"Growl——!"
A sound like a drum resonated in the air.
Lily's face turned red, and she lowered her head without speaking.
Adding the time they escaped, they hadn't eaten for a whole day and night, surely they were hungry.
Sage looked at the water below and sighed, "Forget it, I..."
Whoosh!!
"Ah ah ah ah!!"
Before he finished speaking, a white streak suddenly appeared over the horizon, speeding across with a piercing, strange scream.
"A bird?" Sage looked happy.
Great, no need to go into the sea.
He stepped forward, directly rising up, reached out with his other hand, and grabbed a round object, effortlessly pulling down the high-speed flying object.
"Hmm?"
As soon as he touched it, Sage felt something was off, not the texture of feathers, and this color...
"Red?"
"Who are you calling red nose!"
A loud shout came from the front, and two hands with white gloves flailed around wildly. Below the hands, held by Sage, was a round red nose, underneath the nose was a human face. Below the face, a little thing dangled, baring its teeth.
It's a person...
He wore an orange captain's hat and a red and white striped shirt, but his body's proportions were very small, completely mismatched with his head and limbs, as if missing a torso, only a head and limbs... and a distinctly large nose.
This distinct feature, and this face...
"Buggy?" Sage uncertainly asked.
He had seen this face on the Wanted Order.
A bounty of fifteen million Belly, 'Joker' Buggy.
"You know the great me?!"
Buggy shouted, "Then hurry up and let me go, my nose is killing me!"
"Oh..."
Sage loosened his fingers, letting go of the nose, Buggy hurdled back, hands on hips, lifted his head, and laughed, "Exactly, I am the great captain of Buggy's Pirates, 'Joker' Buggy, you..."
Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly felt something was amiss.
The blue sky, looking forward, he could see the sea horizon, the wind rustling the wheat on his hat made him shiver.
Instead of looking down, he aimlessly shuffled his tiny feet on the ground, mucus following his big nose, he blankly asked Sage, "High up?"
Sage nodded.
Buggy showed an awkward yet polite smile, "Please help me out..."
Whoosh!
Just after saying, his entire body suddenly plunged downward.
Below was the sea; if he fell in, it would be over!
Pop.
But at that moment, a hand grabbed his back collar and lifted him up.
Buggy gasped heavily, wiped the sweat off his face, then saw Lily, also being lifted by a hand, greeting with a grin, "Hey, hello!"
Lily: "..."
Sage lifted Buggy a bit higher, "You look like this? Something's not right..."
Buggy gritted his teeth, "Of course I'm not like this, if not for that damn Straw Hat..."
If it weren't for being tied by Straw Hat and beaten off, how could he have become so small!
Finally made a raft to go to sea, only to be eaten by a giant bird, and it even spit him out for tasting bad!
"Anyway, thank you!" Buggy said, "Kick-off the feast; I'll repay you well!"
"Why didn't you show up sooner."
Sage clicked his tongue, "If I met you two days earlier, my life's trajectory would have changed, fifteen million Belly..."
"Hmm?"
Buggy's nose twitched, realizing something, his pupils shook, shouting, "Is it a damned Bounty Hunter!"
Then, his hand detached from his wrist, actually flying out, seeing Lily's eyes widen.
Though that flying hand hadn't reached Sage, Sage's hand simply loosened...
...
"Misunderstanding, misunderstanding, I didn't mean to attack."
After being grabbed by the back of the neck, Buggy rubbed his hands, showing a pleasing smile, "This is my Devil Fruit ability, I ate the 'Chop-Chop Fruit' becoming a Chop-Chop person, my whole body can split apart, just performing for you."
"I'm not a Bounty Hunter anymore..."
Sage said, "Now I'm like you, a Pirate."
"Oh!"
Buggy's eyes lit up, thoroughly relaxed, "So you're a Pirate! You should've said sooner; sorry for attacking suddenly! But... why are you in the air, do you not have a ship going to sea?"
"We just became Pirates, and don't have our own ship yet."
Lily said, curiously looking at Buggy, "Devil Fruit? I've heard of it, thought it was a legend, didn't expect it's real. Because of eating Devil Fruit, your body became so strange, and the nose so red..."
"Who's a red nose!"
Buggy rolled his eyes, becoming sharp-tongued, shouting, "Say it again and I'll kill you!"
Shing!
Lily's face turned cold, directly drawing her sword.
Sage pulled his lips, "Alright... When you flew over, did you see any land or ship?"
"Land huh..."
Buggy stroked his chin, thought for a moment, and said, "When I flew over from there, I seemed to have seen a few islands."
"Thanks a lot!" Sage finally showed a smile.
Not easy indeed...
Finally, there is a direction towards the islands.
Buggy looked at them for a moment and made a suggestion, "If you're just setting out to sea, how about joining my Pirates?"
These two guys, not to mention the woman, but this man seems very strong, using Moon Step? Just why staying in the air for such a long time... seems really impressive.
Not to mention, he even saved my life.
"I don't have a habit of working for others, so I'll pass, and... don't say such things with your current appearance." Sage said.
His dream was to be a landlord and a rich man, to rule and exploit people, not to be ruled and exploited.
"Is that so?"
Buggy wasn't annoyed and smiled, "No matter what, you saved me, so you're my brother. This favor, I'll definitely remember! When I find my crew, I'll surely throw you a banquet!"
Sage raised an eyebrow, if he remembered correctly, this guy was quite lucky...
Taking him along, perhaps he could actually find someone, definitely more reliable than searching unknown islands for food.
But before that...
"Lily, prepare to go underwater," Sage suddenly said.
"?" Lily's head popped up with a question mark.
Sage, with the two, repeatedly stepped on air, heading straight for the sea.
The floating capacity of Moon Step has its limits, after a day, Sage couldn't hold on anymore.
If he kept on, he would fall straight down, might as well enter the water now, take it slower.
"Hope your luck really pulls through, you guy!"
Sage quickly descended to the sea surface, threw Lily into the sea, kicked around, and plunged into the water with Buggy.
"I'm a landlubber!" Buggy shouted in horror as he entered the sea with Sage.
But it wasn't long before Sage's head emerged from the water, raised an arm to lift Buggy, who was coughing up water, while catching a fish with the other hand.
Fish!
A lively fish flapped and wiggled in his hand, making Sage's eyes light up. He glanced at the fish then Buggy, the fascinated look made Buggy break out in cold sweat.
"Wh-What is it?" Buggy stammered, "My body is gone, there's no butt... No, even if there was, I don't like that kind of thing——glug glug glug!"
A vein popped on Sage's forehead as he stuffed Buggy back into the sea, "My sexual orientation is perfectly normal!"
"Cough cough cough!"
Buggy coughed violently after being pulled out of the water, shouting, "Are you trying to kill me?"
Sage ignored him, focusing intently on the fish in his hand...
Fish!
He finally caught a fish!
Back when he started his entrepreneurship, wanting to fish, even though he could see fish schools, none took the bait.
Frustrated, he planned to catch fish barehanded, but just as he decided to go for it, the fish disappeared.
Just like Schrödinger's ship, to him, it was Schrödinger's fish.
But now taking Buggy into the sea, he actually caught a fish!
This luck... neutralized his bad luck!
He looked at Buggy and said, "Hey, Buggy, want to join my Pirates?"
"Oh? Inviting me?"
Buggy laughed heartily, then his voice sank, "Sorry, I have my own dreams, won't serve under anyone!"
Since that guy no longer wanted to inherit the captain's will, he decided to go on his own.
"Although we're both captains, we will definitely be brothers, in this journey, we..."
"Sage!"
While Buggy was speaking freely, Lily suddenly poked her head out of the sea, looking very terrified, "There's something underwater!"
Boom!
Just as she finished speaking, a huge splash erupted beside Sage, scattering like heavy rain.
Sage's hand suddenly loosened; when he looked up, a massive goat head appeared on the sea, biting Buggy's half-body.
"Hey! Don't! Don't eat me!" Buggy punched the strange goat head wildly, but those fists were as weak as a baby's against the massive head.
The goat head was about to suck him in but suddenly sensed something, showing a clear look of disgust, its mouth puffing up.
Buggy also noticed it, angrily shouting, "Am I really that hard to eat? The second time, I have dignity too!"
The goat head started to puff...
Buggy shook his head, showing a carefree smile, gave Sage a thumbs up, "Bro, I won't forget you!"
Poof!!
With a sound, the goat head spit Buggy out directly, turning into a meteor in the sky.
Everything happened so fast that Sage couldn't stop it, he could only watch his lucky star vanish.
He pursed his lips, sighed, "Couldn't escape..."
He had a reason for being unwilling to go into the water.
His unfortunate tendency, he couldn't catch fish, but would attract sea beasts.
Moreover, even in coastal waters, Sage had encountered Sea Kings...
That enormous size, bigger than islands, even the North Star Divine Fist doesn't work.
He had just thought, now that he caught a fish, surely he wouldn't meet such monsters.
Unexpectedly, he still couldn't dodge...
Luckily, it was just a sea beast.
Buggy, your luck is indeed there!