93. Marine Battleship
Ruff is shocked seeing Buggy's power. He can cut 2 ships from a long-range with one attack. Ruff has seen many strong pirates who came to the island, but no one was as strong as Buggy.
"Captain, you can cut a ship cleanly now," says Cricket, complimenting Buggy's attack.
"I've gotten better at controlling Pollux's power now. I can make a strong normal flying slash attack without using Pollux's power, but the power & distance are a lot lower," says Buggy.
"Pollux's power? Your sword has a power?" asks Ruff curiously.
"Yeah, both my swords have eaten devil fruits," says Buggy.
Ruff gets interested and immediately asks how it could happen. So Buggy ask Mantis to give Ruff the journal from that mad scientist who experimented on Castor & Pollux.
Mantis takes Ruff to the ship's storage room where they store many items including the journal. It makes Ruff very excited now and rushes Mantis to show him the journal.
"Captain, what will you do with the devil fruit?" asks Jude after Mantis & Ruff leave.
"Just like when we found your fruit, it will be for anyone who wants it. So, does any of you want to eat it?" asks Buggy.
The others look at each other and they shake their heads.
"I think Ruff needs to eat it. He has climbed that volcano for years, so it can be his reward," says Manba.
"Yeah, I think so too," says Palu.
Buggy nods and then he goes to the storage room to ask Ruff about it. Surprisingly, Ruff refuses to eat the fruit because he knows the weakness of devil fruit.
Being weak to seawater and being unable to swim might hinder his pursuit of knowledge. He might need to do something underwater, so he doesn't want to eat the devil fruit. Besides, Ruff believes more in his weapons & technology than a devil fruit.
Buggy decides to save the fruit for now and gives it to someone that he approved in the future. Even if the fruit's ability is unknown, it is a foolish act to sell a devil fruit. Weak or strong, a devil fruit's ability is always useful, so he will keep it.
The Clowns sail to their 2nd island in Grandline. Just like on their way to the first island, they encounter some strange weather phenomena. But at least, the weather problems appear once per day, not every few hours.
The phenomena are still normal too and their experience to the first island makes them adapt faster. That's why the Clowns still try to do everything normally and do what they want on the ship.
Ruff adapts fast with the crew, but he gets very close with Palu. Both of them like to build things, although differently. Now, they try to improve the ship in many aspects.
The others also do what they want on their way to the 2nd island. They train, play, fight for stupid reasons, etc. They all just enjoy their sailing on this deadly sea.
7 days after leaving the first island, they still don't find the 2nd island. The reason is the wind is weak for the last 4 days. It makes their ship move much slower.
Luckily, their supplies are plenty and they also keep catching fish to save their supplies. They don't know when they'll reach the 2nd island, so they need to save supplies as many as possible.
In the last 7 days, Ruff & Palu also have upgraded their ship, especially their weapons. Now their cannons are a lot stronger and have a longer range. Palu can build things better than Ruff, so Ruff just needs to think of the theories.
"MARINE!" shouts Cricket very suddenly from the crow nest.
Everyone gets alerted and they go to the deck. They all look at the left side where Cricket pointed at. There is a Marine battleship far on the sea that moves toward them.
Buggy orders his crew to prepare for battle because they can't run away with the weak wind. The Clowns prepare themselves and wait for the Marine battleship. They will start to shoot once the battleship is in range.
"Hehe, it's a good chance to test our new weapons," says Palu excitedly.
"Don't get too excited like that. Grandline's Marines are a lot different from the ones in Blues. Their weapons are very strong too and might be even better than ours," says Buggy.
"Come on, don't ruin my fun, Captain," says Palu with an unhappy face.
"Heh, I just don't want you to have a big head," says Buggy.
The Clowns wait for the battleship to get closer. But then, they realize that the battleship is in very bad condition. Its sails are tattered, its body also has many holes, even its mainmast is broken.
"What happened with them?" asks Manba.
"Maybe they fought a pirate crew before," says Jude.
Buggy frown and takes a scope to look at the battleship. His frown becomes deeper when he doesn't see anyone on the battleship. The ship also looks moldy & has lots of moss on the woods.
"Get closer to them and keep your guards up! Something is wrong with that battleship and it makes me curious," says Buggy excitedly.
"Sigh, normally, people will leave, and not taking any risk," says Mantis while sighing.
"You should never put a normal standard on Captain's mind," says Cricket.
"I know, I just try to keep my mind normal by saying that," says Mantis.
"You know that you guys sound very rude just now, right?" asks Buggy with a pissed expression.
"But we're not wrong, right?" asks Mantis while looking at the others.
Everyone nod and it makes Buggy more pissed, but he let it be. He will never win an argument against Mantis, so it's better to not start it.
The Clowns get closer to the broken battleship. Buggy tries to use his haki to detect any presence on the battleship. But he doesn't feel any life-form on the Marine battleship.
"You guys can wait here if you want, I will go there to check the battleship," says Buggy after they reach the battleship.
Buggy jumps to the battleship without waiting for any answer. The crew look at each other and sigh. So Cricket split their task as the First Mate. Palu & Ruff will stay on their ship while the others will go with Buggy.
The ones who follow Buggy then split into 2 groups. Buggy goes with Jude & Manba, while Cricket goes with Mantis. They split so they can cover the whole battleship fast.
Buggy's group walks around and enters the ship's inner rooms. They don't find any trace of recent human activities on the ship. Then they go to the ship's Captain's room.
They find the room and it is owned by a Rear-Admiral. The Rear-Admiral's name is Canana, a name that Buggy never heard before. A unique name like that will make it easier for Buggy to remember, so he's sure he never knows that name.
They enter the room and are surprised to see a skeleton on a chair. The skeleton wears a high-ranked Marine officer's suit. It must be Canana's skeleton. The guy has died long ago and become a skeleton.
"KYAA!" screams Jude in surprise.
Jude immediately runs out from the room because she's freaked out by the skeleton. Manba inspects the skeleton while Buggy inspects the room. Jude just waits outside and doesn't dare to look inside the room at all.
*puru puru puru*
Buggy's denden mushi suddenly rang off, so he pick it up.
*kacha*
"Captain, you need to see this," says Cricket through the denden mushi.
Buggy nods and they go to Cricket's location in the lower cabin. What they see there really makes them speechless. They see a lot of Marine skeletons laying on the floor.
"Just what had happened here?"
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