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Steve's POV
"Yeah, our captain's challenging your friend to a game right now. The game will start when both captains agree."
A Davy Back Fight. I've heard about these.
"In this game, you offer up your friends and your pride. This is a dangerous game," I said, a serious tone in my voice.
"This is ridiculous; we'll never play this game! Steve would never accept this," Nami yelled.
"We may not have a choice," I told her. "They knew I'd say no. That's why they challenged Luffy. Since the captain has to accept, Luffy or I can start the game."
"So what? We can just leave if he accepts," Wyper said.
"If he accepts, we won't be able to back out. If we run, we'd become a laughingstock," Sanji explained.
"I'd rather drop dead than embarrass myself as a pirate," I told him.
"Same here," Zoro added.
"Men," I heard Robin mumble. "Always so stubborn."
"Then we have to stop Luffy before he accepts," Nami said.
A gunshot rang out in the distance, and I looked over my shoulder to see smoke in the air. "You're too late," I told her.
I hope you know what you're doing, Luffy.
Our new opponents stormed off their ship and started setting up for the game. These guys were treating it more like a festival than a competition; there were food carts and tee-shirt stands everywhere. We found Luffy and his group wandering around, already enjoying themselves.
Luffy had a slip of paper in his hand; I went and took it from him, reading the top line: "Roster for events."
"Hey, give that back!"
"I'm filling this out, got it?" I said, looking down at him.
"Fine."
I sat down to start filling out the sheet. Each person could only compete once, and we needed seven people overall, so three of us would be sitting out.
I can't afford to mess this up.
"Having some trouble?" Robin asked, her voice calm.
"Nah, just making sure I don't make a mistake. Can't afford a screw-up. We need strong teams."
"May I see?" She said, leaning over the list.
"Sure. The first game is some kind of race. You, Usopp, and Nami are competing. The second is a sport of some sort, so I put Zoro, Sanji, and Wyper; I just hope they can work together. And the final is a one-on-one fight between captains, so Luffy will compete there. Which means Rose, Chopper, and I will be sitting out."
"If it's decided, I'll turn it in," Robin said, taking the paper from me.
"Thanks."
Robin turned in the list, and the contest got underway.
Later
The first event was a boat race. Only Usopp and the girls had to build the boat out of barrels. Usopp put together a decent boat despite his lack of shipbuilding skill. The race itself was simple: they just had to make it around the island before their opponents, the woman with the long nose and a fish-man.
"Just so you know, any weapons are legal!" the announcer said.
Are they now…
"Don't lose!" I yelled.
"We're counting on you; it'll be your fault if we lose one of the girls, Usopp!" Sanji shouted.
"HEY!" Usopp shot back.
This was it; if we lost here, we'd be on the back foot and in a dangerous position. The gun went off, and Usopp paddled as far as he could from shore, but as soon as the race started, they were being shot at from the shore.
Real nice. If they can get in the way, so can we.
I looked up and saw a huge boulder hurtling toward our friends. "Wyper!"
The Shandorian fired his bazooka and blew the rock away, preventing our team's ship from getting destroyed.
"If you plan on interfering, allow me to play as well," I said, cracking a vicious smile and pulling out my whip. "This game might hurt."
Sanji gave me a hand as we beat the snot out of the people shooting at our friends.
Try and kill Robin, huh!
When I looked back, the team had lost part of the boat but was still in the race. Robin took out the fish-man on the Foxy Pirates' boat with her usual technique.
"That idiot! He's gonna lose an arm like that!" Wyper yelled.
I saw Usopp put the Impact Dial in the water and pressed on the apex of the shell. The little boat blasted past the opponents and took the lead.
"Well, that was impressive," Rose commented.
"Yeah, he's lucky the charge was low. Had that been a Jet Dial or a high impact, he might have torn his arm out of the socket," Wyper said. "He should be more careful."
Thanks to that shark pulling their boat, the other guys took the lead back quickly. Luckily, I made the right decision putting Robin on the team since she was able to grab the enemy boat and tow ours forward. They came up to some coral reef, and I noticed Foxy was riding on top of some guy, catching up to where they were.
What's he doing?
I looked around and saw everyone else but Wyper and Rose had wandered off, distracted by the many attractions in this theme park of an island.
"Something's wrong," Rose observed.
"Yeah, he's way too close to the race, and they all got distracted at the same time. Doesn't make any sense," I said. "Relax and watch. Worst case, you shoot at them, got it?"
Nami sailed them through the current despite the smoke that had appeared. Foxy tried a bunch of really cheap tricks—fake signs, pretending to be a dying old woman, and even a fake goalpost. Nami, of course, fell for none of them and kept moving forward.
Don't stop until you know it's over.
Somehow, Foxy's own men fell for his dumb fake goal trick. Since they had fallen behind, Nami and Usopp sent up an obstacle for them farther up. They knocked over a bunch of bamboo and tripped up the fish-man. The woman somehow shot a barrage of roses at them, but Rose threw her knives at them, knocking them out of the air.
"You call those ugly things flowers?" Rose taunted.
"You came close, but just like your rubber friend… our boss has a Devil Fruit power."
What?!
"Wyper! Shoot him!"
"Burn Bazooka!"
Unfortunately, Wyper was too late, or should I say, too slow. Foxy shot a beam out of his fingers, and our boat came to a dead stop. Foxy had some sort of power, and it made us lose the race by sticking our team in a sort of time stop.
I dropped to my knees. "This isn't real."
"Anything hit by that beam slows to a crawl," one of the men explained. "It'll retain its energy, but the speed is drastically reduced."
We all dragged ourselves back to the center of the park to wallow in defeat. Someone was going to be taken, but I wasn't sure who.
"Fine, you won. Take someone so we can get it over with and win the next game," I told him.
Foxy took to the stage and began to make his choice. "I want you! The doctor, Tony Tony Chopper!"
NO!
"Chopper!"
Chopper tried to break free as he got dragged over there, but it was no use. He was going whether he wanted to or not. Watching him scream and cry, I felt like a complete failure. I couldn't protect Chopper from getting taken. What kind of captain was I? I was a failure.
Dad never would have let this happen. I'm so pathetic.
"They took him because he's a rare animal," Sanji pointed out.
"I'm sorry, Chopper. It's all my fault!" Usopp told him.
"Hopefully, they aren't collectors," Robin deadpanned.
"Really?! Now's not the time!" I yelled. "Take this seriously!"
For once, Robin showed some emotion and looked a little surprised by my outburst.
What the hell's wrong with me? I'm taking my frustrations out on others again.
"Sorry," I said.
"Everyone! I only left because Luffy asked me. I don't wanna go with these people!" The look on Chopper's face tore my heart out.
"SHUT UP, CHOPPER!" Zoro said, slamming his bottle onto the ground. "You're embarrassing yourself. You chose this life. We lost, and this is the consequence. There is no place for tears as a pirate, so sit there quietly and watch the game."
Chopper wiped off his face and sucked it up. "Okay!"
Zoro, Sanji, and Wyper went to compete in the next event so we could win back our friend.
Don't lose. If you do, someone will be lost forever.
I took a deep breath and stared off. "That's…"
"Don't even think about it," Rose grabbed my arm and squeezed it tightly when she saw I was staring off at the bar. "We will get Chopper back. I know it's frustrating and scary right now, but you can't let that shake you."
"You're right," I nodded. "Sorry."
"If you're having trouble with your urges," she smiled, "Luffy and I are here to help. We won't let that side of you win. If you fall back into that habit, you might not be able to pull yourself back."
Wyper's POV
It was me, the swordsman, and the cook against three men. Their shortest guy was at least twice my size.
This is gonna suck.
We dubbed the chef as the ball for this game and got ready to fight—two huge men and a half-giant, half-fish-man. Not gonna lie, I was struggling not to laugh at how dumb Sanji looked with that ball on his head.
"Get moving, ball," Zoro told him.
"Screw you! I don't wanna be the ball!"
"Too bad, get moving," I told him.
"Who asked you? You be the ball. You're the new guy; this should be your job."
"Shut it, Eyebrows!" I yelled.
"Both of you can be the ball for all I care."
"Quiet, Moss-head!"
The three of us got into an argument over who should be the ball.
"Wyper wears it since he's the newest!" Sanji yelled.
"Zoro should wear it to cover the stupid hair!" I countered.
"The cook should wear it to look less stupid," Zoro added.
Nami told Sanji that he looked good in the silly hat, causing him to quickly change his tune.
"Like I was saying, I'll be the ball!"
"It's like a crown for the prince of idiots," Zoro joked.
"Yep, he'll be right at home," I told him.
We got into another fight over this stupid game.
"Can you boys focus, please?!" Rose yelled.
"Yes, Ma'am!"
Sanji took up his position on the other side of the field, and we finally got the game underway. The game was simple: the first person to knock their opponent's ball-man into the goal would be the winner. As soon as the starting bell rang, Sanji jumped the guy trying to tackle him and went to kick the fish-man. The skin was apparently too slimy for him to run on, as he got swatted back toward our goal.
"Idiot!"
"If you fall in, I'll slice you in half myself!" Zoro shouted.
We went to try and stop that stupid chef from getting knocked into the goal and losing us the game as soon as it started. They threw the swordsman and I to the ground and grabbed the cook in midair. They threw him at the goal, and Zoro and I had no way to block it.
"I'm borrowing you," Zoro said, lifting the man who tackled us off the ground.
He threw the man to try and free Sanji, who wiggled his way free and kicked the man trying to dunk him, insisting he didn't need our help. The two men collided midair and both got knocked out, leaving the three of us and the ball.
"Can we finish this?" I asked, gesturing to my hand which was still wrapped up in bandages from the fight against Enel. "There's an Impact Dial under here. Just make sure I can get close."
"DON'T TELL US WHAT TO DO!" they screamed.
"Well, someone has to give you two some semblance of direction!" I shot back.
"Guys, focus! Score so we can get Chopper back!" Rose yelled.
"FINE!" we all yelled at the woman.
I dashed forward. "I need a boost!"
The chef stuck his leg out and kicked me up toward the fish-man. I braced my hand and put it up to the monster's face.
"Impact!"
The blast blew the fish-man back and knocked his dumb hat into the goal, winning us the game.
"There. Told you two morons I could get it done," I said with a smirk.
The three of us got into another argument over how I was able to do something they couldn't.
Steve's POV
Those three spent the next ten minutes arguing with each other over who was superior. In the whole scheme of things, all that mattered was that we had won back Chopper. Nami tried to get us to take someone from their side, but Chopper was our only choice. I couldn't take the chance we might not get to save him.
"Thank you! I knew you'd get me back!" Chopper cheered.
"Okay, Luffy, you're the last one. If you lose, there's no getting the person we lose back. This is serious, so no screwing around… got it?" I said, having pulled Luffy aside.
"Yeah, gotta be serious."
I sent him off to fight Foxy in the final round. The field chosen by 'random chance' happened to be the Foxy Pirates' ship. I had long since given up on any semblance of rules or fairness in this competition, so I just let it go without a fight. I roped Usopp into being Luffy's coach in this game. I had no doubts in Luffy's ability to win, so anyone could have coached him.
"Let's go get some seats before they all fill up," Chopper suggested.
"Good idea," Rose said, going off to find some seats with the reindeer.
As we got close to the seats, the sky grew dark, and there was a big production to introduce Foxy and Luffy. Looking back, it was foolish to let Usopp help Luffy because for some reason he came out with a big afro.
"YEAH!" Sanji, Rose, and Chopper were super into the new look.
Nami and I were not so much.
"What are you doing?!" Nami exclaimed.
Robin took the open seat next to mine. "I think he looks fine."
"Not you, too," I said, downtrodden.
The bleachers we were on rose up to be level with the ship. The bell rang, and the fight got underway. Luffy threw a punch, but his arm got shot by that beam and slowed to turtle-like speed.
"You have to be more careful! The more you stretch, the more surface his beam can hit!" I yelled, hoping he heard my advice.
Luffy tried to dodge, but his whole body got slowed down in the air. Foxy jumped on him and delivered a series of quick, precise jabs. As soon as the time ran out and Luffy broke free of the beam's effects, the force of the punches hit him all at once.
The resulting knockback almost threw Luffy off the boat, but he managed to keep himself in the game. Luffy tried to combat Foxy's tricks but nearly got himself killed by a ton of slowed-down projectiles.
"Focus, you idiot!"
Luffy nearly got himself killed again when Foxy shot some bombs at him. Fortunately, he was able to dodge the explosion and avoid the pain that came with it. Foxy ended up doing more damage to himself with the attack. That provided Luffy an opportunity to land a few hits himself. Foxy pulled a lever, and Luffy fell into the bowels of the ship.
"Well, this is great. I can't see anything; hope he doesn't get hurt," Rose mumbled.
About ten minutes later, there was an explosion, and when the smoke cleared, Luffy was on the ground and Foxy was looking victorious.
"Get up, you idiot!" I yelled, looking at Luffy's burned body.
"Look." Luffy pulled himself off the floor and got back into his fighting stance. "I'm okay!"
Luffy got knocked down again and again, but he kept getting up. No matter how hard Foxy hit him, he got up.
"If it's to protect my friends, I'll fight you even if it kills me!" Luffy declared.
Luffy…
Luffy got hit by the beam, and Foxy hopped on a glider which was connected to a slowed cannonball.
"Luffy! He hit you before the glider, so the second you can move, run!" I yelled.
Despite running, Luffy still got hit by a punch. The glider crashed into Luffy and exploded. Despite his wounds, Luffy stood up yet again. Foxy and Luffy got in a battle with their mass punching attacks. Foxy went to slow Luffy with his beam, but Luffy reached into his fake hair and pulled out a glass shard and bounced the beam back at him. Luffy swung his fist around and slammed it into Foxy's face.
"Gomu Gomu no Flail!"
"It's over," Wyper smirked.
"8 seconds…" Zoro said, counting down.
"7… 6… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…"
"Time's up," I whispered.
Foxy got sent flying and crashed into the water below, ending this stupid game. The bell rang, signifying Luffy's victory.
Later
We took Luffy back to shore, and Chopper fixed him up. He had long since fallen asleep from exhaustion.
After a while, Luffy woke up. "What happened? Did I win?!"
"Relax, you won," Zoro told him as Luffy jumped around.
"Good job, Luffy," I said, rubbing his head.
They came over and asked Luffy who he wanted to take since he had won the contest.
"I'll take your flag."
Luffy went over and painted another one of his crude marks on their sail so that they'd still be able to leave. Foxy and his crew hopped on their boat and sailed off, freeing our ship from the blockade. Luffy wanted to take the flag to some old man he had met on the island.
"So you accepted this fight just to make this old guy feel better?" I asked. "Wait, you would've accepted regardless."
The old man went inside after Luffy gave him the flag, but when he went inside, he bumped into someone.
I thought he said he was the only one on this island.
A really tall guy, taller than even me, walked out of the house with a blanket and a sleep visor. I heard a thud and looked behind me and saw Robin cowering on the ground.
Who the hell is this guy? If he terrifies Robin so easily, he mustn't be a nice guy.
"Robin, what's wrong?" I asked, my hand moving to the hilt of my whip.
"Well, you've sure grown, Nico Robin," the man said.
She just sat there shaking in fear, an emotion I had never seen from her.
"Robin, do you know this guy?" I asked, staring the man down.
"Relax, I'm not here to hurt you. I've got no orders; I'm just out for a walk," he said, his voice slow and lazy.
Orders?
"Who do you work for?" Zoro asked.
"He's with the Marines," Robin finally spoke up, her voice trembling. "He's an Admiral from Headquarters."
"ADMIRAL!" everyone yelled.
"There are only three," Rose said. "Kizaru, Aokiji, and Akainu. I remember Smoker talking about them, but I don't know which is which."
"I'm Aokiji. No need to get hostile, everybody. I told you, I'm just out for a walk. I'm not here to… you know… Uhh… whatever," the man tried to explain.
"You're sure this guy's an Admiral, Robin?" Usopp asked her nervously.
"He must be. Robin wouldn't make this up," I told him.
"I'm just here to confirm the location of Nico Robin," Aokiji said, lying down on the ground. "They just need to recalculate the bounty for your group. The original 250 million plus 79 is… Ehh, I don't feel like doing math right now… Let's just call it a lot."
I saw the others trying to hold Luffy back from doing something stupid, which meant I was in charge.
"If you don't mind, go take your walk someplace else," I told the man.
"Alright, but one quick thing," he told the old man to pack his things and get ready to go.
"He can't just run faster; it's not possible. He has to wait to catch up," Usopp explained.
"No, with his help, they'd be able to catch up," Robin explained, a look of dread on her face.
What's with this guy?
We followed the old man and the Marine to the edge of the island. Luffy asked Aokiji if he planned to pull the man across the river, but he said it wasn't possible. He went and put his hand next to the water, and a huge Sea King surfaced, looking hungry.
"Ice Age."
Just like that, the Sea King and all the water for as far as the eye could see was frozen solid. We all quickly came to the conclusion he had a Devil Fruit.
"It's the Logia-class fruit, the Ice-Ice Fruit," Robin explained.
"Logia? That must mean he's like Enel," Wyper said.
The old man gave us his thanks and started to make his way across the ice. As the others said goodbye to the old man, Aokiji just sat there scratching his head in thought.
"Hmmmm… how should I put this? Monkey D. Luffy, you're a lot like your grandfather. And you," he pointed at me, "are a lot like your dad."
He knows Luffy's grandpa!
"You met my parents?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper.
"Yeah, a long time ago… I only came here for Robin, but maybe I should just kill you and Luffy now. There's no doubt in my mind that as time passes, you will become a major threat. You are especially dangerous now that Nico Robin has joined you."
"So you really did come here for Robin," I said, pulling out a whip. "I'll cave in your skull!"
"Bounties aren't just a reflection of combat abilities; they also show how dangerous you are to the government. You've always had a high bounty, Nico Robin, ever since you were just a child. You've stayed alive by finding partners or groups to work with, only to cut ties and betray them. Are these your new tools, Robin?"
"Shut up! What the hell did Robin ever do to you?" I asked.
"Nothing. She escaped after I arrested her. Just some food for thought, every group Nico Robin has ever associated with has been utterly annihilated. She is always the only survivor. Why is that?"
"What the hell do you know?" I yelled. "What she did before doesn't matter!"
"I see you've got your hooks into that one," he observed.
"If you want to arrest me, just do it!" Robin yelled as hands appeared all over the Admiral's body. "Treinta Fleur: Clutch!"
The man shattered into chunks of ice as the arms contracted. Seconds later, they reformed into Aokiji. He was immune to attacks since he was a Logia type. He picked up some grass and blew it into a blade of ice.
"I didn't plan on killing you, but…" He went to swing the sword, but Rose and Zoro blocked it.
Sanji and Wyper went to attack the man.
"Stop! You can't hurt him!"
They managed to get the sword out of the man's hands, and Luffy ran in next and managed to punch the guy in the stomach, but he looked unimpressed. The five of them stood there in his grip, and parts of their bodies froze up upon contact.
Why can't I move? It's like I'm frozen in fear.
He threw the five aside and walked toward Robin.
"Get away from there!" I was way too late; by the time my legs would move again, she was already frozen solid.
No.
"ROBIN! I'LL KILL YOU!"
"Relax, boy, she's still alive. If you thaw her right, she'll be just fine." He clenched his fist. "But she's fragile, so anything too sudden might break her!"
I ran forward and grabbed the frozen statue that was Robin and avoided the punch. "Just in time."
He went to stomp out his problem, but Usopp ran up and grabbed Robin from me.
"Chopper, Usopp, get back to the ship and thaw Robin!" I told them, my voice full of urgency.
They did as they were told and ran off with Nami to try and save her.
Everyone else got up and wanted to fight the Admiral.
I'm ending this.
"WAIT!" I yelled. "Luffy, you're going to take the others and go back to the ship, understand! I'll fight him alone. Let's settle this, man to man."
"Fine by me, but be warned, this will be a fight to the death," Aokiji sighed, the air around him visible with frost.
The others left, but Luffy stood there.
"Rose…" I looked over.
"Come on, Luffy, trust him." She tugged on his arm.
Luffy surprisingly did what I told him and ran off toward the ship. As soon as they were out of sight, I made the first move.
"Whip Crush!"
Just like he had when Robin used her hands, he shattered and reformed. The air around me froze and cut at my skin.
"Whip Twister!" I tried throwing the man, but he crawled around the whips and froze my hand.
"Damn it."
I knew he was strong, but he's in a whole different league. I can't even land a hit. I'm gonna die. Well, if that's the case, I'm gonna help Robin and try and take this guy with me.
I ran forward and twisted my whips. "Whip Jetstream!"
I knocked him up and swung him into the air. "Whip Blizzard!"
"It's over, kid!" He slipped past the attacks and pulled me into a hug like he had Robin.
I'm sorry, Robin, I wasn't strong enough. Maybe in another life, we finally got to go on that date and I told you how I really feel.
"Ice Time."