Cheaters And Memories 3...

Chapter 27.75 - Cheaters And Memories 3...

It moved around and they found that they were back at the coast with two long reef's that acted as roads up a small mountain. One road was a pretty much a smooth pathway all the way up, while the other twisted and crossed. Naturally, the Straw Hats were on that one and even Franky and Brook could guess what this meant.

"Round two will be held on the long reef!" the announcer yelled as he rode on the back of his usual giant bird, but what got some people's attention was that Tonjit was behind him, "The game will be Dash, Touch, Domination! Or DTD for short! Although this is a six-on-six competition, the absence of Nico Robin forces the Straw Hats to compete with only five players! The rules are simple!"

They all shook their heads, knowing that they could all pretty much forget about those things by this point.

"Basically the game is played the way as Red-Light, Green-light!" the announcer yelled, "Whoever moves even the tiniest little bit after the light stops calling is out. Whoever touches the stoplight at the top of the reef first will be declared the winner! But this is no kid's game! Remember, when pirates play Red-Light, Green-Light, they play hard and they play to win!"

"Most pirates… don't play Red-Light, Green-Light," Franky whispered and they all felt the need to bang their heads at what they were hearing. But they brighten at the memory that this was the second to last game. They were all willing to move on from this moment in their lives.

"The use of weapons are approved and encouraged!" the announcer yelled, "This is what makes DTD a truly perilous game! Playing for the Straw Hat team is… ah… the same boring line-up as always!"

"SHUT IT JERK!" they all screamed up.

"Now they were just getting mean," current Nami sighed as she sat back up on the cliff beside Luffy and Shelly, who were watching the game eagerly. The announcer went on to introduce the Foxy team—which was made up of Porche, Hamburg, Pickles, Chiqicheetah, Captoe from the Donut Race, and Big Pan.

"And last, but not least, the role of our stoplight will be played by none other than the nomad Tonjit!" the announcer finished up. "This great fool—I mean man of bravery—stood on stilts for ten years and touched the heavens! This makes him the logical choice to stand on top of the reef and make him it!"

"I hate to agree with him calling the old man a fool but…?" Sanji said before he trailed off.

"We all know the feeling," Usopp sighed.

"Yes, but this is a good thing isn't it?" Brook asked them, "Don't you have an advantage here? The old gentleman is on your side right?"

"Yes, but there's only so much that he could help us out here," Sanji answered as they heard the Foxy Pirates around them asking Foxy if this was alright. Foxy only laughed confidently, saying that this was nothing. If their crew was strong enough to battle the Grand Line, then this game was child's play."

"He didn't just say that did he?" Usopp sighed as Foxy's crew cheered at that. However, memory Nami seemed to have heard him and yelled up, "Child's play? Then why did you give us this unfair, jacked up coarse giving you the advantage from the start?"

Foxy's crew all stopped all stopped and looked to see that they couldn't deny that.

"I guess using that Do-Do Beam really is his only talent," memory Sanji stated sarcastically and Chopper and Usopp added to the insults as well. Hearing so much verbal abuse at once was too much for Foxy to take in and immediately became depressed, seemingly sinking several inches into the dirt.

"If he hates being called Split Head, why not just change his hair?" Zoro asked in annoyance.

"Well, he's not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer is he?" Sanji asked. The race started and, of course, Chiqicheetah was up in front with Porche riding on Hamburg's back. The three of them managed to stay in the lead as Sanji and Zoro ran up behind, arguing the whole way, but then Pickles and Big Pan tried to get rid of them by throwing a large boulder at them.

"WATCH OUT!" Brook couldn't help but call out. But he didn't need to worry. Just as Tonjit finished was about to turn around, the two sliced the boulder and sent it back at Pickles and Pan—who were sent flying and out of the game.

When Tonjit had turned back around, they all started running again and Robin suddenly asked, "Chopper? Why didn't you turn to your walk point? I'm sure you could've caught up to them."

Chopper blinked before he blushed. "I didn't think about that," he muttered to himself in embarrassment and they all chuckled at that. But not nearly as much as when they looked back to see that memory Zoro had gotten lost on the pathway and Sanji lost his temper.

"HOW THE HELL COULD ANYONE GET LOST ON A PATH LIKE THIS ONE? YOU CAN SEE THE OLD MAN AT THE END OF IT! EVEN YOUR SENSE OF DIRECTION CAN'T BE THAT BAD!" memory Sanji screamed down at him.

"Were you dropped on your head when you were a baby or something?" the current Sanji asked him. "I just don't see how it's even possible to get lost like this!"

Zoro slugged him and soon they started up their usual fight, but the others weren't even bothering to pay attention as they watched. Memory Sanji's gamble of taking a series of stones across to catch up to the others paid off. He ended up right behind the others as Captoe began chasing Nami, Usopp, and Chopper to make sure that they had an even less chance of catching up. It was then they realized that Tonjit was sleeping and everyone began yelling at him to wake up.

"What kind of person falls asleep, leaning up against a rock like that?" Sanji asked exasperated.

"Well, how else did he sleep while up in the sky for ten years?" Nami offered as Tonjit jerked away, and turned around. As soon as he looked, Captoe jumped into the air, taken by surprise, and unable to stop. He was taken out.

"Only three more people to knock out and then the path's clear!" Franky cheered, but as they started running again, Hamburg and Sanji were forced to fight each other as Chiqicheeta raced on ahead. Chiqicheetah was nearly able to touch Tonjit, and secure a win for his team. However just he was about to touch Tonjit, the old man suddenly turned around and sneezed at Chiqicheetah. With Tonjit's extremely long snot covered all over his face, Chiqicheetah was so repulsed that he had to wipe the gunk off his face. Tonjit, seeing Chiqicheetah move as he wiped his face, immediately tagged him out of the game.

"That is disgusting…" Nami shivered, not blaming Chiqicheetah from trying to get it off.

"Wow, even his snot was long," Usopp said with a sweatdrop.

"You mean that he hadn't even started the game up again? That he was only starting to sneeze?" Brook asked, not sure of what to think here.

"Yeah, but hey! That saved them! Now there's only two more people!" Franky cheered on. Tonjit turned around and began calling his line again. Memory Sanji raced on ahead, using Hamburg as like a springboard, he took off and jump ahead as Hamburg and Porche were stumbling around near the edge. Everyone was cheering for him and as Sanji had just made it to Tonjit, he heard Porche's scream and turned back to jump after her and landed in the water.

"What was that?!" Zoro yelled at him, having not seen that happening while he was trying to find a way back up the stupid reef.

"She may be the enemy but I cannot ignore a lady in distress!" Sanji said firmly.

"You could have at least touched the old man before you did!" Usopp yelled at him. "There was time!"

"Sorry, but… the ladies must always come first!" Sanji said dramatically.

"Yeah, and Robin was counting on us to win here!" Usopp reminded him and Sanji's 'cool' face was replaced with horror.

"Oh, my dear Robin! I know that I blew it! I knew that I let you down… but… but I can't stop myself!" Sanji said to her, "I was brought up to never mistreat a lady! And so… even if it's the enemy… even if it could cost me my life… I will never turn my back on a lady in need!"

"WOW! YOU'RE AMAZING SANJI!" Chopper called out with eyes wide.

"That's so cool, Sanji-san!" Brook said, in full agreement. The others weren't sure to laugh or not… but that didn't matter for they heard a splash. They looked up to see Tonjit looking back at the players, with Hamburg hanging onto the ledge with on hand, and Sanji came up with Porche but seemed to be holding completely still.

"How can he be standing out there like that?" Foxy asked in amazement, "There's no way he's touching the bottom."

"That's what I wanna know," Brook said, just staring at Sanji seemingly standing there.

But it was the announcer who explained it for them. "I get it!" he called loudly from above them, "He's treading water and he's doing it while carrying Porche and keeping his upper body completely motionless!"

"You've got to be kidding me," Franky said in surprise.

Robin laughed. "Very impressive, Sanji," she smiled and he swooned, "Why thank you Robin dear!"

"It was until the dope stopped," Usopp whispered. And like that, with everyone cheering Sanji on, Porche kissed his cheek as a thank you, and he lost his concentration which made them both sink.

"Well, that was a bit of a letdown," Nami said, as Sanji sighed. If only Porche waited a few more seconds… though he was sure that he could've won her heart over. She was so cute…

"But he wasn't the real problem," current Nami hissed, shooting Zoro a very nasty look.

"What?" he asked in annoyance. Rather than answer, she pointed down at the reef. With everyone but Hamburg taken out, Nami, Usopp, and Chopper had finally caught up and were heading straight up to touch Tonjit… at least until Zoro ruined it by kicked Hamburg out of his way and up to Tonjit where they ended up losing the game.

"You mean you kicked Hamburg up there and lost the game for everyone?" Franky asked as Brook fell over in shock. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"He was in my way!" Zoro snapped.

"COULDN'T YOU HAVE KICKED HIM OUT TO SEA OR SOMETHING?!" Usopp yelled at him as the cannons went off, signaling the end of the game and the memory Straw Hats went back to shore to face the music.

"Knowing his sense of direction, he probably did meant to kick him out that way, but ended up going the wrong way as always," Sanji stated as the two started up their fight again in anger. Luffy however was looking at the bright side of their lost.

"That's alright," he said as he cracked his knuckles together. "It doesn't matter, I'm up next! The captain's gonna win his crew back no problem!"

"Yeah! Take him out, Luffy!" Franky cheered before he realized something. If they could only take one person back, and there was only one more game to play…?

Foxy had just come over with a smug look on his face.

"Haven't you forgotten an important little fact, Straw Hat?" he asked them. "That was your second lost! So in addition to Nico Robin, you're about to lose one more member of your crew! On top of that, you can only take back one crew member per event! Therefore, even in the slimmest, most inconceivable chance, that you win the next round…"

"He talks too much," Chopper said softly as Luffy said darkly, "Come on! Get to the point Split-head!"

"What he's trying to say, captain," memory Robin said as Foxy fell to his knees again in misery, "Is that there's only one more round remaining so even if you win it, you can only take back one person."

"But… wait… that means…?" Brook gasped. Luffy stared as Foxy got back to his feet and proclaimed, "So it doesn't matter what does or doesn't happen in the next round, the fact remains, you already lost one of your crewmates forever!"

"But that can't be right!" Franky yelled as Foxy retook Chopper, who was crying into memory Robin's shirt as she whispered comforting words to him. "I mean… all of you are here…?"

"Desperate times call for desperate measures," Nami shrugged. "We just needed one more game to pull it off."

The memory Straw Hats were all gathered together, trying to figure out what they could do now. Luffy had the idea of having a third Davy Back Fight and win all three rounds.

"That might work…?" Brook said, but then they heard Foxy come up again. He heard about their plan and refused; telling them that his crew was tired from all the Davy Back Fight games and that this next game would be the last no matter what they said. He said that his crew was the strongest, but he would be a fool to keep pushing them so far. The Straw Hats stared at him—as the present-day ones all shook their heads at that. Didn't Foxy realize that what he just said didn't make any sense?

"What?" Foxy asked when he noticed the stunned expressions, "So impressed you don't know what to say?"

"You gotta be kidding me," memory Zoro said, "First you brag about how strong you are and then we're supposed to feel sorry for you?"

"Yeah, I'm finding it hard to work up any kind of sympathy for this guy," current Usopp nodded.

"Poor Foxy," past Sanji said sarcastically, "He's so strong he has to cheat to win. It's not his fault he challenged us."

As Foxy mopped in the background, they gathered around, trying to figure out what they were going to do. Faced with this, memory Nami made a desperate deal with Foxy, saying that if they couldn't have Chopper and Robin then there was no point in being a pirate crew. They were willing to make this game count for five people. So if Foxy did win, he could have the rest of the crew. She even came right out and said that Foxy didn't even have to risk five of his own crewmates. They were going to put it all on the line for those two.

"A gutsy move," Franky muttered as he sat back and watched.

"But it was the only way we could get him to agree on it," she answered back, "We need everyone here to continue our journey as pirates. And I'm sure no one regrets this all or nothing risk, right?"

"Nope," Sanji said confidently.

"The only downside was the idea of getting stuck with Foxy," Zoro sighed as Usopp nodded.

"And this is the last game right?" Franky asked, "I'm exhausted just watching this whole thing."

"I think we're all tired," Chopper said wearily. "But I don't know how much longer we have to keep watching memories before we're out of this mess. I really want to go back to the Sunny."

Nami stepped forward. "We all do. That's why you guys have to get to work and get Luffy back before we can get out of here."

"Why are you saying that 'we' have to do all the work?" Usopp demanded.

Foxy looked up and seemed to be thinking it over, glancing over her and the other for boys thoughtfully. Finally, he got up and said, "YES! YOU HAVE A DEAL! BUT WHAT'S THE FUN IN ONLY BETTING TWO CREWMATES?" he smirked as he added softly, "Make it five hundred."

"FIVE HUNDRED?" Brook cried out.

"He really was a first-rate idiot," Zoro said, finally bored with his fight with Sanji and they calmed down enough to come back over and listen. Foxy proclaimed that he was willing to risk five hundred of his own men to the two that they asked for.

"What would we do with five hundred people?" Luffy asked with a frown, "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard."

"I have to agree with that," Brook said angrily. What was Foxy thinking? Risking his entire crew like that? Who would do something like that? He could understand why the Straw Hats would do so… they were closer than most families were and had complete trust in their captain. But Foxy didn't seem to care about his own crewmates like that.

"Now you know he's an idiot if even Luffy could see that," Sanji muttered as his own past self and Usopp kicked Luffy to the ground and told him to shut up and not to ruin it for them when he had already agreed to the important part.

"But we couldn't fit five hundred people on the Merry if we tried," Luffy retorted.

"It doesn't matter if it's five people or five hundred people," memory Sanji hissed, "As long as we're able to get Robin and Chopper back."

"We were going to get you two back no matter what it took," Nami told them and Chopper felt his heart feel all warm inside as if he was wrapped in a comforting blanket. Luffy realized this as well and so he accepted it. But the announcer added that since their team didn't have five hundred members to bet, they'd have to pay them back with their descendants if they lost.

"Say what?" Franky asked slowly.

"It's got to be the stupidest deal I've ever heard," Nami sighed. And the announcer explained that if they lost, then their children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and whoever else it takes to make five hundred people will swear loyalty to the Foxy Pirates. The past Straw Hats all looked to each other, talking about it, but it was too late to turn back now as they agreed.

"This deal is insane! Who thinks up something like that?" present-day Zoro asked as Sanji dreamed if he had children with Nami and what they would look like… naturally, they'd look just like their mother.

"Nothing about Foxy's crew make sense," Usopp muttered. The memory that followed was of Foxy leading Luffy to a large cannon and the announcer calling out that they arrived at the combat round. But before they started, they needed to find a place to hold the battlefield. Wherever the cannon stopped would shot a cannonball, and wherever the ball landed would be their battlefield. And so both captains spun the cannon like they were playing a round of spin-the-bottle. The cannon had almost stopped spinning, before it spun the opposite way and pointed directly at Foxy's ship.

"THE MATCH HASN'T EVEN STARTED YET, AND YOU GUYS ARE ALREADY CHEATING?!" memory Usopp screamed.

"Why would they want to try to sink their own ship?" Franky asked at once.

"Don't worry," Robin answered, "They had plenty of shipwrights on their crew to repair the damage. They weren't worried."

"Still," Franky frowned. They could show their ship a little bit of respect… the cannonball meanwhile landed right in the middle of the ship. The announcer then called that the Sexy Foxy would be the battlefield. And everything within fifty meters of where the cannonball landed would be considered the arena. Weapons and anything else found inside the designated battlefield are allowed! Anything goes… however, outside crewmembers weren't allowed to enter the ship and help their captain. All that they had to do was knock their opponent so hard that they either stayed down or were knocked out of bounds. Whichever captain wins, wins everything… and the captain who loses… will have lost everything.

And the memory faded after that grim note.

"I just don't see why we let them get away with all this cheating," Chopper frowned, kicking a rock on the ground angrily.

"Sorry, but he could get away with cheating because he had the man power," Zoro pointed out. "He had the advantage from the start. There wasn't anything we could do but wait for Luffy to kick his ass."

"You know, I've always wondered just what Luffy went through down in the ship," Usopp said curiously. "They both went to fight below deck and I've always wanted to know just what happened down there. I mean, I thought I could hear explosions going on, but we couldn't see anything."

"Looks like we're gonna find out one way or another," Sanji said as the images came back up. In the next memory they were on the deck of the Sexy Foxy, and stands had been built on land so that they could all watch what was going on. Strange though that the sky had grown dark all of a sudden. Some lights shined up onto the dark clouds where a projection of the captain's wanted posters where. Luffy's one hundred million to Foxy's twenty-four million…

"Hopefully, this is gonna be a good fight," Franky smirked.

"We have a real treat Ladies and Gentlemen!" the announcer yelled, "A captain vs. captain showdown!"

Everyone cheered as he turned and yelled, "First! In the left corner we have a reining Davy Back champion! A man among men who never turns down a challenge… and holds the most legendary combat record! Our one and only boss, SILVER FOX FOXY!"

"BOOOO!" Usopp, Chopper, Franky, and Sanji all yelled, giving Foxy the thumbs down. Through the mist and lights, Foxy appeared from one the left ear of the fox figurehead, threw off his cloak and stood there with bright blue boxing gloves and his crew all screamed and whistled.

"Oh no…" current Nami groaned, knowing what was going to happen next. The boys were going to embarrass them all again.

"And in the right corner," the announcer went on, more fog and lights were coming up right of them and two figures were coming up the stairs from the right ear, "Our challenger!" At the introduction, memory Usopp and Luffy both came up. Usopp was dressed in a manager's outfit and Luffy walking beside him with a white sheet over his head so that they could only see his face.

"Why does everyone have to be so dramatic here?" Nami sighed as they stood back as Luffy walked towards the front.

"Hailing from the East Blue with a tiny crew of only seven and a massive one hundred million beri bounty on his head, the rebel wonder they call Straw Hat…" the announcer yelled, "MONKEY D. LUFFY!"

And he flung the cloth off him to show that he was wearing a large afro, similar to Brooks, on his head, dark red shorts and red bandages on his feet as well as images of a blue flaming skull and crossbones painted on his chest.

Brook let out a cry of joy, you could practically see the sparkle in his eyes (not that he had eyes) and he was cheering louder than anyone.

"So funky!" memory Sanji yelled over the sounds of the cheering crowds, "I can feel it like a fire in my soul!"

"Luffy looks so awesome!" Chopper cried out and Robin laughed right beside him and Franky was beaming as he struck a pose, calling out his catchphrase at the sight of a boxing Luffy.

"Usopp is definitely a bad influence on Luffy," Zoro sighed. "Afro Luffy…? And I thought Water Luffy was pathetic."

"Hey now! Don't underestimate the power of the afro!" Usopp yelled loudly.

"Here, here!" Brook said proudly, patting his own hair fondly. It was his greatest treasure after all… the only thing that didn't rot away with the rest of him. And he admitted that the afro did have a power all its own.

"I never understood what you were all talking about here," Nami whispered. "Can one of you tell me just what 'afro power' is? I mean, just having an afro doesn't make you stronger or anything?"

"Shows how much you know," Usopp said as the battle was getting underway. After some pre-battle formalities between the two, the match between Foxy and Luffy began. Usopp and the announcer, as well as Foxy's backup, were all forced to leave the ship, and the stands slowly rose up into the air so that they could get a full view of everything that was going on.

"These guys may be jerks, but I have to admit, they're pretty good builders," Franky said with a slight nod. Luffy watched in great interest at the moving stands before Foxy spoke up, "Now then, Luffy. What do you say we have some fun? This whole ship is our playground after all. Feel free to go as wild as you want! Don't worry, we have plenty of skilled shipwrights to clean up after our mess."

Franky frowned at that. Even if that's the case, they could at least try to take care of their ship. Knowing how strong Luffy was, he could easily sink this whole thing. Even with the best shipwrights around, they can't fix a ship that sinks to the bottom of the ocean.

The announcer flew around above them on the back of the bird, calling for the match to begin. They heard the sound of a bell ring, and Luffy started off by throwing a fist, but Foxy was able to slow his arm. Luffy was dragged across the figurehead, and Foxy acted like he was about to use that beam another time—which tricked Luffy into jumping out of the way—only for Foxy to hit him when he jumped, and this time he was hit.

"He's frozen in the air!" Chopper yelled out, remembering this.

"I guess even in the air his fall is slow," Sanji said angrily as Foxy jumped up on top of him and began to punch away.

"That's nuts, he's not budging!" Franky yelled.

"No, look closer," Zoro said, "He is moving, but it's all in slow motion!"

"That's dirty! Fighting someone who can't even defend himself!" Usopp snarled angrily. And he thought watching it all from the stands was a bad view. Once Foxy jumped down, and the thirty seconds were up, the punches all finally hit and Luffy was slammed head over heels on the fox's head before he was knocked off. Thankfully, Luffy stretched out and rocketed back up as his feet just barely touched the water.

"That was too close for comfort," Nami sighed in relief. Now angry, Luffy was glaring around and ended up kicking one of the fox's ears off as he screamed for Foxy to come back out. He jumped over the figurehead and to the deck where there were arrows hovering in midair waiting for him. Luffy just barely registered what was going on before he fell backwards to avoid them.

"Luffy doesn't do well against tricksters does he?" Robin asked, already knowing the answer.

"Nope," Zoro said, "He's too straightforward and honest. Like Ace said, he falls for every trap laid out in front of him."

The battle went on with Foxy slowing down some cannonballs and stood on top of one as he hovered in the air. Luffy thought that he could step on them as well, however as he jumped to one, it moved out of the way and he fell. He stretched up to grab another cannonball to keep him from falling but that one ended up moving and he was slammed into the deck. Suddenly, the cannonballs were shooting everywhere in all directions. It went on for about a minute before all the cannonballs had finished firing and the deck was half destroyed. Luffy was pulling himself out of some rubble. "This sucks! What's his problem anyway?" he asked himself. "If he keeps this up he's gonna sink his own ship."

"That's what I was saying!" Franky yelled out, "Why not just be a man and fight with his fists for crying out loud?"

"I'LL SINK YOU FIRST!" Foxy screamed from the upper deck as he lowered a strange-shaped cannon, "SLOW SLOW FOXY FACE BOMB CANNON!" Foxy uses a cannon to fire several bombs shaped like his face towards an opponent and slows them all down with his devil fruit power.

"What is that?!" Sanji yelled out as some of the Straw Hats fell over in shock.

"AHHHH! CREEPY!" Luffy screamed out as the laughing heads came towards him.

"I'm with you there!" Usopp said, those heads were creeping him out.

"Hey!" Chopper yelled out, "Where'd Foxy go?!" Hiding amongst the bombs, Foxy got closer to Luffy without him noticing while he was distracted by all the laughing bombs. His boxing gloves were suddenly spiked and he hit Luffy when his back was turned and they saw the bombs go off.

"LUFFY!" Chopper screamed out in worry. They couldn't see anything through the smoke, but they were all forced to cover their ears over the impact of the multiple noise. After several chaos filled minutes, the explosions died out, but there was still so much smoke that they couldn't see anything. But as it cleared, they heard the announcer freak out above them and they looked to see that Luffy was up out of harm's way, having rocketed up to the highest point on the mast before the bombs went off.

"HE MADE IT!" Brook cried out happily, "Thank goodness!"

"He had me worried there for a while," Usopp said with a smile.

"I don't get it," Nami said, "How'd he get up there? He was down and the bombs went off around him! When'd he get up to the mast?"

"I saw it," Zoro said and Sanji nodded with him, "He rocketed up there just a fraction of a second before the bombs went off. With all the smoke it was almost impossible to see him."

Luffy then gracefully jumped back down to the deck and was staring around below them at all the smoke. They could hear Foxy laughing through the smoke, but when it cleared a little, they could see that he was burnt and injured.

"What happened?" Franky yelled out.

"That idiot! Did he get blown up by his own attack?!" Nami yelled.

"YOU GOT TWICE AS BLOWN UP AS ME!" Luffy yelled down at him.

"SHUT UP I'M FINE! SEE?! LOOOOK!" Foxy yelled back, trying to be threatening, only for smoke to billow out of his mouth.

"It's official," Zoro said, smacking his face with the palm of his hand. "He has got to be the most annoying pirate I've ever met! And that's saying a lot."

"YOU DON'T LOOK FINE AT ALL!" Luffy screamed.

"I DON'T EVEN WANT YOU ON MY CREW ANYMORE!" Foxy decided, holding up his hands, "I RATHER JUST CRUSH YOU!" Foxy shot another Slow Slow Beam at him, but Luffy easily jumped down behind him and punched him in the back.

"I'm gonna break your arms so you can't use that dumb beam!" Luffy yelled as Foxy ran into the remains of the thick smoke to hide.

"Not a bad idea," Sanji agreed, but just then, the cheater started putting up a bunch of cutouts in his shape and was putting them up around Luffy, taunting him into guessing who the real one was.

"It shouldn't be hard!" Brook said at once, "He was able to find that Mr. 3 fellow back at Little Garden right?"

"HOW SHOULD I KNOW?" Luffy yelled out, "THEY ALL LOOK THE SAME! JUST A BUNCH OF SPLIT-HEADS WITH STUPID LOOKING HAIRCUTS!"

"Oh, he got him there," Zoro laughed, and sure enough, those words ended up depressing Foxy; Luffy spotted him on the ground and went for a punch.

"YOU JERK!" Foxy screamed as he sat up, "I MAY BE A CHEATER BUT AT LEAST I HAVE A HEART! YOU'RE IN FOR IT NOW!"

"A heart? You're kidding right?" Sanji sighed. Foxy then tricked Luffy into looking up before opening up a trap door beneath him that ended up taking him to the other end of the ship and almost dumped him into the sea. Once again, Luffy had been able to save himself by pulling himself back to the ship—and even Foxy's crew was cheering for him now.

"Come on! Fight already! Stop using these stupid tricks and fight!" Franky yelled, but they found out that Foxy snuck below deck when Luffy was almost flung off the ship. Losing his temper completely, Luffy threw caution to the wind as he went running inside, ignoring memory Nami's warning that it was a trap.

"This should be good," Usopp muttered sarcastically as they followed after him. They ran down a few flight of stairs behind Luffy until they ended up at the gun's deck and Luffy stared around. There were dozens of cannons and cannonballs, with barrels full of gunpowder lining the walls. Usopp was now almost drooling over it all.

"Wow, a gun deck," Luffy said to himself, "It's huge to. Too bad Usopp's not here, he'd love this."

"I do!" Usopp gasped out, his eyes wide. "Hey Franky? Can you make me a room like this on the Sunny?"

"I make no promises, bro," Franky said as Luffy continued to look around for Foxy. The door behind him suddenly closed. He looked ready to run through before he noticed one of the bigger cannons and smirked.

"He isn't…?" Nami laughed.

"Oh, he is," Franky burst out laughing as he watched Luffy load up the cannon and prepared to fire it.

"Well, the rules do say that anything's fair play," Robin pointed out, "Its Foxy's fault for leading him down here. Luffy lit the fuse and blew the wall away to reveal Foxy hanging onto the giant cannonball right above the floor, which was filled with spikes.

"Where the hell did those come from?!" Sanji yelled.

"I think that it's just been built to trap people like Luffy," Robin answered, "No wonder Foxy's never lost before. I'm guessing that he wanted to lure Luffy in and watch as him impaled himself."

"Robin…" Usopp moaned in despair.

"He's giving me such a headache," Nami sighed, "Just hurry up and beat him Luffy…"

Foxy was furious that his plan was ruined and rolling on top of the giant cannonball he came barreling right towards him. Luffy avoiding the ball and Foxy's spiked fist before he went running away. "No way!" Luffy yelled angrily, "COME BACK AND FIGHT ME!"

"For someone who claims to be undefeatable, he sure does a lot of running," Sanji hissed in annoyance. They ran down the stairs with Luffy until they were outside the infirmary. He burst in and they all stared to see that Foxy was wearing a pathetic mask and doctor's clothes. The sad thing was that Luffy couldn't tell it was him…

But he wasn't the only one.

"Where'd Foxy go?" Chopper asked and they all felt sweatdrop around their heads at the innocent expression on Chopper's face. But they didn't say anything as Luffy walked out of the room.

"Wait!" Luffy suddenly cried, "That weird lady! She looked just like him! I get it!"

"And he gets it," Usopp said with a sigh, but when Luffy charged back in, he yelled, "Hey! You must be Foxy's sister! You can't fool me!"

Usopp and Nami both fell to their knees at that.

"I knew it!" Chopper yelled out as Robin laughed and the two on the ground fell a little more at that. But instead of Foxy they were met with a large, metal fox head come out of nowhere and clamp down on Luffy's face. As Luffy fell, Foxy turned and ran away. Luffy pulled the thing off him and threw it to the ground. "Oh! So that's it! She lied to me so that I wouldn't find her brother!" he turned and ran down the hall, "Is he even trying to fight me anymore?!"

"While I can't agree with everything in that sentence, I do have to wonder if he is bothering to fight," Sanji muttered.

"He's trying to wear Luffy down with all these tricks," Robin answered. "He seems to be trying to lure him in somewhere. This can't be good…"

They ran down several more flights of stairs and saw a sign that showed the kitchen. Luffy charged in as well to see Foxy there as well in another stupid mask.

"Nice kitchen," Sanji said, looking around at it in an impressed way. Now this was a kitchen that you could make delicious foods in.

"Not again with the dumb disguises," Nami whispered.

"Looks like Luffy's just as brain-dead as before," Usopp added. Come on, how could you not notice what was going on here?

"Yeah, well, what else is new?" Nami added sadly.

"Have you seen some old fox dude with his head split in two that looks really stupid and not cool?" Luffy asked and Foxy couldn't take it as he fell forward in depression.

"You truly are heartless," he mumbled.

"Hey! It's you!" Luffy yelled as Foxy tore off his outfit.

"Ha-ha! And I was the woman in the doctor's office to!" Foxy bragged.

"WHAT?! NO WAY!" Luffy and Chopper gasped out.

"You just need to focus a little and pay more attention to your surroundings, Chopper," Robin informed him and Chopper nodded firmly at that as the others all shook their heads—both of them were just too innocent. But Foxy had just hit with another Slow Beam and started punching him once again. He then calmly bragged as he went over to a metal door and pulled the switch next to it to open it. There was nothing but darkness inside… they waited the painful thirty seconds before Luffy was sent flying backwards and into the dark.

They followed down the deep pit and looked around as they heard Foxy's voice laughing. Coughing and sitting up, Luffy was muttering, "Where'd he run off to now?"

"How many rooms are on this ship?" Brook whispered as Foxy's voice called out to look behind him. They looked behind them to see a pair of lights, like glowing eyes, flashed and Foxy's annoying laugh once again.

"Now what?!" Usopp yelled. The lights came on and Foxy was sitting right up on top of a gorilla-shaped platform, which sat on top of a large block full of boxing gloves. It was his masterpiece robot… the Gorilla Puncher Nineteen.

"Makes me wonder what happened to the first eighteen," Robin wondered curiously.

"THE ONLY GORILLA I SEE ON IT IS YOU!" Luffy yelled up at him.

"Burn," Franky smirked. Foxy finally lost it as the giant machine began to move towards Luffy and the boxing gloves began to move and punch the air.

"You mean to tell me that he's pedaling?" Franky muttered noticing how Foxy was sweating to move the thing, "I know it goes without saying, but this thing's got nothing on the General Franky!"

"No way," Usopp and Chopper agreed. "That thing is beyond awesome!"

The two women both shared stony expressions, they're eyebrows raised, but they didn't say anything as the two began to talk about how cool that Franky's robot was. They supposed that it was just a boy thing to love robots?

Foxy was sending more Slow Slow Beams at Luffy—but were caught off guard when they saw him aiming directly over his head—as if he wasn't even trying to hit him. At least until they realized that there was a mirror the size of the room right behind Luffy. The beam bounced right off it and went directly towards him.

"Dodge it Luffy!" Usopp warned. Thankfully, Luffy had the sense to miss it, however he wasn't so lucky getting hit by one of the giant gloves instead. And as soon as the glove hit him, he ended up bursting right into flames.

"What kind of punch does that?!" Nami yelled as some of them cried out in shock. "I knew something had to happen for Luffy to get burns like that!"

Luffy was being attacked by all sides, it was amazing that he was able to avoid the beams and boxing gloves, but he was quickly growing tired—something that Foxy noticed and started to laugh. He began moving the machine closer and closer, knowing that it was only going to be a matter of time before he was hit again by the beams or the machine. Chopper, Usopp, and Brook were all cheering Luffy on, despite the fact that he couldn't hear them. Just then however, Luffy's eyes widen as if a light went on in his head and he spun around to punch the mirror, shattering it into pieces.

"That's at least seven years bad luck right there," Robin stated calmly.

"That's what you're worried about?!" Usopp yelled.

"I NEVER THOUGHT OF THAT!" Foxy screamed out as Luffy turned back around and jumped up to punch Foxy right in the face with his Gum Gum Pistol.

"Right in the kisser!" Franky laughed mockingly. Now infuriated, Foxy sent double beams out and all the boxing gloves were set ablaze. Though able to avoid the beams, Luffy couldn't avoid the gloves and everything went up in flames.

"LUFFY!" Chopper yelled in horror at the blacken memory.

"You can't lose, Luffy!" Usopp yelled, "You're Luffy and you've got an afro!"

"I knew he'd win all along!" Chopper said firmly, "He was going to win us back!"

"Of course he was," Robin smiled, "And that afro is nice."

"Not you too, Robin?" Nami moaned out. "JUST WHAT IS AFRO POWER?!"

"It's not something that can be understood," Usopp said seriously with a hand over his heart, "It can only be felt…"

"That doesn't even make sense!" Nami cried out.

"Like Usopp-san said," Brook said, his hand to his own afro, "As someone who's had an afro for most of his life, I know better than anyone the power it has!"

Nami just stared at him before she shook her head. She wasn't even going to ask anymore. The next memory appeared and they were back on the deck of the Sexy Foxy, which was looking more beat up than ever. Through the cloud of smoke, Foxy stood tall with his fists held in the air; and Luffy was twitching slightly on the deck, the memory slipping in and out of focus as he fought to stay awake. But through all the cheering from the Foxy Pirates, they could hear some of the memory Straw Hats calling, pleading, for Luffy to get up. And they were sure it was because he could hear their voices did Luffy suddenly find his second wind and began to push himself up to his feet.

"That's right! You show 'em!" Usopp cheered as the announcer screamed out, "He's up! Against all odds, Straw Hat is up! It seemed like he was down for the count but the fight goes on!"

"It's afro power it has to be!" the spectators cried out and Nami had to bite her tongue to keep herself from saying anything. Luffy stumbled a little, but he didn't fall. Finally, Foxy went to the sword that he wore in his pants, and he drew it to reveal a long snake-like blade of his Slow Slow Beam. He swung it out and trapped Luffy's arms and legs inside it like shackles.

"What in the…?" Brook cried as Foxy laughed out, "That's the Slow Slow Beam sword! As I'm sure you could probably tell, I've restrained your arms and legs. Good luck with that… you're gonna need it."

Luffy tried again and again to free himself, but Foxy then began to rapid fire punch him once again. Luffy didn't move at all as Foxy punched for almost the full thirty seconds. Once it wore off, Luffy was sent flying backwards and slammed into the mast.

"This is just cheap," Franky muttered angrily.

"Hitting someone who can't defend himself… cowardly," Brook added and they all nodded firmly. But Luffy wasn't done. He got back up and Foxy was now looking like the others before him who witnessed his determination—scared out of his mind.

"He looks like he's about to piss himself," Zoro smirked. Losing his cool completely, Foxy sent another Slow Beam at him… too injured to move this time, Luffy couldn't get out of the way. Slowed down once again, Foxy started punching once again, hitting so hard that he knocked Luffy right through the mast.

Memory Usopp could be heard screaming at Foxy in the background. "THAT BEAM IS FOR CHEATERS! TRY FIGHTING LIKE A MAN FOR ONCE!"

"But that would mean that he would lose," Sanji pointed out in mock puzzlement. "Right, what were you thinking Usopp?"

But again, Luffy just got up. It reminded them all when he was fighting Don Krieg, and no matter what that jerk threw at him, Luffy just kept forcing himself to get up and take it. Coughing up blood, Luffy spoke, "I won't… let you take… a single member of my crew… EVEN IF IT KILLS ME!"

Every Straw Hat, memory or not, was staring long and hard at Luffy. He was truly willing to die if that's what it took to get them back. As touched as they wall were by his dedication, it left a bad taste in their mouths.

Luffy always put the safety of his crew before his own. They all knew that Luffy would do anything to protect them… but they didn't want him to have to be the one to protect them anymore… they wanted to protect him for once.

Foxy was freaking out, looking ready to turn and run away just to get as far as possible from Luffy. "Why can't you just stay down?" he demanded, "You'll kill yourself!"

"Not by your hands…" Zoro muttered softly. But his own hands was another story… Luffy was going to kill himself if he kept pushing himself the way that he has been in the past. Though the life of a pirate is adventurous… it's also short. But Zoro made a mental promise that no one was going to die an early death with him on board if he could help it. His one eye looked sideways at the cook… well, maybe he might be to exception… but if the cook died, it'd be his own fault.

But Luffy refused to back down. As Foxy's crew was now cheering for Luffy, Foxy yelled at his crew to remember that they were cheering for the enemy here before he tried to use his Slow Slow Beam Sword once again. Things were looking serious here… Luffy's legs were so battered that he couldn't dodge it for long and he fell to the deck. With him down, Foxy went to another cannon and fired a cannonball, after slowing it down, he threw a fox-shaped glider onto the ball and slowly began to make his way over to him.

"He's joking right?" Franky asked. Memory Sanji screamed at Luffy that he was hit with the beam a few seconds before the ball so he could move as soon as he recovered and still avoid the attack. But that was hopeful thinking at its best.

Luffy did dodge it like Sanji said, however the using the glider, Foxy was able to turn in midair and still ended up hitting Luffy, sent him flying with a crash to the side of the ship. Laying there bleeding, Foxy jumped off the glider as it went back to normal speed again, and it flew straight towards him before it blew up.

"He's beating Luffy to death out there!" Chopper whimpered, wanting to transform and charge at Foxy for this. "Is he really trying to kill him?!"

"Wouldn't be the first to try," Zoro reminded him, but his eyes were narrowed in worry as well. But as they all knew, Luffy got back up once again. He stumbled and almost fell over again before he was able to get back to his feet. But as he did, Zoro saw something glowing for a fraction of a second on Luffy's forehead. Luffy looked down near his hand and his eyes widen for a moment before he picked something up and held it in his fist.

With a burst of renewed energy, Luffy charged again. Now both captains were going at each other's throats, both throwing rapid punches once again. Finally, Foxy was fighting one on one, but they all knew this wasn't going to last long. And sure enough, when both fighters were pushed to their limits, Foxy used one last Slow Slow Beam on Luffy. Brook and Franky froze, but the other smiled, knowing that Foxy had this one coming. The light… was covering Foxy before Luffy fell to his knees… but he was still moving. It was Foxy who couldn't move.

"What happened? It's like it was all reversed?" Franky gasped out.

"Luffy may not be smart," Zoro smirked, "But he is a genius when it comes to battle… that… and luck."

A slight clatter caught everyone's attention and they looked back to see that a broken piece of a mirror fell from Luffy's glove to the deck.

"A mirror?!" Chopper repeated before he remembered where it had to come from.

"It was stuck in my afro," he whispered as he got back to his feet. "I got it when I… broke… the mirror."

"This is why you shouldn't go bragging about your powers and their weaknesses to your enemies," Sanji said, shaking his head.

"Now Foxy can't move!" Brook cried out happily.

"It's all over now," Robin smiled. Completely unable to move due to the effects of his own Devil Fruit powers, Foxy was unable to avoid a devastating punch from Luffy. Once he was down, Luffy wearily turned and began to walk up to the fox's figurehead once again as memory Usopp got everyone began to count down. And when the thirty seconds wore off, the memory faded with Foxy going flying high into the sky and hit the water outside the battlefield from the brunt of the attack, multiplied by the huge amount of the blows. Luffy stayed on his feet just long enough to let out a cry of triumph. Having fallen into the water and out of the bounds of the match, and unable to swim, the entire Foxy Pirate crew called out in horror as they dove in after him.

"THAT WAS SO COOL!" Chopper cried out in amazement, his eyes bright.

"He really came through for us there," Sanji smiled. "He actually had me worried there for a moment."

"Afro power my butt," Nami said, shaking her head. "That was a close call if I've ever seen one! And Foxy wasn't even fighting half the time!"

"Hey now! Don't disrespect the afro!" Brook told her seriously as he patted his own fondly.

"He sure seemed freaked out when he saw Luffy getting back up," Usopp said with a smirk.

"Of course," Zoro said, "And I don't blame him. His Slow Slow Beam was his only trick, he wasn't anything without it. The fact that he had to keep running away and underhanded tactics to get what he wanted proves that. Like so many of the opponents that we'd seen in the East Blue, Foxy was lazy and relied on weapons to bail him out of trouble."

"Sad really," Sanji said, "But hey, we're in the New World now. And the guys here are supposed to be tough enough not to relay on weapons like that to fight."

"Something to look forward to," Zoro smirked.

They waited for the memories to come back up and when it did, they were all back on the grass with Luffy heavily bandaged up.

"He's a mess," Franky pointed out bluntly.

"Thanks for pointing that out Mr. Obvious," Nami said annoyed. Chopper just sighed in relief—he was glad that since the Foxy Pirates were all so focused on getting Foxy out of the water, no one noticed him taking care of Luffy here. The memory was slightly hazy, the smiling faces looking at Luffy were blurry, but it cleared quickly as Luffy sat up suddenly, seemingly remembering what happened. "Where am I? What happened?" he cried out, staring around wildly, "Is it over? Did I win? That wasn't just a dream was it? WAS IT?!"

"You don't need to freak out," memory Zoro reassured him, "You beat him."

Luffy relaxed as he fell back onto the grass. "What a relief…" he muttered.

"Yeah, you can say that again," Chopper said as they all laughed and memory Usopp put Luffy's straw hat back on his head.

"Guess it would've been a real pain if ya lost," past Zoro said in disgust. "Imagine, being stuck on a boat with Foxy…? Screw that."

"I'd quite being a pirate before I do that," current Usopp nodded and they all silently agreed at that. They all seemed to enjoy each other's company just as Foxy got up and went over. At first, it seemed like he wanted to honorably congratulate Luffy for the match. In secret however, Foxy wanted to lay one last sneak attack on Luffy as an act of vengeance. Unfortunately for him, Luffy's rubbery body made Foxy's attack useless and Foxy instead fell on his face.

"Why doesn't this surprise me?" Robin asked in amusement.

"He should've just left well enough alone," Nami said tiredly. With the final game of the Davy Back Fight won by the Straw Hats, Foxy and his crew waited anxiously for Luffy's decision.

"Chopper! Robin!" Luffy said without any hesitation. Tears of joy in his eyes once more, memory Chopper ran over to him and hugged him, telling him how happy he was as Robin smiled as she took the mask off and passed it back to Foxy. Current Robin smiled as well, remembering the surge of relief that washed through her at the thought of going back with her crewmates. She closed her eyes, once again wondering just when these guys had grown to be so important to her.

"Straw Hat starts off with two obvious choices," the announcer yelled out, "The question is, who's he gonna pick next? Don't leave us hanging!"

"I think that it'd be easier to figure out who not to take," Franky muttered, knowing that Luffy was right in that no one could fit all these people on board the Merry.

"Guess I'll take your flag," Luffy answered and they were all horrified at the thought.

"The ultimate shame to any pirate crew," Zoro smirked. "They deserve it."

"You monster!" Foxy yelled out in horror, "You'll steal my poor crew of their livelihood without a second thought?"

"Isn't that what they did to that other ship on the way here?" Chopper asked.

"They're just sore losers," Sanji said firmly, "And Foxy has no one to blame but himself for all this. He could've stopped the games after we won the Roller Race, and he didn't have to bet five hundred of his crew on this one game. No, he was just an idiot, no doubt about it. But luckily for them, Luffy's a nice guy."

"I don't need your sail," Luffy answered, "You gotta use that to go places after all."

They all looked relieved, at least until they told them that they had their mark on their sails as well, but Luffy explained that he will just paint them a new one instead of the one taken. While this pleased Foxy and his crew, Luffy's drawing skills for their new Jolly Roger unfortunately depressed deeply the whole lot of them.

"If I had had to sail with a flag like that, I'd be ashamed to go out to sea," Sanji stated.

"I don't know, if they wanted to strike fear into the hearts of their enemies, then they sure have a way to do that," Nami laughed a little as the entire Foxy crew bowed as low as Foxy when he was depressed.

"Aw… you guys don't have to bow to me," Luffy laughed.

"WE'RE NOT!" they all screamed. But Luffy ignored them all as he took the flag down and jumped back to land. He was walking off, until he was reminded that he still had to pick another four hundred and ninety-seven crewmembers.

"We don't need anymore," Luffy answered.

"Luffy loves getting new crewmates, but he wants to pick them out on his terms, not because he has to," Zoro said lightly.

"Then that should let Foxy off the hook right?" Brook asked.

"Guess again," Nami sighed. "He's such an idiot…"

"THE RULES ARE THE RULES!" Foxy screamed at him. "I DON'T CARE IF YOU NEED THEM OR NOT! YOU'RE GONNA PICK THOSE CREWMATES RIGHT NOW!"

"He's letting you guys go! Just swallow your pride and leave while you have the chance!" Chopper groaned as he watched them.

Luffy looked annoyed, like a little kid told to finish eating his vegetables. At least until Zoro reminded him that a crew has to follow their captain's orders no matter what. Everyone but Chopper and Nami, smiled at that as if they understood what he was talking about. A grin appeared on Luffy's face in understanding. And so in the end, he ended up picking everyone from Foxy's crew except for Foxy, Proche, and Hamburg. They sent Foxy off with his two remaining crewmates in a tiny sailboat and watched them off into the distance, screaming out threats.

"There's so many pirates here!" Franky said, "What were you going to do with them?"

"The easy way," Zoro smirked. And then Luffy turned back to the new crewmates and called if they were ready for their first orders. They all cheered, letting him know that they were ready for anything.

What Luffy said next got a laugh from the present day Straw Hats. "You're all dismissed!" You could see the sweat-drop on each of them—and they were all too stunned to speak for a moment.

"You mean… you're kicking us off?" someone asked.

"Yep, you got it!" Luffy answered.

"Captain's orders are absolute," memory Zoro reminded them. "So I don't wanna hear anyone complaining!"

Brook burst out laughing. "This is just great!" he cried out, "It was just so blunt that I can't help but feel bad for them!"

"Like we needed all those people anyway?" Nami asked with a shake of her head.

"I don't care if you join your old crews again, or if you go back to split head," Luffy told them, "But whatever you do, you can't stay with me." Smiling, he finished up by yelling, "SO LONG!"

"Come on Luffy," current Sanji groaned as he watched them all climb on board the Sexy Foxy, "Couldn't you keep some of the girls?"

The Sexy Foxy pushed off from land, all of them going after Foxy, yelling that they belonged with him after all as everyone felt a sense of relief, glad that it was over.

"Well," memory Nami sighed, "I say that it's about time we leave here."

"Hold up, Nami," Luffy said, jerking his thumb behind them, "There's something I gotta take care of first."

She looked surprised but they followed after him as he led them all back towards Tonjit's house where he was with Shelly, who seemed to have completely recovered from her fall. Tonjit heard them approaching and turned to face them with a smile. "You made it back!" he called to them.

"All worked out in the end," Usopp said smiling as Luffy walked over to him and told the old man that they brought him a souvenir. And he held up the Jolly Roger.

"He gave it to him?" Brook asked softly.

"To let him know that he didn't have to worry about anyone taking Shelly away from him again," Chopper smiled proudly and Brook felt as a surge of pride go through him as well. But Tonjit noticed all the bandages and instead asked in concern, "You're hurt… are you alright?"

Luffy just smiled back. "Aw, this? It's nothing."

"Knowing the other kids of injuries that Luffy has gotten over the years, I guess that's true," present-day Usopp laughed.

Tonjit just smiled and said gratefully, "Thank you for your help." Shelly agreed as she neighed softly next to them.

The memory was starting to disappear once again, but before it vanished completely, memory Nami seemed to realize what this had been about. "Is that why you accepted the fight?" she asked him, "Because you wanted to help him? And here I thought you were just being stupid again."

And the memory was gone after that, Luffy's voice echoing into silence, "Man, you're rude!"

"Like he's one to talk about manners," Sanji said.

"So what happened after all that?" Brook asked interestedly.

"Well, turns out that Tonjit's grandson showed up," Sanji said.

"His grandson?" Franky asked in surprise, "Didn't see that coming!"

"Yeah!" Chopper said happily, "He had this giant pet mole and wanted to dig a hole all the way through the world!"

"I could see the family resemblance in them," Robin laughed a little.

"Anyway, it turns out that he could dig a way underneath the islands and reach the other villagers in no time at all," Usopp said happily. "They saw us off after that, telling us that they'll be praying for a safe journey for all of us."

"That's so kind of him," Brook said happily. "So he didn't have to wait a long time to meet up with the rest of his friends did he?"

"No, he didn't," Chopper said smiling. "And I'm glad…"

As the next memory popped up, it was a bright day and the first they noticed was that Luffy, Robin, Sanji, and Nami were all walking up a steep hill.

"Where are we now?" Franky asked them curiously.

"Don't know," Zoro said in mild confusion. "Do you guys remember this?"

Robin's eyes suddenly widen as she said, "Wait… is this actually…?"

But then they heard memory Usopp yelling from somewhere behind them, "HEY! WAIT UP!" They all looked to see the other three past versions of the Straw Hats coming up the slope to meet them. "LOOK WHO WE FOUND!"

"Hey! Zoro!" Luffy called happily, waving back happily.

"Oh, no," current Robin whispered, suddenly remembering what this was about as memory Sanji groaned at the sight of him, shifting the heavy bag of treasure on his back.

"What's wrong, Robin-san?" Brook asked before he noticed that something was wrong with Zoro… the memory swordsman already had his bandana on and there was an empty look in his eyes as he slowly walked up towards them. Memory Sanji also noticed the dangerous look in his eye and looked tense, but Luffy didn't as he walked down towards him.

"Decided to re-join us then?" he asked him happily.

"Re-join? Since when did you leave?" Franky asked as the others realized what was happening here.

"You've got to be kidding me!" current Zoro yelled out as he smacked himself in the face. "Not this!"

"Not what?" Chopper asked just as memory Zoro's eyes flashed slightly as if something snapped inside him. Both past Sanji and Robin warned Luffy to watch out, but as he looked back and asked what was wrong, Zoro pulled his blade out and tried to slice Luffy's head clean off.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Franky yelled in shock as Brook screamed.

"What were you doing?" Brook yelled at him as Zoro shook his head in shame. For a horrible moment, it looked like he had. Luffy managed to duck his head in time as the wind created from the blade caused his hat to go flying off. Memory Nami screamed in shock as the hat fluttered down and Luffy caught it, and raised his head.

"It wasn't completely his fault," current Nami whispered. "I forgot about this…"

"You mean this is where we lost our memories?" Chopper asked in shock.

"Looks like it," Robin answered grimly.

"Your memories?" Brook repeated in shock.

"Later," Sanji told him as Luffy turned back to memory Zoro and asked what the heck he did that for. Past Zoro didn't answer him as he looked behind him, that dangerous look still on his face and the smile faded from Luffy's face. The two looked at each other long and hard before Zoro pulled a second blade out—looking for a real fight.

"Can someone please tell me what's happening here?" Brook gasped out. Sure he'd seen Luffy and Zoro fight, but here, it looked like the swordsman was actually trying to kill Luffy. Memory Robin raised her arms, telling them both to stop until Sanji held up a hand to stop her, telling her that it wasn't a good idea to get involved, something was wrong with him. Zoro suddenly charged at Luffy once again. Usopp and Chopper screamed in fear and ran to hide behind some trees. Luffy dodged the attack before he was forced up into the trees. "That's kinda dangerous," Luffy said to him. "You should stop."

"Yes, please!" Brook croaked out nervously. Now he knew that these two were just about at the same level of strength, with Luffy perhaps a little stronger… but Zoro also used blades, Luffy's biggest weakness. Instead of answering him, Zoro hacked the tree down and almost hit Sanji and the girls.

"I forgot about that!" Sanji yelled furiously. "Hey you stupid Moss Head! If you wanted to fight I'd be more than happy to take you on, but you stay away from Nami and Robin!"

"It wasn't my fault!" Zoro yelled back.

"Hey! If you had just kept watch like you were supposed to then none of this would've happened!" Sanji yelled at him.

"Hey! I was tired! How was I supposed to know this would happen?!" Zoro yelled back.

"You wanna sleep so bad, how about I make you sleep permanently?!" Sanji roared back.

"Shut up both of you!" Nami yelled as she hit them both, "You're not helping things here!"

"Would someone mind telling me what is going on here?" Franky asked, feeling more lost by the second as Luffy poked his head out of the leaves and down at Zoro. They could hear memory Chopper behind them saying that he bet that kid put Zoro under some form of hypnosis.

"Kid? What? A kid did all this?!" Brook cried out as memory Sanji dropped the sack to the ground and told them that they had to work together to beat him. But Luffy told them all to stay out of it. They were to go on ahead while he took care of them Zoro.

Memory Robin was the only one who smiled. "Alright then," she said as she turned, "Let's get going. C'mon." they tried to stop her, but she told them that they couldn't stop him. That their priority was to stop the memory thief and to leave it to Luffy.

"How can someone steal memories?" Franky asked, before realizing, "But you and Luffy seem to be acting just fine Robin?"

"Because I was the only one at first who didn't lose my memory," she answered softly, "Luffy did lose his memories as well, but he managed to get them back. But the others…?"

"Don't remind me," Nami said in embarrassment as she thought back to how she tried to get the others to join her and so that she could get them all home. She shook her head at her stupidity. Though she knew that it was understandable that she acted like that since she didn't have her memory, she couldn't help but it still made her feel deeply ashamed. However, as she glanced up at Zoro and took comfort in the fact that she was hadn't been the one controlled by a seahorse however.

Robin led the others away as Luffy turned back to Zoro and the fight reassumed with Zoro now attempting to slice Luffy in half. But Luffy easily jumped out of harm's way before throwing a punch, which Zoro dodged, and breaking the tree right in half. As the smoke from the punch cleared, they could see that memory Zoro put the white blade in his mouth and pulled the third sword out. He was done playing games. The present-day Zoro felt sick to his stomach watching this… now he really wished that he got that damn seahorse and cooked it up for dinner. This was just humiliating!

He watched as the two went at it, and he was reminded of their stupid fight back at Whiskey Peak… it was just as stupid here as it was then. Fighting and dodging each other's attacks; Luffy threw a Gatling at him, which his past self just danced around every punch before he took a good slice at him. Luffy avoided it… but as they now stood far apart, a slight cut appeared on Luffy's cheek showing that he hadn't completely missed it. He grinned as if he was enjoying it…

"How can he be having fun fighting against his own friend?" Chopper asked in bafflement.

"The thrill of fighting a worthy foe," Zoro answered knowingly, though he had believed that he was supposed to take him out, he remembered feeling the surge of excitement rush through his blood. He didn't know who this guy was, only that he was his enemy… but this one was strong… he loved fighting him. He sighed as he came back to the present… he should've been able to fight off that stupid seahorse. He was never going to live this down.

The empty look on Zoro's face was terrifying—like he was just a soulless demon aching for blood.

"Looking real scary there, Zoro," Usopp said nervously as he suddenly crossed two of his swords across his chest and they knew what was coming. "WAIT!" he cried in panic, "YOU'RE USING THAT?! YOU TRYING TO KILL LUFFY?"

"I don't know alright?" he yelled back as his memory self cried out, "Oni… GIRI!"

Luffy didn't have time to dodge it and the grin was wiped off his face as the attack hit. Two deep slices… in the form of an X on his chest… right where the scar that Luffy now carried today was. No one said anything to that, but they all had a strong sense of a dark foreboding in the pit of their stomachs when they saw it. Now the wound didn't look serious at all, in fact, Luffy was able to get back to his feet and the bleeding was minimal.

But as soon as he saw it, a sense of overwhelming guilt rose up inside Zoro.

He had no idea to how Luffy got such a scar after they were seperated… one day when he asked Luffy about it, he said that he got it while at the War at Marineford but didn't say anything else about it. He knew that he must've brought up a touchy subject for Luffy and he didn't ask him again. But he couldn't help but wonder what had caused such a devastating scar… especially after seeing the kind of wounds that Luffy acquired through these memories. Seeing that tiny wound in the same place were that future scar would one day appear made him feel sick to his stomach, though he wasn't sure why.

But the fight between the two went on—captain and swordsman—neither side gaining or losing an inch. They were able to attack and dodge… but neither one was able to actually give each other a hard enough blow. They ran through the forest as they continued to attack each other, taking down trees and boulders—anything that stood in their way. Finally, it was a stare down. They were going all out here. Past Zoro took his two swords and held them at an angle against each other and began to rotate them rapidly as Luffy threw his arms back.

"Oh no…" Chopper yelled, shutting his eyes. He couldn't stand seeing them fight like this. He could hear their words though…

"Three swords style… Oni… Giri…"

"GUM GUM… BAZOOKA!"

"THREE THOUSAND WORLDS!"

He heard them clash but it all stopped so suddenly that he opened his eyes one again to see that the memory disappeared. "What happened?"

"The memory died there," Zoro answered.

"Just like that?" Usopp yelled in shock, "But who won?!"

"No one," Zoro answered, "It was a stalemate. I don't really remember too much that happened after that."

"Ok, can someone tell me what's going on here?" Franky yelled since the memory was gone. "What's this memory thief? How can you steal memories?! And why were you fighting Luffy in the first place, Zoro?"

Robin stepped forward as Zoro gave Franky a deadly look. She explained that one night while they were docked near a certain island, she was the only person who stayed awake. And it was because of that was she able to keep her memories. However, when she woke up, she found that the rest of the crew were all trying to figure out what happened since they had no idea to how they got there, with the last things they remember are the events right before Luffy arrived in their lives—and in Luffy's case, just before he ended up on Alvida's ship.

"Wow? I didn't think that was possible," Franky said in amazement. "That had to cause a lot of problems."

"It did," Robin smiled as the others blushed. "Not just with Zoro here. But with everyone."

"Don't remind me," Chopper hide his eyes with his hat. "I don't like that."

"Anyway," Robin said, "Since Zoro still believed himself to be a pirate hunter, and Nami had gone back to hating all pirates, they both left the ship."

"But who did it?" Brook asked, "I mean… was it a Devil Fruit who did it?"

"Well, not exactly," Robin answered, "You see, the next night, a boy carrying a seahorse came back to the ship, but we were all awake. Luffy attacked him and he got his memories back, but the boy had escaped. Once he remembered everything, he wanted to bring Zoro and Nami back and when we came to the island, we found Nami." She looked to Nami and added, "And you were anything but cooperative."

"I know, I know," she sighed, rubbing her head. "I'm sorry."

"And where were you guys heading?" Franky asked, remembering them walking up the hill together.

"I found a stone carrying ancient writing and found what really caused everyone to lose their memories," Robin answered.

"Yeah, and how come you started to attack Luffy like that? I mean, even if you thought you were still a pirate hunter? That wasn't like you?" Brook asked him.

"He was hypnotized into attacking us by the same one who took our memories," Chopper said and Zoro hit Chopper sharply over the head.

"Would you all let it go?" he demanded.

"Yes," Robin answered, "Anyway, to make a long story short, we managed to reach a lake and found the boy who tried to hypnotize all of us. Thankfully Sanji was able to kick the seahorse out of his arms and the boy ran away. But it turns out their target hadn't been the boy—who had been hypnotized like Zoro had been—but rather the seahorse."

"Wait," Franky said as Brook's jaw fell open. "You mean to tell me that it was the stupid seahorse who was behind everything?"

"Yes," Robin answered, "And not only did it steal the crew's memories, but it stole all the memories from the villagers on the island as well."

"But why?" Brook asked in confusion. "What's the point? What did the seahorse have to gain from taking memories?"

"It was stupid," Sanji said, "I'm just glad that I got the chase to kick that shitty seahorse around until it coughed up all the memories it took."

"Oh good, so everything went back to normal?" Brook asked in relief.

"Not quite," Usopp sighed, remembering what happened next as the memory came back and they spotted Luffy staggering around slightly through the trees, he was alone, and seemed to be looking around for Zoro. They spotted him through the trees in a clearing near a lake—and he was already picking a fight with Sanji.

"Oh no," Zoro groaned. Luffy grabbed hold of some trees and pulled himself back like a slingshot. He rocketed himself into them so hard that they were sent flying across the water and crashed into a rock.

"Ow," Franky winced.

"That was a cheat shot," Sanji hissed, rubbing his head in an irritated way, "A flying attack from nowhere."

They followed their past selves across the lake to where the three lay in a jumble of rock and limbs. Memory Chopper asked in worry if they were alright as Zoro slammed Luffy's head to the ground, demanding to know why he did that.

"Did you really have to ask?" Nami asked him, "You were trying to kill him?"

"I got my memory back by this point!" he retorted.

"Well, how were we supposed to know?" Sanji demanded, "You were glaring down at us like we were the enemy so how could we tell if your memory was back."

But memory Usopp realized what Zoro said and asked, "Zoro! Did you… just call… him Luffy?" Past Zoro didn't answer as he picked Luffy up and carried him out of the rubble as Nami asked if he got his memory back.

"Of course I did!" he retorted angrily.

"Then stop looking so creepy!" memory Sanji snarled. "If it really is back," he said before he grabbed hold of Zoro's face from behind him and twisting it up into a smile, "THEN ACT LIKE IT OK?! BUT A BIG SMILE ON YOUR FACE LIKE THIS!"

"I think that's creepier than anything else I've seen here," current Usopp whispered and they all nodded at that as past Zoro yelled at Sanji to stop it and hit him with Luffy. With Luffy forgetting who he was for a moment, he snapped out of it, and they all came to the understanding that they were on each other's side once again.

"Thank goodness for that," Brook sighed in relief, a hand over his chest to where his heart would be. "I don't like seeing you fight like that."

"Well, it wasn't a picnic for us either," Sanji muttered. As they all began to talk about what was going on.

"Realizing that seahorse horn was the real culprit was brilliant Robin my love," memory Sanji said lovingly.

"What? So that was it?" Luffy asked in surprise.

"Yes, Luffy that was it!" past Usopp said in annoyance. "You were the first one to get your memories back and you didn't notice?"

"How rude! At least I'm better than Zoro!" Luffy retorted pointing to the swordsman who glared back and began muttering death threats.

"You know, he's right," Robin laughed a little and Zoro gave her a dangerous look. But things just turned even weirder as they began asking where that thing went. Memory Zoro answered that as he got up and went to the water's edge to see the shadow of the creature hiding below them. Seeing it, Zoro lost his temper completely, obviously thinking of how that thing manipulated him and jumped in to get the seahorse, threating to cook it for dinner. As they watched, memory Usopp provided comedy for the others by narrating the fight. Using words that sounded exactly like what they would say.

Everyone seemed to be fighting back their laughter as Zoro finally caught the seahorse after several minutes. "Ha!" Usopp said in a deep voice that sounded like Zoro's, "There! I got you! You won't get away!"

And then everyone burst out laughing, even Robin couldn't hold it in—but they weren't the only ones—for most of the present-day Straw Hats all burst out laughing as well. Except for Zoro of course, who hit their Usopp hard over the head since he never had a chance to hit him here.

"You never could take a joke could you?" he whimpered, a huge lump on his head swelling up. The seahorse made several honking noises and through his laughter, Chopper translated, "Now for my last resort!"

The laughter died down at that as they looked at the seahorse as it sprayed a pinkish-purple haze right into Zoro's face. The impact sent the thing flying and everything was covered in the mist.

"Now what?" Franky asked as most of the other Straw Hats, freezing as they all remembered what happened here. Through the hazy mist on the other side of the water they could just make out the forms of several people standing there.

"Who are they?" Brook asked softly as a woman stepped through the mist first. Memory Nami gasped out along with the present-day one. They were staring at the woman who had red-violet hair with a unique hairstyle similar to a mohawk, a cigarette in her mouth, and holding a tangerine in her hands as she smiled directly at the memory Nami.

"No, it can't be!" memory Nami said, "Is… is that you? Bell-mère?"

"That was your mother's name wasn't it?" Robin asked softly, remembering seeing the picture in the girl's room. The one with Nami and her sister as children, and this woman there with them.

"That's your mother?" Brook said softly, looking at the woman with new wonder.

Tears were forming in her eyes as she nodded. To see her mother once more standing there… not just from a picture or in her mind, but to see her standing there as she had been when she was alive. She hugged herself tightly, remembering what Robin said about this island being connected to the land of the dead. She never really thought about it, but seeing her mother standing there once more awoke a sense of grief that she hadn't had in years. She wanted to speak with her again… she wanted to tell her how much she missed her and that she shouldn't have to worry about her again.

Just then a man stepped out as well. He was a rather eccentric-looking guy with a very strange gray hair that stood out on either side of his head and was wearing a top hat that matched his coat over his head. He had a big grin on his face that reminded them all of Chopper…

"Doctor!" memory Chopper cried out, tears in his eyes.

"Dr. Hiruluk?" Sanji asked, "So that's the man that adopted you?"

Chopper didn't answer him as he burst out sobbing, burying his face into Robin's shirt when she stopped him from running over and hugging his dad again, knowing that it was just going to break Chopper's heart when he remembered he couldn't touch him.

The next person appeared, but this time it was someone they all knew. It was Kaya from Usopp's village, looking ten times healthier than they last saw her, and she beamed at the sight of memory Usopp.

"K-Kaya!" he gasped out, a river of tears falling from his face. "Are… are you feeling better?"

The current Usopp didn't cry, but he couldn't stop the sad smile coming to his face. Not a day went by that he didn't think of his dear friend, and he always hoped that she was healthy again, and following her own dreams back home. His hand went to his bag where he secretly kept one of the flags of the Usopp Pirates as a memento of his childhood. Had it already been so long since he left home? He was no longer the awkward gangly kid he once was. No longer did he think himself useless or run in fear. He'd become much more self-assured and was able, willing in fact, to stand beside his crew in battle. He couldn't wait to go back and see his home again someday… he wanted to become someone who Kaya would be proud to say was his friend.

To their surprise, it was a child who appeared from the mist next. A girl who couldn't have looked more than eleven or twelve years old. They stared at her dark blue hair and dark brown eyes, realizing that she looked like a child version of the Marine officer Tashigi. None of them had any idea to who she was, but they noticed that she was smiling at the past version of Zoro… and Brook also saw that the white blade was in her hands as well.

"Zoro-san?" he asked softly, "Do you… know her?"

Zoro didn't answer as he looked at her long and hard, his past self staring at her as if he had seen a ghost—which he was in many ways.

"Yeah, I knew her," he said simply as he looked on, feeling a sense of pain. But it was different than from what the others were feeling. For he had seen her earlier hadn't he? Maybe he was dreaming then, but he had been sure that he had seen her there taunting him to prove that he was stronger than when he used to lose to her. "It's nothing," he muttered, but his hand went to the white sword at his side as he continued to look at her.

Three more people also appeared after that. All three they knew as well… the first was a man that could only be Zeff—only here he was much younger. The cigarette in memory Sanji's mouth fell as he stared at him. The Zeff here was muscular and instead of a pegged leg, he had two normal ones and was dressed as a pirate captain instead of a chief. This was obviously when he was still in his glory days as a pirate… he stood tall and proud, looking ready to take on the world.

Current Sanji didn't say anything as he looked on, wondering just how that miserable old bag of bones was doing now. He had always planned on returning to the Baratie someday and tell him the kind of place the All Blue was. That old man better still be alive and kicking… though he had to admit, the fart may outlive them all how stubborn he was. He couldn't help but smirk at that last thought.

And finally, the last two people were also ones they'd seen before… Ace and Shanks. Both of them looking just like they had seen them… unlike the other Straw Hats Luffy was grinning ear to ear at the sight of them. "How are you guys doing?!" he called to them happily.

It was a surreal moment… the people that they had cared about the most all standing there together.

"Why didn't you see anyone, Robin?" Franky asked quietly as Chopper continued to sob against her. She smiled sadly, feeling glad that she didn't seen anyone and bring back all those bad memories… "Because my mind was never drained of my memories like the others," she answered softly, "So the seahorse didn't know about me."

But suddenly, the forms of the seven people disappeared in a bright golden light so that six other people took their places… Arlong, Wapol, Don Krieg, Kuro, Crocodile, and Eneru.

"That would've sucked if they were real," Sanji muttered as their past selves all looked freaked out for a moment before Luffy started yelling out that he'd take them all out at once as they circled around them like ghosts.

"Please, you were almost killed when fighting most of them," Zoro retorted, but he had to admit, that would've been an interesting fight. If Luffy fought Eneru, he'd fight Crocodile… why not? But then the forms all came together and exploded in a massive ball of light so bright that they covered their eyes, their past selves all frozen—unable to move—as the seahorse looked down at them from a rock. Chopper translated for them what the seahorse was saying. That thanks to them interfering, he lost all the memories he stole from the villagers. But the memories from the seven of them should be enough for him to transform. Just then, the seahorse was bathed in the bright light and engulfed the land—the past Straw Hat's eyes became blank and empty as they stared into the light… but when it died down… all they saw was that the seahorse was fat like a balloon.

"What… is that?" Franky asked, feeling a huge letdown at that. He had been expecting to see something a hell of a lot cooler than that!

"Like I said, it was stupid," Sanji muttered. Luffy then pointed a shaking finger up at it. "What's that?" he thought it over for a second before he added, "And ah… and who am I?" he looked to the others, "And who are you guys?"

"You all lost your memories?!" Brook cried out as they were all looking around in confusion as well and memory Zoro popped out of the water.

"It absorbed all our memories," Nami sighed as she looked to the blank look on her past self's face, staring around on her knees from where she fell down.

Luffy looked down at Zoro and called, "Hey, you mister drowning guy? Do you know who I am?"

"NO DUMBASS!" he shouted back.

"You may not have your memories but I can tell that your bad attitude is still there," Sanji sighed.

"Funny how that works," Robin said as the seahorse honked again and memory Chopper translated that he said that he had become a Millennial Dragon.

"You mean that's a Millennial Dragon?" Franky asked, remembering when they spoke about them before.

"No," Zoro said, "They come from eggs, you can't just become one. I don't think this guy ever saw one if you ask me. If he honestly believed that he was a dragon." Meanwhile, memory Usopp and Luffy were staring at Chopper in amazement that he could understand that thing. But then they realized that he was talking and Usopp gasped that he was a talking raccoon dog. Chopper was looking horrified and cried out, "I'M A RACCOON DOG?!"

"This is so embarrassing!" Chopper called as they all laughed.

"We all know the feeling, Chopper," Nami nodded, "We were all made to look stupid from this experience and I think we'd all like to forget it."

Luffy however was staring up at the seahorse with wide eyes, like a little kid wanting to ride a pony for the first time. He then came right out that he wanted to ride it. Memory Usopp told him that he was crazy and that he couldn't get up there anyway. But Luffy walked backwards, looking ready to jump anyway, but his foot got caught as he fell off the cliff and he stretched out so that when he was shot up, he was able to grab hold of the seahorse, sounding surprised that his arms and legs could stretch as the others below stared in horror.

"This is just funny watching all this," Nami sighed, "And by funny, I mean stupid…"

As Luffy hung on, the seahorse started to let go of the memories, and Luffy remembered what was going on here. And so, in the end, he was able to take out the seahorse, kicking it so hard that the memories came out in the glittering blue mist and the seahorse was sent flying. The memories returned to their owners and Luffy landed on the ground as they smiled happily.

But as the memory faded, they couldn't help but look at the X-shaped mark on Luffy's chest before they returned to the night sky.