Chapter 302: The Portgasses
After partying for some hours, Buggy leaves the village with Belle & their daughters. They go to the forest after Buggy gave instructions to Cricket. Buggy has asked where Rouge lived and Makino's father told him it is in Dadan's place, just like what he thought.
Of course, Makino's father didn't just tell him because they know each other. It's because Rouge has told him that if there's a boy named Buggy with a red nose searching for her, then he needs to tell Buggy her location, and Makino's father has just remembered it when Buggy asked.
Anyway, now Buggy & his family are walking in the forest. There are some wild animals looking at them but none dare to approach. Animals have a better sense of danger than humans, so they know how dangerous Buggy is and don't dare to approach.
After going around for a while, they finally find Dadan's mountain bandit's hideout. There are some people who are running outside. They aren't just running to train their bodies, they are chasing a little boy who holds some gold in his hands.
"ACE, YOU BRAT, STOP PLAYING WITH THOSE THINGS!" shouts a fat middle-aged woman with long curly orange hair.
"Ooh, so that's Dadan, and that little guy is Ace," says Buggy while watching the show.
A moment later, a woman in a wheelchair comes out of the house. It's Rouge who now can't walk since she gave birth to Ace. But at least she is alive because of Manba's treatment, so she can live with her son even though she can't walk again.
"Ace, stop playing, let's eat," says Rouge with a lot of affection.
Ace stops immediately and throws the gold to the ground before running to his mom. The bandits immediately jump to collect their hard-earned gold.
"What will we eat today?" asks little Ace.
"Vegetable soup," says Rouge while smiling.
Ace looks disappointed so he complains, "Eeh, I want to eat meat."
"Vegetables are also important, so you need to eat them too. But you are free to stay hungry for today if you don't want to eat the soup," says Rouge teasingly.
But Ace takes it seriously and he panics instantly because he knows his mother will really not give him any food if he doesn't eat the vegetable soup. So he rushes inside to eat the vegetable soup even though he wants meat. His mother's soup is delicious, so he doesn't hate it, he just prefers meat.
Rouge wants to follow Ace inside, but then Buggy approaches her. "You look healthier than the last time I saw you, Rouge."
Rouge turns around and sees Buggy. It surprises her but she's also happy seeing him. "Little Buggy, you came, it's been 3 years since I saw you."
"Pfft! Little Buggy," says Belle while giggling, followed by Nojiko & Nami, making Buggy gets embarrassed.
"Why do you call me 'Little Buggy' all of a sudden? I am a grown man, just use that 'Little' title on your son," says Buggy rather pissedly.
Rouge just giggles, so Buggy knows that she was just teasing him. Buggy sighs before he introduces Belle & the kids to Rouge. She is very surprised to know that Buggy already has a family now and she congratulates him.
Rouge invites Buggy's family to enter the house, which makes them get some stares from the bandits. This is still their hideout, but Rouge & Ace really make it their own and act as they like. She is really Ace's mother & Roger's lover, she acts similar to them.
Inside, they see Ace is eating his mother's cooking. He looks at them and then stares at Buggy's nose for a while before resuming his eating. Rouge introduces Buggy & his family but he doesn't look interested so he just nods.
Buggy & Bellemere don't really mind it while Nami doesn't understand it yet. But Nojiko doesn't take it lightly because Ace is very disrespectful to the guests. So she approaches Ace and starts to nag him.
"Hey! You need to say something when your mother is introducing someone to you. At least state your own name, we are guests here. You aren't mute, right? So say something," nags Nojiko.
Ace is still not interested, so he scoffed, "Hmph, why should I talk to you? You're my mom's guests, not mine."
Nojiko can't believe what she has just heard, so she gets angry and nags Ace again. Ace is still not interested but he responds to her with irritating answers. The adults are just watching their banters in amusement without any intention to stop them.
Ace finally finishes his meal and says, "Ah, so noisy. A weak girl like you can only use your mouth to talk."
"Huh? What'd you say?" asks Nojiko angrily.
"I say you are weak," says Ace while smirking, this brat is really irritating as a kid.
Nojiko also gets irritated, "Then, why don't I show you this weak girl's strength? Let's fight. You aren't afraid of this weak girl, right?"
Ace sees Nojiko's smirk and gets pissed, so he accepts her challenge. This hot-headedness is so Ace. It is one of the factors that killed him in the War on Marineford, after all. If he didn't get taunted by Sakazuki's provocation, he might've survived that war.
Anyway, Ace & Nojiko have agreed to fight, so they go outside. Rouge asks Buggy if it will be alright and he tells her that she doesn't need to worry about Nojiko, she should be worried about Ace instead, and Belle nods at it.
It confuses Rouge, but she finds out the reason soon afterward. Ace & Nojiko seem equal at first, which surprises Rouge & the bandits. They have seen Ace's growth and he is strong for a 3 y.o, so seeing a girl his age be as strong as him is surprising.
But it's normal because Buggy has trained Nojiko with effective training like Bellemere, for kids standard, of course. Nojiko also has better techniques than Ace, so she starts to dominate the battle soon, and in the end, she defeats Ace.
Ace is quite shocked by his defeat but it's actually not that surprising. He never really gets any training and only has good strength at his age. So at most, he can only brawl wildly, while Nojiko has been trained by The Clowns even if it's just for a few months.
"A fight between 3 y.o kids is actually quite interesting. Maybe we should hold a tournament for it," says Buggy out of the blue.
Bellemere hits his head because of his crazy & stupid idea before sighing. "Do you think that 3 y.o kids are normally like them? They will cry the moment they get hit by other kids. Besides, their parents won't allow it like us."
"... You have a point," says Buggy while nodding.
Rouge is stunned by their conversation and says, "You two are quite strange, aren't you?"
Buggy & Bellemere just tilt their heads as they watch Rouge approaches Ace & Nojiko. She stops their bout and tells them to be nice to each other while lecturing them. Ace doesn't even have time to be disappointed and Nojiko can't even celebrate her win because of Rouge's long lecture.
Both kids look at each other before nodding and have a handshake. They hug each other's shoulders while acting all friendly all of a sudden. Their only goal is just to make Rouge stops her lecture, and it works, which makes them relieved.
Buggy knows what these 2 brats think, which makes him quite dumbfounded. But he doesn't care much as long as they stop their useless fighting. Now, they can finally do more important things.
"Oh yeah, Buggy, you have made quite a name for yourself on Grandline, aren't you?" asks Rouge as she turns around from the kids, which relieves them.
"Well, it just happened," says Buggy while shrugging his shoulders.
"Hehe, you've grown a lot stronger. The last time I saw you, you were in very bad shape after getting beaten black & blue by Garp. But just in 3 years, you have reached such a level. Oh, right, what about the others?" asks Rouge.
Buggy smiles and says, "They are waiting for you on the coast. Let's go there."
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