One Piece (Love Story) [Part One]

Chapter One Hundred and Sixty Two [Rewritten]

-Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-Two-

"You know it" the monkey behind him snickered.

"To ensure you don't get lost, we're providing each of you with an Eternal Pose" Itomimizu said as multiple Eternal Poses suddenly were dropped from the sky.

"Get lost?" Nami questioned with a confused frown.

"I'll be keeping hold of this" I said, catching the Eternal Pose. "Knowing our luck, we might still end up getting lost anyway because of Zoro" I sighed.

"Did you say something?" Zoro irritably asked in irritation, causing me to chuckle.

"Nope" I chirped, patting the top of his head as he huffed.

"If it wasn't for the race about to start, I'd throw your ass in the water..." he grumbled.

"Do that and I'd take you down with me" I grinned.

"Try not to wander too far from the island's coast" Itomimizu said as Luffy almost dropped his Eternal Post before Sanji quickly caught it.

"What's this doofus talking about? Why would we have to leave the island?" Nami frowned. "We're taking the inside track the whole way" she huffed.

"I'm afraid it won't be that simple" Usopp suddenly piped up.

"What? Why not?" Nami asked, tilting her head.

"Look, including the big one in the back, all the other boats are on the outside track facing out to sea—it's a little suspicious" Usopp pointed out.

"Now, on your marks...get ready..." Itomimizu began.

"Just tell me why it won't be simple!" Nami frowned, growing irritated with the sharpshooter and how he wasn't really giving her a direct answer.

"Trust me" Usopp dismissively waved as he turned to face the rest of us. "Hey, listen up, get away from the shoreline as soon as the race starts!" he ordered with no real explanation.

"What did he say?" Luffy asked.

"Tell me why!" Nami snapped as the crowd started to cheer.

"Go!" Itomimizu shot off his gun, signaling the start of the race as I flinched.

"I got a bad feeling about this..." Usopp nervously mumbled as we started to move forward.

"Quit babbling and tell us why already!" Nami snapped, done with the sharpshooter's cryptic behavior.

"Usopp, just tell Nami what it is that's bothering you so she'll calm down" I sighed before owlishly blinking when a sudden wave of water gushed out from behind us, bringing with it a crowd of barrels. "Eh?" I questioned, legs tightening as I lightly grabbed hold of Zoro's head the second the ship raised and rocked a little in response to the wave that traveled under it.

"Huh? What's with the barrels?" Sanji asked.

"Oh no! We didn't get far enough!" Usopp whimpered.

"What's the big deal? It's just a barrel" Nami huffed as she curiously started to poke at one of the barrels.

"No, Nami—don't!" Usopp frantically cried when she knocked at the barrel with her oar. Covering my ears, I yelped at the sudden explosion that went off and sent the three's boat flying.

"And they've been released! Look at that Kaboom Barrel mine—the Foxy's trump card!" Itomimizu boasted as Usopp and the two women came crashing back down into the water—their boat miraculously still intact.

"See you later, chumps!" Proche laughed. "You're supposed to avoid sinking, you know?" she mockingly teased when passing us by. "Good luck!" she waved before finally disappearing out of sight as she and the rest of the boats started to take off.