After Roger's execution, Buggy decide to gather experience. Training in the mountain have it's limit. He need real battle to grow even further, and he have found a way, hunting pirates & bandits.
In this 1 year of him living near Loguetown, Buggy found an interesting fact. No one recognize him as Roger Pirates' member at all. He have walk in front of the Marine base, but the marines never try to capture him whatsoever.
It seem because he doesn't have any bounty on his head, and because he was just a mere apprentice, the marines doesn't recognize him. That's why he will use this to his benefit. He will hunt pirates & bandits and become a bounty hunter. This is also a perfect opportunity because he is on East Blue, and the pirates here are the weakest of all seas.
"I still need to be careful of some marines from Grandline, especially those who have chased us in the past like Garp, they might know my face."-Buggy
Buggy will hide his identity everytime he take a bounty. But he can worry about that later after he really catch anyone with bounty. For now he need to leave Loguetown and go somwhere else.
Buggy have prepared everything he need for this plan. He return to his shack and take all his stuffs. Then he go to his boat that located on the other side of the town, near the mountain.
Buggy then sail away with his boat, following the map that he bought on town. His destination is Orange Town, on Organ Island. Yeah, that's right, Buggy go to the town where the Buggy on the canon fight with Luffy.
He go to Orange Town because that place is small and didn't have any Marine Base. He's still worry if some marines might recognize him, so it's better to minimize that chance. That island is also rather empty and only have a small town on it, so he can train on the empty part.
It takes 1 day to reach Orange Town with his small boat. He arrive the next morning and go to a small restaurant to eat. He also ask the owner for the Mayor's house. He want to live here for 2 years after all, so he need to ask first.
After he eat, Buggy go to Mayor Boodle's house. He knock the door and the old Mayor come out. Boodle looks almost exactly like what he remember from the series. The guy is not as old as he remember, as this is 22 years before the canon start, but Buggy still know that it's him.
"Who are you, kid? What happen with your nose?"-Boodle
"I'm Buggy, and please leave my nose alone! Are you the Mayor?"-Buggy
"Yeah, i'm Mayor Boodle."-Boodle
"Nice, i want to ask for permission to live here, maybe for 2 years."-Buggy
"Ooh, it's so rare to have someone that want to live here even if it's just 2 years. But i need to know your background first before i can allow you to live here."-Boodle
"Sure."-Buggy
Buggy enter Boodle's house, and he start to explain his made up background. He tell Boodle that he is an orphan, and he was from Goa Kingdom. He tell Boodle that the Kingdom isn't a good place to live for orphan like him, so he leave.
"I don't want to live on Gray Terminal, so i search for a better place to live."-Buggy
"Hmm, i've heard of that Kingdom's bad reputation, and it seem to be true. Then how about job? Do you want me to recommend a job to you?"-Boodle
"No, i have some money that my parents left for me. And i already have a job that i want to take, Bounty Hunter, i hope you don't mind."-Buggy
"Bounty Hunter? That's a dangerous work, are you sure about that?"-Boodle
"Yeah, i have some decent skills for it. Don't worry, i won't endanger my life."-Buggy
"Hmph, i don't really care about the life of a brat that i just met today. Fine, i can let you live here. Do you want to rent a house or apartment?"-Boodle
"The cheapest one."-Buggy
"Small apartment it is."-Boodle
Boodle then take Buggy to a small apartment at the outskirts of the town. It's close to the open hill, so it's a perfect location. He can train on the open land everytime because it's close.
The yearly rent is just 50,000 beri so he pay it full. Buggy then put his luggage and sleep. He haven't sleep last night, because it will be dangerous if he sleep on the small boat when he sail alone at night. He is a devil fruit user after all, and if something happen, he can get drown.
The next day, Buggy walk around the town and familiarize himself with the layout. He also talk with the people here and introduce himself to them. These guys are very friendly, and it make him feel bad of what the Buggy on the canon did to them. He's not that Buggy, but it still make him feel bad.
For a week, Buggy just enjoy his normal life in the town. He still train everyday on the hill to prepare for his hunting. He also collect some bounty posters of pirates and bandits on East Blue that can be his target.
After a week, Buggy decide to hunt his first target. This can be said to be his first real fight with human after he became Buggy, so he target the easiest one first. His target is a bandit on Frauce Kingdom, 'Butcher' Ivan, with bounty of 3 million beri.
Buggy go to Frauce immediately after he tell Boodle & the apartment owner. He buy some supplies and sail following the map & use his compass. At least he know a little about navigating after buying a book about it on Loguetown.
It takes 2 days for him to reach Frauce Kingdom. Buggy land on a small port of a village on the outskirt of the island. He avoid using big ports where Marine usually place some people there.
Buggy then go to a pub and search for info about his target. He can't be obvious though, because usually bandits like them have some spies in place like this. Buggy just ask about the route to the city, and the pub owner tell him a route.
"There is a road on the east, and it is wide enough for carriages. However, you need to be careful, there are bandits that might try to rob you there."-Owner
"Bandits, huh? It seem i need to be careful, i have some goodies after all. Thanks for your help."-Buggy
Buggy give the owner some extra money for the info. Then he leave the pub and go to the direction that the owner showed him. Buggy also bring a big luggage to lure the bandits out to rob him. He just fill his big bag with leaves, there's nothing valuable there.
After walking for sometime, Buggy get stopped by some people. They're the bandits that he searched for. They don't seem rich at all, because they just use makeshift weapons like wooden club or worn out swords.
The only one that have good weapon is their leader, the 3 million head. He have a big cleaver, and it's bigger than normal cleaver. This weapon might be the reason why he's called the 'Butcher'.
"Hehehe, a lone target. You should know what to do right now. Give us your valuables and you can leave, or try to fight and you won't be able to leave alive."-Butcher
"Ooh, so scary."-Buggy grin
Buggy is really interested in his first hunt. This will be his starting point on his adventure in this world.
______________________________________________________________
Support me on Pa_treon if you like my story and want to read some chapters ahead. I've upload up to Chapter 36. It will help me to buy internet data too.
https://www.pa_treon.com/CaptMermain
(the web didn't use _underscore_, it's to avoid censorship)