"What's the problem?"

Needless to say, when Foxy lunged ahead, a surprising amount of strength in his arms and a feral amount of fury in his brows– Luffy and Gin were quick to leap in, stopping him from ripping Usopp's head right off.

(But somehow– Luffy knew that if they hadn't stopped Foxy then– the one in danger wouldn't have been Usopp.)

"You had blades, weapons– hey," Usopp says, "the rule was there, too. You were perfectly alright with killing us, weren't you? Why are you complaining when it's suddenly turned against you?"

And that was true– but at the same time, it really wasn't.

Foxy's eyes burned, and though he stopped resisting, knowing he couldn't fight both Luffy and Gin– and whoever else was ready to strike– if he laid a hand on Usopp right now.

"It's on, Strawhat," he snarls, turning his anger toward Luffy. "It's fucking on now."

And no one could blame him for the pure spite that oozed from his words.

Foxy orchestrated Davy Backs for one reason– to avoid needless death. It was the point of the fight to begin with— and though it had a tendency to go far and accidents could happen, there was always an unspoken rule around that pirates should avoid blatantly trying to kill opponents. Sure, leaving people for death, beating them within an inch, these were things that happened. This was the pirate's life, there was no mercy.

But for a crew as big as changing as Foxy's there was a line he couldn't cross if he wanted a fleet led by his charisma alone.

Foxy has never actually killed a man before.

That was the difference between Foxy and Don Krieg. And Gin understood that this little pedestal people tended to put on life– it made all the difference when it came to how the crew saw their captains.

Krieg's crew looked upon their captain in fear, and they obeyed for a crowning respect.

Foxy's crew followed him out of love and passion, and that forever held true even through all the Davy Backs, all the dirty tricks, and all the crewmate-stealings.

(That was supposed to be true for the Strawhats as well– but right now, at least, Gin honestly couldn't tell.)

Usopp didn't have to kill Big Bun so nonchalantly.

Was it unnecessary? Perhaps.

But this was the world of pirates, and pirates are completely in the right to retaliate when they don't like how things are going. There are rules, but ignoring them, breaking them, and finding loopholes is pretty much a pirate's way of life.

"I–" Luffy evidently had a lot to say– but somehow– somehow, he knew that right now, apologizing wasn't what he had to do.

No one expected Usopp to do that.

But no one could refute Usopp for doing that.

"I'll fight you in the third round," Luffy promises. "Don't get mad at Usopp."

It's Luffy's lack of experience that makes him falter in these times. It's his lack of experience that makes him feel so hopeless.

His Devil Fruit abilities allow him to stretch out as far as he can think. He can reach anywhere, anyhow, and he can take all of his crewmates in his arms at once.

And yet, he never truly feels like he has any hold on Nami and Usopp.

"Why did you do that?"

Nami approaches Usopp, and Usopp doesn't turn to her. Her voice is stern, and though her eyes are fierce– Usopp never makes a sign of acknowledgement toward her anger. Her fists tighten in frustration.

He simply shrugs. "Why not?"

Look at me, she wants to say, but there was no point, was there?

"Did you–" her teeth grinds. "--Hotori and Kotori. The ball guys up on Skypiea– they're Satori's younger brothers. Did you kill them, too?"

Usopp hums, resting his weight on one leg. "Ah… yeah, I might have."

Why , she doesn't ask, but he answers.

"They tried to kill us. We'd have been in danger if I didn't do anything," Usopp says, like that was obvious.

Which is why you always have a way to defeat your opponents with anything but a real projectile, she doesn't say. You could've dealt with the situation without murder. Without any death, both you and your opponents. You've always managed to find that way.

There's always a way to solve things without murder.

And if someone blatantly doesn't take it– they're monsters. They're just cruel. (And Nami knows that best.)

So why, Usopp?

"What happened?" she instead grounds out, and the words come with a crack in her voice. "What happened back then?"

Usopp hums, never looking over.

Nami thinks of her days on the run. The days she spent alone, in silence– on a ship, in the middle of nowhere. The days she spent in dens, within an inch of her life, pleading for there to be a reason to open her eyes tomorrow.

She thinks of agony.

And Usopp simply shrugs. "I graduated from the coward trio, I guess."

She didn't think it would hurt so much to hear those words from him. A long time ago she's heard those exact words before and it brought her joy. Now, it only made the acid in her heart begin to rapidly spread out to the rest of her bloodstream.

And the only thing she could do was turn around and walk away.

Sanji and Zoro watch as Usopp makes his way back onto the field.

Conis was queasy, and together with Porche, she was in the corner, sobbing into each other, unable to watch any longer. Wyper and Robin watched, unfettered– but Gin and Luffy were looking over the crew, worried for their shattered harmony. Nami has turned pointedly away from the ring, Suu in her arms for some semblance of comfort.

"So I'm thinking they're going to bring in their substitute now," Usopp says, the only one with a normal voice in their group. Kinoko's on his head, looking pointedly around, doing her guide bird work.

Neither of them were even the least bit concerned about what they just did.

"Well, whoever it'll be, it's not something me and Nami would know. You've gotta deal with this through brute force," Usopp says.

Usopp was more worried about the match than what he just did.

"Alright," Zoro says. "But you've done enough. Just stay there, we'll handle it."

His voice was cold. Sanji gives him a careful side glance– but Zoro is looking too. Neither of them said a word to each other– but one look was all it needed.

Sanji knew this wasn't the time.

"Yeah," Sanji manages to answer. "You just sit still there. The Marimo and I need our time to shine, too."

Relenting to that, Usopp sits down, his bird by his side narrating the rest of the sequence for him.

"Okay, knock yourselves out then," he shrugs, running his fingers through Kinoko's wing, since he had nothing better to do now.

The crowd slowly files back, energy fueled by something a little more than simple, raw excitement now– but the match continued. They had to clear away the body on the field, and clean up– but with as many people as they had, it didn't take too long.

Chiqicheetah, a cheetah mink, took Big Bun's place as the ballman.

The crews are evidently a little shaken, but pirates as they are– they begrudgingly moved on, and the energy of the competition gradually picked back up.

"Coming in is Chiqicheetah, fastest runner of the Foxy Pirates!" Itomimizu calls him in, and though he was much, much smaller than the other two in his team– there was really no room to underestimate the small ones now. "Will the Strawhats be able to catch him? Or will they get caught first?"

And sure enough, Chiqicheetah is too fast for both Sanji and Zoro.

Pickles and Hamburg continue to wear their weapons, their senses tuned to full alarm. Zoro and Sanji don't complain about it anymore.

Not when Usopp is calmly murmuring something to Kinoko, who has delivered him a new, shiny rock.

"God fucking damn that cheetah pisses me off," Sanji hisses. They'd thrown Pickles and Hamburg around twice, into eahc other, and a few more times until they were all wondering why the hell they were still getting up– but Chiqicheetah was scouring the edges of the field at high speed, too fast to catch, and not strong enough to get Sanji on his own either. So with both ballmen untouchable, they were at a stalemate.

And it was getting frustrating.

"Need some help?" Usopp asks.

"NO," Zoro and Sanji snarl at the same time, low and threatening. "You move a single muscle, I am throwing you into the sea!"

"And I'm putting truffle oil in your dinner!" Sanji adds.

Usopp wisely keeps silent henceforth.

Kinoko pats him on the knee in sympathy, and then proceeds to abandon him there in his indignity, alone. Usopp morosely decides to lay down on the grass on his stomach like a tired schoolgirl, face buried in his arms and all, and just brood.

"For fuck's sake, your entire thing is your legs," Zoro grumbles, "you're telling me you can't catch a fucking cat?"

"And your entire thing is your head looks like moss. Why don't you pretend to be a lawn and camouflage yourself as the grassland to attract it, genius?!" Sanji raises a middle finger.

"Why do I have to do something so fucking annoying?!"

"Make yourself useful how about it?!"

Needless to say, Gin has his hand buried in his face and he hasn't had the courage to look again. It's going to be stupidity every time he sees it.

"I don't even know where to begin," he says, defeatedly.

"Perhaps about the part where cheetahs do not eat grass, and thus would not be interested in the likeness of Mister Swordsman's head to the supposed vegetation," Robin offers.

"...Zoro's entire thing is how his head looks like moss?" Wyper is stuck on that part, "not the fact that he's a swordsman? I don't understand."

Anne continues to questionably judge the people around her in silence.

Gin sighs, turning to Luffy. He was enthusiastic, still cheering every once in a while with a "damn it, get'im, Sanji!", but in the reprieve between the words, his face was pulled firm, almost contemplatively. When his eyes drifted toward Usopp, his brows would furrow, and he would shout louder for Zoro and Sanji, as if his own readability could be muddled with louder volumes.

Gin sets a hand on his straw hat.

Luffy looks up, barely peeking through the corners of his straw hat to meet his stern gaze– and he quickly looks away.

"You can talk to him later," Gin assures.

Luffy shrinks a little, shoulders rising, head lowering– and he's hiding, Gin understands, under the shadow of a straw hat, like a child who's outgrown his own security blanket and wasn't ready to admit it.

"I wouldn't know what to even say," he admits, weakly.

Gin averts his eyes.

"Figure it out. You'll have to, one day."

The crew will love Luffy as he is, his flaws and imperfections and recklessness as they are. But as long as he's the captain, he'll have to learn how to get out of his comfort zone. A pursuit of individualism should never come in the way of personal growth.

It doesn't matter how endearing his childlike exuberance has been for them– sometimes, people are required to change to move on. And if the prior cannot coexist with the latter– you'll have to discard them, without a second thought. It's just how life works.

"They're fighting again…" Itomimizu reports, tired of this.

Zoro and Sanji were straight up dueling like mortal enemies in the field. Hamburg and Pickles weren't confident they could try again, and Chiqicheetah couldn't do much without their assistance.

Thankfully, the fight was soon broken up when Chiqicheetah distractedly walked around, sighing. Was there a point to him running around anym–

–and he lets out the most unholy, high-pitched, strangled cat shriek. A body of feathers and warm clunky leather just crashes into his face, wings surrounding his whiskers and clotting them in the most unpleasant way. And then the bird, horrified to suddenly finds a face in her flight zone, also screeches.

And Chiqicheetah brakes so abruptly, he trips, and the bird, because sense of balance is lost, hugs tighter against the cheetah's face. The cheetah screeches, mortified, and Kinoko squawks back, only able to hold on for dear life and overall exacerbating the panic between the both of them as they made a high-pitched noise after another like a battle of the vocal tones.

"What the– oh!" Sanji yells. "Good going, stupid bird, you caught it!"

"Less talking, more capturing!" Zoro snaps, dashing forward. "No-sword style–"

Was it anticlimactic? Itomimizu had no idea what to make of this, but for now, he was just incredibly relieved that he could stop reporting this stupid match. Genuinely the worst Groggy Ring match he's ever had the displeasure of emceeing– he's the groggiest one in this entire fucking debacle and he wants a fucking raise.

Nami finds Conis and Porche by the tents, where there was a sink to calm down and little people around to witness the weakness of a supposedly perfect lady.

"I… I don't think I'll ever be able to forgive you guys," Porche whispers, wiping away her own tears, her mask laid aside.

Conis is dreadfully silent, looking upon her knees, Suu by her side, whimpering quietly.

Nami had no excuse. "I won't ask for you to forgive anything we do," because they don't deserve it, nor do they require it. "After the final round… we'll just part ways. Like nothing ever happened. And then you guys can forget about us."

Each word came to her like a bitter pill.

Maybe in another world, she could be confident, as she snidely made these remarks. But in this one, she only felt like a criminal. Like a monster, covering for her other horrible friend, a legion of cruel beings with no sympathy for others.

Like the Fishmen that once took her home from her.

They had changed. But she– she had become what they personified, and that made her sick to the stomach. She couldn't even find it in herself to cry. She'd lost the ability to despair over her own laughable misery a long time ago.

"Big Bun was one of us," Porsche says, dryly. "He's neither Giant nor Fishman– he's not anything to the world except his strength. And he's dumb– he knows nothing about the world. He's our big baby. Where else could he have fit in?"

Nami knows. She understands. Sometimes, people are only what they're worth.

Sometimes, the only place someone can fit in is within the monsters, sometimes, the only place someone feels belonged in is among the clowns, within nonsensical festivals.

Sometimes, those were the only bonds that mattered.

"How unfortunate," Nami steels herself, gathering water in her hand to splash against her face, drenching in bits of her hair before she clumsily pulled it back over her shoulders. "And he's dead."

Usopp had a point. They tried to kill us first.

"My condolences."

She expects it, fully, when Porche leaps to her feet, baton in hand and thorns of roses sent her way– there's something like a snarl, something like a swear– something like a girl who's been enduring– been trying to stay strong against the men that didn't seem eager to show their emotions like she did.

Something like the dam bursting, crying out for the greatest hatred in her life.

And Nami does nothing to stop it, even when the baton knocks her on the head, dizzying, but not permanent, and when the spikes gouge into her flesh, drawing blood in ways that can never be lethal enough. Nami does nothing, even when Porche grabs fistfuls of her hair, screaming–

–screaming, give him back.

Because, clearly, Nami can never understand the agony of a comrade being so callously killed, and being able to do nothing about it. You guys are strong. You wouldn't understand what it means to lose something and have him be someone that apparently didn't matter at all .

So Nami does nothing. None of Porche's attacks could do anything to Nami.

And that was by design. Her weapons were not designed to kill– they were barely designed to hurt, more to create nuisance than anything. That was the respect Porche had for human life. The respect that the Strawhats had failed to give back, and Nami knew better than anyone how much that would hurt. That's why she did nothing.

"Enough, you two!" Conis spins around, mortified. "You can't be fighting now!"

They stop.

Exhausted, her eyes red, her cheeks flushed with emotion– Porsche crumbles to her knees– and finally, she bawls. It's ugly, but it's not loud. She can't afford to be loud.

She was the idol of the Foxy Pirates. She's supposed to be perfect, gorgeous, the leading commander in her squad of cheer girls. She can never afford to be disgraceful, in any of their sights.

She cannot be the one that breaks down.

Nami stands, disheveled– her face pulled tight. Her hair spilled, mottled and tangled and bunched up, messy– but she makes no move to fix it. Instead, she reaches for the spiked roses that cut into her arm, and slowly, removed as many thorns as she could.

In the distance, the bell to signal the end of the Groggy Ring match sounded.

"I'll go back to the ship first," Nami says, her tone even. "Luffy needs to prepare for the last match."

Hesitant, Conis shakily nods. And when Nami leaves, she doesn't look back once. Conis looks toward Suu– and nods, allowing Suu to follow the girl with the metal arm, catching up to her and climbing up to her side, curling into her in some semblance of comfort.

Conis crouches down beside Porche– and daintily, she spreads her arms. And Porche dives into her, arms wrapped around her shoulders desperately– and she begins to cry, just a little louder.

Conis holds her, gently, and says nothing.

Chopper returns to the crew, and while it was a joyous reunion, there was a gap between everything that made Chopper's presence a comfort, rather than a celebration.

"Is anyone hurt?" Chopper asks, face-hugging Kinoko tearfully.

He sits down to treat Zoro and Sanji's wounds. There was something therapeutic about it– just being there, disinfecting each cut carefully, the festival picking back up around them as the stage is prepared for the next battle.

"Hey… is that guy really dead?" Chopper asks, quietly, when the rest of the crew linger a little further away, and it's only him and Zoro and Sanji seated in this general area.

"Pretty sure he is," Zoro says. "Was probably instant."

Chopper's silence is still. His hat shadows over his face– and when he speaks again, it's shaky. "I see," he simply acknowledges, and there was nothing else he knew to add.

"It bothers you?" Sanji asks.

Chopper nods– and then, he shakes his head. There are tears, but he hurriedly swipes them aside. "I'm a man. I'm able to acknowledge things that happened– I'll be a man and see it through without complaining. I'm fine."

Neither of them knew how to respond to that.

To Chopper, the idea of right and wrong blurs when you remember that you're a sailor on a sea where nothing is ever fair to the weak. Chopper could clearly say he hated that it happened– but he couldn't, because now, he just didn't dare.

"I think it's fine if you're not fine with that," Zoro says.

Chopper submits a watery nod. "Okay, then I'm not."

They're pirates. They won't find a time where they'll fully agree with everything each other do all the time. That's what made them different, and that difference was what brought them together in the first place.

"Let's tell him not to do it anymore, then," Sanji says. "If you tell him why you don't like it, maybe he'll try to stop himself."

"...will he really?" Chopper questions. It's not like it's a drinking or smoking problem– it was fundamentally more problematic than that.

(But maybe if he thought of it that way it would hurt less to acknowledge it.)

"Well, he'll at least hear you out," Zoro says.

Chopper was on this crew to see the world. He was not here to experience the dangers of being an outlaw, he was not here to go through all the life-risking battles he's been forced through. But he was here to find a place he belongs, and this is the place he belongs, and he goes through all those things because he wants to stay here together.

He's just seeing the world. Ugly and dangerous and flawed, as it is.

He doesn't have to like it– but then again– Chopper, he, himself, is also ugly and dangerous and flawed, and yet, there are people who still love him for who he is.

Maybe he'll figure out the trick to it one day.

Wyper looks sternly at Usopp from beside him. Usopp, who had been none the wiser for the greater of two full minutes, finally turns around to nervously ask, "uh… Wyper? Sir, are you glaring at me?"

And Wyper huffs. "You threw a stone," he says, relenting his question, "so why did it penetrate like an arrow through the clouds?"

"Oh… that," Usopp says.

Anne pointedly notices that most eyes in the crew had turned toward them. Usopp picks out a single stone from his pocket, and the crew watches him coat it in a single steely layer of Armament Haki.

"I can only do it with stuff of this size," he says. "The rest is just arm strength."

"With those lanky arms?" Wyper is not convinced.

"Ah, sorry. I'm trying to buildup muscle I swear…"

"You're trying to become even crazier?!"

"So Haki can do that, too," Sanji acknowledges, a little disturbed. "Turning yourself and your weapons into reinforced steel… huh."

"You'd be like a cyborg," Chopper says, hopefully.

"I'd rather not," Sanji says, almost too quickly. At Chopper's disappointed look, he quickly amends, "but it sure does sound cool, doesn't it?"

Chopper brightens slightly. "It would!"

"Haki," Robin acknowledges. Zoro gives her a brief explanation, and she considers it in mirth. "It is much more than just a countermeasure for Devil Fruit users. It's the very thing that sets the boundary between the scale of damage one could cause on the other side of the Red Line."

"It's plenty strong as it is," Wyper mutters.

"Not at all, I'm on the weaker side," Usopp insists. "Once you guys get the hang of it, you'll dwarf me almost immediately."

Wyper frowns at that. "What war are you preparing for?"

Usopp freezes. And then, realizes that Wyper does not speak knowingly– he only speaks of wars, because wars have been integral to his life thus far, and clearly if Usopp was striving for strength, it must be to mobilise.

But what war was Usopp preparing for? The War of the Best? The War of the End? The wars he's trying to stop? Or a smaller scale– the war on Enies Lobby, because he already knows that he will allow Robin to go only for the crew to chase after her.

Is he preparing for the wars that he will let happen and then pretend to be the hero for?

What is he preparing for?

"I don't know," he admits. Everything? But for now… for now, he's not sure.

And when he searches for Nami– he realizes that it's been much too long since he's lost sight of her, and has no idea where to begin searching.

Gin sighs.

"I knew something was weird when you asked me to be your cornerman," Gin mutters. "You're running away, captain, don't think I won't make you go talk to him later."

Luffy stiffens, but he very pointedly picks up a helmet and says, loudly in a lip-twisted monotone, looking away, "wow, look! A helmet! It's so cool!"

" Luffy ," Gin repeats, and Luffy immediately puts it down and obediently gets on his knees, like a child before his mother.

"Uhm… should I leave?" the Foxy Pirate who had led them into the dressing room asks. He waits for all of an awkward moment before giving an apologetic look to Luffy's pleading 'don't leave me alone with the demon' eyes, and excuses himself.

Gin is calm as he leans against the side of the deck, his arms crossed. "Just tell me, Luffy– what Usopp did, do you hate him for it?"

Luffy freezes at that– "wha– no, I wouldn't–"

"Then," Gin interrupts, "do you approve of his actions? Do you disapprove?"

Luffy had been the one to say that they were pirates, not saints. Sure it had been quoted from someone he admired– and now he was realizing that perhaps he hadn't fully understood it before– but he had been the one to say it.

"Just be honest," Gin says, when Luffy stays silent. "There's no one but me here, and I will respect whatever your thoughts are. It is not my place to tell you how to feel."

Luffy finally allows his words to spill. "I… don't like it," he says. "I don't want Usopp to do it. I don't hate him for it– but I don't want to see it."

'I don't want to see someone get killed' seemed like a childish, naive thing to say, especially for a child that grew up around this dog-eat-dog environment, with bandits. He was fine with murder, theoretically– he just didn't want to be the one being responsible for it, to be the one that murder happened for.

It's not something a pirate captain should admit.

"There's nothing wrong with that," Gin says, without a shred of doubt.

"There is!" Luffy says, sharply. His fists tightens, and his lip spurs– he looks away, eyes shaky. "Maybe sometimes it needs to happen. Maybe I need to do it to protect you guys– I understand why Usopp did it! I do."

Did he really? Was that really defense in the name of the crew? Or was that just senseless violence?

(There is collateral met in the motive of protection– but whatever it was Usopp did, Luffy couldn't help but feel that it was just a child in a dinghy, getting blown up for looking in the wrong direction.)

"I just– not all killing is the same," Luffy says. "And I only ever want one specific kind to ever happen."

Is that selfish?

Gin is still watching, silent– and without a single interruption. It's only when Luffy curls in, regretting every word he'd spilled in this stupid moment of vulnerability– that Gin finally speaks up.

"There's nothing wrong with that," he promises.

And somehow– somehow, that felt nice to hear.

Luffy could feel the tears at the edge of his eyes– he rubs them away, but the ache remained. The tears hadn't spilled yet. But he breathes in and out and suddenly his ears are ringing, like he'd just had the biggest cry of his life for the second time.

"We followed you, Luffy," Gin says. "And you're going to be the Pirate King. We believe that, and we, as your crew, will do all we can to make sure we get there. And that includes respecting your wishes, listening to what you want from us– and obeying it, in the same way you would do for all of us."

They aren't just a crew– they're a family on the seas, living, because they have nowhere else to go. They are together, not for their mission, but because it is home.

There is no home where there is no comfort.

"If Usopp doesn't understand that, then there's only one thing to do," Gin says, and when Luffy looks up, he's jabbing a thumb in the direction of the boxing gloves. He smirks, "men talk with their fists, right?"

When Luffy cracks up into laughter after that, Gin lets out a subtle breath, relieved.

"Hey, look at this, Gin! An afro! If I wear this, I'll be like Colorimotone Prisma's greatest senpai, the legendary Ultimate Godoafros Almighty!"

The golden henna tattoos are all gone now.

Nami misses her.

She dives underwater, letting the currents take her, gravity dragging her under with the weight of her limbs. The ones Wyper makes for her are lighter, but made of wood as they are, they aren't very water-resistant to protect the mechanisms within it.

But she hardly cares.

Leaving Suu by the shore to watch her shirt and shoes, Nami swims, allowing herself the calm of the waters as she drifts by the corals, comes alongside the marine life, and finally tries to feel like herself again.

She doesn't breathe for a very long time.

She remembers feeling like this a very long time ago, but she tries to forget about it.

She comes up for air and Suu is flustered, hopping around frantically, evidently just about to leap for her after she'd failed to come up in a reasonable amount of time. Nami leans into the shore, and Suu scrambles over to crawl up on her arm, crying in relief– and she smiles, endeared.

"I'm fine," she says. She hasn't been, for a long time, "I'm afraid, you know. Of how much Usopp has changed."

Suu leans in, a warm comfort, and Nami takes it as a gesture to continue.

"But the more I think about it… the more I realize," her voice breaks, and she feels the burn of tears– but drenched as she was, cold as she was shaking– she knew they would rescind. She won't be able to cry today. "The more I realize that I'm not the same, too."

She's afraid of Usopp changing. She's afraid of herself changing.

She's afraid of change, but her heart reminds her that she was here to change things, and that scares her the most out of everything.

She wants to go back to the old days, where her naivete overpowered her rationality. She didn't want to travel back in time, and redo it better. She just wanted those old days again, even if it ended in tragedy. She wanted to forget and do it again.

She's selfish, she knows. Like a child.

She's irredeemable, and she's unapologetic for it. Because she's a pirate, and she's allowed to want the impossible that she knows she'll never get.

(She's no longer the Nami she used to be, and yet, she wants to be her, more than anything.)

(Because maybe then, maybe she would have the courage to express her feelings. It would be violent, but at the very least, it wouldn't be bottled up.)

"I'm so envious," she says, and Suu coos, curious of who she spoke of. Nami leans in, tender, and admits, "Porche. She's strong, and she'll only get stronger in the future."

Nami returns to the stands, fresh from a swim and dressed in slightly damp clothes, but she acts like nothing has happened, even pointedly speaking to Usopp first when she catches him fussing with an exclusive overpriced Foxy pin.

"Did you waste my money again?" she groans, "don't buy those things! What rubbish."

Usopp presses a button and the pin laughs in Foxy's signature noise. "It is exclusive," he insists, "of course it's worth it!"

Wyper was frowning at another pin that he'd bought, because for some reason the salesman succeeded in convincing him it was a fascinating invention of the blue sea, "is there a tone dial inside? How does this work?"

Zoro and Sanji watch them warily as they settle down, share the drinks, and get ready to cheer Luffy on. It might just be their inexperience talking– but neither of them showed visible discomfort in each others' presence. They eased, sitting side by side, and bantered, normally.

There was nothing wrong, externally.

Internally though, everything probably was.

Zoro looks away. "That Luffy, he asked Gin to be his cornerman, of all people."

"You almost sound jealous," Sanji mutters, slightly disgusted. "This is a punching fight, obviously he'd pick Gin."

Anne blinks slowly. "I almost think it would be better for Gin to fight," she says. "Gin is made to fight in ring matches."

"Made to…?" Sanji trails off. "Nevermind, don't elaborate."

Conis had returned to their sides as well, sitting meekly between Robin and Anne, carefully enjoying cotton candy with Chopper and Suu.

"Festival food is a joy," she says, taking a stick of fried cheese when Zoro hands it to her (he'd eaten the meat and vegetables on it, but the cheese he was very subtly passing away–) and carefully eating. "They're mostly fried and sweet foods, which I am not fond of, but I very much understand the desire to indulge. They are delicious."

"Want some tea?" Anne asks, already raising a cup over.

"Ah yes, thank you," it was weird drinking tea with these instead of soda, but she'll take what she can. Conis' hand linger on the cup after she takes her sip, the warmth crossing her hands into her throat, and down to warm her stomach.

She needed it.

"Hey, Anne," she says, soft, knowing that Robin could also hear her as she voices this question. "Stuff like that… you're not bothered at all by it, huh?"

Anne hums, sharing some bites of fried potato skin with Kinoko. "Not really," she says, "I'm used to it."

"Then… Miss Robin, you too?" Conis asks.

Robin's answer comes quieter. "Not by choice," she says. "It is more fortunate to be one that remains disgusted by that sight. You are fine, Miss Seamstress."

Conis looks down, ashamed. She was the only one, then.

She ate, each nibble forcing down the disgust that threatened to rise again. She tried not to think about it again, but every time she closed her eyes– she could see it, the red rain.

"I'll need to be stronger," she says.

Anne sets a hand on hers, and she lifts her head, surprised. Anne's eyes are firm, and her next words are resolute. "You don't have to be something you aren't," she says. "Just be you. If you're not strong, I can protect you."

It's strange, that a girl so young was so confident she was stronger than someone older than her. Conis felt coddled– but not in a bad way.

Her strength was not in battle prowess. It was not in experience, and it was not in the ability to stay strong against these things. And this crew would be fine with that Conis– the Conis that was naive, sweet, and kind– that was enough.

"In this crew, you are one of the few who are honest with their feelings," Robin says. "I would prefer it if it remained that way. You don't need to force yourself into the other corner– no one is expecting our little doctor for the same things."

And that was true.

So Conis stopped eating, and silently prayed into her gloved knuckles, and she would not say anything. She would not smile, but she would not cry either.

She would stew on her own upset emotions– and when she's brave enough to take a step outside again, she will meet the crew in the light.

The battle with Foxy does not go well– but it didn't the first time, either.

"I… I almost forgot about the fucking afro," Nami groans into her hands, defeated by the mere idea of it.

Usopp, though, was psyched . "AFROO!"

Chopper and Sanji weren't any better. "LUFFY! He's got the power of the afro! He can't lose now, don't underestimate the power of the afro!"

"Is it? IT IS!" Chopper squeals, "it's Ultimate Godoafros Almighty! Usopp! USOPP! It's Ultimate Godoafros Almighty!"

"That name is a dyslexic nightmare," Zoro immediately says.

"Was saying everything twice necessary?" Robin wonders.

"Ultimate Godoafros Almighty," Anne's eyes are twinkling with awe, "the strongest being in existence, the aspiration big Master senpai of the cosmos, Colourimotone Prisma's mentor and master and motivation to surpass…"

"Does the man wear the afro, or does the afros wear the man," Chopper repeats, sounding amazed by the memories of the story. "The greatest mystery that persists even in the face of modern science– the power of afros can make you stronger!"

"What," Wyper manages.

"Do you know why Fleet Admiral Sengoku hides his afros under his hat? Well, it's to hide the utter majesty of his infinite power!"

"Usopp, stop lying to them!"

Robin quietly notes that, "ah, Sengoku-san does have an afro when he uses his Devil Fruit Powers."

"How do all of your characters have such annoyingly long introductions!" Zoro snaps. "Stop coming up with this convoluted shit, Usopp!"

"Hear that guys," Usopp stage-whispers. "This is exactly what a nonbeliever of Ultimate Godoafros Almighty would say. But don't get mad, guys. He's just currently ignorant to the majesty of the old hero. We must quietly pity him instead. Have compassion for him. In the name of Colourimotone Prisma the hero, we have to forgive him."

"That's it, Usopp! You come with me, we are going to the prairie, and I am cutting off your nose like fucking Pinnochio!"

"...but Pinnochio's nose wasn't cut off…?"

"At this point, I'm starting to wonder how much of this was actually story you told," Nami mutters, "for all we know, you guys are just collectively screwing with us."

Luffy's fight with Foxy was already going to be disadvantageous– it was Foxy's home ground, he was alone, and most of all…

Nami pales immediately. "Oh no."

All eyes in the crew turned to her. Zoro pauses in the midst of strangling Usopp, because Nami's horrified little moment of realisation does not sound good at all.

Nami reveals, mortified, "we forgot to tell Luffy about Foxy's Devil Fruit powers."

And then Usopp freezes, "shit. Foxy didn't use it in the previous rounds. How did we forget that?"

There's a stilted silence before everyone collectively loses the energy to mess around. Jaws drop, action pauses, and Conis carefully peeks out of her hands to retreat, because she has a feeling whatever will come next is a waver wreck she does not want to witness.

In the distance, a swirling pink wave shoots from Foxy's hands– engulfing Luffy in the beam. Foxy grins, proceeding to explain the entire mechanics of his Slowpoke Photons, and how amazing he is in utilising it, demonstrating just as such.

Luffy is then immediately blown up by a barrage of cannonballs.

Sanji does the honours, sitting down to very indignantly declare, "SHIT."

Luffy runs around the deck, murmuring to himself. It was a little hard to understand Foxy's Devil Fruit powers, but after getting socked by it twice or thrice and still getting fooled by other tricks, he can confidently conclude that it's just an utter pain in the ass.

The beam slowed down everything it touched, from humans to objects. Even hitting a small portion of his body made it slow down, and a hand stuck in the air wouldn't come back to him until thirty seconds went by.

In fact– seeing as Luffy's ability was to spread out as far as he could, if there was ever a 'mortal enemy' of Luffy's rubber powers, it would be this.

Karma. This was karma. Luffy barely understood that word, but he knew that this was what it meant.

"Woah! A huge cannon deck! Usopp would love it!"

"Luffy motherfucking Monkey D., would you get serious already!"

"Ah, sorry, Gin. I will, I will."

There's a baby Den-Den Mushi in his afro. Gin had stuffed it in while the referee wasn't looking, which meant it was completely fair game.

(Back at the stands, Nami stares, baffled that she didn't think of it first.)

"Tell me the situation down there!" Gin orders.

"Uhh," looking around frantically. "Can't find him. I was gonna kick down every door but…"

"...but?" Gin questions.

Luffy's eyes land on a very specifically suspicious door, and he squints. "I have a very bad feeling about just that one for some reason…"

"Trust your instinct, Luffy," Nami says, speaking into the Denden. "Or is there another reason you don't want to open it?"

Luffy grimaces. He doesn't really know how to verbalise this– but he just knows that there's a trap beyond it, even if he's even more sure that Foxy is right behind it. Maybe he should just charge in anyways, which is what he would do usually,) but if he did it now that Nami warned him, she'll be mad when it's a trap and he falls for it.

"Okay then," he steps toward a cannon. "I'll just blow it up."

"What?" Gin asks.

"What," Nami repeats.

An explosion can be heard under the deck of the Sexy Foxy.

And then, Foxy's indignant yell, "you're not supposed to fire a fucking cannon inside a ship, you mindless, unthinking chimpanzee!"

"Oh, found him! Ah look, I knew there was a trap! Look at all those spikes!"

Somehow, Nami knew he'd be fine. He was fine last time around, too.

"The somehow," Usopp mentions, and Nami nods. "So maybe, do you think…?"

"It's possible," Nami says. "Don't tell him, though. It's like all of us– once you put a name to it, you end up forgetting how to do it instinctively."

"A step forward, two steps back, like me after Dressrosa," Usopp nods. "But it's strange– I've always thought Luffy would awaken the one better for fighting first."

"Unexpected is his middle name," Nami sighs.

"No, it isn't."

"You know what I mean!"

"What the actual fuck are you guys talking about," this time, it's Gin and Zoro who says it in complete accidental unison, and the combination of resignation of further irritation would have made Usopp and Nami frantically hide behind each other back in the day.

And, neither of them even phrased it as a question.

"It's Mantra," to everyone's surprise, it's Wyper that answers it. "Luffy's using Mantra."

"What?" now Sanji is also in full attention. "Luffy can use that annoying shit now too?"

"Eh, probably not fully yet," Usopp says, humbly, "he's still getting hit a lot. You can attribute that to Foxy being pretty unexpectedly smart with his tricks too, I guess."

"I'm thinking he's had this for a while, we just never really brought it to attention," Nami says. "I wonder how long… oh well."

"Uhm… are we still worried about him?" Conis asks. "He seems to be doing pretty badly in the fight as of the moment… what we can see of it, at least. I don't believe humans are meant to take so much damage from Blue Sea cannons…"

"Yes, a normal human would have died in about one, most likely," Robin says, her tone even as she offers her soda to Suu only to end up with a fox screeching at it like it was the greatest criminal offense to her ancestors, "I'm more impressed that the ship is still very much intact despite it." She hands it to Kinoko instead.

"The poor ship…" Chopper says. "Is Foxy not worried about his ship? Or is it because he knows the ship can take it that he's going wild on it? He did choose it as their battlefield, I guess…"

"Ah, don't worry, the power of the afros will ensure Luffy wins," Sanji says, in a tone that was so matter-of-fact that Gin needed to do a double take to make sure that yes, this guy is not joking, what the actual hell?

"Back to the part about the fucking Haki," Zoro hisses.

"Well, if you're ever wondering why you can't get Armament to work, it's because you're thinking too hard about it every time," Nami says. "Which is why we're not going to tell Luffy he awakened it until he learns how to consciously use it. He'll end up like Zoro."

"There is nothing wrong with me, I am getting the hang of it already!"

"Oh really, then shall we test it o–"

"Not in the stands we are not! Focus on the match!"

"The boss is– the boss is DOWNN!! With his legendary 920 consecutive win record finally broken, Foxy has fallen into the sea– and who's the winner of this game? Well, none other than MONKEY D. LUUUFFFFYY!!"

Needless to say, Luffy managed to crank out a win. He's battered, bloody, and somewhere in the middle of falling unconscious and staying awake on willpower alone– and well, he'd won over the hearts of every Foxy Pirate in the stands along the way.

"GOOO! THE AFRO POWER!"

"You did it, Luffyyyy!!"

"He did it, that crazy bastard!"

It was strange, to be cheering for your captain's victory only to find the opposing team cheering him on, celebrating just the same. This was it– this was the Davy Back Fight. A place where the lines between enemy and comrade blurred, and comrade-exchanges were bitter, but fair game.

Anyone on the Foxy team would honour being saddled with a new leader at each loss, and thus, they will always extend their excitement and respect to the other captain in their matches. For all they know, they could become a crewmember, after all– they had to make a positive impression. That's why they set up carnivals, host little warmup matches, and are friendly no matter what.

The Davy Back Fight was made for both teams to enjoy themselves, regardless of who won or lost.

(And yet…)

Usopp stands up, and quietly, he takes his walking stick, maneuvering his own way out. He doesn't call for Kinoko, and the bird continues to be preoccupied with the soda Robin gives her.

Nami sees him go. But if she didn't call out to him, Usopp would never notice– so she doesn't. Like a coward, she turned away, pretending not to see.

Wyper sighs as he notices that, standing up to go after him. "You guys take care of the fool," he says, gesturing toward Luffy. Sanji was still enthusiastically screaming about the magic of afros with Chopper, so he turns to anyone else in hope of sanity.

"We can go to Tonjit's house," Anne says, hopping down from the little stool she'd used to look over the handrails. "My easel is still there."

They left in silence, and everyone knew why. Conis notices belatedly, but she catches Robin's eye and Suu's assuring nod, and they don't move. They sit where they are, indulging in the excitement that spreads across the crowd.

Usopp's presence was only dampening the celebration, and he knew it.

"Huh wait! The game– huh? I thought I– wait, was that a dream? I thought I won!"

"Don't worry, you did."

Luffy lays back, relieved and exhausted, his lips curling into a wide smile. "Oh great, that's good!" he laughs. He's got no energy to sit back up for now, but with Conis and Chopper by his side, lowly chewing him out for one injury or another, there was really nowhere else he'd rather be.

"Usopp, Wyper, and Anne went back to Tonjit's house ahead," Zoro says, when Luffy starts looking around.

Luffy's face falls a little, disappointed. But he picks back up when Foxy approaches him for a handshake, and it's such a firm, unflinching grip– that Luffy had no choice but to feel just a little surprise.

"I was going to throw you over my shoulder as revenge, but I won't," Foxy says, after a moment of stern staring. And then he lets go of Luffy's hand. "I'll honour this match– you dared besmirch my legendary record!" he hisses, accusatory. But he sighs. "I'm in no mood anymore! That's it, let's go home, everyone!"

"You know, I'm made of rubber, so that'd be pointless–"

"With that said!" Foxy yells over him, loud and interruptive, "hurry up and choose your member to take! You need a carpenter, right? C'mon folks, line up to be chosen already!"

"Huh? Oh right, there was that," Luffy says. He'd completely forgotten about the nakama-stealing part. "Give me your jolly roger!"

"What?!"

His resolute decision– one he'd made without even thinking twice– surprises everyone, from the Strawhats to the Foxy Pirates. Foxy even went on to start advertising his top three before he whirled back around because wait , you want none of them?

"Hold on a– Luffy!"

Nami sighs, "why are you so undeniably captainlike in the weirdest times?"

Luffy laughs at that remark. "Well, I mean, if I took a carpenter now from them, it'd be pretty pointless, right? We didn't join this fight for that, anyways."

"Ah, that's right–" Chopper says, "we got in this fight for Sherry. Right."

"But what about sexy carpenter Gina?" Sanji asks, horrified.

"Can Merry really afford to wait for another island or three, though?" Zoro mutters to himself. "Oh well , she'll have to tough it out."

"Oh right, I forgot about Merry!" Luffy says. "Uh, can we have your jolly roger and while you're fixing your ship, can you fix a bit of ours, too?"

"You're shameless!" came the loud yell from half of the Foxy Pirates.

"You're just going to add more clauses?!"

"And he didn't even think twice about taking away the pride and joy of a pirate crew, the jolly roger! How deplorable! How evil!"

"Oh c'mon," Luffy says, whining, "you guys are gonna have to fix all that, right? Might as well. You've got a ton of people. You build a whole gallery in a couple minutes anyways, what's the big deal?'

Sanji sparked a certain idea, "Don't force them, Luffy. I don't think I trust them to handle the Merry anyways, these guys don't look like they've got a lick of elegance in their life."

Nami hums, "yeah, I'd feel sorry for our little Merry if these testosterone-filled brutes handled her. We'll wait until there are nicer, more generous people who are willing to help her out of the goodness of their hearts…"

"Oh it's on now, strawhat! WE ARE NOT BRUTES!"

"Yeah, Gina's not a brute!"

"We can build ships beautifully! Our carpenters have the hands of angels!"

"We'll show you a godly maintenance! Lead the way! Right now!"

Somehow, they had weaseled a free shipwrighting session out of them. Luffy laughs and laughs. Sanji and Nami high-five.

Gin and Zoro follow the crowd to look at Merry, resigned to their fates as the ones handling heavy work. Luffy gets to work graciously painting a new jolly roger for the Foxy Pirates, while Conis and Chopper glimmer excitedly as some of the Foxy doctors and nurses lend them medical supplies.

All wasn't good, but for now, it was well.