The past three years had been excruciating for Buggy. Rayleigh had given him exactly what he wanted and then some. Every day he did what was expected of him on the ship, and every night he would train with Rayleigh.

They fought a lot in the beginning, mostly due to Buggy's attitude during their sessions, but eventually came to a mutual understanding. Buggy wouldn't complain, and Rayleigh wouldn't beat him black and blue.

The first year they covered the physical and weapons portion of their training. Shanks proved to be adept with a sword while Buggy preferred to use pistols and small knives. Even at fighting the two were opposites. Shanks liked to fight close quarters while Buggy fought at a distance, making use of his devil fruit powers to give him an edge.

There were many occasions, much to Buggy's despair, where he wasn't allowed to use his powers. In these cases, Buggy and Shanks were fighting with only their hands and feet. The first few weeks of this resulted in a winning streak that for Shanks that drove Buggy through the roof in frustration.

But this streak would only last so long, as the more the two fought, the better Buggy became with close quarters conflict. The same was also the case for Shanks as he found ways to overcome people who fought at a distance. It would be several years before Buggy began to appreciate the building of his non-devil fruit based powers.

The second year Rayleigh covered the basics and mechanics of Haki. As it turns out, both Buggy and Shanks had a natural talent for Armament Haki. By the end of their training, both would be able to spread the black armoring to almost every inch of their bodies.

They would, however, both find themselves working hard on their Observation Haki. Even after an entire year of being pelted by gold coins, neither boy could sense much further than arm's length. Impressive for their age, no doubt, but Rayleigh never made it seem as such.

In fact, he had the two convinced that what they've accomplished wasn't all that much. He was concerned that they, mostly Buggy, wouldn't try as hard with its progression if the 'slight success' they've achieved were revealed to be beyond what many could do.

Both were disappointed that they were unable to learn the third form of Haki. For now, they could only hope that they would be able to do it later on in life eventually. Shanks took it well that he may not have the third form, but Buggy was struggling.

It was more of the fact that he didn't know if he could or not. And after days of agonizing deliberation with himself, it was Crocus who brought him out of his funk. After one conversation the troubles of the situation just melted away.

It didn't matter if he had the third type or not. And it didn't matter if he met other people who did. The simple truth, according to Crocus, was that for as long as anyone can remember influential people came in all shapes and sizes with a variety of skills and assets.

So whether he had it or not, he could still be powerful.

Knowing this gave something Buggy hadn't felt since he left his home island. A sense of security in regards to both the present and future.

Then came the third and last year of their training where it was fight after bloody fight against their Captain and Vice-Captain. Having both of these great men fighting against them every day for several hours had been beneficial to their development.

This was also the year things began turning out to be ideal for Buggy. Shanks suddenly became much more tolerable, and Buggy almost considered the two of them friends, almost. At the moment, his goals and ambitions didn't allow him the luxury of having friends. So Shanks became the next best thing. A rival.

As their final training session came to a close, Roger and Rayleigh announced the disbanding of the crew much to everyone's dismay. Buggy had already told Shanks in secret, so he wasn't surprised. Though he still felt the slight despair that seemingly permeated the ship.

Over the next few months, the crew began to be let off at various islands until it was down to only four. Shanks and Buggy had decided to stay on the Oro Jackson until the very end. As the ship set sail once again, their next and final destination was Baterilla; an island somewhere in the South Blue.

Once they got there, that would be it. The four would stay together on the island for maybe a week and then Shanks and Buggy would then be on their own. That would be the day the Roger Pirates would be officially disbanded, forever.

After a few more months of sailing, they finally reached the island. They'd been to the island several times before but never knew why it was a consistent destination. Buggy was quite shocked when a woman he'd never seen before came up the dock, then the ramp and proceeded to board the ship.

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Shanks looked like he was just as confused as Buggy, but seeing Rayleigh do nothing stayed his hand. The woman quietly walked across the deck and entered the Captain's quarters.

Nearly twenty minutes had passed before Roger and the strange woman came out with some sake and food. Apparently, she was pregnant, which didn't mean much until they knew Roger was the father. Buggy had his jaw halfway to the ground while Shanks and Rayleigh were next to their captain drinking and eating what looked like slop. The cook had been dropped off some time ago and the food he precooked was long gone.

Seeming to go unnoticed was Buggy's solemnly thoughtful expression. As the rest partied on, Buggy stared at the woman as if he was trying to think of an answer to a question no one asked. Not feeling the same cheery attitude as the others, Buggy eventually walked inside the ship and headed straight to his room.

Buggy's patterns of thinking more often than not revolved around the different ways his life could be at risk and how to avoid them. Thus he had several measures in place meant to help him through such disasters. Measures he was now looking to fall back on.

These past three years sailing and conquering the Grand Line had seen the Roger Pirates gain all sorts of goodies from all different kinds of places. There was even another devil fruit at one point, the man at the auction house called it the Smooth-Smooth fruit. Luckily Buggy was able to discreetly swap it with a fake just before the crew set sail.

He chuckled to himself as he remembered the chaos that ensued when a particularly angry noble raised hell when it didn't work. After digging around in several small chests, he found what he was looking for.

'Aha! Here you are!' he thought in relief.

Sometime last year while fighting against a supply ship en route to a nearby Navy HQ, Buggy and Shanks snuck into the ship to take what they could while the others kept the fighting up outside. Shanks had found some crates full of several different types of Transponder Snails.

Not knowing which ones were worth taking, he made off with several of each. Buggy had less luck and could only find some food. A necessity, yes, but not quite the treasure he was looking for.

Later on the ship Buggy decided to keep the larger ones (Common) and the white ones (anti-wiretap) for himself, claiming that bigger was better and that the white one looked cool. Rayleigh and Roger had taken some Baby Transponders to communicate with one another during their stay on islands in the future and Shanks took the Black Transponders and the rest of the Baby Transponders without much care. Having any transponders at all was enough for him.

Taking the two Common Transponder Snails and two White Transponder Snails out of the chest, he placed one of each in a large backpack and the rest of them in a slightly smaller back pack. He then put in the larger bag two Baby Transponder Snails, about a hundred thousand Berries in cash, gold, and jewels, three loaded pistols with some extra rounds, a large knife, and a decent amount of food and water. It felt a little on the heavy side, but he'd be doing all the carrying, so it hardly mattered.

In the slightly smaller pack was the Smooth-Smooth fruit, his extra sets of clothing, some Dials he had managed to get his hands on during their journey to Sky Island, what money and jewels couldn't fit in the larger pack, some fishing gear, a camera, and three framed photos. One of the entire crew, another with him and Shanks on one of their better days, and a recent one with him, Shanks, Rayleigh, and Roger.

He wouldn't ever admit to it, but the photo he liked the best was the one with just the four of them. It brought a smile to his face as he stared down at it. And it also brought tears to his eyes as he thought about his Captain's condition.

Buggy was a very complicated person at this point in his young life. He still felt the self-preserving urge to put his own well-being and interests before others, but at the same time he couldn't shake off his nightmare.

Even after three years and a very long and harsh period of training dedicated to making it an improbability, that nightmare continued to lord over him.

The feeling of utter helplessness and the desire to be safe pervaded his life and shaped him into something he'd never imagine being. A decent person. Someone who isn't too far off from being what Shanks' ideals are all about.

When he first realized this, he felt like turning his back on those decisions that had yet to bear any fruit. Such a different set of ideals with no resemblance to his own seemed almost repulsive. But after thinking further on it and reminding himself of that horrible feeling of impending doom, he chose to suck it up. And he did so by following his Captain's example.

Every time he felt like throwing in the towel or giving in to his base instinct of running away, he looked at his Captain who wore a bright smile that promised nothing but good times as he did his daily doings. 'That could be me one day.' Facing certain death and wearing a smile while doing it.

Which is why Buggy was able to see past his vision clouded with fear and take action. The backpack was meant to be for the mystery woman. At this point it didn't matter who she was, all that mattered was that she was pregnant with his Captain's kid.

He wasn't as ignorant as the rest of the crew had believed him to be. Buggy could see the bigger picture, and right now it was showing that woman's death in the not so far future. If there was any possibility of the 'Pirate King' Gold Roger having a kid, there'd be a manhunt like no other for both the woman and child unlucky enough to play the role.

The marines were relentless in that aspect. In his opinion, their 'justice' was self-serving to the point of warmongering, and that in of itself was cause for concern. Which is why he has to save her. The only question left is why his Captain didn't prepare for something like this happening earlier.

No doubt she may be safe for now, but why wasn't she taken somewhere secluded a long time ago? So many unanswered questions filled his head before he shook them all out.

Whatever the case was, Buggy had decided to take it into his own hands. If he didn't, then what hope would he have for himself?

After the noise from upstairs died down Buggy peeked outside and watched as Shanks lay on the ground in a food and alcohol induced coma. 'The idiot probably drank too much.' He thought with a fond smile.

With Rayleigh nowhere in sight and his Captain and the mystery lady walking into the town, Buggy set out into the night.