Chapter 35: Calm Belt
Chapter 35: Calm Belt
The Clown Pirates celebrate Buggy's first bounty until they reach their destination. The destination is the corner of North Blue where Red Line and Calm Belt met. They reach it after some hours, and with Jude's help. Surprisingly, she is willing to help them even though she's scared of them as pirates.
"I am scared of you, but you saved me, so this is how I repay it."-Jude
"Well, thanks about that. But maybe you need to prepare your heart once more now."-Buggy
"W-why?"-Jude flinched
"Because something incredible will show up shortly."-Buggy grin
Just when Buggy finishes his talk, a massive tentacle comes out from the water. The tentacle sticks onto the Red Line, and soon 5 more tentacles come out. Then a massive octopus head comes out and looks at the Clown pirates.
Jude is rooted in her place, and her eyes are wide open. Her jaw also dropped from the shock, and she is shaking. She wants to say something, but the words just won't come out of her mouth. Then when Kraken grab their ship, she faint.
"Ah, she faints."-Cricket
"Well, if even pirates make her that afraid, then a giant octopus will have more effect."-Buggy
"Don't just look at her! Cricket, bring her to women's bedroom!"-Mantis
Cricket then takes Jude to the women's bedroom where Mantis sleep. Mantis also brings Jude's barrel to the room.
"R-rawr?"-Kraken
"Don't worry, she's just shocked, too many things happen in this one day for her."-Buggy
"Rawragh?"-Kraken
"Hehehe, I'm glad you ask. Look! I have a bounty now, finally, I become a full-fledged pirate."-Buggy show his bounty poster to Kraken
Then he celebrates it with Kraken, they just really like a celebration. After a little celebration, they're finally ready to cross the Calm Belt & Grandline. It will be risky to cross it from here because they will pass G1 Base, which is right below Mary Geoise. But they have a plan to avoid detection there.
"Wait, before we go, let's give you a proper name."-Buggy
"Rawr?"-Kraken
"Yeah, a name. I'll also give your family members their names. It will be easier for us to call you in the future. Sorry that I've just realized this."-Buggy
"Rawraawragh."-Kraken get excited
"It's good that you're happy. Alright, you are Steve, your brother is Tony, your sister is Natasha, your dad is Thor, your mom is Carol."-Buggy
Buggy decides to not give him the 'Surume' name, because he knows it's dried squid's name, aka food. Buggy decides to give Kraken family the name of Avengers. Besides, Kraken also seems to like it, maybe he'll like every name that his friends give to him.
"Alright Steve, let's go!"-Buggy
"RAWR!"-Steve
Steve take the ship with 2 tentacles and place it on top of his head. Then he walks with the ship by sticking on the Red Line. As an octopus, Steve is used to walking on any surface. So walking on a vertical wall isn't a problem for him.
"So this is the Calm Belt, huh? There's really no wind in here."-Jude
Jude suddenly appears, and she is not in her barrel. She is looking at the Calm Belt that didn't have any wind or current.
"What a mysterious place."-Jude
"You've wake up?"-Buggy
"She wakes up immediately when Mantis & I talk about entering the Calm Belt."-Cricket
Cricket & Mantis walk from the women's room direction.
"Heh, you're curious of Calm Belt, huh? Wait until we reach Grandline, it will look more mysterious than this place, especially because we'll cross New World. I assure you, that your current navigation skill won't be able to understand it."-Buggy
"Really? I can't wait for that."-Jude get excited
Jude gets so excited when she heard about the Grandline, that she forgot her fear of Pirates & Kraken. It didn't take long for her to realize it, and she's panicking.
"Calm down! We won't do anything to you, haven't you been with us for some hours already? Maybe Captain will do bad things, but I won't."-Mantis
"Oi, what do you mean by that?"-Buggy retort
"I mean you have a bounty, so you are a bad person."-Mantis
"Really now?"-Buggy
"How about me?"-Cricket
"You two boys are troublemakers and most likely will be baddies. You even look like baddies now, and you look scary. Meanwhile, I am a delicate kindhearted girl that everyone love, and never do bad things on my own."-Mantis praise herself
"....."-Buggy & Cricket
"Let's train your haki, Cricket!"-Buggy
"That's a good idea, Captain."-Cricket
"DON'T IGNORE ME!"-Mantis said with a red face
Mantis jumps to Buggy and shakes his shoulder angrily. Jude giggles seeing their antique and now get more relaxed.
'Maybe I'm too paranoid with them, and maybe not all pirates are bad.'-Jude
Jude has a better opinion about them and gets more relaxed. Even though she hasn't really liked them, but at least right now, Jude isn't that wary around them anymore. Now, they can cross the Calm Belt calmly without any trouble.
While crossing Calm Belt, Buggy trains his crew on haki again. They still train their observation haki with Rayleigh's training method, and they have started to feel it now. Cricket make better progress in his training and now can avoid more stick attacks.
"W-what are you doing?"-Jude
"Training their sense."-Buggy
"S-sense? W-will that really work?"-Jude
"Yeah, it worked for me, so it will work on them. You want to try?"-Buggy
"N-NONONO, I don't want to get hit in my head."-Jude cover her head
"No one wants to get hit, that's why we train like this, so we can sense the incoming attacks and avoid them."-Buggy
"Y-you don't want to get hit, but train it by getting hit?"-Jude get confused
"Yeah, at least these hits aren't intended to kill, unlike the enemy's hits. Sometimes we need to feel the pain to gain results and avoid something more painful. Just hoping to not get hurt won't help you avoid it. The sea is full of danger, so we need to be prepared for any situation."-Buggy
"B-but if you just don't create trouble, then...."-Jude
"That's not good thinking. Sometimes we don't create trouble, but trouble will come to us. Even we don't want to create trouble if we can, but sometimes situations force us to do it. That's why we need to prepare for it, not just hoping for it to end by itself. As long as we live, trouble will come to us."-Buggy
"....."-Jude ponder Buggy's words
"Don't you have a dream, Jude?"-Buggy
"I have."-Jude
"Then, will you back out from pursuing your dream if you meet some trouble?"-Buggy
"!?... No."-Jude realize what Buggy mean
"Right? We don't want to back out too, that's why we train, so we can handle all those troubles that will come to us."-Buggy
"W-what if you can't handle it?"-Jude
"If I can't handle it, then my friends will help me handle it. If we can't handle it together, then we will run from it and prepare ourselves for the next time. That's why if you have trouble that you can't handle, we will help you to handle it because that's what friends do, isn't it?"-Buggy smile widely
Jude blush seeing Buggy smile at her like that and run to the women's room. The 3 pirates are stunned and blink their eyes. Then Cricket & Mantis look at Buggy and grin.
"Captain, I never know you're such a player."-Mantis
"You should teach me how to do it sometime."-Cricket
"I never intend to do it, I never flirt with girls, except my Belle. They all just suddenly blushed & flustered, then start to chase me. As for Jude, isn't she just a shy girl from the start?"-Buggy
"Come on, no need to cover it!"-Mantis tease Buggy
"No, I'm not lying, that really happened many times."-Buggy
"Huh? Then how did you explain about it?"-Cricket
"Hmm, I think my charisma is just that high. Yare yare, it sure is hard to be such a charismatic person."-Buggy said narcissistically
The 2 are just looking at him like an idiot before leaving too. Still, now Jude will most likely want to be their navigator, so it's a good thing.
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