Chapter Five- The Sparks Fly! Fist vs. Kick!
There was an awkward silence, as the breeze flew by. "Why are we not going?" The "knight", who was apparently the captain of the vessel, asked, bemusedly. A subordinate appeared beside him and whispered to him. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch that. Say that again." He took out an ear trumpet, showing just how old fashioned he was. He held the instrument to his ear, paying no mind to the tremendous amount of ear wax on it. It was his own wax, after all.
"Umm, Captain, there aren't any ships in that direction. There is, however, the ship of one Monkey D. Luffy, if they interest you. Their vessel is in front of us, from the starboard bow."
The knight man eyed the fat boy who seemed to be his navigator, in a rather annoyed fashion. "Starboard bow, you say?"
"I don't know how I have you as my navigator, when you can't even tell starboard from port." He muttered, twiddling his moustache, annoyed. The telltale lump on the fat boy's head was a sure giveaway to what had just transpired. "Anyway, you say that it was the crew of this Flunky B. Roof fellow? Who's that again, what-what?"
"That's Monkey D. Luffy. You know, the rubber man pirate with one hundred million Berries on his head?" The subordinate was a little surprised that their captain did not know of Luffy, especially when he had beaten Crocodile. "He beat one of the Shichibukai?" He prompted.
"Oh, him! That little riff-raff who beat Alligator." "Crocodile, Captain." "Yes, yes, hoity-toity man, I believe, thought he was better because he was like Captain Hook."
Both the subordinate and navigator gave a sweatdrop each, at how senile their captain was, and just hoped he wouldn't embarrass himself in front of the Straw Hat pirates. Or, more likely, they hoped he wouldn't embarrass them in front of the Straw Hat pirates.
Meanwhile, the Straw Hats had finally let their anchor down, and were getting off. This island was a pit-stop for them. Luckily, for some of them, it was a nice beach island, perfect for sunbathing, fishing, and all sorts of leisurely activities.
Nami, Robin and Vivi had just dressed into their swimming costumes, Sanji had just started drooling over the trio and Kenni was blushing bright red, and looking away, when they all noticed the inhabitants of the ship beside them board onto the island.
"Oh, oh, oh- Don't mind that you have the fearsome White Knight pirates behind ye, knaves! Just go about your business, dressing in your skimpy bathing costumes, trying to seduce us. Well, I should let you know that it won't work on us! Agree with me, fellows?" He puffed his chest out, looking to his subordinates. The one who had told him about the Straw Hats was there, but where was the podgy little navigator?
"Get away from us!" A repulsed Nami shrieked. "What the hell are you, anyway? Some weird dog thing, or what?"
It should have been noted earlier that this chubby little boy had dog features, much like Kenni had cat features. He looked a lot like a little pug, and in fact, had the same facial features of one, which explained why Nami was disgusted by the sight of him.
Meanwhile, Kenni blinked twice, looking at the pug-boy, before realisation crept into his head. "YOU!" He screeched, pointing a finger at him.
The entranced dog boy snapped out of his rather shameless and lustful reverie, to look to Kenni's direction. His expression turned a little uglier, as he recognised the musician. "Oh, crap, you're here?" He spat at Kenni's feet, showing how much respect he held for the little redhead.
Vivi looked from one little boy to the other. "You two know each other?" "Sadly enough, we do." Kenni replied, quickly turning to the dog lad, looking smug. "Ha, beat you again! I was first to answer! I always was faster than you, Pug-Face!"
"Pug-Face" scowled. "Yeah, well, at least I'm bigger than you, Fur Ball ." To illustrate this point, a paw was pushed down onto Kenni's head, forcing him down a little. The forceful arm was slapped away by Kenni's own paw, with a little "Nya" of annoyance.
"So, what brings you and Grandpa Walrus here? To get me, I suppose?" Kenni muttered, bitterly.
Walrus hemmed, more than a little miffed, as he would put it. "My name is Sir Walrus Flippersdale of the Flippersdale family of knights, thank-you very much! And as a matter of fact, young Torashi, we are indeed here to take you back. The Akumi is extremely displeased."
Whilst all this was going on, the other crewmembers of the Going Merry were poking their head over the railing, to see what was going on. Luffy, naturally, was first to speak. "Hey, what's going on, you guys?"
Walrus looked up towards the Straw Hat wearer and smirked. "Ah, you must be this Manky de Loofah fellow I've heard about. Strange, I thought you would be a lot more intimidating, but instead, you're a mere boy of common riff-raff."
Luffy just stared, blinked a few times, and spoke up again. "What are you? Some kinda walrus man, or something?"
"That's Sir Walrus Flippersdale, to you, lad!" A small vein throb appeared on Walrus' brow. He gave a little hem, to try and regain what dignity he had, then changed the subject back to Kenni. "Anyway, we are here to seize this boy, and take him back to the Akumi!"
Luffy's expression became firm. He wasn't about to give up any of his nakama, especially when it was his long awaited musician! "We ain't giving him up to you, so you can just go back to the Akumi, and tell them that."
Walrus twiddled his moustache, half in fury, and half in contemplation. "Very well. If you won't give him up by will, then you shall have to give him up by force. And what better way to do this, than to have a game of Davy Backfight?"
Luffy grinned, despite all the sour faces around him. "Yeah, that sounds like fun!" He beamed, not taking notice of Zoro, Nami, Sanji, Ussop and the rest all shouting "LUFFY!" Luffy then became all business. "But, if we win, what do we get from you?"
Walrus gave a proud smile, and a puff out of the chest. "Why, myself, of course! That is, if you win the last round, of course. In the first round, if you win, you shall get my trusted navigator, Pugsy de Pika-Kyaku."
"Don't I get a say in this!" Pugsy protested, then took a look at the three girls in their bathing suits. "On second thought, that may not be too bad."
Kenni glared. Pug-Face was staring at Nami-san, Robin-san and Princess Vivi with such naughty feelings. He spoke up, boastfully. "Okay, but if you win, you get me!" It was a rare sight to see a cocky Kenni, but in such a case- what with Pug-Face and all- the worst in him was brought out.
Walrus smiled, liking the sight of such competitiveness in young fellows. "Very well! We'll have a whizzing good first match between Pugsy and Torashi. How does a race sound? Positively marvellous idea, what-what?"
In perfect unison, the boys piped up with "Fine by us!", before starting to argue about who had said it first, rolling on the floor, wrestling.
Two lines had been drawn in the sand, marking the starting lines. It could be noted that Pugsy had drawn his line considerably further in front of Kenni's.
"Any reason why your line is out in front, Pug-Face?" "Because you're on the inside lane, Fur Ball." Kenni's eyes narrowed, giving off a snide, knowing look. "Nice try, Pug Face. You have the inside lane, on the island, anyway."
"Enough hoity-toity quibble, you two! Now, time for the rules for 'The Full Circle Race'. Once both contestants have reached the designated area, they shall continue to race, but fight each other while doing so. The first one to fall is the loser. If there are any disputes or foul words, the mentioned phrases shall be recorded, by my trusty subordinate, here." He gestured to his third crewmember.
"Yeah, yeah, just shut up, you old fart!" "Take that down!" Walrus spluttered, only to receive a nervous reply from the one meant to record the information. It appeared that there was no paper to write upon.
"Very well, we shall just have to remember and remind everyone we see of what has transpired. After all, many would like to know about what is going. Now, before we start, I just want everyone to know that I am 'an old fart'. Does everyone have that in their minds? Right! Then, start the race!"
The two boys immediately started to run, at what could be said to be a normal sprinting pace. Walrus followed on his trusty steed. This went on for a couple of kilometres, before Pugsy looked behind, having the cockiness to run backwards.
"You feeling tired yet, Fur Ball?" "No!" "Good, because I'm done running the boring human way!" With that, the rather obese boy sped up, the yellow aura of the Pika-Pika powers surrounding. Kenni gave a little smirk, before following suit.
Walrus let his horse trot to a halt, and turned to those watching the race. "Now, you can see that the two racers have sped up, using their Pika-Pika powers. Now, before I leave, I want you to all know, that I am an old fart." With that, he followed the two boys.
By now, the two boys had reached the area in which they were to fight. They- a bit too eagerly- took advantage of this, using the Pika-Pika Bullet technique. Kenni growled a little.
"That's my move!" He protested. "You stole it, Pug-Face!" With that, the two clashed, with their Bullets, standing face to face in the air, scowling at each other.
"Whine all you want! It's not like I'd care." He reeled back his fist, punching Kenni in the face. He watched Fur Ball perform a few back flips, to gain back some equilibrium, before he charged, trying to kick him. Pugsy grabbed the wayward hind paw, and sneered. "You're a crap fighter, just like your stupid, dead-beat father."
Kenni gave a cat-like hiss, his hair started to lose its shape, as it stood on end. "Shut up! Don't talk about my father like that ever again, you mangy mutt!"
Pugsy smirked. He had hit a sore spot. "Why the hell do you even care about him? He left you, and your lousy mother before you were even born!"
Kenni froze up. Any words that spoke of Kenni being abandoned always had this fact on him. His leg still in the air (from where Pugsy was holding his hind paw), he was starting to lose balance.
Seeing that his plan had worked, Pugsy hurled Kenni to the ground. "I WIN!" He bellowed, proudly, his small dog tail wagging with delight.
Walrus came to a stop, at Pugsy's side. "So, I see." He replied. "ATTENTION ALL WHO CAN HEAR ME! IF YOU CANNOT HEAR ME, DO SAY SO! PUGSY DE PIKA-KYAKU HAS WON THE FULL CIRCLE RACE, AND SO, TORASHI PIKAKEN NOW BELONGS TO THE WHITE KNIGHTS!"
Pugsy was still holding his ears at all the shouting. Kenni, however, did not care about the noise. Pug-Face had insulted Papa. Papa... The man who had left him and Mama, before he had even been born. He would die for that.