Crazy In Love | Buggy

e i g h t y - n i n e

All of the crew gathered around the chest, gawking and talking about the treasure it held inside. Devil fruits were an incredible sight. I had never seen one in real life. They were so bright and beautiful, so weirdly shaped. I wondered in that moment how they tasted. I found myself transported to early on in my journey with Buggy, he had told me all about devil fruits.

What had he said about them? I had to think, but as I did some of the insights he had shared came flooding back into my mind. First of all, he said they were bitter beyond belief. They looked as if they were the tastiest fruits on earth, especially with the beautiful colours. He said that you didn't need to eat the entire fruit, either, which had surprised me.

One bite and swallow was enough to give you the power of the fruit. After that, the rest of the fruit became nothing more than a bad tasting fruit. Lastly, he had told me that one person could only eat one fruit. If someone with devil fruit powers ate a second fruit, it would instantly kill them.

Eyeing them up, I wondered what each power they had would be. Some powers, he had told me, were incredibly useful. There were three categories he said: Logia, Zoan, and Paramecia. These dictated different types of powers. What each one meant, I couldn't exactly remember. I just knew that some powers were god like, whereas others were hardly useful.

I pictured myself leaping at the chest, taking a big bite out of one of the fruits before anyone could stop me. If I did, how long until the powers would kick in? Could I use it immediately? Or did one have to learn to use the power first?

It seemed a dangerous bet to make. I could picture Captain Patella killing me before I even reached the fruits. In fact, that was more likely than me getting lucky enough to even secure a bite. Then, if I did, what if I got a useless power? Still, a useless power was still a power. It was better than nothing.

Patella suddenly flung Buggy's head to the side, as if it was some trash that he had no interest in. I leapt for it, just barely catching him as he smashed against the ground.

Nobody paid any attention to me, or Buggy, anymore. They had their fruits. I considered running with his head but his body was still in the large glass water tank. I watched his body parts, all but his feet, hands, and head, floating lifelessly in the water. Without his body, his head didn't have much chance of surviving. Moreover, there were guards by the door. No, I couldn't escape that way.

Looking down at his head, I felt my heart drop. He looked half dead. No, more than that. Tears welled in my eyes. "Buggy, we need to - "

"I'm going to get you out of here," he told me quietly yet sharply. He had determination in his eyes. I found myself both endeared and confused. Even as he was dying, he was thinking about saving me rather than him. "I'll grab you with my hands and fly you through the hole at the top of the cave."

Instinctively, I looked up. It was high. The idea of being carried up that high, especially by a Buggy who was on the verge of passing out, was daunting. He could drop me. In fact, I wasn't sure if he could carry me half way up before dropping me.

"You can't do that. You're clinging to consciousness. You don't have the strength."

His eyebrows furrowed together. "I don't care. I'll use the last of my strength if I have to."

"You have to keep your strength," I urged, looking down into his eyes as I spoke. His eyes had lost all colour and life. It was like looking in the eyes of a corpse. "We have to get your body out of the tank - "

"We won't be able to. I'm going to die, Betty, it's inevitable - "

Tears spilt straight out of my eyes and down my cheeks. I physically gagged and choked at the idea of Buggy dying. I couldn't live without him. I just couldn't. I sobbed, clutching his head close to my body.