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At the break of dawn, long before the sun had fully risen, the Hurricane Pirates quietly set sail from Orange Town.
Buggy stood on the shoreline, waving with theatrical flair as the Dove disappeared into the horizon. He had gotten what he wanted: three hundred million berries worth of treasure. Aero, in return, had walked away with a Grand Line sea chart and the secret formula for the infamous Buggy Bombs.
Buggy kept waving until the ship became nothing more than a speck on the sea.
For him, that mountain of treasure was more than enough to forget the "unpleasantness" that came with the encounter and enough to justify calling Aero a friend.
Unbeknownst to most, their meeting had once again diverted the original course of the One Piece world. The tide of history was shifting.
Once the ship had vanished from view, Buggy immediately spun on his heel and barked at his crew, "They're gone! What are you all still gawking at?! Get back to training—NOW!"
Though he had come out of the ordeal with his life and wealth intact, Buggy knew deep down he'd been completely outmatched. Aero's power was on another level, and that stung.
But it also lit a fire in his gut.
"No more losing like this," he thought. "Next time, I won't be helpless."
Aero's words from the night before echoed in his mind:
"Without the will to challenge the strong, you'll never become strong yourself."
Buggy clenched his fists.
Back during the scuffle, he'd sent three of his strongest men to test the Hurricane Pirates. They were swatted aside in seconds by Dylan.
His real plan was to lure Aero's crew into the trap in the town square, where his customized Buggy Bomb would wipe them out in one go.
But that too had backfired literally. The bomb was deflected, nearly wiping out his own crew instead.
And when he was captured afterward, he couldn't even fight back.
Buggy now had no illusions. Aero wasn't just some talented rookie. That boy was going to make waves in the Grand Line huge ones.
And next time they crossed paths… Buggy would be ready.
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Out at Sea
The rhythm of life aboard the Dove returned to its usual quiet hum.
Aero sat at the ship's bow, eyes fixed on the endless blue. Gulls hovered above, occasionally landing on the deck in hopes of catching a leaping fish.
Dylan and Gin were still hard at work, training to refine their combat skills.
But the busiest person on the ship?
Eddie.
Normally the laid-back one, Eddie had locked himself in the cabin, buried in charts and maps. He was cross-referencing every detail of the Grand Line sea chart they'd received from Buggy matching it with everything he could find from their library of navigation texts.
The cabin was now cluttered with maps, notebooks, and old sea logs.
Wearing thick-rimmed glasses and hunched over a desk, Eddie looked more like a scholar than a pirate, holding a magnifying glass as he carefully examined every inch of the chart.
It was a sight completely at odds with his usual personality.
He had already confirmed the chart's legitimacy but it had gaps. Dangerous gaps. Missing a reef or two could be a death sentence.
So Eddie continued his work, patching holes in the map and cross-validating every entry.
And once he was done with that?
He still had to begin testing the production method for Buggy's explosive cannonballs. Formulas were one thing, but turning them into functional weapons would take trial and error dozens of failures before they got it right.
Needless to say, Eddie's hands would be full for a while.
The ship felt quieter than usual but not in a bad way. Focused. Calm.
But the Grand Line was a fickle place. The sea could go from calm to chaos in seconds.
And today… that moment was fast approaching.
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Noon – Open Waters
Despite it being midday, the sky had gone pitch-black. Dense mist clung to the air, and low rumbles of thunder echoed through the fog.
Something was wrong.
Aero stood up from his spot at the bow, eyes narrowing at the horizon.
Then came the shout from a crewmate up on the mast:
"Captain! Waterspout dead ahead!"
"Waterspout?!" Aero spun, his instincts screaming.
Sure enough, a towering spiral of water stretched into the clouds, twisting and churning like a living beast. Lightning flickered within it, and the sound of crashing waves grew louder by the second.
Why here?! Why now?!
The massive water tornado loomed over them, a swirling wall of death barreling straight toward the ship.
If they got caught in it, the ship wouldn't survive.
"Hard to port! Full speed! GET US OUT OF HERE!" Aero roared.
From the shore, it would've looked majestic an awe-inspiring force of nature.
From on the ship?
It was pure, soul-crushing terror.
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