Two days, only two days had passed since they had left that island, where they had stocked up on some supplies, and now they found themselves once again in the same situation as at the beginning.
"¡I'm starving!" complained Luffy in a weak tone.
"That's why I said we had to ration the food! Instead, you ate everything in one night!" shouted Oliver angrily.
"That's because he eats too much," said Zoro.
"You're the same. You drank all the alcohol we had in no time," scolded Oliver.
"I had to drink something," replied Zoro.
"Luckily, we still have some fruit left to last a bit," said Oliver, taking out a fruit and eating it.
Suddenly, their stomachs all growled from hunger, so they lay back in the boat.
"Hope we can survive."
The three looked up at the sky, where a shadow passed over them.
"¡A bird?!" shouted Oliver, knowing what that meant.
"Let's eat it!" suggested Luffy with a smile.
"What? How are we going to do that?" asked Zoro.
"I'll take care of it. ¡Gomu Gomu no Rocket! (Rubber Rubber Rocket)"
Luffy grabbed the boat's mast, stretching his arms before propelling himself toward the big bird flying in the sky.
"He's insane," said Zoro, watching him fly.
"I don't get how he has energy when he hasn't eaten," said Oliver.
Both watched as Luffy got stuck when the bird grabbed him by the head.
"¡¡AAAAHHHH!! ¡¡HELP!!" screamed Luffy in terror.
"¡¡IDIOT!!" shouted Zoro.
"¡HAHAHA!" Oliver started laughing when he saw Luffy trapped.
"Stop laughing and grab a paddle!"
"Sorry, sorry, but it's just funny seeing him like that after eating everything."
Both grabbed the oars and started rowing as fast as they could to try to reach Luffy.
"Row faster!"
"What do you think I'm doing?!"
As they rowed, Luffy got farther and farther away.
"Hey! It's a ship!"
"Hey! Please, stop!"
People started shouting ahead of them.
"There's people ahead?! Right now?"
"If you want to be saved, get on the boat! If not, we'll run you over!"
"¡¡WHAT?!!" screamed the people, panicking.
So Oliver and Zoro kept rowing at full speed, ready to run them over, and luckily the people managed to climb aboard their ship.
"Hehehe, they made it! Not bad!" said Zoro with a smile, keeping his eyes on Luffy.
"Didn't think they'd manage that," said Oliver.
"¡WERE YOU PLANNING TO KILL US?!" shouted the three pirates angrily.
The three were relieved that the others had climbed aboard, but then everyone started drawing their weapons.
"Stop the boat. We're pirates from the Buggy the Clown Crew. We're taking this boat..."
"Huh?" Oliver and Zoro glared at them.
A few minutes later, Buggy's pirates were the ones rowing the boat, completely beaten up after a clear thrashing.
"Jojojojo. We didn't know you were Pirate Hunter, Zoro! And that you were accompanied," said one of the pirates apologetically, hands together, sweating nervously.
"Because of your clowns, we've lost sight of our nakama. Anyway, keep rowing straight ahead..." said Zoro, still annoyed.
"If anything happens to our Captain, I'll throw you off the boat with your hands and feet tied," said Oliver.
"¡¡Y-Yes, sir!!" shouted the three frightened pirates.
'It still went how it should. Could it be that island is something they never showed in the anime or manga?' thought Oliver.
"By the way, why were you adrift?" asked Zoro.
"I'LL TELL YOU WHY! Thanks for reminding us!" said one of the pirates.
"It was that girl!"
"Yeah! She's a demon!"
"But really hot!"
They started explaining how they had just finished raiding a ship full of treasure when they saw another boat with a woman passed out.
They went closer to check on her, and the woman told them she had shipwrecked without any supplies and would give them her treasure if they helped her.
They agreed, so they boarded her ship to see the treasure, but in a moment of carelessness, she boarded their ship instead and sailed away without leaving them any treasure.
They tried to go after her when a storm came and destroyed their ship, leaving them stranded in the middle of the sea, unable to return to their crew.
"And that's what happened!"
"Terrible, right?"
"Incredible, that girl must know the sea and weather really well. She'd make an amazing navigator, don't you think?" said Zoro, surprised.
"Then we should find her and see if Luffy accepts her," said Oliver.
"I swear! If I find her, I'll kill her!"
"First we have to get our loot back."
"If we return empty-handed, Buggy-sama will be furious!"
The pirates were terrified of what their Captain would do to them once they got back.
"Who's this Buggy guy you keep talking about?" asked Zoro, clueless.
"He's the Captain of the Buggy Pirates. He's got a bounty of 15 million belly and is known as Buggy the Clown," said Oliver.
"How do you know that?" asked Zoro.
"I know several pirates with high bounties in the East Blue. Better to know potential enemies than not," said Oliver.
"He's the Captain of our Pirate Crew. He ate a Devil Fruit. Either way, he's a dangerous man," said one of the pirates.
"A Devil Fruit?" said Zoro, curious.
"Just like Luffy," said Oliver.
At that moment, a mission appeared for Oliver.
[Mission: Defeat the Buggy Pirates]
[Reward: 15,000,000 Belly]
Oliver's eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw how much belly he could earn by defeating Buggy.
'That's a lot of belly. I could get several Devil Fruits if I beat him,' thought Oliver with a small grin.
"Hey, hurry up and row. Our Captain might be in danger."
The Buggy Pirates started rowing at full speed to reach Orange Town as soon as possible.
--
--
After almost 30 minutes, they finally arrived at Orange Town.
"We've arrived, Mr. Zoro, Mr. Oliver," said the pirates.
"Is the town empty? I don't see anyone on the streets," asked Zoro.
"That's right, sir," they replied.
"The truth is, the town has been taken over by Captain Buggy," answered one of the pirates.
"Well, can you take us to Buggy? I'll ask him about our Captain," said Zoro.
"I don't think that'll be too hard," said Oliver.
In the distance, an explosion echoed.
"I'm pretty sure if we head that way, we'll find Buggy—and maybe Luffy," said Oliver.
"Then let's go."
Thus, Oliver and Zoro entered Orange Town to look for Luffy, who might—or might not—be there.
And in his mind, Oliver was excited that he would finally meet the Navigator of the Future King of the Pirates, the one capable of doing things no other navigator in the seas could.
'Hope I don't run into anything different in this place.'