Orochimaru ignored Luffy, who tugged at his sleeve in frustration. "Orochimaru, what's going on?" Luffy demanded.
Orochimaru dragged over three wooden barrels for them to sit on, pulled out a small pointer, and pushed a whiteboard toward them. "Ahem, Orochimaru's special lecture is now in session," he announced. "First up is Luffy, whom you all know. As you're aware, he treasures his Straw Hat above all else."
The three nodded in unison.
Orochimaru pinned Shanks' bounty poster to the whiteboard and pointed to it. "That Straw Hat belongs to Red Hair Shanks, one of the current Four Emperors, and originally belonged to the late Pirate King, Roger. For reasons too complicated to explain right now, Luffy inherited it and set sail, vowing to uphold a promise."
Zoro and Nami nodded, while Luffy stared blankly. "So... what does this have to do with Buggy?"
Orochimaru added Buggy's and Roger's bounty posters to the whiteboard. "Clown Buggy, the cowardly treasure-hunting pirate lurking in East Blue, is Red Hair Shanks' childhood friend. What most people don't know is that both he and Shanks were apprentice pirates on Roger's crew. Shanks even forfeited his chance to reach the final island to stay with Buggy."
As he spoke, Orochimaru plastered the wall with old newspapers from years ago. As for where he got them... ask Schrödinger.
"Who the hell said I was childhood friends with that freak?!" Buggy roared, his face flushed crimson as he eavesdropped. He jabbed a trembling finger at Luffy. "We just knew each other, damn it! Don't make me out to be some kind of saint—I just can't stand that idiot!"
Ignoring Buggy's indignant outburst, Nami raised her hand. "Orochimaru, why is Buggy so angry? And why is he hiding his true strength? Shouldn't we be happy about that?"
"Well, according to my sources," Orochimaru replied, "the first reason is that Buggy blames Shanks for accidentally eating a Devil Fruit. Buggy loved treasure hunting and was an excellent swimmer, but after Shanks ate the Chop-Chop Fruit, underwater treasure became out of reach."
Luffy raised his hand. "But if Shanks and Buggy were such good friends before, why does Buggy hate Shanks now?" Luffy figured the Devil Fruit incident might not be the whole story.
Orochimaru adjusted nonexistent glasses with a theatrical flourish. "That, my friend, is my own interpretation. Luffy, your dream is to become the King of the Pirates, right?" Luffy nodded.
"Now that Zoro and Nami are part of our crew, we'll face countless battles and adventures together, spending years chasing our dreams side-by-side. But imagine if one day, out of the blue, Luffy suddenly declared he didn't want to be King of the Pirates anymore, or Zoro decided he didn't want to be the world's greatest swordsman, or Nami said she was done drawing sea charts. Wouldn't that make you furious?"
Luffy felt a knot in his stomach at the thought. He slammed his fist on the table. "But... why would they do that?!"
"Yeah, maybe Buggy feels the same way," Orochimaru mused, poking the tearful Buggy with a small stick. "Want to talk about it?"
Lost in his memories, Buggy mumbled, "Shanks and I grew up together, living on Captain Roger's pirate ship. But Shanks... he was just too good. So good it was hard to even be jealous of him. Even Captain Roger thought so, giving him his Straw Hat. I could never measure up. I gave up on my dream long ago. When I was sick, Shanks refused to go to Laugh Tale to stay and take care of me. He swore he'd sail there someday on his own ship. But after Captain Roger died... he changed his mind. Said he didn't want to go anymore."
"Huh? Weren't you supposed to become the King of the Next Era? Didn't Captain Roger entrust his dream to you? Why?! Why did you give up so easily? You abandoned me first!"
Buggy's fury shattered the surrounding objects. He probably didn't even realize the full potential of his Chop-Chop Fruit, or maybe he had once, but some personal setback had driven him to complacency, to just coast along.
Luffy pressed his Straw Hat down, his expression grave.
"Hey, Buggy... why don't you go to Laugh Tale yourself? That's your dream too, right? Orochimaru said you're strong, and I believe it. If you're not satisfied, get even stronger—stronger than Shanks! Beat him up, drag him there kicking and screaming if you have to, but becoming Pirate King is still going to be my thing." Luffy grinned brightly, completely unfazed by the idea of pummeling Shanks.
Buggy covered his face, speechless. He waved Luffy away dismissively. "Get lost! Save your lectures for when you actually become Pirate King."
The group dispersed. Orochimaru suddenly turned back. "Oh yeah, your cannon blast destroyed a lot of houses. I saw the Village Chief heading this way when I arrived. Remember to compensate the villagers for their losses—East Blue is Garp's territory, after all. And I hate Red Hair too." He casually tossed Buggy a manual on Devil Fruit development.
He really hoped Buggy would be waiting for them at Marineford, ready to shout that classic Earthling catchphrase: "Let this world fall apart!"
'Oh... I forgot to tell Buggy I grabbed all his treasure when I passed his vault.'
Nami blinked at the Sea Chart in her hand. 'Oops, forgot to give this back to Buggy...' She remembered snatching a bag of his jewels earlier too. 'Ah, well...'
Meanwhile, Luffy and Zoro had devoured all of Buggy's sake and meat while Orochimaru was talking. 'Seriously, they're like vultures, picking clean a carcass.'
'Eh... Buggy probably won't even notice, haha,' everyone thought at once.
After this little incident, Nami's opinion of the others shifted. She decided to temporarily team up with Luffy. The four of them set sail for their next destination in two small boats.
Orochimaru, of course, chose Nami's boat—the one they'd snatched from Buggy—because it had more space.
Luffy sat at the bow, munching on an apple and demanding a musician and a cook. Zoro laughed so hard at the musician idea that tears streamed down his face.
Following Nami's directions, they planned to acquire a proper ship on the next island.
Soon, they arrived at Syrup Village.
A rustling sound came from the forest. All four of them stared in that direction.
A long-nosed figure emerged, fired a marble from a slingshot at Luffy, then stepped into view.
"I'm Usopp, Captain of the great pirate crew that leads this village! If you're thinking of attacking, you better give up now—my eighty million subordinates won't let you get away with it!"
Luffy stared, jaw agape. "Whoa! Awesome!"
Nami smirked, eyeing the swaying flag. "Liar. There are only three of you." Her observation scared the three kids away.
Orochimaru pondered aloud, sounding completely serious. "So, these three subordinates are named 'Eight,' 'Ten,' and 'Million' respectively?"
A gust of wind swept through, sending the trio and Usopp shivering. 'What kind of hellish joke is this?'
Just as Luffy was about to imitate Red Hair Shanks to intimidate Usopp, Orochimaru darted forward and punched Usopp on the head, instantly raising a massive bump.
"Is Orochimaru having another episode? Why's he so aggressive today?" Nami mused. "He's usually so quiet unless he's in one of his moods."
Luffy leaned in to whisper to Nami, "I bet Orochimaru's being petty. He never forgets a grudge. Usopp's probably Yasopp's son—you know, the guy from Shanks' crew. Orochimaru got teased by Yasopp when he was a kid, and when Yasopp mentioned his son, Orochimaru swore he'd get revenge on him someday."
Orochimaru's intense glare stopped Luffy mid-sentence. He quickly shut his mouth.
To be continued...