On the pier, many crewmates watched the farce with amusement, including Gol D. Roger, Silvers Rayleigh, Scopper Gaban, and the rest,
"What the hell!?"
He had no idea how this random brat who popped up knew the great Buggy's name, but that didn't stop him from bristling at the overfamiliarity,
"Do I know you? You just run up and go [sa shi bu ri da na~]."
Face heating up, he mimicked Aos's grinning delivery to a tee, sending Shanks beside him into fits of laughter,
The nearby crewmates couldn't help slinging arms over shoulders and roaring with laughter, too.
"Don't be like that, Buggy!"
Thick-skinned as ever, Aos showed not a hint of stage fright before a ship full of top New World powerhouses. Smiling, he said, "My Observation Haki doesn't lie. We're definitely going to be good friends."
Aos's black hair hung almost to his waist; his face still had a touch of boyishness, but the handsomeness already showed, and the smile tugging at his lips was infectious,
his torso bare, faint scars and muscle lines showing; simple fatigue trousers and boots, no extra accessories—just the bundle slung over his shoulder.
The first mate, the "Dark King" Rayleigh, heard this and narrowed his long, thin eyes,
"Awakened Observation Haki at that age? And it seems like a very special kind."
"Like… Redfield?"
Roger, intrigued, chimed in as well. He strolled over, braced both hands on the rail, looked at the long-haired brat on the dock, and said with a grin:
"Oi! Brat—what did you come here for?"
"To join you, of course!"
Knowing full well the temperaments of these top dogs, Aos answered with a smile,
Please call him: Aos, the Sea Enchanter!
"Brat, why must you get on our ship?" The man who would hide the Great Treasure at the end of the sea—the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger—asked the boy before him with a smile,
For this question, Aos happened to know the textbook answer:
"Hahahahaha… To turn this world upside down, of course!"
"Hahahahaha!!!!!!"
Hearing those words in that childish voice, Roger and Rayleigh blinked, then traded a glance and burst out laughing together.
Both of them remembered the scene from when they first met—the very reason the Roger Pirates were founded.
In this youth, they saw the reflections of their younger selves.
"Hahahahaha! If you're not afraid of dying, then get on board!" Roger was a freewheeling sort; on gut feeling alone he waved his hand and agreed to Aos's request,
and Rayleigh, unusually, raised no objections, letting the captain have his way.
Gaban and the others, though, didn't quite get it and felt it was a bit sudden: "Oi, Captain, our ship's about to turn into a daycare for brats."
"What can you do when your captain's a whimsical one~" Another crewmate spread his hands, resigned but accepting.
Among the Roger Pirates, all crewmates shared the same understanding,
namely that while it was all laughs, drinks, and horseplay on ordinary days, once the captain issued an order or made a decision, the crew accepted it unconditionally,
and that, too, was Roger's personal charisma.
Watching, Aos thought privately: no wonder he had even the Golden Lion enthralled—this man's charisma was the real deal.
And just like that,
Aos successfully slipped aboard the Pirate King's ship as an apprentice.
Once a small fry under the Rocks Pirates, and now the village mayor after Roger and the others broke that crew—Old Gick had just gotten home,still daydreaming about raising a monster like Whitebeard or the Golden Lion to carry him to glory someday,
when he saw the house looking like it had been robbed and the note on the table. He fell silent… then exploded in that silence:
"Roger, you *****"
...
Aos watched the shoreline recede; there seemed to be a figure on the beach jumping up and down,
and even if his innate Observation Haki didn't reach that far, his keen eyesight still let him make out what looked like the old mayor's silhouette,
"Oi! See you! I'll take good care of myself!"
Seeing the old man bouncing and waving him off, Aos thought he couldn't bear to see him go; he waved back hard, eyes misting over,
After all, they'd spent nine years together—anyone would get attached, even to a dog.
"Always so strict, and now that I'm leaving you finally went soft once… you old coot…"
Aos's waving caught Shanks and Buggy's attention. Seeing him a bit down, his fellow apprentices came over and patted his shoulder,
"Don't be sad. From now on, we're your family and brothers!" Shanks said with a sincere smile,
"Men of the sea don't cry that easy, you…" Buggy's mouth was sharp but his heart was soft as he comforted him in a roundabout way,
Only Rayleigh, drinking nearby, twitched at the corner of his mouth and gave a strange look at this "Old-Era Trio,"
thought about it, and ultimately didn't voice the snark,
since with Observation Haki sharp enough to cross the Calm Belt without losing his way, it wasn't hard to sense what the old man on shore was yelling. The gist was:
"Roger, you thousand-cuts bastard! It's one thing to kill the body and another to kill the heart—#*#* me…"
and something about someone's mother.
But as the family of a new crewman, Rayleigh couldn't exactly go deal with him—so he pretended he'd heard nothing.
"Roger, you #@**#, damn you… Hey! Aos! Remember to wear a shirt from now on—don't catch cold!!!"
Old Gick shouted through clenched teeth, wiped at the tears gathering in his eyes, and watched the **Oro Jackson** vanish into the setting sun.
Days turned, the sea breeze gentle,
and in the blink of an eye, a few days passed,
To be honest, even with mental prep, life at sea was duller than Aos had expected.
Endless blue horizons; Sea Kings that surfaced only to be lulled to sleep by the crew's Conqueror's Haki; feasts without end and chores that never finished,
and if not for two little buddies to chat and joke with, Aos felt he really might not have endured.
"Hey, Aos, slacking off again! And lying on my bed!"
The cabin door slammed open,
and Buggy, fresh from swabbing the deck, charged in, grabbed Aos by the collar, and snapped with sharp teeth and sharper tongue.
"Don't take it so hard, Buggy. How about I pay you some hazard pay?"
Swaying by his collar, Aos paid no mind to Buggy's attitude; instead he pulled out a few Berries and slipped them into Buggy's pocket with a grin,
and seeing Buggy's eyes light up at the money, Aos straightened his own collar. On this ship, Buggy was probably the only one who felt like a proper pirate—greedy, sly, and loyal,
and Aos only had to pay a little to mollify him each time.
That way he could sneak a nap now and then.
Just then, a young voice rang out from outside:
"Aos, Buggy! Come out for training!"