Worm Piece (Worm/One Piece)

Chapter Eighteen

It took Taylor all of a minute to explain what she was seeing to Zoro.

"Well then," he said as he pulled a sword an inch out of its sheath then dropped it back in as if checking to make sure it wouldn't stick. "Let's go free our captain."

"Your captain, and you seem like you're going in with fighting in mind," Taylor said. "Have you considered not fighting some sixty pirates with just two of us?"

"I could take them."

"Famous last words," Taylor growled. "Look, even if we could take them all--and I'm not saying we can't, they look like normals and they don't usually do so well against huge tides of bugs-- we're still outnumbered thirty-plus to one. Let's try talking first."

"Tch. Fine, have it your way. It's not like I was going to sneak up to them anyway. I was just going to walk up and start swinging. Now I just need you to fail before that. No real change."

She dug her elbow into his stomach to no avail and started walking.

They were spotted when they were halfway down the street, a couple of younger pirates who were drinking and chatting pausing as they saw the pair walking towards them.

She wondered what they thought. She was still wearing what were essentially the ragged remains of her costume and Zoro was carrying three swords by his hip. A swarm buzzed around her, not the random flitting of bugs looking for a meal, but coordinated wings of insects flying in tight V-formations and circular blobs that orbited around them like planets around a sun.

"H-hey hey, who are you?" one of them asked as he moved over. He looked a little less tipsy than his friends but still had a drink sloshing in a mug by his side.

"We are here to speak with your captain," the swarm said.

His drink hit the ground with a splash. "Oh shit."

She raised one eyebrow. "Today."

"Oh, right, yes! I'll... I'll go tell Captain Buggy, wait here!"

They watched the boy scamper off then turned to look each other in the eye. "You're giving them time to prepare," Zoro said.

"Then let's ruin that," she said as she started moving. "I know where their captain is."

Zoro muttered something under his breath but she dutifully ignored him. Pirates of every sort were looking around as her swarm moved into the bar and started gathering around the lip of the roof. It took some shoving and elbowing to make it through the dinghy bar and up onto the roof where most of the revellers were, but they got there in time to see the guard gesturing wildly in front of a throne.

Captain Buggy was just as strange as the rest of his crew.

Taylor inspected him with her own eyes as she came to a stop some dozen feet away, Zoro by her side and a mantle of bugs around her. He was laying back, a goblet of what looked like wine held in one hand and a cape draped over his body to hide most of his features.

He had the aire of a clown. A huge red nose, make-up that made him paler and a pirate's costume in garish colours. "I can see that," he told his guard. "They've come up already. Rather brave of them really," he said.

"Hello, Buggy the Clown," Taylor's swarm said from around her. She nodded, to indicate that she was the one speaking.

A few pirates fell on their rears at the sound of her swarm, but Buggy kept his cool. "And hello to you too," he said with a wide grin. "How can I help you this fine afternoon young miss and... if I'm not mistaken, Roronoa Zoro? Has the famous pirate hunter found himself a partner?"

"I'm not here for your bounty," Zoro said. "And she's not my partner."

Taylor didn't know why that last one stung so much, but she set it aside. "You captured a boy recently. Monkey D. Luffy. We want him back."

"Oh hey, it's Zoro and Taylor!" Luffy said from within his cage. "Hey guys! Look, I found a navigator for our crew!"

Taylor closed her eyes and let out a sigh. "I'm not part of your crew, idiot. I just don't want to see you dead."

"Ah, I'm afraid I can't have that," Buggy said. There was a glint of something dark in his eyes. "See, that boy is our entertainment for the night! We can't just let you have him!"

***

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