One Piece (Love Story) [Part One]

Chapter One Hundred and Sixty Five [Rewritten]

-Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-Five-

"Good point" Robin nodded, finding the sharpshooter's question rather valid.

"Hey yeah, are we supposed to put someone else up there with Zoro and Sanji or what?" I asked, wondering how they were going to handle this next round now that one of the teams was a player short.

"That's one of the most thrilling parts of the games!" one of Foxy's men grinned. "Remember the rules? You can't change your team's roster—no replacements allowed!" he shook his head.

"In other words, only the remaining two contestants can participate in Round Two's game—the Groggy Ring" Itomimizu clarified. "This gives the Foxy team an advantage" he pointed out.

"What? That's not fair!" Usopp scowled.

"It's not supposed to be, that's the point" I sighed, crossing my arms.

"Actually, you can sit this one out too" Zoro suggested, already waving Sanji off as they made their way onto the playing field.

"Nah, but feel free to do the same thing, you loser" the blond shot back.

"It's hard to believe that they're going to work together as a team..." Nami mumbled.

"I doubt it'll last long" I said.

"What was that?!" the two suddenly snapped at each other, already smashing their foreheads together as they started to irritably growl at one another like a pack of wild dogs.

"Knock it off!" Nami snapped.

"Now's not the time to be fighting!" I scolded.

"I will now explain the rules of the Groggy Ring!" Itomimizu announced. "We have a playing field and we have two goals—knock the ball into the goal and you win! However, the ball isn't actually a ball...the balls are people!" he revealed after a small bout of silence as if attempting to build up anticipation. "Both teams must select someone to be the ball, make your selection" he said, motioning for the two teams to pick their balls for the rest of the game.

"This isn't going to end well..." I groaned.

"You can say that again..." Nami irritably sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

"You heard him—which one of you two guys is going to be the ball?" the referee asked as the swordsman jabbed his thumb toward the cook beside him.

"Ball Marker" another man said, placing a large beach ball on top of the blonde's head.

"Who said you get to pick?!" Sanji growled. "You're the ball, you moss-headed bastard!" he snapped, only to be ignored as Zoro boredly dug his finger into his ear. Loudly, the crowd started to cheer as music began playing throughout the field.

"There it is, the interesting theme song—it's time to welcome back the undisputed elites of the Groggy Ring!" Itomimizu cheered as the figurehead of Foxy's ship opened its mouth and allowed three large figures of differing heights to step out. "The undefeatable, unbeatable, unstoppable...the famous Groggy Monsters have taken the field!" he proclaimed followed by the sound of drums. "Behold, the kings of the ring! First up is Full Dash Hamburg, following behind is Tackle Machine Pickles, and last but not least—the half-giant, half-beast-man himself—Big Pan Wotan! This is literally a monstrous march!" he announced followed by animalistic noises that I could only assume were meant to be encouraging and in favor of the three men.

"What is that?!" Luffy excitedly laughed as he stared up at the giant Wotan.

"That man is ginormous!" Nami gaped.