One Piece (Love Story) [Part One]

Chapter One Hundred and Sixty One [Rewritten]

-Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-One-

"Considering that some of us have Devil Fruit powers, it makes sense to split up into two teams of four people" Sanji suggested.

"He's right, that seems like the best bet—don't want anyone to accidentally drown in the middle of the race" I agreed as Itomimizu went on to fully explain the rules for this first round. They were simple enough—only three barrels could be used and two oars to help make a boat, if you used anything else then you were out. It was as simple as that and none of us felt the need to question it, except there did seem to be one problem...

"I'm not exactly sure three barrels is enough to make the boat big enough to hold all four of us" Robin remarked.

"Right, we better go with three teams consisting of..." Zoro hummed, taking a moment to think before pairing everyone off. No one really complained about who they were paired up with and it wasn't long before we were finally ready to start building our boats. Humming, I handed another piece of cut wood from the pile to Chopper—watching as he hammered away before quickly jumping to his side the minute he accidentally hit his own finger.

"Ow!" he whimpered, clutching his now throbbing finger which I softly took and pressed a gentle kiss to in an attempt to help soothe the pain. Mimicking what my twin and I used to do for one another whenever we'd get hurt—an action we had learned from...

"Alright, I guess it's time we switched—I'll do the hammering and you pass the wood" I quickly suggested as I picked up the hammer and took the doctor's place in front of the boat we were slowly constructing.

"Do you even know how to use a hammer?" Zoro asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Of course! What idiot doesn't know how to use a hammer?" I pouted as I slung the hammer over my shoulder...only for it to go flying out of my grasp and almost hit Usopp who was busy making his, Nami, and Robin's boat. Quick was he to duck, just barely missing getting hit.

"Hey!" he snapped, turning as he angrily threw the hammer back until it landed on the ground with a muffled thud. "Watch where you throw that thing—you trying to kill me or something?!"

"Sorry..." I sheepishly apologized, face heating up the minute I heard Zoro snort.

"Yeah, really showing me those hammering skills of yours" he chuckled as I childishly stuck my tongue out, ignoring the ever-growing warmth of my face as Chopper curiously looked between the swordsman and me.

"Alright, I'll take this time while everyone's preparing to explain how the race works" Itomimizu suddenly piped up, deciding that now was the best time to go into a more detailed explanation of what to expect from this race. "The course consists of one lap around Long Ring Long Land—it may sound easy, but believe me, it's not. If your boat sinks, your team is immediately disqualified from the race" he explained. "Oh yeah, weapons? They're allowed—guns, cannons, explosives, anything you can think of!

"If that sounds unfair then you got no right at all to call yourself a pirate...and time is just about up! I hope everyone is ready!" you could practically hear the grin in his voice the minute he was handed a piece of paper. "Oh! Gather around folks, the final odds are in—I'll announce them in order of their popularity, starting with the most popular, of course! Just as I thought, the top spot goes to our idol and fellow Foxy Pirate, Porche!

"Helping her is the best man, Capote!" he announced as Porche and a Billfish Fishman pulled up in their boat by a brightly orange-colored shark covered in a yellow star pattern wearing a red and black striped mask. "Their vessel is the "Cutie Wagon" which is led by the Star Shark, Monda!"

"Yeah! Take them down, Porche—you can do it!" one of Foxy's men cheered.

"Hold on! You got a shark pulling your boat!" Nami scowled, pointing toward the oddly colored shark.