Chapter 104: Some Repercussions Of Near Death

When I was working on readying the ship to sail off, I was stopped by Rem grabbing my wrist. I turned to see both Rem and Taki shaking a little, looking to me for answers.

"B-b-buggy, what was t-that?"

"Oh.. um.. thaaaaat? It was just.. some attacks?"

I wasn't convinced by my own thought, but I didn't have any other answer.

"Just.. some.. attacks? JUST some attacks? Just SOME attacks? THEY DESTROYED THAT!"

Rem let go of my wrist, distraught, and threw her arms to point to either side of the ship.

"THAT WAS NOT JUST 'SOME' ATTACKS! WHO'S STRONG ENOUGH TO DO THAT?"

That was a good question, something I could actually answer. I somehow ended up in a partial Zen Mode before I answered.

"Well, have you been to the New World? Or.. even heard of some of the things that happen there?"

It didn't make things better, or even worse when I asked, as Rem dropped her arms to her sides. Drooping her head, she responded with "...N-no..." And then lifted her head back up "But.. still! Those were... just some attacks?"

"Yes. Well, no. They were a test, really. If they were the real thing, I think I may have only needed a couple punches to destroy the whole thing, and not have a need to cut it. That IS if I was serious, but.. I wasn't. And cutting it in half? I don't know what that was about. I'd have to consult myself about it."

From behind me, someone voiced a question.

"What do you mean.. 'consult myself'?"

I turned to find Rosalina, dragging Djane along with her.

"It's just some weird thing I have. Unlike you.. and Rem.. and Djane there.. while you each once upon a time represented a personality trait, I basically have those traits as other.. personalities? I mean.. I still AM able to be myself with all of them, but I have alternate personality traits that have a personality attached to them."

I just stood there explaining this, and then I confused myself, and I could tell that it showed.

"I.. I think. Hmm. I think that's what I mean? I couldn't tell you if it was right or not, you'd have to ask Mora about it."

'But would that be the best? Could they even come into contact with them? And wait.. wouldn't it be a better choice to redirect them to the actual deity that gave me it?'

"Hmmm. You know what? Don't ask.. actually. I think I'm doing it again. Trying to keep the trust you all have...? Using.. truth? Like I did with you, Rosa. When you learned I wasn't the original Buggy."

She nodded, an eyebrow raised, questioning if there was more to it.

"I think I started to do it subconsciously, like a response to keep you guys from not trusting me? You can tell if I'm lying or not.. right?"

Rosalina and Djane nodded in unison, Rosalina voicing an actual answer.

"While we can indeed tell if you are lying or not, it is through how your soul changes color. With your soul, when you do not lie, it doesn't change color from white. If it is gray, you did not tell the whole truth, but you were not lying, and your soul has done that, but never showed me that you lied. Except for the fact that you say it was just attacks. And when you said it was just a test, it was gray, which told me you did not tell the whole truth."

'Where was this ability before? Was it what she used when interrogating me before? That's something I didn't think would be possible by someone here in this world, but I guess I was wrong.'

I backed up to face all four of them, noticing three of them anticipating a reason or the whole truth, and the other just thinking off to the side.

"Well, if you must know, I just wanted to see how strong I had become, which I can assume was why my soul showed that I wasn't exactly telling the whole truth. But.. thanks to you, Rem and Taki being a little shook after I nearly accidentally caused us death.. I didn't expect it. In all honesty. I saw it, thought of a punching bag, and just wanted to test how strong I had become, and test my new arm. It worked REALLY well, by the way."

I snapped my fingers into a point towards Djane when I talked about my new arm, and he just nodded at it.

"So, you accidentally almost killed us because you wanted to test something?"

"Yes."

Rosalina just sighed heavily at my quick answer.

"Now, before anything else can we-"

I was interrupted my Taki storming to below deck, from her spot to the side, not thinking anymore. I could feel a mix of emotions coming from her, with her being sad and confused about something. It was too bad I couldn't read minds with my observation.

Watching her recede down below deck I just continued, deciding to let her deal with it how she could.

"Can we leave for Logue Town? I really just wanted to test how far my strength has come. Turns out.. a lot. I also didn't expect this to take an hour out of the schedule, so maybe we should get going."

Rosalina just nodded and left to her ship, and I turned to face Rem directly.

"Do you wanna know anything else before we leave?"

"Are there really stronger guys out there?"

I could only smirk at this.

"Yes, if you didn't know, I lost an arm to Grim, and basically barely won against him, so yes. Those attacks may seem like a lot right now, but once we're in the Grand Line, those may end up being weak. I wouldn't expect them to immediately be at strong as what I just did, but yes."

Rem shivered at that thought, and then just squeaked out "I-im just gonna go paint. Please don't throw us around again?" She was smiling, but she very much wasn't.

"Sure. Yeah, I can."

"Good."

And then she just left, as I did what I needed to leave.

•

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We had entered the calm belt, and I just started to row, as it would work as some of my daily training. It went on like that for a couple hours.

Near the end of the day, Taki finally came back to the deck, where I was using giant paddles to row, and Taki just sat down on the floor, her tail curled.

"I can tell something is wrong Taki. What is it?"

She was slightly startled, but composed herself, still giving off a sad aura.

"Bugs..."

I had my back to her because I couldn't steer or control the boat in any way if I turned, as we could completely lose Rosalina and Djane on the way.

"Yes?"

"........why are you so strong?"

She asked it as if it wasn't what she was really asking.

"Why or how?"

"...how?"

"Oh, that. Uhm.. you've seen my training, so I think you know how."

She went silent after that.

For a little bit, I was just rowing, and then I heard Taki breathe out, as if forcing herself to say something.

"Buggy, will I ever be as strong as you?"

It caught me slightly off guard, but it wasn't a bothersome question.

"Yes. In fact, you could surpass how strong I am right now if you train long enough. I'm a weird special case with a lot of stuff that got me to this point, but you, without any special abilities besides your powers, can definitely become stronger than me. Actually, scratch that. Thanks to who you are, you do indeed have special abilities. Why did I say that? Nevermind that part! You are able to become as strong as me, and beyond that just by training long enough."

I didn't continue and waited for her to process what I had said, leaving the deck in silence.

"Thanks for keeping me safe."

"Hm?"

"You promised to keep me safe, didn't you?"

I turned to see Taki starting to cry, and I panicked internally.

'What does she mean by that? What- Am I.. not getting something?'

"Taki?"

"You've kept me safe, and even wanted to help me become stronger.. so.."

She tried to hold back some tears.

I was frozen in place, I didn't know what to do in this situation, and so, I just dropped the oars, and decided to hug Taki, as it was the only thing I could think of.

"I'm not.. strong enough to.. keep myself safe.. am I?"

She had looked at me with sad eyes, turning for an answer while I just embraced her.

'Where did this come from? Did she see me attack and think she wasn't strong enough to keep herself safe? What is that?'

"You can very much keep yourself safe, it just so happens that a guy from the Grand Line ended up here, and fate was cruel enough to not give you any time to grow so you could."

'I don't know if my attempt at assuring her worked, but.. was that good? I don't know! No one ever was like "That's some good assurance!" So, I can only hope it helped.'

Taki looked up to me after that, and stated "But.. I couldn't defeat him.."

I sighed at this.

"Okay, here's a little secret between you and me. You wanna hear it?"

With her body shaking a little and tears in her eyes, she wiped them away and looked at me, nodding.

"Well.. to be honest, I couldn't defeat him either. While I did kill him, I needed a boost to even get to that point."

It shocked Taki enough to almost stop her from crying.

"Wha...?"

"Yep. And my arm is meant to be a reminder to continue to grow and become stronger, that's why I don't have an actual arm anymore."

I smiled at her, and then noticed the ship was starting to fall pretty far behind Rosalina.

"Okay, Taki? You are strong. Now, I do need to go and row again, but just know you can get to this point as well, okay?"

I smiled at her and then got a weak smile in response before I stood up and continued rowing.

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