Chapter 44: Celebrating Your Birthday Alone with You!
Water 7 on the Grand Line. This island, famous throughout the Grand Line for its shipbuilding, saw its already prosperous economy skyrocket with the opening of the Sea Train.
Coming to Water 7, Buggy wasn't planning to visit old Tom, but simply intended to accompany Hancock on the Sea Train to Gourmet Island.
Inside the train car, Buggy was staring intently at Hancock, who was hugging the box containing the Youthful Joy Fruit.
The goddess of his dreams was sitting shyly beside him. At this moment, Buggy still felt as if he were in a dream.
"Brother Buggy, is something wrong?" Feeling too embarrassed from being stared at, Hancock asked Buggy in a small voice with her head lowered.
"Uh, I was just wondering when you plan to eat the Youthful Joy Fruit." Realizing his gaffe, Buggy's face reddened slightly, and he quickly thought of a question to ease the awkward atmosphere.
"I haven't decided yet!" Hancock, whose face was already pink, thought for a moment. After seeming to think of something, her face grew even more radiant as she replied.
"You have plenty of time, you can think about it slowly." Nodding, Buggy didn't urge Hancock to eat the fruit.
"By the way, Brother Buggy, why didn't you just have Brother Bonez bring us directly to Gourmet Island yesterday?" Hancock also changed the subject.
"Bonez deserves some credit for the opening of the Sea Train, and I wanted to experience it for myself. What's wrong, don't you like the Sea Train? Are you not used to it?" Buggy was very concerned about Hancock.
"It's not that, I just thought it was a little strange." Hancock was very happy, feeling Buggy's tenderness towards her.
"Looks like you saw right through me. If I had said we were going directly to Gourmet Island, I wouldn't have been able to shake those two off. Today is your birthday, and I wanted to spend it alone with you, so I took a little detour." Thinking his intentions had been seen through, Buggy directly admitted his little scheme.
"Brother Buggy, thank you!" Hearing such an answer, Hancock, who was about to say something else, felt her heart grow even sweeter.
"As long as you're happy," Buggy replied softly.
A while later, when the Sea Train reached its final stop, Buggy took Hancock to begin the second half of their day's itinerary.
Well, the general itinerary was like this: first, they went shopping and had fun, then they booked out a high-class restaurant to enjoy a sumptuous candlelight dinner, followed by a walk on the beach to cultivate the atmosphere, and finally, they returned to their pre-booked hotel to rest.
What, that's it?
The events after returning to the hotel are forbidden to be described, okay? Well, aside from a "nothing happened" scenario, you can let your imagination run wild.
Having come to the world of One Piece, Buggy had been celibate for ten years. Now that he could finally live and be with the goddess of his dreams, how could he possibly continue to endure?
And what else? Hancock's figure?
Well, it's definitely not as exaggerated as in the anime, but her height of 185cm and measurements of B107, W60, H89 are still there.
Early the next morning, when Buggy opened his eyes and saw Hancock resting her head on his arm, an indescribable sense of satisfaction and pride welled up inside him.
"Wake up, sleepyhead. Open your eyes." Feeling an irregularity in Hancock's breathing, Buggy knew she was already awake.
"Hee hee, good morning, Brother Buggy!" Without the expected coyness, Hancock opened her smiling eyes and greeted him very naturally.
"Morning. Are you hungry? What would you like to eat?" Buggy gently brushed the hair from Hancock's face and asked tenderly.
"Hmm, let's eat the Devil Fruit first!" After speaking, Hancock pulled her hand from Buggy's waist, then took out the box containing the Youthful Joy Fruit from under the pillow.
Opening the box, Hancock took out the Youthful Joy Fruit.
"You're going to eat it now?" Buggy asked, looking at the fruit.
"I want my appearance to be frozen at this moment, the moment after I became Brother Buggy's woman!" With that, Hancock ate the Youthful Joy Fruit.
"It really tastes awful!"
Pulling the bitter-faced Hancock into his arms, Buggy used practical actions in place of a declaration of love.
Three days later, the blissfully shameless couple finally left the hotel and immediately boarded a passenger ship to a nearby island to begin their honeymoon.
As for the other chef on Gourmet Island who was still undergoing training, he had long been selectively forgotten by Buggy.
Three months later, at the plaza of Marineford, the Navy Headquarters, Buggy accompanied Hancock here just to listen to the ringing of the Ox Bell as it rang out the old year and welcomed the new.
As the echoing chimes faded, it also officially marked the end of Buggy and Hancock's honeymoon tour.
It was time to get back on track!
Finding a small sea vessel and adding a few dolls who had no choice but to obey as crew members, Buggy, with Hancock, once again embarked on a journey to find companions.
Although Buggy had only one very clear target this time, it took him a full six months to find them.
There was no helping it. Without Daz Bonez, and without using Moonwalk to travel, a ship relying only on wind power wasn't very fast. It would have been fine if the target stayed in one place, but this guy had a habit of running around everywhere, forcing them to constantly change course to find him. If Hancock hadn't been with him, Buggy would have long since switched to his usual methods of travel.
Six months later, on Jaya Island in the Grand Line, Buggy and Hancock arrived on this island that the Marines couldn't reach.
After circling the entire island and spotting that familiar little boat on a hidden beach, Buggy steered his ship into the port on the other side of the island, then led Hancock into the small town near the port.
As soon as they entered the town, Buggy noticed a large crowd of people running in one direction.
Catching up in a few steps, he grabbed the last person in the crowd and asked, "Hey brother, what's going on? Why is everyone running ahead!"
"What else could be going on? To watch the excitement, of course! Someone is challenging the Great Swordsman, Dracule Mihawk!" After saying that, the man shook off Buggy's hand and quickly ran ahead.
"Brother Buggy, let's hurry over too!" Hancock, standing beside him, was clearly very interested in what the man had said.
"Okay!" Nodding, Buggy took Hancock's hand and quickly chased after the crowd.
Two minutes later, the town square was surrounded three layers deep by the townspeople. In the very center were, naturally, the challenger of the event—a random passerby—and the challenged, the Great Swordsman Dracule Mihawk, dressed in his wanderer's attire.
Standing on the roof of a certain building, Buggy and Hancock were watching the situation in the square with great interest.
(End of Chapter)