A week had passed since the "Davy Back Beatdown," as Cabaji had started calling it.
The clouds were still endless, the air still thin, and the Big Top's decks were a chaos of mismatched laughter and shouting.
The Mad Monk's once-fierce crew had blended into Buggy's circus of lunatics better than anyone expected.
Well almost blended.
On one side of the main deck, half a dozen of Urouge's monks were doing push-ups with Buggy's men clinging to their backs, yelling encouragement and insults in equal measure.
"Come on, you big oafs!" Mohji barked. "Show us that those muscles aren't for show!"
"Don't act as if that belly of yours is for anything other than holding snacks!" one monk shot back, grinning through his push-ups.
Hurtful, but warranted. Mohji had started slacking off and eating more after getting his Devil Fruit… at least he was training it.
Cabaji sat nearby, juggling knives with practiced precision. One monk tried to mimic him, failed spectacularly, and ended up with a blade buried in the deck between his toes. The monk blinked, shrugged, and kept practicing.
Across the deck, Robin watched the scene unfold with her usual serene amusement, a book in one hand, tea in the other.
Buggy leaned beside her against the railing, grinning ear to ear as his two palms rested behind his head. "Well, would you look at that? My boys are finally learning teamwork."
Robin didn't even look up. "It looks more like they're trying to kill each other."
"Eh, same difference," Buggy said, waving it off. "Nothing says friendship like a bit of mutual suffering."
She sipped her tea, her tone soft and teasing. "You have a very… unique definition of camaraderie, Captain."
Buggy's grin widened. "That's because I'm a visionary."
Meanwhile, on the far end of the deck, Urouge sat cross-legged, eyes closed, meditating amid the noise. His massive frame was still bandaged in places, but his pride was perfectly intact, and as radiant as ever.
He could still hear Buggy's laugh echoing from that day. The sound of the ship splitting cleanly in half. The humiliating realization that he'd been utterly outclassed.
And yet… the clown hadn't killed him. Hadn't even injured him much. Instead, he'd offered him a place aboard his ship.
Urouge's eyes opened slowly, his voice deep and even. "Someone this notorious is showing mercy. The world truly has gone mad."
One of his men, a younger monk polishing his club nearby, chuckled nervously. "Captain, uh, ex-captain? -Maybe it's not so bad. These pirates… they're strange, but they aren't cruel."
Urouge's lips twitched. "Strange is one word for it."
He stood, towering over the deck like a statue carved from iron. His wings fluttered once in the thin air.
He looked around, watching his men laugh with the pirates who had defeated them.
A fair bet, he reminded himself. A Davy Back Fight, the oldest pirate tradition. Even monks had honor to uphold.
He clenched a fist. "So be it. If I am to serve under a fool, I will at least make sure he earns the title of captain."
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A few hours later, Buggy was at it again. training, or what he claimed was training.
Half of Urouge's shattered ship now rested on the cloud sea beside the Big Top, tethered by thick ropes and repurposed as Buggy's personal gym.
The sight was absurd.
Buggy lay on his back beneath a massive slab of hull, arms shaking violently as he tried to finish a set of 30, bench-pressing what had once been the monk's main deck.
His legs kicked in the air as he screamed through his teeth.
"GRAAAAAHHHH -who designed this thing?! It weighs more than my ego!"
Cabaji and Mohji were nearby, taking notes with faces that clearly didn't know whether to be impressed or terrified.
"Is this even training?" Mohji asked. "He's going to pop his arms off-"
As if on cue, Buggy's left arm detached with a pop, floating lazily in the air while the rest of his body groaned under the pressure.
Robin, reading on the sidelines, didn't even blink. "I believe that's part of the routine."
"Of course it is!" Buggy yelled, still pushing. "No pain, no gain!"
The deck creaked. His face turned purple.And then, finally, his chest gave out.
The slab of wood came crashing down-
-only for Buggy's body to explode apart in a shower of limbs and confetti.
He reformed neatly to the side, catching the edge of the ship piece with his disembodied arms before it fell fully.
"See?" Buggy said, panting and grinning. "Perfect execution! Now for squats!"
Urouge had been watching silently for the past few minutes. His men had long given up trying to understand the clown's version of logic.
But the monk finally sighed and stepped forward, his shadow falling across Buggy.
"You're insane," Urouge said simply.
Buggy beamed. "That's Captain Insane to you, rookie."
Urouge ignored that. "You fight like a circus freak, talk like a fool… and yet you train harder than most monks I've known."
"Of course I do!" Buggy said, wiping sweat from his brow. "You think this glamorous body maintains itself? I'm a performer, not some lazy pirate who just drinks all day!"
Urouge folded his massive arms. "Still… It's strange. I lost to someone physically weaker than me. And yet-" His voice dropped slightly. "-I can't deny I respect you for it."
Buggy blinked, then smirked. "Careful, big guy. You sound almost like you're warming up to me."
"Don't push your luck, clown," Urouge said, but there was a faint, reluctant grin on his lips. "You may have beaten me in combat, but don't expect me to call you captain."
Buggy clapped him on the shoulder. "Oh, I'm not asking for worship. Just obedience and undying loyalty!"
Urouge stared.
Buggy laughed. "Relax, I'm joking! Mostly."
After a moment, Urouge chuckled, a deep, thunderous sound that rolled across the deck.He knelt beside Buggy, grabbed the edge of the ship slab, and began lifting it with both arms, veins bulging on his arms as he grunted and started doing bicep curls with it.
Buggy's eyes widened. "Show-off."
"You started it," Urouge said calmly, beginning a slow set of presses.
Buggy smirked, crouched beside him, and began squatting with the other side."Fine. Let's make it a contest then."
Robin watched from afar, an amused smile tugging at her lips. "It appears they've found common ground."
Cabaji groaned. "Yeah, and it's made of wood and stupidity."
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The days that followed were filled with more laughter, more training, and more noise than the White Sea had likely heard in decades.
Even Robin, ever the quiet one, found herself smiling more often as she cataloged the strange mix of discipline and madness that Buggy's crew radiated.
But peace, as always, was fleeting.
By the seventh day, the White Sea around them began to shift. The horizon bent and rippled, and the clouds ahead thinned until they could see the endless sky stretching below.
Robin was the first to notice. "Captain… the sea ends there."
Buggy peered over the bow, frowning. The cloud-sea's edge was a sheer drop, a vast waterfall of vapor tumbling into the blue abyss below.
"End of the line, huh?" Buggy muttered.
Urouge joined him, squinting. "Strange. Even though I'm born of the sky, I can't read these currents. The Sea of Clouds moves with the winds, unpredictable and wild."
"So, what you're saying is…" Buggy began.
"That I have no idea where we are," Urouge finished bluntly.
"Well, that's just great." Buggy scratched his head. "We've lost our way, our log pose is shitting itself, and the eternal pose to Alabasta isn't that useful without a proper map..."
The makeshift map created using bits and pieces of marine intel and Buggy's memory of the show was not as accurate as one would want it to be.
After all, there were 7 strings of islands in Paradise, the Straw Hats had only gone on one of them...
Needless to say, they had gone off course.
A sudden gust of wind roared past, tearing at the sails. The entire ship lurched forward.
Robin grabbed the rail, eyes widening. "Captain!"
The White Sea itself shifted beneath them, the cloud currents twisting and pulling like whirlpools. In seconds, the Big Top was sliding, no, falling, toward the edge.
"Buggy!" Cabaji shouted. "We're going down!"
The ship tipped nose-first, the horizon tilting wildly.Men screamed. Crates tumbled. The monks clung to the masts, praying loudly.
Buggy, however, didn't scream. He didn't even flinch.
He sighed. "Tch. Figures."
As the ship began to drop, he darted toward the side, detached his arms, and started throwing the massive half-ship he'd been training with overboard.
"Less weight, more float! Come on, you clowns, move!"
The floating dials on the hull whined and sputtered as the ship plunged into freefall. The regular clouds below loomed closer, thicker, then broke apart as the vessel tore through them.
Robin held onto the railing, her hair whipping in the wind. "Captain, we're going to crash!"
Buggy grinned. "Not if I can help it!"
He leapt from the deck, scattering midair in a flurry of limbs. His hands and feet shot out beneath the ship, pressing against the hull. The air screamed around him as he pushed with everything he had.
The dials flared to life. The ship's descent slowed.
Then slowed more.
Until finally, it stopped falling, drifting instead like a lazy balloon.
The crew erupted into cheers.
"Phew! We did it!"
"We didn't do shit! Captain did it!"
"Who cares?! We're alive!"
Even Urouge looked impressed. "Hmph. You continue to surprise me, clown."
Buggy's disembodied head floated back up onto the deck, floating midair as his body still held the ship up. "Please. I'm full of surprises. The world just hasn't caught up yet."
But his smirk faded the moment he looked down through the clouds below.
Beneath them, barely visible through the mist, was a sprawling fortress of gray stone and iron.
Rows of cannons. The Marine insignia fluttering proudly on high banners.
Buggy's eye twitched.
"Oh, for fuck's sake…" he muttered, deadpan. "Are all pirates fated to land on marine bases after falling from the sky?!"
Robin exhaled softly. "Seems destiny has a sense of humor."
Buggy groaned. "Yeah, well, so do I. Thankfully, mine is better!"
The ship drifted lower, the Marines below already scrambling like ants.
Buggy cracked his knuckles, his grin returning.
"Alright, boys… let's give these Navy dogs a front-row seat to the greatest circus on earth."
The crew roared in laughter and panic alike as the Big Top descended from the heavens like a gaudy red comet, ready to turn yet another disaster into a circus act.
"Prepare to make a showman's entrance!"