A.n I own Nothing.

Alright here we are the Foxy Pirates Arc...yay. I have to be honest, I personally did not like this arc very much and for the longest time I thought it was filler and the G8 arc was cannon. This is not only because the G8 arc was so good and brilliantly well written, the anime version of the Foxy Pirets was a bit all over the place and most of the anime on this arc was in fact filler...hell the whole arc felt like filler.

The story, characters and even a majority of the Davy Back Fights in the anime were all filler, so having seen the anime and read the manga of this Arc I have decided to go with the Manga version. The Davy Back Fights will follow the rules and the events in the Manga only. So only the Boat Race, the Groggy Ring and the Captains fight will be appearing in this arc, The results will also be the same as they were in the manga.

That being said the Foxy Pirates arc did foreshadow certain events and introduce elements that would play a major role in the coming arcs, particularly those revolving around Robin. I have tired to introduce some of these elements subtly over this and the last few chapters; focusing on Usopps reluctance to fight and Robin attempting to build a relationship with the crew.

I hope I have been able to do that successfully, if not let me know and I will work on it.

As always Please Review


The Merry flew through the air, having escaped from Narvoe. The Crew had enjoyed the scenery after taking off, Usopp wanted to begin repairs on the Ship as possible as he was not sure how long they would be in the air for and once they hit the ocean surface the Merry would sink.

Since it was dark he and Chopper started reaping the inside of the ship first and once that was done he moved to the outside using his grappling hook and Robin used her powers to hold a lantern so the sniper could see what he was doing.

Once he was done the straw hats went to bed, they got up early the next morning to watch the sun rise in the air and it was a beautiful and breathtaking sight. Nami also informed them that they were still off course but she was confidant once they landed they would be able to get back on course.

Since there was not much to do on the ship as the repairs had been done and the crew could not do much until they landed again Robin decided now would be a good time to start Connors education, she pulled Sanji into the kitchen to talk to him as she knew the cook wanted to also teach Connor his trade.

"Sanji since there is not much to do on the ship today I was going to start teaching Connor," Robin said.

"That's a good idea," Sanji agreed.

"Yes I know you also want to teach him how to cook as well," Robin said.

Sanji nodded.

"Yeah cooking's a useful skill and as much as I hate to think about it but….if anything happens to us Connor will stand a better chance if he knows how to cook," Sanji said.

"I agree, however I was wondering where you were planning on starting," Robin said "he can't read and I don't think he even understands numbers either,"

"I know…I was just going to have do minor things…like cut up vegies or peel potatoes," Sanji said "he already knows how to use a sword so he shouldn't have too much trouble with that,"

"That is very basic, don't you think?" Robin asked.

"The basics are the best place to start," Sanji claimed "I suppose I could teach him how to make tea and coffee as well,"

"How were you planning to teach him?" Robin asked.

"I was just going to have him peel things for me and help me closer to dinner," Sanji said "He can learn a lot by just watching,"

"I see….." Robin said thoughtfully.

"Look why don't I keep him on minor kitchen jobs until his reading improves. Once it dose and he has a better undersetting of numbers then i can give him some cooking books to study and I can start teaching him how to make things," Sanji suggested.

"I think that would be best, though I do request that you include kitchen safety as well," Robin said "We don't need him burning down the ship,"

"Don't worry, Connor won't be doing any actual cooking until I am satisfied he knows all the rules of Kitchen safety," Sanji assured.

"Good, then I had better get started," Robin said.

She walked towards the door, however before she opened it she turned back to look at the cook.

"By the way, can we use the kitchen to do our work?" Robin asked "It has a table after all,"

"Sure, I'll make sure the others don't come in," Sanji said.

Robin nodded, she walked out and headed straight to the cabin passing the rest of the crew who were still enjoying the fact that they were flying. In the cabin robin walked over to where she had stashed the early learning books and grabbed an ABC book, a Counting with numbers book and the chalk board with some chalk.

She then headed back to the kitchen and set up. Before going out on deck.

"Connor come can you help me with something in the kitchen?" Robin asked.

"Um….sure," Connor responded. He really wanted to stay out on the deck but if Robin needed his help he would not refuse her.

"Huh….you need help with something Robin?" Usopp asked "Chopper and I can help,"

"No thank you, Connor will be enough," Robin said.

Connor walked over to Robin and she took the boy with her into the kitchen, as they went in Sanji came out and shut the door.

"Hey none of you idiots are to go in there until they come out," Sanji declared.

"What? But what if I get hungry?" Luffy asked.

"Then you can wait till Lunch like a normal person," Sanji scolded.

"When will they come out?" Chopper asked.

"Who knows they could be in there the whole day," Sanji sighed.

"What could that woman possibly need the kid for the whole day for?" Zoro asked.

"She's starting to teach Connor how to read," Sanji said "Since it's his first lesson it will probably take a while,"

The crew started at the cook and they all understood.

"Okay we won't go in the kitchen today," Nami said.

"I'm also going to start teaching him how to cook as well," Sanji claimed.

"Okay I won't ask for food today," Luffy said.

"I'm sure Robin will want Connor to have a break or something during the day, when that happens I can whip up some snacks to tide everyone over," Sanji claimed.

The crew nodded befreoe breaking up and started to do there own things, though most of them returned to watching the view as they were still flying….Zoro sat down and fell asleep.


In the kitchen

Robin was standing in front of the chalk board trying to explain the alphabet to Connor.

"Alright let's begin, do you remember last time I explained the Alphabet to you?" Robin asked.

"Yes," Connor answered.

"Good," Robin responded and she wrote the alphabet on the chalkboard.

"Now all words are a made up of a combination of letters from the Alphabet," Robin said "there are 26 letters in total. On their own they are nothing but letters, but put them tighter in a certain way,"

Robin turned wrote her name on the chalk board.

"And they become a word," Robin claimed.

Connor looked at the board in confusion; he did not understand the word that Robin had written.

"But….I don't know what word you wrote," Connor said.

"the first part of learning how to read or write is learning to understand and recognise all the letters in the alphabet, once you do that it is a matter of learning witch letters make out which word," Robin explained "that is called Spelling,"

"They all just look like strange lines and scribbles to me," Connor said quietly.

"I know, it's like that for everyone, fortunately I have a picture book that will help," Robin said.

He picked up the ABC book and walked over and sat next to Connor, she opened the book to page with the letter H on it and there was a picture of a house.

"This book will break down each letter and has an easily recognisable picture starting with each letter, it will help you learn and remember the alphabet," Robin said.

"But…I can't read," Connor said.

"There is no need for any reading, you just look at the picture associated with each letter," Robin assured "let's go through it together,"

Robin sat with Connor as he looked through the ABC picture book, so far the lesion was going a lot smoother than the one she had tried to give him right before there adventure in Rainbow Mist; this was not only due to the aid of a picture book but also the fact that no Marines were attacking at them.

Every now and then Connor would look over at the door fearfully that one of the crew was going to come in and catch Robin trying to teach him something he shouldn't be learning. Just like Robin suspected Connor was able to recognise several of the pictures in the book, like the Bird on the page for B and the Egg on the page for E.

Robin kept the lesson going until Sanji knocked on the door and asked if he could start preparing lunch, Connor looked towards the door in fear upon hearing Sanji was outside and coming in. Robin seeing Connors fear agreed to take a break and packed away everything she had brought in and hid the books and chalk board, once everything was hidden away Robin let Sanji in and she and Connor walked out to leave the cook to do his work.

Once they were on deck Connor was about to go and join Luffy and Usopp in whatever the two were doing but Robin stopped him.

"Connor, after lunch we'll start on numbers," Robin said.

"Numbers?" Connor asked in confusion "what about the letters?"

"I think we've done enough of that today," Robin said.

"But I still don't know them...or recognise them," Connor said worriedly.

He was afraid that because he had not been able to understand the alphabet on the first try Robin would not want to teach him anymore.

"Connor you're not going to be able to read after your first lesson, it takes time. Numbers are equally important as letters and only once you learn both will you be able to read," Robin said gently.

"What about writing...you're going to teach me that too right?" Connor asked.

"Yes but you need to be able to read first, once you can read and I am satisfied with your reading level we can start on writing," Robin said.

"Will it be harder than reading?" Connor asked.

"In some ways yes, but learning to read is the first step," Robin said "and there is no rush, you will pick both reading and writing up in time,"

"Okay," Connor said understanding.

"D...Do you really think I can do it through?" Connor asked "Read I mean,"

"Of course you can and once you do you will be able to understand the world a lot better and new experiences will be open to you," Robin said with a smile "now go play and we'll start on numbers after lunch,"

Connor nodded and ran off to join Luffy and Usopp in whatever game they were playing. After everyone had finished lunch and Sanji had washed up and put the dishes away Robin and Connor were back in the kitchen again only this time Connor was leaning numbers. Like before Robin explained their importance and had provided a picture book for him to look at.

Robin went through the book with Connor and Connor was very relieved that he only needed to learn ten numbers 0-9. Despite there being significantly less numbers to learn than the alphabet Connor still found it hard as the pictures in the number book were not as helpful as the pictures in the alphabet book.

After another few hours Connor was just starting to understand Numbers when Sanji knocked on the door and informed them that he needed to start preparing for dinner. Like at lunch Robin packed away the chalkboard and the books before letting the cook in.

"Whoa...where are you going?" Sanji asked as he grabbed Connors hood as the boy tried to leave.

"Outside with the others," Connor said "while you cook,"

"Not tonight you're not, your helping me," Sanji said.

Connor froze and looked up at Sanji in fear.

"W...What?" he asked.

"Yep, I've decided I'm going to teach you how to cook," Sanji said "starting from now you will help me prepare dinner every night,"

Connor looked at Robin for help, however the archaeologist merely smiled.

"Have fun boys," she said and walked out leaving Connor with Sanji.

"Right let's get started," Sanji said as he took off his jacked and rolled up his sleeves.

"First things first, take off your hoodie and wash your hands in warm soapy water," Sanji instructed "this has to be done every time before you even think about touching food,"

Connor gulped in fear but did what he was told none the less, he had had his own very bad experience with cooking and the last time he tried it he had failed and had been severally punished for it and he had no desire to repeat that experience. Connors first cooking lesson was not as bad as he thought, Sanji showed him how to peel vegetables and cut them up, before having him watch as the cook went through a step by step process on what he was doing.

Later after dinner the while everyone was still up and after Connor had been sent to bed the crew gathered around the table at talk about Connors first lessons.

"Hey, how did it go?" Nami asked.

"He has a very long way to go," Robin said.

"But he'll learn, right?" Luffy asked.

Robin nodded.

"Yes it will take time but he will learn," Robin agreed.

"So will you need the kitchen all day tomorrow?" Sanji asked.

"No, once we land I will only spend a few hours a day with him...After breakfast until lunch should do," Robin said.

"But that's only about three or four hours," Chopper pointed out "Is that enough time?"

"No, I would most certainly like more time with him however he was very agitated after the first two hours. It was like he was waiting for one of you to come in,"

"Not surprising, he told us its taboo for slaves to learn how to read," Sanji claimed.

"Speaking of...how did the cooking lesson go?" Robin asked.

"Let me put it this way...you know those chips we had for dinner?" Sanji asked.

"Yeah they were great," Luffy said happily.

"They were from Connor's attempt at peeling the potatoes," Sanji claimed.

"Really?" Zoro asked.

"Yeah, his peels were chunky and only a small amount of potato was left afterwards. It was really just scraps and a small mouthful, hardly usable at all; I just fired them up," Sanji claimed "and don't get me started on what he did to the carrots,"

"What exactly did you have him do?" Nami asked.

"Nothing much, just peel vegetables and finally chop them and the herbs," Sanji said "I also had him watch me make a few things,"

"You use a knife to peel vegetables right, maybe I can teach him some control in sword practice," Zoro offered "after all i knife is still a blade,"

"It might help what would you use?" Sanji asked.

"Well every has trees, the next island we land on I'll cut a branch or two and he can use the stumps as practice," Zoro said.

"How will that help?" Nami asked.

"I'll make him use his sword to peel off the thin layer of bark, leaving the wood intact," Zoro said "it will be like your vegetables...only bigger,"

"That...could actuality work," Sanji agreed.

"Plus it will be good precision training and more precise blade control," Zoro added.

"Alright, in the mean time I will just have Connor cut things like meat and vegies," Sanji said.


The next day the Merry landed back in the ocean with a loud splash, thankfully the repairs that Usopp had done on the hull was holding and the ship did not instantly sink. Connor and Robin were in the middle of a lesson when the Merry hit the sea and they ran out to see what had happened.

The Octopus who had carried them from the sky and out of Navore landed in the ocean and swam away. Luffy spied and Island in the distance and pointed it out.

"Nami look an Island," Luffy cried out.

Nami came over and looked at it, it was fairly close and they could get to it within an hour or two. Nami checked Log Pose and found it was pointing in the opposite direction.

"Is that our next destination?" Luffy asked excitedly.

"No, the log is pointing the other way," Nami said.

"But there's an Island right there," Luffy claimed.

"I know, we got blown way off course coming down from the sky and we didn't check the direction were heading when we flew out that marine base either," Nami said.

"Aww…does that mean we have to go back?" Luffy whined.

"No it's probably better if we head to that island, we're low on food and I don't know how far our original destination is from here," Nami claimed "We'll just wait for the log to reset at this one and continue from there,"

"Alright adventure!" Luffy cheered.

"Miss Navigator, how long will it take to reach the Island?" Robin asked.

Nami looked up and over at Robin.

"About two hours," Nami estimated.

Robin nodded.

"Come on Connor we still have some time," Robin said to Connor who was standing next to her.

Connor nodded and walked back into the kitchen.

"Hold on, what if we go off course again?" Usopp asked "we're not following the Log here,"

"I'll steer the ship in while I'm in the kitchen, you just tell me which way," Robin said.

"But how will you hear my instructions?" Nami asked.

Suddenly an ear appeared on the palm of her hand.

"AGHHH!" Nami screamed.

"Like that," Robin said "it works like a regular war so try not to scream too much,"

"That's Cool…..hey can you make an eye appear on my forehead?" Luffy asked.

"Yes I can, I will be able to see out of it as well," Robin said.

"Awesome make one appear here," Luffy demanded eagerly and pointed to his forehead.

"Why would you want a third eye?" Nami asked "you won't be able to see out of it,"

"Because having three eyes is better than two," Luffy claimed.

Nami sighed, Robin merely smiled and an eye appeared on Luffys forehead.

"There you go," Robin said and walked back into the kitchen.

"Thanks Robin," Luffy called after her and he ran over to Usopp.

"He Usopp….look what I got," Luffy said.

Usopp saw the eye and it blinked at him, the sniper screamed and fainted from Luffy having a third eye. The rubber Captain laughed and then ran to find chopper to show him, the reindeer doctor freaked out at seeing Luffys third eye as well.

In the kitchen Robin had sprouted some arms near the Merrys rudder control so she would be able to steer the ship and teach Connor as well, a few minutes later suddenly started to giggle

"What's so funny?" Connor asked.

"Oh nothing," Robin answered with a smile.