Chapter 9: Good Luck and Bad Luck
"Guh—!"
A sound like a drumbeat echoed through the air.
Lily's face turned red, and she lowered her head without speaking.
Adding in the time they spent escaping, they had gone a full day and night without eating. Of course, they were hungry.
Sag looked at the water below and sighed, "Well, I..."
*Whoosh!!*
"AAAAAHHHH!!"
Before he could finish, a white streak suddenly appeared in the sky, rushing past with a piercing shriek.
"A bird?" Sag's eyes lit up.
Perfect, he wouldn't have to go into the sea.
He stomped his foot, rising directly into the air. With his other hand, he reached up and grabbed a round object, pulling the rapidly flying object down.
"Hmm?"
As soon as he touched it, Sag felt the texture was wrong. It wasn't the texture of feathers, and the color...
"Red?"
"Who are you calling red-nose!"
A loud shout came from the front. He saw two hands wearing white gloves flailing wildly. Below the hands, being held by Sag, was a round, red nose. Below the nose was a human face. Below the face, a small thing just dangled, baring its teeth.
It was a person...
He wore an orange captain's hat and a red-and-white striped shirt, but his body proportions were very small, completely disproportionate to his head and limbs. It was as if he was missing a torso, with only a head and limbs... and a distinctly large nose.
This distinct feature, and this face...
"Buggy?" Sag asked uncertainly.
He had seen this face on a wanted poster.
A bounty of fifteen million Berries, "Buggy the Clown."
"You know this Great One?!"
Buggy shouted, "Then hurry up and let go! My nose hurts!"
"Oh..."
Sag loosened his fingers and let go of the nose. Buggy pulled back, put his hands on his hips, raised his head, and laughed: "That's right, this Great One is the great Buggy Pirates Captain, 'Buggy the Clown'! You..."
Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly felt something was wrong.
The blue sky. Looking forward, he could see the horizon of the sea. The wind blew the tassels on his hat, making him shiver.
He didn't look down, but instead felt around on the ground with his small feet. Snot ran down his large nose, and he asked blankly, "High altitude?"
Sag nodded.
Buggy gave him an awkward but polite smile: "Please save me..."
*Swoosh!*
Just as he finished speaking, he suddenly plunged downwards.
Below was the sea. If he went in, he was done for!
*Pa.*
But just then, a hand grabbed his collar and lifted him up.
Buggy took a few deep breaths, wiped the sweat from his face, and then saw Lily, who was also being held by one hand. He grinned, showing his white teeth, and greeted her: "Yo, hello!"
Lily: "..."
Sag lifted Buggy a little higher. "Is this how you look? It doesn't seem right..."
Buggy gritted his teeth and said, "Of course this isn't how this Great One looks! If it weren't for that damned Straw Hat..."
If he hadn't been tied up and flung away by the Straw Hat kid, how could he have become so short!
He had finally managed to make a raft and set out to sea, but he was eaten by a giant bird. The key was that it didn't even like the taste and spat him out!
"Anyway, thank you!" Buggy said. "Let's have an opening party! I'll repay you well!"
"Why didn't you appear sooner?"
Sag clicked his tongue. "If I had encountered you two days earlier, my life trajectory would have changed. Fifteen million Berries..."
"Hmm?"
Buggy twitched his nose, thought of something, his pupils constricted, and he shouted, "Are you a damned bounty hunter!"
Then, his hand automatically detached from his wrist and actually flew out, making Lily's eyes widen.
But before that flying hand could get close to Sag, Sag loosened his hand...
...
"Misunderstanding, misunderstanding, I didn't intend to attack."
Buggy, whose fate was once again in the grip of his collar, rubbed his hands together and showed a fawning smile. "This is my Devil Fruit ability. I'm a Split-Split Fruit user, a Split Human. My whole body can split apart. I was just showing you."
"I'm not a bounty hunter anymore..."
Sag said, "Now, like you, I'm a pirate."
"Oh!"
Buggy's eyes lit up, and he completely relaxed. "So you're a pirate! You should have said so earlier! Sorry for suddenly attacking! But... why are you guys in the air? Don't you have a ship to go to sea?"
"We just became pirates. We don't have our own ship yet."
Lily said, and looked curiously at Buggy: "A Devil Fruit? I've heard of them, but I thought they were legends. I didn't expect them to be real. Is it because you ate a Devil Fruit that your body is so strange, and your nose is so red..."
"Who's a red-nose!"
Buggy rolled his eyes, his teeth becoming sharp and pointed, and shouted, "Say that again and I'll kill you!"
*Clang!*
Lily's expression turned cold, and she directly drew her sword.
Sag twitched the corner of his mouth. "Alright... When you were flying over, did you see any land or ships?"
"Land..."
Buggy stroked his chin, thought for a moment, and said, "When I was flying from over there, I seemed to see a few islands."
"Thank you!" Sag finally smiled.
It wasn't easy...
Finally, there was a direction for islands.
Buggy looked at them for a while, and made a suggestion: "If you've just set out to sea, why don't you join my pirate crew?"
These two guys, leaving that woman aside for now, but this man seemed very strong, and he could actually bounce in the air.
Not to mention, he had saved his life.
"I'm not in the habit of working for others, so I'll pass. And... you're in this state, so don't say such things," Sag said.
His dream was to be a wealthy landlord, to rule and exploit people, not to be ruled and exploited.
"Is that so?"
Buggy wasn't annoyed, and laughed: "No matter what, you saved me, and you're my brother. I will definitely remember this kindness! When I find my crew, I will definitely treat you to a party!"
Sag raised an eyebrow. If he remembered correctly, this guy had good luck...
Taking him along might actually help him find people, which was better than looking for islands that might not even have food.
But before that...
"Lily, get ready to go into the water," Sag suddenly said.
"?" Lily had a question mark on her head.
Sag stepped on the air several times with both feet, heading straight for the sea.
The levitating power of Geppo had its limits. After more than a day, Sag couldn't hold on any longer.
If he kept going, he would fall directly. It was better to enter the water now and take a break.
"I hope this guy really has good luck!"
Sag quickly descended to the surface of the sea, threw Lily into the sea, and then kicked a few more times, plunging into the water with Buggy.
"I'm a landlubber!" Buggy shouted in terror, entering the sea with Sag.
But it wasn't long before Sag's head emerged from the sea, his arm lifting Buggy, who had gulped down several mouthfuls of seawater. By the way, his other hand also grabbed a fish.
A fish!
A live, wriggling fish, its body flapping in his hand, making Sag's eyes light up. He looked at the live fish for a while, then at Buggy. The obsessed look made Buggy break out in a cold sweat.
"Wh, what's wrong?" Buggy stammered. "That, my body is gone, I don't have a butt... No, even if I did, I'm not into that— Glug glug!"
Sag's brow furrowed, and he shoved Buggy into the sea. "My sexual orientation is perfectly normal!"
"Cough cough cough!"
Buggy was pulled out of the water, coughed several times, and shouted, "You bastard, are you trying to kill me!"
Sag ignored him, focusing intently on the fish in his hand...
A fish!
He had finally caught a fish!
When he was trying to start a business, and wanted to fish, even though he could see schools of fish, they wouldn't bite.
It made him so angry that he was ready to just go in and catch them by hand, but as soon as he had that thought, the fish would disappear.
Like Schrödinger's ship, for him, those were also Schrödinger's fish.
But now, taking Buggy into the sea, he had actually caught a fish!
This luck... had neutralized his bad luck!
He looked at Buggy and said, "Hey, Buggy, do you want to join my pirate crew?"
"Oh? Inviting this Great One?"
Buggy laughed, then his voice dropped: "Sorry, this Great One has his own dreams. I won't submit to anyone!"
Ever since that guy didn't want to inherit the captain's will, he had decided to do it himself.
"Although we are both captains, we will definitely be brothers. On this journey, we..."
"Sag!"
Buggy was still rambling, when Lily suddenly emerged from the sea, looking very frightened. "There's something under the water!"
*Boom!*
As soon as she finished speaking, a huge splash erupted beside Sag.
Sag felt his hand loosen. Looking up, he saw a huge sheep's head appear on the sea surface, biting Buggy's upper body.
"Hey! No! Don't eat me!" Buggy punched the strange sheep's head with both hands, but his fists were as weak as a baby's compared to this size.
The sheep's head was about to suck him in when it suddenly sensed something, showing a clear look of disgust. At the same time, its mouth puffed up.
Buggy also noticed this, and shouted in exasperation: "Am I that bad tasting? This is the second time. I have my pride too!"
The sheep's head began to puff out air...
Buggy shook his head, gave a carefree smile, and gave Sag a thumbs up. "Brother, I won't forget you!"
*Pfft!!*
With a sound, the sheep's head directly spat Buggy out, turning him into a shooting star in the air.
All of this happened so quickly that Sag couldn't even stop it. He could only watch helplessly as his lucky star disappeared.
He pursed his lips and sighed, "Still couldn't avoid it..."
There was a reason why he didn't want to go into the water.
With his unlucky constitution, he couldn't catch fish, but he would attract sea beasts.
In fact, even though he was in the near sea, Sag had even encountered Sea Kings...
Those huge bodies, larger than islands, the Fist of the North Star was useless.
He had just thought that since he had caught a fish, he definitely wouldn't encounter those monsters.
He hadn't expected to still not escape...
Fortunately, it was just a sea beast.
Buggy, your luck is still there!