'No. No fucking way. How in the hell did I... I mean what are the chances!?' Buggy was blown away at this. Just like Roger and Rouge and several others he knew about, she carried the Will of D. After overcoming the momentary disbelief at his fortune, although unsure of whether it was good or bad, he smiled at her introduction. 'It's almost funny that she says it so unaware of what it truly means.'

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Devlin." Both fell back into a more comfortable silence. The sound of food cooking in the background could be heard as they relaxed. The bacon sizzling in the pan, the crunch of toasted bread as it's buttered, and the eggs being whisked in their bowl all came together in a sort of harmony. The night had been a long one, more so for Buggy than Devlin, and to relax like this every once in a while was nice.

As he cooked, his mind wandered. He couldn't help but think of how Roger described his and Rayleigh's meeting as destiny and compare it to his and Devlin's. Him, a former apprentice of Gold Roger and Silvers Rayleigh, and her, a carrier of the Will of D, meeting at what people were beginning to call 'the town of the beginning and the end'.

Once he finished his and Devlin's breakfast he sat down to eat with her. Afterwards, he would need to work on making the food that his two patients need. According to the doctors' instructions, he needed to blend up some food to be able to feed them.

He'd have never guessed that they'd have dietary restrictions. He was lucky that he'd had those two doctors write everything down. He might've done more damage to their already fragile bodies otherwise.

"So, what do you think?" Buggy looked at her expectantly as she shoveled a copious amount of eggs into her mouth. 'He wondered if all carriers were such voracious eaters. He had only actually seen Roger, the only carrier he knew personally, eat and it was surprisingly similar to Devlin in almost every way.

She returned his expectant look with one of confusion. "Of my cooking?" He clarified. "Mm! Uhs 'ehry goo." She said before swallowing the eggs and repeating herself. "It's good. I like how fluffy you made the eggs."

He nodded in agreement. "That would be the milk. If you add a small amount in before you whisk them, they're fluffier when they come out." For the next half hour, they just talked about food. Nothing in particular, just their shared interests in eating healthy food.

Where Buggy learned to cook, what kind of things Devlin liked to eat, what they were allergic to, and other such topics. They'd have spoken longer if Buggy hadn't remembered the two people waiting for something to eat.

He picked up both their plates and walked back to the kitchen. He placed them in the sink and started to mash some fruits in a bowl. He didn't envy their mushy fruit diet at all.

"Why were you laughing at me earlier?" Buggy didn't need to look up to see the scowl on her face. He snorted as he remembered. Annoyed, she threw a wadded up napkin at him. "Oy, asshole! Don't laugh!" In turn, he laughed harder. 'Too easy.' He thought to himself.

"I laughed because what you were implying about all pirates simply isn't true." He held a hand up before she could protest. "Now don't get all twisted on me. It's just a simple fact that there are no absolutes. Not all pirates are bad people. Do we pick fights and do as we please? Sure. Will we ruin lives and hurt innocent people? Some of us, yeah. But that's the key word. Some. As in not all."

Despite her reluctance to accept that, Devlin waited for him to elaborate. "I know you're hesitant to believe that, but it's true. Look at me. I didn't need to save those two slaves we found. If I were anything like the kind of pirates you described I could have just thrown them into the water and let them drown. I mean I probably couldn't have killed the Fishman that way but-"

Devlin cut him off. "Alright, I get it. It's possible that not all pirates are as bad as they're made out to be."

He'd just finished pouring the mashed fruit "Not only that, not all marines are as good as you think either."

Buggy could still sense the skepticism. "Listen, I'm not here to argue the details of life with you, but as long as you're on this ship with me I'm bound to make you question them at some point. I've seen a lot of what this world has to offer." He flashed her a smile as he walked out the door. 'And sooner or later, you will too.'

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

As he left the kitchen, he made a mental note to remember to check the compass at some point. They needed to keep heading southeast if they wanted to get as far away from Loguetown as possible. Thankfully they'd stumbled upon an ocean current, one that was hurtling them towards a Sea King nesting ground. Otherwise known as the Calm Belt; well, one of them.

On his way to deliver the food he'd made, Buggy thought about what he would do about the two people in his care. More specifically, how he could convince them to stay with him on the Morning Star. He didn't want to resort to forcing his hand again like he attempted to do while stealing his new ship. He wanted them to stay because they chose to stay, not because he conned them into doing so.

The first room he checked on was the Fishman's. Getting his feeding out of the way was something Buggy did as fast as he possibly could. He may have been capable of carrying the man, but the thought of trying to fight a confused Fishman that Buggy assumed had little trust in Humans wasn't was almost too terrifying.

He'd once seen the aftermath of someone being on the receiving end of Fishman Karate. It wasn't pretty, and he'd consider himself lucky to never experience that kind of hurt.

The woman, on the other hand, took a lot longer to finish eating than the Fishman did. She insisted on trying to hold the bowl and the spoon herself, much to Buggy's dismay. By the time she took her first actual bite of food, most of what was in the bowl was now on the blanket she was wrapped in.

He sighed at the mess. "You know, this wouldn't have happened if you'd have just let me feed you." She turned her head away indignantly.

Taking back the bowl, he fed her what was left of the food and placed the dirty dish to the side. Now that she was fed, there was an issue that needed to be dealt with immediately. The woman needed to bathe as soon as possible. The stench from the cargo hold wasn't nearly as bad as what appeared to be its source

"Come on. You need to get cleaned up. In order to do that, you need to get out of those rags first." He wondered how long it had been since she was clean. 'Judging from the smell, it's been a few months, at least.'

Buggy kneeled down in front of her, extending his hand to unwrap some of the dirty cloth. He'd only managed to grab onto the wrap before the woman began to struggle against him. Her resisting arms failing to repel him, she tried to crawl away but soon found herself held in place. After several minutes of increasingly waning resistance, she finally gave up.

He managed to get the dirty rags off of her, only for the smell to become stronger once her clothes were all that was left covering her. Buggy had to step outside for a minute to get some fresh air before having to go back inside. While out there, he thought that it would be better to go get Devlin and have her keep an eye on the woman while she was using the bath.

Instead of leaving the hallway he was in, Buggy scanned the ship with his Haki and sent his hand to go get her. It was moments like these that made him grateful that he learned from someone as skilled as Rayleigh. Observational Haki would definitely prove its usefulness in the years to come.

He figured it would be a few minutes before Devlin would show up so he went back inside the room to strike a deal. He went over to the bed and pulled off the comforter, making sure the sound of moving cloth was heard by the woman sitting in the corner.

Turning around, he walked with particularly noisy footsteps to let her know he was coming. Buggy hadn't ever interacted with a blind person before, so he thought that making his presence known would make her feel less uncomfortable.

Halfway there, though, he stopped and watched her just sitting there. Oddly enough she was staring at him. Not just in his general direction, either. They had locked eyes with one another as if she was watching his every move. 'I wonder…' Reaching his hand out, he sent it towards her in the shape of a fist.

He furrowed his brows as he watched the supposedly blind woman flinch at his attack. Something that, was she actually blind, shouldn't have even fazed her.

He wasn't sure how to feel about this. He felt stupid for trying to 'make his presence known to her' by stomping around the room like an idiot. 'But how could those doctors have been wrong? They're doctors!' It didn't make sense. And it's not like Buggy could just ask her. She obviously didn't feel comfortable talking to him.

Thankfully, Devlin walked in just as he found himself at a loss. Technically she was dragged in by Buggy's hand and almost fell back as it let go.

"Hey, what's up with your hand pulling me- Ah man! It reeks in here. What the hell, Buggy?" She asked, both annoyed and disgusted by Buggy's hand and the room's smell. But Buggy wasn't listening, for in his mind the gears were turning.

'How does someone see something without being able to see?' In the Blues, they don't. In the Grand Line, however, there are two known methods. One of which is Observational Haki. 'If she can use Haki, then I might be able to get close to her. A mutual understanding between Haki users.' He had promised himself that he wouldn't manipulate them into staying and he meant it. But it didn't mean he couldn't make friends with them.

"Hey. How about a deal?" Buggy tried a more diplomatic approach. The woman pointed silently to herself as if to ask 'Me?' He nodded his head. "Yes, you. If you do something for me, I'll give you this big, fluffy blanket." He had the woman's attention now more than ever. Devlin almost laughed as the woman was tried to reach out for it.

But as her fingers grazed the material, Buggy pulled it back. "Ah! You can have this..." He waggled the blanket "After you do something for me. Deal?" The woman's gaze shifted between Buggy and the blanket. Torn between her desire for something clean for the first time in a year and her distrust of other people, she found herself taking a gamble.

"Blanket...please..."