AN: Thanks so much for checking out my story! Hope you enjoy, because I hope to update this story much more frequently, so see you next week!

Wildest Son

East Blue Saga

Orange Town Part 2/3

Chapter 5

Day 3, Orange Town

Rusty copper dust clouded the streets and alley. The well-dressed, albeit dirty teenager desperately dug through the piles of brick and rubble that had become what was left of the building he and his brother had demolished. His top hat had been long since been discarded to his feet as sweat flowed stickily off his brow. Blond hair was blown out of his eyes as Sabo grew more and more despairing, though he eventually managed to find a limp hand connected to a battered wrist. Continuing to dig, the desperate gentleman pirate retrieved the entirety of his unconscious and battered brother. Two women behind him tried to pull him away, but Sabo kept trying to awaken the injured boy.

He trembled feverishly, "Come on Luffy - Come on... We have to go! You have to get up -"

Black eyes didn't so much as flicker but the slight and shaking elevations of the chest revealed the dapper boy's brother still lived. An orange haired girl shook him out of his stupor saying, "We have to go..."

She pulled at him, but he refused to budge an inch before he carefully hauled his injured sibling into his arms. After that, Sabo allowed himself to be led away by the two frightened women.

Some Time Later

On the street, dozens of pirates bustled about and searched for something or someone with a vengeful hunger. Realizing it would only be a danger for herself and the other hiding asylum seekers - a blue haired woman shut the window blinds in the fourth floor kitchen of a pastel pink building. She wore a scarlet headband with a blue needle-nose shark symbol printed on it, with a simple lemon tank top over her buxom chest. Even after they had coaxed Sabo into joining them in the room, while the sisters watched at the kitchen table the distressed boy could only bring himself to pace back and forth with uncharacteristic nervous energy. Sabo's dusted black jacket had streaks of brick colored soot on the sides that swayed to and fro as he moved, while his ebony pants had fared none the better since they had left the battlefield. Nami wore a white t-shirt and khaki shorts, eating a pear that she sliced with a knife from the table. Nojiko watched the miserable buccaneer walk for several more minutes before gulping and eyeing Nami uncomfortably; Nami shook her head as the siblings had an unspoken conversation.

Tension dispirited the small room. However it wasn't brought about by a single cause, Sabo felt an insurmountable uselessness. His baby brother was unconscious in the next room over, the fact that there was nothing he could do about it squeezed his heart. Nami and Nojiko had very different circumstances that truly tested them. Their guilt was compressed into them by an older vessel. Even with this ever present within her mind the blunette got up and gently touched the boy's shoulders for comfort. Frustrated, Sabo's nostrils flared and his fists clenched.

She soothed, "He's going to be alright - just breath."

Sabo's shoulders sagged as he let out a tired sigh, walking back into the room where his sibling slept. Tucked into a thick maroon blanket - and bandaged up with the cheap yellowed wraps they'd managed to scrounge up from elsewhere inside the building - Luffy loudly wheezed in unconscious contentedness. He watched as his sleeping brother breathed in and out, Luffy's chest quivering a bit as he exhaled. A small emerald pot of bright red flowers sat on the desk that stood next to the inert boy's body. Sabo leaned against the bed as he sat in a simple wooden chair on the same side of the bed as the flowers.

In the kitchen Nojiko sighed, "We have to tell them."

"No - we really don't Nojiko."

"These guys really trust us. Why shouldn't we let them in?"

"Because they won't trust us anymore if we told them."

"They've seen the marks it's just we should -"

"No Nojiko!"

Sabo slumped against the wall as he returned to the kitchen, kneading his own knuckles as he cut in, "So, what exactly do you two do for Arlong?"

Nami and Nojiko nearly jumped in surprise but turned to see the blond man that had joined them. The blue-haired woman couldn't meet Sabo's eyes, but he didn't relent, pressing both as he put his arms on the table the two sisters sat at. Nojiko couldn't bring herself to respond, but the ashamed girl's sister answered for both of them, "We're agents of the Arlong Pirates."

Sabo stiffened - while he was not surprised by this explanation, he swallowed before dryly asking, "Why?"

Nojiko responded nervously, "Our - our mission was to map the sea and the lands of the East in order to help expand the Empire."

"Our island was the first to fall. It was after the Event: the Marines had been long gone - then after his pardon Arlong came to the East. He took over, but he promised we'd be safe from the Terror, that we wouldn't need the Navy. He said he wouldn't have to be afraid anymore," Nami explained.

"He tore through villages that didn't go along with his plan, and forced impossible taxes on everyone; our town could barely make ends meet. But we made a deal with him, Nami would draw the maps and charts and I would negotiate with the people on the islands we traveled to. Our job was to expand the Fishman Empire further and further."

"At the first village we went to after Arlong came, we tried to warn the people there about him. We tried to organize a force to fight him; but he was too strong. The Fishmen butchered the entire town in less than an hour -"

"There was so much blood - so much death."

"Without the Marines, the East is just a sitting duck for pirates*: so we survey the land and the water, and we eventually come back to take the islands as peacefully as possible, warn the people not to resist - to just do what he says. Because that's - it's the only way we're all going to get out of this alive."

"I'm sorry we got you and Luffy involved with us."

Sabo finally cut in, "Don't be. We were going to fight the Arlong Pirates anyway. My Captain - I mean, my brother - made a promise to a friend of ours, that we would take down the Fishmen. We can do this together."

He held out his hand, which Nami took after a moment of hesitation. Nojiko fell into him, squeezing the pirate in a tight embrace. The three sat there, holding each other, comforting each other. Even though their stressors were still there and they all felt that the problems they faced were insurmountable - together it was like they could be enough to face those challenges. In those precious moments of security, it was as if no one or nothing could hurt them. The world became a peaceful, quiet place.

While most would not think to consider a massive feline smashing through the wall to be a clear and present danger, in one fell swoop that very thing quickly became one. Crashing through the wall, a gigantic pale furred lion crushed the table with his impossible weight as he landed on it. Yawning, the purple maned big cat revealed his bloodied, jagged maw. A large collar revealed his name on a paw print tag. 'Richie' got to his feet and eyed the two shaking women as Nojiko was pulling out her kusari gama, spinning her weighted weapon by the long chain to prepare for the inevitable pounce.

Sabo yelled, "Get Luffy out of here!"

Nami ran to the room, trying to carry the still unconscious pirate in her arms. She lugged him out of the bed, while behind her Richie roared at Sabo who called, "Nojiko, get me my pipe and go help Nami!"

Nojiko nodded, whipping her weapon into Richie's nose, and the colossal cat cried out in pain. She ran into the bedroom, and lobbed a long metal staff-like tube to the gentleman pirate, who caught it in one hand and smacked it off the bottom jaw of the monstrous creature, clamping it's jaws shut. Whimpering, Richie smacked the young man into the wall in the spot where his friends would have been, slamming into the plaster mere moments after the two girls had carried his brother away.

Behind the lion, a voice called out, "Ugh - Richie, is that you?" Pulling himself through the gaping hole in the wall, an odd man in a strange white vest that covered his entire chest but left both arms and midriff exposed clambered to his feet. Sabo eyed the man, and again motioned his friends to haul Luffy away. They quickly ran down the stairs, while the well dressed fighter bent and picked up his tall top hat off the floor.

The stranger exclaimed, "Richie! I wasn't sure if it was you up here..."

Eyes rolling, Sabo grunted, "Huh - what the Hell else could have done something like that?"

"Well it could have been some other cat... I didn't know whether or not Richie got indigestion from eating that stupid dog earlier so he might not have been up here -"

An iron pipe smashed into the side of the man's mouth, knocking him into the wall as Sabo leapt at him and kicked at the lion at the same time. Then between the two enemies, Sabo moved so that his back was to the large hole in the wall. The gentleman pirate twirled his pipe around his left hand, ready to fight the both of them.

Wiping blood off his face, the Buggy Pirate got back to his feet angrily. Sabo took in both his enemies, the lion was about twice as tall as the other man, his paws as wide as Sabo's chest.

"How rude of me, I forgot to introduce myself..." The man cleared his throat and declared, "My name is Mohji, Beast Tamer and First Mate of the Buggy Pirates!" He stretched his legs within his blue pants, started tightening his yellow sash around his waist like a belt.

Mohji clenched his fists at his side and roared, "Let's do this Richie!"

Wildest Son

On the streets near the docks, the Buggy Pirates gathered around their flagship. In dark green paint the words 'Big Top' were splayed across the side of the galleon proudly. In front of the ship, the crew sans their Captain stood at attention waiting for their next command. Before the crowd of fighters, a tall green-haired man with an extremely odd haircut rode on a unicycle. Half of the man's hair was uncut, long enough to touch his shoulders - while the other half was shaved into bald stripes. He rolled around, and called, "As Second Mate of the Buggy Pirates, I demand that we burn this town to the ground!"

Men cheered and pulled out whatever weapons they had: some bore pistols and others brandished blades of varying sizes, while even fewer held long rifles in their hands. The Second Mate bounced around on his unique mode of transportation and threw his blue-and-white checkered scarf (along with the longer portion of his hair) behind him. Leading the charge, the pirates soon ran in two wings around the zooming swordsman, who pulled out his blade with righteous fury. "Let's avenge our Captain! Turn this town to rubble before Captain Buggy wakes up! This will be our gift to him!"

Wildest Son

Nami and Nojiko heard a thunderous stampede of dozens of harlequin-themed sea raiders as they attempted to raze the village entirely. They hid Luffy behind some crates in an alley - leaning his body against the dark bricks of the shadowed wall. When a strange man on a unicycle swooped past them angrily, the sisters walked to the end of the backstreet in an attempt to survey the odd scene. Peeking out from within the edge of the alley, the sisters watched in horror as the uncountable number of pirates started breaking windows and setting buildings ablaze to one side and as they turned around, they watched the odd swordsman until he suddenly screeched to a stop.

Whipping around suddenly, the man dashed toward the girls, who ducked into the alley quickly. Nami murmured, "We can't just hide here Nojiko."

"I know," Her sister agreed.

"I'll go low," Nami offered.

"I'll go high..."

Leaping into the sunlight, the siblings pulled their respective weapons out. Holding her sickle tightly, Nojiko got ready to slash at the man, who charged at them shouting angrily, "You both will die!"

With tremendous strength, his long sword attempted to slash at both their necks, but was stopped by Nojiko's own blade. She held tight, though she shook as the stronger man pressed further. Nami went to smash her staff into the man's side, only for a kick to knock her into the dirt street. Nojiko looked to her fallen sister a bit too quickly, and the swordsman wrenched his steel free and smacked his enemy in the head with the dull end of his blade.

Rolling back to join her then standing sister in arms, Nojiko winced as she wiped blood off her forehead. Nami patted her partner's shoulder, she grinned and tiredly said, "This is probably gonna be tougher than this asshole looks..."

Nojiko steadied herself, only for the swordsman to set his blade onto the ground. He cracked his knuckles and declared, "I am Cabaji the Acrobat, and I refuse to allow my crew and Captain to be disgraced by some Arlong Empire bi-"

Cut off by a bloody spear blade punching through his exposed chest, Cabaji looked down at his own lifeblood as the fresh wound dripped with crimson ooze. He tried to turn around, twisting his unicycle about - only to fall off his vehicle next to his sword. At his back, a long grey-haired man yanked his wooden handled weapon out of the then downed pirate. He wore a thick yellow flannel shirt with wooden plate armor around his torso.

The girls smiled and cheered with surprise, with Nojiko hooted, "Thanks Old Man!"

Barely seeming to notice the women, the old man watched as blood flowed out of both ends of the wound he delivered the uni-cyclist.

He grunted, "If you both want to live, you'd best be getting the Hell out of my town."

Brushing past them, his shoulders slumped as he noticed the sheer number of the vicious privateers that had begun smashing and burning the buildings of Orange Town.

Nami grabbed his shoulder and cried out, "Wait there's no way you'll be able to handle all of them!"

The Old Man turned around, growling, "I told you to get the Hell outta here! I'm in no mood to deal with Arlong's lackeys... I've got pirates to deal with right now - so I'll let you both go back to your Fishman Empire and tell that fish-stick bastard what for!"

Nojiko gulped, "Who are you Old Man?"

He gripped his spear tightly, seeming like at any moment he'd whip around and jab at the two women. "I'm Boodle, and I was the Mayor of this town. We were preparing for years for Arlong, but as you can see we weren't ready for anything. Even so, until I'm dead, I won't let anyone take this place."

"You can't think you'll be able to beat those guys -" Nami worriedly responded.

"Doesn't matter - I failed. All the townsfolk are halfway to Shells Town by now - maybe Morgan's base can save them. But I don't know anything for sure any more. I had no idea what kind of monsters are in this sea now. Since the Event, I worried we'd just be sitting ducks - so I guess I was right."

"... What do you mean Mayor?"

"Don't call me that! You have no idea how hard it's been for us regular people! Orange Town was built by some of the hardest working people I've ever met. We came from far and wide - just folks looking for a fresh start. Eventually we built this town with no more than the lumber on the island and the sweat off our backs."

"So, you just wanna die then?" Nojiko asked.

"I don't want anything anymore. I'm going to die fighting some clown's sea wretches, and I'm fine with that. I let my people down, and it's only a matter of time before this town gets wrecked anyway. Go ahead, go back to Arlong and tell him how easy this place will be to take. But he won't find any of my people here to kill. We all heard what happened to Gosa... There's no way we could ever stand up against damned Fishmen. But maybe my people can live a bit longer elsewhere..."

Nami held the man's arm, only for him to resentfully yank his limb away as if her finger tips were alight. She whispered, "We aren't with," But when the old Mayor fell like his legs were kicked out from under him, Nojiko slammed her weight shoe into the flexing leg that had done the deed to poor Boodle. Smashing Cabaji's knee, she then watched as Nami bashed her staff into the man's nose. Unconscious, the acrobat finished bleeding into the dirt**.

Struggling back to his weakened feet, the Mayor spat, "Don't think that means I owe you. That bastard was barely kicking..."

He chuckled at his own joke, before he slung his spear across his back. Bending down, Boodle clutched at the handle of Cabaji's sword, struggling with it's weight. Then prepared for battle, the Mayor of a town of none started to walk toward the impossible mob of ferocious pirates.

Wildest Son

Though his right eye was swollen shut and his left arm hung loosely limp at his side, Mohji's tenacious eyes flickered back and forth from his blond enemy to the gaping hole. Richie was no better off than his partner, as many of the lion's claws had been broken off. He licked at his injured paws until Mohji angrily snapped his right hand, returning the giant cat to attention. Across from them, Sabo skillfully shifted from side to side, ready for the moment when either of his enemies decided to strike. He was in much better shape than his enemies, though he had needed to set his jacket down, hanging it on one of the pipes that had been exposed by Richie's crash through the wall, his hat rested on top of the folded piece of clothing. Bare-chested, Sabo's slight puff of blond curls matched the golden locks that sat on his scalp which gently moved with the breeze of his pipe spinning in his right hand.

Breaking the stillness, Mohji dove at Sabo in a tackle, who responded with a duck and grabbed his jacket and hat with his left hand at the same time as he managed to back flip. During his move, Sabo drove his boot into Mohji's chin, throwing the man through the window of a building across the street with his impressive kick.

As the blond fell from the building as a result of this attack, Richie lunged out toward Sabo as well, claws extended and mouth open wide, attempting to bite and slash while the two were still airborne. Jaws nearly snapping Sabo's arm off, as the two fell he stuck his pipe in the cat's mouth, forcing his maw to remain wide open. Still in the air with one swift motion, Sabo stomped onto the lion's lower lip and used his momentum to both force his enemy down and himself up, landing on the tremendous feline's head.

They crashed soundly into the street - with Sabo still standing tall on top of his unconscious opponent. Dusting his black pants off, the boy bent to place his hat back onto his head and hold his long jacket. Sabo stepped off the lion with satisfaction, and looked to the docks where he heard the clatter of an angry pirate mob. He watched the smoke billow out of the structures closest to the end of town, and eagerly set off toward the crowd.

Wildest Son

Within the Captain's Quarters of the Big Top, Buggy was tucked into a thick lime blanket, warm and satisfied. Sucking on his thumb, he occasionally whimpered as he snored through his bulbous broken nose. The Clown Pirate's make up was incredibly smudged with dirt and soot as his blackened fingers separated themselves from his hands as he exhaled - while with each inhalation the digits returned to their respective knuckles.

Eyes shooting open out of nowhere, Buggy furiously declared, "I WILL KILL THAT FLASHY BASTARD!"

Wildest Son

The sprinting gentleman pirate slid to a stop as he came to meet the girls. Nojiko blushed as she noticed the blond's lack of clothing, while Nami asked, "What are you doing without your shirt?"

"Oh - I got pretty sweaty during my fight so..." As he said this, Sabo seemed to see the bloodied corpse that rested next to an overturned unicycle. Motioning to put his jacket back on, Nojiko quickly held his arm down, hissing, "Don't!"

It was in that awkward moment when Sabo first noticed an old man that was leaning against the corner of the non-descript crate filled alley the girls stood in front of. Of course, the old man had been bound with rope and gagged with a dirty looking rag but was otherwise unharmed. Curious, Sabo asked, "What's his deal? He doesn't look like much of a clown pirate -"

Nojiko explained, "He's the Mayor of this town, he took down the Second Mate but tried to go after the rest of Buggy's crew..."

Struggling against his bonds, the Mayor attempted to hatefully spit at the speaking girl. Of course, still gagged Boodle failed to do so and grumpily slouched into his former position.

"We should untie him so he can help, he might be old but we could use all hands on deck for this one," Sabo put in, only for a few boxes to clatter to the ground.

A quick punch to the head knocked the Old Man out, and a bruised pirate kid stood with his friends. Serious blackened eyes looked to what made up his one-man crew, and Luffy grunted, "He would have just gotten in the way."

Dropping his bandage wraps, Luffy's battered upper body was revealed. The boy's muscled though purpled stomach went in and out in time with his tattooed chest, and his arms tensed as he heard the chaos throughout the town. Swashbuckling sea raiders began to funnel toward the group, only for Sabo and the two Arlong Pirate sisters to knock the attacking marauders with their respective weapons.

"Let's finish this," Luffy muttered, and started walking toward the Big Top, as if he didn't even see the dozens of pirates rushing toward him.

AN:

*This might be something to take note of, the Marines are bad and Arlong is worse but you never know what kind of freaks could be out in the world.

**The world is a much harsher place than in canon, especially within the East, and I hope this scene reflects that. Characters don't have much time to show their own personality quirks, this is battle and everyone knows they could be wiped out anytime. The Fishmen, or worse, the Terror could arrive and end it all.

(R&R)

Freddo Fraud(Rev): "actual numbers when it comes to members"

So it's just gonna be a cluster fuck of random characters who get fuck all development like in Fairy Tale? What's the fucking point of making it much larger than the original crew?

Why did you make Luffy struggle in the Buggy fight? For a person who was trained under the WB and has the strongest logia he is really fucking weak

"Wild Son Pirates" sounds really stupid honestly

(Res): I appreciate the criticisms, as they are a means of increasing the skill behind my writing, but of course I have responses to all of these questions. I did not mean to insinuate that I would have an absolutely massive crew, I merely meant to say that as it stands now even if you count Nami and Nojiko (who are no more than allies), there are 4 members of the crew. There will probably be a few more members of the crew than in canon, but I assure you I do not plan to shirk any development for any of the crew members. The point of making it larger would be to show Luffy's more mature and thoughtful nature within this story compared to the canon. 9 crew members is extremely small for a pirate crew, though Shanks has slightly more than that many in canon - but I assure you Luffy's crew will not have the Fairy Tail Guild's numbers. But here's a more practical reasoning behind Luffy's forming a larger crew: Whitebeard has a massive Armada, so its reasonable to assume one of his mentees would follow suit.

Luffy struggled in his fight against Buggy for a myriad of reasons. For one: he's not as fast, as strong, or as durable as he is in canon and he likely underestimated Buggy as he's never really struggled against other opponents. The reason the fight ended as it did was because he was more focused on his friends than on his own well-being, and failed to completely absorb the Buggy Ball explosion.

He was not trained by Whitebeard any more than he was trained by Shanks, he was mentored by him - though at the furthest maybe you could consider that he 'sparred' with Newgate the one time as it was described in this story. He may have the strongest Logia, but that doesn't mean he's invincible, he doesn't even have the standard Logia intangibility. The rematch next chapter will end much differently that I can assure you.

And to address your final point, I am actually open to suggestions for the name of Luffy's crew as I have not really settled on one yet.

Well, there's that chapter, see you next time when Luffy and Buggy finish their showdown and the Orange Town Arc comes to an end. See y'all next week and please remember to read, review, and get your game on!