A/N: 20,000 hits! I wasn't able to change much but I still hope you enjoy!
Chapter 21: Long Ring Island
They made it back to the sea thanks to the Octopus Balloon. And when they did they discovered they were getting attacked by Sea Monkeys.
Not tiny Brine Shrimp but giant monkey like sea monkeys. But thankfully they escaped.
When things calmed down Usopp and Stanford examined the dials which mostly worked on land, except for the cloud based ones.
Of course there was something else…
Divvying up the treasure . Nami jokingly tried to take most of it…
Why was it a joke? Because she wanted to do something good: Fix Merry.
And thanks to this conversation Luffy decided on something important… they would get a new crewmember: a carpenter so they could have someone to take of the ship no matter what.
Of course things weren't smooth sailing still…
Because those Sea Monkeys showed up again!
They once again caused a massive wave.
However another ship was in their path.
And this one… well the entire crew seemed to be depressed. They had no sail or flag and they seemed to be missing key crew members for some reason. Including the captain…
The other ship wasn't able to get away from the massive Sea Monkey wave in time.
Thanks to the Sea Monkeys getting the other ship the wave disappeared.
Though Usopp was the only concerned by the other ship and had a bad feeling from it .
They soon realized that they were nearby an island.
It took a bit, with Robin not even telling them they found the island but she did eventually tell them. Even with some fog.
They soon reach the island…
It was nothing but a grassland… there was nothing particular about the island…
Luffy, Usopp and Chopper ran to the island to explore.
Stanford soon went onto the island, as he did noticed something in particular. The trees were very tall and thin.
So he went to explore and discovered something very fascinating.
The animals were very interesting… they were long.
IT was like something just stretched them out like taffy.
He'd seen a lot of the animals take on that style.
IT was very odd but very interesting.
That was when he heard a gunshot.
"What's going on?" he thought.
He looked towards the Going Merry, due to the flat grassland nature of the island it was very easy to see the ship… and there was another massive ship right there.
He headed back to the ship. He had gotten there to find the ship that trapped the Going Merry in between paw like anchors.
"What's going on?" asked Stanford.
"We've been challenged to a Davy Back Fight." Said Robin with a smirk.
"A what?" asked Stanford.
Robin laughed.
As it turned out Nami didn't know what it was either.
It was a game…
But one with a heavy price. The point of the game was steal other crewmembers into their crew.
And it could only be agreed by the captains.
And soon a couple gunshots rang out showing that Luffy took the challenge.
"Great…" muttered Stanford ace palming.
And soon enough everything got started thanks to the very large crew that they going up against there was a festival atmosphere.
There was also the matter of the games… 7 players were needed with three competitions. Though with 8 crew members there had to be a coin toss to determine which one would be sitting out.
Nami would have sat out but the race was a boat race and it would be better if she was a part of that.
So it was between Stanford and Usopp. Robin was the one flipping the coin.
"All right! I call heads." Said Usopp.
It came up with tails.
Usopp sighed at that.
It was clear that Stanford would be sitting it out.
It also didn't help that Luffy, Zoro and Sanji were bickering about who would patriciate in the last game which was a battle.
Though Robin submitted it without their input. With Luffy being the one in the battle portion.
And so it was Nami, Robin and Usopp in the race, Sanji, Zoro and Chopper in a ball game and Luffy in the battle.
The race was simple they would have to build boats out of barrels and then race them.
Plus it didn't help that other crew had a fishman and an honest to god shark as members in the race.
"I have questions…" said Stanford.
"I'm not going to answer them…" said the captain named Foxy who was man with an odd split hair style and a long discolored nose.
He sighed… he couldn't help but to wonder about the shark to be honest… there were so many questions with that…
After all, was the shark really willing to be a member of the crew… was he as intelligent as a dog or monkey at least…
Who really knew…
He wasn't going to get any answers.
And soon enough the boats were built then race began.
And there wasn't a rule about other members of the crew helping their teams cheat.
And Foxy was a giant cheater… but he was also an idiot so his methods of cheating involved Nami seeing through though the many attempts.
It involved fake finish lines and very, very, very bad disguises.
However it was Foxy's final trick that got them.
Turned out the idiot had a Devil Fruit power. The power of the Slow Slow Fruit.
It allowed Foxy to produce a type of particle not known by science e that slowed things down.
"Are you seriously taking notes about this!" yelled Nami to Stanford.
"What? I'm documenting any Devil Fruits I come across." Said Stanford.
Nami sighed.
However there was the fact they lost…
Which meant Foxy could pick any member of the crew…
And he chose Chopper.
There was also a problem as substitutions were not allowed.
They both knew they had to win.
The game was also one that was rather interesting. Each teams designated a player as one of the balls.
And they would have to put their opponent ball team member into the goal.
Zoro had it so that Sanji would be the ball.
And it didn't help that they're opponents included a half giant-half fishman who would be the ball.
Also one of the rules of the match was that they couldn't use any weapons…
Though the other team broke the rules of course once the game got started.
Plus it really didn't help that Sanji and Zoro didn't get along.
"So who do you think if they lose they're choose?" asked Robin.
"It would probably be one of us…" said Stanford.
"THANKS FOR HAVING FAITH!" yelled Nami.
The two in the game got quite a beating.
However after taking the beating the two got things back on track.
Even if the referee ignored the blatant cheating of the other team.
Sanji did managed to get back at the referee by sending one of the enemies flying at him. And Nami made sure he couldn't' give the red card.
After a bit the two managed to win the game.
Which meant they could choose any member to take… but of course Luffy choice would always be Chopper…
However while deciding Nami brought up this fact.
"Round Three is a one on one fight between you and the boss right?" asked Nami, "I you pick him then you can get Chopper back and you wouldn't have to fight."
This tactic caused an uproar at how dirty it was.
They didn't go with it…
Why?
Because it's as Robin pointed out…
"I we go along with your proposal, we could end it right now… the boss would have to join our crew…" she explained.
"Oh… you're right…" realized Nami.
"We don't want him…" agreed all of the men of the crew.
Of course Chopper was the one who got picked.
The next part determined where the fight took place they used a cannon to pick the spot… but of course thanks to cheating it would take place on the other crew's pirate ship…
After some celebrations while the two got ready. Including the other crew building a set of stand where they could watch the fight.
And said fight resembled a boxing match, complete with boxing gloves and other things.
"Why didn't they tell me it was boxing." Sighed Stanford.
"You box?" asked Zoro surprised.
"When I a child… my father made me…" muttered Stanford, "St… someone I knew was better at it though…"
Zoro shrugged not wanting. To hear the backstory,.
Though it should also be noticed that Luffy was wearing an afro wig during this fight… because it gave him power.
Of course once the match began it was clear that Foxy had a lot of trick up his sleeve involving his Devil Fruit.
But eventually the fight went down to below deck.
IT took a while but they did return with Foxy standing above Luffy.
And the fight got worse for Luffy… thanks to Foxy's attack Luffy was beaten big time.
Usopp being chosen as Luffy's cornerman was going to throw in the towel but Luffy said he would keep fighting even if he died.
And of course Luffy kept fighting.
It was hard but thanks to a mirror that got lodged in his afro he was able to use Foxy's Devil Fruit against him.
While he was slowed down Luffy unleashed a bunch of powerful punches and once the power wore off he was knocked out and Luffy was declared the winner.
The two captain took time to recover before Luffy could make his choice.
Luffy was glad he won.
Both captain recovered with Foxy offering a handshake to Luffy's victory.
However it was a trick so he shoulder throw Luffy.
But said shoulder throw didn't work as his arm just stretched.
And so Luffy made his choice…
And despite wanting a carpenter, he chose the Jolly Roger, meaning that Foxy couldn't fly it ever again.
And so Luffy made a replacement.
Which was very, very bad…
"IS that really the flag he drew?" asked Stanford unsure how to react.
"You should have seen his first attempt at a flag…" muttered Nami.
And so the Foxy Pirates left vowing revenge.
And so they followed Luffy and they found the reason why he did that…
He had accidently helped an old man who was trapped on slits for 10 years (he had ways to eat and drink while stuck). His people were also nomadic so he was alone for much of that that time. However his long horse remained behind when he his people left. Thanks to Luffy they were reunited however Foxy shot his horse, injuring her badly as they rode around in joy.
That was why Luffy took the challenge, and he gave the flag to the man named Tonjit who was happy with everything.
He even offered them all cheese from his hut only to run into a very tall man who was sleeping.
On his feet.
They of course woke him up however it was the fact that Robin was extremely terrified of him that got them ready to attack.
The man was one of the Admirals of the Marines, Aokiji.
However he wasn't there to arrest them. In fact he was just very, very, very lazy his motto was lazy justice.
He was just there to see if Robin was a part of their crew.
As that was a concern rom the government.
However he decided to help Tonjit get back to his people.
See the things about the island is that it's a ring of small island but they're part of the same island and connected during a yearly low tide.
So they went to the spot where his people would cross the land bridge.
Almost everyone was confused… until Aokiji placed his hands on the water… just as a Sea King was about to eat him.
However that was when as far as the eye could see he froze the ocean. With that Tonjit was able to go back to his people and he had a week to do so…
After saying goodbye to the old man, they walked over to where Aokiji was lazing about and he changed his mind due to the fact that Luffy reminded Aokiji of Luffy's grandfather and figure it would be better to kill them all now.
He started to explain how Robin was a threat to the government and needed to be taken down. Even with all of the groups that she's been a part of all of them had fallen but she survived.
Of course a fight got started .
Robin used her Devil Fruit power to completely shatter Aokiji.
However due to his Devil Fruit he was able to put himself back together.
Luffy, Zoro and Sanji ran into to fight him but all of them had gotten partially frozen.
He then grabbed Robin and completely froze her. He told them that she was still alive saying unless she broke she'll still be alive when thaws. But he was about to smash.
Luffy managed to grab her, giving her to Usopp who ran to the ship with help from Chopper and Stanford.
They took her to the bathroom and poured warm water over her…
The two younger pirates were freaking out. After all both of them were still just teenagers.
And thought that Robin was dead, after all she was completely solid.
"I don't understand how she can be alive like this!" yelled Chopper.
Stanford sighed new just the thing to calm him down.,
"It's clear he figured out a way with his Devil Fruit power…" said Stanford.
Chopper blinked when he said that.
"Luffy just fought a man wielding an unknown particle that could slow things down…" pointed out Stanford, "I'm sure that he figured out ways to completely freeze someone but not make it lethal."
"I… I didn't think about it that way…" said Chopper.
Usopp breathed a sigh of relief after all Chopper was the medical doctor of the ship, he couldn't be falling apart.
But it was clear that they had to figure out a way to thaw Robin without hurting her.
However that was when Nami called out for Chopper.
Turned out Luffy made it a one on one fight between him and Aokiji and the other three returned.
Stanford, Chopper and Nami continued to threw out Robin…
And of course the fight ended with Luffy in the same state.
Thankfully they were able to save him too.
Even if the Log Pose had reset yet it was better to remain on the island.
Everyone slept in the galley that night.
Robin was wide awake.
However so was Stanford.
"Are you faking sleeping?" asked Robin.
Stanford sighed.
"During particularly stressful days I don't want to sleep…" said Stanford.
"Why?" asked Robin.
"No reason…" said Stanford.
Robin could tell he was lying.
"We have things from our pasts we want to remain private…" said Stanford.
Robin nodded at that, it was clear from that lie.
Both them were awake in silence after that exchange.
But meeting Aokiji would change everything… not only for Robin but also Usopp who lamented that he just ran away in that situation… and didn't say anything meaningful at the same time…
And little did they know that things would get worse when they got to the next island.
Next Time: The crew goes an island called Water 7 known for its Ship Building... however things start to fall apart, with Robin going missing and Usopp leaving the crew... but not everything is as it seems. What will happen? Find out next time!