It had been about an hour since the Straw hats had taken victory in the Groggy ring. The roller race was set to begin in the next two hours. Tani wasn't ready for it at all.

Well, Tani herself was completely confident in her ability to skate, she'd been doing it for as long as she can remember and knows she can win this... It's Luffy she's worried about.

Not once had she ever seen him in a pair of skates or blades, which would only spell disaster if he was the runner. Since the game was made for two participants per round, this meant Tani needed to deal with Luffy fumbling around his own feet.

So why couldn't she find Luffy? She needs to train him!

She'd been walking around the stalls for an hour, and still couldn't find the rubber bastard anywhere! Nobody had seen him. It was starting to get annoying and concerning...

"Nervous?" came Robin's voice from beside Tani. The younger have a jump in surprise, rubbing at her neck sheepishly.

"Yeah, I can't find Luffy anywhere." Tani admitted, "I don't think he knows how to skate, so I want to teach him before we start the game." Tani sighed. Robin held a hand over her mouth and closed her eyes with a pleasant smile.

"I can help you find him," she stated. Moving her arms to cross over her chest. "Ojos Fleur," she chanted. Tani watches with mild horror and immense awe, as hundreds of icy blue eyes start to sprout all around the grounds. From the stands, to the trees, there were even some on people's bodies! Tani heard a couple of horrified screams ring out.

"Have I ever mentioned that your powers are awesome?" Tani admired. Robin couldn't help but let out a chuckle, with small hints of that strange one she used back in Skypiea.

Robin opened her eyes again, uncrossed her arms and pointed in a random direction.

"Mr Captain is watching the ocean from a cliff not too far away," she informed. Tani quickly hugged Robin, which caused the women to freeze at the unexpected touch.

"Thanks Robin!" Tani almost shouted, letting go as fast as she'd latched on. She turned heel and ran for the cliff side. Robin recomposed herself and felt herself laughing that comforting laugh.

"Derashishishi~"

...

"Luffy!" Tani called out, the captain in question was sitting cross legged by the cliff side. He turned to her and-

"Sit down, the ocean looks pretty from here," he commanded, patting the grass next to him. Tani stood were she was and shook her head.

"Later, we have a game to practice for," she stated. Luffy flopped onto his back and stared at her with a pout. God bless his adorable face, Tani had to look away.

"Hah, I win." Luffy declared happily. Tani looked back at him with confusion. "You looked away first, so I win. You suck at staring contests." he commented. Tani glared at him, with no malice of course.

"So you gonna come learn how to skate? If we lose this game, then we lose another nakama," she said with worry. Luffy rolled onto his stomach and propped his head onto his hands. Looking up at her with that sunshine expression.

"We won't lose. You gotta stop worrying all the time," he said with all seriousness, though it took away from said seriousness when his cheeks were squished like a chipmunk. "It's kinda annoying," he says, poking his tongue out.

"I worry because you guys are always running around and getting hurt... Well would be getting hurt if you weren't all super human beasts." Tani retorts, dropping to the ground with her legs crossed. One hand rested in her lap, while the other held her head up. "I think my earth brain is still hardwired to earth logic," she joked. Luffy seemed to understand.

"Oh, so you're head is stupid and forgets that we're all super strong?" he clarified. Tani snorted a laugh, and nodded in agreement.

"Something like that, let me tell you. Some of the shit you guys do, gives me a heart attack," she said fondly. "Breaking buildings, getting stabbed and shot, falling from more than like 20 feet, I mean! We stopped a civil war and mass genocide in the span of like a month. That kinda stuff takes decades and millions of people, back home," she explained. Luffy zoned out and started absently poking at her leg.

"Back home, everything is much harder to do. It takes longer and things don't even really change too much," Tani sighed. "It's boring. I've lived more in the last couple months, than I ever have back home." she admitted, using her free hand to poke at Luffy's hand.

"Shishishi, you home sounds boring." Luffy declared. Tani couldn't agree more... Except-

"Home has movies, microwaves and my mum." she listed. The three big M's in her life. "God I miss movies," she sighed, flopping onto her back. Her arms fanned out... Wait! Now wasn't the time for relaxing and taking about the past, she had a game to train for!

Tani flicked her body forward, not noticing how Luffy was hovering closer. Their heads smacked into each other. That's twice in the last three or so days.

Luffy rubbed at the spot, it didn't hurt, it was more a bodily reaction. Tani recovered faster (that's a first!), instead she decided to give Luffy a taste of his own medicine.

She leaned over and kissed his forehead. She was sweating like a pig with how nervous she was. She knows that Luffy will take this as a "Makino said you should do this" moment, but to Tani it meant something more. She was taking that to the grave!

Luffy looked at her with that emotion, what did it mean? Tani still has no idea. The boy gave her a wonky smile, the kind that only Luffy could give, and returned the gesture.

Tani: 1

Luffy: 2

Tani was a mess, and Luffy let her know she was. He laughed at her about making her all funny again.

"Let's go train already! We have less than two hours to get ready for this." Tani pouted. Getting up off the grass, and dusting off her shorts. Luffy jumped up beside her and hooked his arm around her shoulders. Tani ignored this as best she could, focus on training. "The deck would be too small, so I found a nice spot of land that's completely flat. We can train there," Tani informed. Walking in the direction she'd found while looking for Luffy.

"Let's go then," Luffy cheered. Tani rolled her eyes fondly. Picking up the pace.

Maybe they had a chance at this.

...

They have no chance at this! At all!

Luffy was completely useless when wearing skates, tripping over his own feet and tangling his rubber limbs. His arms flailed when trying to balance, he'd smacked Tani a couple times with a random flail or dozen.

His legs wobbled worse than the time Zoro wore a single skate! Luffy had no balance what so ever when wearing skates. How the hell were they going to win this if Luffy couldn't move an inch before falling on his ass?!

"Attention all participants of the roller race,"

Tani's face dropped. Luffy was clinging to her shoulders as his legs shook, he looked pleased with himself. No concern at all.

"Please head to the arena immediately, the event will begin in the next 30 minutes," the announcer signed Tani's death wish. The pressure was on, how were they going to win if Luffy couldn't skate?

"What's wrong?" Luffy questioned. Still holding onto her shoulders for stability. "You're making a face and I don't like it," he said directly into her ear. Tani turned to her head away from him.

"I'm-" she paused. If she outwardly says she doesn't believe in Luffy's ability, then she'll just be shooting herself in the foot. They need to work as a team if they wanna win this. "-Nervous... Pre-game jitters," she spoke with honesty, she was nervous because it's a performance, but she's more concerned about winning.

"We should race to the race," Luffy laughed. Tani barked a laugh at him.

"You can't even stand up straight without falling over," she mocked. Maybe if she can rile him up-

"You're on!" Luffy said, straightening up like he'd been skating for years. Tani let him have his wobbling head start, she was more than confident in her ability to kick his ass. He kept his arms out for balance, so he moved much slower than he would be if he was swinging his arms.

Tani took off, catching up to him in less than 5 seconds. She zoomed past him with a cheeky grin, even pulling down the bottom of her eye lid and poking out her tongue. Mocking the normally overpowered captain.

Luffy took no offense to this, in fact he was enjoying seeing Tani look so cool. She was normally so nervous about her abilities. She was skating backwards, adding twirls, doing loops around him. It was really cool! He wants to do that too.

Luffy stretched out his arms and clasped around Tani's shoulders. The girl remained stable as he launched himself onto her back and piggy backed off her. She laughed.

"Give up on the race? I thought you were the type of person who liked a challenge?" she questioned cheekily. Luffy just chuckled, and she felt it in her spine. Focus! Come on Tani you can focus for more than a couple hours.

"I'll win, because you'll win and that means I win," Luffy stated logically, because Luffy logic is a mystery and a half. Tani just accepted it.

They arrived at the entrance of the arena, the rest of the crew was standing outside. Tani skidded to a halt and dropped Luffy onto the ground. The straw hat boy tripped and flopped on the ground. Nami slapped her forehead.

"We are so doomed," she sighed. Usopp pat her on the back, agreeing with resignation. Zoro crossed his arms and leaned against the arena wall.

"Have we failed yet? Don't be wallowing in self pity, if we haven't even lost yet." he spouted, his hand fiddled with the hilt of the white sword. Sanji begrudgingly agreed.

"If we go in thinking we've lost, then we have." he backed up, he took out a smoke. Robin spoke in that enigmatic tone.

"So Miss Bell... Did you manage to teach Mr Captain how to skate?" she looked amused, Luffy was still trying to get back onto his feet. Tani deadpan stared at her.

"What are we going to do about that," Nami asked, motioning towards the now tangled Luffy. How had he managed to pretzel himself... Again.

"At this point, I'm just gonna wing it." Tani sighed. "Depending on what role I'm playing in the race. If I'm a runner, we have a higher chance of winning. Protector... Yeah we're screwed," Tani explained. Luffy laughed.

"I just put your name down in some of the spots, and mine in the others." he admitted. That sounded like a death sentence.

"Well if Foxy is involved. It's gonna be a whole lot of cheats and tricks." Sanji spoke, wisps of smoke danced past his lips. "Knowing Luffy and his devils luck. We'll win this one, no matter what role you two are in," Sanji assured with a charming grin. Tani felt her confidence restoring by the second.

They just needed to win three rounds, that gave them room for trial and error in two of the rounds. This could work!

"Luffy and I can experiment a bit, the first two rounds are free game for us to fail. So long as we win three games, we can get Chopper back," Tani explained. Crouching down to lift Luffy up. The captain kept his arm around her shoulders, while the other reached over to grab her hand. Nami and Sanji looked at each other knowingly.

"Let's go, we have a game to win," Tani stated with forced hype, which seemed to work on herself. She felt more pumped to win this and prove to herself that she could do this.

They stepped into the arena together.

...

Tani slipped the numbered shirt over her head, the obnoxious yellow and red colours being a total eye sore. Her number was 2, because Luffy's the captain and he gets to be number 1. Tani didn't mind, they just needed to get first place in this race.

The Foxy team stepped forward and-

"What the hell is she doing here?" Tani asked. Pointing at Porche, who looked shocked at the call out. "She's already been in a game," Tani glared, tapping her foot.

"That's not Porche," Foxy lied through his teeth, he motioned towards the girl. Who was now holding a baton, and zipped up jump suit. "This is Mercedes. Porche's twin sister," he introduced. Tani ground her teeth, it didn't matter. She was gonna kick her ass.

"Can the racers for round one please head to the starting line," the announcer called. Tani grabbed Luffy around the shoulders and pushed him towards the start line. The straw hat crew was cheering words of encouragement to the duo.

"This round, focus on trying to skate. We can risk losing this round," Tani spoke calmly into Luffy's ear. "Anytime you plan on doing anything that isn't skating, I want you to call out." she requested. Luffy agreed, but the look on his face said that the request went in one ear, and out the other. Tani sighed but accepted it.

"On team Foxy, we have the lovely Por- I mean Mercedes, and Jude the squid Fishman." the announcer introduced. Tani stared at Jude with worry. He had a lot of arms, and his skin shined in the sunlight. Slippery and able to restrain... How does she counter that?

"And on team Straw hat, we have Luffy and Tanisha," the announcer said with less enthusiasm. Tani felt a jolt of shock at her full name being used. She'd almost forgot she had an "isha" at the end...

"Runners... Go!"

Porche took off, leaving the wobbling Luffy in the dust. The rubber man flailed and flopped backwards, landing on his butt. Tani quelled that raising anxiety, they'd find ways for him to move.

"Protectors..."

Tani clicked her heels, positioning herself in a running stance.

"Go!"

The capped girl flew past the start line, her sights set on Luffy. She held out one hand towards the ground.

"Luffy! Hand up," she commanded. Luffy lifted a hand up, Tani clasped her own over his and tugged upwards. Luffy flew up with the force, Tani took his other hand.

Tani was skating backwards, while Luffy followed her lead. His legs wouldn't stop shaking, his grasp on her hands was tight, almost painfully so.

"Eyes up, focus on me," Tani assured. Luffy slowly lifted his head to stare at her bright green eyes. "That's it, you're doing great," she beamed. Luffy felt his chest swell with pride.

Porche had already looped the ring about three times before Luffy had managed one. This method was far too slow. Plus the squid dude had already caught up to them. He looked at them with amusement, like they weren't even worth the effort to knock out.

"There's got to be a way to just... Hold the phone!" Tani felt her brain 'ding' with an idea. That could work. "As long as you cross the line, that counts as a loop." Tani grinned. Luffy seemed to catch what she was implying. His hands moving to grip higher up her arm.

Tani started to twirl, Luffy following in suit, his legs lifted from the ground as she spun faster and faster. Luffy's legs kicked out, he even managed to kick Jude in the face, knocking him over! Tani was bubbling with anticipation. She kept her gaze out for Porche.

The woman in question was speeding towards the crossing line. Tani timed it just right and-

"Now!"

Tani let go and Luffy went flying like a bullet. He crashed into the ground, knocking Porche down with him. Tani cheered loudly, speeding up her pace to catch up with him.

Method 1: tossing Luffy around the ring like a hammer throw? Successful!

Tani caught up with Luffy and assisted him in making it to the line. That's two loops, with the second loop taking half the time of the first. If they kept this up, they could win this?

Or they would have won... If Tani had remembered Jude. Who noticed the pair was starting up their second "Luffy hammer throw" as Tani had dubbed it (Luffy was delighted to see her actual name a move). The squid man used his many arms to catch on the darker girls limbs as she moved to perform the throw part. One arm grabbed her foot and tripped her, another clasped her arm and jerked it backwards, and another covered her eyes. It was too late to stop the throw.

Luffy went flying straight into the dirt, outside the ring.

"Luffy is out of the ring! An instant disqualification. Round one goes to team Foxy." the announcer declared. The crowds cheered.

Tani made her way off the ring, helping Luffy out of the dirt with an apology. Luffy was too busy laughing about it to care.

"That was so cool! You're so smart Tani," he praised. Tani blushed and rubbed the back of her neck.

"It was just a repeat of what we did on the Baratie," she waved off. Luffy's eyes glittered with awe. "We were going way too slow, so we needed to find a way to get you around the ring faster." she explained. Luffy didn't care though.

"Who cares, it was still awesome!" he gushed. Tani snickered, watching as the crew walked towards them with encouragement, and a bowl of really long kiwi fruits.

"The next round had Tani as the runner right?" Nami asked. Taking a bite of the long fruit. Tani nodded in affirmative. "So that means you should focus on winning this time round," Nami suggested. "Since you're actually able to skate, it would be wise for you two to focus on getting Tani the wins," she explained. Luffy wasn't listening though, he had at least seven of the long kiwi fruits in his mouth.

"I'll make sure to win," Tani promised.

...

"Round two runners... Begin!"

Tani zoomed past the large brick wall of a man, his name was Mashikaku or something like that. He didn't move very fast at all. Porche was sitting on his back, twirling a baton in her hands like a cheerleader.

Tani had already managed to make it half way through the course when the call for the protectors was called out.

"Super hypnotic sleepy rose charm!" Porche called out. Waving her baton and wiggling her hips in a hypnotic fashion. Tani ignored her, she was probably trying to seduce Luffy or something.

Tani continued on her path, only to spot Luffy had fallen asleep in the middle of the road... Oh! She'd actually hypnotised him, well sucks to be her! It didn't work on Tani. Tani continued to gain more and more laps over the large brick guy, avoiding his massive swipes or Porche's repeated attempts to hypnotize her. The round was won before it even began.

"Times up! Team Straw hat wins!"

...

"That Chiki guy has been starting at Luffy rather weirdly," Usopp commented, while watching the Cheetah mink stare at Luffy with full blown pupils.

"Maybe he wants the kiwi fruits," Robin stated curiously.

"Maybe..." Usopp nodded. After all, Robin is almost always right.

...

"What a turn of events! It appears that a long kiwi tree has fallen into the ring and distracted Chiki." the announcer commented. The fast runner having jumped out of the ring to mess around with the addictive fruits. Tani stared at Luffy, who she had her hands on the shoulders of. Luffy shrugged at the fortunate turn of events.

"Have I ever mentioned that you have the devils luck?" Tani snickered. Luffy laughed back.

"Round three goes to the Straw hats!"

Just one more win!

And Tani is the runner for this next round... Maybe they can-

Wait! No don't jinx it.

...

So she jinxed it.

"Round four goes to team Foxy!" the crowds went wild.

It's a two for two now.

How could Tanisha have lost? How could she have failed?

One word... Tentacles.

Her opponent had been Jude again, and this round he wasted no time. Grabbing her the moment he caught up to her and tossing her at the protector of the round.

Mashikaku.

Now this guy was a brick wall, very tall and strong. So he caught her with ease and simply held her the entire round. Luffy was unable to extract her from the protectors grasp without risking her safety.

Just to show off, Jude used the walls of the ring to fling himself around the course faster. His tentacles giving him an elastic band effect... He kinda looked like Luffy when doing that.

That bastard showing off, gave her an idea.

...

"Round five! Runners... Begin!"

Luffy wasted no time, throwing his arms to the same spot that Jude had. Calling out a "Gum gum rocket" as he flew up, swung himself around, using the centrifugal force to his advantage, and relaunching himself down the track. Rinse and repeat.

The blade dude who was the Foxy runner, couldn't keep up with Luffy's intense speed. Foxy had a solution to that.

Tani was the slowest runner there, but she didn't really mind that. It made her less of a threat to the Foxy captain. Who was preparing a noro beam for Luffy. Tani was able to pay attention to his movements, keeping calm and ready to jump into action.

"Noro noro-"

"Redirection!" Tani cheered. Tossing her yo-yo at Foxy, the string looped around his wrists. She tugged it as soon as the word "Beam!" left his mouth. She redirected the beam to hit the Foxy runner.

... It bounced off of him?

His arms were bladed... Blades are reflective... So that means that something that's reflective can redirect the beam... Ok! That's important information.

Foxy grabbed her yo-yo strings and pulled her out of the ring.

"And the Straw hat protector is out of the ring!" the announcer called. That didn't mean the game was lost yet. Luffy was still in the lead, Tani just needed to make sure he wasn't hit with a-

"Noro noro-" Foxy charged up, not paying attention to the strings still on his wrists.

"Reflect!" Tani called out. Pulling his wrists to face her, before he fired the beam.

"Beam!" he fired. His beam hit her in the chest and the effect was disorienting to say the least.

The world around her sped up into a blur of colours. She saw Luffy's bright yellow shirt and golden straw hat blur into a stream of colour against the blue sky. She saw her crew mates all jump forward to take hits from the beams if they were fired. Sounds all drowned her ears in mumbled hums. It hurt her head.

Then the world returned to normal, Tani flopped to the ground. She clutched her head as a small headache rummaged her brain.

"Team Straw hat takes the win!"

They won? They won!

Tani jumped to her feet, watching in awe as her whole crew floated in slow motion around Foxy. Except Robin, who held up a small pocket mirror. Foxy was also in slow motion.

"Tani! Tani we won!" Luffy called from behind her. His hands clasped around her shoulders as he launched himself at her. Knocking her back onto the ground, his legs straddling her back as she faced the dirt. The pair was too busy laughing brightly at their win, to notice Robin commenting.

"Young love, how sweet," she said. Followed by a choir of loud thumps as every other straw hat member returned to normal.

"What happened?" Usopp asked with distress, "Did we win?" he said with worry. Luffy cheered merrily.

"We did!" Tani confirmed. Usopp looked like he was about to cry of joy. He jumped at Luffy, who was still on Tani's back. Hugging the rubber captain, and crushing Tani's back. Nami joined in the hug, as did Sanji. Zoro and Robin stood by, watching with amusement.

"Wait!" Tani gasped from the bottom of the pile. "We should wait for Chopper," she mentioned. They all rolled off her and turned to the still slow motion Foxy.

"Oi, two piece head. We're taking Chopper now," Luffy stated bluntly. Turning to face the seat that Chopper was sobbing happily in. He grabbed the reindeer and tucked him under his arm. Walking over to the fully formed crew and holding him in the air.

"Welcome back!" The whole crew cheered (some louder than others) at the now fully sobbing mess of Chopper.

"I-I-I Alwa-a-ays believed i-in you," he cried. Tani took him from Luffy's grasp and hugged him tightly.

"We'd never abandon you," she promised. Chopper hugged her back, his tears staining her black jacket.

Through all the cheering and welcoming back, the crew failed to notice the Foxy captain give them an angry glare, his focus set on the dark skinned girl of the group. She'd thwarted two of the games...

"Hey, Straw hat." Foxy started. Drawing the captains attention from the group celebration. "How about another round?" he asked. Luffy saw how happy winning these games made his crew, and just how much fun it was to win.

"Ok," he grinned. Accepting the pistol to start this all over again.

The crew didn't expect to hear dual gun shots.

They turned in shared horror as they saw the smoke wisp from the open mouth of the pistol in Luffy's hand...

He didn't.

"What the hell did you just do?" Nami asked with a whispering voice. Luffy turned to them with a large grin.

"We all had such a good time winning, so we're doing it aga-"

*slam*

Luffy's head hit the ground, as Nami slammed her fist into his head. Everyone in the crew looked tired and annoyed.

"Luffy," Tani stared. The captain lifted his head to look at them all. All their faces looked at him with emotions he didn't like seeing.

"We had fun didn't we?" Luffy asked. He didn't understand, everyone was so excited to win, so why wouldn't they wanna do it again?

"Not really," Tani spoke. "Sure it's fun to win, but-"

"Then let's win again." Luffy shrugged. Like it was the most simple thing in the world to win again.

...

"Here's the game list," said one of Foxy's crew mates. Handing over the sheet of three games. Nami snatched it and growled at the man. He skittered away with fear.

"Alright, what games do we have this time?" Nami started. "First is hit or deadball," she read the rules. Instantly turning to Tani. "You can't participate in this one, you'll probably die," Nami confirmed. Tani nodded.

"Second is a game of red light/green light." Nami continued, humming at the rules. "Lastly there's the captains fight. Which already has Luffy's name down." she finished. Luffy grinned, but the gloom of his crew couldn't be won over so easily.

"The game of dodge ball is probably going to have high school rules." Tani mumbles to herself. "I can teach everyone that plays that game the basics of dodge ball," she states.

"I think we should get Robin in on this game," Sanji suggests. "She's got her devil fruit. Meaning she could steal the balls from the enemy team right?" Sanji stated sheepishly. Roni nodded.

"Mr Cook is right," she confirms. So her name goes down on that list. "Might I suggest that Mr Doctor also joins this game, he's yet to participate." she suggests. This Chopper's name is written down.

"I'll join that game too, seems fun," Zoro grinned. His name was put down. Leaving only the red light/green light game with spaces.

"Guess that means we're all in that game," Tani sighed. Watching her name get written down.

"Yep," Nami, Usopp and Sanji all sighed. Luffy laughed, grabbed the signed sheets of paper and ran to hand it in.

"Let the second set of Davy back games! Begin!"

The straw hat crew sighed together.

...

It was going to take about an hour for the deadball game to get set up, so Tani decided she would go relax for a bit. Checking out the food stands, she spotted a stand selling sweets. They had cotton candy, rock candy on sticks, jelly cups, these colourful looking dough balls that came in pink, white and green. The sweet that caught her attention the most though...

Was the berry parfait.

Now Tani will admit that nothing will ever top the parfait that Sanji made her. However she will never miss the opportunity to eat more parfait. It was a nostalgic treat, cheap to make. That's why her mother would make it for special occasions.

Tani tossed some coins at the stall owner and collected her prize. Walking around the grounds with a spoon in her mouth, and a grin on her face.

Tani walked past Sanji and Nami, the pair conversing casually about whatever came to their minds. Tani managed to catch a conversation about what colours best suit the red head (the conclusion was blue). It was one of those rare moments when Sanji wasn't being all white knight with the ladies. Tani could see Nami relax and even enjoying the chefs presence...

"Call it a woman's intuition," Tani's brain recalled. "But there's something about Sanji that he's holding back." Nami's voice rang through her head. "I'm hoping that a little push in the right direction might help him find himself," Nami concluded in her head space.

Maybe Nami was acting in that intuition she mentioned. Sanji seemed so calm and happy when speaking to her. He wasn't making grand romantic gestures, or using lovely before Nami's name. It was nice.

Tani walked away. Still chewing on the plastic spoon in her mouth when she spotted Robin, Zoro and Chopper all messing around with a ball they'd found. Trying to throw, and dodge it. Practicing before the game begun. Chopper concentrated, Robin seemed to breeze around the ball, or catch it with ease. Zoro was just going at it, throwing the ball around aggressively. Tani smiled and walked away, not wanting to interrupt their game.

Lastly she found Luffy and Usopp fawning over an invention of Usopp's creation. A larger sling shot for the sniper to use, utilizing the dials he'd collected from Angel island. Tani decided to leave them alone, walking away without noticing the boys giving looks to her retreating form.

...

The dodge ball game was actually more of a team effort than expected. The three in the field needed to be knocked out of the ring in order to earn points for the other team. That was simple enough.

The rest of the crew was to stand on the outside and provide support. They're allowed to knock out the opposite team, but they themselves, can't be knocked out of the game. Makes sense.

So it's basically a game of dodge ball, if you needed to knock out only three members of the other team. Easy enough.

Except the foxy team had 10x the people for their crew!

Now Tani herself wasn't in any danger, well she would be, if she got in the way. Yet the flooding memories of dodge ball games came rushing back. This was gonna be rough.

"Ready..." came that accursed announcer.

Zoro cracked his knuckles.

"Set..."

Chopper shoved a rumble ball into his mouth with a crunch.

"Go!"

Robin spawned some hands, which grabbed the balls and tossed them towards the Straw hat team. Zoro caught one, Chopper caught another, and the third was caught by Luffy. Who stood on the side lines with a jovial expression.

At least someone was having fun.

"Don't aim for the face!" Tani called out. She was much further from the firing range, not wanting to risk getting caught in the cross fire.

"Hit the face? Got it!" Luffy called back. Rolling his arm and firing the ball at mach speed towards one of the unfortunate bastard's in the ring.

"Safe," came the referee from earlier. "The rule book states that the face is a safe zone." he read out. Luffy looked at Tani with a scrunched up face.

"You said hit-"

"I SAID DON'T AIM FOR THE FACE!" Tani snapped.

Tani and Luffy smacked foreheads and argued while the game raged on.

Robin bloomed arms onto one of the men's (Let's call him Jones) shoulders. Her hands gripping around his neck.

"Clutch," she smiled, the hands snapped back, leaving Jones with an exposed stomach and legs. "Mr Reindeer," she summoned.

"On it," The deer shifted to jump point, and using the bounce in his step. Launched himself into the air and piffed the ball into the exposed man's body.

Foxy: 2

Straw hat: 3

"Is that allowed?" one of the Foxy pirates asked nervously. Robin gave them a devious smile, sending chills down their spine.

"There's no rules saying anything about restraining the opponent." the referee commented, reading from a rule book that was far too large for a game of dodge ball!

"But she crossed the line? With her arms." another guy whined (His name will be Davy). He held the ball that hit Jones, tossing it in his hand and catching it.

"The rules don't say-"

"What team are you on?!" Davy called out angrily. The referee panicked and pulled a red card.

"Robin is now out, for crossing the line." the ref called out. The straw hats cried out in outrage. Robin simply shrugged and walked out of the ring to stand on the side lines.

Foxy: 2

Straw hat: 2

Zoro flung his ball at Davy, who dodged it before it smacked into him. The ball continued sailing until it slammed into one of the guys on the outside (He looked like Mashikaku... It was Mashikaku). The ball bounced onto his stomach, similar to a Luffy "Gum gum balloon", and ricocheted back towards Zoro at a speed he wasn't prepared for. So Zoro did what Zoro does best.

He cut the ball.

With one sword drawn, his sliced the flying projectile in half. It sputtered as the air left the leather casing, causing Luffy to laugh at the funny noise. Reminding Tani that they were still playing a game.

"Zoro is out! For damaging the ball, a violation of rule-"

They'd lost another player already?!

Foxy: 2

Straw hat: 1

Zoro grumbled as he left the ring, complaining about how dumb the rules are.

Chopper shifted back into heavy point, his rumble ball having worn off. Robin was working on collecting more balls for Chopper to use. Yet the two men still against the small deer made the little guy feel a rising pressure. He couldn't let his crew down!

"Mr Reindeer," Robin called again, having stolen a ball from the other side, and tossed it. Chopper caught it and thanked her-

"Chopper look out!" Usopp called. Grabbing his slingshot and firing it at the ball that was tossed towards their last hope. Knocking it off path, Tani ran over and caught the ball.

"Out! If a ball is caught before it hits the ground, it's an instant out." the referee called. Tani felt her whole body glow with excitement.

She did that! She caught the ball!

The man that wasn't Davy, walked off the court with a pout.

Foxy: 1

Straw hat: 1

Tani decided to run the ball over to Usopp, his aim being the best on the team. If he was able to hit Davy, then this would be an instant victory.

Luffy grinned at the approaching girl. His hands making grabby motions towards the ball in her hands. She shook her head, motioning for him to move out of the way.

"Oi Usopp!" she shouted. Trying to get his attention, he turned to face her-

Luffy snatched the ball from Tani's hands.

"Wait! Luffy that's for-"

"Gum gum dodge ball!"

Luffy threw the ball as hard as he could towards Davy, but because he called out his attack, Davy jumped out of the way. The ball landed in the hands of...

"THAT CAN'T BE FAIR?!" Tani shrieked, pointing at the armoured mecha suit that Foxy was in.

"There's no rules against it," the referee shrugged. Tani turned to Luffy with a glare.

"Idiot! I had a plan," she snapped. Taking out the pent up annoyance of her captain's idiocy on said captain. Luffy snapped back.

"I'm the captain, and I wanted to throw the ball,"

"Well mister captain! See what you're bright idea got us? That's right! Nothing,"

"Shut up! It's not like you could have done better,"

"You're right, that's why I was handing it over to Usopp,"

"Oi, leave me out of this," Usopp cowered. Using the still miffed Zoro as a meat shield.

"Foxy super special attack," came the annoying voice of Foxy, who was ignored by the two arguing teenagers. His move activated. Whipping out a rocket launcher type weapon, only it was hooked to a ball dispenser.

"You know what your problem is?" Tani finally shouted. "You never listen! You're always charging head first into situations without asking for our thoughts!" she exploded. Luffy balled his fists with upset.

"Tani look out!" came Nami's voice, but it was too late. A ball came speeding towards Tani's head, knocking her flat into the ground. Her head ached, brain rattling around as she groaned. Luffy walked away without offering to help her up.

Oh shit... Maybe she shouldn't have gotten so mad at him. Ugh but it was so annoying! He was always doing stuff like this. Doing things without consulting the crew, or charging forward without thinking ahead. Sure it worked sometimes, but-

"Chopper is out! His leg is past the line. Disqualifying him." the referee announced.

Tani lifted her head to face the ring. Chopper was standing there in guard point, his little hoof being slightly over the line.

Foxy: 1

Straw hats: 0

"Team Foxy wins!"

...

The straw hat crew stood before the platform, the tension was thicker than molasses. Foxy gave them all a once over, but his mind was made up before the game had even started.

"My choice," he started.

Tani closed her eyes tight, she couldn't look. She didn't want to see another of her nakama get taken away.

"From this games victory," Foxy continued. Drawing it out because he's a dick.

"Is,"

"OH JUST PICK ALREADY!" the straw hats all shouted together. Leaving Foxy to panic and just point.

"You,"

Tani slowly opened her eyes.

The finger was pointed...

Directly at her.

Foxy's grin was devious, and from the looks on everyone's faces. They were pissed about his choice.

Tani gaped and sputtered at the choice. Why her of all people? Robin was far more useful, they'd already wanted Chopper so why not pick him again? There's so many more-

"Welcome to the Foxy pirates, Tanisha." Foxy welcomed with that dastardly expression. Tani turned to look at her nakama. Fear in her eyes.

Their determination was just as strong for her as it was for Chopper. Tani nodded.

"You better win me back," she grinned, blinking away the fear from her eyes. Surprisingly it was Luffy that responded.

"Like hell we'd leave you behind," he said with a crack of his knuckles. It made her heart flutter wildly. Their previous argument seemingly forgotten.

"Good luck," Tani wished them.

They were gonna need it.

_______________________________

A/N: GOD THIS CHAPTER WAS A PAIN IN THE ASS TO WRITE! So I'm sorry if it's not that great, my state is going into a lock down because of covid. So my mental health has taken a really bad hit. I'll maybe come back to this chapter and give it some updates when I'm not feeling so icky.

I will still be writing though! Because I wanna power through the Davy back fight and get to the more enjoyable arcs (I'm talking Water 7 Babbbbbbby) so please be patient with me :3

Stay safe everyone, drink lots of water, unclench your jaw, go eat a snack, and remember that I love and care about you all!!!