One Piece belongs to Eiichiro Oda
Kingdom Hearts characters belong to Square Enix and Disney
OCs belong to me.
-Chapter One Hundred and Seventy-Six-
"I can't believe I fell for that nor did I expect us to drag this out to another round!" Foxy growled, sneering at Jacob the second the young man casually strolled back over to rejoin his team.
"I know, I know—I'll do better next time, boss" Jacob raised his hands in defense before rolling his eyes the minute his captain turned away.
"Listen, we need to win the next round—we'll use the you-know-what plan to seal everything" Foxy huffed, looking to the rest of his huddled-up team with a sly grin.
"You got it!" Girarin grinned.
"Yeah!" the rest of his team nodded.
"Now, it's time for the final round of the event! Both teams are at the starting line, ready to go, but it seems that Girarin alone is presenting the Foxy Devils" Itomimizu noted. "The rest of the team is off the track, could that mean they're planning to use their most devious trick of all?" he asked.
"Devious trick?" Sanji echoed.
"Does he actually have anything other than that Slow Slow Beam?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Come on, you both know it's just going to be that stupid Slow Slow Beam again, nothing else" Zoro scoffed.
"Oh, wow! You figured it out—yes, we're going to be using the Slow Slow Beam to stop your captain" Porche clapped with a grin. "That's our little plan in its entirety!" she innocently smiled, causing me to narrow my eyes in suspicion.
"Not that you're going to be able to do anything about it!" Jube laughed.
"As if! Weren't you paying attention to what happened two rounds ago?" Usopp scoffed. "Operation: Laugh and Fall will stop him cold—hey! Just skate like crazy Luffy!" he shouted to our captain, having complete faith that we wouldn't need to play cautiously this final round.
"Yeah, leave everything to me!" Luffy firmly nodded.
"Okay! It's time to begin the final round—and remember, this round will gain your team two points!" Itomimizu announced, reminding everyone that this round would determine who the winner was once and for all. "Ready...go!" and just like that, the two Point Getters were off at the sound of the whistle.
"Oh no! He's starting already!" Usopp gasped the second he saw Foxy getting ready to use his Slow Slow Beam. Nami and Usopp were quick to jump back into their strategy from before and just as I tried to move to join them, I was harshly yanked back by Zoro.
"Don't even think about it..." he grumbled, causing me to softly chuckle.
"Slow Slow Beam!" Foxy barely acknowledged the two pirates who were calling out to him—ignoring their insults and praises.
"Here it is! An onslaught of Slow Slow Beams!" Itomimizu exclaimed as our captain did his best to dodge all of them, not allowing a single one to hit him.
"What's going on? Why isn't Operation: Laugh and Fall working?" Usopp confusedly frowned, not understanding how the opposing captain had been so quick to grow a thick skin since the last time he and the ginger pulled this dirty trick of theirs.
"Huh? Were you two saying something?" Foxy shouted, mockingly showing off the earplugs he was wearing.
"Earplugs?! The Straw Hat Dangers have been outsmarted—that's our boss for you!" Itomimizu praised.
"Huh, so there really is a brain in that head of his..." I hummed, tilting my head and resting it against the palm of my hand as I crossed my arms.
"We're screwed!" Usopp cried when he realized that his and Nami's only plan was now obsolete thanks to the opposing captain's smart thinking.
"What the...? Did he just deflect the Slow Slow Beam?" Sanji frowned, now noticing how the beams didn't hit Girarin at all but were instead deflected.
"Oh? You noticed?" Porche grinned. "Yes, the Slow Slow Beam doesn't work on Girarin" she smugly confessed.
"What? Really? No way—how is that possible?" Sanji dreamingly asked, already starting to fawn over the woman.
"Is now really the time for this?" I sweat dropped as I watched how the blond swooned over the other woman.
"Sorry, but it's a secret" Porche winked.
"A secret? Oh, that makes perfect sense!" Sanji dopily laughed.
"Ah, now I get it—that's why the rest of your team wasn't on the course" Zoro realized as he watched how Foxy's Slow Slow Beam bounced all over the place—flying off in random directions that would have made it difficult no matter whose team you were on to get around without getting consecutively hit multiple times in a row.
"Yep! This way you can't hide from the beam behind any of the Foxy Devils—your whole team is going to be turned into slowpokes, but we won't!" Porche laughed as I skated my way over to Nami and Usopp.
"This is bad, what are we going to do?" Usopp whined, clearly distressed by the fact that we no longer had a surefire way to stop Foxy from using those silly beams of his.
"Try our hardest to help Luffy during the race and win?" I raised an eyebrow.
"You make it sound like he's not firing an onslaught of those stupid Slow Slow Beams!" Nami snapped.
"Well, it's either we try and help Luffy or we just call it quits and pray for a miracle!" I snapped right back, throwing my arms out to show I had no other suggestions. There wasn't exactly much else we could do at the moment besides help the captain or wait for something miraculous to happen.
"Twenty seconds are up, Defenders go!" Itomimizu announced as the second whistle sounded. Robin was the only one to go, the rest of us still bickering as we tried discussing what to do about this unfortunate situation.
"I mean, we could always play human shield for Luffy" I suggested.
"There's only four of us and that stupid beam of his lasts for thirty seconds—how is playing human shields going to help us?" Nami frowned, causing me to shrug.
"Time for you three to slow down!" Foxy suddenly laughed, now pointing his beam toward the three of us with little to no warning. Quickly, we all tried to scramble away from one another, desperately trying to dodge out of the way before he could hit us...
We didn't actually succeed in such a task.
"Nami! Skylar!" Sanji worriedly shouted as Zoro clenched his jaw. I won't lie, it felt rather strange watching as everything around me moved at a normal speed as if nothing had really changed...and yet my movements were slow and sluggish. My limbs felt heavy like they had just been tied down by a pair of weights that were now slowly dragging me to the ground at a snail's place from where I had tripped in my attempt to get away. There was no other way to really describe this disorientating experience and the way it felt as if it affected both nothing and everything.
"A direct hit! Navigator Nami, Sharpshooter Usopp, and Swordswoman Skylar Strife have all fallen prey to the Slow Slow Beam!" Itomimizu announced as Foxy huffed a grin before turning his gaze back on Luffy.
"Luffy, behind you!" Robin shouted as one of the beams started to get a bit too close to the rubber man.
"Luffy has been stopped in his tracks!" Itomimizu exclaimed. "Victory is now near certainty for the Foxy Devils!" he eagerly boasted.
"Now it's your turn!" Foxy laughed, turning his beam on Robin...only to halt when she suddenly stepped off the course.
"Oh! What's this?" Itomimizu blinked. "Nico Robin, who has been keeping the Straw Hat Dangers in the game, has suddenly given up? With only one minute remaining in the round, she has stepped off the course!" he relayed.
"Robin, what are you doing?" Sanji asked.
"If I'm over here with you two, I can avoid being hit by that beam, right?" Robin smiled.
"Yeah, but…" he trailed off, not really knowing what to say to the woman.
"Forty seconds remain and Girarin has an easy three-lap lead!" Itomimizu announced as the effects of the Slow Slow Beam finally wore off, allowing Nami, Usopp, and me to all crash into a heap of groaning, tangled-up limbs on the ground.
"That was one trippy experience..." I dizzyingly moaned, rubbing my head as I dazedly stared up at the sun. "I feel nauseous..." I weakly admitted, already feeling the way my stomach was starting to churn now that the flow of time was returning and everything about me started to once more move at a normal speed.
"Better not puke on me..." Nami weakly grumbled.
"Think I'll give you three another go, just to be on the safe side" Foxy snickered once he noticed we had returned to normal.
"Nope!" I rolled away from Nami and Usopp as they attempted to scamper back up on their feet and run away. "Sorry!" I shouted when I saw their angry expressions as they were hit once again. Finally climbing to my feet, I skated my over toward Zoro, Sanji, and Robin.
"Seems Skylar Strife has given up as well, having stepped off the course after being freed from the boss' nefarious Slow Slow Beam!" Itomimizu announced.
"Skylar?!" Sanji cried in slight exasperation as I only shrugged.
"Sorry, but after that trippy experience, I don't think I want to risk trying it again" I confessed. "Besides, have faith in Luffy, I'm sure he'll find a way to win this" I grinned with a dismissive wave.
"Alright, Straw Hat Luffy" Foxy grinned. "It's been fun, but now it's time to end this!" he laughed.
"Only thirty seconds remain! If Straw Hat Luffy is hit with another beam, victory for the Foxy Devils is guaranteed!" Itomimizu stated as the effects of the Slow Slow Beam finally wore off on Luffy who immediately crashed to the ground the second time resumed normally for him.
"This ends now!" Foxy proclaimed, taking aim at the rubber man once more before clenching his jaw in frustration the second a pair of disembodied hands suddenly sprouted from his back and forcefully stopped him from firing.
"Oh crap!" Jube cursed.
"Luffy, move it! Get going!" Sanji shouted.
"Right!" Luffy firmly nodded, quickly scrambling back up onto his feet and tearing down the track
"Twenty seconds!" Itomimizu announced as Luffy raced past Girarin.
"Hm?" looking down, I patted Zoro's shoulder and pointed down at Jube's arms which were sneakily making their way toward Robin who was too focused on restraining Foxy to even notice. Nodding, we both drew and sword and dug it into the ground—blocking the Fishman's attempts at stopping the archeologist.
"So, how should I prepare you?" Zoro grinned, causing the Fishman to flinch as he blanched and quickly drew his arms back. "Grilled or deep-fried?" he questioned as the man started to tremble.
"I don't know, sashimi sounds pretty good" I hummed.
"Ten seconds left—Straw Hat Luffy is moving at incredible speeds!" Itomimizu announced. "These two are neck and neck now—it will be a mad dash to the finish!" he dramatically proclaimed.
"No! You wouldn't!" Foxy grounded out when his beam was suddenly turned on him and fired.
"Oh! The boss has slowed himself down!" Itomimizu gasped.
"Nice work, Robin!" I laughed, patting the woman's back as she nodded and gave a small smile in return.
"Only five seconds left!" Itomimizu announced as Girarin suddenly got ready to strike Luffy with one of the blades that sprouted from his arms in a last-ditch effort to overpower the rubber man.
"Those dumb blades won't work on me!" Luffy grinned as he drew his arm back before shooting it forward—tightly grabbing ahold of the wall up ahead so he could pull himself ahead of Girarin and closer to the finish line.
"The Straw Hat Dangers have managed to pull off a jump from behind the game!" Itomimizu exclaimed as the captain crossed the finish line.
"Yeah!" Luffy cheered as Chopper burst out crying—tears of both happiness and relief now running down his furry cheeks.
"It's over, my Slow Slow Beam failed me!" Foxy depressingly wailed.
"We won!" Nami and Usopp happily cheered as the effects of Foxy's Slow Slow Beam finally wore off.
"We're finally getting our doctor back!" I laughed as I happily clapped my hands together.
"I'm begging you! Please, pick me this time!" Chopper sobbed.
A/N: Enjoy
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