Cheaters And Memories 2...

Chapter 27.5 - Cheaters And Memories 2...

The new memory popped up and the sun was already up high as most of the Straw Hats laid exhausted on the deck, looking ready to just fall asleep there.

"I guess you had a long night?" Franky asked cheerfully.

"Those stupid monkeys followed us for hours," Usopp said wearily. His past self was suddenly yelling from the crow's nest that an unknown ship was sailing towards them. Luffy asked if they were bad guys and Usopp seemed lost to what to tell them. "Well," he called, "They don't have a single flag or sail up! I don't know what kind of ship it is!"

"What?" Franky said, going to the upper front part of the ship to see for himself. "That's ridiculous! Who would come out to the sea, let alone the Grand Line, without a sail? Were they trying to die?"

The Straw Hats, other than Brook, all groaned out miserably, knowing just what this memory was about.

"You've got to be kidding me," Usopp groaned out. "The Foxy Pirates…? We're going to be seeing Split Head again?"

"Split Head?" Brook asked in confusion.

"Remember when we went to that Spa Island after you joined us?" Nami asked him, "That guy with the stupid hair who was after Lina and Sayo?"

Brook and Franky thought that over for a moment. "Oh yeah!" Franky said, "I remember! Back when they were trying to find a clue to how to make the Rainbow Gem! That weirdo with the long red nose and the mirror thingy in the shape of his head?"

"Yeah, him," Nami sighed in disgust, "Looks like we're going to be seeing him very soon."

"I'm guessing that's bad?" Brook asked.

"He was such a pain to deal with," Usopp hissed, "Do yourself a favor and never play a game with him! He's the biggest cheater in the world!"

"It's naked?!" Luffy yelled up at him in confusion, "Who would do that to their ship?! What are they doing out here without sails?!"

"Just what I wanna know," Franky said, looking out and spotting it as well. It was really a good-looking ship. It was well-built and looked strong but all that strength is nothing without sails to move it. And it was completely stripped clean of any way for it to move…

"How should I know?!" past Usopp yelled back in annoyance. "What's even weirder is the crew is way too small for a ship that size! Also… they look like they're cationic or something! They're just sitting around in a daze!"

"Why do I not like the look of this?" asked Brook, having a bad feeling. That wasn't normal… even the most inexperienced sailors know that they need sails for their ship?

But the Straw Hats from the past didn't have time to think it over… for at that moment the Sea Monkeys were back and another wave came. They didn't waste time as they broke out the paddles and began heading off at full speed. They could see the monkey's faces smiling evilly from the waves—delight in the idea of sinking them.

"Why are they after you?!" Franky yelled.

"They said that they like to sink ships!" Chopper yelled, able to make out their voices through the laughter.

"What's wrong with them?!" memory Sanji cried out, they were almost right next to the 'naked' ship, "They're heading towards the sea monkeys!"

"I'm afraid that there wasn't anything that could be done for them," Robin said, remembering what happened here. Luffy yelled at them as they passed to wake up and that they'd be swallowed whole if they didn't turn around. The crew then realized what was going on, but instead of focusing on getting out of there, they began shouting and yelling. It couldn't have been any clearer that they had no idea to what they were doing… they didn't seem to have a captain or a navigator and were all fighting with each other like a bunch of kids on the playground… not even noticing the wave.

"What's with these guys?" Franky asked with a deadpan expression. "Did they just set sail for the first time or something? What's going on?"

"Whoa," Luffy whispered, staring at them, "That's got to be the worse crew ever!"

"Took the words outta my mouth," current Usopp whispered to himself.

"Forget about those idiots!" memory Sanji yelled, all of them still at the oars, "They only wanna steal our treasure."

The other ship couldn't make up their minds what to do, but it was already too late. They had been swallowed by the wave and they watched it sink.

"That was harsh," Franky whispered, "But you can't say they didn't deserve it. Just what was with them?"

"They had worse luck than we did I suppose?" Robin offered, "I'm sure that it will all make sense to you soon."

"Man… it's just one terrible thing after another these days," memory Zoro hissed in annoyance once the waves had turned calm at last, showing that they were near the next island.

"Yeah, that's true," Chopper sighed, "Things just seemed to go downhill after we left Sky Island. They didn't start to look up until after Enies Lobby…"

Once memory Nami explained that the waves had been caused by the Sea Monkeys, she stated that they should be nearing the next island by now so they shouldn't have to worry. The funny thing was when Usopp called up to Robin, where he lay on the deck, if she saw any signs of land, she confessed that they had been nearing one for a while. Luffy then began to tell her off but when she apologized, he accepted it without a second thought so long as she meant it.

"It sure doesn't take much for him to forgive you does it?" Nami chuckled.

"Luffy's normally not the kind to hold petty grudges," Robin smiled, "At least not for long. So long as you mean it, he'll accept your apology."

"Something I've always admired about him," Brook said fondly.

"You know, I can't stop thinking about that ship," memory Usopp suddenly spoke up and past and present turned to look at him. "They didn't have a captain, or a navigator, or even sails!" he said, voicing what they all talked about, "It was like they had no idea what they were doing. Now what kind of self-respecting pirate would head out to sea like that?" The past Zoro suggested that maybe they were in a battle and lost, their captain got kill and the ship plundered.

"That does seem like the most reasonable answer," Brook said thinking it all over.

"But that can't be it!" memory Usopp stated. "I got a look at their ship! It was in perfect condition! No signs of battle! But it was still completely stripped clean of anything that a pirate would need to survive!"

"They probably weren't even pirates then," past Sanji shrugged, "Forget it."

Current Sanji sighed, knowing that this came back later to bite them in the ass. What a day that was…

Memory Usopp didn't seem ready to let it go, muttering that they looked like pirates to him, crummy ones, but pirates nonetheless. He also added that he suddenly had a bad feeling about all this.

"And my instincts turn out to be right once again," he nodded to his past self's words.

"What are you…? Oh forget it," Franky sighed, sick of asking questions but never getting any answers, "If it's important, I'm sure to find out."

Onwards they sailed, through the mist, they finally landed. What they saw surprised them all.

"THERE'S NOTHING AT ALL!" Luffy screamed out. He was right. There was nothing but grass and trees stretching on for miles around them.

"Now this has got to be the dullest island I've ever seen," Franky muttered, "Makes me want to take a nap just looking at it."

'Yeah, but we did everything but sleep here,' Chopper thought to himself. Despite memory Nami's warning Chopper, Usopp and Luffy jumped ship and started exploring. They rolled in the grass for a moment before they heard footsteps behind them. They looked behind them and some of them gasped at what it was and they heard memory Chopper scream out in shock.

"What is that?!" Brook cried out. It was human-like, but it was covered in thick fur and towered over them all, even Brook was short compared to it.

"That… is a bear… a long bear," Usopp answered as they watched the giant creature walk by upright. They followed the trio further inland, and they soon saw that everything on this island was filled with animals and plants that were stretched out in either length or height. They walked on for a short time, passing the strange animals to find an unoccupied house. As Luffy went barging in as he usually did, with Usopp trying to stop him, memory Chopper went looking around the house and called to the others that he had found a giraffe.

"But a giraffe is already long," Franky pointed out, "How can it get any longer?"

"That's because it wasn't a giraffe," Chopper laughed a little as they went around the house to see what he was talking about. What they say certainly looked like a giraffe, however they soon found out that it was a white horse with her limbs and neck stretched out.

"Wow!" Franky said, moving his sunglasses up to look up at her. "Isn't she a beauty?"

"It's Shelly!" current Chopper cheered happily as memory Usopp gasped out that it was a horse with a long neck rather than a giraffe.

"You're a horse?" memory Chopper asked in amazement as she lowered her head so that she could nuzzle his cheek and he laughed as he hugged her.

"Wow!" Luffy said as he was actually able to walk underneath her, the top of his hat just tickling her stomach. "What a pretty horse!"

The horse neighed as Chopper translated for them, "She says thank you. And her name's Shelly!"

"That means we're going to be seeing that weird stilts guy again right?" Zoro asked them.

"Yep," Usopp nodded as his past self noticed the saddle. "Boy, was he strange…"

"Stilts guy?" Brook repeated as memory Usopp noticed Luffy staring off in one direction. When he asked what was wrong, Luffy just pointed, saying that there was something up with those two bamboo trees.

"Why is everything here so long?!" Franky couldn't help but ask as he looked up and memory Usopp voiced what he was thinking.

"Yeah, your right! Talk about tall!" he gasped as the two trees went up into the sky so that they vanished, "I can't even see the top!"

"That's not it," Luffy said, "Look closer."

Past Usopp did what he was told, looking so close that his long nose was almost touching it. But then it started moving and he screamed in shock. Luffy screamed as well, yelling that they had to be part of some long animal.

"What kind of animal is made of bamboo?!" Brook cried out as the second bamboo tree hit Luffy from behind and sent him sprawling in the grass. But instead of answering Usopp's questions of concern, Luffy lost his temper and went to kick at the bamboo trees, breaking them in half. They were starting to celebrate, but their victory was short lived for something came falling from the sky and landed with a crash on the ground.

"I'm guessing that this is where you met him?" Sanji asked and Chopper and Usopp nodded as the two ran over to see whatever fell. Memory Chopper must've heard the noise and came running from behind the house to see what the problem was and spotted the two of them. They also gathered around them and they saw, to some of them in astonishment, that there was an elderly man with wrinkles, small round eyes, and a round white beard looking back up at them.

"Who is that?" Brook asked. Of all the things that he was expecting to see, this wasn't one of them. There were old men falling from the sky… where did he even come from?

"I think that bamboo tree was possessed by this spirit," Luffy decided at last.

"A spirit?" Chopper asked in wonder.

"I gotta say, I can see why he would think that," Franky muttered, "But I think he's just an old man."

"He is," Sanji answered, "But let's just say that he had a very unusual hobby.

"Well yeah… what else pops out of a tree?" Luffy asked Usopp poked the old man, asking if he still alive until he sat up so quickly that he startled some of them.

"Quit acting like I don't remember you. Of course I do!" the old man said hurriedly. "What have you been up to all these years?"

"You mean that you knew him?" Brook asked in surprise.

"No, not at all," Usopp said as his memory self asked them the exact same question. But when Chopper and Luffy shook their heads, the old man finished, "Ahh… well that would explain why I don't remember you then."

"I can tell that this guy has gotten some issues," Franky said, falling over at what the old man said.

"Well, he has a good reason for it," Nami laughed a little as memory Usopp demanded the old man tell them who he was. And so he did. They learned that the old man's name was Tonjit, and he thanked them for knocking him off his bamboo stilts. They looked at the broken bamboo trees to see that they were indeed stilts and Luffy said they didn't realize that he was up there because they couldn't see him. Tonjit said that he wasn't surprised. He couldn't even see the ground from up there. When Luffy asked why he was walking around on those things in the first place, Tonjit answered that he was inspired one day to break the world record for the longest stilts. He told them that he had been able to get on with a little effort, but he was too scared to climb back down.

"That's crazy," Luffy said.

"I was up there for ten years," Tonjit admitted.

"REALLY CRAZY!" Luffy yelled in shock as Franky and Brook both felt their jaws hit the ground.

"YOU'RE KIDDING ME!" Franky yelled out, "YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THAT HE WAS ON STILTS FOR TEN YEARS?! HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?!"

Memory Usopp felt the same way. "WAIT! YOU WERE UP ON THOSE STILTS FOR TEN WHOLE YEARS!" he screamed at him.

"That's right," Tonjit answered causally with his back to them, "And to make matters worse, the bamboo kept growing the entire time! It just got harder and harder to climb down! Oh, so terrifying…"

"He's sure taking the fact that he wasted ten years up on stilts with no problems," Zoro muttered with a few sweatdrops around his head.

"HOW DID YOU LIVE UP THERE FOR TEN YEARS?!" memory Usopp screamed.

"Well, most of the trees on this island are just as tall as my stilts, if not taller," Tonjit answered calmly, "So I was well fed from their fruit."

"That's… good?" Nami asked, unsure if she should be glad for the old man or not. But Luffy was soon asking why everything on the island was so insanely long; Tonjit said that though it may seem crazy to an outsider, there was a reason. This place was nothing but grass and trees… it was so dull here that everything felt the need to stretch out, and soon grew long out of a longing for excitement.

"You've got to be kidding me," Zoro whispered as Tonjit invited the three into his house and offered them some milk—only to find that it had turned to cheese within the ten years he'd been up on the stilts. But Tonjit ate it anyway, only to get food poisoning.

"No duh! That cheese is ten years old! Of course that it would almost kill him!" Usopp yelled out.

"Well, some cheese taste better with age," Robin spoke up in amusement.

"But ten years?" Usopp asked her exasperatedly as Tonjit went on to tell them how he was part of a village of nomads. The island that they were on was their home, Long Ring Long Island. The island was actually part of a chain of ten island in a ring-like shape. The paths between the islands that surfaces once every year and they used this time to pack up and move to the next island once every three years.

"I see," Brook said thoughtfully, "So his village didn't disappear, they simply moved."

"And if there's ten islands, then that would mean that it would take about thirty years for them to do a complete lap around the island," Robin said thinking it all over. Memory Usopp did the math as well, quickly calculating that if the other villagers stayed on each island for three years, then minus the ten years living on those stupid stilts, it would still take a good twenty years for them to come back and meet up with him again. Tonjit sighed grimly, already aware of this fact. He seemed to accept it however as he said that there wasn't anything else he could do. If he still had his hooorse, he could cross over every time the tides were low and catch up to the others in only a few years.

"Why doesn't he just say their names instead of making them so long?" Sanji whispered to himself.

"Whatever makes him happy?" Zoro offered.

"Hooorse?" memory Chopper repeated and Tonjit shut his eyes, a peaceful expression coming over his face. "That's right," he said, "they're the most graceful and beautiful animals on the whole island." He then went on to tell them that without them the villagers wouldn't be able to migrate to the next island. Even if they were strong enough to carry their belongings on their own, the tides would still rise up and drown them before they could get to the next island. Luffy then asked if it would be easier to just take a boat.

"You would think that'd be the best option, but how would they reach the island with a Log Pose if they are already on the island?" Nami asked grimly.

Tonjit admitted that it probably would, however the villagers weren't known for their sailing. And even if they did charge a Log Pose to this island that was no guarantee that it would point to the next island. Because even though the island was split into ten pieces, it was part of the same island. He just sadly admitted that he would just have to wait another ten years.

"Poor man," Brook said softly, "My heart goes out to him, if I had a heart to give…" but he didn't laugh for he knew just how painful it was to be alone. To spend years and years with a loneliness so strong that it felt like it was going to drown him in a sea of despair. He shivered at that… wondering how the old man cold stand to stay on top of those stilts for all those years. Even if he was afraid to climb down, risking it was better than staying up there right?

Luffy seemed to agree. He frowned sadly at Tonjit's words, looking like he wished he could do something to help. But memory Chopper then asked if a hooorse was the same thing as a normal horse.

"Hey, I almost forgot about that!" Luffy said brightening up, "We saw a horse on the way here."

That got Tonjit's attention. "You're saying that there's a hooorse here?" he asked at once as he stood up.

"Yeah," Chopper said, pointing his hoof at the door, "Just around back. She said her name was Shelly."

At his words, Tonjit's eyes widen in shock and amazement as he went running to the door. They all followed him to where Tonjit was looking around wildly for the horse. After several seconds Shelly came out from behind the house when she heard him calling her name and she neighed happily when she saw him. The Straw Hats all felt smiles on their faces when Tonjit burst into tears as he ran over to her and hugged her head tightly as he told her how beautiful and long she had grown and how sorry he was for making her wait all these years.

"That is something special," Usopp said as he watched the scene. "She waited here for him all these years even when everyone else left."

Franky fell to his knees as he burst out sobbing, unable to hold it in. "Aw man… that's just the best! Shelly, I love you! Now that's real loyalty!"

Brook smiled sadly. He felt a strong connection to Shelly already… and he couldn't help but wonder if Laboon would be as happy to see him as Shelly was with Tonjit. Shelly suddenly reared up on her hind legs, calling happily as Chopper translated that she wanted to go for a ride. And so they all sat back and watched as Tonjit swung himself up onto her back and they indeed went for a ride across the green fields with smiles on their faces.

"This is so wonderful!" Brook said happily, clapping his hands together, "A happy ending!"

"Don't you hate being wrong all the time?" Sanji sighed and the two looked at him in surprise.

"What's the problem?" Franky demanded, "I don't see one! The old man and his horse are together again and when the tides go down they can cross over and reach the other villagers!"

"Maybe…" Robin said softly, "But as we all know, things are never as simple as we believe them to be." Just then they all heard the sounds of a gunshot being heard and Shelly fell so hard and fast that Tonjit was flung off and landed painfully on the ground.

"What happened?!" Brook screamed out in outrage that someone would dare to hurt Shelly.

"That would be Foxy," Nami said, also feeling a strong surge of anger after seeing what happened. Though she still wasn't happy that Luffy accepted the fight, she could fully understand why he did. Meanwhile, memory Usopp and Chopper jumped up and ran to them, crying out what happened as Luffy got up as well and was glaring around, trying to figure out who fired. When they went to the two on the grass, they were relieved to see that it wasn't a gunshot, but rather it was a steel net. However, Shelly's legs were all tangled up in it and Tonjit stumbled back to her before he fell to the ground in pain.

"Is he hurt?!" Franky yelled anxiously, rage boiling inside him.

"He hurt his back, but it wasn't bad," Chopper answered as his past self went over to examine him and Usopp went to untangle Shelly's legs. But as they looked to Luffy, they saw that he was focused only on three people standing farther away.

"It's those losers," Sanji groaned out. He knew this was coming, but still, just seeing them reminded them of the nightmare of those stupid games. But he drooled a little at the woman with dark blue hair, blue eyes, and a long pointed noise standing with them. She also wore an outfit adorned by several large, white puff-balls, the most notable one being the one hanging from her hat, and a black face mask covered the upper half of her face. There was also a large gorilla-like human standing there as well, who seemed to be giggling to himself. But out of all of them, the strangest was the man standing between them.

A rather stout man with skinny arms and legs with his hair split into two spikes pointing upwards. He had thick, triangle-like eyebrows, and he also had a nose as long as Usopp's only his was red. He was wearing poufy yellow-orange pants that were held up by suspenders, and there was an elaborate necklace hanging on his chest with many circular orange and yellow pendants with a blue, bigger central one with ears on it that resembled a fox with the form of a sword hanging from his pants. And out of all three weirdo's he was the one holding a smoking gun which could only mean that he was the one who fired at Shelly.

"What a freak," Franky whispered.

"You can say that again," Zoro nodded.

"But why did he do such a thing?!" Brook demanded hotly. "Even if he's a pirate, why would he go after Shelly?!"

"He's a jerk that's why," Nami said furiously. "That's Foxy. Or Split Head as we call him."

"Sorry suckers! But that horse is mine!" Foxy yelled out with an annoying laugh.

"She doesn't belong to you!" Brook yelled in outrage. "You leave her alone!"

"Yeah, you tell him boss," the woman said to Foxy firmly. "Put those losers in their place!"

"Loser? What do you call that guy standing next to you?" Zoro asked with his eyebrows raised.

Luffy looked furious and yelled out, "Whoever you are—YOU'LL PAY!"

"Whoever you are?" the man repeated slowly. "You don't know?"

"I wish we never found out," Usopp sighed. "Why do we keep running into nutjobs like him out here?"

"Maybe it's karma?" Sanji shrugged. "Maybe we all did something really bad in a past life and that's why we're being punished like this. Well, if we are, I'm sure that it was all Moss Head's fault."

"Why I outta…" Zoro began to threaten until Foxy asked Luffy, "Don't tell me you've never seen this face before!"

"The only thing I know about your face is that I'm gonna break it!" Luffy roared out.

"That's all I need to know too," Franky said before he noticed Foxy falling to his knees in depression and a dark cloud appeared over his head as the woman, named Porche they found out, was trying to comfort him and get him back to his feet.

"Is… he alright?" Brook asked slowly.

"The thing about Foxy?" Nami said, "He sure isn't good about hiding his emotions. Just one little insult is enough to bring him to his knees."

"What a dope," Franky stated as Foxy slowly got back up to his feet.

"My name is Foxy," he growled, "What's mine is mine, and what's yours is mine to! Feh-Feh! You should see the looks on your dumb faces! What kind of pansy gets so worked up over some stupid horse?! If I didn't steal that thing then somebody else would!"

"What was that?!" Franky yelled in rage. "Stupid horse? She's far from stupid! And she's not some piece of property for you to take!" He gritted this teeth together, "Man, we just ran into him and I already wanna give him the beating of a lifetime!"

"That's enough!" Luffy yelled out, ready to kick out until Foxy surprised them all by saying, "Hold it Luffy! Not yet!"

Luffy was so startled by that that he stopped in mid-kick, demanding to know how he knew his name. But it turned out they knew more than just his name; however, he wasn't here to fight. He surprised them all by holding up three coins and challenged Luffy to a Davy Back Fight.

"Oh, that's what happened!" Franky cried out in understanding.

"A Davy Back Fight?" Brook repeated sounding lost.

"It's nothing good!" Chopper said at once as Luffy proclaimed that he didn't know what he was talking about, but if he wanted to fight, then he was more than willing to do so. That got Usopp's attention, who heard what they were saying. "Luffy no!" he yelled, "We're gonna end up losing our crew!"

"Lose your crew?!" Brook cried out in horror.

"Unfortunately, it's true," Robin answered calmly. "You're about to see…"

Luffy glared back at him, "What are you talking about Usopp?!"

"I know this guy's a jerk!" memory Usopp yelled as he ran forward towards him, "But you can't agree to fight him!"

Foxy laughed, telling him that it was already too late, that Luffy already agreed to the fight and it was too late to turn back now. Taunting him that maybe he wasn't man enough to keep his word.

"Oh, that did it," Zoro sighed as Luffy looked furious, even when Usopp tried to stop him, Luffy demanded what they were going to do about Shelly. But Tonjit had already got back to his feet and pointed a gun at Foxy, telling the two of them to get out of the way so that he could get a clear shot. There wasn't a trace of the kind old man who welcomed them into his home.

"You go old man!" Franky cheered.

"Are you crazy?" memory Usopp asked.

"I really thought he was here," the current one said, "He didn't stand a chance against them! No matter how pathetic Foxy was, he and his whole crew had the old man outnumbered."

"How many are we talking about? Like around fifty or a hundred?" Brook asked.

"Five hundred," Robin answered.

"WHAT?!" Brook yelled out, flabbergasted.

"Mostly ones he won from other crews," Zoro sighed, "Like anyone in their right minds would follow that idiot?"

Tonjit wasn't backing down though. "Shelly waited ten years for me to come back!" he yelled, "I won't let you take her!"

"You'd have to go through me!" the current Chopper yelled out in agreement.

"I know that you're angry!" Luffy yelled, pointing at them, "But those are pirates old man!"

"So what do you say boy?" Foxy asked Luffy. "You up… for a Davy Back Fight?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, but bring it on!" Luffy yelled back heatedly. And the memory faded when Foxy tossed over a gun to Luffy and together they fired them into the air.

"Ok," Brook said as they were back in a different part of the forest now. "What is this thing? I've never heard of a Davy Back Fight. But I'm guessing it's not good?"

"I guess that it wasn't created during your days as a pirate," Usopp muttered, as he thought about how he could explain this stupid game.

"Like Usopp said before," Chopper said softly, "You lose your crewmates."

"Here's how it is," Robin spoke up. "A Davy Back Fight is a series of games between two pirate crews to win each other's crewmates to strengthen their own crew. Little is known about the history of the game, except that one day, on a faraway island known as Pirate Island, some pirates decided to create a game to strengthen their crew."

"So you force people to join you?" Brook asked softly, unable to believe what he was hearing.

"Pretty much," Zoro said.

"But in order for the Davy Back Fight to begin, both captains must agree to the terms," Robin answered, "If successful, both captains will fire a gun at the same time into the air, sealing the agreement. Right after, the exact rules will be said to the teams of both crews."

"What rules are those?" Brook asked.

"Well, first is that any crew members or symbols lost during the Davy Back Fight may only be retrieved through another Davy Back Fight," Usopp answered grumpily.

"And then the selected crew members must immediately swear loyalty to their opponent's captain," Sanji added in a bored way.

"And," Zoro finished, "If your symbol is taken, you must never raise it again. If a crew wins a challenge, it is the captain's job to pick the team member they want. If the captain does not like anyone, they may take the crew's flag, requiring the crew to remove their flags and sails, which may not be used again. The only exception may be if it is somehow won back."

"So in other words, winning could make you stronger," Sanji said grimly, "But losing means leaving you with nothing. You might as well be betting your life."

"Wait! Then that explains the ship that we saw on the way here!" Brook called out as he understood. "They must've lost everything in a Davy Back Fight!"

"Yeah, while you guys were over with the old man and the horse, we met the rest of Foxy's crew and they told us about how they were the ones who beat them," Nami said, "But what made me angry was that the guys they took from that crew didn't care when we told them that they sank to the bottom of the ocean!"

"They… they didn't care?" Brook said in horror. How could you not care about your own crewmates? Even if you were part of a new crew? They sailed all the way through the Grand Line together, but they just no longer cared about them when they heard about their fate?

"There are all types of pirates," Zoro answered, "But these guys rank low even on that scale."

"But you all are still on this crew," Brook said, "So I'm guessing that it all worked out in the end."

"Just barely," Nami sighed. "But yeah, I guess you're right."

In the next memory they looked like they were in carnival—but the Foxy Pirates all had this set up. If they were going to risk losing crewmembers, they were going to at least have a good time. They didn't say much as they watched Luffy and Foxy sitting in chairs on a stage with Porche as they decided how many games they were going to play. Since Foxy was the challenger, Luffy had the choice of picking a one-game Davy Back Fight up to a three-game one. Both memory Usopp and Nami each held up a single finger, letting him know that he was to pick one. However, Hamburg was standing next to them and also held up one finger and Luffy counted them all up so they were playing three games.

They all sat back and watched as the memory Straw Hats all gathered around together, filling out a roster to decide who would participate in which game. The events were a race (where all of them could sign up), a ball game (where they needed three), and a team contest (where they could have up to five members.) Each one of them can participate in an event twice, no more, despite Luffy complaints that he wanted to go for all three. In the end, everyone decided to join up for the race. Then Zoro, Sanji, and Chopper all signed up for the ball game, with the rest of the crew joining up for the contest even though they were one short.

"Alright!" the announcer—a man with a round, pink noise and broad mouth that took up most of his face called through a large Transponder Snail that was serving as a microphone, and flying around on a large bird with a striped ski-cap on his head. "I'll take this time while everyone's preparing to explain how the race works! The course consists of one lap around Long Ring Long Land!"

"That doesn't sound so bad," Franky said slowly before the announcer finished, "It may sound easy but believe me it's not! If your boat sinks you're immediately disqualified from the race! Oh yeah, weapons? They're allowed! Guns, cannons, explosives, anything you can think of! If that sounds unfair, then you've got no right to call yourself a pirate! And time is just about up! I hope everybody is ready!"

"Sure they can use stuff against you, but you guys can too," Brook said. "If anything goes, then that should also mean that any form of cheating is allowed during the contests, and players may use any special abilities or Devil Fruit powers to give them an advantage."

"Oh, believe me," Nami said, a muscle going in her forehead, "These guys spent a lot of time finding new inventive ways to cheat. It got annoying very quickly. By the end of all this, I was ready to pound them all into the dirt."

They all waited until the match started and watched. Parts of it was fun to watch, but the cheating soon got so outlandish that they were all growing frustrated with every second. The first round was called the Donut Race and all teams had to build a make-shift boat out of nothing but three barrels and two oars. Each team then races around the island, trying to avoid obstacles and enemy cheating in order to make it to the finish line first.

Deciding that their best choice was to split up into three teams, Nami, Usopp, and Robin made up one team; with Sanji and Luffy as another, and Chopper and Zoro as the final team. They were all able to construct several boats that barely floated using nothing but the required materials… but all of Foxy's teams had no problems cheating. Such as Porche's team using a shark to pull their boat, and another team using barrels the size of ships…

"This is just ridiculous," Franky said as they all nodded with him. The race was dirty to say the least. The Foxy Pirates used everything and did everything that you could think of to cheat… in the end though almost every team was taken out except for Nami, Usopp, and Robin… and Porche and her team. But when the Straw Hats took the lead, almost reaching the finishing line, something strange had happened… they somehow ended up slowing down to an almost complete stop and couldn't seem to move.

"What happened to you guys?" Franky asked, "You were almost there! You let them pass?!"

"We didn't let them win!" Nami snapped back. "What their captain didn't tell us was that he had the powers of a Devil Fruit. A really stupid one, but it stopped us in our tracks!"

"Why? What could it do?" Brook asked anxiously.

"Please, he could only do the same old trick over and over," Zoro said in a bored voice. "And it's probably the only reason they kept winning crewmembers. Whenever they start to lose, they just kept changing all the rules until they win."

"How can you call that winning if you have to cheat to get there?" Sanji asked rolling his eyes. At the end of the race, Porche was able to win and the Straw Hats were all gathered around, trying to figure out what happened.

"You guys hurt?" memory Chopper asked worriedly, examining them, making sure that they were all in one piece. They all said the same thing, they were alright, none of them had so much as a scratch, but they couldn't figure out what had happened.

"What the heck happened out there?" Luffy asked in bafflement.

"That's what I want to know," Brook said. Why would anyone stop in the middle of a race, especially when they were at the finish line?

"I'd like to know the same thing!" memory Nami said.

"We all like to know what happened!" past Usopp added, sounding completely baffled. "Did we really lose somehow?"

"It looked like you were gonna win," Luffy said, "But then you slowed down and they passed you!"

"Stupid Foxy," present-day Nami hissed. That was when Foxy came over to them, laughing at that as he said that it was caused by Slow-Mo protons. They all glared at him, demanding to know what he did. And with Hamburg shooting a cannonball at Foxy, he gave them a demonstration. He was able to create these particles in the form of a strange light and anything touched by this light would be slowed down and stay like that for about thirty seconds.

"You've got to be kidding me," Franky said with a blank expression. Just what kind of Devil Fruit could do that?

"I wish he was," Usopp whispered. And Foxy proved it for as the light hit the cannonball it had stopped and slowed to a crawl. They stared in shock at it, amazed as Foxy bragged about it—at least until he hadn't moved from where he was and the cannonball ended up hitting him anyway.

"What an idiot," current Chopper whispered.

"You'd think he'd at least move," Robin said, "But I guess thirty seconds wasn't enough time for him to finish bragging?"

"Considering how sensitive he is, it doesn't surprise me," Nami stated, "He's got a heart of glass."

"Yohohoho, Nami-san is harsh!" Brook said happily. As the Foxy Pirates went to see if Foxy was alright, the Straw Hats were all glaring at them all.

"I get it," memory Usopp hissed, "So that's why we didn't win the race!"

"That also explains why they're so overly confident by these games," past Sanji added darkly, "What a joke of a Devil Fruit power."

"Aside from those beams, he can't do anything but cheat," Zoro muttered with a roll of his eyes. "He's got nothing else but that going for him."

"Sad," present-day Usopp whispered.

"It doesn't matter!" Porche screamed at them, "You guys lost! You know all the rules and you agreed to all the terms!"

"The Donut Race is over!" Foxy yelled out, "And we are the winners!"

"Winners my ass," Franky muttered. That whole race was a joke. But there was nothing they could do as they watched Foxy head up to the stage and declared the crew member he wanted… which happened to be Chopper.

"Chopper!" Luffy yelled in horror.

"So you were forced to join them, Chopper-san?" Brook said softly.

"Yeah, and it's not a fond memory," Chopper said softly. "I left home because I wanted to join Luffy and the others! Not Foxy! I'm so happy you all won me back."

"We all are," Robin smiled down, knowing how Chopper felt.

"So that creep had his eyes set on Chopper," memory Sanji said, "Well, I suppose he really is among the rarest of rare animals."

"Should I take that as a compliment or an insult?" Chopper asked the current Sanji who shrugged. "Whatever you want," he answered back.

"Or maybe he collects cute things?" memory Nami suggested.

"You know, I wouldn't rule out a fur fetish," Robin answered.

"Would you all stop that?!" Chopper outside the memory yelled.

"Sorry," Nami laughed a little.

"WHY DOES IT EVEN MATTER?!" memory Usopp yelled, "FOCUS PEOPLE! THAT FREAK OVER THERE JUST TOOK OUR FRIEND!"

Chopper sighed, at least one of them seemed upset with it all. But when he looked to his memory self, who was set in a chair on the stage and was forced to put a mask on. Feeling the mask was too much for him.

"YOU GUYS!" he screamed out to his former crew, tears falling hard and fast. "LISTEN! I ONLY WENT OUT TO SEA BECAUSE OF YOU! I WON'T—NO—I REFUSE! LUFFY! YOU INVITED ME! I SET SAIL TO BE ONE OF THE STRAW HATS! I WON'T GO WITH THEM! PLEASE NO! I AM THE SHIP'S DOCTOR OF THE STRAW HAT PIRATES! TONY TONY CHOPPER! I WON'T GGGGGGOOOOOOO!"

"My heart is breaking for you, Chopper-san," Brook sniffled. "Not that I have one…"

Chopper didn't answer him. He hated this experience… the idea that he was going to be separated from the very people who accepted him for who he was—let him come with them on so many adventures scared him.

"Oh, grow up," current Zoro said.

"ZORO-SAN!" Brook yelled just as memory Zoro, who had been drinking, slammed his bottle down on the grass so hard that it sank into the ground several inches. "Quit your belly-aching Chopper!" he yelled. "It's disgraceful! You made the choice to set sail as a pirate! Only you! Now you have to live with the consequence of that decision!"

"A pirate's life isn't always easy or fun," Zoro said, "But we often have no one but ourselves to blame when things go wrong. Besides, you honestly thought that we weren't going to win you back?"

Chopper shook his head. "Of course not!" he declared. "But Luffy is my only captain! And I know that he'll never be defeated by a guy like him! He's gonna become the King of the Pirates!"

"That's more like it," Zoro said approvingly.

His past self then finished up, the Foxy Pirates all looking at him in awe, "We agreed to the terms of this game! You, Usopp, and everyone else did the best they could!" He stood up, "Not one pirate worth his salt is gonna sympathize with those tears! A man…" he turned and gave them a hard look, "Would suck it up and quietly watch the rest of this game!"

"Did you have to say it that harshly?" current Nami asked him sharply with her past self telling the same thing to the memory version of the swordsman.

"It needed to be said," Zoro said, "Chopper had to just suck it up and deal with it until we got him back. And we did get him back, enough said."

Memory Chopper seemed to realize that he was right as he swallowed his tears. He sat down in the chair as he yelled out to his new 'crew', "Boil me or cook me alive! Give me your worse you bastards!"

The Foxy pirates all cheered loudly at that as memory Zoro said, "Thatta boy." And the memory then disappeared after that.

"You are so cool, Zoro-san," Brook said happily. "That speech was incredible!"

"I just don't get it," Nami said softly to Robin, who laughed. "It's a men thing," she answered back in a whisper. "I don't think that we'd ever understand it, but I think that they care more about looking cool in front of others than let see tears."

Nami sighed, shaking her head. Men were so stupid sometimes… them and their pride… the next few memories popped up soon after that. The memory Straw Hats all learned that since the other team took Chopper, he would no longer be able to compete in this round. Which meant that there was only going to be Zoro and Sanji in the game—with no one to keep them from fighting each other.

"So… you two were going to work together to win Chopper back?" Franky asked them all slowly. Really, if Chopper's only hope on coming back to the Straw Hats was if these two worked together, then he was screwed.

"Surprisingly, they did win," Usopp said, "But it sure didn't look good at the start."

They all listened to the rules of this event, (which everyone snorted at that). Here, teams of three from each pirate crew choose one of their members to be the 'Ball', and the other team has to try and knock the opposing team's ball into the goal once. This event forbids the use of weapons, as it is a sport, though other kinds of cheating were allowed.

"No weapons? What shit," Sanji hissed, remembering the spikes on that giant Fishman's feet. They weren't even bothering to hide the fact that they were cheating… and that damn referee didn't do a thing! Oh, he was more than satisfied when he took him out. The present-day Straw Hats all stood on the sidelines with the others as they watched the two teams on the field. It wasn't off to a good start…

Memory Zoro had volunteered Sanji to be the 'ball', and they put a ball-shaped hat on Sanji's head. Naturally, Sanji didn't like it. "Who said you get to pick?!" he demanded loudly, "You're the ball you moss-headed bastard!"

"This… I'm not too hopeful here, Chopper," Franky said quietly.

"Neither was I," Chopper whispered to him.

"And how do they cheat here?" Brook asked, but he stopped when the other team came onto the field and his question was answered at once. On the field, Hamburg, who was already larger than a normal human, and two others had just come into view. The next guy was larger than Hamburg with long arms and short legs in comparison to his body and a hippo-like face whose name was Pickles. They all laughed at the stupid name, but he was still smaller than the next guy. A half giant, half Fishman called Big Pan who towered over them all—easily capable of stepping on them all into paste. He had slippery mudfish skin, sharp teeth, and an orange dorsal fin that matched his orang hair and beard… and he was the one who had the strap-on ball on his head.

"Could they at least try not making the cheating so obvious?!" Nami yelled, seeing these stupid games brought back all that anger and she felt an urge to hit Foxy in the face all over again. They started things off with a coin loss, which the Straw Hats loss.

"Who wants to bet that they were using a double-faced coin or something?" Robin asked suddenly.

"Knowing these sore losers, it won't surprise me in the slightest if they had," current Zoro said, giving the referee a dirty look. Meanwhile, the two memory selves were busy fighting over who has to be ball man, forced to start doing games of rock, paper, and scissors to see who has to do it. Memory Nami, now getting angry yelled out to Sanji, "Sanji! That hat looks great on you!"

"ALRIGHT! LET'S ROCK!" Sanji declared, "BALL MAN'S HERE TO KICK SOME ASS!"

"You really mean that, Nami-swan?" current Sanji asked lovingly.

"Well, you've looked worse?" Nami said and Sanji just seemed to almost fall over from happiness.

"Dumbass," present-day Zoro said softly. His past self then spoke up, "I gotta admit it does suit you. You look like a real prince. From the kingdom of lame-asses."

"Can't you get along for five minutes?" Nami asked, "For Chopper's sake if nothing else?"

"He started it!" they both snapped, pointing at the other before glaring at each other. Their past selves weren't much better—they were at each other's throats, now fighting each other. Memory Usopp yelled for the match to start but before they did, the referee told Zoro to hand over his swords, no weapons allowed.

"Why didn't they check the other team for weapons?!" Chopper yelled out.

"Their referee is on their side," Robin reminded him, "And he didn't watch half the game either when they were cheating."

"Nothing about this makes even the slightest bit of sense!" Nami cried out. "I just don't get any of this!"

"Fine!" memory Zoro yelled, passing his swords off before punching his fists together, "My fists are all I need!"

"You sure you're gonna be ok out there?" memory Sanji asked him, "A swordsman without his swords is just a… well…"

"What?" past Zoro demanded annoyed.

"A normal guy… only lamer," he said before the two began to fight once again.

"THAT WASN'T EVEN A GOOD BURN!" memory Usopp yelled out at them boy, looking ready to do and say just about anything to get them to work together. "GET OVER IT!"

"You're right, his insults are lame," present-day Zoro said coolly and Sanji glared at him.

"But they're enough to get you angry," Sanji reminded him smugly.

"Do you really wanna die?!" Zoro yelled at him.

"Shut up!" Nami yelled. The game was finally underway, but the biggest problem was that the two just didn't want to ask for help from the other. Soon the two were force to run from Big Pan, with Usopp screaming at them not to run from the 'ball'. But that was when they realized that there were spikes at the bottom of Pan's shoes. But as they screamed at the referee, he looked away and pretended not to see them. Now losing his anger, Sanji kicked so hard that one of his shoes flew off and hit the guy almost knocking him out.

"Nice hit," Franky smirked. "This whole game is making me angry just watching!"

"Welcome to our world," Usopp sighed as memory Sanji was given the yellow card, and memory Usopp was forced to hold him back before he went over to kill the referee. Meanwhile past Zoro was still forced to run from Big Pan, who was swinging around a giant ax."

"An ax now?" Brook asked, sweatdrop hanging around his head. "Weren't they even trying to hide it?"

"There wasn't a point," Robin answered, "Because the referee was completely for Foxy's side to win. I have the feeling that they could've pulled out a cannon or a bomb on us and he would pretend not to hear it."

"I always thought this game might get ugly," Franky said, looking at all the Foxy Pirates, "but I never thought that it would get this ugly!"

Usopp was now trying to get Sanji back in the game, with memory Nami saving the day by asking him to win the match for her, which caused Sanji to run back to the field, only to be chased around by Pan. Due to the underhanded tactics and their massive size—and mostly due to the fighting between the two Straw Hats and bias on the referee's pretending not to see this—the two were soon laying on the field all beat up and bleeding.

"Come on! I know you can do better than this!" current Usopp yelled at the two of them. At that moment, the two battered and bruised warriors were able to get back to their feet and prepare their counterattack, seemingly willing to let bygones be bygones just for this game. Then Sanji took out Hamburg without too much effort and Zoro seemed to develop a technique that let him used blades though he didn't have any swords in his hands.

"AWESOME!" Chopper screamed out in amazement, his eyes shining.

"No Swords Style?" Brook repeated, if he had eyes, they would be popping out of his head. "I don't see how that's possible!"

"Just think of it as mind over matter," Zoro answered. Truthfully, he didn't know how he was able to do it, but he supposed that he was so in tune with his blades, that he was able to tap into their strength even when he didn't have them with him. The game went on, and quite a few of them cheered with Sanji took out Pickles and sent him flying right into the referee.

"He would've seen it coming if he had been paying attention," Sanji smirked. "Not my fault he wasn't doing his job. I mean, it's not like I broke his neck or anything."

"Your right, because if you had broken his neck, then he'd be dead," Robin offered and Chopper turned pale at that.

"You could've been given the Red Card for that," Usopp pointed out, but Robin laughed as she pointed out that memory Nami had already stolen his whistle and cards so that there wasn't anything he could do to get Sanji out of the game.

"Again, he wasn't paying attention," Nami stated, feeling a surge of pride go through her. "If he had done his job right, he could've avoided all that pain and suffering."

The two put aside their difference, and they were easily able to defeat the Groggy Monsters at long last—and the Foxy Pirates couldn't have been more stunned to see their team of titans defeated.

"This is payback for all the shit they thought they could get away with," Sanji smirked. As they returned to the stage, it was funny because each member of the Foxy Pirates thought that they were the one who was going to be chosen.

"Is it me, or does everyone have a bit of an ego in that crew?" Franky asked quietly.

"It's not you," Chopper sighed, remembering how much he hated being stuck with them. He was glad that Robin was going to be there to protect him from that crazy Porche. But just as Luffy was about to tell them who he wanted, memory Nami surprised them all by stopping him.

"What were you thinking of?" Brook asked her. "You were going to get Chopper back!"

Chopper looked away, knowing that wasn't exactly what happened. But at the same time, he couldn't be angry at Luffy for making his choice.

"What's up Nami?" Luffy asked her and she had an evil grin on her face. She reminded them that Foxy was probably going to take part in the next game, and with his Slow Slow abilities, they wouldn't stand a chance. She then offered the idea of taking Foxy—and use his ability against his crew to win the next round and get Chopper back then. With Foxy on their side, the other pirates might be so lost without their boss they won't have an idea to what to do.

"That's dirty sis," Franky muttered. And he wasn't the least bit surprised to see the uproar from the Foxy Pirates. To take a crew's captain… it would be like if they took Luffy away from them so of course they would be angry. The Foxy Pirates were all outraged, yelling that they were underhanded cowards for doing such a thing.

"Please," current Sanji said, rolling his eyes, "Like they're ones to talk! I was going to kill them all for saying such cruel things to you, Nami-dear!"

Memory Nami was crying into Robin's shirt. "Why are they so mean?" she asked her.

"They just don't like the idea that they were beaten and their biggest cheater could've been taken," Sanji said firmly.

"Well… even if it doesn't go against the rules," memory Robin stated, "It does seem to go against their pirate sensibilities."

As they booed them, Luffy frowned and told them to shut up. Memory Usopp called out that he agreed with Nami on this one, however he said it from the safety of behind Zoro in case they started going after him. "I don't know," Zoro retorted, "I think they're right. Nami? Why don't you grow a backbone?"

Faster than the eye could see, she ended up taking him out. "You're just making a big fuss because you lost!" she hissed, "How about you shut up and deal with it?!"

"Yes ma'am, we're sorry!" Foxy yelled as they all stood at attention.

"I should've done that from the start," the current navigator said as the men all gave her nervous looks—aside from Sanji that is—and inched away from her. As everyone was reminded that the rules did say 'anybody' they all waited anxiously for Luffy to make up his mind. But then memory Robin realized something. "Say," she said, "Just a quick thought… this plan of yours? Although it would give us a big advantage, you realize it would also make Foxy a part of our crew."

"Ok…" Franky said slowly, "If he was on your crew, I probably wouldn't have joined."

"No, I rather take anyone over Foxy," Zoro said with a nod, "I was sick of listening to him by this point and I couldn't wait to get off this stupid island."

Memory Nami blinked at that, clearly showing that she hadn't thought about that as the boys all said together, "Yeah, I think I'll pass."

Once again, Foxy had become depressed with the rest of his crew there trying to get him back to his feet.

"He's the one who needs to grow a backbone," the current Usopp said and they all nodded as the announcer yelled, "Now that the Straw Hats are done emotionally abusing our boss. It's time for them to make their decision. Come on, don't leave us in suspense any longer."

"Fine," Luffy said, "In that case, there's somebody I wanna take back!" Memory Chopper's eyes lit up at once, but then Luffy shouted out, "SHELLY!"

"WHAT?!" Franky and Brook yelled in shock.

"That's right," Nami said, having mixed feelings, "He chose to take the horse."

Everyone was dumbstruck at that. As Usopp and Nami yelled at him, pulling his face and stretching it all out in anger, Tonjit came over, pulling Shelly on a cart as she rested from her injury. Luffy smiled at them. "There you go stilts guy," he said to the old man, "Now you've got your horse back once and for all."

"So that's why he did it," Brook said in wonder.

"The whole reason he accepted the Davy Back Fight was to help that old man," Robin smiled.

"How can I thank you?" Tonjit asked, gratitude in his voice.

"Seeing you together is thanks enough," Luffy answered happily.

"Even if he barely knows you," Zoro said calmly, "If Luffy sees you as a friend, then he'll fight for you. I guess that he remembered the old man's kindness and is returning the favor."

Franky's lip was trembling. "I don't know what to say to that!" he gasped out. "I'm so touched I can't speak!"

"I am just so relieved that she's ok!" Brook cried out in joy. "Thank goodness! Thank you, Luffy-san!"

Tonjit asked in worry about their injuries but Luffy just laughed as Sanji and Zoro fought again, showing that they were already feeling better. Which they would have to put up with until they won their doctor back. Tonjit had tears in his eyes as he said, "This means so much. Really… thank you."

Seeing how happy the two were together, even Usopp and Nami couldn't help but smile—their anger at Luffy vanishing. After all, it was gestures like this that reminded them all the sole reason to why they joined Luffy in the first place. Memory Nami sighed. "Well, I guess I can't blame him," she said, but she no longer sounded upset.

"After seeing those two… I just couldn't hate him for that," Usopp nodded as his past self was saying that was what he was going to do if it had been him.

"Sure you would," Zoro said sarcastically. Tonjit then said that he wanted to repay them by treating them to some of the cheese back at his house, which Usopp yelled he wouldn't do that in a million years. But it turns out that Tonjit was joking when he started laughing and bowed his head in thanks. Shelly neighed and Tonjit said, "Shelly says thanks too."

"She did," Chopper said happily, "She says that she can't thank Luffy enough. She didn't think that they were going to let her go."

"And that's all the more reason I can't take it," Franky sobbed out. He tried to tell himself that he was a rock! A brick wall… but seeing how happy Shelly was after being reunited that he felt the wall crumble and he became a soggy sponge as he cried.

"Are you sure about this though?" Tonjit said in worry as he looked back to the stage, to where Chopper was watching them sadly. "What about your little reindeer friend?"

"Yeah, you jerk!" Nami snapped, remembering the matter at hand, "How do you think he feels being left with those weirdos? Poor little guy."

"But there was still one more game!" Brook pointed out. "So you still had a chance!"

The new Foxy Pirate Chopper looked like he was gonna cry again until Luffy called to him, "Chopper? I'm sorry. I know this is hard on you, but no matter what I promise we're gonna win the next game and get you back so hang on a little longer ok? I know you can take it! After all, you're a man right?"

"Of course!" the present-day one called proudly. "I said that I was going to be a more reliable man and I meant it!"

His past self sat back down in the chair and looked ready to deal with anything.

"That's our Chopper!" Nami in the memory said softly and the memory disappeared.

"I think you were handling it all very well, Chopper-san," Brook said encouragingly.

"Thanks," Chopper answered, "But I don't ever wanna go into another Davy Back Fight again."

"Well, we'd probably win easy now," Sanji pointed out, reminding them all how strong they had become. In the next memory the Foxy Pirates were all building and working hard. It was amazing to see how quickly they were working together… when they were done, they saw that it had to be a stadium and a ring around it.

"I'm impressed," Franky whistled as he dried his eyes and looked at the enormous ring.

"Well, they got the manpower, so it's not surprising they were able to build something this big in a short amount of time," Usopp said, "I mean, it only took them a few hours to get it up."

They could hear the announcer calling out to them all that they were now about to compete in the Roller Race. He called out that the point of the game was that they were to race on a circular track, the crew races each other on roller skates. There were a total of five rounds, and the first team to get to three wins would win the entire thing. Each team has a lead runner that starts thirty seconds before and then the other races that protect their lead running and try to stop the other teams, would take off after ten seconds. The winner is the lead runner who is farthest ahead after a certain amount of time.

"And I can't wait to see how they cheat here," Franky muttered bitterly. As the Straw Hats came onto the field, they were forced to watch Foxy's team, which consisted of Foxy as the coach, Porche, Chiqicheeta who was a half-man, half-cheetah hybrid, Mashikaku who was a huge and rectangular man with thin arms and moved like a tank, and two Fishmen named Jube and Girarin.

"Already cheating?" Brook asked as he looked to the 'cheetah'. That was hardly fair.

"Why are you surprised?" Nami sighed as Chiqicheetah suddenly came over and began to sniff Luffy curiously.

"Ah… what?" Franky asked.

"Luffy ate a Kiwi earlier," Sanji muttered, "Some kiwis can act like catnip… and cheetahs are still cats."

"Ah…" Franky said again, only in understanding this time. Anyway, memory Sanji was acting as the coach for the Straw Hats and came up with the plan. Luffy would be the racer for the first and last rounds, Nami would be second, Usopp was going third, and Robin was forth. But just as this was decided, Zoro demanded to know just who made him in charge.

"Well we can't leave it up to Luffy can we?" the current Sanji asked.

"Huh?" memory Sanji asked, "Because the coach is the one who makes all the decisions, not the manager and I'm the coach."

"And how come you get to have the awesome job and while I get stuck following your stupid orders?!" Zoro yelled at him. Present-day Zoro nodded firmly at that; he hated taking orders from just anyone… let alone that crappy cook.

"Obviously because I'm a genius and your brain is so rotten you're growing mold on your head," Sanji answered as if it was obvious.

"If you think you're a genius then your ego is as twisted as your eyebrow," Zoro snapped back.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" the current Zoro and Sanji yelled at each other, looking ready to tear the other apart.

"Knock it off you guys!" Chopper called in a pleading tone as they all were growing frustrated with their antics.

"Can't you all just agree that this happened over two years ago?" Robin offered and they both just ended up looking away from the other, both steaming at the collar. Once the fighting was out of the way, they sat back to watch. But just as the game went underway, they all found out the hard way that Luffy couldn't skate—which led to the others telling Luffy to hold his breath while they kicked him around the ring as an inflated balloon. But just as they reached the finish line, one of the Fishmen knocked him off the track and into the stands—so he was out.

"You think that he would've mentioned that he never skated before," Brook said, trying to think back, but realizing that in none of the memories they'd seen up till now, Luffy was never seen even touching a pair of skates.

"That moron didn't think it was going to be that hard," Sanji sighed. "But I'll say this much for him, he's a quick learner."

The second round wasn't any better—in fact, they didn't even get a chance to skate! Mashikaku, who was as fast as a turtle was racing for them, and it looked like it was going to be an easy win. At least until Porche pulled out a baton and performed some kind of trick so that the memory blacked out.

"What happened?" Brook cried out, "What'd she do?"

"I think it was a form of hypnotism," Robin answered, "I don't remember anything but waking up after that."

"You mean… she put all of you to sleep?" Franky asked them.

"That was awful!" Chopper said, having been the only one who had seen what happened. "You all just collapsed and I wanted to go down and treat you until they were all telling me that you were all asleep!"

But he trailed off before he could add the heart-wrenching news that they told him that he couldn't do anything for them even if they were hurt. He wasn't part of their crew anymore so he was given orders not to treat them. He sighed miserably at that as he sat back, waiting for the new memory to pop up. That was awful… to think that his crew were hurt and not able to do anything? Regardless of the rules here, he meant every word from before… he was the doctor of the Straw Hat Pirates and Luffy was his captain! And no matter what happened that wasn't ever gonna change!

"So… while you guys were all out, that big guy went around the track?" Brook said, slowly understanding what happened. "HOW IS THAT FAIR?!"

"Weren't you paying attention?" Zoro asked in annoyance as the memory came back and they were all on the track with the race over. "These guys play to win. They don't care about what they have to do to get there. Even if it means some dirty tricks."

"This is just stupid!" Franky yelled as memory Zoro was giving Luffy some pointers on how to stand up and skate.

"I didn't take you one for a skater," Robin laughed a little as she watched.

"I don't skate, but I know how it works," he answered in annoyance. "But in the end all I did was tell Luffy to just watch and copy what everyone else did."

"Oh, so that's how he learned so quickly," Usopp said thinking it over. "Because he couldn't even keep up at first, but in the end he was going just as fast as cheetah boy."

Round three was starting up and as Usopp took off, Chiqicheetah took off so quickly that he had already lapped the track before the defense even left. But to their amazement, Luffy was on his feet and awkwardly went off so fast that he was able to keep up with him.

"You go Luffy!" Franky cheered on as the announcer called out in amazement and the cheetah boy was now forced to start running on all four legs. They were neck and neck with each other, but as they neared a turn Luffy went flying up and out of the ring.

"Oh crap! I taught him how to stand and skate, but not how to turn!" Zoro moaned, remembering that.

"But he's gotten better," Brook pointed out as the memory quickly came back to see that Luffy was up in the hole that he made in the fence when he went flying out. But he was staring at the rest of the racers with wide and focused eyes—especially on Chiqicheetah. He left the course, his tail holding onto the fence and swung down quickly that it doubled his speed.

"Shouldn't that count as leaving the track?" Franky demanded.

"The air is safe so it doesn't count," Sanji said bitterly, "Oh, so they say."

Just as it was looking like they were going to lose the race, memory Sanji was screaming up at Tonjit, demanding to know where he got the kiwi he gave Luffy before the game began. Once Tonjit called back that they grow in the trees behind them, Sanji then barked at Zoro to get a branch of it and bring it back to them. In the end, Zoro rode Shelly out of the stands and to the fields.

"What does this have to do with anything?!" Franky yelled.

"Wait for it…" Sanji added as memory Usopp was just about to lose the race. Just as time was almost up, the giant tree fell into the stadium from where Zoro had hacked down the tree and Chiqicheetah was now out of the race when he was distracted by the kiwi's and went out of bounds. Which left Usopp the winner.

"Kiwis have special properties," Sanji answered with a smile as he watched them. "I told you before right? They act like cat nip… thought it was worth a shot."

"Brilliant, Sanji-san!" Brook called happily.

"Thank you, thank you!" he called as Zoro rolled his eyes. Though he was man enough to admit that the cook did have one good idea, he'd cut his tongue out before he admitted it out loud. The announcer called as soon as the tree was out, they would start round four.

They watched by the side of the track as memory Zoro pulled Luffy to the course again and was telling him how to turn, but Luffy just smiled. "Don't worry, I got it," he said confidently.

"What do you mean you got it?" past Zoro repeated. "You didn't have it a second ago?"

"Look, I did what you told me to do," Luffy said, "I watched how everyone else was skating, I'm ready!"

And he was right. He truly was a fast learner. The race started and Robin was already off with the Fishman Jube on her heels. But when Luffy was able to take off, he was skated perfectly, and when he reached the bend, he ended up copying what Chiqicheeta had done and stretched his arm out and used the momentum to catch up to the others before he took out Jube.

"Wow! It's like he's been skating for years!" Franky laughed as Luffy called after Robin to keep going and that he'd handle this guy. It was a real race now. Even with the other two players trying to block her, Robin was easily able to get around them both. And Porche was no longer a threat since memory Nami also managed to steal her baton so that she couldn't put the team back to sleep. The worst part was when Foxy tried to cheat once again using his Slow Slow Beam to stop her, however memory Usopp and Nami alternated yelling out insults and compliments at him to keep him distracted between joy and sorrow. With him in the shape he was in, Robin ended up winning the race easily.

"That worked like a charm," Zoro muttered and they all nodded with him.

"That made me sick to my stomach you know," Nami shuddered at the memory of yelling out how 'great' Foxy was. "Why couldn't you be the one to compliment him?"

"Hey, there's not exactly many nice things to say about the guy?" he shrugged. "I don't know what you wanted from me. But hey, it all worked out in the end didn't it?"

"We won this whole fight by the skins of our teeth," Sanji whispered as they watched them go into the last round. With two wins and two losses on each side, this was the big deciding winner—and now Luffy was going against the Fishman Girarin. Right off the bat, Foxy used his beam to try and hit Luffy, but he was also wearing earplugs as well so that Usopp and Nami's words didn't work on him like last time. Luffy was able to dodge the beams for awhile, before memory Sanji yelled out that the beam didn't work on Girarin.

"Huh? Why is that?!" Brook yelled in surprise.

"Remember when he used that giant mirror ball back when you met him?" Robin asked. "You can reflect the beam with something like a mirror. Because of those blades on the end of his arms, Girarin is able to deflect them."

"I see!" Brook said in understanding. But then Girarin was able to use to his advantage as he deflected the beam towards Luffy in front of him. Robin's warning came too late and Luffy was slowed down. Now only Robin was freed, with thirty seconds remaining until the end of the round, she surprised everyone by coming right off the track.

"I couldn't figure out how taking yourself out of the game was helping," Usopp told her and she laughed.

"It was all I could think of to win," she told them, and her past self showed them what she was talking about. Once Luffy was freed of the beam's effect and went off, memory Robin used her ability to hold Foxy's hands from doing the beam a second time, forcing them back and eventually forcing him to slow himself down.

"Let's see how he likes it," Usopp said smugly as the other Foxy Pirates try to stop Robin, but memory Zoro intimidated them enough to get them to back off, allowing Luffy to overtake his opponent, and win the round. Despite losing in the beginning, the Straw Hats manage to turn the game around and win Chopper back.

"ALRIGHT!" Franky cheered on. "You did it! What a great way to end the game! You do end it right?" he added with a quick look to the others, only to see that none of them were celebrating.

"No, and you can thank Luffy for that," Sanji muttered in annoyance.

"What are you talking about?" Brook asked in shock. "I mean… you all won! All three games are over and you got Shelly and Chopper back! What's the problem?!"

It seemed as though he was proven right when memory Chopper didn't need to be told twice to come back when Luffy called him over. Chopper jumped down and ran over to him crying, ripping off his mask and jumped into Luffy's arms.

"I was so scared!" he cried out, "I'm so happy you won!"

"Are you kidding?" Luffy asked him beaming. "A bunch of suckers like that could never beat my crew!"

"Which is why they resort to such dirty tricks," Zoro nodded as the announcer called that the Davy Back Fight was over and since they reclaimed Chopper, he stated that the match ended in a draw.

"No, you got two back," Brook pointed out. "And you did win two out of three matches! It wasn't a draw!"

Not everyone seemed to agree with that however.

"HOLD IT! HOLD IT! HOLD IT!" Foxy suddenly yelled and they all spun around to look at him. "Any captain worth his weight in seaweed knows that there are no draws in the pirate world! It's plunder or be plundered! You won't let it end like this will you?"

"Oh, shut up!" current Usopp moaned out. How he wished that these Davy Back Fight memories would just end… they were driving him crazy! But that was when Luffy agreed to another set of three matches against the Foxy Pirates. Naturally, Usopp and Nami beat him up, and he promised that he wouldn't do it again.

"Won't do much good if you lose your crewmates during these fights," Franky muttered.

"Luffy just can't refuse a challenge," Zoro sighed as the memory faded. "I mean, he already agreed so it's not like we could back out of it."

"But what was the point of it all?" Brook asked, "I mean, you won. There shouldn't have to be a reason for you to fight? Was there someone else he wanted from Foxy?"

"There was something he did want," Sanji said, remembering how Luffy chose to take the flag. Could it be that was what he had been after from the start?

Soon, they were back on another field that reminded them of the Groggy Game only now there were two spiked balls.

"With our second Davy Back Fight about to start, I'm back in the announcer's seat to explain the rules of our first match!" the announcer yelled.

"What's the point of having rules if they don't follow them?" Chopper whispered.

"Yeah, and I thought for sure that this game was going to be fair," Sanji said, "Since they had no choice but to follow the rules… but shows what I know right?"

The announcer than called, "The name of the game is Hit and DeadBall! The balls in question are the two you see on the field right now! If the opposing team hits you with one of those two babies, you're outta the game! The teams are divided into on court and off court members! They're free to choose which members go where and what number! Once you're out of on court members you're out of the match! Keep in mind that though the off-court members can throw the ball around like everyone else, they're not allowed to enter the court under any circumstance!"

"So all these cute games have been turned deadly," Brook said, "Well, Dodgeball is a dangerous game normally anyway, Yohohoho!"

"They make it sound all fancy," memory Sanji said, "But it just sounds like regular old Dodgeball to me." That was when the announcer tossed the rulebook over to them, one so thick that Robin had to grow an extra pair of arms out of her own to hold onto it as they stared at the thick book.

"You're kidding me, that's the rulebook? How can there be that many rules in Dodgeball?" Franky asked, "All you have to do is throw the ball, if the ball hits you you're out right? How complicated can it get?"

"You'll see," Zoro said dully.

"What's the point of preaching to us about the rules if you're just gonna break them all anyway?" memory Nami demanded, "Did you just give us the rulebook so we'll know how bad you're cheating?"

"Now, now, now…" the announcer called in a smug way, "Take a look at the first page, mademoiselle!"

Robin did so and read out, "Referee regulations. He who makes a judgment contrary to the rules written here will be beheaded on the spot."

"So they have no choice but to follow the rules?" Franky said as memory Chopper yelled out in shock at the idea of losing your head.

"Didn't stop them," Chopper whispered to himself. The entire Straw Hat crew, with Nami and Robin on the sidelines, participates in this game as does the entire Foxy crew. For the initial jump ball, Luffy and Chopper, in Jump Point form, snag the ball, and both manage to slam it into Foxy's face, however according to rule number twenty-three, the face is safe. Memory Nami then handed the ball off to Zoro and Sanji, who manage to take out nine people each.

"Eighteen in two shots?" Brook said in an impressed voice, "Especially seeing how many people you're up against? Impressive!"

During this time, memory Robin was sitting at the side lines, reading the rule book, but still managed to snag the ball and hand it off to Luffy and Chopper. Luffy knocks ten players out of bound, and his ball was picked up by the Foxy team. Chopper then threw his ball in Arm Point, but Hamburg manages to stop his teammates from going out of bounds, and hands both balls to Big Pan. The first ball gets dodged by everyone on the Straw Hat team, except for Usopp, hitting him on the shoulder, along with twenty-two players from the Foxy team. This leaves the Foxy team with only two players left, Foxy and Hamburg.

"That hit did more harm to his own team than to you guys!" Franky yelled out.

"His strength ended up being used against them," Zoro said coolly.

"Well, you should have this game in the bag then," Franky offered, before noticing the sour looks on their faces and he groaned. "You lost? How could you lose?"

"Just shut up," Zoro said in annoyance. As the two discuss how to win, memory Robin used her powers to drop the ball on Hamburg's head. At first, it seems Hamburg is out, but one of the refs declare that the top of the head is safe. Robin counters this, saying that on page one hundred and three of the rulebook, rule number fifty-four states that the top of the head is out, leaving Foxy as the last remaining member on the field.

"You got him there, Robin!" Usopp cheered as the others shook their heads at all the rules there were.

"I'm surprised that ref tried to say he was safe when he knew that he could end up losing his head," Franky stated.

"I guess he wasn't thinking?" Nami offered. However, things went downhill from there. All the girls on Foxy's crew seduced Sanji into giving up the ball and he was so distracted that he got knocked out.

"Moron," Zoro muttered.

"I can turn my back on beautiful women," Sanji sighed dreamily, staring at Porche and all the other ladies. "I'm in love…"

Nami just rolled her eyes, knowing that was a bad habit of their cook's and hoped that they could do something about that. After all, he almost was killed back at Enies Lobby because of his stupid chivalry! And they would've won the next game if it wasn't for his and Zoro's stupidity here!

At this point, Foxy brings out his Hit & Dead Ball Multi-item with the Dead Hit cannon.

"WHAT?!" Franky yelled out, messing up his hair, as he fought the urge to pull it out. "I'M LOSING MY MIND HERE! I DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH MORE OF THIS MADNESS I CAN TAKE!" he sat back onto the grass and said in a whimper, "These guys are driving me crazy!"

"Welcome to our world," Usopp muttered, "They all deserve each other. I don't see how anyone else can put up with them."

Memory Usopp tried to contest against that thing, only to be told by Robin and the Chief Referee that it's allowed. Trying to psych out the Straw Hats, Porsche pretends to hypnotize the team, having them close their eyes in defense, only for Foxy to shoot the ball at Zoro. This does not succeed and Zoro cuts the ball in half with his hands, disqualifying him under rule number six hundred and forty-five, the ball may not be cut, giving Foxy a new ball.

"Dude, how many rules are there?!" Franky asked shaking his head. But now there was only Luffy and Chopper on their side of the field. Luffy had one ball and Foxy had the other—Chopper took a big risk and ended up eating another Rumble Ball and goes into Guard Point, but gets hit by the ball ricocheting off an audiences belly while protecting Luffy.

"Way to take one for the team, Chopper," Zoro said as there became a fight, trying to figure out if Chopper was safe or out. Though he was hit in the face, he was still out of bounds, and so was disqualified.

"I forgot how hard it was to control my transformations," Chopper muttered as he watched.

"Was it really that hard for you?" Brook asked curiously.

"In those days I needed the Rumble Ball for my transformations remember?" Chopper asked. He remembered how closely he had to monitor how many times he had to take them. If he took two within six hours, then he lost control of his transformations. Even here, he didn't have much control… thankfully he was able to master his transformations so that he didn't have to depend on the Rumble Ball so much anymore.

Now the game was down to Foxy versus Luffy, when suddenly all the Foxy pirates pull out fake balls. Sanji and Usopp question the ref, only to be dismissed saying that there is no rule against using fake balls.

"Well there should be!" current Usopp yelled as Luffy winds up to throw the ball he had, but he stretched his arm too far and the ball was taken out of his hand. The Foxy pirates start shuffling the real ball behind their back, preventing Luffy from knowing which is the real ball. At this, everyone launches their balls at Luffy, who catches every single one of them, but then gets hit in the face by the ball shot from Foxy's robot. Luffy swallows the ball, which is against the rules, which costs them the win. As a result, Robin is taken from the crew.

"His habit of biting down anything that enters his mouth got us into trouble here," Nami sighed.

"I don't see why he bites at all," Usopp muttered, "I mean he just inhauls food without chewing most of the time?"

"They wanted you, Robin-san?" Brook asked in surprise, turning back to their archeologist. He had thought for sure that they would take Chopper back.

"I guess they thought they'd have a better chance of winning the next game if they took me," Robin answered.

Sanji, Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper sobbed out as she merely smiled and walked towards Foxy's crew, with a wave of her hand.

"You don't seem to bothered by it," Franky muttered to her and she shrugged.

"I feel her pain!" memory Sanji sobbed as he bit down on a handkerchief. "She's trying to hide her sorrow behind that beautiful smile! She hates being apart from me! How dare they take my sweet Robin away?! Even if it's the rules do they know nothing about love?"

"You did miss me didn't you Robin?" the present-day Sanji asked her, "I'm so sorry for making you wait!"

"Don't worry, it's all in the past," Robin smiled as she watched herself merely put on the mask and sat down as the men from Foxy's crew gathered around and swooned over her. If she had to be honest with herself, she had been terrified… but not of the fact that they might not win her back… but at the thought of being separated from them. Though she had only spent a short time with them, she had grown attached to each of them. And the realization that she had grown to care about them, that she had somehow, despite all her best efforts, saw them as her home and felt a sense of belonging with them had scared her more than anything else here. The only reason she was able to survive up to this point in her life was because she never let herself to bond to anyone else… but somehow the Straw Hats did what no one else could. They melted her heart of ice and wormed their way inside a warm and beating one.

And that thought, had scared her more than anything else. Thankfully, she was soon brought out of her contemplations when the memory changed...