Hiiii!
I just read the unclenapped au on ao3, 1st off LOVE IT. I have also recently been thinking of “kidnapped clown Everyone thinks is dead and all of the reunions Buggy could have with the old Roger crew” au (although my idea was taking place during the Oro Jackson era before Roger’s death) !! so seeing your fic and posts on Ao3 was so refreshing!!
Buggy being on Luffy‘s crew would be a *chef’s kiss*!!! Especially if Shanks thinks he’s dead and doesn’t find out until later. I’m also always thinking about when they cross the grandline, Buggy being stuck in the whale while Luffy is outside of it harassing Crocus (going off the live action version of Laboon) and then Crocus seeing Buggy after they escape LaBoon and having to make so many snail calls, while being a mother hen to the now adult kid he loves who has no memory of him.
But I was REALLY thinking about when the Straw Hats get to Loguetown, Buggy would have flashes of the execution and of the fight w/ Shanks and maybe he’s standing under the platform with Luffy, sobbing about how he thinks (cause he only gets his memory back in flashes) his dad/captain died here. And then he gets even more somber and talks about how he thinks he betrayed a friend here or that that friend betrayed him or both, but then he looks up at Luffy and sees the straw hat and just breaks down and like ask Luffy if he can hold it, or if he’s like still insecure about his place on the crew, to just look at it. And luffy gets serious for once, and like how he put the hat on Nami’s head during arlong park, after Buggy cried over the hat for a little while (maybe even whisper, shanks’s name and not really knowing who that is besides the redhead who is foggy in his memory ) and hands it back to Luffy, only for Luffy sets it on his head, and I don’t know if traumatized Buggy would have a dream yet, but Luffy would be like I promise to help you follow whatever dream you decide to have and we’ll figure out your past together. Then Buggy looks up at Luffy while he’s wearing the hat and while he’s crouched, on the ground, crying, he doesn’t just see Luffy he also sees Shanks and Rogers and it makes him cry even more.
(I really love the idea of Buggy having reunions with people, that when he does get memories of them, he thinks he’s less significant in their lives than he really is, and when they’re coddling him and fawning over him and so relieved that he’s alive and OK (or getting towards OK), he gets overwhelmed with the sense of being loved and it’s such a foreign concept to him now that is even more intense than usual, and it gives him more self-esteem)
Anywhooo thanks for listening to me ramble<3
I'm so slow to answer, I'm sorry, but YEEEEEEEEES OMG SEE, YOU GET IT!
Damn, I need to continue that series... huh...