With the sound of the ringing bell spreading across the air, the two boxers on the ship rush in to duke it out with both of their crews as their witnesses!
Luffy is the first to throw a stretched-out punch, but Foxy doesn't hesitate to slow down the rubber boy's arm. When the beam meets the fist halfway towards Foxy, it slows it down to the point where its target can easily step to the side to dodge.
Luffy tries to pull his punch back, but the slow fist wound up pulling its owner towards it instead. He loses his balance from the pull and slides on his side until his arm reaches his fist.
Foxy smirks in amusement as he watches his opponent groan from the rough slide. He aims his arm at Luffy again, which forces him to jump off the deck to dodge, but instead of shooting a beam, he just chuckles. "Just kidding."
"What?!" Luffy asks in mid-air when Foxy aims again and fires a pink beam straight at him.
Luffy couldn't dodge quick enough, and immediately slowed down his descent to the point where he's an easy target.
Being the crafty man he is, Foxy doesn't waste any time in using the advantage by giving Luffy a barrage of punches that he can't escape from.
"LUFFY!" Usopp and Chopper call out in worry for their captain when they don't see him moving at all from the hits.
"He'd not getting hurt by the punches?" Sanji asks when he watches Luffy not react to the punches.
"No, the beam's slowing down the effects of the punches." Zoro says when he gets a closer look to see Luffy's face slowly twisting from the attacks.
When Foxy stops he takes a few steps back to enjoy his handiwork just as his opponent's speed is returning. "Fehfehfeh, now that was a good workout. I wonder how far you'll fly from the hits."
"Daaaammnn YYoouuuuu…" Luffy drawls out just before his speed returns for him to feel every punch that he took in the past thirty seconds.
Luffy groans from all the hits as he's knocked off his feet and is sent flying over the railing of the ship! He won't go down so easily though, for he stretched his arm to grab onto the railing and pulled himself back onto the ship.
When he plants his feet to the deck, he looks around to see that Foxy is nowhere to be seen. "Where the hell are you bastard?!"
He runs to the upper deck in search of his prey, but stops when he hears the sound of crossbows firing. He looks to his right to see three arrows flying towards him, so he quickly ducks to avoid the shots!
"Fehfehfeh, not a bad dodge Straw Hat!" Luffy turns around to see Foxy casually standing on the upper deck's inner railing.
"There you are!" He runs to the railing to go after him, but Foxy jumps backwards to avoid the right hook punch.
Luffy looks over the rail with wide eyes to see that Foxy's now standing on a floating cannonball, and is surrounded by a dozen others that are in the same state as the one he's standing on.
Luffy quickly goes after him by jumping onto a nearby cannonball, but it regained its speed just before his feet can land on it. He yelps in shock as he falls on the deck while Foxy jumps off his cannonball to land on the railing of the upper deck.
The afro wearer groans in annoyance as he gets up, just when the rest of the cannonballs regain their speed and explode on the lower deck where he stands.
Over in the sidelines, each Straw Hat is finding the fight painful for how Foxy is using all the tricks on the ship to his advantage in the unfair fight.
"COME ON LUFFY, GET UP!" Nami yells as she and the others watch him get up just when Foxy stands behind a strange looking cannon.
"And now for my next trick, taste my face bombs!" He fires a line of slow bombs in Luffy's direction with each bomb looking exactly like the attacker.
"THAT'S CREEPY!" Luffy yells when he jumps out of the way only to see that the Foxy bombs can slowly fly past them.
"What the hell? Are these really bombs?" Luffy curiously asks when they casually fly past him.
"Of course they're bombs, they just didn't explode yet." Foxy says as he pretends to be one of the bombs by walking in the line.
His opponent didn't realize it was Foxy who was talking until he gets punched straight in the face by the slow beam user!
Luffy groans from the hard punch as he's knocked on his ass just as Foxy starts walking away from the floating bombs. "Just so you know, they're about to regain their speed right about-!"
The bombs had beaten him to the punch for they went off all across the lower deck!
The audience is completely speechless of the sight as the explosion blocks their sight of the fight.
The announcer only chuckles at his captain's strategy as gets on his bird to fly over the ship, and speaks through an intercom to narrate. "Looks like our boss has secured another quick victory! Needless to say, it isn't a surprise when it comes to our-!"
"Will you shut up?! You're too loud!" The announcer turns his head to the nearby voice to see that Luffy had managed to dodge the explosion and has perched himself on the crow's nest!
"HE DODGED IT?!" The announcer and the rest of the Foxy pirates yell out from the unexpected twist of the enemy surviving! When the smoke cleared, they become even more shocked when it's their own captain who experienced the force of the blast.
"How stupid is this guy?!" Nami asks with the only answer was Rose's laughter.
Luffy however, is not amused by his opponent's stupidity when he jumps off the crow's nest and lands on his fist. "QUIT PLAYING AROUND!"
"SHUT UP AND DIE!" Foxy says as he gets up and grips the lever right next to it, then pulls it for a trap door to open under Luffy's feet!
"Whoa!" Luffy yells as he falls into the run under the deck just before it closes up.
"Fehfehfeh!" The cheating pirate laughs at his plight as he runs inside to set up the many traps that are waiting for the rubber man below deck.
"HEY, WE CAN'T SEE THE FIGHT!" Usopp yells along with a few of the foxy pirates because they're being forced to just wait for the boxers to come outside.
"Damn…" Rose says in a pout because of not seeing the action. Even though she remembers the indoor battle from her world, it's more amazing to see the exciting fight up close.
"How long are we gonna be waiting?" Zoro asks as they wait on in anticipation with the others.
Their eagerness only grew when they could hear punches, and yelling between the two fighters from inside the boat!
"COME ON LUFFY! KICK HIS ASS!" Rose yells out in hopes of her captain hearing.
"There's no way he'll lose with the afro!" Usopp says with complete confidence.
"Yea, Foxy doesn't have a chance." Sanji agrees as he stares at the ship.
Nami sweat drops at the weird faith in a wig and looks at them. "What does an afro have to do with it?"
"You'd be surprised." Rose answers just when the sound of an explosion, and glass breaking fills the air!
Everyone on the bleachers exclaim their surprise when the explosion comes out from under the deck with fire and mirror shards flying into the air!
When the smoke clears away, the outcome shows Foxy standing proudly, with burns and scrapes on his body, while Luffy is lying face first on the deck with the same amount of injuries.
Chopper is completely horrified by the injuries his friend had received. "How did Luffy get burns from a boxing match?!"
"Split-head probably cheated." Zoro says as he narrows his eyes on the ship.
"He's getting up!" Robin says when she and the others watch Luffy slowly getting up.
The Straw Hat captain doesn't care for the cheers on the stands as he stands up with his determined eyes focused on his opponent.
Foxy refuses to give him any mercy though, for as soon as he got back on his feet, he fires a slow beam on him and hits him with a barrage of punches!
"QUIT CHEATING WITH THE BEAM!" Usopp furiously yells out as he gets up.
Settle down Usopp!" Zoro calls out as he pulls Usopp back to his seat, even though he's just as pissed as the sniper.
Sanji and Rose also share their anger while Nami, Robin and Chopper share a worried look for the pain Luffy's taking in the fight. The pirates outside their crew however, cheer for their winning captain with no regards for the unfair advantage.
When Foxy if finally done, he allows Luffy to fall on his hands and knees. Thinking that he won't get up again, he turns his back to him and walks away in pride of his dastardly work, without knowing that Luffy is getting back up. "Fehfehfeh, you've put up a good fight Straw Hat, but this is the end. Don't worry, I'll be sure to take good care of your wind girl as the crew's slave."
That last comment infuriates the injured rubber man just as he gets back on his two feet. "You bastard…"
Foxy stops in shock of the angry voice behind him, and turns around only to earn a punch to the face to send him flying!
"WHOA!" Both Foxy and Straw Hat alike are astounded by the strong punch as they watch Foxy's head crash to the railing to stop him from falling to the ocean!
None of them heard what Foxy said to Luffy due to his crew's cheering, but they were all amazed at how it got Luffy so worked up.
Foxy forces himself up from the strong hit, and couldn't believe his eyes when he sees Luffy ready to fight.
The rubber man barely cares about his surprise as he approaches his enemy. "I won't let you take her, or anyone else in my crew! To keep them safe, I'll fight to the death!"
Foxy growls at his stubborn opponent as he puts up his fists. "Then die!"
The two boxers give it their all in a flurry of fists!
As the audience watches Luffy's strong willpower, both crews are in awe of the captain's determination to not give up until he's the winner.
Rose however is the most awestruck of them all as she keeps her purple eyes glued to her captain's side of the fight. The way he doesn't back down, no matter how many times he's punched down by Foxy's tricks, is absolutely breathtaking. Even knowing how the outcome of the match doesn't falter her view of this fight, because seeing how determined, and powerful, he is in this fight manages to fully punch his way into her heart.
She softly sighs with a small smile, in admiration of the strong man, while everyone is at the edge of their seats in excitement to see who will come out on top.
The two warriors refuse to give the other an inch as they throw their punches. Foxy decides to end it by preparing another slow beam in his right hand to punch Luffy into a slow stupor. The joke is on him though, for when he throws the fist, Luffy punches him hand, and the beam gets redirected towards its creator!
Foxy instantly slows down from the surprise, and barely moves his eyes when his opponent catches his breath. "Whhaaattt tthhheee heeellll?"
Luffy heavily pants from all the damage he took as he steps back on shaky legs, and drops his fist as well as the mirror that was hidden in his hand!
"So, his beam can be reflected." Robin says with interest, while most of the others in the audience were surprised by the clever move.
"Yoooouuuu litttlllleee shiitttt…" Foxy drawls out while Luffy glares at the man who's been causing his crew so much trouble.
The rubber man is more than happy to end this once and for all, so he grabs his elbow to swing his forearm into the air like it's a medieval flail to give his fist as much momentum as possible.
"Gum gum…" As soon as Luffy felt like his arm has enough force to send him flying off the ship, he releases his arm to let it hit him straight in the face! "Flail!"
Still being under the effects of his own beam, Foxy slowly takes the effect of the hit by a dent being made in his head. While his speed slowly returns, the straw hats slowly count down the seconds until the beam goes off.
As they go from ten to five, the Foxy Pirates cautiously join in until both crews bring the count down to the last few seconds.
"3, 2, 1!" just like clockwork, the effects of the beam were gone, and Foxy felt the sheer strength of the punch that sent him flying off the deck, and off the ship!
The announcer drops his jaw at the sight before he yells into the intercom. "FOXY IS OUT OF THE RING AND OUT OF THE GAME! THE WINNER OF THE FINAL ROUND FOR THE DAVY BACK FIGHT IS MONKEY D LUFFY!"
"YEA!" Luffy roars in victory with his fists held high the audience is in an uproar.
"WAY TO GO LUFFY!" Usopp and Chopper yell out with tears in their eyes.
"THAT WAS AWESOME LUFFY!" Rose cheers along with them as she jumps to her feet and pumps her fists in the air from the amazing battle.
Porche, who's near the front row, grows angry at her crew's cheering and screams. "SHUT UP, IT'S OUR CAPTAIN THAT LOST!"
Her crew mates quickly shut up from the yelling, and see that Foxy's unconscious body just fell into the ocean.
"CAPTAIN! WE'LL SAVE YOU!" The entire crew calls out, and rushes to the water to rescue him.
Rose quickly uses her wind to get both herself and her crew flying off the bleachers to avoid the stampede.
As they float above the crowd, Chopper looks to the ship to see that Luffy's collapsed on the deck and is fast asleep. "Rose, get us on Foxy's ship. I gotta treat him."
"You got it doc." Rose says as she brings them to Foxy's ship to retrieve their winning captain.
As Zoro picks up the sleeping captain, the afro wig that guaranteed his victory, falls off his hair, and onto the deck.
Just as the crew goes to leave the ship, Rose trails behind and looks back at the abandoned wig. She stares at it with interest for a moment before she uses her wind to pick it up, and brings it with her while she follows the others off the ship.
"And, that should do it." Chopper says as he wraps the last bandage around Luffy's shirtless torso while the others are waiting nearby for Luffy to wake up.
Rose looks at the bandages that cover the burns on Luffy's torso, upper arms, right cheek, and forehead, and grows a little pissed at how unfair the fight was. "The damn fox..."
Nami quietly sighs as she looks at her captain. "I know what you mean. I was worried back there."
"He was fine since he had the afro." Sanji says as he grabs a cigarette from his pocket.
"Speaking of which…" Zoro trails off when he sees Usopp wearing the afro that Rose took under his helmet and Luffy's straw hat. "What the hell are you doing?"
"Feeling the power of the afro! I can feel my strength growing with every second!" Usopp answers as he flexes his arms as if they hold large muscles instead of twig like arms.
Chopper is the first to react by exclaiming his joy as he admires Usopp's lies.
"Hey, I need a chance too!" Sanji says as he goes to grab it, but Usopp gets in a stance to protect the hairdo.
Nami sweat drops at the fight before she looks at the one who brought the wig with her. "Why did you take the wig?"
"Just keeping our options open." Rose says before she joins Chopper in cheering for the fight.
Robin giggles at the lively atmosphere when she sees Luffy stirring on the ground. "I think captain-san is waking up."
Everyone stops what they're doing, just before they spot Luffy slowly opening his eyes. As soon as he fully comes to, he shoots up into a sitting position and looks around for Foxy. "What happened at the match?! Who won?!"
"Relax, you won." Zoro answers with a calm smile which immediately relaxes his friend.
The winner lets out a breath of relief as he lays back down on the comfy grass to rest. "Thank god, it worked..."
Rose chuckles as she flies up to take Luffy's hat from the top of the bulbous wig, then lands next to her crush. She smiles down at him as she gently places the hat on his chest. "Yea, you and Usopp made the perfect choice with the afro."
Luffy pouts at her oblivious answer before he scowls up at her. "I'm not talking about that; I'm talking about our ki-!"
"STRAW HAT!"
Luffy ignores Foxy's voice and stays down, while the others turn to the direction of Foxy's ship to see it's captain storming towards them.
Every standing Straw Hat becomes on edge when he approaches them, but they don't stop him from approaching Luffy's feet.
Foxy could care less about the icy eyes on him as he looks down at the captain who had beaten the crap out of him. "Thanks to you, I lost my perfect record…"
Luffy doesn't say anything in response, but grows surprised when Foxy extends a hand out for him to shake. "You have my respect Straw Hat."
The rubber man grins at the friendly gesture as he sits up, while he puts his hat back on his head, and takes the hand. Instead of a respectful handshake though, Foxy grabs his rubber arm and tries to flip him over his shoulder!
However, Luffy's body didn't go with his stretched arm and causes Foxy to headbutt the ground from using so much strength to try to throw him.
"Idiot…" Zoro mutters while the others just sweat drops at his stupidity.
Foxy groans at the insult before he stands back up, with a bump on his head, and glares at Luffy. "JUST PICK YOUR NEW CREW MEMBER ALREADY!"
Luffy nods in agreement as he stands up, and puts his hat back on his head. He looks at the Foxy Pirates and knows for a fact that he has no interest in recruiting any of them.
He scowls at them, which makes every pirate from that crew nervous as he turns his head. He opens his mouth to say something, before he comes up with a brilliant idea!
Nami grows nervous when she sees the large smile on Luffy's face, and steps up. "Luffy, what are you planning?"
"Shishishi, I know exactly how to choose, but where-?!" Luffy look stops when he sees Usopp. "There!"
Everyone, but Rose, grows confused when Luffy stretches his arm towards Usopp. Instead of grabbing the frightened sniper though, he grabs the wig that's still on his head and pulls it back, while the sniper's helmet falls back on his head.
Luffy brings the afro by his side, and shows it to the other crew. "I WANT THE AFRO!"
"WHAT?!" The majority of the Foxy Pirates yell out in horror that he would rather take one of their wigs instead of them.
Foxy is also completely dumbfounded and wants to get to the bottom of this. "What do you mean you want the afro?!"
"Exactly as I said, I don't want a crew member, so I'll take the afro instead." Luffy says as if what he said doesn't sound nuts at all.
Rose steps up and tries to settle the situation. "There's no rule saying that he had to just choose between a crew member or the flag, right? So why not?"
Foxy and the others try to remember if there is anything saying that he can't, but they have nothing. If anything, it could be more of a relief for them since they won't lose a crew mate.
Foxy clears his throat to regain his composure and crosses his arms over his chest. "Alright Straw Hat, you can keep the wig. Only if you replace the Jolly Roger on our main sail.
"Sure!" He puts the wig on Rose's head, with her brown hair sticking out from under the afro, and goes to replace the symbol.
As he erases the symbol on the sail, and paints a new one, the wind girl goes off to the Merry.
"Hey, where are you going?" Chopper asks when he sees her walking off.
Rose gives the doctor a soft grin before she pats the wig that's on her head. "I'm gonna bring this in the ship before Usopp and Sanji fight over it again."
The doctor nods in agreement as Rose goes back to the ship. As soon as she reaches the deck, she can hear the faint cries of how horrible the new jolly roger design is. She chuckles at the well-deserved punishment as she goes inside to put her backpack away, and bring the potential spare for Brook's afro to the storage closet.
"YOU'LL REGRET THIS STRAW HAT!" The Foxy Pirates cry out as they sail away in embarrassment of their crushing defeat by the small crew.
The Straw Hats just watch their departure from the coastline with gratitude that they no longer have to deal with their stupidity.
Rose quickly flies back to their side and waves her arms to try to get them back to the Merry. "Hey guys, let's head out too! There's nothing left here!"
"I agree, it's been exhausting." Nami says, but Luffy has other ideas.
With the smaller version of the flag that he won off of Foxy, he turns to the direction of Tonjit's house. "Not yet, I wanna drop off the flag to him."
Sanji knits his eyebrows at the weird reason as he watches him start to walk. "What use would the old geezer have with it?"
"We don't have any use for it, so he can have it." Luffy answers as he keeps on walking.
"I should do one more check on Shelly's injuries too." Chopper says as he starts following his captain.
Knowing that nothing would change his mind anyway, Usopp starts to follow him. "We should say goodbye to Tonjit anyway."
The others quickly decide to follow along because they want to make sure that the idiot trio doesn't cause anymore chaos.
Rose walks slowly in the back of the herd because she does want anyone to see her deep in thought. She knows that they're going to see Aokiji, and with Robin being his primary target her ultimate goal in this fight is to protect her. This point in time is very delicate for the archeologist due to her past, so she needs to show her that no matter what this crew has her back and can keep her safe.
Whether or not her wind can match the strength of the marine's ice, she doesn't know. All she knows for certain is that keeping Robin from getting frozen might help her to trust in everyone.
The wind girl gently caresses her necklace to help steel her nerves before she tucks it under her shirt just as the crew arrives at Tonjit's hut.
The old man is sitting beside Shelly, as the horse is laying on the grass to rest her legs.
Tonjit notices the new arrivals and happily grins at the friends who saved his horse. "You guys made it! How did the rest of the games go?"
Luffy flashes him a toothy grin before he gives him the flag he won. "We kicked their asses!"
Tonjit looks at the flag in his hands with stars in his eyes before he smiles at the pirates. "You're all amazing! Thank you again for helping me protect Shelly."
"A pirate protecting someone? Now that's new." A new, masculine, voice surprises everyone and turn to see a slim but slightly muscular, man, who's in his mid-forties, and his curly black hair held down by the sleep mask that's wrapped around his forehead, walking towards them.
As he gets closer to them, everyone has to look up to the man in the navy-blue collared shirt, under the white button up vest that matches his pants, due to how overly tall he is.
Rose narrows her purple eyes on the marine man, before she looks to Robin. Just as she feared, the archaeologist quickly lost her smiling mask on sight of the older male and is showing a look of pure fear.
The wind girl quickly acts by standing in between her friend and the marine which didn't become unnoticed by the others.
When they see Robin's reaction, half of them become concerned for her while the other half become on guard because it's obvious that this man is the cause of it
"Robin, what's wrong?!" Sanji asks but the trembling woman doesn't give him an answer as she hugs her arms to try to calm herself down.
The older man doesn't give a damn about the glares on him, because his eyes are drawn to the woman who fears him. "Well, well, Nico Robin. You've surely grown into a beautiful woman."
"Robin, you know this guy?!" Luffy asks as he gets in a stance to fight at any moment.
Robin continues to hold her arms tightly before she answers him. "That's marine Admiral Aokiji…"
"WHAT'S SOMEONE LIKE HIME DOING HERE?!" Usopp furiously asks as if he's not hiding behind Zoro's back.
Aokiji raises his hands defensively to try to calm the situation down. "Chill kids, I didn't come here for a fight. I'm just for a walk. I'm not in the mood to arrest any of you."
Zoro doesn't believe him at all, and stays in a stance with his swords nonetheless. "And why would we believe you?"
"You don't have to, but that's the truth."
"If it's true, then get the fuck out of here." Rose tells him as she plays the part of the hateful pirate instead of showing her true feelings of respect for the merciful Admiral.
The act pays off, for Aokiji sighs in defeat because he's too lazy to deal with this. "Fine, I'll leave."
He goes to leave, but he looks down to the old man and recognizes his outfit to be that of a nomadic tribe. "You're from that tribe I saw a few islands back, aren't you?"
"You saw my tribe?!" Tonjit asks which gives him all the information he needs.
"I did, so pack your bags, I'll help you get to them."
Luffy furrows his eyebrows at the offer before he points a finger at him. "DON'T LISTEN TO HIM OLD GUY! HE'S A MARINE!"
An awkward silence fills the air at the declaration because of how strange it sounds to the civilian. "Why can't I listen to a marine?"
Luffy blinks at the question before he hits his palm with his fist. "Oh right, normally pirates are the bad guys!"
"Now's not the time to be joking!" Nami says as she whacks him on the head.
Aokiji sweat drops at the weird dynamic before he sighs. "Anyway, I can help you get to the next island, even with the horse's injured leg."
The majority of the pirates grow curious about his confidence since he claimed to have walked there, but they have no reason to stop him.
As Tonjit packs up his stuff, Rose goes over to Robin and grabs her arm. The raven-haired woman is surprised, but nonetheless stays quiet as she lets her crew mate pull her away from the crowd. that's helping out the old man, and gets her out of earshot.
Once the astronomer knows that no one can hear, and stops and speaks to her. "Listen, you don't need to talk about what went down with you and the overgrown popsicle, but if you're that uncomfortable then you should go back to the ship."
Robin is surprised by the advice, but is unsure about leaving her friends behind. "I can't just leave everyone alone with him."
While Rose is slightly annoyed by her stubbornness, she also admires how she cares for them. "If he tries to attack, then we'll run for it. If you go now, you can have the ship ready for a quick getaway."
"That's not going to work with Aokiji's-!"
"HEY GUYS, COME ON!" Luffy's loud voice cuts Robin off.
The girls see their captain waving for them with both arms while the others are surrounding the giant wagon that's filled with Tonjit's stuff.
"Last chance." Rose offers as a plea for Robin to get to safety, but it's only answered with the archaeologist going on ahead to join the others.
The wind girl groans at Robin's stubbornness, but can't do anything else without attracting more attention so she begrudgingly follows her back to the crew.
As they travel towards the coast, Rose can feel a pair of eyes staring at her from above. Without turning her head, she can tell that Aokiji is staring at her, and she can understand why since there's a good chance that he knows her secret. All the more reason for her to keep her guard up until they're off this island.
When they finally reach the coast, Aokiji looks towards the ocean and steps ahead. "Stay back for a bit."
Both the crew, Tonjit, and Shelly do as they're told by staying back while Aokiji approaches the water. As soon as he reaches the island's edge, he crouches down and reaches his hand towards the salty water.
Once contact is made, the dark blue water begins to grow a lighter color as ice begins to form. "Ice age..."
In the blink of an eye, the water, along with most of Aokiji's body, turns into solid ice!
Most of the pirates, and the old man, are in shock of how this man was able to freeze the ocean in a matter of seconds.
Robin is mortified by the sight of ice and cautiously explains what's going on to the others. "He ate the ice ice fruit. He's a logia user like wind-chan…"
The others look from her then back to the marine Admiral just as he finishes his work.
Aokiji lets out a frosted breath from using his powers and stands back up as the frost on his body chips away. He looks to the old man and points in the direction where he saw the nomad's tribe. "This ice will hold for ten days. If you walk in this direction for two days, you should be able to make it back to your tribe."
Tonjit marvels at the amazing opportunity to return to his family and refuse to waste it as he and his horse pull the wagon. "Thank you so much!"
"Take care old man!" Usopp yells out as he waves him off.
"Be careful Shelly!" Chopper calls out as he joins in the goodbyes.
Luffy grins over at the Admiral who helped him out. "You're not such a bad guy after all."
Aokiji chuckles at the compliment as he sits down. "You know, you really are like your grandpa."
The rubber man flinches at mention of his grandfather which confuses most of the crew.
"What's up Luffy?" Usopp asks which causes Luffy to grow worried.
"It's nothing, don't worry about it!"
Aokiji watches the exchange, then looks towards the other members of the crew. When he stops at Robin, he also sees the outsider close by as if she's waiting to strike him at any moment to protect her.
The Admiral sighs at the situation before he makes a decision. "You know, I wasn't planning on doing anything today, but it might be better if you all die now…"
That declaration has everyone on guard and reminds them that they're face to face with a marine admiral!
Usopp grows frightened at the reminder as he grabs his slingshot. "YOU SAID YOU WERE HERE FOR A WALK!"
"I was, but ever since your captain gained his first bounty, your strength has been growing exponentially. Sure, you're only fighting pirates right now, but we can't take any chances of you not coming after us next."
He stands up and looks at Robin and Rose. "Especially when your crew holds dangerous people like these two."
"What was that?!" Sanji asks as he goes to kick, but Usopp stops him from doing anything too rash.
Aokiji could care less about everyone else's rage as he keeps his eyes on the two women who hold terrible secrets. "Nico Robin, your bounty has been high even back when you were eight because of how much of a threat you were. You used every partner you had in the past up until Crocodile just to survive, and now-!"
Rose cuts him off by turning her arm into a blast of hot air and fires it straight to his stomach. He cringes from the heat of Rose's rage as he's sent flying and tumbles backwards.
It's not enough to keep him down though, because he quickly gets back up to see the pirate responsible glaring at the ice man with both her arms now as hot gusts of wind. "SHUT THE HELL UP ABOUT HER, BASTARD! WHAT DO YOU KNOW?!"
Aokiji chuckles at her quick temper. "Not as much as you do, I'm sure."
Rose clicks her tongue at the comeback, and goes to attack, but Robin beats her to the punch by growing hands out of the ground by Aokiji's feet, and around his sides. "I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS!"
She puts the ice man into a clutch, but his ice body isn't affected at all because as soon as it snaps in half, he quickly reforms.
Usopp and Chopper scream in fright of how his body is changing back to normal while the ice man grabs a few blades of grass, turns them into a blade of ice and charges towards the girls.
For extra measure, he focuses on the sword with enough armament haki to turn it black so that it could harm the wind girl.
"Crap!" Rose recognizes what he did and grabs her own sword, but before she could block, Zoro rushes in front of her to block the attack.
Sanji follows behind by kicking the sword out of his grasp, but Aokiji grabs his leg, and Zoro's arm only for Luffy to punch him in the chest.
Just as Aokiji starts to freeze the monster trio, Rose turns herself into hot air and tackles the ice man to get him away from the boys.
Sanji falls on his face from his leg being released, while Zoro and Luffy step away while gripping their frozen body parts. The rubber man caresses his frozen fist, while Zoro rubs his upper arm that gained a sheet of ice over it.
The chef sits up to see his right calf received the same treatment then looks to see Rose changing back to her original form with frost over her body. However, she's so angry that the hot air flying off of her is healing her frostbite.
Aokiji chuckles at the effort that the freckle girl made to protect her friends. "Not bad demon, but how long can you keep this up?"
The others grow angry at the insult, but Rose looks back and yells out to them. "GET THE FUCK BACK TO THE SHIP! I'LL CATCH UP AFTER I GO ALL OUT!"
"I'M NOT LEAVING YOU ALONE WITH-! HEY!" Zoro picks Luffy up over his shoulder with his good arm to run to the ship with him with most of the others following.
Robin tries to stay, but Rose creates a gust of air to send her flying towards the others until Nami grabs her arm.
As soon as the wind girl sees Nami is running with Robin, she releases her wind on her friend so that they can run away together.
Luffy however, is stubbornly trying to get out of Zoro's grasp without hurting his frozen hand. "Zoro, let me down now!"
The swordsman refuses to do so and scowls over his shoulder. "Don't you get it?!"
Luffy stops struggling and looks at him in confusion. "Get what?"
"Her mood breeze can help her against his ice, but she can't go all out if she's worried about us."Nami says as she keeps a hold of Robin's arm.
She looks back at Robin's face to see that she's still shaken by the attack. "It's ok, we won't let him take you."
Robin is surprised by the declaration and only keeps her head down. "Thank you…"
She grins at her friend when they see the ship.
"Luffy, come with me and we can thaw you in the bathroom. Zoro and Sanji, you can thaw yourselves in the ocean." Chopper says with the boys agreeing.
Zoro finally lets his captain down, with him rushing with Chopper to get healed, because as soon as he's healed, he's going back to help his wind girl.
As soon as her crew is out of earshot, Rose keeps her eyes on the ice Admiral. "I appreciate that you didn't go after them."
"Not like you would've made it easy. Besides, I'll still get one demon out of this world." Aokiji answers as his body starts to freeze.
Rose just snickers at the comment as a demonic smirk curls up on her arms turn into hot twisters. "We'll see about that Kuzan."
She fires her arm at the ice man with him creating a wall to block. With the wind melting halfway through the ice before it fades away.
She can see ice moving on the ground, so she quickly flies up into the air before he can appear in front of her, and snaps a tornado towards the ground!
She blasts hot air towards the twister to strengthen it just as Aokiji changes back. When he sees the tornado becoming taller than he is, he forms ice around his feet to pin him to the ground, but it was too late because as soon as it got close enough, the warm cyclone broke him away from the ice and sent him spiraling.
The ice man wasn't in it for long though, because as he was flying, he froze the air around him to slow it down enough in mid-air. As he descends, he looks around for his prey, but sees no sign of her. He can hear the wind howling above though, so he looks up to see a gust of wind spiraling down towards him, so he creates an ice shield to protect himself. As soon as the winds made contact, steam begins to form from the hot air making contact. Unlike the wind before though, the spiraling gust continues on until it breaks and hits the admiral!
The strong hit surprises the marine, but doesn't stop him from infusing his arm with both ice and haki, and gives it a right hook to reveal Rose's head as he punches her off him, just as his back roughly hits the ground!
Rose turns her whole body back to normal, and as she stumbles forward to keep herself standing. Even though the left side of her scalp is covered in a patch of ice, she's grateful that she was able to turn into her element to land that hit, or else she would've ended up frozen.
Aokiji slowly stands up, while ignoring the mild pain from the fall, and looks at the determined child with annoyance on his face. "You really think you can beat me with that?"
Rose just shrugs as if they're not fighting. "To be honest, I'm impressed I made it this far."
"Then why keep trying?"
"Either this or you hurting my friends." Rose answers as she turns her arms into hot twisters and aims at him, but he quickly sidesteps to dodge.
In the blink of an eye, he approaches her and grabs her arm with a haki infused hand. "You being with them will hurt them just how Robin's presence is. You do know that the World Government will be hunting you down, don't you?"
"No shit Sherlock!" Rose bites back as she turns her leg into hot air and kicks up for him to step back and let go of her.
Rose clenches her teeth at the numbing pain on her left arm from being frozen. She turns that arm into hot air to help thaw it out, but as soon as it turns back to normal, she removes her glove to see that it's completely red from frostbite.
"Using that arm too much without treatment could make it worse. The same goes for if I freeze it too many times." Aokiji says as he steps up.
The wind girl grows frustrated by the disadvantage she has, as she puts her glove back on, and tucks her arm behind her back as if she's fencing. "Then I'll just have to fight with one arm behind my back!"
He sweat drops at the stubborn attempt to keep going as she creates a rasengan with her good hand, and throws it at him. As it flies halfway to him though, it makes a right turn and flies to the ice ocean until it fades.
"Motherfu-!" Rose is cut off when Aokiji appears in front of her, but this time she's prepared when she puts her right hand behind her back and throws her left arm forward with a rasengan in her hand!
She manages to land a direct hit on his stomach for him to be sent flying back in a spin. She smirks in victory as she flies forward while putting her left arm behind her back. With her right arm though, she brings it out and fires a strong gust at him.
The ice man blocks the wind with a frozen wall, while he lands on his side from the hit.
Rose flies above the wall, but when she looks over it, she finds her opponent no longer there. "Where-?!"
"Play time's over." Rose widens her eyes to the voice behind her and turns around only to be hugged by two haki infused arms.
In an instant, the wind girl's body is frozen solid, except her head, and Aokiji's arms are the only thing to keep her from falling.
She feels like this is the coldest ice he's used, and she can barely create a gust let alone a hot enough gust to free herself. Her teeth chatter from the drop in body temperature as she tries to break her body free by turning it into air, but she's too cold to do it. "F-f-f-fuck…"
Aokiji tiredly sighs as he gets down from the ice pillar, that he made to reach her height, then puts the girl down in front of him. "You know, I'm curious. If you know that you're going to cause problems for your friends, then why not leave this world? Do you just like it here or are you trying to find something?"
The wind girl knits her eyebrows at the nosy questions, as her teeth slow down their chattering, and can tell that he's trying to get something else outta her. "Just cut to the chase with your real question."
"Very well." He takes out a small pile of wanted posters that he kept inside his vest.
When Aokiji takes out hers, and shows it to her, she widens her eyes at the new picture of the wind girl wearing a devilish smirk, and a monstrous gleam in her purple eyes, with the night sky from the window of Navarone's base in the background. Not only that, her bounty substantially grew, due to her secret being out and her attack on Navarone's weapon's unit, to a large 78 million.
The biggest surprise of them all though, and what has made her feel like her heart stopped, is that a family name is written on her poster, but not 'Catone'.
Aokiji can see the utter shock all over her face, and believes that it's just from the new name, so he explains what happened. "We know that you know about the Spiriting Night. However, we found out that one of those scientists shares a strong resemblance to you. But you probably already knew that since you're here to find your family, right Alun D Rose?"
Her eyes quickly shift from the Admiral to the poster that holds her false name. It's obvious that the World Government want her to have a connection to the Spiriting Night, almost as much as she does, but not for the same reasons. They want her to have the connection so they can convince her to work with them, just to use her to try get the other scientists back.
While that may appear to be a good cause, there's no guarantee of their safety if those people already began new lives and created new families. Just as her own mother did when she came to New York from another world, grew up, and started a family with a man who was amazing enough to believe in her.
In order to protect those who are happy with their new lives, she pretends that she knows nothing of her mother's maiden name by curling her lips up into a silly grin.
Aokiji raises an eyebrow when she starts laughing and start to wonder about her sanity. Rose couldn't care less what he thinks though, as she settles down and gives him a childish smile. "Oh god, you marines really like to jump to conclusions."
"You're telling me that you're not related to the missing scientist, Alun D Aria or Alun D Aidan?"
If the wind girl could move her shoulders, she'd shrug, but settles with a small sigh. "Sorry to disappoint, but I've never met them. I only have one name and that's Catone Rose. It was a good guess, given all the facts, though."
Aokiji is surprised by the answer, but he doesn't see any deceit in her eyes to tell him that she's lying. "If you're not here to find your missing family, then why don't you leave to protect your friends? That gem you stole from Navarone should give you a clean escape, and keep your friends safe."
Rose rolls her eyes at the assumption and gives him her answers. "First off, they stole that crystal from me. I was just getting it back. Second, even if I did leave to keep them safe, my captain would find a way to follow me across the universes to bring me back. Same goes for Robin."
Aokiji hums in curiosity before the outsider gives the man a friendly smile. "No matter what kind of danger she's in, or who in the World Government is after her, Luffy would go through all the levels of Impel Down to protect her. We'd all do the same for her, so you don't need to worry anymore."
He widens his eyes at the assurance before he chuckles. "Did Robin tell you about our past or do you know this because of your other worldly knowledge?"
"I'll leave that to your imagination." Rose answers as she tries to turn her head, but can't, so she doesn't know if her crew mates are coming for her yet.
However, she's going to take the lack of yelling as a sign that they're still alone. "Before you finish the job, can I give you some advice?"
He's surprised by the question but he doesn't see why not. "Go ahead."
"Get yourself stronger. You could be the Fleet Admiral that this world needs as long as you're stronger than the lava mutt."
Aokiji's face doesn't change at all, so it's hard to know what he's thinking when he places a hand on her head. "I'll keep that in mind if you listen to this. Even if you're not connected to the Spiriting Night, both you and Robin are dangers to this world. Cipher Pol will stop at nothing until you're both taken down. Remember that when you think of your crew's safety."
Rose widens her eyes at the mention of the CP units just when Aokiji freezes her head to match the rest of her icy body.
"ROSE!" Aokiji steps away from the frozen girl to see Luffy running towards them.
When Luffy sees his frozen crush, fury overwhelms him as he stretches his fist back. "YOU BASTARD!"
Aokiji steps to the side to avoid the punch. "Chill kid, I'm done."
Luffy knits his eyebrows in confusion as he retracts his hand back. "You're done?"
He nods as he steps back a bit so he can collect his crew mate. "I didn't kill her; I just froze her. She'll thaw out in a few days. Your demon had put up a decent fight. To be honest, I'm not in the mood to fight anymore. Seeing as you helped us out with Crocodile as well, we can call it even."
He looks to the wind girl that he took down then back to the seemingly clueless captain. "Do you know what you're dealing with when it comes to her and Robin though? It would be easier for you to at least get rid of one of-!"
Luffy stops him by throwing a stretched kick, which Aokiji easily dodges with another side step. Luffy runs in front of his wind girl, and blocks the Admiral's path to her. "SHUT THE HELL UP! YOU'RE NOT TAKING ANY OF MY CREW MATES! IF YOU WANT THEM YOU HAVE TO GO THROUGH ME!"
The rubber boy's determined glare quickly reminds Aokiji's of the glare the kid's grandfather possesses. Even though the marine can easily defeat the pirate, he can tell that he won't give up even if he dies. Looks like there was some truth in the outsider's words after all.
He chuckles at the thought of his enemy actually reassuring him about Robin's safety. Nonetheless, he's curious to see how this goes, so he turns around, drops Rose's wanted poster, and walks away. "It's your funeral. You can't say I didn't warn you about either of them. I'll give your grandfather your regards."
Luffy growls at how carefree he is about freezing one of his crew mates, but he has more important matters to deal with. Like making sure the wind girl gets fully healed. He goes to pick her up before he notices the wanted poster on the ground.
When he picks it up, he's surprised by the bounty before he stuffs the paper in his pocket, and gets back to Rose. He grabs her waist, and picks her up over her shoulder before he runs back towards the ship.
As he runs back, without a care about the frostbite he's getting on his hands and shoulder from carrying the frozen statue, he can't help but grow angry. Angry at all the insults that were thrown at his friends, how they were all so powerless to beat that Admiral, and more importantly angry at himself for letting this all happen.
He turns his head to the wind girl's surprised face and his anger turns into sadness for how she suffered. "I'm sorry…"
Whether or not she can hear her, he doesn't know but he doesn't care because all he wants is for her to get better. As soon as he sees the Merry, he runs at full speed while screaming at the top of his lungs. "CHOPPER! HELP ME!"
TO BE CONTINUED