Two: The (Irritatingly) Handsome Clown

Relia's pirate-raiding wish comes true after all.

It isn't long after they venture into another mundane village that the pair find themselves in literal clownery: A circus.

They awake, trapped in a large wooden box, swords stolen, and left with vague recollections of how they were once strolling through another deserted and downright wrecked village (which should have been the first sign of danger and why they should have immediately run away), and the next, strange-smelling red smoke as thick as fog engulfs them so fast they do not have time to scream, let alone escape.

After careful consideration, (shouting), they try to break the wood by banging on the sides with their bare hands, and expensive heels, like a couple of lunatics. This followed by the opening of the wooden flank, which falls like a domino, is the cue for joyous music to play and hundreds of circus performers under blinding red and blue lights to attempt to put on a show. 'Attempt', because the supposed leader, The Clown, does not like it one bit:

"NO! NO! NO! It's all WRONG!" His gruff voice yells. "YOU'RE ALL USELESS!" he rather brutally explains how the entertainers blundered their jobs before facing Nadja and Relia who stumble out of the box, centring themselves in the circus tent. The clown smirks proudly at the fact he and his crew—who now stand around the circus tent with weapons, trying their best to seem intimidating—were successful in kidnapping again. "Ah! You're finally awake!" he giggles. He is still further away from them at this moment in time and the sisters—who therefore cannot see him well enough through the harsh coloured lights—don't let this stop them from staring in his general direction. However, the sisters give each other a look—an unspoken but all-knowing look because there's only one clown they know who would go to such lengths in kidnapping and circus performing...

"Well, well, well." He clicks his tongue as he notices the women are now out of the box he trapped them in. "What do we have here?" he finally strides over confidently, wading through the haze and harsh coloured lights of hues of blue and red. His big orangey-red, white-brimmed pirate hat with his iconic clown-ified skull and cross-bones, and two large pigtails of blue hair sprouting out from either side, comes into view, escaping the fog and lights. Not to mention, his clown makeup and, of course, his unmistakable bright red clown nose.

He is exactly who they suspect he is—He is Buggy The Clown.

Though he doesn't need to as they have already internally sussed him out, he introduces himself as Buggy the Clown and as Buggy the Genius Jester—and a multitude of other names which Relia deems silly.

The sisters cannot believe they have not been taken by any old circus, but Buggy The Clown's Circus. His stupidly brilliant circus that they cannot help but be amazed at.

Buggy observes them closely, wanting to intimidate them, but a voice that does not sound as scared as he hopes should be, casually speaks up:

"Do you treat all the women you bring home like this, Buggy?" Nadja dusts off her ebony dress and quirks an eyebrow. She eyes the clown with not one ounce of terror, though the use of his name is pointed. Clowns have never bothered Nadja, but Relia on the other hand, does not possess fear—as such—over clowns, but rather cautiousness, and Relia provides him with a permanent scowl and glares at the clown. "I'm Nadja and this is my twin sister Relia," she holds out a hand to shake his.

Buggy, now unblinded by the foggy atmosphere of the circus tent, can finally see the sisters clearly. Buggy begins to inspect his new hostages, and pans to look at Relia first, but his eyes wander straight to Nadja, the sister with the familiar long dove-white hair. His heart stops for a moment. He almost collapses at her beauty and similarity to an old friend of his. Nadja's resemblance is almost strikingly too similar to his old friend and he feels himself flush hot and cold at the same time. It's like he feels transported back in time. Buggy blinks and for a moment he sees Bella instead of Nadja. Surely Nadja must be some sort of doppelgänger, or a work of magic...a curse? Devil fruit? Is someone playing a trick on him? Before he gets too wrapped up in his thoughts, his gloved hand stops himself from doing so as it detaches from his wrist, and flies to slap himself hard on the cheek.

The twins are shocked at how surprisingly quiet Buggy has been as the grave look on his face seems to point towards him having an internal dilemma. The women look at each other—another silent exchange about Buggy's oddness and why Buggy has not returned Nadja's handshake—though she thinks maybe his ability to detach his hand from his arm might have something to do with it.

Buggy shakes his head and clears his throat, getting back to business. That slap seems to have worked and Buggy appears to snap out of his thoughts as what Bella's doppelgänger—no, Nadja—has just said to him has finally sunk in and he is taken aback again. This time by her unafraid bluntness. He is miraculously able to contain his comedic demeanour after his internal commotion and bites back. "Is this a compliment or a complaint?" a small smug smile tugs across Buggy's face and he commits to striding closer, though her resemblance almost makes him afraid to do so. "But, no, I don't do this to the women I bring home," his eyes dilate momentarily, "I usually go all in," his cheeky grin is so wide it takes up the entire portion of his mouth and he cannot help the cackle that jumps from his throat. Relia rolls their eyes, grimacing.

He looks around at the audience as if signalling they should laugh. The audience obliges, albeit warily, and Relia takes a mental note of this, though the sisters hadn't even realised there is an audience and Nadja jumps a little at the noise. "Thank you, thank you!" Buggy is still smiling. He bows a little, his brown coat creasing, before he rudely motions them to cease their applause.

Immediately, as if by magic, the twins notice their hands have been instantly tied together with rope and they instinctively try to yank them free to no avail.

"What are you doing? Trying to escape?" Buggy asks teasingly, stepping closer and closer by the second, the harsh spotlight following above, adorning his rugged features. Up close they see a clearer view of his unmistakable clown makeup caked on his face. His wickedly painted red smile that reaches his cheeks is smeared messily, blue smeared on his eyelids, and also beginning on each of his eyelids is a white cross-bones which ends on his forehead. He surprisingly has long pretty eyelashes that Nadja cannot help but find strangely adorable.

"No, just testing the ropes...get it?" Nadja giggles causing Relia to glare at her. Relia feels this is no time for joking, or worse, flirting, especially with—who Relia thinks—is an ugly man. Especially an ugly man who has kidnapped them.

"Ooh! HAHA! Not too bad, doll," laughs Buggy. Relia looks on, unamused, provoking Buggy to peer over at them, tilting his head to the side. "Are they...always this cranky?" he asks aloud to Nadja, leaning into her.

"You could say that." Nadja simply says, mirroring his leaning in, before the sisters see a glimpse of the same red fog from earlier.

Then the world goes dark again.

_________________

Relia and Nadja awake for the second time, hours later. This time, separated.

Nadja rubs her dreary eyes. She has just awoken from the most bizarre dream. She cannot remember much, only fragments of red smoke, being trapped in an enclosed box which opened into a circus, hues of blue and red strobe lights blinding them and performers surrounding them...and a clown.

Buggy The Clown.

Oh, it wasn't a dream. It was far from a dream.

Now, she's woken up inside a hanging birdcage.

She gasps and her head jerks up. The cage swings at the sudden movement and her head instantly starts to pang considering she has been leaning on the hard metal caging for how many hours she's been knocked out. Her hand massages her head, somewhat alleviating the pain. She analyses her new surroundings. Nadja assumes to be in some sort of storage room

When she's ready, she grabs a part of the gold caging and violently shakes it. She doesn't really know what that could have achieved and begins to do something more productive and find the door to the cage. It's very cramped in the cage, especially with her hefty gown, she can barely move. Nadja peers out from one of the gaps between the golden bars of the cage, estimating she's about a metre above the ground. So, if she were to get out of the cage, she'll survive, easily. Nadja starts to twist her body around and lo and behold there the door is, directly behind her.

She places her palms on the bottom of the cage and starts to swivel her body around. Once she's facing the door, her hand reaches to pick the lock, but what she finds out confuses her more than anything. She goes to push the door and it swings open, without resistance. There is no lock.

Paranoia sets in and before Nadja worries it will magically close again she dangles her legs out and shuffles closer to get a good view of the floor below. There are boxes scattered around the room with props and fabrics peeking out but there is still enough room for her to safely step down from the cage, without damaging herself or the boxes.

She jumps down from the cage.

RIP.

Upon landing and hearing that loud tear, her stomach drops.

Nadja has torn her dress.

"Nooo!" she whines. Her knees fall to the floor, her hands grabbing a handful of her dress, trying to find the ripped piece.

She proceeds to curse under her breath very unladylike.

The door to the storage room has opened, with Buggy leaning his shoulder on the archway. He watches Nadja, who is quickly made aware of his presence. The sight of her sets his heart alight. He fears he will never get over her resemblance to an old friend.

"I heard that." He smirks while he eyes her struggling with her dress, and then pushes himself off the archway to approach her. Buggy steps towards her while she stares at him dumbfounded. He stands in front of her, his eyes trailing from her face to her gown, taking in the damage of the now ripped fabric.

"Looks like you have a little problem." Buggy points out with a sly grin, and can't help but chuckle at her pouting expression.

"Little? This is huge!"

"Not as huge as waking up in a cage?"

"It was unlocked. That's not very scary,"

"WHAT?!" his eyes almost pop out of their sockets and Nadja stifles a laugh.

"Y-you know what, that was intentional,"

Nadja drops the bunch of her dress she was clutching and rises to stand in front of him. "Oh, of course, it was."

"It was!"

"No, no. I believe you," she reaches out to caress his hand comfortingly.

A look of annoyance and scepticism crosses his face, unsure if she's mocking him or not, but his expression changes once her hand makes contact with his hand. His heart jumps a little at the unexpected touch. He stiffens as he swallows hard and Buggy's eyes widen as he glances at her hand, which is surprisingly cold, before looking up at her. Her hand on his hand feels soothing and he can't bring himself to resist her touch. He looks down at her, speechless. Buggy can't help but notice how smooth her skin is. She reminds him of a porcelain doll.

Reluctantly, he responds with another sarcastic comment. "Yeah, that's right. You better believe me!"

"I really do." She smiles sweetly, her hand still over his.

"You do?"

"Of course. I'm sure such a genius would never unintentionally leave a door unlocked." This time, the sarcasm is clear. Nadja continues to stroke his hand, noticing the subtle pink to his cheeks forming, even through his makeup. "But, just so you know, I was not going to leave the circus," Nadja lowers her voice, "not when there's a handsome clown to get to know,"

Buggy's heart skips a beat, his green eyes staring deeply into hers. He suddenly starts to feel self-conscious and flustered.

"H-handsome?" He can't help stuttering a little as his red cheeks become more prominent. Buggy then looks away to try and hide his bashfulness but fails miserably.

Nadja nods slowly. It's practically irritating how handsome she finds him.

Confusion then washes over his face, soon twisting into embarrassment and anger. No one has ever called him handsome before. Why now? Why her?

Her hand thankfully left his, as he was beginning to feel her touch was becoming too much to handle.

He puts his hands into his pockets and clears his throat. "You shouldn't go around flirting with strangers, doll." Buggy teases defensively, though something inside of him doesn't want her to stop.

"Precisely why I said I would like to get to know you, Buggy,"

Buggy's heart begins to thump in his chest again. He'll never tire of hearing his name on her tongue.

This woman is really testing his patience, and he doesn't know whether to be annoyed by her shamelessness or find it attractive. He chooses the latter. Who in the world would choose to reject such beauty? He's been a coward before, but not this time. No way.

He lets out a deep exhale through his nostrils, trying to play it cool. "You're very forward, aren't you?"

"If I remember correctly, you were the one planning to hold me hostage,"

Buggy laughs loudly and smirks as he looks down at her. Buggy's eyes roam her face and body before quickly looking away. "And you're the one enjoying it, from the looks of it. You haven't even tried to escape." He points out with a sly smile.

"Like I said, Buggy, I won't try to escape," Nadja shrugs her shoulders. "I'm intrigued by this circus of yours. But introductions will have to wait," she waves her hand dismissively, "since my dress needs fixing."

He looks down at the torn edges of the black gown with white ruffles and smiles in amusement as he sees her frowning again. Buggy leans in, getting a closer look at the rip, now noticing the intricate lace edges that make the dress look like a work of art. He lets out a low whistle as he gently pokes the ripped fabric. "Damn, this is an expensive piece...shame that it's ruined."

"Hmm, isn't it?"

He straightens up and shakes his head sadly. "It's a crime to see such a luxurious dress destroyed like that,"

Nadja eyes Buggy with a quirk on her brow, not knowing if it's his turn to act sarcastic. "My sister would be able to fix it. Where's Relia? I see you've separated the twins," she tuts and shakes her head slowly, crossing her arms and standing with her hip out sassily. "Such a crime,"

He notices the sassy pouty look on her face as she crosses her arms. The way the fabric of the torn dress tightens around her curves makes his face heat up. He puts a hand to his chin, pretending to be thinking hard about what she said before answering. "Relia's...safe," he replies after a long pause. Buggy smirks and leans in as he stands in front of her again. His eyes follow the movement of her hip, his gaze slowly travelling up her body, until he looks into her golden eyes. He has to force his eyes not to move down her body in temptation again. Buggy puts his hands on his hips and feigns confidence. "Relia was quite the handful if I do say so myself."

Nadja laughs heartily. "I would be worried if Relia was not,"

He laughs along with her, as the sound of her laughter fills the room. Buggy loves the sound of her melodic voice and her delightful laugh. Buggy rubs his chin, thinking back to his time ensnaring Relia. "They're a fiery one...Relia spat at me, you know," he says after a moment.

"Spat at you?" She gasps, a look of astonishment on her face.

"I'm not even angry at Relia for that one," Nadja smirks. "Nor should I be surprised, actually."

"Y-yeah, that crazy little thing spat at me when I least expected it," he says, trying to act tough and unaffected. He sighs and gives her an exaggerated look of annoyance.

"Lucky they didn't ruin your makeup then,"

He glares at her "Ha! Very funny," he said as his gaze fell onto the torn edges of her dress again. He then lets out a chuckle as an idea comes to mind.

"At least Relia didn't ruin your pretty dress,"

Nadja rolls her eyes. "That's not funny, Mr clown." she pouts, glancing down at her torn dress again, rubbing her hand through the ruined fabric.

Her frown soon changes into a smile as she has an idea. She rearranges her hand on her hip again and looks at him mischievously. "Well, unless you can fix it, there's only one option,"

Buggy leans back with his hands in his pockets, his smirk turning into a sly grin. "And what's that, doll?" He asks, knowing an inkling of what she may suggest.

"You owe me a new dress," Nadja grins, her eyes sparkling with mischief.

He laughs out loud at the boldness of her demand. Oh, she's a cheeky and witty one, alright. Buggy raises a brow, stunned by her straightforwardness. She clearly has a backbone, and he finds that extremely attractive.

"Oh really? Don't you think that's a bit much? It's just a dress." He says, trying to resist her charms.

She takes a step towards him, a playful grin on her face, her hip sticking out as she rests her hands on her hips. "Just a dress? You clearly have no idea. This is Italian couture and it's worth more than your entire circus combined."

He feels his face grow hot as she moves closer and rests her hand on her hip. Buggy tries his best to keep his cool and not gawk at her again, as her words hit him harder than he expects.

"Wha- hey! My circus is worth a lot more than that...thing," he says in a huff, referring to her dress.

She humphs. "Whatever, Clown,"

Buggy goes to argue back but a man with black hair with stripes of green locks on the right side of his head enters.

"Do you know how to knock, Cabaji?" Buggy huffs.

Cabaji ignores Buggy's grumble and gives Nadja a once over, his eyes lingering on her. "Captain, you are needed,"

Buggy grumbles in annoyance. "What is it?"

Cabaji eyes Nadja again, before warily whispering into Captain Buggy's ear.

Nadja watches Buggy's eyes grow wide and his jaw clench in anger.

Relia, again, Nadja presumes.
"Touch my twin and you die,"

Buggy rolls his eyes but can't help but smile at her protective nature. Cabaji simply smiles and bows before scurrying away, with Buggy soon following after.

A/N: Buggy!!!Nadja!!!ahh