Chapter Text
Since the disbandment of the Roger Pirates, Buggy's life has fallen apart.
The crew he called family simply evaporated in front of him, their Captain left, promising that they would meet again and giving the order that they should pay low for a while until the dust settled after having discovered the secrets of the world.
All the adults thought it would be a good idea to leave the 14-year-old cabin boys on an island in the middle of the New World, with just their belongings and a bunch of Berries to go back to Paradise or the Blues.
But what they didn't imagine was that when they left the boys alone on the island, they would be pursued by Roger's enemies, who sought revenge on the weaker members of the crew. Worst of all, none of the adults left anything to contact them in an emergency, not a single vivre card or a DenDen number. The only member of the crew who had the Vivres cards of all members was Crocus, the doctor, but he never came to their aid.
The first year was bearable, as Shanks was with Buggy, as he was his lifeline, his best friend, his brother. As long as there was Buggy and Shanks everything would be solved, they would be able to escape any situation Enel sent them into. But all that changed the damn day they found out about the execution of Gol D. Roger, their captain, their father figure.
Racing against time, Shanks and Buggy crossed Paradise to arrive in Loguetown. Both could not believe that their captain had lied, they still believed that they would reunited and explore the seas again. But with their captain dead, there would be no more Roger Pirates.
The days before the execution blurred together. Has it been two days? Three? Buggy couldn't say. The day of the execution was nothing more than a murky fog that mixed with his captain's last words.
"My treasure? If you want it, look for it, I left everything in that place!"
And he laughed, in front of the crowd and in front of his death. The last thing Buggy heard from his captain, the man he called his father was his laughter, that goddamn laughter, mocking the government, starting a new era. And when his head hit the ground, Buggy's world shattered for the second time in a year.
He thought that at least by having Shanks by his side everything would be okay, but as Enel likes to play with the sting of his fate, Shanks and Buggy parted ways, shortly after Roger's execution. The reason? Shanks gave up on his dream, gave up on following Roger's legacy and being the next Pirate King, and with that Buggy's dream ended, which was to be Shanks' wings, so he could aid Shanks reach the top.
And for the third time in a year, Buggy found himself stranded and alone. First his crew, then his captain and now his best friend. Alone, Buggy wandered around the Blues, trying to survive the only way he knew: stealing, cheating and hiding like the coward he was and at the same time trying to forget the pain of losing his captain and his best friend.
The days passed in a blur, Buggy lived on automatic, stole, ran away, ate, barely slept, stole and hid, hitched a ride on a ship to the next island and the cycle repeated, the weeks blended together, and weeks turned into months, and months turned into years. At the age of seventeen, Buggy hit rock bottom.
It had been more than a month since Buggy had slept more than three hours, and it had been four days since he had eaten anything, as the security on the island he was on was very strong and this made his attempts to steal or stowaway in a ship difficult. In the midst of this desperation, he tried to rob someone, the first one who seemed distracted enough to fall victim to him.
But Buggy didn't know was that his victim was none other than Vice Admiral Sengoku, the Buddha. When he was caught in the act, the only thing Buggy thought was using the Bara Bara no mi to tear himself apart and do what he did best: run away. But this mistake, motivated by hunger and fatigue, led to a pursuit led by a Vice Admiral followed by a squadron of marines.
He ran for what seemed like hours, and as he turned a corner in a futile attempt to get away he bumped into something solid, causing him to fall flat on his butt. When Buggy looked up he saw a tall, handsome and blond young man wearing a marine uniform. His bangs hid his eyes, but nothing erased the smile on his face that was brighter than the sun.
"Sorry about that"
Said the marine who grabbed Buggy without any delicacy and hid him behind some boxes.
"Hide behind those boxes and I'll explain it to you later!"
And with that he snapped his fingers and a blue dome formed around Buggy. Seconds later another marine followed by a squad entered the street where Buggy and the marine were.
"Cadet Rocinante! Did you see where the ragged, blue-haired young man went?"
And to Buggy's surprise, the sailor, Rocinante, pointed in the opposite direction and said:
"Captain Montir I tried to capture him but he ran away and went in that direction!"
Without a second thought, the squadron followed in the direction pointed out by the cadet. Rocinante waited a few minutes pass and snapped his fingers again. The blue dome that covered Buggy enveloped them both.
Rocinante approached Buggy and sat down next to the pirate.
"Now that they are gone, I apologize for my rudeness. My name is Rocinante"
He reached out a hand to Buggy and his smile, which was as bright as the sun, impossibly widened. Without thinking twice, surrounded by the warmth Rocinante's smile, buggy took the hand and asked what was bothering him:
"Why did you help me?"
Rocinante laughed, and his beautiful smile strained a little and he said:
"The look in your eyes reminds me of my brother, and what's your name?"
After letting go of Buggy's hand, Rocinante lit a cigarette and inexplicably set himself on fire. Without thinking twice, Buggy send his hand to his shoulder and put out the fire.
"WHAT THE HELL! YOU SET YOURSELF ON FIRE!"
Rocinante didn't say anything, he just laughed and his cheeks turned red. Buggy took a deep breath, closed his eyes trying to calm down from the absurdity of the situation. And after a few seconds he added.
"My name is Buggy"
—————
Rocinante couldn't take his eyes off Buggy. Even though he was ragged and malnourished, he was the most beautiful person Rocinante had seen. But what worried him was his look. Buggy's eyes were empty, full of bitterness and resentment, the same look Doffy had. And without thinking Roci helped him, even though he knew he was a thief and probably a pirate.
The world had failed him and his brother, but if he could do anything to help Buggy, Roci would do it. He wouldn't let such a beautiful being be so broken. For the first time in his life, Roci broke the rules.
Surely Sengoku, the man who saved him and became his father figure, would find out what he did, but that would be a problem for a future Roci.
"R-rocinante?"
Buggy asked as it had been almost five minutes since he had said his name and the cadet was silently staring at him.
"S-Sorry, I didn't mean to stare at you"
Rocinante looked away, his cheeks were even more flushed.
"I didn't mean to put myself on fire, but it always happens, okay?"
Rocinante offered Buggy the cigarette and before he could respond, his stomach growled.
"S-sorry about that, and I don't smoke"
In shame, Buggy got up and decided to run away after his belly gave him away. But before he could run away an arm wrapped around him.
"WAIT! Get this..."
And before Rocinante could complete the sentence, they were both on the floor, and Buggy found himself lying on his back on Rocinante's chest.
Buggy felt his cheeks turn red and he simply didn't know how to react. Rocinante was tall and thin, but underneath his uniform he had muscles, he had lots of muscles. Roci's uniform hid his true physical form.
Buggy, in a moment of lucidity, got off the sailor and they were both sitting on the floor again.
If Rocinante was blushing before, now his face was complete red, almost exploding, why did gravity hate him so much? All he wanted to do was give Buggy some berries, but the ground had to get in the way and put him in this embarrassing but worrying situation. Buggy was much thinner than Roci imagined, his clothes hid his small size. Even more so, Roci was determined to help Buggy.
"Sorry about that Buggy, gravity hates me cause I am always falling"
Spoke Roci sheepishly while scratching his head with his omnipresent smile on. Rocinante got up and offered a hand to help Buggy, who, despite being afraid to fall again, accepted.
"What did you want to give me?"
Buggy asked, trying not to stare at Roci.
"Here, there are some berries for you to eat. Also, take this sandwich, I made it this morning"
Buggy accepted in shock the bag with the berries and the sandwich that Roci took out of his bag. Never had anyone helped him without ulterior motives, everything was going to well.
"What do you want in return? If you want, I can..."
Before he could finish the sentence, Rocinante covered Buggy's mouth with his hands and the beautiful smile left his face.
"Don't complete this sentence Buggy, I saw you were hungry and decided to help you, I don't want anything in return, it may be hard for you to believe, but just accept it."
Slowly Roci took his hands off Buggy and walked away. The pirate was teary-eyed, barely able to contain his tears and hugged him tightly.
"T-thank you Roci-cinante, for being so kind"
And with Rocinante still in shock, Buggy took advantage of the opportunity and fled. He ran without looking back, he didn't want the kind cadet to see him crying for the first time since his captain died. Buggy didn't know how to react to this act of kindness and just ran.
After a few minutes of running, Buggy slowed down and realized he was in the poor part of the city. He found an Inn and with the Berries he got from Rocinante, he bought food and rented a room for the night.
After eating and taking a shower, Buggy finally slept without fear, for a full night with a full belly after long months.
—————
Rocinante just didn't know how to react, Buggy was crying and hugged him! But he had run away, and because he was shell sock, Roci couldn't see where Buggy went.
Minutes passed, and Rocinante came out of his shock when someone tapped him on the shoulder.
"AHHHHHHHHHH"
Rocinante jumped and screech but no sound came out.
"Roci, your power is still activated, I can't hear you"
The person spoke. Roci snapped his fingers and lowered the barrier as he turned around.
"Senny you scared me!"
"Roci, I've been calling you for a few minutes through DenDen, but you weren't answering and I came to see if everything was okay, the thief got away, it's a shame. Let's go back to the marine base."
Sengoku spoke while guiding Rocinante to the marine base. Rocinante was very happy with the news that Buggy had escaped.
'I hope I can meet him again'
Rocinante thought as he was heading to the base, being guided by Sengoku, who held him back when the ground decided to call Roci again.