#competent!buggy

Like i'm really starving for it huhuhu it's been a long time since i read a good one. And I've been rereading ffs for months HAHHAHAHA

Anything will do! You can recommend based on the tags but there are just some ships (not on the tags) i don't read at all.

And i would just like to avoid smut/lemons 😶 but i guess you can recommend it too, i'll read it if i can.

I'm not that into AUs but if it's really intriguing or I'm really curious, I'll read it.

It can be a one-shot, short, or long.

Angst, fluff, dark, found family, Comedic, Romance, hurt, comfort, redemptions, fix-it, canon divergent, alternative outcome, time travel, reaction-fic, etc.

Imagine: a kid that grew up on Roger's ship. Someone who wasn't as strong physically, but was smart and damn did they love Roger. Because you can't convince me Roger wasn't a father to the two of them. And maybe Buggy was finally ready to see things from Roger's point of view, but then Roger's head rolled in logue town and no one else but Shanks cared about the scared little boy that couldn't swim.

Imagine this kid who watched Roger slaughter armies, who could never measure up and was always laughed at for being scared. Imagine the fucking trauma.

And imagine, maybe he was never trying to kill the kids. Because he must have spent years on the grandline, and would Roger really have let his kids be without haki? With the enemies they fought regularly? And actually, fuck that and just ask yourself, do you really think someone who watched their captain be beheaded on that platform really take up the role of executioner in that very spot?

(illustration by the amazing @envy-soda )

Chapter 19: Wherever I may roam On land or sea or foam You will always hear me singing this dong Show me the way to go home

Summary:

Shanks allows himself half a moment to watch as the ocean starts to swallow the sinking island. Half a moment to reassure himself that the Marines are definitely leaving, fleeing away from them and from the sinkhole trying to drag everything to the bottom of the ocean.

Half a moment, and then he turns around, and his eyes finally meet Buggy’s and fuck but his friend looks wretched and it makes Shanks wants to destroy Marineford a second time, makes him want to go back to that Marine ship and slaughter Monkey D. Garp in the most painful way possible, because he hurt Buggy and that is not something Shanks will ever tolerate, not now not then not ever, but Buggy is right there and his shaking even if no one else has noticed it yet and there’s a wild desperate look in his eyes and his skin is three shades too pale, so Shanks boxes it all in, the anger and the rage and the fury, because Buggy needs him to be right here with him and not miles away making Garp regret all his life choice, needs him to be his rock and keep him from drowning and Buggy will always, always take precedence.

___________________________________________________________

Hey everyone! This chapter is slightly later than planned - Shanks had A LOT to say and also refused to let go of Buggy. So the plot doesn't actually advances that much in this chapter :/ Sorry! On the plus side, more hugging time and Protective!Shanks! And the next Crocus chapter is going to be new material only, since it will focus on the Oro Jackson's journey to the meeting point!

This chapter is also late compared to me answering you guys amazing comments, because the coffee shop I was writing in closed at 6, the second coffee shop at 8, the McDonalds I settled down at for supper hoping to use their wifi to post had wifi trouble, and the wifi at the cinema where I was waiting for my family to show up for "Red Joan" worked for my phone but not for my computer. Everything was against me today xD

As usual, this chapter is tagged for Bring Your Own Tissues, FEELS, and co-dependent Buggy-and-Shanks. Violent on-screen character death, but it's STILL Blackbeard, so who gives a damn? (i got to kill him on screen three times, it's very satisfying) Added tags for this chapter: Shanks' anger issues, Protective!Shanks, Shanks really wants to kill someone, preferably Monkey D. Garp.

Also, I wasn't kidding when I say Shanks had a lot to say. This chapter is over 10.700 words long. Please make sure you stay hydrated, keep a tissue box nearby, and bring your own snacks!

My draft outlines:

Buggy will never admit to missing the Grandline, not even to himself. Though it isn’t truly the Grandline he misses. Buggy stares up at the execution scaffold. He misses Captain Roger. He misses being Shanks-and-Buggy, Buggy-and-Shanks. Hell he misses the rare occasion Rayleigh would deign to train him instead of focusing on Shanks, even after Buggy decided to focus on knives. He misses the days when he thought Captain was right-- nakama are all you need.

But Roger’s head hit the ground in Logue Town. In the same town square Buggy stands in now. And Buggy isn’t dumb! Garp did not catch Roger. Buggy knew better, but he reached out with his haki before the blades came down. Roger was weak, but not enough to have lost. Not yet. And Buggy was too close; Captain’s head rolled, that all encompassing warmth ended with a whisper. The ringing silence worse even than the Edd War for how close Buggy was holding him. The brightest signature in the square ended and Buggy choked convinced his had too. Buggy pushed out of the square unable to see through the tears.

Of course that was five years ago and now Buggy is sprinting, ducking through alleyways and cursing himself for being so caught up in memories that he didn’t notice the marine’s magma bastard in time to slip away without being recognized. Though Buggy does toss a quick thanks to Davy Jones that it isn’t the light bastard who is too quick for Buggy to outrun. Buggy can feel the fresh burn on his back that is almost certain to scar. Buggy speeds up when he sees the end of the alleys; wider streets mean he needs even more of a head start to stay out of sight. At the last moment he changes his mind, jumping towards the dumpster instead. Buggy holds his haki signature even tighter staying hidden until his pursuer has gone too far to sense him. Buggy gets up, stands in the little alleyway a few meters away from some random Logue Town street on the fifth anniversary of his father’s his captain’s Roger’s execution and he is angry. 

He remembers the day Roger declared he was leaving-- begging Roger to reconsider, he knew what Roger meant now, Buggy could be good, Buggy could fight for nakama instead of treasure. He remembers Roger’s stupid smile, “You’ll find other nakama to fight for, it doesn’t have to be the Roger Pirates.” Remembers the times Rayleigh told him to stop being a cry baby. Remembers the promise that Shanks-and-Buggy made: to train and return on the anniversary to start their own crews together. Remembers five years without the barest hint of Shanks Haki. Remembers the new bounties labeled Akagami Kaizoku.