Chapter 810: The Clown Pirate Crew
“He… why is he here!?”
When he saw Ian waving at him, Buggy felt no surprise at all—only confusion! A clear snot drip ran down from his big red nose…
And after snapping out of it, Buggy immediately jumped up, grabbed Cabaji and Mochi beside him, and snarled with a twisted face: “Quick! Tell them to stop digging right now!”
Cabaji and Mochi were slow to react, not understanding what Buggy meant, and asked in confusion: “Captain, they’re here for their own reasons, and we’re digging for ours… what’s the connection?”
“Idiots!!!” Buggy’s spit sprayed onto Cabaji’s face as he yelled: “Are you all idiots!? Have you forgotten what kind of Devil Fruit user Ian is!? Normally it wouldn’t matter, but if he shows up now, do you want to hand over my treasure to him?”
Cabaji and Mochi suddenly realized the problem and scrambled back to stop the pirates digging the pit.
Alvida walked over to Buggy and said: “Will that work? Ian probably doesn’t care about your little treasure. Don’t forget, he robbed Tesoro’s Golden City not long ago—he’s probably richer than you now. And if he really wanted your treasure, do you think you could keep it?”
“So, we can’t let him find out we’re digging for treasure!” Buggy rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “We can’t fill that big hole back in. If he asks, we need an excuse to brush him off! Spread the word—tell those digging bastards to keep their mouths shut!”
Alvida shrugged and walked away without a word.
Just as Buggy and the others were talking, the Kuja Pirates’ fleet docked. Ian and Ace jumped off the ship first.
“Yo, Buggy! Long time no see!” Ace grinned. He had once had a drink with Buggy, who had hosted a banquet for him, so he had a good impression of the clown.
“You… why are you here too?” Buggy was still dumbfounded when Ian walked over and slapped him hard on the shoulder twice, hard enough to make Buggy wince.
“Why aren’t you greeting me? Not happy to see an old friend?” Ian chuckled, winking at Buggy. “That’s not very nice, is it? You became a Warlord and didn’t even treat me to a meal. Now you look annoyed to see me—could it be that I’m interrupting your fun?”
Hearing this, Buggy flinched and quickly waved his hands: “No, no! I don’t have any fun to interrupt! I just didn’t expect you to be on the Kuja Pirates’ ship, so I didn’t react in time!”
At that moment, Boa Hancock, graceful and elegant, walked off the ship holding little Ian in one arm. She raised her chin and glanced at Buggy, asking: “Who is this red-nosed guy?”
At the words “red nose,” Buggy was about to explode, but then he realized—damn, this was the Pirate Empress in front of him—so he swallowed his anger.
As for Buggy’s men, they were already mesmerized by Boa Hancock’s beauty.
The female warriors of the Kuja Pirates also disembarked one by one. With so many women gathered, the air was filled with a scent of perfume. Buggy’s pirates, a rough bunch of men, felt their hormones spike as they stared at the women, lost in a daze.
Ian put his arm around Buggy’s shoulder and introduced him to Boa Hancock: “Don’t you remember? He’s kind of your colleague—Buggy the Warlord!”
Boa Hancock snorted coldly at Buggy and said: “I don’t know him!”
To her, she had never cared who Buggy was. Even when Buggy became a Warlord and the news spread like wildfire, Boa Hancock had never bothered to learn what he looked like.
But then Ian added: “And he’s sort of a fellow countryman of mine. We both came from the East Blue! He’s a friend too!”
Hearing this, Boa Hancock immediately changed her attitude and said to Buggy: “Oh, is that so? Fine, I’ll consider you someone worth acknowledging for now!”
The Empress was just that arrogant…
As for Buggy, he was too preoccupied to care about Boa Hancock’s attitude. He had something on his mind, so he cautiously asked Ian: “What are you doing here?”
“What a coincidence!” Ian spread his hands. “We were passing by and saw your pirate crew here. I thought you might be digging up some treasure again, so I came to check it out.”
To be honest, Ian was genuinely curious. Buggy’s obsession with treasure hunting was famous, and he wanted to see what the guy had dug up. Since he had nothing better to do, he decided to witness it firsthand.
“No! Absolutely not!” Buggy panicked at the words and jumped up to deny it. “I’m not digging for treasure!”
Ian squinted at him, unconvinced: “Really?”
“Really!” Buggy said firmly.
But at that moment, Boa Hancock, holding little Ian, turned to a nearby Buggy Pirates member and asked: “Then what are you doing here?”
The pirate, already mesmerized with heart-shaped eyes, answered without thinking: “Reporting! We’re digging for treasure here! Captain Buggy got a treasure map, and the location is right here. We’ve been digging for two days!”
Buggy: “…”
Ian: “…”
Ace: “…”
At that moment, Buggy deeply understood what it meant to have a useless teammate. He felt like killing that pirate on the spot!
Ian almost burst out laughing. The Buggy Pirates were truly a bunch of clowns.
Seeing Buggy rush over furiously to punch the pirate, Ian quickly grabbed him by the back of his collar, nearly choking him, and pulled him back. Patting Buggy’s shoulder, Ian said: “Calm down, calm down. Don’t worry, I won’t take your treasure. Just take me to see it—I want to know what kind of treasure you’ll dig up.”
Buggy looked at Ian half-doubtfully and asked cautiously: “You really won’t go after my treasure?”
“I won’t!” Ian smiled. “I just want to take a look. But by the way, is your treasure map fake this time?”
Buggy couldn’t stand having his professional expertise questioned, so he immediately said: “Impossible! This treasure map is definitely real!”
“Alright then, take us to see it!” Ian chuckled.
Buggy had no choice but to lead the group onto the island. Before long, they arrived at the edge of the big pit they had dug.
“This is it!” Buggy said dejectedly. He realized he had been tricked, so how could he be in a good mood?
He had planned to make an excuse to brush Ian off, but damn it, before he could even say it, his own men had sold him out. When he got back, he was definitely going to clean house!
Ian looked at the pit, about ten meters deep, and felt a bit disappointed because there was nothing to see. So he couldn’t help asking: “You’ve been digging for two days, and this is all you’ve done? Too slow, isn’t it?”
Buggy grumbled: “These bastards are all lazy. They don’t put any effort into digging… What can I do?”
Boa Hancock, who had been playing with little Ian, walked over to Ian and whispered: “Ian-sama, do you really want to see them dig up the treasure?”
“I do, but at this rate, who knows how long it’ll take? We can’t afford the time,” Ian replied.
Hearing this, Buggy secretly rejoiced. He thought that his men’s laziness might not be such a bad thing after all. If Ian lost interest, they could dig slowly after he left, without worrying about Ian stealing his treasure.
But Boa Hancock, after hearing Ian’s words, nodded in understanding. Suddenly, she pointed her delicate finger at the pirates holding digging tools, who were already mesmerized by her, and shouted: “You! Dig for me right now! Use all your strength! I want to see the treasure unearthed today!”
And then, something even more baffling happened to Buggy.
Those pirates, who had been lazy and lifeless, suddenly sprang to life as if injected with thousands of milliliters of adrenaline after hearing Boa Hancock’s words!
“Yes, Empress-sama!”
They shouted in unison, then leaped into the pit without hesitation, swinging their tools as if fighting a class enemy, gritting their teeth and shoveling the dirt at the bottom.
They worked as if they were going to dig through the entire island, putting in every ounce of effort they had!
Buggy: “…”
Ian: “…”
Ace: “…”
Buggy stared at the scene, dumbfounded, with three words scrolling endlessly in his mind.
These idiots! These bastards! They follow an outsider’s orders more thoroughly than their own captain’s! Do you even want to keep your jobs!?
With the pirates’ fierce efforts, the depth of the pit visibly increased rapidly. Large amounts of dirt were shoveled out and hauled away by the pirates on the periphery. From the initial ten meters, it went to fifteen, twenty, thirty meters! In just one hour, the pirates had dug deeper than they had in the previous two days combined!
Seeing this, Buggy was already in tears…
Just as he was about to go squat in a corner and draw circles, he suddenly heard panicked shouts from the bottom of the pit. The digging pirates had somehow fallen through!
Ian and the others walked to the edge of the pit and looked down. They saw that a large hole had suddenly appeared at the bottom, not a treasure chest or anything like that.
This hole seemed to slope downward and didn’t look man-made, as there were no stairs or anything. But this dark, deep hole seemed to extend all the way down… to the bottom of the island!
Ian and Ace exchanged glances, grabbed Buggy, and jumped down together…