#one piece tag | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

scribble-dribble-writes · 8 months

Text

A Lingering Past

<<<Prev(The Bargain) (Sinister plot) Next>>>

Pairing: Buggy x female mermaid reader

Word count: 2000

Warnings: none

Content: Buggy loses you and it breaks him, making him remember the first night he saw you.

Y'all asked for it, here is Buggy pining and longing 🥹😭💖💖💖

---

“I would sure love to help you guys but it’s time I exit stage left.”, Buggy ran off from the chaos of the fight feeling the thrill of finally being put back together.

He had helped the Straw hat pirates more graciously than he would have liked and all that work for nothing in return too. But now that wasn’t the core issue, he scrambled through Arlong Park dodging blows or the possibilities of being lured into a fight because he only had one goal.

He had to find you. His mind relentlessly thinking of you when he was with those bickering kids, that even his incessant sea shaties or jokes weren't giving him relief.

He rubbed the base of his neck, flexed his fingers, the image of that tank you were put in flashing across his mind. For a man having become famous and fearsome all by portraying himself as a fool, his life wasn’t so light hearted or comedic.

The dread crept in, the guilt of his plans going askew and inadvertently causing you pain. He knew his plans always had the tendency to fail and yet in the end he would always profit from it. But this plan of his had failed and as he tirelessly searched for you with a fading hope that somehow he could still be victorious, to find you and get back, it only seemed more unlikely.

But his sick prickled when another image flashed in his mind. Of you in the tank having run out of oxygen because of his delay. He placed a gloved hand over his mouth as he gagged. He hadn’t eaten anything in the last day and a half. So he stopped by the open bar to compose himself when he caught sight of the glass bowl. Somehow seeing it empty only prolonged the anxiety.

He ran to it, unable to believe the new possiblity that was beginning to creep into his mind, that he had be double crossed or cheated. Or maybe in the nugget of belief he held in optimism and everything good, there was also a possibility that you could have escaped. The rise and fall of hope and despair wasn't doing him any good, he began to feel seasick while on land.

Just as he stood there, he recognized one of the henchmen from Arlong’s crew trying to sneak away, the one who was left behind to keep an eye on you. Buggy’s patience had worn out, he needed answers and so he reached out to get them, in his style.

Before the man could run, Buggy extended his arm but let loose his hand towards him. With catapulting speed, he felt his fingers reach for the man’s throat and from where Buggy stood, he willed his hand back to him dragging the henchman along within his closed fingers.

“Where’s my girl?”, his deadly stare bore into the chocking man in his grasp.

He wasn’t willing to give an answer and so his anger flared even further. Buggy rammed the man to the ground, letting his detached hands continue to construct his airways as the fish man tried to escape his hold.

"I ask you a question, I expect an answer.", Buggy gritted his teeth.

He put one foot on the man’s chest and leaned towards his face to see his unrelenting effort at keeping his mouth shut. The veins in his eyes turned red as his throat began to expand. It was now or never, he either got the clue or this man died in the process. But Buggy held on, with what hope he didn’t know.

The henchman tapped his hand on the ground as a sign that he yielded, Buggy let go, his hands snapping back to his arm as he heard the man spit out in a coarse tone.

“Her ransom was paid.”, the man coughed and it caused Buggy to spiral..

“She was never yours.”, he laughed cynically as he looked up at Buggy.

But now Buggy’s rage couldn't be bridled further. They had sold you under some pretext, the failure of his strategy had now caused him to lose the only important person in his life.

He crouched down to level his gaze with the henchman’s.

“What nonsense are you spouting now, gills?”, he sneered knowing well that the red smile on his face didn’t look funny anymore as the man groveling at his feet shifted in fear so to enhance Buggy smiled holding up his blades against his chin.

“The island of Makara had lost its princess when a coup took place twenty five years ago. A mermaid with the same resemblance as your missus.”, the man slurred his words as he held up his hands begging for mercy.

Lost princess? How had he never known?

"She's not my....", Buggy huffed. "Never mind.", he said looking away.

It changed everything. Every time he looked into your eyes, he had a feeling you were more than just what you had settled for. More than what he could offer you.

“What I find funny is that she went willingly. Maybe all she needed was something better than you for her to leave you behind without so much of a thought.”, the man chuckled.

Buggy got up, putting all his pent up frustration into a kick to the fish man’s abdomen. “The funny thing is, I don't need your insight. Stop talking like you knew her.”

“Did you?”, the man grunted and Buggy paused, all this useless talk was working it's way into his head.

The world swirled around him, all the voices in his head coming to life. Some criticising him for having lost someone as valuable as you. His mind concocting ways in which you could have been more pivotal if you held a higher social standing, all the money and information you would have been privy to. But the one that ached the most was the subdued voice of his heart telling him that he had lost you forever. Because now your life could afford you everything he couldn’t.

What had to offer besides his pathetic self?

He knew you, the true you. Would that be enough?

Would that compare to a throne and a kingdom?

Would you have been satisfied with a useless man's love as opposed to gold?

It broke him, the self hatred taking over his body in ways that made him heart collapse. All those nights he held with fondness now ruined by thinking how your skin held an impression of him. Him! A clown of the seas while you were royalty.

With every step he took, the loneliness began to wrap around him, his heart heavy with loss and contention. He was now free to go after the One piece but why did it seem irrelevant now?

His crew, his ship, you, all lost in a matter of days when it took him years to build and find.

It was possible that wherever you were, you hated him now having learnt of what you were actually worth. Everytime you sat by next to him in his Captain’s quarters, trying to piece together the memory of the night you ended up by the cove, he would change the topic. Not because he wanted to prevent you from finding out your heritage, your true home. It was out of a more stupid selfish reason.

If he had known the truth about your past, he would have taken you back to your island himself. But the whole problem was because he could never seem to walk away from you. He balanced on a tightrope in his mind, he wanted to figure out your past but the fear from that was, if you did, you would slip away from his fingers and take with you the only comfort he had in his life, that not even his art couldn’t soothe his pain.

Everything else lost its meaning the moment he erased you from his life.

The night by the cove, as he slipped away from the loud local pub by the docks to hear of the raid that had happened in a nearby town. He had spent a fair time at sea by then, that news like these weren't as surprising. But in order to battle the numbness that he developed through the years of being part of a crew he would look out to the ocean every night, that once gave him joy.

Before he ate the devil fruit, he would frolic in the salty waters. To work off his frustration or take time for himself, to indulge in a swim. His fingers twitched even as he thought of feeling the waves brush against him, muscle memory, it was a part of him, a part of him that had died once he gained this ability of his.

So as he walked by the beach, making sure his feet didn’t touch the waves that splashed against the shore. He heard your voice then, your song, in a language he didn’t understand but his soul did, cause the pain in it was the same he carried. The dark night concealed the sharp rocks so he feared as he climbed over it carefully, afraid that one cut would cause him to turn to pieces to then be washed away.

But he persisted, the only time he worked for something because his heart craved this peace he felt as he heard your singing. All his torment seemed to vanish and that was a relief no amount of his treasures could give him.

And there you were, your long dark brown hair spread around you in the water like the wisps of black smoke that escaped from his cannon balls. Your dark eyes reflecting the clear dark sky he would wish for stars in. Your tailing catching the light as you swirled it anxiously, each scale like studded jewels he could never find in any loot. He was mesmerized as he reached his hand out to you. Not because he wanted to capture you, he wanted to know how it would be like, to touch you.

To his surprise that given his appearance, you waded closer, placing your hand softly into his when he saw your webbed fingers. He inhaled sharply, for so long he had seen ordinary people around him, his nose a hideous thing he could never get past but your fingers, the slight shimmer of scales of your skin.

You were unique and beautiful. Giving him the smallest hope that he maybe he was too, only that no one could see it.

He balanced his feet with great effort, one slip and he would drown in this lagoon. But then he saw a gnash on the side of your tail that could only be caused by a harpoon. You were driven into this rocky place in search of protection.

His heart twitched as he fear faded. You were cast aside and hunted. He held onto your hand firmly, he didn’t have a proper ship yet or a strong enough crew but he was certain of one thing. That he would protect you. He pulled you up but just as he did he watched in awe as your tail transformed into legs, your dress sticking onto your wet skin.

He held you close as he wrapped you within his coat as he let you catch your breath. You rested your head on his chest. You were a teenager just like him, your tan skin so supple he wanted to trace his finger over your cheek. But no one had sought comfort from him, ever.

So now as he watched you steady yourself with your eyes closed as you held onto him, his heart beating in sync with yours. There was nothing more precious than this in the world, his heart felt full for the first time. As his eyes traced your body he saw your wound on your calf and observed with wonder how the water sealed your scars.

The more he saw, the more he began to realize how similar you were to him. That just like him, you sealed yourself back together, over and over. He wrapped his hand around you, here in the dark hidden from every eye, he could let his defenses drop. He knew how hard it was, to always walk away as though nothing had impacted or hurt you. Although neither of your bodies retained the scars, he knew of the scars your heart always remembered.

“Let’s get you home, fishtail.”, he said softly as he carried you. Someone at the pub should know where you had to go, but until then in his arms for these few extra minutes, you were his. He had found you and so took solace in his greatest find that even the one piece could never contend with.

Now all that time he cheated himself to have with you had caught up, to take you from him forever, to forbid him from even trying to approach you. What good would it do if he stormed the gates of your kingdom?

Would you still run to his arms?

You would be queen and he, like the moniker he had chosen for himself, would be the jester.

Fate had a funny way of reminding him where he belonged and as often as he played it off to maintain his appearance as a fearsome pirate, it felt like all the forces had conspired together to play the biggest prank on him. To give him everything he wanted and then rip it away only to laugh at his face.

You had warned him against it, his foolish head stuck in the clouds, and yet he never listened. How stupid, he had let himself to believe a man like him could be blessed to have a life with a woman like you, but it wasn’t to be.

#one piece buggy #buggy thoughts #op buggy #captain buggy #buggy the clown #buggy one piece #buggy #buggy x y/n #buggy x oc #buggy x you #buggy x reader #one piece fan fiction #one piece tag #op fluff #one piece fluff #one piece fanfiction

124 notes · View notes