The Blind Brawler [ Roronoa Zoro X OC]

Chapter 98: Foxy's Pick

Zoro

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The cheap ale was overly sweet with a sharp burn on the back of my throat, but it was still less sour to swallow than getting sunk before even reaching the halfway point of the race. The sting was softened a little when I heard that the cook crashed too, but now we were depending on only Nami, Robin, and Usopp to win. They were fully capable; however, our odds were significantly lower with two of our three boats out of the race.

Kaori was clearly just as upset about the situation as me, but she still felt the need to do something even though we were out of the race. Nothing I said would settle her down. When she took off running, I just shook my head.

Chopper stayed with me, wanting to be at the end of the race. Although from where we were sitting, we could not see the finish line through the crowd. He tried standing on his tiptoes, but he was far too short for that to matter, "I can't see! I wonder who's winning?" I simply shrugged before I took another long drink of my ale.

At that moment, Sanji and Luffy ran up. The cook let out a relieved sigh, "Made it just in time."

Luffy pushed forward through the crowd, followed by Chopper. I heard him cheer excitedly, "Alright! Nami's team is winning!"

The cook swooned, "Robin, baby! Nami, my darling! You look so hot when you're going fast!"

I rolled my eyes at his nonsense, "I don't have enough booze."

Then, one of the Foxy Pirates snickered smuggly, "Man, you guys almost won."

Luffy sounded indignant, "What do you mean? We're totally gonna win!"

A second pirate laughed, "Not so fast. Take a look over there. Our Boss is coming."

My brow furrowed in confusion, "What? Did Kaori miss him?" I turned and looked down the coastline and saw Foxy riding Hamburg towards us. Right behind him was Kaori, standing with her fist reared back and facing the other way. I quickly got to my feet, my mind racing with questions and anger, "What the hell is happening?!"

Luffy did not seem to notice the whole situation as he pressed the Foxy Pirate for more information, "Yeah? So what?! What can he do?"

"Our Boss is just like you. He has Devil Fruit powers," The second pirate answered with a sneer.

My blood ran cold, "What. The. Fuck! Did he do to her?!"

I watched as Foxy lifted his hand, pinching his middle and ring fingers against his thumb and pointing them towards Nami, Robin, and Usopp, "Noro Noro Beam!" Pink discs of light bloomed from his fingertips and shot out towards my crewmates. They all turned to look at him as the light enveloped them, and they froze in place.

We watched in stunned shock as the Cutie Wagon sailed right past them, as if they were dead in the water and crossed the finish line. Itomizu roared in excitement, "And the winner is the Cutie Wagon! The hero of the first round of the Davy Back Fight is our very own idol, Proche!"

We lost.

Luffy, Sanji, and Chopper all took off running towards the others, shouting in worry and confusion. I stayed rooted to the spot for a beat before my lip curled into a snarl and I bolted towards my girlfriend.

Luffy called after me when I passed him, but I ignored him. As I got closer, I shouted out, "Kaori? What happened? I thought you were going to stop him?" I came up behind her and grabbed her shoulder to turn her around to face me, but grunted in surprise as I realised I could not budge her. Baffled, I walked around in front of her, seeing the scowl on her face as she seemed to be in mid swing for her punch. My brow furrowed further, "What the hell?"