Chapter 2: Goldfish Catching

As the Baron spoke the amusement park pulled away to reveal we were standing on a circular platform surrounded by water, it seemed that he was expecting us to accept.

"I will now reveal the Ordeal of Hell you will undertake!" The Baron smiled. "It is..." A pause for effect. "...Goldfish Catching!" An audience (who had appeared out of nowhere) cheered.

'...Nani? Goldfish Catching? Are you kidding me?' I thought.

"Goldfish Catching?" Usopp repeated in disbelief.

"The rules of Goldfish Catching are simple!" The Baron told us, holding up a paper fishnet. "The team that catches the largest goldfish in three minutes wins! By the way, this paper dissolves easily in water." He chuckled at giving us a disadvantage, jerk. "And now, allow me to introduce my valued confidant who will be your opponent! Go forth, Muchigoro!"

"Aye!" An average sized man with bug eyes, a long face, and of course a sprout on his head, jumped from Omatsuri's side and ran into the arena, holding up a paper net in a dramatic fashion. "Yo! I'm Muchigoro!"

None of us were impressed. "What did he say?" Zoro asked.

"Mushigoro." Usopp replied.

"He looks like an eel." Nami said.

"Maybe he's a loach." Chopper suggested.

"I think he looks like a goldfish." I stated.

"He's just a baka." Sanji concluded.

"No, my name is Muchigoro! Baron Omatsuri's first mate!" He yelled at us in annoyance.

"Yep, a baka." Sanji muttered.

"Now, which one of you will compete?" The Baron asked.

"Here, here, here, here, here!" I childish captain called excitedly.

"Hold on." Wow, Usopp was brave enough to step up?...Oh wait, that was him being cocky, not brave. "Let me handle that Muchigoro or Suchigoro or whatever his name is!"

"Oh, weren't you shaking in your boots about the Ordeal of Hell a few minutes ago?" Nami smirked.

"He got a burst of confidence after hearing Goldfish Catching." Sanji sighed.

"Hey, Tamegoro!" Usopp ignored them.

"It's Muchigoro!"

"You'll regret being my opponent!" The sniper declared. "You will face the man known as the master of Goldfish Catching!"

"Master!?" Both Muchigoro and Chopper gasped.

"Master!" Usopp confirmed, I just facepalmed.

"Awesome!" Chopper cheered.

"Your awesome!" Muchigoro followed up.

"I'm awesome!" Usopp finished, idiots stay together.

"It's not a lie, right?" Chopper abruptly asked.

"Please say your lying!" Muchigoro begged.

"...I'm lying." I fell over comically from his bluntness whilst everyone else just sighed.

"It was a lie!?" Muchigoro yelled angrily.

"Yeah, a lie!" Usopp declared.

"I can't believe you lied again!" Chopper yelled in disappointment.

"It's your own fault for falling for it!" I yelled with shark teeth.

"Muchigoro! Don't let them build up momentum!" The Baron shouted at his first mate.

"Ah! I'm sorry, Baron!" He apologised.

"We shall now begin!" The Baron called out. "Ready..."

"Go!"...The flower on his shoulder just talked. I didn't think too much about it at the time, but I looked at that other flower on the other guys chest as if expecting it to speak as well...

...And to this day, I know it smirked at me.

"What's that?" Sanji's voice made me aware of a strange sound coming from the tank.

And then the worlds biggest goldfish jumped out, it could rival the one at Little Garden!

"What's that!?" Luffy asked as the fish soared over our heads.

"That's my pet goldfish, Rosario-chan." Muchigoro cockily said.

I kept my eyes on the goldfish until it landed back in the water and drenched us Strawhats with a giant wave, that Muchigoro had an umbrella, baka jerk.

The Baron laughed in mocking glee. "Look at that! Laugh at them, Muchigoro! They're nothing but feeble cowards!" And as I stood there, dripping wet, with those guys laughing at us, I instantly hated them.

Luffy however, was laughing his head off, clearly enjoying himself.

"Hold on, what's the big deal!?" Nami demanded.

"Oh, I told you it was Goldfish Catching." The Baron grinned.

"We weren't expecting one who could be mistaken for a frikkin island!" I yelled. "How are we supposed to catch THAT!?"

"Just catch it in the bucket." He replied casually as a giant yellow bucket was placed next to us.

"He certainly did not mention this." Robin said in a calm voice.

"He duped us!" Zoro accused him.

"This is getting interesting!"...Luffy. Just...Luffy.

"No it's not!" Nami yelled at him.

Usopp thrusted the net into Nami's hand. "Pass. The rest is up to you, Nami!" He made a break for it.

"Hey, wait!" Nami shouted at him.

"Oh fine, I'll do it." However she changed her mind at the sight of the thing getting close to her. "Forget it!"

Zoro laughed. "That's not funny, Zoro!" This earned him a Nami smack.

"Nami-san! Look out!" Sanji kicked the fish away from her, jumping as he hit the ground to kick the fish again, knocking it further into the air.

"Nami! I'll do it!" I volunteered.

"Great! Here, Ellix." She handed me the small paper net...and I wasn't volunteering just because it was Nami!...I wasn't!

I looked behind me and saw Sanji fall into the water with a splash. "Jeez, let me catch this thing." Zoro grumbled as he drew his swords.

"Katanas are not allowed in Goldfish Catching!" Omatsuri yelled in anger.

"You should have said that from the beginning." I mumbled under my breath as Zoro sheathed his swords with an annoyed glare. "Here I go! Tekkai Sai!" I hardened my body and rammed into the fish at Soru speed, knocking it away.

"Ellix! Ellix! Pass me the net!" I threw the net to Luffy as he jumped past me. "Gomu Gomu no Pistol!" He punched the fish in the face, but destroyed the paper net in the process. "It tore!"

"There's no way you could catch that huge goldfish with that tiny net!" Nami yelled.

"You are absolutely correct." The Baron laughed. "Muchigoro, show them!"

The bug eyed man tossed his net. "You have to catch Rosario-chan with this!" He pulled a giant paper net out from literally nowhere, did this guy have a wormhole in his pocket or something!?

"No fair!" Most of us yelled.

"Why's he using that!?" Nami asked.

The Baron twirled his paper net with an evil grin. "Who said you had to use this net? I only said that the paper dissolves easily in water."

"He duped us again!" Me and Nami shouted in disbelief.

"One minute left!" The flower on Omatsuri's shoulder squealed, my eyes once again drawn to the other flower, only this time it remained still.

"You have one minute left!" The Baron repeated.

"Rosario-chan! Be a good girl and come here!" Muchigoro cooed as he held his net next to his own bucket. The fish obeyed and jumped into his net, he then threw her up and she began to fall into his bucket.

"Well done, Muchigoro!" Omatsuri praised him.

"Thank you Baron!" He beamed with pride.

"Oh, so there were never any rules to begin with." Robin nodded and crossed her arms. A net of arms appeared over the bucket and bounced the fish right back out. Unfortunately it didn't make it to OUR bucket, rather begin to fall on top of us.

"Crap! It's going to fall on us!" Zoro yelled, we all started to run, except for Chopper.

"Chopper!" Luffy called to the reindeer.

"I can handle this!" He called to us as he ate a Rumble Ball, he switched to his Guard Point (a.k.a big fuzzy ball) as the goldfish landed on him. As the red and yellow flower counted down the last few seconds, Chopper bounced the fish into our bucket, winning us the game which had obviously been cheated at.

"Wow, you were amazing, Chopper!" Usopp called.

"Yeah! That was awesome!" I agreed.

I think he could've handled Usopp, but me as well started his dance. "You saying that doesn't make me happy you jerks!" He then began getting dizzy and fell into the water.

"Chopper!" We all yelled, causing Luffy to jump in after him.

"You idiot!" Everyone save for Robin yelled as I had to jump in and rescue them both. Sanji helped out as well, as we all climbed out soaked to the bone. As I had pulled them up I had noticed loads of destroyed ships at the bottom, something was definitely wrong...

"Anyway guys, we won!" Luffy cheered with a double fist pump.

"We won!" The rest of us yelled in triumph.

"Congratulations!" Omatsuri's flower cheered.

The other one's smile widened.

"Matte, the contest is not over yet!" The Baron suddenly yelled, cutting our celebration short.

"...We just finished it." Zoro stated after a pause.

"You must undertake the next ordeal!" The man proclaimed. "I will not let this travesty go unpunished! How dare you make my Muchigoro cry!" He was really mad at this point.

'Sore loser." I thought.

"Hold on! You never said anything about this!" Nami accused him.

"He seems to be doing that a lot." I whispered to her.

"He lost, just accept it." Zoro shrugged.

"Silence!" Omatsuri shouted. "The matter is not settled! You will do as I order you to!"

"What are you talking about, ossan?" Sanji asked in a bored tone.

"Your taking this sore loser thing a bit far." Usopp said.

"Another ordeal!? Sounds like fun! Let's try the next one, too!" Luffy smiled.

"Luffy! We came here for a resort! Not to play warrior!" Nami reminded him.

"Okay guys!" Luffy shrugged it off. "We're gonna win the next one too!"

"You numbskull!" Nami punched him across the face, but this time he actually didn't feel it.

"You'd better not lose!" Luffy chanted jokingly.

"You numbskull!" She repeated, punching him so hard he got sent flying.

I was then tasked with dragging out beaten captain along with us back to our ship.

But we were too late...our fates were sealed.

...Are you going to end EVERY chapter on a grim note?

Ellix: My memoirs, my choice of words.

Fine you stubborn baka, take Zusenheim's advice and just get through it.

Ellix: Hmph!

Fine, be that way. Thank you to HikariLight00 and TheRealEvanSG for reviweing as well! You two are the main reasons I started this fic!

Ellix: Right then, a Rokuogan each should be enough...

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