Chapter 6
Out of the Frying Pan...
"[BOSS IS SENT SOARING INTO THE SKY!]"
Maxwell glanced up at Foxy after taking one of Luffy's punches. He had been sent flying, clear over the mast of the Sexy Foxy. The Foxy Pirates could only look in shock and awe. They probably haven't actually seen their captain lose before.
Still, Foxy eventually came falling down and splashed into the ocean, "[The point of landing is... outside the battlefield!]" Considering they had a ring of buoys floating as a boundary line, it had better be, "[For the fateful battle of the third round of this Davy Back Fight, the Captain vs. Captain battle round, our boss, Foxy, has tragically fallen after 920 straight wins. The winner of this round is... STRAW-HAT LUFFY~!]"
Everybody cheered for Luffy as he stood on the giant fox figurehead. It wasn't just the Straw-Hats crew either. Even the Foxy's had enjoyed the match.
Although, when they realized they still had to fish their Boss out of the water, the idiots actually argued who will be the one to do it. They were actually rather loyal, volunteering themselves, but they took it too far.
"Don't just stand there! Go save Boss!" "Okay! I'll go!" "No! I'll go!" "I'll come too!" "Woah!"
With so much commotion and jostling, the stand legs actually broke from beneath them.
"[Foxy Pirates vs. Straw-Hat Pirates. Under the Three Coin Rule, this Davy Back Fight is now over!]"
Maxwell did not appreciate the sudden dip into he ocean.
O O O
A few hours later, Maxwell had been busy having to move a bunch of debris off the Merry. Ironically, it wasn't even pieces of the stands. Though a few good chunk fell on her, it was mostly popcorn bags and fountain cups. He was not a maid, damn it!
At least the Foxy's had the decency to clean up their broken construct.
The Davy Back Fight wasn't officially done, but both sides agreed to a recess. They still had to recover their captains from the ship and sea, and treat their injuries. The Straw-Hats had up outside the fairgrounds, laying Luffy on the grass. Chopper had been primarily treating him till now.
"You really made me worry, back there! You! You!"
Chopper was looking bug-eyed at Usopp, "You're poking him too hard! Are you trying to kill him!?" He was poking Luffy's cheek as he both smiled and cried.
"I was scared, too," said Nami. Both Nami and Sanji were sitting around Luffy as well, "All that talk about the afro making you strong..."
"Nami, the afro does make you strong!" Sanji was smoking another one of his cigarettes. They had long since given the wig back to the Foxy Pirate. Apparently there were also slap-on tattoos in this world. That flaming skull design had long since faded away off of Luffy's torso.
Maxwell saw that Luffy was opening his eyes, "Ah! Look, he's coming too!"
"Hn... HUH!" Luffy suddenly shot sitting up, "THE GAME? WHAT HAPPENED TO THE FIGHT? DIDN'T I WIN? WAS I DREAMING?"
Zoro had a chuckle at that, "Relax. You won."
"...Whew...!" Luffy sighed in relief as he fell back onto the grass, "...That's good..." He smiled knowing everything was alright now.
"Congratulations," said Maxwell, "...Don't ever do that again."
Nami had a chuckle at that. Everyone was too euphoric to really care about Luffy's bone-headed actions. Even Usopp smiled, "I wasn't worried for a second."
"'Not worried,' my ass," Sanji eyed the sniper.
"I thought about it," said Zoro. He was trying to act all nonchalant, "If I left his ship, I'd have no point in being a pirate anymore." Robin then giggled at Mr. Swordsman's bashfulness.
"Boss!" "You should be resting!"
Everyone looked over to see Foxy walk up to them. He was still bandaged up, and using his coat as a cloak, "Hey. Straw-Hat!"
Maxwell, Usopp, Sanji, and Zoro stood up, to defend their captain if need be, "It's all because of you I've lost my perfect record... Not bad. Captain." Foxy offered his hand for a handshake.
Luffy looked at him perplexed. But he put on his hat, and took the handshake.
Only it wasn't a handshake, "EAT THIS! OVERHEAD THROW OF VENGEANCE!" *BONK!* "AH! MY HEAD!" Foxy head hit the ground. He had tried to throw Luffy with with a judo flip, but Luffy just let the rubber arm stretch.
"Idiot..." Zoro wasn't sure if he was talking about Luffy or Foxy.
"Fine!" Foxy was now sporting a goose egg, "Let's get this over with. What do you want!?"
"[That's right! The last part of the game still needs deciding! The winner, Captain Luffy, gets to take a new crew member! They seem to be looking for a carpenter. In that case, will they take the leader of our 50 men mechanic team, Sonieh? Or will they pick the battle ready mechanic Donovan? Or~ the downright sexy carpenter Gina?]"
Maxwell deadpanned. Itomimizu was still using that thing? Anyways, Maxwell took a look at who Itomimizu was offering. Sonieh seemed alright, Donovan looked like he'd stab you in the back the first chance he got, and Gina... Well he had to blush and look away when he saw her wink at him.
"[Only the captain can decide who to pick! Now please decide.]"
Luffy went for none of those options, "I chose your flag."
"WHAT!?"
Maxwell then perked up, "Oh yeah. I forgot you can take that."
Sanji rushed to stand in front of his captain, "Hey, Luffy! Hold on! Isn't the sexy Gina a better choice? You won't get another chance at this!"
Luffy just smiled, "If we had fought for something like that, it wouldn't be worth it."
"You—You're..." Foxy stumbled with his words, "Evil! You didn't even give it a thought and you want to rob us of our pride!?"
"I don't want your sail. Just the flag. Otherwise you won't be able to leave. Right?"
The Foxy Pirates had a few thoughts on this, "Heh? How thoughtful..." "But our symbol is on our sail, too! We won't be able to use that!" "Yeah! Stop pretending to be nice! Just take everything!"
Luffy looked at the Sexy Foxy, "...Okay, okay. I'll just erase your symbol for you. Then I'll give you a new one. That way you will be able to use your sail."
Foxy looked at Luffy in amazement, "Straw-Hat... You're... so nice..."
O O O
Maxwell had to struggle not to laugh out loud.
"Okay. Done."
It took an hour, but Luffy still had no artistic ability. It was still funny though! Luffy had tried to draw a fox head over a pair of crossbones. But in looked more like a rat with—"HAHAHAHAHA!" Maxwell just fell over laughing. It was horrible!
"They look so grateful, too!" "NO WE'RE NOT!"
Anyways, the Foxy's fire off more fireworks and Porche tried to hug Chopper one last time, "[The winner is... THE STRAW-HAT CREW! The Davy Back Fight will now officially end!]"
Thank the Maker...
The Foxy Pirates packed up their stands and venues and withdrew their anchors surrounding the Merry, "Hooray! The Going Merry is free again!" Usopp jumped fo joy at that scene.
"...Hey Straw-Hat!"
Oh what do they want now!?
The Sexy Foxy had already turned to port, but Foxy wanted to give Luffy one last send off, "I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS!"
"They never give up, do they?" Zoro sweat-dropped at the ship's farewell cry.
"At least they're gone now," Maxwell watched as the Foxy's sailed off into the the Grand Line, "So, what do say we... Hold on, is that my staff?" Maxwell did a double-take when he saw Usopp with a shaft of bamboo on his back.
"Er... no...?"
...
...
...
Usopp then started to run.
"WAAAAAAHHHHH!" "GET BACK HERE YOU LITTLE SHIT! I'LL TURN YOU INTO A TOAD! I'LL FIND THE SPELL, I SWEAR! AND I'LL DO IT WITH MY BARE FISTS TOO!" "ZORO! SAVE ME!"
O O O
Meanwhile, beside a circular tent-hut, an old man was sitting beside his hooorse.
"Shelly..." The hooorse laid on it's side, even with her long neck oriented to look at her master, Tonjit, "Hahaha, don't worry. You waited ten whole years for me. Now it's my turn. I'll keep waiting... until you're healed. Then we'll catch up with the others, together."
Shelly then nuzzled the old man's face, "Hahaha! Okay. Okay...!" But then, Tonjit heard the rustling of grass, "Hm?" It was the Straw-Hat Pirates, "You guys..."
Luffy had led them to the old man's hut after their victory over the Foxy Pirates. Luffy held their flag until until dropped it in front of Tonjit, "We kicked their ass." The flag was for him.
Tonjit observed Luffy, looking up and down, "...You're hurt pretty bad, yourself."
Luffy gave the old man a smile, "Nah... This is nothing."
"...Thank you." And Tonjit meant it as well.
"Shelly, I'll change the bandages," Chopper approached the hooorse having treated her earlier in the day.
"Chopper. May I?" Maxwell also approached the hooorse, careful not to spook her. He wanted to help heal her. Seeing such a beautiful mare in this state was heartbreaking to him. Foxy had apparently shot Shelly to get Luffy's attention for the Davy Back Fight.
You see, old man Tonjit and Shelly had only recently been reunited. Usopp had explained on their way here that Tonjit was part of a nomadic tribe, travelling between islands of the Long Ring Long Land archipelago. He had apparently been stuck on some very looong stilts for ten whole years and was too scared to get down. The tribe had thought he died or disappeared and so went on without him to the next island. Only Shelly and his house had remained behind.
Then Luffy showed up and broke the stilts.
"I see... So this is why you accepted the challenge," Nami observed. Luffy may have told them under Maxwell's duress but seeing it in person made the feeling more worthwhile, "But an idiot like you would've accepted it anyway."
"Hey! Respect your captain!" Luffy retorted to her, though it had no true bite in it.
Nami then looked at Tonjit, "Why don't we take you to your people, on our ship?"
Usopp crossed his arms, "No... these ten islands are actually the same one. The log pose won't point to them individually." He was still up for helping Tonji though.
"No problem. No problem. I'm an easy-going guy. I'm not in a hurry." Tonjit then stood up and started heading towards his hut, "Let's see... These must be your friends! Since you're all here, allow me to treat you with something nice!"
"What do you have? That cheese again?" Luffy started to follow the old man. However just as Tonjit was going to go to the door, he realized something was blocking his path.
...There was a taaall looking man standing in front of of him. He while sleeping while standing though, with a drool from his mouth and a sleeping mask over his eyes.
"Wah! What is that...?" "It's a person!?" "Was he here the whole time?"
"Huh?" The man seemed to twitch, indicating he had woken up, "Who the heck are you!?"
He still had the mask on, "THAT'S WHAT WE WERE ASKING YOU!"
"I thought you were a tree," said Luffy.
Maxwell heard someone collapse behind him, and realized it was Robin. She was looking up at him with such terror, Maxwell didn't even think she was capable of it! She was pale, eyes wide, sweating like she had a fever. Who was this!?
"Robin?" "What's wrong, Robin?"
Then he felt it. Another splitting headache as he felt the giant's aura. It was similar sensation to when they had met Mihawk. Only the vision he saw was that of an ice golem! ...This was no ordinary man!
"My, oh my..." The man had raised the face cover off his eyes, "You sure have grown into a fine young woman... Nico Robin."
Now the crew was nervous. Robin was usually such a calm and collected individual. She held her own on Skypiea, she wasn't afraid of heading into the unknown. But Robin knew man...
"Robin, what's wrong? Do you know this guy!?" Luffy called back to her. She was still paralyzed on the ground, looking up that beanstalk of a man.
"...We met once before..." said the stranger.
Now everyone was on guard, "To terrify Robin to this extent... Who is he!?" Nami wasn't sure what to do. Maxwell had left Shelly to Chopper in order to draw Mineive from his waist. Zoro had his hand on one of his katanas, ready to draw. Sanji looked ready to leap at any moment, while Usopp had his slingshot drawn and loaded.
The man waved his hands in a calming motion, "Whoa, whoa... Chill~ chill~ Little boys shouldn't be so aggressive. It's not like I was ordered to come here. I'm only here for a walk."
Maxwell's eye twitched. What kind of bullshit excuse was that!?
"'Ordered?' Who do you work for!?" demanded Zoro.
Tonjit meanwhile, looked between them all, confused.
"He's a marine..." Robin's body still shook even as she tried to control hereself, "He's an admiral from Marine Headquarters. Admiral... 'Aokiji.'"
"ADMIRAL!?" The whole crew said in shock.
Even Sanji began to shake, realizing the implications, "An... Admiral... as in... the highest ranked fighters of the marines...?"
Robin began to sweat even as she stared at Aokiji, "In the entire marine navy, there are only three people with the title of Admiral. Akainu, the Red Dog. Aokiji, the Blue Pheasant. And Kizeru, the Yellow Monkey. The only one superior to them is Sengoku, the Fleet Admiral. Those three men are crowned as the title 'Greatest Military Powers' by the World Government, and he his one of them!"
Usopp pointed at Aokiji, even as he hid behind Zoro, "WHAT IS SOMEONE LIKE HIM DOING HERE? ...THERE ARE PLENTY OF PIRATES WORTH MORE THAN 100 MILLION! GO GET THEM! JUST LEAVE US ALONE!"
Aokiji then noticed Nami "Oh! What do we have here? Another sexy lady! Are you free tonight?"
...What?
"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!?" "PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT I'M SAYING DAMMIT!"
Aokiji then sighed, trying to placate them again, "I told you kids to chill... You are the ones who should learn to listen." Maxwell eyebrow began to twitch some more, "I told you I am only here for a walk. No need for such hostility. What I'm trying to say is that you guys are..." Aokiji trails off, then starts rubbing his head, "...Eh, I forgot. Oh well."
"YOU'RE NOT MAKING ANY SENSE!" yell Sanji and Usopp.
Usopp then turned to their frightened archeologist, "Are you sure you're not mistaken, Robin? There's no way that someone like him could be an admiral of the Navy!"
"Hey. Hey. Don't judge a person by their appearance." Aokiji lightly protested, "I always uphold the model of 'Uptight with Absolute Justice.'"
"I CAN SEE THAT!" They did not believe that for one moment.
"Oh well... My legs are tired from standing. Time to rest..." Aokiji then modded the jacket he was holding into a makeshift pillow.
Usopp sweat-dropped, "Then why were you sleeping while standing?"
Aokiji laid on his side, getting comfortable in front of Tonjit's house, "Anyways, I don't intend to arrest you... so chil~ I'm only here to confirm the whereabouts of Nico Robin after the Alabasta incident... I thought she would be with you."
"You found her," Maxwell stepped forward and in front of Robin. He wasn't buying the whole aloof passerby attitude, "Now leave."
Aokiji looked up at Maxwell when he realized he had spoken, "Ah... The only other adult of your crew... For what it's worth, I'm sorry your bounty turned out so low."
"My bounty is a little less then when Luffy started out. Yet, here we are... Now leave."
"...Hey, hey, Max! What are you doing?" Both Usopp and Sanji looked at their friend nervously. They were concerned how confrontational was becoming.
"I'm only going to report the discovery. It's just so they can recalculate the bounty for your—"
*CRACK!*
Aokiji paused when a lightning bolt suddenly struck the ground beside him. He hadn't flinched, but he realized the usual calm and aloof manor wasn't going to fool this one.
The Straw-Hats all sucked in their breath when they realized what Maxwell had done. The mage just provoked an Admiral. He was making it clear that Aokiji was unwelcome here. Zoro just grimaced, Sanji looked shocked, and Usopp was terrified, looking ready to run. Nami had her hands over her mouth, and Chopper was looking between the two scared of what was about to happen. Robin... Robin just looked at Maxwell like he had signed his own death warrant.
Maxwell knew full well what he was doing. Stupid though it might be, he knew this was going to end in a fight sooner or later. This mage had enough encounters with the Templars in the wild to know that ignoring each other was just going to end badly.
Neither could just ignore the news of the other. Templars wouldn't stop. They would ravage any holdings, looking for evidence of magic. And mages knew they would come for them. Maxwell had encountered a few apostates who resorted to blood magic. Innocents would be caught up in their war. They were mortal enemies. Why would it be any different between pirates and the Navy?
Only Luffy was unafraid of the admiral. He actually walked up beside Maxwell to look at Aokiji, "Leave. You are not welcome here!"
Aokiji sighed as he propped up his head, "...Okay. Okay. I'll leave... But I overheard something while I was napping... You."
"Hm?" Tonjit had been staring wide-eyed until the admiral had pointed at him.
"I wasn't in a deep sleep so I heard what you said. Pack up and get ready to move."
"No. Don't—!" Maxwell immediately covered Luffy's mouth with his hand.
"Luffy... Remember. We are the bad guys in this situation...!" Maxwell stared at him hard. Maxwell might've been prepping for a fight, but he was by no means going to be stupid about it. If this resolved peacefully, that was a good thing. However, this man was part of the upper echelon of the Navy. Maxwell doubted Aokiji was just going to let his threat pass without some response.
"...Oh, right~" Luffy nods his head, "So he wants to help the old guy!"
Maxwell looked like he was about to have an aneurism, "Luffy...!"
Aokiji seemed to ignore their conversation, "Basically you want to catch up to the people who moved when you were stuck here, right?" Aokiji asked Tonjit, "You plan to rush to the third island after this one, and that you need to wait until low tide to ride your horse across. But that horse's leg is wounded. Correct?"
Tonjit was too stunned to respond, so Usopp answered for him, "Y-Yeah... And that is why moving is impossible right now."
"It'll be fine," Aokiji waved him off.
"...That doesn't sound very convincing at all..." Usopp's knees were still knocking being around the admiral.
"It's true..." All the crew looked back at Robin who had stopped shaking, "With his help, it's possible."
Somehow, Maxwell felt a pit form in his stomach when Robin said those words.