Transcended as Lord Buggy

Chapter 168: First Islands

The Clowns stay on Sobo Island for 3 days. Buggy is testing the 22 guys' strength after their 3 months of training. They show good progress and their strength raised significantly.

None of them awaken their Haki though, but it's not a problem. Haki is difficult to train and not anyone can awaken it in a few months. This result is still under his prediction and he is already satisfied with them being much stronger, so there is no problem here.

In these 3 days, they also allocated the 22 guys into their 9 Teams. These 22 guys already have their jobs while they were in Rainbow Pirates, so it's easier to place them into the Teams. But some are put in something that wasn't their jobs because Buggy sees they have talents in those jobs.

6 guys enter the 1st Team, 1 guy enters the 2nd Team, 2 guys enter the 3rd team, 2 guys enter the 4th team, 3 guys enter the 5th team, 2 guys enter the 6th team, and 6 guys enter the 9th Team. 7th and 8th Teams don't get any members because there's no scientist or musician among these 22.

After 3 days of stay, The Clowns leave the island in the morning. They bid farewell to the crying Nina and her grandpa. She has been attached to these 22 uncles who became her playmates for 3 months. So The Clowns left some gifts for those 2 to help their lives and as thanks for taking care of the 22 idiots.

"Where will we go now, Captain?" asks Jude.

"Let's go to the first islands on every route. Then we'll go to the 2nd islands, 3rd islands, and keep going like that until we reach Sabaody again," says Buggy.

"So we go in a zigzag pattern?" asks Jude.

"Yeah, we are lucky to get the most right route line. So we won't need to pass this route again because it's in the corner. We just need to cover the 2nd most right until the most left route lines," says Buggy.

"Understood, I will make the mapping for our plan," says Jude while nodding.

Jude then enters the ship's office room and looks at Grandline's map. She chooses the nearest first island as their destination and picks its Eternal Pose. Their first destination is Spiral Island which takes them a week to arrive.

When they arrive there, they finally know why it is named Spiral Island. This island is shaped like a flat spiral and all plants here are shaped spiral too. It gets even more strange when they see that the animals also have spiral traits such as their tails, ears, eyes, or limbs.

Luckily, the natives here aren't shaped spiral too. Well, their hair is spiral, but it looks normal because it's also a type of popular hairstyle. It will be very strange if the other parts are the ones that get shaped as a spiral.

Spiral Island is also a place for recreation as it has many entertainment places. This place is famous among tourists from the Blue Seas who entered Grandline. It is considered the best first island on Grandline's routes.

Of course, The Clowns are enjoying their time there. They are a crew that enjoys their journey, not just doing piracy. Well, although it's unclear whether they really do piracy as pirates.

This island gives The Clowns a unique and fun experience. They stay on the island for 8 days while training and trying to find a potential member. But they don't get anyone until they leave. Some people want to join, but none of them fulfill the criteria that The Clowns have set.

They go to the next island which is the island that Straw Hats visit, Cactus Island. Just like what Buggy remembers, there's only one town here, Whisky Peak. But this place hasn't been controlled by Baroque Works. Even Crocodile's name hasn't risen yet.

Even so, this place is full of Bounty Hunters just like in the series. But these bounty hunters aren't organized because they are scattered in groups. So the competition here is quite fierce with many groups hunting for some rookies.

When The Clowns arrive there, most bounty hunters are cowering in fear. The Clowns are far out of their league and they know that. Although there will always be some idiots who don't know their places and get beaten up very badly.

The Clowns are quite bored on this island and want to leave after a day. But then Mantis suddenly returns with a young boy & a younger girl after walking around the town to buy ingredients. Of course, it makes everyone confuses because these 2 look like beggars.

"Do you want to adopt kids?" asks Buggy while tilting his head.

Mantis sweatdrops hearing that and says, "No, I just found them on the street. They were beaten up after being caught pickpocketing someone. I gave them food because they haven't eaten for days and then they followed me here."

"This town is really bad, huh? Even kids like them have become criminals," says Ruff.

"It's not like we want to do it, but we need to fill our stomachs. The only thing that we can do is pickpocketing because no one will give kids like us jobs," replies the boy while protecting his sister behind him.

"Where're your parents?" asks Manba.

"Do you need to ask? We won't do this if we have parents to take care of us," says the boy.

"I understand the gist of it. But why did you bring them here? Mantis, we are pirates, not a charity group or even an orphanage. Our lives are on the line every time, we can't take care of kids," says Buggy seriously.

"Our lives are on the line every time too, so what's the difference? I don't care what you want me to do as long as you give us food every day and protect my sister. I will even be your slave if you want," says the boy firmly while still protecting his sister behind him.

Buggy looks at the boy and walks forward to get closer. He looks down at the boy with a scary expression and says, "Aren't you underestimating this too much, kid? You might just need to worry about death here. But on the sea, even death might not save you from its terrors. Are you and your sister ready to face the horror of this sea? If you are not ready, then you better be a good pickpocket to get more money."

The little girl is cowering behind her brother and the boy is also trembling hard. But he is still standing in front of his sister albeit being very frightened by Buggy.

He grit his teeth and gulp his saliva before saying, "I-I am-, No, w-we are ready. Go-going to the sea will give us more chances and options than staying here. Besides, I never plan to let ourselves die, so we don't need death to save us."

Buggy looks at the boy's serious but scared eyes for a moment before smirking. This kid doesn't back down even when he is very afraid, proving he has strong willpower. It's something that even adults might not have and Buggy likes it.

"Your names and ages," says Buggy.

"I-I'm Alan, 13 y.o, and she is Elen, 10 y.o," says Alan.

Buggy turns around and walks to the ship while saying, "I don't like lazy bumps, so I will throw you out if you don't work hard."

"Huh? W-What does that mean?" asks Alan confusedly.

"That means you are accepted," says Cricket while grinning before he leaves too.

"Eh?" says Alan very confusedly.

"Sigh, you know this will happen, right, Mantis? Captain always has soft spot for people who suffer, especially if they're kids," says Jude.

"Hehe, who knows? Come on, kids. We will leave this island now," says Mantis as she leaves too.

Alan & Elen are still confused by this turn of events, but they still walk to the ship even while still being confused. The Clowns then leave the island with 2 new members in their ship. Who would think that their first recruits after having the Black Pearl are kids?

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