I hope you all are enjoying the story thus far! I would gladly appreciate your thoughts and reviews! Thanks!
-yesiamweird
After Kimi was pulled out from the water with the help of Sanji (and not from her partner in the boat races, Ussopp!) the woman un-did her hair from its bun and ran out the water swollen inside of it. "Oi Ussopp! You know Kimi-san can't swim! What the hell were you doing letting her drown?" Sanji repeatedly kicked the long-nosed man.
Kimi coughed and smiled, "I'm fine, Sanji-san…really!" She twirled her hair back into a bun and then eyed the mysterious Captain Foxy carefully as he laughed at the group. "You, girl…you can't even swim. You are useless to your crew!" He continued to laugh.
"Oi! Don't say bad things about-"
"Enough Sanji-san…" Kimi smiled. Foxy obviously didn't realize she had the power of the Devil's Fruit in her blood. Despite Ussopp's constant remarks for her to reveal her ability, Kimi had just smiled wanting to keep her secret from the opposing pirate crew just in case…
"Tell us how you made Nami and Robin's boat slow down?" Luffy demanded at the weird man.
He continued to laugh and then demonstrated the power of his Devil Fruit ability, the Noro Noro beam, which made everything in the beam's path slow down for thirty seconds. He used the beam to slow Robin and Nami just before they crossed the finish line and won the race.
In return for the Foxy pirates winning the first round of the Davy Beck Fight, they had picked Chopper from the Strawhats to join their crew. Kimi practically feel to her knees when she heard Foxy call Chopper's name. He was, after all, the closest friend she had on in the crew after being on the ship for only about two weeks.
"Oh no, Chopper was supposed to be in the next round with Zoro and Sanji-kun!" Nami cried as the match moved forwards.
The announcer of the games flew over top of the Groggy ring, the next game to be played, and spoke "This just in! Because the Strawhats have lost a member that was supposed to be in the second fight, our beloved Captain Foxy is being generous and allowing another Strawhat to join the two gentlemen." He screamed throughout the arena.
"Another one of us?" Nami looked around at the remaining crew and gasped terrified. "Please don't be me!" She crossed her fingers.
Kimi stood with her arms crossed as she watched Zoro and Sanji walk towards the open area of grass the next game was to be played in. "Those two are going to need a miracle to get along…" Ussopp sighed and then turned as Foxy walked up to the remaining five Strawhats and then smiled.
"You!" He pointed devilishly towards the blue haired girl. "Join them if you want your crew to have a fighting chance!"
Kimi blinked through her solid rimmed glasses and looked behind her shoulder at the two men stopped in their tracks. "Alright then." She calmly nodded and walked to the field.
"The rules of this game are simple…" The announcer continued on but the three players seemed to already know the rules as they talked through his explanation.
"Kimi-san, you must stay back and be protected by your prince!" Sanji hugged Kimi's waist with a heart in his eye as usual. "I have risked the Ordeal of Love for you before and I will do it once more."
The scientist smiled and pushed the cook off of her body, "I'm fine Sanji-san…plus I don't think Foxy realizes something…" She started to continue walking in front of the boys.
"And what would that be?" Zoro wondered. Kimi looked over her shoulder, "They do not know the power the Devil himself has granted me…" A black aurora surrounded the woman while fangs seemed to sprout from her teeth. "Oi, she's scarier than Nami!" Zoro muttered making Sanji growl.
"This should be fun!" She smiled innocently as the aurora faded and continued to listen to the rest of the rules. "One of players must be the ball, so who's it going to be?" a ref from Foxy's crew asked. Zoro simply pointed his finger at the blonde cook behind him and the ref placed a hat with a red and white ball on the top of his head.
"What! You have to be the ball you Marimo bastard!" Sanji yelled back.
"Hell no! You're the stupid one, so you're the ball!" Zoro threatened.
Kimi sighed and walked over to the boys smiling, "I can be the ball. I don't mind." She watched as the two men's faces looked stunned. "No way!" Zoro pulled the ball back onto the cooks head.
Suddenly their opponents walked onto the field and Kimi had to take a step back to even see the monstrous creatures they were about to face. "Is this even permitted?" Kimi wondered. "Too bad I don't have my notebook, I'm sure I would have-"
"Oi, oi, oi, Kimiko, could you pretend to not be so smart for an hour?" Zoro groaned causing Sanji to kick him across the face at his rudeness towards the girl.
"Oh, I'm sorry…Am I annoying?" She frowned.
"The three of our fabulous Foxy pirates will be fighting the violent cook, Sanji, a man worth 60 million berri, Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro, and a weak innocent girl, Tomoko Kimiko."
"I prefer to be called first class cook, AND KIMI-SAN IS NOT WEAK!" Sanji stood up for the blue haired girl while the announcer taunted her. Zoro eyed Kimi silently watching intently as her face went from innocent to planning out a strategy. "What are you thinking?" He asked.
Kimi grinned and then looked back at the three giants, "I'm thinking they are about to have one killer of a game…I think we need to get into position though to start." She nodded to the two.
"Oi ballman, get into position!" the infamous pirate hunter demanded.
"Hey, I have not agreed to be this ballman!"
Kimi sighed, "I told you, I can be the-"
"NO!" both boys yelled and then ignored the girl. "Whoa, that ball looks good on you!" Zoro attempted to convince the cook. "That's not going to fool me, dumbass!" Sanji yelled back. "Oh, Sanji-san!" Kimi smiled placing and innocent hand on his shoulder and then walked behind him and Zoro, "That ball looks great on you!"
Sanji held both his hands in the air after Kimi's comment, "I'LL BE THE BALLMAN! No one is more worthy than me!"
"Oh yea you do look good, you look like the prince …of Dumbass Kingdom." Zoro replied causing the young scientist to sweat drop as the tense duo continued on with their ever going fight. She looked up at the three giants laughing as the two fought.
"They are never going to win."
"No! We have this match in the bag!"
"Heh, heh, heh!"
Kimi picked up two small rocks from off of the ground and threw them at the fighting men, "Come come! Let's start this game already!" She declared and the two nodded.
"Oi! No weapons allowed! You must take off your katana, swordsman!" the ref called out.
Kimi panicked for a moment not knowing how Zoro would react or how their game would be won without the use of his weapons. "Okay, minor setback, but we can do this…" She sighed to herself. As she finished giving herself a pep talk silently in her head, she opened her eyes and frowned as the two continued to fight once again, this time without Zoro's swords. "Oh please…give me strength…" Kimi cried.
"Sanji has entered into his opponents ring and is waiting patiently as the Groggy trio entertain themselves as usual!" The announcer declared.
Kimi took a deep breath as she and Zoro remained in their ring starting to feel nervous as she watched the many faces booing her. No matter how many times she told herself she would be okay with Zoro and Sanji by her side, the Foxy crew had cheated dangerously in the first match…who's to say they wouldn't do it once again in this match?
"So to win all I have to do is knock that thing's big head into the ring?" Zoro asked the girl as he stretched out his legs. Kimi looked down adjusting her glasses at the green haired man, "Um, correct. But be careful, I wouldn't doubt that these three have a few tricks up their sleeves…"
Suddenly the whistle blew indicating the match had begun. Not wanting to reveal her devil fruit power to the crowd right away, she stood standing straight while Sanji moved in to attack Big Pan, the opposing ballman. However, he or the others hadn't expected for Sanji to slip on the giant's slippery skin causing a huge set back in his attack.
"What is he doing?" Kimi wondered releasing her arms from her crossed position.
"Of course! Crap cook!" Zoro muttered and then the two gasped as Sanji had been hit and then sent flying in the air. Just then, Pickles, the middle-size of the three giants, ran pass Kimi and Zoro towards their ball ring at the end of their territory. "No! They are trying to end the match already!" the swordsman ran while Kimi remained to stay standing straight.
"What is the girl doing? She can't help her teammates by standing there! She must be frightened!" The announcer taunted Kimi once more. "Kimiko! Kick their asses!" Luffy shouted from the side lines.
The girl looked up from her dazed thought and giggled, "Don't worry captain! I will!" She turned her back and watched in regret as Zoro had been thrown into a whirlwind Pickles had managed to make and then thrown in front of Kimi's feet. She turned her attention back to Pickles as he managed to hit Sanji in the same whirlwind thus causing the ballman of the Strawhats to be thrown in the air.
"Kimi! Do something!" Luffy and Ussopp continued to cry while she continued to stand straight watching the men work their magic as she expected. The two had gotten a hold onto Pickles and Hamburger and using both of their strength they threw the two into each other.
Sanji had landed from the air in front of Kimi while Zoro landed next to the girl. "Oi! What are you doing just standing there!" The swordsman stood up sweating profusely after thinking they were about to lose the match.
"Don't worry, Sanji-san," Kimi giggled adjusting her glasses and then removed them from her face. "I wouldn't have let them throw you into the goal." She winked, "I figured you two had it under control and I didn't want to get in the way." She nodded while the two agreed.
"I don't need your help, marimo!"
"You were being thrown into the air, crap cook! At least I don't have a curly eyelash!"
"Maybe you should just shut up and do as Kimi-chan and I say! You green dumbass!"
Kimi rolled her eyes and turned to face their opposing ballman, 'If I can use my clone fruit to pull him into the ring then we would be finished in a heartbeat.' She nodded and raised her gloved hands in front of her body ready to reveal her Devil fruit ability while the men of their team bickered. Instead, Big Pan had raised his foot in the air underneath Kimi and the boys.
"Look out!" She cried pushing them to the side and running back avoiding the attack.
"Kimi-chan!" Sanji cried and then yelled as he and the others avoided the stomps from Big Pan.
"Seriously? They are so cheating!" Kimi cried looking over her shoulder at the spikes on the bottoms of the monstrous giant's shoes. She and the others ran away from the stomps Big Pan was making in the hopes of stepping on the three Strawhat pirates.
"Oi ref! He has weapons!" Sanji yelled out and then ran from Kimi and Zoro trying to understand the rules of the game. "I told you they had a few tricks thrown in this!" Kimi panted as she and Zoro were being chased.
"Run over there, Kimi, see which one he chases, then whichever one he leaves alone will help the one he is trying to step on!" Zoro nodded to the girl. "Okay!" they split apart and as Kimi and he figured, Big Pan had been trying to attack the infamous swordsman.
Kimi looked back taking a defensive stance as she watched Zoro try to outrun the giant. She hadn't been expecting Sanji to run into Zoro's path, however, causing saving for the two men. She sighed and raised her hands to their triangle position to create a few clones to trip the giant. "Clone, clone, 10!" Kimi spoke without feeling and her clones secretively made a wall causing Big Pan to trip over the clones. They disappeared as the giant fell on top of the doppelgangers.
"Big Pan has tripped? But how?" The announcer and the rest of the Foxy pirates had been stunned and hadn't seen Kimi's power. "Perfect!" She smiled to herself but then gasped as her two male partners had been running forwards trying to take down the giant and were now caught on his slippery back. "Loach Racing Circus!" Big Pan screamed and then curled his back making Zoro and Sanji rotate in a repetitive circle.
"Dang it!" Kimi muttered not anticipating the attack and quickly she tried to think of a way to use her clones to stop the giant from keeping her friends captive. "And look! Pickles and Hamburg have returned to the field with some updated equipment! Surely this is against the rules but look! The ref is facing the other way while stretching!"
Kimi looked behind her and growled at the sight of the other opposing team members with their deadly weapons. "This is so not fair!" She growled.
"Loach coaster!" Big Pan pulled Kimi from out of her racing thoughts and towards the two men being launched into the air as Big Pan pulled away from his circular position.
"Here goes nothing!" Kimi shook her head and placed her hands into position once more. "CLONE, CLONE, 100!" She screamed and a 100 of her clones filled the field not allowing Pickles and Hamburg to hurt her friends.
"What is this! The girl we thought was weak is actually a Devil Fruit user! She must have some sort of doppelganger ability because there are about a hundred of her copies storming the field!"
"Yay, Kimi!"
"You go Kimiko!" the Strawhats on the sidelines cheered.
"It won't matter! Let's go!" Hamburg chuckled and the two giants ran towards the clones. "Spinning tackle!" Hamburg yelled and jumped on the green clothes giant as he spun around causing a few clones to disappear from the attack.
"No!" Kimi thought as she watched her clones being hit by the attack. "Zoro! Sanji!" She cried trying to get the attention of the men but it was no use, they were completely dizzy that they had been un-responsive. She watched as Hamburg had been thrown into the air and heading towards-
"It looks like these two aren't even going after the ballman! They're attacking the swordsman, Roronoa!" The announcer confirmed.
"Hurry!" Kimi ran to a group of her clones, "Clone, Clone, bullet!" She cried as her clones threw her into the air in the hopes of blocking Hamburg's attack. "I don't think so!" She yelled catching the attacking Foxy pirate off guard. "Wha?" He dumbly questioned and then cried as Kimi kicked Zoro away in midair. "Hey! You stopped my attack!" He growled and then raised his spiked arms. "HAMBURGER HAMMER!"
Kimi felt the weight of the world being thrown against her front and then in an instant the same force on her back. She could feel the aches instantly build up in her muscles and blood gushed into her mouth running out from the sides of her lips.
"Kimi!"
She couldn't move, nothing in her body would respond to her commands she signaled from her head. The only thing she could do was open her eyes and attempt to breathe.
"The woman has blocked the attack from the swordsman, but it looks like Hamburg is not finished!" The announcer revealed to Kimi the plot of the Foxy pirates. "Big Pan is right behind him and like an arrow he is aiming him for the swordsman once again! With the girl out and not being able to clone herself to protect the teammates, can Roronoa move out of the way in time?"
Kimi felt the ground shake underneath her and the crowd to scream and gasp.
"Ohhhhhhh! A direct hit! Obviously the Groggy Ring has no penalties for killing another player! But it looks like the Foxy team is continuing their relentless attacks!" The blue-haired girl felt the ground shake once more this time closer to where her body had been motionless.
She closed her eyes as the dirt clouded the area surrounding her and the other two and then felt a breeze coming from the left and the right of the top of her head. "The Strawhat team is not getting up and the Foxy team is surrounding them to ensure their victory! All they must do is dunk the Ballman into the ring and the second match is a victory!"
Kimi took a gulp of spit and blood and raised her shaking arms in the air. "Clone, clone…" She whispered and then felt two of her friendly clones help her up. "Sanji-san, Zoro…" She looked into the crowd as the surrounding Foxy pirates cheered for their 'victors'.
"Get up…" Her two clones helped the men to sit up.
"Oi, cook…we work together for ten seconds."
"I'll agree…to that much…" Sanji whispered and then the two stood to their feet standing on each side of the one-year older woman.
"The Strawhat team has stood up! What fearsome endurance they must possess!" The announcer cheered for the underdogs. "But do these three have enough strength to endure?"
Kimi looked up at the three monsters smiling evilly at her and her Nakama. "Do you think that you can beat me this easily?" She growled out at the three giants staring at her while she cracked her knuckles and her neck. "I'm just getting started." She smirked evilly, "Clone clone, 100!" and a hundred clones of her surrounded the playing field. They fought and distracted the giants while the real Kimi turned to face the two men. "I have an idea…Sanji-san, I need you to take out Hamburg and Zoro take Pickles. I've got Big Pan." She smiled looking back at her clones fighting off the monsters distracting them from their planning.
"Once those two are out I'll get the big one into position, follow my lead from there!" She turned facing their opposing team and stood there watching as Zoro and Sanji ran into their positions. She had fire glowing in her eyes at this point, so focused on beating them that she would stop at nothing to see them fall.
As the two took out their targets, Big Pan fell into position with the use of Kimi's attacking clones. "Zoro!" Kimi ran at full speed to the man and then ran along side of him as the two chased towards Sanji, who had just kicked Pickles into the ref (as a payback). "Sanji! Kick us up!" Kimi nodded and he did just that.
Kimi and Zoro flew through the air and just as they began to fall, Kimi used her fruit ability, along with strength, to clone and push Zoro higher into the air. "Hurry! Clone Clone, ally!" Due to Kimi's positioning of Big Pan, Zoro and his clones simply pulled his mouth down to the ground and then landed the ball on top of the monster's head into the ring winning the match.
Kimi smiled as she fell back down to the ground, distracted from the victory of the crew. "Oi, Kimi-san!" She felt her body fall into strong arms and sighed at the relieve of victory. "Are you alright? We did it! We won! Now a victory kiss?" The cook pouted his lips but Kimi simply pushed away from the man and then looked back at the rest of her crew on the sidelines.
As the match whistle sounded concluding the victory of the Strawhats and what everyone assumed to be the return of Chopper in their crew actually became the return for a horse of an old man Luffy and the others had met while they had been exploring the island earlier. Kimi giggled at the insanity of her captain but shrugged it off as the man thanked Luffy and the crew for the return of his beloved horse.
"Oh, your friends don't look too good." The man pointed to the bleeding Kimi, Zoro and Sanji. "Do they need a doctor? I saw a booth in that crowd."
Kimi placed her glasses back onto her face. "No, I figured I'd ask Chopper to-"
"No! You cannot visit with Chopper because he is a part of my crew!" Foxy pointed at the woman making her frown. "If you need a doctor there is one out by the fields in one of the booths." He crossed his arms smiling devilishly making Kimi believe there had been another trick up his sleeve. "You'll have time to get fixed up before you watch your friends lose the next round."
"Oh, but Kimi was-" Nami started to say looking at the blue-haired woman. "Yes she was supposed to be in the next match but because I so generously moved her position…causing you all to win…she can't be in the final round."
Kimi frowned and then turned her back heading towards the carnival booths. If she could make it back in time to see her friends for the next round, then she was sure to take a visit. "Hey wait, do you need help getting there?" Ussopp called out to her.
Kimi shook her head no and continued to head away from the crew in the direction of the market area that had been set up for the fight. She tried to deepen her short breath indicating the possible feeling of a panic attack writhing inside of her chest. She was used to these types of attacks, but this had been heightened with the battle from earlier and would need to be treated right away.
Unknowing to her, Zoro followed a few paces or so behind Kimi. He too was not feeling up to par and if they had to fight cheaters like they had been doing in the fights before, he needed his strength up, even if he wasn't in the next round.
Shortly after walking through the tents, Kimi found the so-called doctor sitting outside of a trailer while smoking a cigar and drinking from out of a whiskey bottle. "Excuse me," Kimi panted holding herself up as best as she could "Is this the doctor's-"
"Yup! This is the place! Come inside pretty lady." The ugly rugged old man sat up from his chair and lead Kimi in the trailer.
"Please…" she started to beg for the pain to be relieved from her body not expecting the man to close the door behind her. "I have a…" but as she spoke, the doctor ran behind her, grabbed both of her arms and pushed her against the wall. Kimi screamed but only for a moment because the doctor covered her mouth with his nasty smelly hand.
"Don't be worried pretty lady; the doctor will take care of you." He smirked closing in on her. Using all of Kimi's strength she lifted her knee up and kicked him in the groin. He yelped only for a second and then using his hand that had covered her mouth he started to strangle her.
"Why you little!" He screamed but then was cut off by a noise Kimi didn't often hear, the sound of bone cracking. She fell to the ground panting uncontrollably.
Zoro noticed the man's look and his actions. Why would a doctor smoke or drink profusely? He noticed that there had been many ale bottles lying around the surrounding area where the doctor sat. Just then he heard a scream from inside the trailer.
Without another thought, Zoro kicked opened the door but stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of his Nakama. Kimi had been up against the wall with this so called doctor holding her hands above her head and his hand covering his mouth. For a second all Zoro saw was red; red and the burning feeling of anger.
At that moment, Kimi lifted her knee up and hit the man in the crotch admitting to the unknown Zoro she wasn't totally hopeless. But enough was enough.
The man recovered from Kimi's attack and started to strangle her. Zoro took out his sword and doing the only thing he could think of was to hit the man's head with the back of his sword.
The doctor dropped Kimi and she fell to the floor with a hard thud. But his focus wasn't on the woman; instead it was on the scum of a man called a doctor. He reached over picking the scared man up by the collar of his shirt. "Get the HELL out of here!" He growled and threw the man out of the door making him scurry with his tail in-between his legs.
Turning his attention back at the injuried woman Zoro kneeled down as she gasped looking up at him. "Zoro? What are-?" She panted but then gasped clutching her stomach. The swordsman sighed and then effortlessly picked her into his arms and then carried her onto one of countertops. "Kimi? You okay?" He asked holding her close to him. She gasped with a somewhat surprised face and then nodded. "Yea, I...just get panic attacks. The fight before and then…that increased it…that's all." She gasped once again. "Sorry about that."
"You just have to get stronger…you are a pirate now." He placed a hand on her shoulder causing her to tense even more. 'Something is not normal. She is going about as if she shouldn't be hurt…or that I shouldn't be concerned.' The man thought and then looked around for some type of medicine. "Oi, what type of medicine do you need?" He looked around. This couldn't have been a doctor's office, there were no medicines or kits anywhere to be found.
Kimi sighed controlling and getting her breathing back to normal. "I just need bandages for the cuts, you need them as well." She nodded.
"But what about-"
"My panic attacks really are a mental thing. The only way I've known how to stop them is by relaxing my mind. Like…meditation or something." Zoro looked back smirking at the woman. At least someone in his crew understood the meaning of a good session of meditation. "Here." He threw the bandages at her and she caught them carefully unwrapping the fabric and then wrapping it around her own body to clot the bleeding. "Here." She handed him the roll and then hopped down from the countertop. "That Foxy has another thing or two coming for him…" She took her glasses from off of her face and cleaned the lenses.
Zoro nodded crossing his arms. "We should probably head back before the others start." He walked forwards to the entrance.
"Zoro?"
The man turned back to face his Nakama, "I'm not used to people looking out for me in the past but…" She smiled sincerely while she crossed her arms behind her back. "Thank you."
"Get used to it. We are all Nakama and we protect and fight for each other." He nodded opening the door.
Kimi walked along side of the swordsman as they made their way to the third and final match. "Speaking of, we need to get back our furry little Nakama." She smiled even bigger at the green-haired man. Beyond that smiled Zoro could see a world of pain hidden deep within Kimi's mind. Whatever hurt her in the past was sure to come out one of these days…but this was not the day to question. Zoro nodded and continued to walk along side of the woman to the rest of their crew ready to play the Davy Back Fight once more.