One Piece (Love Story) [Part One]

Chapter One Hundred and Seventy Three [Rewritten]

-Chapter One Hundred and Seventy-Three-

"You can come down now!" Usopp shouted up to the deflated man who was now draped over the branch of a nearby tree.

"Try not to vomit!" I added when I saw just how queasy he looked up there after his unexpected flight.

"As expected, the winner of the first round is the lovely Porche!" Itomimizu grinned as the whistle was blown once more to signal the end of the race. "As you know, that means one point for the Foxy Devils" he reminded everyone.

"I hate skating!" Luffy angrily shouted, still up in the tree.

"Shut up and get down here!" Zoro snapped.

"Now, let's move right along" Itomimizu cleared his throat. "In the second round matchup, the Straw Hats Point Getter is Nami, the nefarious navigator—she'll be up against the king of defense, Mashikaku, everyone's favorite human wall!" he announced.

"Round two, on your marks...get set...!" and just like last time, the whistle was blown. Nami was the first to shoot ahead, quick to leave her opponent behind.

"And they're off! Or at least Nami is—Mashikaku on the other hand...well, to put it nicely, let's say he's taking his time" Itomimizu said as the giant slowly started to move forward. "It looks like the heartless witch might be able to win this without any conniving this time" he chuckled as his own little jab.

"Am I missing something? Why is he moving so slowly?" Usopp frowned.

"Would it possibly have something to do with his height?" I questioned, watching as the sharpshooter shook his head—not wanting to fully believe that it was the man's height that was making him so slow considering how fast the men from the last round were. "Maybe his age?" I muttered, taking note of how the man did look to be quite older compared to the rest of us.

"Forget about him, Nami! Just keep moving!" Usopp shouted, seeing no reason to dwell on the man's odd movements once he saw how far the navigator now was.

"Right!" Nami nodded as the whistle was blown once again.

"And there's the second whistle" Itomimizu announced.

"Let's see what we can do" Usopp said, motioning for Robin and I to follow him. "Wait, why aren't they moving?" he asked, instantly skidding to a halt when he noticed that the other Defenders weren't making any moves to move.

"If you think you can get past us, be my guest" Jube cockily grinned.

"You want to step up to these babies?" Girarin taunted as he showed off his blades once more.

"Little late to be making a roadblock, we're the ones in the lead this time..." Sanji grumbled as my eyes scanned the opposing team's faces for any signs that they were possibly joking.

"Something doesn't feel right..." I muttered, unnerved by how laid back they were being as they patiently stood there and seemingly waited for...something. I don't know what that something was, but it was clear that they were waiting for something in particular to happen. They had to be because there was no other reason for them to be this cocky despite us now being in the lead. Letting my gaze curiously drift from team member to team member, my eyes soon landed on Jacob—at a glance, he looked to be your typical muscle head no different from the rest of the crowd saved for his looks which was something he clearly had going for him compared to most of the men on his crew. I couldn't help but roll my eyes and scoff the moment I caught sight of his cocky grin which only seemed to grow as he winked the moment he caught my staring.

"If you guys don't move then I will!" Luffy huffed...before slamming face-first into the ground the minute he took one step forward.

"Take it easy, Luffy, we got this one" Usopp assured our captain, not seeing a need for the rubber man to push himself so hard. "Look how slow he is, there's no way Nami's going to lose against that guy!" he grinned as Nami came skating up behind us.