One Piece belongs to Eiichiro Oda
Kingdom Hearts characters belong to Square Enix and Disney
OCs belong to me.
-Chapter One Hundred and Seventy-One-
"It's your loss, suit yourself" the old man chuckled. "Shelly says thanks too" he smiled when the horse suddenly neighed.
"Just keep off the stilts, okay?" Luffy laughed, confusing me a little but I simply brushed it off as it was clear that Luffy was very familiar with this older man compared to the rest of us. He most likely had met him earlier when he, Usopp, and Chopper had disappeared shortly after we had docked.
"Are you sure about this though? What about your little reindeer friend?" the old man worriedly asked.
"Yeah, you jerk! How do you think he feels being left with those weirdos?!" Nami snapped.
"Luffy!" Chopper cried, causing my heart to break a little.
"Poor little guy..." the ginger sadly muttered.
"Chopper, I'm sorry" Luffy apologized. "I know this is hard on you, but no matter what, I promise we will win the next game and get you back!" he promised. "So hang on a little longer, okay? I know you can take it—after all, you're a man, right?" he grinned.
"You bet I am!" Chopper huffed, wiping his eyes as he crossed his arms and sat down—puffing out his chest in an attempt to look brave and like he hadn't just been sobbing his eyes out mere seconds ago.
"That's our Chopper" Nami smiled.
"Our brave little man" I softly chuckled.
"Leave it to me, pal! You'll be just fine!" Usopp assured the reindeer, proudly puffing out his chest in an attempt to look confident.
"If you're Chopper's last hope, he's screwed..." Sanji grumbled, causing me to giggle as the sharpshooter deflated and shot a small glare toward the blond for that jab of his.
"I mean, is he wrong?" I teasingly asked, causing his glare to redirect itself at me as he began to pout.
"I wonder what the next game's going to be" Robin pondered.
"Whatever it is, I'm ready for it" Zoro grinned as he wrapped an arm around me and pulled me close.
"Guess I am as well" I smiled, shrugging as I leaned into him and crossed my arms.
"We're going to get Chopper back in no time!" Luffy happily cheered.
-Later-
"This next game sounds like fun, don't you think?" Robin asked, putting her jacket away in one of the lockers of the changing room. I hummed in agreement as I slipped my jersey over my head.
"Fun?" Nami frowned. "That's kind of insensitive—put yourself in Chopper's shoes for a second, poor little guy" she scolded, not appreciating the older woman's choice of words.
"I didn't think of that, my apologies" Robin apologized.
"Yeah, but it doesn't hurt to try and have a little fun—Chopper's a tough little guy and he has faith that we'll get him back" I argued for the woman, mindlessly pulling at a loose piece of thread that stuck out at the bottom of my jersey the moment I saw it.
"Skylar, quit messing with your jersey before you rip it" Nami huffed, swatting my hand away from the piece of thread once she noticed how it only seemed to grow in length the longer I played with it. "Also, don't you go thinking I've forgotten what you said last round—we're going to have so much to talk about once we're finished with this stupid game" she suddenly grinned with a certain gleam in her eyes.
"What's there to talk about?" I muttered, cheeks flaring up as I quickly averted my eyes.
"Lots of things" she teased. "I mean, finally—I thought I was going to go crazy watching you two bozos constantly dance around each other. Just friends my ass, can't believe it took you both this long to come out and confess" she chuckled as she gave my shoulder a light shove. "Once this match is over, I want to hear all about you and your dashing swordsman."
"Oh shut up..." I embarrassingly grumbled, blush only getting worse at the reminder of my little slip-up. I hadn't meant for it to come out in such an embarrassing way, the words just slipping out on their own. Part of me knew I shouldn't be so embarrassed for calling him mine because he's always been my swordsman in some way—both platonically and now romantically. He's always been someone important to me, someone I've always carried close to my heart and remembered fondly. Still...that didn't stop the embarrassment that flooded me upon hearing her playful teasing, poking fun at my possessive referral of the swordsman last round.
"Anyways, it's not a big deal, Robin" Nami smiled, getting back on topic as she turned to the older woman before motioning for the two of us to follow her out of the locker room. "It's these idiots that could use some sensitivity training..." she grumbled, glaring the moment she spotted the guys who were crowded around one another.
"Hello, you three are so lovely!" Sanji cooed, swooning the second he spotted us despite our appearances not changing that much outside of the jerseys we now wore.
"You three ready for the match?" Luffy asked as Nami harshly knocked the blond away from her the minute he got too close.
"What are you eating, Luffy?" Nami frowned when she noticed that the captain was chewing on something.
"It's a long kiwi, that old horse guy gave it to me" Luffy answered as he held the fruit up for the navigator to see. "Actually taste pretty good...you can't have it" he said, protectively holding the fruit close and away from the woman as if he thought she'd try and take it from him.
"I don't want it!" Nami snapped, causing me to laugh.
"Is it at least good?" I asked, shaking my head as I walked over to Zoro.
"Yeah" Luffy nodded, before suspiciously eyeing me as well. "You can't have any either, Skylar."
"Aw shucks" I grinned, kicking my foot as I wrapped an arm around Zoro's waist. "You hear that? The captain's being mean to me" I smiled up at the swordsman as he returned the gesture and wrapped his arm around my waist in return.
"Oh you poor baby" he teased while pressing a kiss to my forehead, causing me to blush a little.
"Hey—" Nami was quick to cut Sanji off, slapping her hand against his mouth as she pressed her finger to her lips—motioning for him to be quiet and not interfere. There was something similar to the sight as I was reminded of the few times I'd catch her intercepting or shushing the blond back on the ship whenever he'd start to get himself worked up over how friendly Zoro and I were being. I had to wonder if his usually subdued and almost reserved reactions as he'd childishly grumble and pout were her doing...I always did find it strange how little he'd actually pick fights with the swordsman whenever he'd catch the two of us lingering too close to one another even before now. I got my answer in the form of a sly grin and playful wink as the ginger looked toward me, giggling to herself when all I responded with was the simple act of childishly sticking out my tongue and widely smiling.
"Time for Round Three—the Run Roller Round! Try saying that three times fast" Itomimizu chuckled. "Anyway, it's a head-to-head race on an outdoor track. As always, the rules are simple—at the sound of the first whistle, each team Point Getter will start skating around the track, twenty seconds later the second whistle will blow and the team Defenders will follow suit" he explained. "The Defenders can try to hinder the opposing team or support their Point Getter, anything goes—assuming that the Point Getters aren't injured or disqualified, the race will continue for five minutes.
"At the end of that time, the team whose Point Getters is in the lead wins! So as little as an inch can mean your very own defeat" he pointed out. "Naturally, yours truly will be providing the play-by-play from my special bird's nest right next to the starting line!" he announced, once more taking on the role of commentator. "Now, it's time for our two talented teams to take the track!" he proclaimed.
"Alright, guys" Luffy said, catching our attention. "No matter how bad they cheat, we got to get Chopper back this time—you ready?" he asked, finishing off the rest of his long kiwi.
"Yeah!" we cheered, throwing our arms up before following him out onto the track of the next game.
"Whoo! Here comes the Straw Hat Dangers making a grand entrance with a roaring battle cry!" Itomimizu announced once we stepped out onto the track. "And on this end, their all-powerful opponent, the indomitable Foxy Devils!" he grinned as he began introducing the opposing team. "First up is the team's playmaker, Porche! Next is the stunningly speedy Chiqicheetah, the invincible and indomitable Mashikaku, the fighting Fishmen Jube and Girarin who are then followed closely behind by our resident lady killer Jacob—and last but not least, we have Foxy as the head coach and Hamburg as the team manager!
"That's a mighty lineup if I ever seen one!" he praised.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Luffy frowned when Chiqicheetah suddenly came over and started sniffing him.
"Oh, looks like you made a friend" I softly joked despite being a little weirded out as well by the cheetah's sudden behavior. Like an overgrown cat, he walked circles around the captain, sniffing every inch of his clothing as if looking for something.
"Whoa! What is Chiqicheetah up to?" Itomimizu asked. "Is he intimidating Luffy before the start of the match?" he questioned, wondering if his crewmate's strange behavior was meant to be an odd form of intimidation. I shook my head at such a thought, aware that sniffing was not a form of intimidation at all when it came to large cats.
"What's with this weirdo? He's kind of creeping me out" Usopp frowned, disturbed by the other man's behavior.
"Perhaps he smells something nice on Luffy? Maybe meat?" I suggested, mind blank as I tried to think of something the captain would have eaten recently or might even have on him at this moment to cause this overgrown cat to start smelling all over him.
"No, I don't think Luffy has any meat on him this time" Nami shook her head, unable to really recall the last time the captain had eaten or stolen a piece of meat since we started playing these stupid games.
"His feet are indeed a work of wonder, but his nose is impressive too! You ate something pungent, didn't you?!" Foxy accused with laughter.
"Uh-oh, Luffy, he's onto you" Usopp giggled. "That's what you get for eating that old man's cheese" he joked.
"Oh? Is that why?" Luffy questioned.
"That was a joke!" Usopp snapped, shocked and perhaps even a little disgusted by the revelation that the captain had actually eaten that cheese the old man had been offering us earlier.
"Geez, watch your manners, will you? Shoo, shoo!" Luffy frowned in annoyance, waving the cheetah away like one would a stray cat.
"Wow, okay, I don't know what that was all about" Itomimizu coughed, still confused and perhaps weirded out by his crewmate's odd behavior. "But anyway, now that that's done with, let's get back to the rules!" he grinned. "The teams must change Point Getters after every round and each player can only be a Point Getter once" he explained. "But wait, since the manager and coach can't play, that means you need at least eight members which makes the Straw Hat members short—what will they do?" he asked.
"That's a shame" Foxy snickered. "Hey, but since I'm such a generous guy, I'll let one of you sorry chaps be Point Getter twice" he offered. "If your pride will allow it, of course!" he laughed as if he thought that we'd back out and just forfeit the round because we were too prideful to let someone go twice.
"I've had about enough of that laugh!" Nami irritably growled.
"It is rather annoying" I agreed, rolling my eyes as I watched how the crowd started to praise the opposing captain for his "generosity" and "kind" nature.
"You guys!" Foxy happily sniffed.
"Can you believe this guy? He's actually taking this crap seriously" Nami huffed.
"Anything to feed his ego, right?" Usopp grumbled.
"It doesn't need any more feeding, it's already big enough" I scoffed.
"We got to hurry and put this guy out of his misery" Sanji sighed.
"Oh no! Don't sink, boss—we need you!" Porche worriedly cried as Foxy fell into another depressive, causing Hamburg to burst out into a fit of laughter.
"But, annoying as he is, we kind of have to take him up on his offer—right?" Nami asked, looking around and making sure we were all on the same page.
"Hey, as long as it helps us beat him fast, I'm not complaining" Usopp shrugged.
"We're fighting for Chopper's sake, this is no time to get hung up on pride" Sanji said.
"We just need to suck it up and take it with stride" I firmly nodded.
"You're on, Split Head—we got ourselves a match! Now get ready!" Luffy grinned, accepting the man's offer.
"You're too naïve, boy—do you know why I made you an offer that puts me at a disadvantage? Simply because we're awesome!" Foxy cockily boasted.
"Alright, let's get Chopper back!" Luffy cheered, causing us to cheer as we simply ignored Foxy's attempts to brag.
"Boss, no!" Porche cried as the man fell into another depressive state.
"And there you have it, both captains agreed to amend the rules!" Itomimizu announced. "Now, as soon as the Straw Hat Dangers select their Point Getter for each round, we can begin" he said.
"Alright, since we have six rounds..." Sanji muttered to himself, brows furrowed in concentration as he stared lost in thought down at the clipboard in his hands—carefully trying to decide who would go where.
A/N: Enjoy
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