One Piece belongs to Eiichiro Oda
Kingdom Hearts characters belong to Square Enix and Disney
OCs belong to me.
-Chapter One Hundred and Fifty-Nine-
"Whoa!" Usopp gasped once he finally took a good look at the tree Luffy had gotten the apple from. "Just realizing it, but the trees are long too!" he gaped as the bear they were on finally swung around, angrily knocking the three off before storming away. "Hey, look! Is that a house over there?" the sharpshooter asked, pointing to something off in the distance that I couldn't see.
"Yeah, I guess it kind of looks like a house" Luffy nodded, finishing off the rest of the apple as he looked in the direction the sharpshooter was pointing. "Let's go check it out!" he grinned, motioning for the two to follow as they ran off.
"And there they go" I lowly whistled, watching as they disappeared from sight without another word.
"Where the hell did they run off to?" Zoro frowned, finally looking away from whatever he and the others were doing as he now noticed that Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper were gone.
"They were right there a moment ago—Skylar, you were watching them, what happened?" Nami asked.
"Don't know, one of them spotted a house and our captain decided he must go and explore it" I shrugged.
"Really? He couldn't have waited until we were all off the ship before running off?" Nami huffed.
"Hey, when adventure calls, you just got to go" I grinned, chuckling at the way she rolled her eyes before grumbling in annoyance to herself.
"We might as well disembark, there's got to be food on this island" Sanji said, motioning for us to follow. "Hey, Earth to Robin—we're going to jump ship, okay?" he shouted up to the older woman who was still up inside the crow's nest, having yet to come back down to us since docking.
"Right" Robin nodded and with that, we climbed ashore—ready to start exploring. We didn't get too far from the ship though before I flinched, yelping in surprise as two paws suddenly shot out of the water and crashed down on either side of our ship as if to block it in.
"Hey, what's the deal? They blocked our ship!" Sanji frowned as we looked toward the oddly designed ship that the paws belonged to—it was much bigger compared to our own and much longer in length. Its figurehead was that of a cute fox which looked far better compared to the...unique...design of the crew's Jolly Roger.
"This can't be good..." Nami muttered.
"That almost gave me a heart attack..." I breathed out, now resting a hand over my fast-beating heart in an attempt to calm it.
"You looking for a fight?" Zoro scowled as a group of men slowly filed off the strange ship and began to surround the five of us.
"Because we'd be happy to give you one" Sanji glared.
"We are the notorious Foxy Pirates!" one of the men proudly proclaimed. "We want more than just a fight from you—we want a showdown!" he grinned.
"A showdown?" I echoed, causing one of the men to jump in with an explanation once he saw just how confused we all were.
"You said the fight already started?" Nami inquired with a raised brow, not understanding how a fight that we never agreed to could have already started without our knowledge.
"That's right, a Davy Back Fight begins as soon as one captain accepts the challenge from the other captain—no takebacks" one of the men nodded.
"In other words, your captain is fighting our captain whether you like it or not" another grinned. "All you can do is sit back and deal with it" he shrugged.
"I don't get this—if it's a fight, why do I have to sit and wait?" Zoro frowned, not understanding why he couldn't just go ahead and beat the shit out of the men that currently surrounded us. "Let's do this right here, right now" he huffed.
"You don't know anything, do you?" Sanji sighed. "It's not a real fight, it's more like a sports match between two different pirate crews" he explained, trying to put what the men had told us into simpler terms that the swordsman would better understand.
"Basically, instead of using weapons or fists, you're using wit and strength—dummy" I clarified, gently poking the swordsman's cheek before softly chuckling as he swatted my hand away, a blush already staining his cheeks as he quietly grumbled to himself.
"Exactly" Robin nodded. "Supposedly the game originated in a faraway place called Pirate Island, as the name implies, it's a sort of secret paradise for pirates" she explained. "At any rate, the main purpose of a Davy Back fight is to plunder desirable members from another pirate crew."
"Pirates plundering other pirates?" Nami questioned.
"So instead of taking valuables, they just take someone from your crew?" I tilted my head.
"Yes" Robin nodded.
"No wonder your puny little crew only has eight members—a Davy Back Fight is the best way to pull in new recruits!" one of the men laughed, mocking how small our crew was compared to theirs.
"Since you're so clueless, I'll tell you how it works" another grinned. "After each match, the winner can take any crew member they want from the losing team" he simply explained.
"And once that person is chosen, they got to pledge their undying loyalty to their new captain on the spot!"
"Both crews take their oath in the name of Davy Jones, the Pirate of the Deep!"
"So if you lose, you lose a crewmate" Nami reiterated for the men, now finally understanding what they were telling us.
"Hm?" I perked up a little when I suddenly felt Zoro grab hold of my hand, giving it a light squeeze. Turning my head, my gaze softened upon seeing how tense he was and the displeased scowl he now wore as if the idea of possibly losing one of us upset him just a little. Without saying a word, I only gave his hand a gentle squeeze in return.
"Now you're getting it!" one of the men grinned, pleased that we were finally starting to catch on to what he and the other men were saying.
"Also, if the losing team doesn't have any members worth plundering, the winning captain can add some new entry by robbing the ship of its Jolly Roger" another piped up.
"So you're not just betting your crewmates, but the pride of your ship too" Sanji said. "Winning might make you stronger, but losing can leave you with nothing at all—might as well be betting your life" he frowned.
"I see, that explains it" Nami perked up in realization. "That ship without a captain or navigator, they must have lost everything in a Davy Back Fight" she concluded as she thought back to the ship we had encountered on our way here.
"Oh? So you saw the Fang Frog Pirates or what's left of them at least?" one of the men snickered.
"How about we give you a chance to admire our handy work in person" another pridefully grinned. "Here, have a round of applause for our brand new recruits!" he boasted as he motioned toward four men in particular.
"Long live the Foxy Pirates! Before I came here, I was the captain of the Fang Frog Pirates!"
"I was the doctor!"
"I was the navigator!"
"And I was the shipwright!"
"We played five three-coin games and lost them all—the captain, thirteen crew members, and our Jolly Roger taken away" one of the former Fang Frog Pirates explained.
"With so many people jumping ship, it was more like a merger than anything..." another one grumbled as they walked off, disappearing further into the crowd of men as if they didn't want to really further explain their crushing defeat at the hands of the Foxy Pirates to us.
"What about your crew? Huh?" Zoro frowned. "You don't even care—just join a new ship and leave them out to dry?" he glared.
"Not much of a captain if you so easily jumped from one ship to another in the blink of an eye" I scowled, not able to see why any captain would willingly go down and leave their former crew to fend for themselves.
"Yeah, no kidding, those poor saps got a one-way ticket to a watery grave" Sanji scoffed.
"Watery grave? That's their problem, don't look at me!" the former captain snapped, displeased with how we were acting toward him as if he was to blame for his old crew's downfall.
"You're nothing but scum! We're not playing your stupid game, got it?!" Nami snapped. "There's no way we'd ever sink to your level!" she angrily huffed.
"You can say that all you want, but it ain't the crew's decision to make" one of the men grinned. "The Davy Back Fight begins once one captain agrees to another captain's challenge" he repeated, reciting the same rule from earlier.
"What's the matter? Don't you have faith in your captain?" another inquired. "If you don't agree with the decisions he makes, maybe you're better joining us after all" he snickered.
"Sorry, Nami, they're right" Sanji sighed. "All pirates take an unwritten quote to follow their captain to the bitter end—if we turn our backs on this fight now, we'd be sailing away in disgrace" he pointed out.
"So? Who cares?" Nami huffed. "That's better than losing" she frowned, not seeing why it should matter if we'd be seen as a disgrace or not just as long as we didn't run the risk of losing any of our friends.
"Maybe for you, but I'd rather die than live in disgrace" Zoro scoffed as he crossed his arms.
"The same goes for me" Sanji agreed.
"Are you kidding? Get over yourselves!" Nami angrily snapped.
"You know how men can be, there's no point in arguing with them" Robin piped up before the ginger could really blow a fuse.
"She's right, when it comes to honor and pride, men are just unreasonable to negotiate with" I heavily sighed.
"I'll stop Luffy by force if I have to" Nami growled as she took off running.
"Don't bother!" one of the men shouted. "It's too late—all that's left now is to sit back and wait for the captains to fire a shot to signal the beginning of the match!" and just like he said, the navigator came to a screeching halt when the sound of gunfire off in the distance was heard. I couldn't help but jump just a little at the sound, not really expecting it despite knowing that it was most likely going to happen.
"Aw! No way!" Nami whined when she realized that our captain had indeed agreed to play these men's silly little game.
"Guess that settles it" Sanji sighed.
"Well, I'm not complaining" Zoro said, crossing his arms.
A/N: Enjoy
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