One Piece: Failure’s Road to the Pirate King

"Growl!"

A sound like a drum resonated through the air.

Lily's face turned red as she lowered her head without speaking.

Including the time spent escaping, they had gone a full day and night without eating, so they were certainly hungry.

Sage looked down at the water's surface and sighed: "Forget it, I—"

Whoosh!!

"Ahhhhh!!"

Before he could finish speaking, a streak of white smoke suddenly appeared on the horizon, zooming past at extreme speed with a piercing screech.

"A bird?" Sage's expression brightened with joy.

Perfect, no need to go down to the sea now.

He stepped forward and rose into the air, reaching up with one hand to grab a round object, yanking down this high-speed flying thing in the process.

"Hm?"

As soon as he touched it, Sage felt something was off. It wasn't the texture of feathers, and the color... "Red?"

"Who are you calling red-nose?!"

A shout rang out from the front. Two hands wearing white gloves were flailing wildly, and below the hands, gripped by Sage, was a round red nose. Below the nose was a human face, and below that, a small creature was dangling there, baring its teeth.

It was a person... He wore an orange captain's hat and red and white striped clothes, but the proportions of his body were very small, completely out of proportion with his head and limbs. It was as if he was missing a torso, with only a head and limbs... and a prominently large nose.

This obvious feature, along with that face... "Buggy?" Sage asked uncertainly.

He had seen this face on wanted posters before.

A 15 million berry bounty, 'Clown' Buggy.

"You know the great me?!"

Buggy shouted: "Then hurry up and let go of me, my nose hurts like hell!"

"Oh."

Sage's fingers loosened, releasing the nose. Buggy pulled back, hands on his hips, raising his head proudly: "That's right, I am the great Captain Buggy of the Buggy Pirates, the 'Clown' Buggy-sama. You—"

He hadn't finished speaking when he suddenly felt something was amiss.

The blue sky, looking ahead he could see the horizon over the sea, the wind blowing the wheat stalks on his hat, making him shudder involuntarily.

He didn't look down, but instead frantically felt around on the ground with his short feet. Snot dripped from his big nose as he asked Sage blankly: "High altitude?"

Sage nodded.

Buggy gave him an awkward but polite smile: "Please save me..."

Whoosh! As soon as he finished speaking, his whole body suddenly plummeted downwards.

The ocean was below, he'd be done for if he fell in! Smack.

But just then, a hand grabbed the back of his collar, lifting him up.

Buggy gasped for breath heavily, wiping the sweat from his face. Then he saw Lily, also being held up by a hand, and flashed a toothy grin in greeting: "Yo, hello there!"

Lily: "..."

Sage lifted Buggy up a bit higher, "Is this your real appearance? It doesn't seem right."

Buggy gritted his teeth and said: "Of course the great me doesn't normally look like this. If it wasn't for that damn Straw Hat—"

If he hadn't been tied up and sent flying by Straw Hat, how could he have become so small!

He had finally managed to build a raft and set sail, but ended up being eaten by a giant bird. The key thing was, it didn't like his taste and spat him out flying! "Anyway, thank you!" Buggy said. "Let's have a welcome feast, I'll repay you properly!"

"Why couldn't you have appeared a bit earlier."

Sage clicked his tongue, "If I had run into you two days ago, my life trajectory would have changed. 15 million berries..."

"Hm?"

Buggy's nose twitched as he realized something. His pupils shook as he shouted: "Are you a damn bounty hunter?!"

Then, his hand automatically detached from his wrist and flew out, shocking Lily's eyes wide open.

However, before that flying hand could get close to Sage, Sage's hand simply let go...

"It's a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding, I didn't mean to attack." 

Buggy, whose fate was once again grasped by the back of his neck, rubbed his hands together and put on a ingratiating smile: "This is my Devil Fruit ability. I ate the Chop-Chop Fruit and became a splitting human. My whole body can split apart. I was just demonstrating for you to see."

"I'm not a bounty hunter anymore..."

Sage said: "Now I'm a pirate like you."

"Oh!"

Buggy's eyes lit up as he completely relaxed. "So you're a pirate! You should have said so earlier. I'm sorry for suddenly attacking. But why are you in the sky? Don't you have a ship to sail on?"

"We just became pirates, we don't have our own ship yet."

Lily said, looking curiously at Buggy: "A Devil Fruit? I've heard of them, but thought they were just legends. I didn't expect them to be real. Is it because you ate a Devil Fruit that your body is so strange, and your nose is so red—"

"Who are you calling red-nose?!"

Buggy's eyes rolled back as he became sharp-toothed and sharp-tongued, shouting: "Say that again and I'll kill you!"

Clang! Lily's expression turned cold as she immediately drew her sword.

Sage's mouth twitched. "Alright... When you were flying here, did you see any land or ships?"

"Land, huh..."

Buggy stroked his chin, thinking for a moment before saying: "When I was flying from that direction, I think I saw a few islands."

"Thank you!" Sage finally showed a smile.

It wasn't easy, but they finally had a direction for islands.

Buggy looked at them for a while, then made a proposal: "Since you just set out to sea, do you want to join my pirate crew?"

These two, putting aside the woman for now, but this man seemed quite strong. Was he using Moonwalk? But why could he stay in the air for so long... he seemed very impressive.

Not to mention, he had just saved his life.

"I'm not in the habit of working under others, so I'll pass. Besides, in your current state, you shouldn't be saying such things," Sage said.

His dream was to become a wealthy landowner, to rule and exploit others, not to be ruled and exploited by others.

"Is that so?"

Buggy wasn't upset, and smiled: "In any case, you saved me, so you're my brother. I'll definitely remember this kindness! When I find my crew, I'll definitely throw you a feast!"

Sage raised an eyebrow. If he remembered correctly, this guy had pretty good luck. Taking him along, they might actually be able to find people. It seemed more reliable than searching for islands that may or may not have food.

However, before that... "Lily, prepare to go into the water," Sage suddenly said.

"?" A question mark appeared above Lily's head.

Sage carried the two of them, repeatedly stepping on the air as they rapidly descended towards the sea surface.

The hovering power of Moonwalk had its limits. After sustaining it for over a day, Sage couldn't hold on any longer.

If he kept pushing, he would fall straight down. It was better to enter the water now and rest for a while.

"Let's hope your luck is really as good as they say!"

Sage rapidly descended to the sea surface, throwing Lily into the ocean. He kicked off a few more times before plunging into the water with Buggy.

"I can't swim!" Buggy cried out in terror as he entered the sea with Sage.

But before long, Sage's head emerged from the water. He raised one arm to lift up Buggy, who had swallowed several mouthfuls of seawater. With his other hand, he grabbed a fish.

A fish! A fresh, live fish thrashing about in his hand, making Sage's eyes light up. He looked back and forth between the lively fish and Buggy, his fascinated gaze making Buggy break out in a cold sweat.

"W-what is it?" Buggy stammered. "Um, my body is gone, there's no butt. Even if there was, I don't swing that way—glub glub glub!"

A vein popped on Sage's forehead as he shoved Buggy back into the sea. "My sexual orientation is perfectly normal!"

"Cough cough cough!"

Buggy was pulled out of the water, coughing violently. He shouted: "You bastard, are you trying to kill me?!"

Sage ignored him, focusing intently on the fish in his hand. A fish!

He had finally caught a fish! When he first started out, he tried fishing but even though he could see schools of fish, they never took the bait.

It frustrated him so much he was ready to catch them by hand, but as soon as he had that thought, the fish disappeared.

Like Schrödinger's ship, for him it was also Schrödinger's fish.

But now, going into the sea with Buggy, he had actually caught a fish!

This luck counteracted his bad luck! He looked at Buggy and said: "Hey Buggy, want to join my pirate crew?"

"Oh? You're inviting the great me?" 

Buggy laughed heartily, then his voice turned serious: "Sorry, but the great me has my own dreams. I won't serve under anyone!"

Ever since that guy didn't want to inherit the captain's will, he decided to do it himself.

"Even though we're both captains, we'll definitely be brothers. On this journey, we—"

"Sage!"

As Buggy was still speaking eloquently, Lily suddenly poked her head out of the water, looking terrified. "There's something under the water!"

Boom! As soon as she finished speaking, a huge splash of water erupted next to Sage, scattering like heavy rain.

Sage felt his hand loosen. He looked up to see a giant ram's head emerge from the sea, biting half of Buggy's body.

"Hey! No! Don't eat me!" Buggy pounded his fists on the strange ram's head, but his punches were as weak as a baby's compared to its size.

The ram's head was about to suck him in when it suddenly seemed to notice something. It showed an obvious look of disgust as its mouth began to bulge.

Buggy noticed this too and shouted angrily: "Am I that unappetizing? This is the second time! I have dignity too, you know!"

As the ram's head started to puff up, Buggy shook his head and flashed a carefree smile, giving Sage a thumbs up. "Brother, I won't forget you!"

Poof!!

With a loud sound, the ram's head spat Buggy out, sending him flying through the air like a shooting star.

It all happened so fast that Sage couldn't even stop it. He could only watch helplessly as their lucky star disappeared.

He pursed his lips and sighed: "Still couldn't avoid it after all..."

There was a reason he didn't want to go into the water.

With his unlucky constitution, he couldn't catch fish, but he could attract sea monsters.

In fact, even though they were in coastal waters, Sage had encountered Sea Kings - creatures as large as islands. The Fist of the North Star was no match for them.

He had just been thinking that since he caught a fish, they surely wouldn't run into those strange creatures.

But they still couldn't escape it. Fortunately, this was just a sea beast.

Buggy, your luck is still intact!

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