Transcended as Lord Buggy-Part 3

421. Alabasta

While Buggy is going to his next destination, the Straw Hat Pirates have finally arrived on Alabasta. They are still in Nanohana, the port city, where they intended to buy clothes to travel the desert. Even Leo needs the clothes even though he is basically a fire. The reason is he doesn't want to be left out.

The crew now has a new member, a small humanoid reindeer, Tony Tony Chopper. He joined the crew because of Luffy's persistence. Now Leo isn't the youngest anymore because Chopper is 1 year younger than him, but he is a human while Chopper is a reindeer.

In Nanohana, the crew moves separately to do their own tasks. But Leo runs away because he knew what task he would get, being his sister's slave. So he runs with the excuse of finding Luffy who has disappeared.

Leo is exploring Nanohana while still looking for Luffy even though it's not his priority. He knows that finding Luffy is easy because his Captain will always cause trouble. So he just does what he wants in the town.

There's only one thing that takes Leo's attention, the music. There are some street performers who play music that take his attention. So he stops by and gives them some money to play more. He watches them happily while also learning the music they play.

Leo is too engrossed in the music that he forgets the reason he's there. He finally remembers it when he hears many people scream because a big fight happens. It disrupts the music that he enjoys, after all, so he gets pissed.

But he raises an eyebrow when he sees that Luffy is amidst the chaos. Luffy is running while a familiar Marine is chasing them and a shirtless man runs behind them. Leo's expression changes from pissed to dumbfounded.

"Damn, that Smoker is here," says Leo before hiding in the crowd because he doesn't want to get involved for now.

Smoker sends his smoke to attack Luffy, but then a big magma fist falls and blocks the smoke. Leo is surprised, just like Luffy and Smoker. They look at the man who sent it, which is the shirtless man behind them.

Luffy looks happy seeing the man while Smoker doesn't seem happy at all. Smoker then reveals who the man is. He is a Division Captain of an infamous crew, Whitebeard Pirates. Luffy doesn't have any clue about that crew while Leo thinks he has heard it somewhere, but he doesn't care.

Leo only cares about the shirtless man's power which seems interesting. Luffy calls the shirtless man Ace, so now Leo knows his name. Then Ace tells Luffy to go first, he will take care of Smoker for a while.

Luffy leaves, but Leo stays and hides in an alley to watch what will happen. He then sees Ace fights against Smoker. It's an interesting fight to see even though Ace has the upper hand from the start because his ability is too strong for Smoker. The magma is obviously more powerful than smoke.

Ace wins just by shooting some small magma bullets that break through the smoke. But he doesn't injure or kill Smoker and just leaves. Leo also leaves while having a grin on his face because he gets some inspiration for his ability.

Leo's biggest problem with using his devil fruit ability is his experience. He hasn't seen many uses of devil fruit ability, especially logia type. There aren't many devil fruit users in East Blue and his mom who has fire-type ability doesn't use it often, so he only relied on his imagination.

"So logia users fight like that, huh? Interesting. Elements and compatibility also affect the battle, huh? Some abilities have an advantage over others, but their usage and mastery also affect how the battle goes. I can handle Smoker, but Ace is still too strong for me. Hmm, how can I face that magma? What will my dad do?" ponders Leo while running to find his crewmates.

He finds them when they are chased by many marine soldiers led by a girl that looks like Kuina. Leo is quite stunned by how similar she is to his fellow apprentice. But he stops thinking about it and helps his crewmates.