This is set between Water 7 and Thriller Bark. Also, thank you to my friend Rin-chan (you know who you are) for helping me out with this chapter :)

"We're almost there! I see it!" said Nami happily. "It's Noepe Island!"

"Really!?" Luffy ran up to the edge of the Sunny, almost falling overboard in his excitement. The island had a large port, with plenty of room to dock the ship. People were bustling about, taking items from large cargo ships, while others exited passenger ships, some visiting the island, some coming home. There were buildings dotting the sides of the street, and there seemed to be an awful lot of people around, apparently putting up booths and other things. A large maple tree was in the center of the town, all of its leaves a pleasant red-orange color and a few starting to float down.

"Good, it doesn't look scary…" sighed Usopp with relief. "I wonder what those people are doing, though…"

After Franky had docked the ship and furled the sails, the eight Strawhats got off the ship and went to where some of the townsfolk were setting up a booth. A sign with the words 'RING TOSS' was on the ground next to them.

"Oi, pops!" called Luffy to an older man. The man looked up. "What's going on here?"

"You're travelers, aren't you?" asked the man, looking around at them. "We're setting up for the Maple Festival, of course! Every year, on the same day in fall, the maple tree—" he gestured to the large tree "—sheds its leaves starting in the evening and ending sometime around midnight. They don't come down all at once, of course, so it's very beautiful. We have a festival every year to celebrate it! You're very fortunate to have come at this time."

"That's awesome!" Luffy yelled. He started talking excitedly with Usopp and Chopper about the festival.

"Excuse me, sir," said Nami politely, "do you know how long the Log takes for this island?"

"Log? Oh, er…" he scratched his head. "About a week, I think."

"A week, huh…? Okay, thank you."

They continued down the street, where others were setting up different booths. They saw several sweet-making places, including ice cream and fudge, and a carousel, which one of the townsfolk said was the oldest carousel in the world. They also learned that the island was a summer island, and that the town was called Maple Cliff.

"Seems like a good place," said Sanji approvingly as they headed up an empty street. "Quiet, not too hot… the people are nice and the ladies are beautiful…"

"Nami! Can we please have some money for tonight?" asked Chopper. Usopp and Luffy nodded and held out their hands. Nami sighed.

"Just a little bit. Spend it wisely!" she gave them each some money.

"Yay! I'm gonna buy a bronze statue!"

"There's not enough here for that, Luffy!"

"Well, I don't care about festivals," muttered Zoro. "I'll just stay and guard the ship."

"You're boring, Zoro!" complained Luffy.

"Boring!" echoed Usopp.

"Boring!" echoed Chopper.

"Boring!" echoed Franky.

"Boring!" echoed Sanji.

"Shut up!" Zoro snapped. "I do what I want!"

Nami groaned. "Shut up, all of you!"

"Yes, Nami-swan~!"

At the festival that night, bright lights were strung around the streets, buildings, and booths. Luffy, Usopp, Franky, and Chopper strolled down the street in their yukatas (which everyone else in the group was wearing as well).

"I wish Zoro had come…" Luffy sighed.

"He would have just been grumpy," said Usopp, waving his hand. He pointed to a building. "Look, there's an ice cream place! Let's get something!"

A few minutes later, they strolled out with large ice creams in their hands: Lobster ice cream for Luffy (the others were a bit disgusted that the place even had lobster ice cream); pistachio for Usopp; peanut butter for Franky, and bubblegum for Chopper.

"Ooh, that ring toss thing is set up!" exclaimed Chopper, pointing at the booth. "Let's try it!"

"Mkay!" mumbled Luffy with the pointy end of his ice cream cone sticking out of his mouth like a bird's beak. The three ran up to the booth, where a middle-aged man was standing behind the counter.

"You wanna play?" he asked as they reached the table. "Two beris per turn!"

Usopp dug a bill out of his pocket. The man gave him three beris in exchange, as well as three rings. He explained the rules: Get one ring on the peg, and you get a small prize. Get two rings, and you get two small prizes. Get all three rings, and you get your choice of three small prizes or one big prize.

"Alright…" Usopp stood back a bit, examining the peg sticking out of the wall behind the man. He made a motion as if to throw the ring. He closed one eye. Suddenly he tossed the ring, making a perfect miss.

He hung his head dejectedly. Chopper patted him on the back.

"Well, no matter!" he exclaimed, lifting his head so suddenly that his neck cracked. "I still have two more rings!"

He made two more tosses, one with each ring, and managed to get them both on the peg that time. After a bit of cheering and high-fiving, he picked out two toy cars ("To take apart later," he explained) and stepped aside for Luffy, who had been jumping up and down, both out of anticipation and the fact that he'd swallowed the rest of his ice cream and cone whole.

He paid the man and grabbed the rings. He held all three of them in one hand, twirling them around a finger.

"What, are you going to try for all three at once?" asked the man. "Sonny, let me tell you something: There is no way you can get all three on at once—"

Luffy stretched his arm out and gently hung the rings on the peg. The man's jaw dropped to the floor. "What—what—"

"Yay! I got them on!" Luffy cheered. "I'm gonna get a big prize!"

"Now, hold on!" the man blustered indignantly. "What was that!?"

"Devil Fruit," said Usopp matter-of-factly.

"Um, okay, but I hardly think that's fair, don't you? You can have the same turn, but no using any weird powers this time!"

"But you didn't say anything about not using Devil Fruit powers," Chopper pointed out innocently. The man groaned.

"Fine, I'll make an exception. But if you go again, you can't use that weird power, okay?"

"Sure, that's fine. Now, what should I get…?"

Luffy ended up choosing a plastic statue of Gold Roger, about the size of his head. Chopper had a turn and got two pegs on, so he chose the plastic glasses with funny nose and mustache and a conical party hat, which he placed on top of his regular hat. Franky chose not to play.

"Oh?" said Sanji, examining the barbecue on shish kebabs. "This is some fine meat… is it ham? No, beef? Weird, I can't tell… what is it, mister?"

"Well," said the plump man behind the table, "it's actually a mix of them! So it's no wonder you couldn't tell."

"I see…" Sanji paid the man and took a stick. He chomped down on the meat while strolling down the way, looking for more things to do. He spotted the Ring Toss booth and headed over, finishing off the meat and tossing the stick in a garbage can.

"Hey, how much to play?" he asked the man.

"It's two beris per turn," he replied. Sanji paid him and took the three rings after the man explained the rules.

"Now before you go," he said quickly, "you don't have any weird powers, do you? Like a Devil Fruit?"

"Devil Fruit? No, why?"

"Four guys came by a few minutes ago and one of them used Devil Fruit powers to get all three on the peg. I'd rather that not happen again."

"…was the guy wearing a straw hat?"

"As a matter of fact, he was. Do you know him?"

"Unfortunately, yes. I don't have any Devil Fruit powers, though."

Sanji took his turn and only got one ring on the peg. He kept paying the man and trying until he got two big prizes – two large stuffed animals, a teddy bear and a dolphin.

"Thanks, mister," he said, running off to find Nami and Robin.

Along the way, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. He turned and saw a rather annoying-looking man with red hair and freckles tugging on a woman's arm.

"Hey, girly," he said. "Why don'tcha come home with me? We can have a bit of fun, you know!"

The woman squirmed, but his grip was tight. "Let go of me, you pervert! I'm not going anywhere with you!"

"Aw, come on, girly!" he protested, yanking on her arm and making her let out a gasp of pain. "I promise it'll be great fun! We can do all sorts of things together!"

"Here, hold these," said Sanji to a passerby. He shoved the toys in the guy's arms and approached the man and the woman.

"Oi, jerk, didn't you hear her?" he growled as he reached them. "Let her go."

"Yeah?" the man turned to glare at him. "And you're gonna make me, I s'ppose?"

"You got that right," said Sanji, delivering a roundhouse kick into the man's gut. The man let go of the woman in shock. Sanji flipped himself so that he was standing on his hands and drove his heel into his shoulder. The man collapsed to the ground, twitching. The small crowd that had formed cheered and Sanji took a bow.

"Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week," he said, partially joking. As the crowd dispersed, the woman thanked him and was on her way before he could say "Mellorine~".

As Sanji took the toys back from the guy he'd asked to hold them, he felt a tap on his shoulder. When he turned around, he saw that it was the man he'd kicked down, who had apparently struggled to his feet.

"Hey, brother, those were some pretty nice moves," he said. "Why don't you come with me and I'll show you something neat?"

"Oh? Sounds interesting."

The red-haired man led him through a dark alleyway into an empty back road. He held up a finger and took out a piece of chalk. He knelt down and started drawing something.

"You believe in magic, brother?" he asked as he drew.

"Magic? Of course not," said Sanji, waving a hand.

"Then you're in for a surprise. I've got a neat little trick to show you. Stand here," he added, indicating the center of the pentagram he'd just drawn.

Sanji raised his visible eyebrow and stepped in the center, muttering "No harm… magic isn't real."

The man took out a book and flipped through the pages, holding up a finger. He raised the hand that wasn't holding the book and started to chant.

"A desruc efil uoy tsum evil won, desruc ot evil tuohtiw eht nus…"

The circle started glowing. Sanji looked down in surprise.

"Desruc ot evil no s'retho doolb, desruc ot eid morf a elgnis tnalp… desruc ot evil tuohtiw egdelwonk fo ruoy skool… i dnammoc ti ot eb os!"

The light from the circle lifted up, surrounded Sanji briefly, and faded. Sanji clapped.

"Nice trick. I'll be going now." He stepped out of the chalk circle and pointed a finger at the red-haired man. "You'd better not bug any more ladies, jerk."

"I promise," said the man innocently. Sanji went back through the alleyway he'd come from.

Nami and Robin walked down the street with the fudge they'd bought at the candy place. As they finished it off, they heard a voice behind them.

"Nami-swan! Robin-chwan! I have a present for you~!"

They turned around to find Sanji running towards them with two large stuffed animals. "For you…" he said, handing Nami the dolphin one. "…And for you!" he gave the teddy bear to Robin.

"Thank you, Sanji-kun!"

"Thank you, Sanji. It's very cute."

"Anytime, my dears~!" he went off somewhere else.

"Do you think we could find some furniture for the Sunny here?" asked Nami.

"We can look around," replied Robin.

"Ooh! Maybe we can try that ring toss first!"

They approached the ring toss booth. The man behind the table smiled at them.

"Hello, ladies! Would you like to try the ring toss? Two beris per turn!"

"Too expensive!" said Nami. "One beri!"

"It's two!"

"Half a beri!"

"You went down!"

Eventually Nami got it to one beri per turn. The man sighed. "Okay, fine. Before you start, do either of you have Devil Fruit powers? No, never mind, you probably don't. Here are your rings…"

Nami managed to get one ring on, getting her a plastic bracelet. Robin took a turn next and got all three on with her power, sprouting an arm near the peg and hanging them there. The man's jaw dropped to the ground for the second time that day.

"What—damn it! I knew I should have made sure!" he fumed. "Fine, take your prize!"

Robin chose a model of the world and the two girls set off.