'Epic Showdown! Swordsman Zoro vs Acrobat Cabaji! '

'Y 'know? I still can't get used to my voice in this, ' Luffy whispered to Usopp who nodded in agreement

'Oh god, it's that bastard, ' Zoro groaned.

Luffy promised to keep his word on beating Buggy 's ass after he separated the clown's hand from the mayor's neck. Nami ensured everyone knew she was only in it to get the map and 'treasure. The mayor remained stubborn and told the three 'young 'uns ' to leave it to him. At that talk, Luffy decided to knock the old man out.

'THAT COULD'VE SERIOUSLY HURT HIM! '

'But it didn't! '

Nami was thinking the same thing, but Zoro and Luffy were on the same wavelength and agreed that knocking the mayor out was for the best. Luffy then approached Buggy and once again called him Big Nose. The angry clown then deployed another Buggy Ball, but Luffy refused to run, claiming that it wouldn 't work on him.

'He's too reckless, ' Jinbei and multiple others thought. They needed to get through to him, that he needed to be alive to become the Pirate King.

Luffy demonstrated a move that he hadn't yet: the Gum-Gum Balloon. The Buggy Ball sank into his blown-up stomach and got flung back into the direction it came from. Buggy of course didn't expect that and failed to get out of the way.

'They had time to get out of the way, c 'mon, ' Nami rolled her eyes, forgetting that she was just as surprised the first time she saw that move.

'I'm glad that they didn't, ' Usopp shivered. 'They were alive after that, though. '

Nami claimed that Luffy wasn't human, but Luffy just gave her a vague answer that didn't explain anything. But before Nami had the time to grill Luffy further, Buggy showed back up, holding two of his men in front of him. They were burned and the clown seemed fine.

Brook once again groaned at the blatant disregard for life, but decided not to say anything.

Mohji woke up under a pile of rubbish and freaked out when he saw Luffy, quickly informing Buggy and Nami that Luffy was a rubberman. Luffy demonstrated his ability and scared the orange-haired girl next to him.

'How dare you scare a girl, you shitty rubber! '

'Hey now! It's not his fault I had never seen a Devil Fruit user before. '

'You defending me is going to cost me, huh? Stop looking at me like that! '

Cabaji emerged from the rubble, holding Richie up with one hand after using him as a shield. This sparked a brief argument between Mohji and Cabaji. The latter kicked Mohji, sending him flying towards Luffy, who in turn also kicked him. He hit a wall head first.

'Ow! '

Cabaji asked Buggy to leave the situation to him, which the clown allowed. He then jumped into the air on his unicycle and charged at the Straw Hats. Just before he was able to stab Luffy, Zoro blocked Cabaji 's sword with his own. Zoro was going to take him on.

'Ohh Nice! A Zoro fight! '

Luffy recommended that Zoro rest, but the swordsman brushed him off. Then, unexpectedly, Cabaji breathed fire.

'That's great that the Captain has common sense for once, but why did the acrobat breathe fire? ' Usopp requested from no one in particular.

While Zoro was distracted by the fire, Cabaji took advantage of that and kicked Zoro in the stab wound, clearly hurting him further.

'That's low. '

'Hurt like shit, let me tell you. '

The Acrobat then spun up a cloud of dust and attacked the other swordsman through that. And while Zoro did manage to block the sword attack, he couldn't block another kick at his side. The green-headed swordsman was moaning on the ground, while Cabaji was gloating on his unicycle.

'I cannot take any of his words seriously when he is on his unicycle, ' Franky sighed.

'It does make him look stupid, ' Luffy agreed.

Nami was surprised that Zoro could fight in the state that he was in, and gave Luffy an earful for not doing something to help his swordsman. Luffy kept watching. Cabaji attacked again, but Zoro stood still this time when the Buggy pirate attacked. He unsurprisingly got stabbed again.

'Zoro, I-what am I supposed to say to that? ' Chopper squeaked from his place in between Robin and Sanji. 'You do realize that wasn't a good move? I don't have to explain to you that getting stabbed is bad? '

'It was a matter of pride. '

'Is your pride worth getting stabbed over? ' Nami intercepted the conversation

'Yes. '

'I will never understand you men and your stupid pride. '

Zoro, considering this enough of a handicap for himself, got ready to fight again. That was enough for Nami, and she went to loot the Buggy pirates ' treasure. Cabaji 's next move was to release a lot of spinning tops that only mildly inconvenienced Zoro. Nami found the supposed treasure room. Cabaji somehow rode his unicycle up a wall of a building and from midair aimed down at his opponent. Buggy at the same time sent one of his hands towards the aforementioned swordsman to hold him down, so his first mate could kill him easier.

'That's low, ' Robin said with mild displeasure.

Before Buggy reached Zoro, Luffy 's foot stepped on the clown 's hand and Zoro could dodge. Luffy ordered Buggy to stay out of Zoro 's fight.

'Should 've let them finish him off, ' Sanji said nonchalantly, and barely dodged a well-aimed attack by a certain swordsman.

'C'mon, Sanji, be nice. '

Nami lit a lantern and found she was standing in front of an enormous pile of treasure. But before she could fully enjoy her newfound richness, a sword was placed near her neck. A Buggy pirate, who had been asleep when the thief entered the room, had woken up. Just as the dude was wondering about his empty alcohol bottle, Nami pretended to be hurt. When the pirate got distracted by that, Nami whacked him with her pole.

'That was clever, Nami, ' Jinbei complimented the navigator.

'Thank you! I do try my best. '

Nami proceeded to unlock one of the chests in that room. It contained the map to the Grand Line. Back at the fight with Zoro and Cabaji, Zoro decided he was tired of the first mate 's acrobatics. Cabaji got angry at that and charged, but got a swift Oni Giri to the chest. He was done for the day and so was Zoro who passed out from exhaustion and probably blood loss. Not before telling Luffy outright that he was going to sleep.

'Somehow, I'm not surprised that you slept on the battlefield, Zoro-san, ' the musician commented in a completely deadpan voice.

"I was tired, and I was done fighting for the moment, that 's all there is to it."

Luffy revealed that he was going to the Grand Line, to which Buggy responded that the younger pirate wouldn't be able to handle going there. The Straw Hats Captain then revealed that he would be the Pirate King. This thoroughly freaked out the Big Red Nose, and he stated that HE was going to be the Pirate King.

'He was on the Pirate King's ship, right? He probably knows how to become one, right? ' Sanji put the thought out there.

'He 's an idiot, that's why. ' was an answer the cook got, but it still bothered him a bit.

Buggy also was annoyed by the straw hat, because it brought back memories of someone. The someone turned out to be Shanks. This excited Luffy, and he demanded to know where the red-haired man was. Buggy, of course, refused to answer. Buggy let go of his foot, which had a knife sticking out of the shoe. The foot spun very fast, but Luffy dodged it with no problem. While Luffy was in midair, Buggy launched multiple knives at him, which he also dodged. But when the rubberman stretched at the clown, the clown in question fell apart enough that Luffy couldn't hit him.

'That was annoying, wasn't it? '

'You have no idea. '

Buggy sent one of his hands (full of knives) after Luffy, who initially stopped it but had to let it go when the hand broke into more pieces. The knives scratched the side of Luffy 's head. But that wasn't what mattered to him. His hat had a slice in it.

'Oh, now it 's happening! '

Luffy announced that the hat was his treasure and whoever damages it had to pay. Buggy didn't care one bit about the hat and sent another round of knives at it, this time stabbing right through Luffy 's treasure.

A slightly disgruntled Luffy took his hat off his head and held it close to his chest. It was like he was trying to protect it in hindsight. Buggy could really get on his nerves.

Luffy immediately thought of Shanks and when Buggy started to make fun of the hat, he dropped the info of the hat being Shanks '. The young captain also looked rightfully pissed. It surprised Buggy that the hat belonged to Shanks. In turn, the clown dropped the info that he and Shanks used to be on the same crew.

'How could two people from the same ship, turn out so different? Like goddammit, one is an emperor, the other is a captain of a traveling circus! ' Usopp desperately wished to know. But instead of an answer, he got laughter at his comparison between the two.

Buggy, in anger directed more towards Shanks, stepped on the straw hat, causing Luffy to punch the clown in the gut. The Straw Hat Captain demanded to know what happened between the two older pirates. Buggy agreed to tell him, claiming that Shanks is the one person he absolutely cannot forgive.

To be continued.

'The more I see of the dude, the less I like him, ' Franky grumbled.

'At least you didn't have to deal with him in Impel Down and Marineford, dude, ' Luffy vented tiredly. Even though he was helpful, he was still a pain in the ass to deal with at times.

'Yeah, I feel for you, bro. '

'But anyway! Next episode! '