"Can you not do... that?" Nami said irritably, rolling her eyes as she continued to try and crack into the safe.
"Sorry. It's hard to sit still," Luffy replied, hanging upside down on the ship. "I'm feeling so... so piratey," he beamed, landing back in a normal upright position.
"Me too," Gilly agreed, smiling out at the sea. She pinched herself every so often to make sure she wasn't dreaming, still not completely processing the fact that she was actually on a ship at sea, about to explore what it had to offer.
"Yeah? Well, you're gonna end up feeling watery if I have to throw you overboard. I told you I need absolute silence," Nami snapped.
"I know. I know. Absolute silence. It's just that this is my first real pirate score. Can you believe that?" Luffy continued, leaning on the bowsprit.
"Yeah, I can, because you told me right after you asked me, yet again, to join your crew," she replied. "We do make a pretty good team," Luffy said.
"Is it open yet?" he asked, leaning his head on top of Nami's.
"No. And can you please give me some quiet and some space?" she said, shoving Luffy's hat off his head. His hat blew with the wind towards the sea, and he raced to grab it.
"Hey. Not cool. Don't mess with my hat," Luffy stated a bit more sternly than his usual upbeat demeanor.
"Why do you care so much about that old thing? It looks like you fished it out of the trash," she asked.
"One man's trash is another man's treasure," he replied, placing the hat on his head proudly.
"Will you two knock it off? I'm trying to take a nap," Zoro groaned from inside.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Were we interrupting your beauty sleep?" Nami mocked.
"Don't like what you see? Look away," Zoro replied tiredly. Finally, the lock clicked, and everyone turned to Nami, who opened the safe and pulled out the map.
"You did it!" Luffy cheered.
"That's it? Isn't there supposed to be gold inside a safe? Or jewels?" Zoro asked, eyeing the safe.
"Not necessarily. I mean, a safe keeps what's valuable, and what's valuable is dependent on the holder," Gilly said, leaning over Luffy's shoulder to look at the map in Nami's hands. The tangerine-haired girl nodded. "This is more valuable than gold. It's knowledge. This is a map to the Grand Line," she added.
"The Grand Line. Ah. The Grand Line is just right... Where is it exactly?" Luffy asked.
"You're going to the Grand Line, but you don't know where it is?" Nami said, raising her brow at Luffy.
"Guess I need a navigator on my crew," he replied, smiling.
"The seas are divided into four quadrants: East Blue, North Blue, West, South. This thin strip of land that circles the globe is called the Red Line, and this band across the middle is the Grand Line. A treacherous stretch of ocean with bigger islands, bigger cities, bigger pirates. Flush with riches and ripe for the picking," Nami explained.
"And that's where we're gonna find the One Piece," Luffy added.
"I've taken out a lot of pirates looking for that thing. What is it? Like, a big diamond or something?" Zoro asked.
"It's Gol D. Roger's treasure. He hid it somewhere in the Grand Line. All in one piece," Luffy answered.
"It's a myth. The reason no one's found it in 22 years is that it doesn't exist."
"All myths have a hint of truth to them," Gilly countered.
"Exactly!" Luffy exclaimed, clapping the girl on the shoulder. "Can't wait to see the look on your face when we find it," he continued, looking at Nami.
An explosion went off, putting the four on alert.
"Is that the Marines?" Nami asked.
"How did they find us?" Zoro said, tightening the grip on his sword. The four moved out to the deck to see red smoke above them.
"I don't think this is the Marines," Gilly coughed. "This smoke smells weird," Luffy said as they all began to drop one by one. Gilly fell to her knees after Nami, her vision blurring. She tried to stay conscious, fighting the smoke that seemed to be clouding her brain, then everything went black.
Gilly blinked disorientedly, sitting up slightly and looking around at the crate the four were trapped in.
"They didn't take my hat."
"Yeah, small blessings," she heard Luffy and Nami say.
"What about the map?" Gilly asked, slowly standing up.
"Damn it, we've lost it," Nami replied, springing up.
"No. No, we didn't. It's in a safe place," Luffy reassured, patting his stomach. Gilly grimaced, looking at the curly-haired boy.
"I'm both impressed and really grossed out."
"Thank you," he replied.
Zoro, not paying attention to the conversation, began banging on the crate.
"Hey. Stop. Stop that. Stop that," Nami warned.
"What? I'm trying to find a way out," he replied.
"We've been captured. We need a plan," she said.
"I don't need a plan. I just need to beat the hell out of every Marine I see," he said stubbornly.
"It's not the Marines," Gilly stated.
"Yeah, and how do you know that?" the green-haired man countered.
"Marines talk when they get to drinking, and I've never heard anything about any kind of red knock out smoke. Not to mention it's too gaudy of a method to be something the Marines would do," she finished.
"Hey, everyone, relax. We're fine," Luffy said, trying to calm the growing tension.
"We're not fine. The Marines will throw us in jail if we're lucky. Execute us if they don't," Nami said panickedly.
"They're not Marines," Gilly repeated.
"Right, before I got knocked out, I saw a Jolly Roger. We've been captured by pirates," Luffy added.
"That's much better news," Nami said sarcastically.
"No, he's right. Marines have training. Pirates are easier to kill," Zoro stated.
"Shanks used to say not every situation can be solved with violence," Luffy said.
"Who the hell is Shanks?" Zoro asked.
"We don't need to fight. I can talk to them. Pirate to pirate," Luffy said assuredly.
"As much as I admire the optimism, I don't think most other pirates share your willingness to just talk things out," Gilly said nervously.
"You're not even a pirate," Nami complained.
"Yes, I am," Luffy responded.
"No. You are some stretchy guy in a tattered hat," she continued.
"I'm a different kind of pirate," Luffy said.
"Pirates are pirates. There's only one kind," she said bitterly.
The top of the crate opened, and circus music began to play. As the side of the crate opened, the four walked out to see they were in a circus tent surrounded by performing pirates and an audience shackled to the stands.
"No. No, no, no, no. Stop clapping! No, stop! It's all wrong! The spotlight was late. You completely missed my entrance. And where, oh, where was the dancing lion?" said a pirate that looked to be dressed as a clown based on the wanted posters up in Shell Town. Gilly assumed the pirate to be Buggy.
"Hey, I know you. I saw your wanted poster in Shell Town. You're the clown guy. Um, uh... Binky, right?" Luffy asked.
"Buggy," Gilly muttered.
"Bingo!" the clown shouted, pointing at the girl. "Buggy the Clown. Buggy, the Flashy Fool. Buggy, the Genius Jester," he continued.
"Wow. You have a lot of names. I bet everyone in the East Blue knows who you are," Luffy said. The audience gasped, and Buggy's crazed smile faltered. Gilly looked around, confused about what Luffy had said to change the atmosphere so abruptly.
"What did you just say?" Buggy asked menacingly.
"Just that everyone knows who you are," Luffy replied simply.
"Nose?!" Buggy yelled, grabbing Luffy's face. "Are you making fun of my nose?"
"Well... I wasn't. But now that you mention it, is that thing for real?" Luffy asked, his words muffled as the clown still had a grasp on his face.
"What's real is I've been scheming for months to steal that map from old Axe-Hand Moron...only to find out that I was upstaged by three little nobodies, who stole it from right out under my no... No! It's in my head now. Ah!" Buggy groaned.
"Hey, I'm not a nobody. I'm Monkey D. Luffy. And I will be King of the Pirates," Luffy stated.
"Oh! Now that's funny," Buggy laughed, forcing the audience to laugh along with him. "My bounty poster graces the marquee of every Marine outpost for miles. And my menagerie of outcasts and freaks is the most dreaded pirate crew the East Blue has ever known. I am destined to find the One Piece. And when I do... I will be king," Buggy said.
"No, you won't, 'cause I'm gonna find it first," Luffy said.
"You? Don't make me laugh," the clown replied, causing the audience to roar with laughter.
"I said don't make me laugh!" he yelled. "All right, listen up. I'm Roronoa Zoro. Drop your weapons now and I may let you live," Zoro stated.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we have a celebrity in our midst. Too bad I hate sharing the spotlight," the clown laughed. "Now, maybe we should skip right to the finale. My freaks put quite a bit of rehearsal time into this little abduction. And if I can't reward them with that map... I suppose I'll have to offer them a pound of flesh instead," Buggy finished, daggers at hand and his freaks looking ready to pounce.
"Wait. Wait. What if I have something else to offer you? Something more valuable than the map? What if I give you a new freak for your crew? A rare talent. The most spectacular act in all of the East Blue. Besides you, of course," Nami said, chuckling nervously.
Gilly eyed the tangerine-haired girl questioningly.
"Go on," Buggy said, intrigued.
Nami took a step back and grabbed Luffy's hat, throwing it high up into the air and making a run for it.
"Hey," Luffy shouted, stretching to grab it.
"Unbelievable," Gilly muttered, looking at the girl's retreating figure. Buggy's freaks dragged Nami back into the tent.
"What did you do? What did you do to their town? You destroyed everything!" Nami yelled.
"Not everything. I let 'em keep their hands. Okay. Here end the theatrics. I know one of you has my map, and I'm gonna get it back. What was it you said, Rubber Boy? That it was in a safe place?" He said, turning to Luffy.
"Don't look so surprised," he said with a smirk. "I've got eyes and ears everywhere. So please, make our guests uncomfortable in the green room." With that, Nami, Gilly, and Zoro were forcefully taken away. Gilly and Nami were shoved tightly into a small hanging cage that barely fit the two of them, while Zoro found himself tied to a wheel of death.