Hours later, Nojiko sat at their table, nursing another cold cup of tea.
"So..." she began carefully "This 'Haki' is a power manifested from one's spirit, taking a form of Observation, Armament and Conqueror's. Where the latter is the rarest, as only a very few people have that. As well as being rather uncommon to have them all?" Nojiko rambled, still trying to wrap her head around this.
"That's right." Buggy nodded "Usually it is really hard to train, but..." he said and got cut off.
"But..Somehow Aden finds it a lot easier than expected." Nojiko finished for him, looking at her captain.
Aden was sitting there, holding a cup of tea as well, and using his power to swirl it around in the cup. He was just as confused as they were. He did have a theory, but was not sure if he should tell them the truth about himself.
After a few moments of silence, he finaly spoke up.
"I might have an idea about that... But...I will need you to never, EVER tell anyone!" Aden said in such a serious tone, they both shivered.
Nojiko and Buggy looked at each other and then back at Aden.
"I swear." they both said.
Hearing their resolve, he decided to tell them a half truth, as the full truth would just make them think he was insane.
"*sigh* Okay ...I...Don't know how or why, but i think my soul is older than my body." he said carefully.
"What does that even mean?" Buggy asked confused, after a pause. Nojiko was silently listening.
"I mean, i remember some things that i shouldn't. Glimpses of events, that i lived through, corresponding to events i remember from now.
At first i thought it was just my mind playing tricks on me. But as years went on, i was convinced i lived another life before this one.
However, the events i lived now, have diverged from what little i remember. It's hard to explain." Aden told them half the truth, with a made up theory. He hated keeping things from them, but he thought half a truth is better than a full lie.
"So what you're saying is that your soul was somehow sent into the past?" Buggy suggested in a flash of genius.
"That's my theory..." Aden admitted.
"How would that even be possible...?" Nojiko asked skeptically. Not that she didn't believe Aden, she was just confused.
"Devil Fruit is my guess." Buggy said with a thoughtful expression "I have seen some weird shit back with Roger. This is not the most unlikely thing to hear about." He finished with a nostalgic chuckle.
"Fair enough, i guess." Nojiko relented, but was still a bit worried.
After a bit more explanation, the two decided to just accept their captain's nature for what it was, and agreed to never talk about it again unless Aden starts. Which worked for them all. After that they went to sleep, with Nojiko volunteering for first watch.
.
The next morning the newspaper got delivered. For Buggy and Aden there was no change, but Nojiko suddenly whooped.
"Look at that, i got a bounty!" she shouted excitedly. Which made Buggy and Aden look at each other with a smirk. Nojiko was a great pirate it seemed.
Looking at the poster their grins only widened.
WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE
'Kleptomaniac' Nojiko
'12.000.000 B'
The photo showed Nojiko holding her glowing staff aloft, holding a bag of stolen money and a manic grin on her face.
As it turns out, she is a bit messed up in the head, but knowing her story it was expected.
"Congrats, Kleptomaniac!" Buggy said, barely holding back his laughter.
"I mean...It is accurate." Aden added. Non-helpfully.
"That's because you called me that, in front of that rich bastard!!" she was happy about the bounty, but a bit miffed about the name.
"Hey! Not my fault, they decided on the name." Buggy defended himself between giggles.
Aden was listing through the newspaper, when another new wanted poster caught his eye.
WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE
'Straw-Hat' Monkey D. Luffy
20.000.000 B
"Breezhihihahaha! There you go, little brother! Good on you?" Aden laughed happily.
"Ahhh, the straw-hat got a bounty, huh? Good for him" Buggy said, honestly a little happy for the kid. He changed a lot after Aden convinced him to join.
Wondering what Luffy did to warrant the bounty, Aden skimmed the papers.
Apparently he found what he was looking for, because he began laughing again.
Seeing he was in no state to answer their question of what he saw, Buggy picked up the newspaper.
"HE DID WHAT!!!??" he shouted suddenly, with his eyes wider than plates.
"What?" Nojiko asked, confused.
"Heheh...Luffy.. heh. he...He destroyed THE execution platform." Aden said between bursts of laughter.
".....Ohhhhh..." Nojiko realized the gravity of the situation.
"Yeah. Apparently the rubber idiot.." "Ehem!" "Sorry.. The kid wanted to know what view Roger had, before losing his head. But he got stuck in the thing. So he broke the whole platform.
This only brought more laughs out of Aden.
.
Next day, Logue Town was in view. Aden has decided to get in, find a Log Pose, and get out, which was agreed upon by the other two.
Docking at one of the free spots, Nojiko said she will stay behind and watch the ship.
And so Aden and Buggy set off into town in search of a Log Pose. And maybe some food.
Finding a shop that had maps and drawing supplies on display, after half an hour of searching, they asked about a Log Pose. Luckily the store had some in stock, and so they left with one wrist-mounted Log Pose, and without 2.500 Belli.
After that, the duo found an obviously pirate frequented bar, and went in to get some food, and some rations for their journey.
The moment they stepped inside, everything got quiet. Every face inside turned towards Aden and Buggy. Some whispers of recognition were heard, followed by shushing.
Aden took a seat at one of the empty tables, while Buggy went to order some food and a bag of supplies. Slowly, most of the patrons turned back to their own tables after seeing the duo was not here to cause trouble. 'Ignore them and they'll leave us be' was the most common thought among the smarter of them.
However, there were a few idiots among them, who decided it was a good idea to try and collect the combined bounty of 54.000.000 Belli.
A group of five dirty individuals approached the eating duo with greedy grins on their gobs.
"You don't look like much. I bet those bounties are fake." the leader of the group mocked, with an obvious drunken slur.
"*sigh* You are entitled to your opinions, i guess." Aden spoke calmly "But could you back off? Your foul stench is ruining my appetite." he said, clearly provoking the group. If they wanted to start shit, he was more than happy to oblige.
"Same here." Buggy chimed in "I've seen shithouses that smelled better than you five." he mocked, catching onto what Aden was doing.
"WHAT DE FOOK YOU SAYZ?!!" the leader shouted drunkenly, drawing a jagged blade from his pocket and taking a swing at Buggy's neck.
Buggy froze, his head falling to the floor and rolling a bit away from the table.
"Hahahaha! What did i tell you!? They are phonies!" the leader laughed and looked at Aden who was just sitting there.
"Aww what's wrong? *burp* Shocked i killed your friend, kiddo?" the dirty crook mocked.
Aden said nothing, but simply returned to eating his food.
All of a sudden the Buggy's 'corpse' stood up, and the leader of the group found himself with a knife in his throat. Pulling the knife out, the 'corpse' started to walk towards the severed head, letting the actual corpse fall to the floor.
Everyone was in shock at what was happening. Especially the remaining four goons, one of which pissed himself in fear
Buggy's body reached his head, picked it up and put the head backwards on his neck. The body then turned and began to walk towards the four and Buggy slowly turned his head back the right way. This resulted in the one who pissed himself passing out, and the remaining three to run out of the bar in terror.
Buggy sat back down and took a drink of his beer.
"You were right. It does scare people." he said with a smirk.
"Clearly. There will be trouble now. They definitely told someone what happened. Matter of time before marines show up." Aden said with a grin.
"Let them." Buggy said to that "Avoiding fights is only detrimental." he continued logically.
"True enough. Haven't finished eating anyway." Aden replied, taking another bite from his steak.
.
Half an hour later, the front door swung open and squad of marines walked in, led by a man with a cigar in his mouth and a grey open jacket with fur lining.
"Four Winds Aden, Killer Jester Buggy. You are under arrest for crimes against justice, and all that. Surrender now!" the man said, blowing a puff of smoke.
"Amd who are you, mister navy-man?" Aden asked, grinning
"Captain Smoker. Not that you can afford to care right now." Smoker said, slowly loosing patience.
"Now what, captain?" Buggy asked, not worried in the slightest.
"Now..Let's try what i practiced. See if it works." Aden suggested, standing up.
"I don't know what you're planning, but i will not let you escape!" Smoker growled, pulling out the weapon from his back.
"We'll see." Buggy said, also standing up.
Aden then focused at the feeling of what he now knows is Haki.
In a span of a single moment, Aden allowed the pressure in his mind to build up, and then release while trying to specifically target the marines.
As the energy left his body, Aden felt it cover the entire bar. His hair got flung upwards, as if hit by a burst of wind, while the air around the room felt filled with static.
Some dust was knocked from the rafters, and then the marines began to drop one by one.
The light disappeared from the eyes of every marine in the room, as well as some of the patrons. As for Smoker, he broke out in cold sweat.
"What the...? Conqueror's Haki!?" Smoker shouted in shock. He would never have expected a newcomer from a Blue to know about Haki, let alone be able to use it.
As the last of his men dropped like a fly, Smoker felt his resolve weaken. Even knowing it was just the result of the Haki, he still felt like he should run. This feeling however disappeared rather quickly.
"Buggy get back to the ship and set sail! I'll catch up in a bit!" Aden ordered as he turned into a spectre covered in wind and charged at Smoker, blowing the front wall into pieces, as they flew through it.
"Got it!" Buggy replied, running out of the newly designed viewing area and headed for their boat. Nobody was there to stop him afterall.
Further down the street, Aden and Smoker landed in a storm of wind and smoke. And seeing as Smoker did not expect the sudden charge, he landed less gracefully than Aden.
He was confused as to how Aden even managed to grab him. Judging it unimportant, he let it out of his mind.
"Four Winds! You will not escape!" Smoker shouted.
"You sound like a broken record, Smokey! Come on!" Aden mocked Smoker as he gestured to 'Bring It'.
Smoker turned his lower half into smoke and flew at Aden, aiming to strike him with his
sea-stone tipped weapon.
Aden simply stood there, waiting for the hit to come. He was testing a theory.
He had a thought, that no matter how fast someone attacks you, there will be air displacement. So Aden theorized, he could just use that to his advantage. He had no idea if it would work against Haki, but he felt fairly confident, that Sea-Stone would be no issue.
As Smoker got closer and closer, stabbing at Aden with his weapon, the expected impact never came. Instead, the weapon went through Aden, creating a hole in his chest, but not harming him in any way.
"Interesting.." Aden said in thought "So my theory was right.." he finished with a smirk.
"What the hell!" Smoker jumped back in shock. He was rather confused as to how his sea-stone weapon did nothing to Aden, seeing as he knew Aden was a Logia.
Seeing Smoker's confusion, Aden thought about telling him. But why would he give up any information about himself?
"Can't say this hasn't been fun, but i have to go, Smokey." Aden said taking a stance, his legs shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent. His left leg was pointed towards Smoker, his right was pointing to the right. His left arm was outstretched forward, his right was at his hip, fingers pointing down. Both palms facing his opponent.
"Eastern Stance: Vacuum Burst." Aden named his attack. Striking forward with his right palm and pulling his left arm back, wind swirled around his right hand.
At the end of the strike, a decently sized orb of twisting wind was released, sucking in dust and debris from the street. It flew at Smoker at such a high speed, he barely reacted. Smoker turned into a cloud of smoke, thinking he would avoid the attack, only to make it worse for himself. The sphere of wind was, as the name suggests, creating a vacuum so all Smoker did was get himself trapped inside it, as the sphere sucked him in.
This all happened in less than a second.
The sphere with Smoker in it flew away, and upwards, seemingly refusing to stop.
At this moment, Aden flew towards his ship in the opposite direction.
.
"And you just left him!!?" Nojiko shouted at Buggy, banging him on the head with her staff.
Buggy was already sporting a huge bump on his head.
"I'm sorry, okay! He told me to go back and ready the ship to leave." He defended himself.
"That still doesn't....!" she tried to say, but got interrupted by Aden landing on the deck.
"Sup?" Aden said casually.
"Don't 'Sup?' us! What happened?" she demanded, much more calmly now.
"Marines. Taken care of them, but we gotta go!" he ordered nonchalantly.
"Okay. Let's leave." she agreed.
"Oh.. Here, take this." Aden said, throwing the Log Pose at her.
"As our navigator, you'll need this." he said simply.
Nodding in thanks, Nojiko went to the wheel to get them out of there. Aden used his powers to raise the sails and oush them away from the dock. Buggy was holding his head and grumbled about Nojiko being mean.
.
Meanwhile back in the town, a large dust cloud exploded in the plaza where Roger was executed, scaring a bunch of people. As the dust settled, a cloud of smoke reformed into a person.
"DAMN YOU ,FOUR WINDS!!! I'LL GET YOU NEXT TIME!" Smoker shouted, damn near popping a blood vessel. This was very embarassing for him.
.
As they got closer to the Reverse Mountain, Nojiko demonstrated her ability to control the ship in the violent currents.
Holding the ship steady, she entered the Pass straight in the middle. The boat jerked forwards as it was grabbed by the currents, and they went up at high speeds.
"Daamnit, i hate this part!" Buggy complained, turning a shade paler. Even through his makeup.
"Stop crying, it'll be fine." Aden said calmly, standing at the bow of the ship, completely unbothered.
"I'm not crying you airheaded bastard!"
Soon they reached the top at such speeds, they flew all the way to the Downward path.
Although it was partially Aden's doing.
He also could have pushed them through the Calm Belt, but decided against it. Between the Sea Kings there, and the fact his crew and likely him, were not strong enough for them, he classified it as a bad idea.
The ship began it's descent down the Reverse Mountain towards the start of Grand Line.
"WHOOOHHOOOOOO!" Nojiko screamed in joy.
Aden simply chuckled, shaking his head.
"That lady is insane.." Buggy mumbled to himself, as he held on for dear life.
(Here you go. Another one. Let me know if something is bad and blah blah blah. You know the deal by now. Hopefully you like this one.)