-Chapter One Hundred and Eighty-Five-
"Let me ask you a question, boy—do you know why the Foxy Pirates are the strongest of the strong? The best of the best?" Foxy questioned.
"Huh? You really think you're the best, huh?" Zoro scoffed, rolling his eyes.
"Then why did you lose to us twice?" Usopp pointed out.
"Aw, you're splitting hairs here—come on! Listen, you're asking for a third fight in a row, but we had five three coins game with the Fang Frog Pirates today before we ran into you saps" Foxy frowned. "Now, I don't like to back down from a challenge, but my crew is spent" he confessed, motioning to his men who were starting to look rather exhausted and done for the day. "They're tired, they're injured, they've been giving it their best all day long—take us for a third match all you want, but I'd be a fool to put my crew out like that. Being the best there is takes more than just strength, you have to know when it's time to keep fighting and when it's time to quit and call it a day!" he huffed.
"As much as I hate to say it, he's right" I heavily sighed, catching the other's attention. "Sometimes you have to put your safety and the safety of your crew first and understand that you're not going to win all the time—it's best to quit while you're ahead instead of trying to keep your pride intact because as captain, the safety and well being of your crew is far more important than your pride" I shyly blushed as I looked the other way, bashfully rubbing the back of my head at the sudden attention.
"Well spoken, Miss Swordswoman" Robin softly chuckled as Chopper happily nodded in agreement.
"Uh...what? So impressed that you don't know what to say?" Foxy proudly grinned when he noticed how silent everyone was.
"You got to be kidding me? First, you brag about how strong you are then we're supposed to feel sorry for you?" Zoro frowned as he crossed his arms. "I'll agree with what Skylar said though since her words were actually genuine and meant something."
"Poor Foxy, he's so strong, he has to cheat to win—it's not his fault he challenged us" Sanji mocked. "Come on, Skylar actually meant that you shouldn't push your crew, but you just want us to feel sorry for you" he scoffed, causing the opposing captain to fall into a depressive state.
"Even if we end up winning the final round, what should we do?" Usopp asked. "It's not like we can get Chopper, Skylar, and Robin back—how can we choose? And what if we have to leave all of them with those losers?" he worriedly frowned, clearly not liking the idea of potentially losing three crewmates all in one day.
"I'm not leaving anybody! I'll make it happen somehow" Luffy angrily huffed. I stayed silent, a part of me feeling uncertain about everything as I shook my head—declining the sweets being offered to Chopper, Robin, and me by one of Foxy's men who was clearly trying to buy our favoritism.
"Somehow isn't good enough, we need a plan" Sanji argued.
"I'm getting sick of dealing with these guys—how about I just chop them up instead?" Zoro irritably scowled as Chopper also turned his head away from the sweets that were being offered to him, refusing to take anything from the enemy this time around.
"I don't like them either, but let's try and keep the bloodshed to a minimum, okay?" Usopp weakly asked.
-Everybody's P.O.V-
Curiously looking toward the depressed Foxy who was now drawing circles in the grass with his finger, Nami grinned, now approaching the man as an idea suddenly crossed her mind.
"Hey, boss, I have a little proposition for you" she spoke up, catching the man's attention and causing him to raise his head. "Instead of one person, let's bet five this time—you know, like how you and Luffy did back in the first round with that two-person bet" she reminded him.
"Are you crazy? We already lost three!" Usopp angrily snapped upon hearing the ginger's offer.
"Wait, it's alright—let her handle this" Sanji said, quick to try and calm the sharpshooter before he could blow a fuse.
"Go on, I'm all ears" Foxy nodded, curious to hear what the ginger had to say.
"The point of the game is to take the crewmembers you want from the other team, right?" Nami asked. "Well, we want Robin, Skylar, and Chopper and if we can't have all of them then there's no point in us having a crew at all. In fact, you don't need to risk five of your crewmates, we'll put everything on the line just for those three" she grinned.
"Wha..." Skylar owlishly blinked, heart fluttering in surprise at the flattering words the navigator spoke. There was something touching about knowing she and the other two meant that much to the crew that they were willing to risk themselves and the existence of the Straw Hat pirates as a whole just to get them back.
"In other words, if you beat us, you get the rest of our crew" Nami summed up. "All five members in one shot—what do you say? Sounds like a pretty good idea if you ask me" she grinned.
'This girl has some serious guts to try and bargain with me—she might make a good crewmember, and those two are some of the strongest fighters I've ever seen, even their sniper seems to have some useful tools at his disposal, and their captain...well, his 100,000,000 bounty speaks for itself' Foxy smirked, the offer presented before him sounding rather appealing the longer he thought about it. Compared to previous crews he had gone up against, it'd be a waste to actually let a single member of such an interesting crew. They all had some kind of use to them—they all had something about them he could use to further his own crew and perhaps even boost their reputation.
"Yes, you have a deal!" he boisterously laughed as he quickly stood. "But what's the fun in betting only three crewmates? Make it five hundred! That's right, five hundred of my men in addition to the three you asked for!" he grinned.
"Uh...you sure about that?" Nami hesitantly asked as everyone stared in disbelief as if they couldn't believe the opposing captain would so willingly bet nearly his entire crew.
"Our boss is throwing down the gauntlet with his dreaded five hundred men bet—well, Straw Hat, what do you say?" Itomimizu asked.
"What would we do with five hundred people?" Luffy frowned. "That's the dumbest thing I ever heard!" he huffed, finding the concept of winning five hundred men to be utterly ridiculous.
"Shut up!" Usopp snapped as he and Sanji kicked the rubber man to the ground. "Don't ruin this for us when he already agreed to the important part!" he growled.
"But we couldn't fit five hundred people on the Merry even if we tired!" Luffy argued.
"Doesn't matter if it's five people or five hundred people, as long as we're able to get Robin, Skylar, and Chopper back" Sanji hissed, trying to get it through the captain's head that the important part of the deal was not about the five hundred men being betted but the three former Straw Hats being betted along with them.
"Oh, right" Luffy finally nodded in understanding.
"So, do you accept?" Foxy asked.
"Yeah, you bet I do!" Luffy brightened, much more willing to accept the deal this time now that he knew what it was being made for.
"By the way, since your team doesn't actually have five hundred members to bet, you'll have to pay us with your decedents if you lose the match" Itomimizu suddenly pointed, causing Sanji, Usopp, and Luffy to owlishly blink in slight confusion as if they didn't understand what the man was saying. "In other words, not only you, but your children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and whoever else it takes to make up five hundred people, will swear their loyalty to the Foxy Pirates and join our crew" he clarified.
"So basically, what you're saying is that if one of them were to have children then that child would automatically be a part of your crew and would never get to experience the true meaning of having a life of their own" Skylar reiterated in simpler terms. "Neither would their children's children and so on" she added.
"Correct!" Itomimizu nodded as the three continued to owlishly stare.
"Our children too?" Sanji quietly questioned as he suddenly started to imagine what it would be like to have a child with Nami. "Aw! Come here, sweetie!" he cooed in his delusional state as Zoro scoffed, rolling his eyes. Although...he couldn't help but blush a little as the thought of potentially having children with Skylar made his heart flutter...
He wondered, would they have her beautiful eyes or soft hair?
"I don't know about this, you guys" Usopp nervously admitted, one of the few that wasn't stuck in their delusion at the mention of children. "It's kind of a weird deal, don't you think?" he asked, uncomfortable with the agreement of selling his own future children to the opposing pirates just to respect a deal.
"It's too late to be thinking cold feet now, and besides, it doesn't matter as long as we win" Nami dismissively waved. "Give it a hundred percent, Luffy" she encouraged, giving the captain's back a firm pat.
"Yeah, leave it to me!" Luffy firmly nodded.
"I hate to burst your bubble there, rubber boy!" Foxy laughed. "But just as a fair warning, nobody has ever beaten me in a combat round! You may be captain now, but you'll be swabbing my deck soon!" he boasted.
"Oh yeah? You think you can beat me in a fight?" Luffy laughed at the absurd notion that someone like the opposing captain could even beat him in hand-to-hand combat.
"Maybe so and maybe not, but this isn't a fight, my boy—it's a game" Foxy grinned as he walked away.
-Later-
"One! Two! Three! Four! Who's the man that's going to score? Foxy!" Porche cheered.
"Of course..." Skylar muttered, rolling her eyes when she saw that the women of Foxy's crew also doubled as his cheerleaders. She had separated from Robin and Chopper a while ago, stating that she wanted to get a look around and stretch her legs a bit before the next round...
But that wasn't exactly true.
No, the real reason why she had been so quick to leave her two friends behind was right in front of her—two men loudly chatting with one another about a topic that had caught her interest the minute she had overheard it in passing. A topic that made her stomach churn and had her quickly chasing after them before they could get too far away.
"We finally arrived at the Combat Round, but before we start, we must decide on a battlefield" Itomimizu announced, though she dismissed him—never once letting her gaze leave the two men in front of her as she followed them at a safe distance, making sure she could still hear them while ensuring they wouldn't catch her. Unfortunately, the topic of their conversation had changed a while ago...but she was certain that it would eventually go back to what they had been discussing earlier. She didn't really care to watch as Luffy and Foxy spun a large cannon around as they prepared to choose their battlefield. "The two competitors spin this unbiased cannon and wherever it stops is the place they'll do combat" the announcer explained.
"The match hasn't even started yet and you guys are already cheating!" Usopp snapped when the cannon suddenly changed directions upon stopping and pointed toward the Foxy Pirates' ship.
"There you have it! The battlefield has been set—and would you look at that, by sheer coincidence, it's on the deck of the Sexy Foxy" Itomimizu said, causing Skylar to finally come to a complete stop and owlishly blink upon hearing the name of the ship. Opening her mouth as if to say something, she slowly closed it and shook her head, resuming what she was doing before she had stopped.