The game, called Groggy Ring, was about to begin as the players had made it onto the field.
Cherry scoffed seeing that the Foxy pirates' chosen "ball" was a giant, slimy fishman. No doubt they thought his large size and slippery skin would make it hard to push him into the scoring ring.
Cabernet became the "ball" on the Straw Hat side. Actually, it was perhaps even more shameless to choose someone who can fly as the ball, huh?
The Foxy pirates' certainly thought so, you could tell by the way they were shouting insults. It wasn't against the rules, though, so there was nothing to be done about it. Flying individuals weren't very common after all.
The referee made Zoro disarm himself as weapons were against the rules, then he blew the whistle to begin the match.
Cabernet, contrary to what many would consider to be the most logical play, did not fly up into the air out of reach, but instead charged straight for the Foxy teams' ball.
Sanji and Zoro panicked and tried to chase after, but how could they keep up with Cabernet's speed?
The Fox team was happy to receive such an easy win. Their non-ball players went on the offensive.
Cabernet rushed forward, seeming not to even notice the two interceptors. The whole time she was accelerating, faster and faster.
By the time they realized something was off it was too late for the two Foxy pirates to get out of the way.
Cabernet slammed into them hard, sending them both flying in different directions, all the while laughing like a maniac.
The Foxy teams' ball was startled, but he saw an opportunity. If force wouldn't work, then he'd used finesse!
He prepared to receive the devilish woman hurtling towards himself.
When they clashed, Cabernet did not meet a solid wall of flesh as she had expected, but was instead guided along his slippery skin into a slimy loop.
Cabernet's momentum had been used against her, but she wasn't at all worried.
Cabernet had a whole TWO strategies she could employ. Smash stuff and burn stuff!
Smash stuff didn't work out, so now it was onto plan B!
Cabernet erupted into flames, boiling the fishman's lubricating mucus and scalding his skin.
"AHH!" The fishman could only regret his choice. He ought to have considered the possibility seeing Cabernet's back flames, but alas he was too simple minded.
The fishman broke the loop, sending Cabernet flying up into the air.
'Back to plan A!' Cabernet thought with an "innocent" smile.
She used the upwards momentum and flew high into the air, then turned around into a nose dive.
She raced downwards. The poor fishman had only just regained his bearings when he looked up just in time for Cabernet to slam into his face like a cannon ball.
The fishman staggered, barely remaining on his feet. Sanji and Zoro arrived at this point, both slamming into the fishman's chest, forcing him backwards and into the goal.
The other two members of the Foxy team were dumbstruck about how quickly it had ended. They didn't even get the chance to cheat yet, NO FAIR!
The referee was stunned as well, when he heard an "Ahem." behind him. Looking he saw the bald devil woman and the masseuse cracking her knuckles menacingly.
*Pweeeeeet*
He blew the whistle at fast and hard as he could.
"My goodness! I've never in all my years witnessed such a quick game of Groggy Ring! Astounding!" The announcer couldn't help but exclaim. He even temporarily forgot he was on Foxy's side.
The audience was in a similar boat and cheered wildly. Though Foxy himself was looking quite grim next to an equally downcast Porche trying to cheer him up.
The time came to choose another crewman.
"Hey, the third match is a one on one fight between Foxy and Luffy right? So if we chose Foxy we'd just win by default right?" Nami suggested.
The Foxy pirates wasted no time in calling out her shameless and wicked ways.
"Hehe, I like the way you think Nami! Who even needs honor!" Naturally Cherry was quick to praise her for it.
"But that would mean we'd have to travel with Foxy in our crew. I don't want to do that." Robin pointed out an important point.
""""Yeah, we don't want that trash."""" All the Straw Hats agreed on that point.
"How about that Porche? The whole crew over there idolizes her so it'd hurt them a lot to take her." Cherry stabbed them right in a sore spot.
"""NOOOO, take the Captain instead!""" The Foxy pirates despaired. Foxy himself despaired at his unpopularity.
Robin looked at Porche, then to Cherry. "Veto."
"Well, we have to choose somebody." Usopp said.
"You could choose old man Wacko. He's wanted to retire from the pirate life for a while, but got roped into the Foxy crew through the Davy Back Fights." Pepperjack the shipwright stated.
They thought that was a good enough choice, so Luffy announced his choice.
Old man Wacko was very grateful for the assistance. He was a singer, so he promised to perform for them until they could drop him off somewhere civilized.
All that remained of the Davy Back Fight was the final game. A boxing match between the two pirate captains.
Cherry took the role of Luffy's coach, though she thought it silly to assign coaches in these circumstances.
A spinning cannon was used to determine the location of the match. Naturally it was rigged to select the Foxy pirates' ship as the location.
"Remember, Luffy. A lion uses all its strength to hunt a rabbit! Don't go easy on him just because you think you can beat him without going all out! Just end it quick and easy, that's the best way to embarrass him as well!" Cherry lectured. "Also don't be afraid to trash their ship, they deserve every Beri of property damage!"
"Sure, sure. Put this on so we'll match, shishishishi!" Luffy waved away her nagging before handing her something.
"Fine, fine, whatever. Just be aware that he's a devil fruit user too. He should be able to shoot something from his hands, so don't be caught off guard. If you muck this up, I'll put you through the wringer, literally."
Luffy paled a bit at the thought. Although being twisted thousand of times didn't hurt because of his rubbery body, it wasn't pleasant at all.
They exited the dressing room at the cheers of the crowd.
Chopper had shining eyes upon seeing Luffy's afro. Robin giggled at the sight of Cherry's afro. Sanji was cheering for Cherry instead of Luffy. Zoro and Nami were exasperated that neither Luffy nor Cherry were taking the match seriously.
The rules were laid out. Keep your gloves on. Being knocked out of bounds or out cold means you lose. Everything else is pretty much fair game.
"Match... START!" The announcer shouted into his microphone.
"That idiot..." Cherry sneered. This was because Luffy didn't do as she told him and rushed in without even using Gear 2nd.
As a result, Foxy managed to hit him with his Noro Beam attack, slowing him down to a snail's pace. Foxy landed a flurry of blows on Luffy, then after 30 seconds passed he was belatedly thrown off the ship by the force of the attacks.
Luffy stretched an arm to catch himself, but Cherry wondered if he might just lose this fight.
Luffy chased after Foxy, then activated Gear 2nd when he found him, fortunately.
Foxy was immediately put on the back foot despite his ship being chock full of hidden traps and mechanisms.
Luffy vanished from where he stood. Foxy got lucky and guessed where he would appear, hitting Luffy with his Noro Beam.
Though it didn't make much of a difference, as Luffy's momentum was too great and he still landed a hard punch into Foxy's face, albeit at a less extreme speed.
Luffy got better at avoiding Foxy's devil fruit beams. He trashed the Foxy pirates' ship and Foxy along with it in good time. Luffy came out of the fight mostly unscathed, with Foxy flying out of bounds from a Jet Bazooka attack.
The last time to choose a crewman came. Luffy already knew what he wanted. "I'll just take your flag."
Luffy let them keep their sail by painting crudely overtop their former jolly roger.
The Straw Hats went to meet with Tonjit, who was the old man Luffy saved from baaaaamboo stilts and accepted the Davy Back Fight to avenge.
They had a small chat to say goodbye. Tonjit went to go inside his hut to treat them to something as thanks, but he ran into a tall man wearing a suit and a sleeping mask.
"Nico Robin, we meet again." The man said blandly.
Robin stumbled backwards in shock.
"Robin?! Who is this guy?!" Nami asked.
Robin's words stunned them all. "Admiral Aokiji."