The Clowns are exploring the Briss Kingdom while waiting for Palu to fix their ship. Buggy has told his crew to not make any problem while exploring the Kingdom. The next Vice-Admiral won't be as forgiving as Garp.
Buggy & Jude go to the Blackmarket to gather information. They gather a lot of information around the world. It's important for them to keep updated about the world's situation.
As Buggy's predicted, Shanks doesn't show up at all since his last bounty was published. It seems he has similar thoughts with Buggy. They will strengthen their crews for now until they're ready to face the dangers ahead.
But what picked Buggy's interest isn't the news about Red Hair Pirates. It's the rise of Big Mom Pirates in the New World. They have started to conquer many islands and people start to put Big Mom on the same level as Whitebeard.
'So this is the time, huh? It won't take long for her to become an Emperor of The Sea. Then in a few years, Kaido will rise into that position too. Kaido, he is my first target among the future Emperors. I need to take him down before Beasts Pirates grow too big,' ponders Buggy.
Buggy knows it will be very difficult to defeat Kaido. Even Oden can only injure him in his Dragon form. Oden is very strong, Buggy knows it very well because they've sailed together for some time.
'Unless I reach an Emperor level strength, then I won't be able to defeat Kaido. To do that, at least I'll need to be able to use advanced haki. That's why training my Conqueror Haki is important,' thinks Buggy while planning on what he needs to do.
Buggy thinks of what he needs to defeat Kaido & Beasts Pirates. He will need to be very strong and master advanced haki. He also needs to strengthen his crew to rival Beasts Pirates.
'Oden's battle with Kaido will happen in 2 years. I still have time to help him, but will he let me do it? He is very stubborn and had refused our help in the past. But the current situation should change his mind. Hmm, I will just try to ask him in 2 years. For now, I need to focus on my crew's strength,' thinks Buggy.
Buggy doesn't like to have a small crew, but he doesn't like a very big crew too. He likes to have a crew that is similar to Roger Pirates. Only one big ship with tens of crew members.
A big crew like Whitebeard Pirates that have some divisions & ships is too troublesome for him. It's better to have subordinate crews rather than some fleets right under him.
A small crew like the Straw Hat is also not to his liking. Such crew will often need outsiders' help when fighting a force with a high number. He doesn't want to rely on it when fighting an Emperor in the future.
"Captain, I think you need to see this," says Jude to Buggy while showing a paper to him.
Buggy takes the paper and reads it. It's a piece of news about Buggy & Shanks. The World News agency has sniffed out about their origins as apprentices in Roger Pirates.
Their bounty's fast raise has picked their interest. So they started to investigate and found this fact. It would be big news, so they won't let it go and published it with some added spices.
It is stated that both of them might be the successor of the Pirate King, Roger. They also stated that Buggy or Shanks might be the next Pirate King because they know the location of Laugh Tale.
"Hmph, they always exaggerating any news that they heard. But this will be troublesome because it does make sense. Some people who want to find Laugh Tale will start to target us to know its location. Worst case is a big pirate crew from New World will come after us too," says Buggy.
"What should we do then?" asks Jude.
"Nothing, we just need to do what we usually do. We just need to avoid big forces that we can't defeat yet. Our goal isn't to defeat them, but to explore the world, after all. But we will fight them if the situation forced us to do so," says Buggy.
Jude nods in understanding. There's nothing they can do to stop those people from searching for them. That's why they can only be their usual self and face anything that comes to them.
Besides, they've known that their journey won't be easy. After Buggy's defeat from Garp, the Clowns finally realized what they will face in the future. If they don't grow stronger fast, then they won't survive and fulfill their dreams.
Buggy & Jude leave the Blackmarket after reading all the information. They got what they need and know what to do after this. This is why information is very important for them.
For the next 3 days, the Clown Pirates are exploring the Kingdom while training themselves too. They can't slack off at all because the enemies can come to them anytime.
The ship's repairing also goes without any trouble. Buggy has checked Palu's works every day and it's really good. It's not on par with someone like Tom, but it is very good.
Now Buggy starts to consider recruiting Palu as his shipwright. A shipwright is important for a sailor crew, after all. The ship is their home & life, so they need to make sure that it is always in good condition.
On the 3rd day, the Clowns held a sparring session. All members will fight with Buggy together. It seems unfair, but they know the best that it's unfair for the 4 of them. They know Buggy's strength and their chance of winning is very low.
Palu watches them while resting from his work. He is very interested to see the power of someone with a bounty of 100 million. He had never met someone with such bounty before and only met small fries.
The sparring starts and all 4 members attack Buggy at the same time. Manba starts by shooting his bazooka spear. Buggy can easily flick it away using his hand.
Jude then attacks Buggy from afar with her ash while Cricket & Mantis get closer to him. Jude's ash moves to Buggy's feet and holds them on down. Then she tries to make some ash spears to stab Buggy's body.
Buggy grins and he detaches his body to evade the spears. Then his upper body flies toward Cricket & Mantis while his lower body moves to break free from Jude's ash grab.
Buggy swings his swords at Cricket & Mantis at the same time. Cricket block the sword with his new armament hardening and Mantis block with her new metal bo staff. She changed her weapon again because the iron club is too heavy for her fighting style.
However, it is a mistake to block Buggy's attack. Even if Buggy doesn't use haki, but his physical strength is greater than them. Cricket gets his haki covered hand being cut a little and Mantis' staff get cut in half. They fling a few meters back and roll on the ground.
Buggy's lower body also has broken through Jude's ash trap. Buggy reattaches his body and rushes forward. He swings his sword at Cricket, but Jude covers Cricket with her ash shield.
However, Buggy suddenly changes his move and rushes at Jude. She doesn't have high power, but her ability is very troublesome.
Buggy moves fast and appears in front of Jude without her knowledge. Buggy covers his hand with haki and chops her neck to make her faint.
After Jude fainted, Buggy rushed at fast speed toward Manba. Buggy dodges a bazooka attack from Manba and gets in front of Manba fast.
Buggy lower his stance and clenched his hand. Then he send an uppercut and hit Manba's jaw, sending him fly up. Manba spits some blood and faints when he lands on the ground.
Cricket & Mantis rush again toward Buggy. Cricket's injury is just superficial because Buggy won't really cut his First Mate's hand. The haki also gave more protection to Cricket.
Cricket jumps and sends a haki covered punch at Buggy from the front. At the same time, Mantis move fast and attack from Buggy's left side using her split staff.
Buggy grins and he slides forward while lowering his body to dodge Cricket's punch & Mantis' staff at the same time. Then he grab Cricket's clothes and throw Cricket at Mantis on his left.
Cricket's head hit Mantis' head strongly and creates quite an impact. The strong impact on their head makes Cricket & Mantis faint. The 4 crew members have fallen and the only one standing is Buggy.
Palu can only watch what happened with dropped jaw and widened eyes. He couldn't even blink once since the sparring started. Buggy has dominated the sparring session easily, after all.
"Is 100 million even enough for him?"
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