~Third~

"I will now explain the rules of the Groggy Ring, we have a playing field and we have two goals knock the ball into the goal and you win, however the ball isn't actually a ball, the ball is a person both teams must select someone to be the ball make your selection"the commentator said.

"You heard him which one of you is gonna be the ball?"one guy asked walked over, Zoro jabbed his thumb pointing at Sanji just to annoy the cook "Ball marker"another guy said putting a ball hat on Sanji, Nicole snickered a bit causing Sanji to be even more irritated "Who said you get to pick? You're the ball you moss headed bastard!"he growled at Zoro who ignored him.

The foxy pirates began to chant "There it is, their entrance theme song, it's time to welcome back the undisputed elites of the Groggy Ring, the undefeated, unbeatable, unstoppable the famous Groggy monsters have taken the field behold the kings of the ring!"the commentator said as three people walked to the field.

"First up is Full Dash Hamburg, following behind is tackle machine Pickles and last but not least the half giant half fishman himself Big Pan! This is literally a monstrous march!"the commentator said as all three of them were huge and the tallest of them was wearing the ball "Disappointed?"Sanji asked "Heh, not at all"Zoro smirked cracking his neck, Nicole smirked steeling her gaze "Let's do this"she said.

"Our mighty Groggy Ring combatants have taken the field opposing them on the Strawhats team their meddlesome sideline supporter from the first round the savage chef Sanji! And beside him with a bounty of fifty eight million berries the stunning She Wolf Mihawk Nicole! And beside her with a bounty of sixty million berries pirate hunter Roronoa Zoro!"the commentator announced.

"Hardly worth our time to crush a couple of pipsqueaks, the woman might be fun though let's make her scream"Pickles said, Nicole glared at them "Try me"she said "Well start with a coin toss"the ref said tossing the coin "Tails"Hamburg called "Heads"Nicole called "It's tails, field or ball?"the ref asked turning to Hamburg "Ball please"he said.

"You heard him our Groggy monsters have chosen the ball! The Strawhats ball team will now enter the other teams mid circle"the commentator said "Left or right?"the ref asked "Doesn't matter"Zoro said "In case you wondered the ball men are the players with the silly little hats on their heads, knock your opponents ball man to the goal on their side of the field and the game is yours"the commentator said.

"Hey ball man get in position already!"Zoro told Sanji "Now listen i never agreed to be the ball in the first place better shut your mouth unless you want a boot to the teeth how am i supposed to look cool with this thing on my head?"Sanji asked "You gonna cry over a hat?"Zoro asked before taking a look "Hey it actually looks good on you"he said "You think i'm gonna fall for that stupid!"Sanji yelled at him, Nicole just sighed, she learned a while ago it's better to let them fight it out.

"Zoro! Nicole! Sanji! I'm counting on you!"Luffy yelled a big grin on his face "I'm sorry we lost the last round you guys! It's up to you now! Please get Chopper back! You gotta!"Usopp cried, Nicole sweatdropped as Sanji and Zoro started a match of rock paper scissors to decide who would be the ball and got into a fight "Oh for crying out loud!"Nicole yelled braking up their fight "Give me that!"she said snatching the ball from Sanji's head and putting it on hers "There problem solved"she said buckling the ball tightly on her head.

"Hey hold it! No weapons on the field! You two gotta lose the swords!"the ref called "Fine whatever"Nicole shrugged handing her sword with the pin still in its place to Robin "If anything happens to that pin i will fillet you and grind you into powder, understood?"she asked with a sharp glare "Understood miss Hawkeye"Robin said, Zoro handed his swords to the ref "Fine my fist are all i need"he said.

Nicole rolled her eyes and headed to the ring as Sanji and Zoro got into another fight "Well it certainly took long enough but the Strawhats new ball man, oh excuse me, ball woman has made her way to the opponents center ring"the commentator said "Nicole be careful!"Zoro called "Watch out for any tricks they might have!"Sanji called "Yeah yeah"Nicole said waving it off, she took a deep breath shaking off her nerves.

"Now why don't we go over a few quick rules, there's no time limit and the first team to score wins"the commentator said, Nicole stood there watching as the Groggy monsters just laughed, she knew the ref probably wouldn't pay any attention to cheating on the foxy pirates side so nothing was out of the question, she had to be ready for anything.

The game started with the blow of the ref's whistle, Pickles went to tackle Nicole but she just calmly jumped up dodging him at the last second "You're mine big fishy!"she said going to kick the giant fishman but lost her footing on the slippery skin, however she quickly used it to her advantage and punched the giant sending him backwards, however the giant caught himself and slapped Nicole sending her flying.

"Nicole!"Zoro, Sanji and Luffy yelled as she was sent spinning through the sky, she tried to gain control as while on the ground Zoro and Sanji were running after Hamburg, Zoro was tackled out of the way and Sanji missed his kick as Hamburg jumped up and caught Nicole and tossed her passing her to Pickle.

Zoro was frantically chasing Pickle as Sanji stayed with Hamburg trying to get a kick in but the Groggy monster kept avoiding his attacks, Zoro was sent flying by an attack from Pickle the same attack sending Nicole spinning once more, again she tried to gain control but just as she was about to Hamburg captured her and went to slam her into the goal, just the Zoro tossed Pickle over, Nicole smirked at Hamburg "Thanks for stopping me, now i can do this!"she said kicking him away and colliding with Hamburg knocking them both out.

"Nicole! You okay?"Sanji asked running over to her "Don't worry about me what we need to focus on is the big guy"Nicole said gesturing over to the giant fishman, except Zoro and Sanji got into another fight over something or other, Nicole just sighed running over to the giant fishman but he turned the tables on her having hidden spikes on his feet forcing her to run away, Sanji got angry at the ref for acting like he wasn't seeing anything.

Just as Nicole had thought they had no intention of calling out themselves when cheating, the giant fishman started using an axe while Nicole and Zoro who got dragged into it were running away from it, Sanji got back into the game running away from the axe wielding spike shooed giant fishman "Running around like this is getting us nowhere"Sanji said "Yeah but now that we know their game plan we can come up with a counter attack"Zoro said.

The group came to a stop and turned back to fight the giant fishman, the fishman dived at them they dodged but that was a part of the groggy monsters plan as the three slipped around the slimy skin in circles, as the three were spinning around Pickles and Hamburg recovered from their earlier accident with some shiny new gear like a spiked shoulder pad and metal arm guards.

The giant fishman send the three free from spinning around, Pickles sent Hamburg up and the groggy monster attacked Nicole sending her crashing down in the ground "Nicole!"Zoro called trying to get to her and protect her as the giant fishman send Hamburg straight at her with the metal arm guards aimed right at her, he was too late to protect her as Nicole was hit, she swallowed her scream knowing that's what the groggy monsters wanted.

Hamburg smirked kicking the already injured Nicole sending her flying right into the path of Pickles who was launched from the giant fishmans mouth like a human cannonball, their paths collided, again Nicole refused to scream as she was sent flying again "Nicole!"Sanji called as him and Zoro raced to hopefully save her but then she was sent flying again with a punch from Hamburg, she was then sent upwards by Pickles spiked shield before being slammed down by the giant fishman.

"Nicole!"The Strawhats yelled "What absolute cruelty, the Groggy monster don't hold back even again women!"the commentator said as Zoro and Sanji ran over to Nicole "Hey talk to me!"Zoro yelled in a panic lifting her up in his lap, Nicole coughed blood "I'm okay, we gotta finish the game, i can still fight"she said "You're crazy! In your condition?!"Sanji yelled at her "Shut up i'm fine"Nicole said getting up only to fall back into Zoro's arms, he laid her down "Just take a nap or something while you're laying down there"he said.

Nicole chuckled a bit "Shut up i'm fine"she said, Zoro got up his eyes shadowed "Sanji, let's work together for ten seconds"he said, Sanji took a drag from his cigarette his eyes also shadowed "After what they did, it'll only take five"he said facing the Groggy monsters a death glare and a scowl set on his face "Yeah"Zoro said also facing the Groggy monsters an almost demonic aura around him, his dark eyes burning with the rage of a wild beast.

~skip~

"GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL!!!!!!!!!!"the commentator announced "Awesome they won!"Luffy cheered "That was beautiful!"Usopp cried while Chopper babbled about something tears and snot running down his face, the ref made the final blow officially calling the match, Zoro walked over to Nicole getting the stupid ball off her head and picking her up bridal style holding her close.

Sanji made no protest much to the swordsman's surprise, the cook had seen just how much Nicole and Zoro care about each other, he thought he would get a chance when they had that fight in Alabasta but she showed no interest in him, he was man enough to admit Zoro had long since beaten him to the punch.

"Nicole!"Luffy, Nami, Robin and Usopp said gathering around Zoro as the swordsman carried her "Will she be okay?"Luffy asked concerned about his Nakama "The wounds look shallow but she took a lot of damage, we need to hurry up and get Chopper back so he can treat her"Robin said "Yeah"Luffy nodded "You keep her safe until then Zoro"he said "Yeah"Zoro nodded 'And i promise you'll never have to get hurt like that on my watch again' he thought looking down at Nicole as she slept peacefully in his arms.