Luffy, ignored by Orochimaru, tugged at his clothes, feeling wronged.
"Orochimaru, what exactly is going on?"
Orochimaru moved three wooden barrels over, motioning for the three to sit, and holding a small stick, he pushed a whiteboard towards them.
"Ahem, Orochimaru's exclusive mini-class is now in session. First up is Luffy, you all know him. Luffy treasures his straw hat, I'm sure you all know that."
"Mmm-hmm ( „ • ֊ • „ ) ੭," the three nodded.
He stuck a Red Hair bounty poster on the whiteboard and pointed, "That straw hat belongs to Red-Haired Shanks, one of the current Four Emperors, and originally to Pirate King Roger. For various reasons, Luffy set sail with that straw hat and takes this promise very seriously."
Zoro and Nami nodded. Luffy, looking dazed, asked, "What does that have to do with Buggy?"
After speaking, Orochimaru stuck Buggy's bounty poster and Roger's bounty poster on the whiteboard.
"Buggy the Clown, a treasure-hunting Pirate Crew holed up in the East Blue. He's Red-Haired Shanks's childhood friend, but not many people know that he and Red-Haired Shanks were both apprentices on the Roger Pirates. Shanks even gave up his spot to go to Raftel for Buggy."
As he spoke, he displayed many old newspapers from years ago. As for where the newspapers came from... ask Schrödinger.
"Who's childhood friends with that guy!!! We just know each other, just know each other. Don't think of me as so great, I just can't stand that idiot!!!" Buggy, who was eavesdropping, roared at Orochimaru, his face flushed, pointing at Luffy with one hand.
The others ignored the furious Buggy. Nami raised her hand, "Then, Orochimaru-sensei, why is Buggy so angry and hiding his strength? Isn't that something to be happy about?"
"Well, that answer, according to an insider, the first reason is because Buggy accidentally ate a Devil Fruit because of Shanks. Buggy loves treasure hunting and is very good at diving, but after eating the Devil Fruit, the treasures at the bottom of the sea became out of reach for him."
Luffy raised his hand, "Since Shanks and Buggy used to be so close, why does Buggy hate Shanks now?" Luffy felt that the Devil Fruit incident might not be that important.
Orochimaru pretended to push up non-existent glasses. "As for that question... this is my own interpretation. Luffy, your dream is to become the Pirate King, isn't it?" Luffy nodded... "Now our Pirate Crew has Zoro and Nami. In the future, we will experience many battles and adventures together, spending a long time together, all to fulfill our dreams... But what if one day, without any reason, Luffy suddenly tells us: 'I'm not going to be the Pirate King anymore,' or Zoro says, 'I don't want to be a swordsman anymore,' or Nami says, 'I'm not drawing log poses anymore,' do you think we would get angry?"
Luffy felt a dull ache in his heart just thinking about it, and he slammed the table, "Why!!!"
"Yes, perhaps Buggy thought the same way... Should I tell him?" Orochimaru poked Buggy, who looked like he was about to cry, with his small stick.
Buggy was lost in his memories. "I grew up with Shanks, we lived together on Captain Roger's Pirate Crew, but... Shanks was incredibly excellent, so excellent that it was impossible to be jealous... Even Captain Roger thought so, and he gave his straw hat to him. I could never compare to Shanks. Dreams, that kind of thing, I abandoned them long ago. That year, he refused to go to Raftel to take care of my illness. He said that in the future, he would go to Raftel on his own ship, but after Captain Roger died, he said he didn't want to go anymore."
"Huh? Wasn't he supposed to become the king of the next era? Wasn't Captain Roger's wish supposed to be inherited by him? Why! Why did he give up so easily? He was the one who abandoned me first!!!"
The surrounding objects shattered with Buggy's aura. Perhaps even Buggy hadn't realized the potential of the Chop-Chop Fruit, or perhaps he had once realized it... but then became decadent and lived a life of idleness because of someone.
Luffy held his straw hat, his expression solemn.
"Hey... Buggy... go yourself, to Raftel. That was your dream too, wasn't it? Orochimaru said you're strong, and I think so too. If you're not convinced, then become even stronger, stronger than Shanks, beat him up, drag him there if you have to, but I'll still be the Pirate King." Luffy smiled brightly, not thinking there was anything wrong with beating up Shanks.
Buggy covered his face, saying nothing, and waved at Luffy. "Get lost, get lost, get lost. If you want to preach to me, wait until you become the Pirate King."
The group left together. Then Orochimaru remembered something and turned around. "Oh, by the way, your cannonballs just destroyed a lot of houses. I think I saw the Village Chief heading this way when I arrived. Remember to compensate the villagers for their losses, and don't forget that the East Blue is Garp's territory. Also, I hate Red Hair too." He casually tossed over a Devil Fruit Development Direction Handbook.
He looked forward to Buggy waiting at the Marineford War and uttering that line from the Blue Star people's memes: "Chop-Chop! This world!"
Ah... he forgot to tell Buggy that he had casually taken all his treasures when he passed by the treasury.
Nami blinked, looking at the log pose in her hand. Ah, she forgot to return the log pose to Buggy... She also seemed to have stolen a bag of treasure from Buggy earlier... Oh well.
Luffy and Zoro, meanwhile, had eaten and drunk all of Buggy's sake and meat while Orochimaru was talking... truly... leaving no stone unturned.
"Well... Buggy probably won't care, hahaha." Everyone said this in their hearts at the same time.
After this incident, Nami's opinion of the others changed, and she decided to temporarily cooperate with Luffy. The four of them set off for the next location in two small boats.
Orochimaru, of course, chose Nami's boat, which she had taken from Buggy, because it had more space.
Luffy sat at the bow, eating an apple, talking about wanting a musician and a chef. Zoro laughed so hard about the musician that tears came to his eyes.
According to Nami's instructions, they planned to get a decent ship on the next island.
Soon, the four arrived at Syrup Village.
A rustling sound came from the forest, and the four simultaneously looked in that direction.
Then a long-nosed figure appeared, shooting marbles at Luffy with a slingshot, then stepped out.
"I am Usopp, the great Pirate Crew Captain leading this Village! Everyone calls me Captain Usopp! If you plan to attack this Village, I advise you to give up, because my eighty million subordinates will not let you off!!!"
Luffy's jaw dropped in shock. "So amazing!"
"You're lying, aren't you?" Nami said with a mischievous smile, looking at the swaying flag. "There are three of them, right?" Nami's revelation scared away the three children.
Orochimaru pondered, his voice very serious. "So these three subordinates are named 'Eight,' 'Thousand,' and 'Million,' respectively?"
A cold wind blew, and the three, along with Usopp, shivered. What kind of hellish dad joke was that?
Just as Luffy was about to pretend to be Red Hair to scare Usopp, Orochimaru quickly ran over and punched Usopp on the top of his head, instantly raising a large bump.
"Is Orochimaru having an episode? Why is he so proactive today?" Nami felt that, aside from occasional episodes, Orochimaru was usually very quiet.
Luffy thought of something and leaned into Nami's ear. "Let me tell you, Orochimaru is probably having a petty fit. He holds grudges the most. Usopp should be Yasopp's son, one of Shanks's Crewmates. Orochimaru was teased by Yasopp when he was little, and when Yasopp said he had a son, Orochimaru said something like he'd beat up his son for revenge."
Seeing Orochimaru's fierce glare (・x・ｷ) at him, Luffy instantly shut up.