She Came From Outta Space... I Think?

The Rebel Army Approachs! Quick Little Ducks We Need To Save The City!

"I'll kick his ass!"

The phrase echoed through the crews mind as they sat atop the racing crab. To say the straw hats were worried about their captain would be an understatement. Everyone did their best to hide it but if one got to know them, they would notice the little quirks that each of them had when under pressure or highly concerned.

Zoro was using Usopp and Tani as weights for training, with one of them in each hand. Usopp was fidgeting with a pen as he drew little sketches in a notepad he had, while Tani was blasting music on her Walkman because nothing says calm like 90s rock music. Nami was twirling her hair and messing with her robe. Sanji was flicking his lighter on and off again, one of his legs did that little bounce thing that happened when you sit on a chair for too long. Chopper was walking in circles with his hooves clasped around the rim of his top hat. Vivi was by far the worst of the bunch though, she looked like she was going to cry, her hands clawing through her smooth blue hair as she sat with her legs pulled to her chest, eyes wide with worry as every limb of hers shook.

"He'll be ok... Right?" Vivi said just above a whisper. Zoro scoffed at the thought of his captain failing, yet a trace of doubt lingered in his mind.

"You dare scoff at our beloved Vivi? While she's sharing her concern for our captain?" Sanji snarled. The tension in his tone making it clear he wanted to fight. The bounce of his leg getting more erratic. Zoro glared.

"You wanna start something prince of the swirly brows?" Zoro snarked. Sanji stood up with a growl, Zoro jumped to his feet. Tossing Usopp and Tani aside as he readied his swords.

Tani rolled on the crabs smooth shell, her hands getting tangled in the cord of her headphones. Usopp was sliding beside her, his notebook laid open for the world to see. On the exposed page was a messy sketch of what looked like plans for a round weapon, with small notes and a list in the corner for materials.

They looked like-

Usopp slapped the book closed and dragged it towards his chest to hide the contents. A nervous sweat on his forehead as he felt himself ramble aloud about the sketches being incomplete and yadda yadda. Tani couldn't focus, her nerves were too high.

She didn't want to admit that she was doubtful of Luffy's chances at victory.

He's strong in both a physical and battle-minded way, but Crocodile being like Smoker or Ace proved a concern for her. Tani turned the sound up on her Walkman.

Nami shut the Sanji/Zoro fight down fast, her own anxieties of the conflict to come was all that fueled her.

"We need to save our strengths if we want any chance of surviving this!" Nami scolded, her voice shivered with her fear laced words. Sanji obediently did as he was told, sitting on the other end of the crab while Zoro picked Tani and Usopp up again and continued training.

"Uh guys... Hey guys," Chopper said with panic, he was dancing around on his hooves and pointing at the large river up ahead.

"What's the problem Chops?" Tani questioned, removing one of the ears of her headphones to listen. It was hard to keep her eyes on the little reindeer when she kept being bobbed up and down.

"The crab can't swim! He doesn't like water," Chopper squeaked. Everyone tensed up and jumped to their feet. Vivi gasped dramatically.

"But the Sandora river is too wide for us to swim it!" Vivi squirmed on the spot teary eyed. "And it's invested with massive Seakings," she added for good measure.

"What if we just make him run faster? Like what mudskippers do?" Tani thought aloud, honestly she was just thinking about all those movies that had people run so fast that they just zoomed across the water. Since this world seemed to run on that logic. "Chopper, ask the crab what he needs us to do to motivate him to run faster," Tani commanded. Chopper nodded and asked right away, his fur stood up and his body language was shy.