Chereads / A Wish on a Comet / Chapter 43 - Chapter 43

Chapter 43 - Chapter 43

As the tsunami threatens to destroy the Going Merry, the three sea monkeys riding the wave that they created, show no remorse at all as they laugh at the pirates' plight.

The crew however, won't have it today, and are hard at work to keep the ship steady while Rose flies by the sails to get her wind to speed the boat along.

"What the hell is wrong with these monkeys?!" Zoro asks as he holds the helm to keep the ship from turning.

"Hell if I know, just keep going straight!" Nami yells before she sees something approaching from up ahead. "What the hell?!"

Usopp follows her gaze and grabs some binoculars from his bag to get a better look. With one look, his mouth drops in terror and starts screaming. "GUYS, IT'S AN ENEMY SHIP!"

The guys take a look at the ship coming ahead, but despite the size of the boat, there's no way to know what kind of a ship it is because it didn't have a sail.

The Straw Hats can see that the sailors look like they got their spirit drained from them. Some can't help but feel sorry for the guys, but when the other crew saw them, they started arguing among themselves about either fighting the crew or escaping the wave.

The Straw Hats can only watch in disbelief as they sail to their demise, but they quickly ignored them to keep their own lives safe.

They were able to barely make it out before the wave crashed, but the same can't be said for the mysterious sailors.

Being satisfied with destroying at least one ship, the sea monkey trio returns to the ocean's depths with their lingering chatter as the surviving crew's parting gift.

When the Straw Hats feel confident in that they're safe, they settle down and continue their journey.

As they sail on, Robin keeps a watch for any signs of an island while the others begin to wonder about what the hell was up with that weird boat.

"Could those guys have been pirates? They didn't act like a normal crew." Usopp says as he looks back and finds no sign of the ship.

"Maybe, they could've lost their sail in a storm." Nami says as she ponders on why they would travel without a sail.

"That still wouldn't explain why they were so dispirited. The ship itself didn't look that damaged either." Usopp says with a deep thinking look on his face.

Rose gives a small frown as she crosses her arms over her chest and pretends to be deep in thought "Maybe they lost a Davy Back Fight..."

Luffy and Chopper look at her in confusion, but the rest of the group knows the meaning for the game and are surprised by the claim.

Usopp look back at where the ship used to be with wide eyes when he thinks back on how they were acting. "That's gotta be it!"

"What's a Davy Back Fight?" Chopper asks with an innocent look on his face.

Sanji looks down at the reindeer and explains it to him. "A Davy Back Fight is a contest between two pirate crews. The winner can take a crew member, or the crew's jolly roger. It looks like that other ship lost both some crew members and their flag."

Luffy frowns at the possible losses he and his crew could have. "That sounds like a bad game."

"Yea, I'd rather we not play that game." Nami says and starts feeling sorry for that losing crew.

The wind girl starts growing curious about what could happen if they win every event against Foxy, so she looks to the navigator. "Can a winning crew take an item from the loser instead? Like treasure or a map?"

Nami perks up at the examples and starts smiling at the possibilities. "I don't see why we can't! We could be rich in an instant!"

"Or lose a crew mate in an instant." Zoro says, which pulls the navigator out of her daydreams of being rich.

She quietly sighs in disappointment, but she knows that it's not worth the risk of losing a friend. "Right, we should avoid these fights at the next island."

She sees that they're following the log pose's direction, then looks up to the crow's nest and calls out to the lookout. "Hey Robin, any signs of land?"

Robin looks away from her binoculars, and points to the direction ahead. "Yes, I see an island up ahead."

The others look to her direction and see a small piece of land in the horizon.

Luffy starts smiling from ear to ear, and completely forgets about the conversation about the Davy Back Fights. "ALRIGHT! LET'S GO!"

He runs to the front of the ship to get to his seat on the figurehead while most of the boys get to work on getting the ship moving.

Rose starts going up to the sail to help out, but is stopped when Nami grabs her ankle to keep her from flying up. "Hold up, I need to talk to you!"

The wind girl hums in confusion, but she doesn't argue as she lands back on the deck and follows Nami to the kitchen where Sanji is working on his meal.

The chef keeps his focus on the food while Nami leads her to the table. "So, tell me what happened?"

Rose only grows more confused as she sits across from her. "What are you talking about?"

Nami frowns at the uncertainty. "Didn't Luffy talk to you?"

She raises an eyebrow at the question. "Yea, he told me how I didn't really make him sick."

"And what else?"

"Then those sea monkeys made that wave, and well you know what happened next."

Nami dropped her jaw in disbelief and even Sanji stopped cooking when he heard what happened.

Rose is still unsure about why Nami is so surprised, but she's sure that she'll get over it. "Sorry to cut this short, but I should go help the others dock the Merry."

She heads out before anyone can stop her and leaves the couple shell shocked.

Sanji looks to the table to see that Nami is still frozen, so he nervously steps up to her. "Nami-san, are you-?!"

He jumps back in fear when he sees the navigator punch the table with an angry aura flying off of her.

Nami doesn't care if Sanji can sense her fury when she turns to the door with flames in her eyes. "I've fucking had it with all this skirting around! I'm getting them in a room for them to settle this right now!"

Sanji can only watch and admire the scary woman as she storms out of the kitchen to find the two pirates. When she looks at the front of the ship though, she finds that they've already docked.

She runs up to the railing to find that they reached an island that holds an empty plain with tall trees scattered around the boring island. The redhead looks around the ship to see that only Robin and Zoro are still here. "Where are the others?"

"Wind-chan and the boys ran out to explore the island." Robin says with a calm smile.

Nami twitches an eyebrow at losing her chance to get those two idiots together. "Dammit, those two are lucky..."

Zoro and Robin both grow confused by her pissed off mood, so the swordsman speaks up. "What's got you upset?"

Nami starts calming down, but she still holds a look of mild irritation. "Those damn monkeys stopped Luffy from confessing! I don't know what to do anymore!"

Robin giggles at the situation and looks out to the land's horizon, where her exploring crew mates can no longer be seen from the distance. "I wouldn't worry, they could have a chance on the island."

"I really hope so, I'm getting tired of their stupidity..." Nami says as she starts feeling depressed by this.

Zoro chuckles at her desperation before he speaks up. "If you want them to get together, then keep your focus on Luffy telling her."

The redhead perks up at the advice and looks over to him. "What do you know?"

"Rose won't tell Luffy because she doesn't want to push him into anything. She thinks that it would tie him down and ruin his dreams to be the pirate king." Zoro says with an understanding of where the brunette is coming from.

Robin hums in interest as she leans to the railing. "So Captain-san has to tell her, so she'll stop suppressing her feelings?"

"Yup." Zoro says and sees how Nami is holding up, but only finds her head down with her bangs covering her eyes.

He goes to say something, but stops when he sees an evil smirk curling up on her face. She lifts her face to show devilish determination in her eyes while she lowly chuckles. "So that's it. In that case, we just need to show her that every king needs a queen..."

She looks to the island and can't wait for them to come back now. With what she has planned, she'll easily be able to be one of the winners of the bet for having Luffy confess first.

The other two pirates sweat drop at her enthusiasm, but they are curious about her plans so they stand back and wait for their exploring crew mates' return.

Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper run around the uninhabited island while Rose flies above them to explore the tops of the long trees.

As the boys do their own exploration, they stop and drop their jaws when they see a white bear that's half as tall as the twenty-foot trees around them.

"Whoa, that bear is huge!" Luffy says with stars in his eyes as he watches him walk away on his hind legs.

Chopper looks around for any other animals and looks up in awe to see a red bird with the longest wings that he's ever seen flying above them! "Wow, look at that!"

The other boys look up in amazement of the large bird. When Rose looks at the beautiful avian, she grins in glee as she starts flying after it in hopes of being friends with him.

"Wait up!" The wind girl calls out to him as she goes next to him. When the bird notices the flying girl, he drops his jaw in horror of the strange sight before he flies ahead as quickly as possible.

"Hey, come back!" Roses calls out to him as she flies after him.

Luffy laughs at the funny sight of Rose chasing a long bird across the sky, while the other boys just sweat drop at her weird behavior.

Usopp shakes his head at the sight before he looks around and notices that even the fruit on the trees are longer than normal. "What is with this place? Everything's long here."

Luffy notices the long apples on one of the trees and stretches his rubber arm up to grab one. "Beats me. Even the fruit is long."

The glutton takes a bite to see that it takes just like a normal apple. "Whoa, tasty!"

Chopper catches a falling apple from the tree, and becomes more interested in this place by the minute, as he and the others explored further into the island.

Meanwhile, Rose continues to fly after the fast bird but he won't give her the time of day. She doesn't give up or care when the other birds in the sky squawk at the strange sight.

The red bird tries to maneuver through the clouds to avoid the pirate, but she just blows the clouds away to keep her eyes on the prize. Rose continues on with her pursuit, but when she sees something unusual, she abandons her quest to befriend the creature.

That being a small old man standing on stilts so high that she's flying at his level.

The elder doesn't seem surprised to see her though, for he only stares at her and starts a casual conversation. "Oh hello, how are you?"

Rose relaxes at his calm nature and answers back. "I'm doing pretty well, how about you?"

"Not too bad, but I'm stuck on these stilts." He says as he refuses to look down due to his fear of heights.

Rose hums in interest as she flies closer to him and looks down at the old bamboo stilts that he's standing on. "These have to be at least twenty feet tall, how long have you been up here?"

"For ten years." The old man says with no shame in how he's been stuck on the stilts.

"Seriously? You want some help getting down?" Rose asks when she remembers how he got down in her world, and wants to spare him some pain.

He is moved to tears by the offer and eagerly nods. "Please! I need to see my horse!"

She softly grins at the caring man as she creates a gust of under him to lift him and the stilts up. "You can let go of the bamboo now."

He does as he's told and is grateful that he isn't falling. As they slowly descend towards the ground, the local looks to the kind girl who saved him. "Thank you so much for your help. What's your name?"

Rose chuckles at him trusting her without asking her name first, but complies nonetheless. "My name's Rose, what's your name?"

"I'm Tonjit." He allows himself to look down and find Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper approaching his house and his horse. "Who are they?"

"They're my crew mates." Rose says before she grins down at the boys and waves to them. "Hey guys, look who I found in the sky!"

The boys look up and widen their eyes at the new person just as they land in front of them.

Usopp looks down at the short old man before he looks to Rose. "How the hell did you leave to catch a bird and come back with an old guy?!"

Rose shrugs to the question before she looks down at Tonjit. "I found Tonjit here standing on some tall bamboos. Can you guys believe that he was up there for ten years?"

Luffy grows more shocked by the minute before his eyes turn to the old man "Seriously?! What were you doing up there?!"

Tonjit looks down at the fallen stilts that used to be his prison before he tiredly sighs. "Truth be told, I love stilts, and I wanted to stand on the world's tallest stilts. However, when I finally did it, I was scared of falling and couldn't get down."

Chopper grows worrisome for the old man, but he doesn't look malnourished at all. "How were able to survive being up there for ten years?!"

"As you kids have probably seen, the trees on this island are really long. I was able to eat from the food that was growing on them to stay alive." Tonjit says as he looks around to find no one he knew on the island until he saw a familiar white horse with a really long neck with them.

The horse has been smiling at the elder the entire time, but when Tonjit laid his eyes on her is when she approached him. She lowered her head to nuzzle his cheek as she happily neighs.

The old man wasted no time in returning her affection by petting her head. "I can't believe it's really you Shelly. You've been waiting here this whole time?"

She whinnies in response loud enough for Chopper to translate. "She says that she really missed you, and she knew you would be back someday."

"Thank you so much for waiting! I promise not to leave you again!" He pets her once more then releases her when she lowers her body down to him.

Shelly whinnies once more for Chopper to translate for her. "She wants you to take a ride with her to make up for lost time."

"Of course!" Tonjit jumps onto her saddle and rides on into the plains to catch up on the lost years.

The four pirates are happy about the reunion between the two friends as they relax on a hill.

Usopp grins at the two friends' ride as he watches Shelly run without a care in the world. "I can't believe that she waited for him for ten years."

Rose slowly nods before she turns to the boys with a small smile. "Yea, she's an awesome-!"

The sound of a bazooka firing blocks out her voice, and sends the pirates on high alert when they see a net fired not towards them, but at the running horse.

None of them had time to react when the net hits Shelly and throws Tonjit off of her.

"SHELLY! TONJIT!" Chopper, and Usopp run to the victims to check it either were injured and to get the net off.

Luffy and Rose however grow angry at the assault and stand up while looking around for the attackers.

"Who the hell did that?!" Luffy yell out and is answered with a maniacal laugh.

"Fehfehfeh! Now that was a perfect shot!" A fat man says with thin arms and legs says with a bazooka in his hands as he approaches the two pirates from behind.

Rose and Luffy turn to the man to see that he has both a young woman and a man with a gorilla like stature, and both wearing black eye masks, stand with him to back him.

"Who the hell are you?!" Luffy yells to them which only makes the fat man smirk.

"What's this? You've never heard of the great captain Foxy of the Foxy Pirates?"

Rose scoffs at the comment before she smirks to him. "We don't bother to learn the names of pieces of shit like you."

Foxy takes the insult to heart and falls on his hands and knees in agony.

The gorilla like man covers his mouth to weakly suppress his giggles while the woman in a pink track suit tries to comfort her boss.

The girl narrows her eyes on Rose as she stands up. "You're a big talker for someone with just a 17 million bounty!"

The wind girl just chuckles at the bad insult and motions her hand for her to come at her. "I can still kick your ass bitch!"

"Why you!" She goes to fight her, but Foxy pats her shoulder to stop her as he gets up.

"Save your strength Porche." Foxy says before he smirks to the sniper and doctor who are treating Tonjit's injuries and getting Shelly out of the net. "Hey, stay away from my horse!"

"She's not your horse you bastard!" Luffy says as he gets ready to kick him, but the enemies don't look afraid.

"Don't be so hasty Monkey D. Luffy!" Foxy says which stops Luffy in his tracks.

Luffy furrows his eyebrows in confusion. "How do you know my name?"

Porche giggles at his lack of knowledge as she speaks up. "Unlike you children, we did our homework. Monkey D Luffy, 100 million beli, Roronoa Zoro, 60 million beli, and Rose with 17 million. For a crew of eight, it's not a bad feat to have a total of 177 million."

Foxy keeps up his proud smirk as he points to the captain. "And that's why we want to challenge you! If you want the horse back, then beat us in a Davy Back Fight!"

Chopper and Usopp are surprised by the challenge, but Luffy quickly tells him off. "If you want a fight, then let's do it! I'm gonna kick your ass for hurting Shelly!"

Usopp finished pulling the net off the horse then runs up to his captain. "Luffy you can't do that!"

"Why not? It's just a fight!"

"Didn't you listen to our explanation earlier?! We could lose our friends in this fight!" Usopp turns to Rose who's been quiet the whole time. "And you! Why aren't you complaining?!"

The wind girl shrugs to him and points a thumb to the fake fox. "If they were the ones that destroyed that crew then they deserve to lose at their own game. Besides, I kind of want to see this."

Usopp should've expected this from the crazy girl and buries his face in his hand. "Ugh, whatever..."

"Fehfehfeh! It's decided then!" Foxy grabs a pistol from his belt and throws it to Luffy. "Then let's sound the start of our fight by shooting to the sky!"

Luffy catches the gun and aims it at the sky along with the other captain. The two pirates marked the start of their challenge with the sound of the gunshots and both knew that there's no turning back.

Captain Foxy chuckles to the angry opponents and goes. "We'll meet you where our ships are docked Straw Hat!"

"Fine!" Luffy says as he watches them walk off

Usopp is still mad at him and won't stay silent. "Why the hell did you accept?!"

Luffy keeps a frown on his face as he throws away the empty gun. "We can't let him get away with attacking Shelly. All we have to do is win."

The sniper groans at his simple attitude, but he knows that he has no choice but to go along with it, so he and the others follow their captain to tell the others about the fight.

Back at the Merry, the Foxy Pirates have already trapped the ship so that it couldn't go anywhere. When both crews heard the gunshots, the hundreds of Foxy Pirates have gone to set up a festival in the plains while the Straw Hats were either dreading or looking forward to the challenge of a Davy Back Fight.

When Nami sees Luffy and the other crew mates returning, she runs to Luffy and whacks him on the head. "WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT AVOIDING A DAVY BACK FIGHT?!"

Luffy groans as he rubs the new lump on his head and weakly glares at the navigator. "I couldn't help it! He attacked Shelly for no reason!"

"Hey, where are Shelly and Tonjit anyway?" Chopper asks as he looks around but stops when he sees the horse standing in a wooden of the Foxy Pirates' design while her rider is feeding her a corn dog. "Why is Tonjit so relaxed about this?!"

"Hey Straw Hat! We need you here to start the game!" Foxy yells from the stage where he and Porche are waiting.

"Coming!" The captain calls out before he runs up to the stage and leaves the others alone.

Nami can only grow wearier by the second with how everyone, but her and Usopp, are being serious about this. She sits on a bench with depression growing inside of her. "Why is everyone so calm?"

Rose takes a seat next to her and pats her on the shoulder. "There's nothing we can do about it, so let's just make sure we don't lose."

The navigator looks to her in mild shock before she frowns at her. "Any ideas?"

"I got a few, but let's see what the events are." Rose looks to the stage with her following on to see that Porche is announcing the start of the game.

The female foxy pirate smiles in glee as she twirls a baton in everyone. "Alright everyone, shut up! It's time to announce the start of the Foxy Pirates' next Davy Back Fight!"

All of her crew mates grow more excited by the minute, but they do as they're told so they can get the show on the road. "Alright, the captains have agreed to make this a three-round competition! Here are the rules: Whatever the crew loses can only be returned in another match in a Davy Back Fight! Whoever is chosen to join the other crew in the end of a round must swear their loyalty to the winning crew! Finally, if a pirate flag is taken, the losing crew can never use that symbol again!"

Porche looks to the two captains with one expecting the victory and the other one just wanting to start the fight. "Do you two swear to honor these rules so help you Davy Jones?"

"Yea!" Foxy and Luffy call out simultaneously which brings about an uproar among the Foxy Pirates along with Rose.

"DON'T CHEER TOO!" Nami and Usopp yell at the brunette.

Rose however just chuckles. "We're doing this either way, so it's easier to go where the wind flows right now."

Usopp dead pans at the relaxed comment. "Was that supposed to be a pun?"

"I'll leave that to your imagination." Rose holds back from giggling at their annoyed reaction to see Luffy holding a piece of paper with the details of the games.

Sanji takes the form to read out loud to everyone. "We need seven competitors in total for the games. Three for the boat race, three for the sporting event, and one for the combat event."

The other crew members look to each other in wonder on who will be best suited on the events.

Nami takes the paper from him and looks over to the others. "Since only seven can participate, we should decide on the one person that stays behind."

"I'll do it!" Usopp and Rose say simultaneously as they raise their hands up.

The two pirates look to each other in shock with Usopp speaking up. "What the hell?! You were just as excited as the other crew a minute ago!"

Rose doesn't see why he's upset as she puts her arm down. "I am excited, but I can be more useful on the sidelines than in the game."

"You can be useful on both sides of the game!" Usopp argues back, but Rose only grows irritated by his request to weasel out.

"You can be a key part of the boat race!" Rose says back but the sniper won't give up.

"But I have the 'can't compete in a dangerous race' disease!" Usopp says before he turns to the others. "What do you guys think?!"

The others look to each other in thought before Zoro steps up. "Let Rose sit out."

The crew's surprised by Zoro's vote, but the scowling swordsman's face shows no signs of him explaining himself.

Luffy looks from Zoro to the others before he makes the final decision. "Alright, she'll stay out."

"What?!" Usopp yells out, but the decision was made, so the rest of the crew goes on to bicker about who will be participating in each event.

In the end, the decision was made for Robin, Nami, and Usopp to participate in the race, Zoro, Sanji, and Chopper in the sports event, and the captain will compete in the combat event.

Rose couldn't be more satisfied with the outcome, and is more than ready to get her strategy into action.

"ALRIGHT EVERYONE! LET'S GET STARTED WITH THE FIRST ROUND!" One of the Foxy pirates announces as he waves from the stage.

While most of the Straw Hats head to the stage, Zoro stops Rose by grabbing the back collar from her jacket.

The wind girl looks up at him in shock then looks at the others. When she sees that the others are leaving them behind, she looks back up to the taller crew mate. "What's up?"

"What are you planning?" Zoro asks as he lets go of her jacket.

Rose chuckles at how he figured her out and shrugs to him. "Nothing too crazy. Just going to make sure that the fight stays fair."

He frowns at her explanation but he understands what she means. After all, they're facing a gang of pirates who are practically veterans in the game. They couldn't have won so many times without a few tricks up their sleeves. "So you're going to watch out for cheaters during all the games?"

Rose nods before she looks to the stage. "Yea, but from what I've read about these games, I'll mainly be needed for the race. Let's get going."

He nods in agreement as they head off and rejoin the others for the commencement of the boat race, and the start of the Davy Back Fight for the Straw Hats.

For the race section of the game, Nami, Usopp, and Robin are to participate in a boat race around the island. Not just any race though, an obstacle course on a boat that the team themselves created with three barrels.

Nami's team stand in wait on their poor-quality boat, but it will be sturdy enough for them to survive the race. In comparison to the other team's boat though, they can't compare.

Porche is proudly standing on the front of the pretty boat, with a pet, striped, shark on the front of the boat while a muscular, billfish, fishman with flowing red hair stands by her side.

Porche giggles at the rickety boat that her opponents are ride and can't hide the smugness in her eyes. "I hope you're all great swimmers, because you'll be in the water halfway through the race."

"You're the ones who will sink!" Nami says as she tightly grips her paddle in anger of her overconfidence.

The announcer to the race boards onto a giant bird and flies above the starting line of the race and speaks on a transmitter that amplifies his voice. "ALRIGHT FOLKS, LET'S GET STARTED ON OUR FIRST EVENT, THE DOUGHNUT RACE!"

Both pirate crews cheer in response as they cheer for their teams.

"Sink them Capote!"

"Kick their asses guys!"

"Do your best my dear Nami-San and Robin-chan!"

Rose keeps a small smirk at the teams as she starts turning her right hand into warm air.

She's just itching to use her powers as the announcer calls out to the audience. "THE RULES ARE SIMPLE! YOU NEED TO LAP AROUND THE ISLAND ONCE! ALL WEAPONS ARE ALLOWED IN THIS FIGHT, SO ANYTHING GOES! CATCH THIS RACERS!"

He tosses two eternal poses to the boats for each team to catch one. "THOSE ARE ETERNAL POSES TO THE ISLAND! THEY'LL MAKE SURE YOU DON'T GET LOST!"

Nami takes a look at the pose in confusion, but pays it no mind as she and her other teammates get ready to paddle.

The announcer quickly grabs his pistol from his bag and aims for the air. "ALRIGHT, WITH NO FURTHER DELAY, LET THE RACE BEGIN!"

The gun was fired with the shot not only marking the start of the race, but also for all hell to break loose.

The Foxy pirates on the sidelines start to aim their weapons at the Straw Hat racers, but before any could be fired, a blast of warm wind hits them with enough force to send them flying!

A few of the pirates accidentally fire their guns, but they completely miss their target and alert them of their attackers!

Both teams look to the sidelines as they paddle to find Rose bringing almost half the foxy crew on the ground while the others are dumbfounded by the sudden flight.

Rose keeps a mischievous smirk on her face as she turns her head to Usopp's team. "HURRY AND GO BEFORE THEY TRY TO SHOOT AGAIN!"

That call wakes up the team and gets their focus back on the race.

"Shit, they're getting away!" One of the Foxy pirates gets up with his rifle, but before a shot can be made, a strong leg kicks his back to launch him to the ocean!

"How dare you try to shoot at Nami-san you bastard!" Sanji shouts as he turns to the other pirates who are getting up. "You're all next!"

The pirates grow terrified by the second as they try to run, but the chef won't have it as he goes to kick their asses!

Luffy, Chopper, and Zoro join in the fray while Rose continues her fun by turning her arms into tornadoes to give any Foxy Pirate in her sights a flight that they'll never forget.

Foxy and his large crew mate stay back and keep a fair distance from the fight and watch in utter horror.

Foxy spots the wind girl who started the brawl and recomposes himself with a crooked smirk. "My, my, good reflexes..."

He looks to his gorilla like crew member while he keeps up his smirk. "Hamburg, let's go!"

"Ok!" The large pirate gets on all fours like a dog.

Foxy hops onto his back and casually rides on towards the finish line to ensure that victory will be theirs.

Rose creates a whirlwind to bring her surrounding enemies up to the sky, then looks back to see that Foxy's heading to the woods. She evilly chuckles as she flies a few feet in the air and tails them with neither crew noticing.

The two racing teams have done their best with lapping the island through all the challenges. Be it whirlpools, fake finish lines, and the other teams themselves, neither sides have given up on their goal.

As it stands, Nami's team is in the lead with the other team barely catching up.

The finish line starts showing up within their sights The Straw Hats grow more determined than ever to paddle their way to victory.

"Come on, we're almost there!" Nami says as she paddles as hard as she can with her crew mates.

"Fehfehfeh! Did you really think that it would be that easy?!" The three pirates turn to the shore to find Foxy riding on Hamburg.

The pirate captain keeps a creepy smile on his face and aims his hand at the Straw Hats. "Sorry to say, but it's the-!"

"End of the line for you!" Rose finishes his sentence for him as she flies by his side with a rasengan in her left hand.

Foxy turns to the new voice, and aims his hand at her only for him to get hit in the side with the orb!

In a blink of an eye, Foxy is sent flying in a spin above the water while he accidentally fires a pink circular beam from his hand.

Nami's team watch the beam in astonishment as it flies above them and hits Hamburg!

They watch in amazement as Hamburg slows down his running, but he doesn't stop.

The announcer is no different as he flies above the scene on his bird. "UNBELIEVABLE! WIND RIDER HAS STOPPED OUR CAPTAIN'S TRICK SHOT, AND HAS SENT HIM FLYING!"

Foxy however, refuses to give up, so he steadies his flight to stop himself from spinning, and aims for the Straw Hat Team in mid-air.

Rose won't allow it though, so she takes a deep breath and screams at the top of her lungs. "THERE'S NO WAY YOU CAN WIN, YOU FUCKING SPLIT HEAD BASTARD!"

The slow slow beam user immediately gets depressed by the loud insult, and hugs his knees to his chest as he falls into the water right in front of Porche's team.

"BOSS!" The Foxy Pirate team calls out in horror before they stop the boat, so the fishman dives into the water to rescue his captain.

The announcer is absolutely shocked by the psychological attack and won't stop his narrating. "MY GOODNESS, IT LOOKS LIKE THE EVIL WITCH HAS STRUCK AGAIN BY DEPRESSING OUR BELOVED LEADER SO HE SINKS INTO THE WATER! IS THERE NOTHING SHE WON'T DO?!"

"I'LL SHOW YOU IN A SECOND IF YOU DON'T SHUT UP, ASSHOLE!" Rose yells up to him with enough anger in her voice to shut him up.

The Straw Hat Team can barely register what just happened, as they watch the other team staying in their spot to get their captain out of the water.

Nami shakes her head to snap herself out of it, before she turns to the others. "Now's our chance! Let's go!"

Robin and Usopp quickly agree as they paddle on until they pass the finish line and claim victory for the crew.

The announcer is shell shocked by the turn of events but has no choice, but to call the end of the game. "WITH NO SYMPATHY FOR THE OTHER TEAM'S PLIGHT, THE STRAW HAT TEAM REACHES THE FINISH LINE AND WINS THE FIRST ROUND!"

"WHAT?!" Porche shouts in fury while her crew mate re-surfaces with his captain.

Foxy catches his breath as he looks around and spots the confident wind girl who attacked him.

Rose sees him glaring at her, and just waves at him with a cheeky smile before she lands on the ground. With a feeling of self-satisfaction welling up inside her, for using her knowledge of this world for something good, she walks off to where the finish line is with a spring in her step .

Foxy growls in anger while he watches Rose walk away without a care in the world, as he's pulled onto the boat with his crew member, and keeps his eyes on the wind girl. "I've decided..."

The two crew members look to their captain in confusion as he makes a declaration with fury in his eyes. "When we win the next round, I'm going to take the wind girl and make her work to the bone!"

"RIGHT!" The rest of the crew cheers to his plan as they row back to shore while Foxy thinks up all the different plans he could use to win the next round.

"Alright, we won!" Luffy yells out in victory as soon as the race is finished. The rest of his crew shares the same joy for at least right now they won't lose a friend.

The other crew however, is mortified by the loss and are murmuring to one another in fear of themselves getting taken away.

The Straw Hats ignore the worries around them as they reach the coastline to greet the winning team.

"That was amazing ladies!" Sanji says as he reaches his hands out for the girls for them to take them and help them off the unstable boat.

Usopp struggles to get off and narrows his eyes at the chef. "What about me?!"

"Oh yea, good job too." Sanji says with half as much enthusiasm as before.

The sniper groans at the lack of praise, but Chopper makes up for it by running up to him. "That was awesome Usopp!"

Usopp immediately feels better from the appreciation and wears a prideful smirk. "It was nothing! Everything went according to plan!"

Chopper marvels at his confidence while the others look around for the wind girl who secured their victory.

Luffy sees Rose walking the coastline towards them and brightly smiles as he waves at her. "ROSE, OVER HERE!"

The brunette chuckles as she waves back while the surrounding Foxy Pirates glare at her hard enough for a normal person to cower in fear.

Rose barely reacts to the strangers' icy glares that are meant for her, as a result of receiving them for most of her childhood, and goes to her crew as if nothing has happened. "Hey guys, how's it going?"

"We're doing pretty well Wind-chan." Robin answers nonchalantly while the others are still slightly surprised by Rose's stunt.

Nami steps up and asks the question that the others are wondering. "What exactly happened back there?"

"THAT'S WHAT I WANT TO KNOW!" Foxy yells loud enough for everyone to turn their eyes to the furious captain as he storms over to the Straw Hats while Porche follows behind.

Rose could care less about his anger as she turns her attention back to the crew. "I saw Foxy leaving while we were fighting his crew, so I followed him to make sure he wasn't gonna do something stupid like cheat."

She turns to Foxy and gives him a small smile. "You know though, I'm impressed with what your beam did to your crew member. What kind of power was it?"

Foxy's anger immediately fades away from the compliment and is replaced with egotistic confidence. "That was the power of the slow slow fruit! I can create a beam that can slow down objects! For example..."

He takes a dagger out of the inside of his jacket and tosses it into the air.

The Straw Hats curiously watch as Foxy pinches his middle and ring fingers to his thumb to shoot a pink beam up towards the falling knife. Once the beam hits the weapon just above the crew, the dagger slows its descent to make it easy for Foxy to pluck it out of mid-air. "With my power, it's easy to slow down items, but it regains its normal speed a little while afterwards."

Usopp is taken aback by what he just saw and remembers how Foxy aimed for them during the race. "So you were trying to slow us down?!"

"What a cheap trick." Luffy says which drains Foxy's confidence and reminds him of his loss.

He narrows his eyes at the enemy team and wants to get this over with. "Just shut up and pick your prize already!"

"Oh right!" Luffy says as he looks around the enemy crew. When he stares at one direction, the foxy pirates in his line of sight begin to worry if one of them were his choice.

Their fears only worsen when he points into that direction with a toothy grin. "Let Shelly leave!"

Everyone looks to the direction that he pointed to and found that behind the group is the small, wooden, pen that they're keeping the horse that they captured.

Tonjit is more than happy about the choice as he watches a foxy pirate open the pen for Shelly to run out.

The horse wastes no time in approaching Tonjit and happily neighs as her rider pets her.

Most of the Straw Hats admire the reunion while Luffy calls out to them. "Shelly won't join us, so you can stay with her old guy!"

"Thank you!" Tonjit says as he hugs the horse then grabs the reins to lead her away from the Foxy pirates.

The announcer, who has been narrating, the game remembers his duty and speaks in his microphone. "There you have it folks! Monkey D Luffy chose the horse that our captain captured and released her from his crew! While we can't take the horse back in the future rounds, we can regain our pride! Will the Straw Hats continue this victory streak or will they lose one of their crew members? Only time will tell in our next round, the Groggy Ring!"

The Foxy pirates regain their spirits from the announcement and cheer in response before they rush off to prepare the field for the next round.

"For just losing a match, they're really enthusiastic." Robin points out as she watches them get to work with little hesitation.

"They won't be like that after we crush them." Zoro says with a demonic smirk on his face.

"Just stay out of my way and we'll be fine." Sanji says which earns a glare from the swordsman.

"Don't fight, we gotta work together!" Chopper says as he goes into heavy point to be ready to stop them from fighting.

The two pirates click their tongues, but don't get into a fight as they walk off in the direction of the field.

Chopper tiredly sighs at his dilemma of dealing with the arguing pirates.

"Good luck with them Chopper." Usopp says before he pats him on the back.

The reindeer only nods before he goes off to join his teammates.

"Will they really be alright?" Nami asks with uncertainty in her voice as she watches Sanji and Zoro starting to bicker about their strategy.

"They'll figure it out. Let's get going." Luffy says before he takes Rose's hand and runs off to the field with her.

Rose staggers for a moment, with a pink hue over her freckles, before she regains her footing to keep up with her captain's quick pace.

The rest of the crew is quick to follow behind with only one thing for certain. These next two events are to hold the fate of their crew, and they need to be prepared for every possibility.

TO BE CONTINUED