering a pirate wearing heart-shaped sunglasses next to him, "Jango."

The next thing Desire saw was a pendulum being swung in front of her,

"One, two, Jango."

and her vision went black.

__________

"Zzz... ERK?!" Snoring in the intact seat in front of the ruined stage, the man with an orange hat suddenly jolted up from his slumber. Yawning, he looked to his left and right,

"Why am I here again?"

He blinked his eyes, before remembering that he was meeting up with new chill-looking people like him.

"Hey, where did they go to?"

he hummed, wondering if his encounter with them was a hallucination or a dream he had while in sleep. Then, while he was busy thinking,

"Gyahaha! When he wakes up, Gouma's Bloody Tear will soon be ours!"

The Buggy Pirates, in the hold of the unconscious and injured Bartolomeo, arrived in front of the hatted man who exhibited an interest in the scene.

"Captain!" One member of the Buggy Pirates quickly pointed at the orange-hatted man and said, "There's still a guy who didn't leave yet!"

Buggy raised an eyebrow at the man before shooing the latter off, "Go away! We're not interested in a poor nobody with nothing to take!"

"Heya, you seem pretty strong!"

And for some reason, this man seemed pumped up for a fight, grinning as he stared at Buggy in excitement,

"My name is Portgas D. Ace! You must be the infamous Buggy the 'Clown,' right?"

Annoyed, Buggy asked, "And?"

"Let's fight!!"

"Why should I? No!"

With a blatant refusal, Buggy began walking past Ace, leaving the latter dumbfounded. Eventually, the Buggy Pirates were gone from sight, and Ace stood still for a while,

"Hey, wait!! As if you can just refuse and leave like that!!"

before starting his chase after them. And after minutes of running, what he came in sight of was...

"...Mammamia."

The Buggy Pirates kneeling at the beach, completely devastated.

"W-WHERE?!!" Buggy screamed in horror, "WHERE IS MY SHIP?!!!!!"

The large ship that was supposed to be sitting and awaiting for the return of the crew, was gone.