The Last Two Lovers

Hey!

First of all, I'm a non-native English speaker, so there might be some mistakes!

This fic was inspired by the OP chapter 1056 and the Cross Guild, so it contains spoilers up to this chapter. The fic is divided in five distinctive parts each corresponding to a certain moment in Buggy's life, though it is not always from his POV.

Anyway, enjoy!

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Buggy's torment started the day the Roger's pirates found him in a chest and decided to put him in the same room as a kid they'd found in the same circumstances earlier.

He obviously had no recollection of the whole thing, but whenever he stopped to think about it, he knew that this had been the start of it all. How could it not be?

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Buggy's four and he's been with the crew for more than half his – short – life. He's known Shanks just as long, and he's pretty confident in the fact that the red hair is his best friend. He hasn't met many kids his age yet, so it isn't difficult to consider him as such when he's his only friend. Or at least the only one of his age. Buggy doubts Blumarine could actually count as a friend, and as much as he doesn't quite understand why, he feels like Roger wouldn't be too happy with that. But Buggy doesn't quite care, because it's Shanks his best friend, and that's pretty much the only thing that matters. That and what's for dinner tonight. He's starting to get quite hungry now.

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Buggy's eight years old. He's learning how to fight, and he's slowly realising that Shanks has better dispositions than him in some aspects. In most aspects, actually.

It turned out a few months ago that the red-haired boy had the conqueror's haki. Buggy didn't.

But Buggy's alright with it, Shanks seems to struggle with it, and Buggy doesn't want to knock out half of the crew accidentally in a fit of weakness like Shanks did during their last battle.

He's not really jealous about it, though he wishes he could understand what Shanks and Roger talked about when they were together. He has Rayleigh at his side, though, so it doesn't really matter that much. Roger still tells him stories at night before bed.

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Buggy's twelve now. And he's pissed at Shanks. He swallowed a whole ass disgusting devil fruit because of him and now he can't swim anymore. He can't be cut into pieces either, but it really is the least of his worries now.

He can't swim anymore. He has to rely on others. Just like in fights, even though he tries so hard to stand up for himself, he can't quite measure up to their enemies yet. Shanks can fend for himself pretty well, and he does for Buggy too when he can.

Buggy doesn't quite like it, not being able to take care of himself, but he can't say much. He just has to improve and master his own devil fruit the best he can now.

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Buggy's thirteen and the crew has a weird new member. His name's Oden, and he's an eccentric. He made a comment about Buggy's nose, but Shanks defended him immediately, and Oden quickly apologised.

Buggy quickly brushed it off, sensing that this man was about to change their journey into something big. Bigger than they'd hoped, or that he'd hoped, at least. They met Whitebeard's crew too, and though he quickly warmed up to Marco, he has another opinion about Teach.

The kid's weird, and Buggy doesn't trust him one bit. Shanks seems to share his view. Buggy can't sleep well when they're on the same island as the older boy. It's okay, though, because he has started to slip inside Shanks' bunk at night whenever he has trouble sleeping. The other boy doesn't seem to be bothered by it.