Hunger

Chapter 21

He heard her hit the floor before he'd untangled himself from the blankets. His pulse pounded in his neck, and once again Buggy was asking himself why he was even giving a shit. He'd just met this woman. Had a wet dream or two about her as he did occasionally when he found someone attractive. And who could blame him? She was small and sexy and he was a dude. But none of that made her particularly special, and yet as he hopped down from the bed and made his way into the bathroom he felt his stomach churn upon seeing her.

It felt...it felt like another piece of him was about to go missing forever if he didn't do something.

Buggy cursed as he got closer to her. Columbina was curled into a fetal position, arms wrapped around herself, her breathing labored. One of her knees must've helped to break her fall, a red stain darkening one of the legs of her pajama pants. And her tears kept falling...

Truly, she was a flashily pitiful sight.

"Please stop hurting me..." She kept whispering that plea over and over again, her breathing breaking up into hiccups. Was she still having the nightmare? The pain she was in was tugging at his heartstrings in a way he rarely let himself feel. The thought then jolted into his mind that perhaps if he'd been dreaming about her was she dreaming about him too? Surely he wasn't the one hurting her, was he? Oh, Pink, Buggy's not going to hurt you. I'm going to try to help you, but fuck—I don't know how!

Whatever had happened to her in that dream had left his cotton-candy haired acquaintance a god-damned mess and a half. Buggy groaned, part of him wishing they hadn't left him alone with her. Little had they all known but he clearly wasn't the one who needed looking after. She'd probably just had too much rum. Maybe they just needed to get some water in her. Open the window for a minute. Get her sobered up a bit..Have a candid conversation about what the Hell had just happened after they'd fallen asleep next to one another.

East Blue Fuck, I've known you for a day and a half and you've caused me nothing but trouble. Pink, you've more than earned your place as a Strawhat if you chose to stay here among these shidiots. The thought of having to leave her behind then filled him with a sudden sense of dread. A million thoughts raced through him. What if she actually was in danger? If she died aboard this ship, Luffy and his crew would have no choice but to give Columbina a burial at sea. The image hit him instantly...Her tiny body, lifeless, disappearing forever under the water...

Reason hit him again. She'd clearly just had a bad dream. And dreams didn't kill people. Clearly, that was all that was wrong with her, right?

Okay you body-less asshole. Time to do what you can.

"Daaamn, Pink!" Buggy said as he approached her, "I, uh...Didn't know you were a such a light weight, ha-ha, haaaaa...Um, Pink?" As he got closer to her, Columbina had begun to mutter something else. Buggy listened closely, realizing she was repeating something in a language he couldn't understand. If he didn't know any better it was almost like she was reciting some kind of prayer...

His attempt at humor fell flat, fell far away from the both of them. Buggy himself never prayed to deities. It was a waste of time and never yielded results. An exasperated sigh left him. She was in worse off shape than he thought if she was petitioning some kind of demiurge for help and the universe had presented her with him instead.

He sure as hell wasn't a god. Gods at least were supposed to have better track records of saving people.

Buggy, I'm not Granya. And I can't replace her... What she'd said in the dream echoed in his head as he stared at her. As far as he was concerned Granya had been the other part of his soul. Definitely, no one could take her place. Ever. All the same here Columbina was, something undeniably magnetic about her.