Chapter 132: History in the making

Chapter 132: History in the makingChapter 132: History in the making

Silence reigned among the two opposing crew. Some had frozen at the absurdity they just heard, others had their jaw hanging low in disbelief. Even Shanks had his eyes as big as saucers. Meanwhile, Luffy was grinning like a loony proud of himself and by side Rick smiled smugly and evilly. No matter how much he wanted to bury the emperor and his crew for kidnapping his wife he wasn’t so lost in his anger to not respect his captain’s wishes.

“Luffy?!” Nami exclaimed.

“What the hell?!” shouted Ussop.

“What?”

“Considering that the winner of the fight is probably going to be the pirate king, isn’t it fitting that it is to be decided by one of the oldest and most respected pirate traditions?” said Rick to his friends.

“Wasn’t last time enough for you?!”

“It’s alright, Usopp. We won, remember? We’ll win this one too.” was Luffy’s confident answer.

“If it wasn’t for Rick we would...”

Nami elbowed him hard into the side and made him stop talking. Looking at her he couldn’t miss the meaningful gaze she had in her eyes.

‘Oh, so Rick has a plan.’

A second gunshot was heard and everyone turned to look at Shanks; in his hand a smoking pistol.

“I accept the challenge.” the emperor declared with enthusiasm. “I’ve never been in a Davy Back Fight before. Always wanted to.”

“Great!” replied Luffy then turned to Rick. “What now?”

“Now, each crew picks seven members to participate in three challenges. We can’t change members once they are registered for their challenge. At the end of each challenge the winner can take one thing from the loser. Those are the main rules. Each challenge has its own rules though.”

“What are the challenges?” asked Shanks.

“Good question. Luffy?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t think that far. I know that the last challenge is a fight.”

‘‘‘‘‘You didn’t think at all!’’’’’

“Usually the third challenge is a fight between captains.” ‘When the captain doesn’t enlist himself for a previous one.’ “In the spirit of fairness I propose that each captain chose a challenge with the third being a fight between the two of them.”

“Fine by me, Shanks?”

“That’s reasonable.” the man agreed.

“As for the referees, again in a spirit of fairness I propose people who don’t belong in any of the opposing crew.”

“I don’t mind but we don’t have anyone impartial with us.”

“We do. On the Sunny, we have Vice-Admiral Garp, Former Admiral and Blackbeard pirate Kuzan and Mihawk.”

“Mihawk is with you?! How the hell did that happen?!”

“He couldn’t find a boat to leave, so he hitched a ride.” Zoro replied.

“Even though Garp is our grandfather, he's kinda fair.”

“He hates me like no tomorrow!” protested the emperor.

“We have Vivi!” interjected Chopper. “She’s a princess, not a member of the crew and she’s fair!”

“You... got a lot of weird people on your ship, Luffy.” remarked Shanks getting a shrug in return. “Fine, I agree with those three for referees. And our challenge will be a sniping one.”

“Okay. Ours will be...” Luffy began then thought about it a bit. With the exception of the doughnut race and the Hit and Dead Ball where there were a thousand rules he didn’t know any. None of those two were appealing.

“Is there a game where you can fight but the goal is not to beat each other?”

“There are plenty but the first that comes to mind is the Groggy Ring. It’s a bit like football with three players per team. One player on each team is wearing a ball on their head and the objective is to put your opponent’s ball in their goal. Weapons are not allowed but punching and kicking or devil fruit powers are.”

“I like it! Let’s go with that.”

“Alright, so a snipping contest with three members each, the Groggy Ring with three members each too and the captains fight making a total of seven. Since a Davy Back fight is also a festive event, I propose to give everyone two hours to... well, cook food, prepare stands and arenas for the challenges. That also gives everyone the time to choose their participants.”

Both captains agreed and separated, going back to their ship. The strawhats drew a lot to know which six among the thirteen of them would compete and the results were baffling.

“Alright!” exclaimed Luffy. “Me, Usopp, Baby-5, Reiju, Rick, Franky and Eri will participate!”

“Me?!” exclaimed the teen.

“What?! Who’s the idiot that put my daughter in this!”

“She’s part of the crew, so I did!”

“She’s thirteen, Luffy!”

“She’s going to be fine! Now, who wants to participate in what?”

“Obviously, if it’s snipping, I’m the man for the job.” said Usopp and nobody could argue with that.

“I’d like to participate in the event too.”

“Usopp and Baby-5 for the sniping contest. Who else?” asked Nami who had taken charge and was taking notes.

“Me!” Franky said which made sense. The cyborg had to have something to help him aim.

“Alright, so Usopp, Baby-5 and Franky for the snipping game which means for the Groggy Ring it’s Reiju, Eri and Rick and finally the captain matches with Luffy.” reported Nami to see if everything was in order.

~~~~~

With the help of Zoro, Eri and Rick, Franky was able to make stands for the public but also the judges. He also made the targets for the snipping contest and since it was Shanks’ he let them place them wherever they wanted. Afterwards he worked with Usopp on making ball helmets while the rest of the crew made the playfield, including the lines and the goals. The captain duel would take place on the small island in the middle of the lake. As small as a land of 50m radius could be.

When the two hours of preparations were over everyone gathered, including the judges. Aokiji was nonplussed about his job but took it to fight the boredom while Vivi loved the idea and was already in. Mihawk declined at first but Rick persuaded him when he told the man that he would judge his old rival and watch him get his ass kicked.

To Rick’s and Nami’s delight, the red-haired crew had brought Robin with them. Their wife had agreed to get out of her cabin she had been put in when Shanks told her her crew was here. Unfortunately, she was still a prisoner so she couldn’t join them but she was as happy as they were for the reunion. She was also amused about how everything ended up in a Davy Back fight.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this.” Garp’s muttering echoed through the area thanks to the den den mushi model microphone Rick had given him.

“Come on Grandpa, you’re commenting History in the making!”

The old marine veteran, dressed in shorts, a flower shirt and flip flop stood in front of a stand.

“Alright! First participants for the snipping contest come forward!”

Franky and a man with his hair cut like a star moved did.

“The targets are 800m away. Do your best, you pirate scums!”

Using the lasers on his shoulder, Franky was successful eight times which was really good in everyone’s opinion. Unfortunately his opponent got one more shot in and won the round. The next strawhat contestant was Baby-5, facing a very tall and lean man. The latter was clearly not as good as his friend, missing four shots out of ten. When it was Baby-5’s turn she changed into a missile and flew right in the middle of the targets exploding them all.

“Hey! How you doing?” he asked pleasantly, getting on board.

“Oh, it’s you.” said one of them. He was smoking on the side of the rail and had put his hand on the handle of his sword when he had heard Rick calling out to him and his friends. “We’re good. Would be better if we were there to watch the fight but someone’s got to guard the ship.”

“Hey! Hey! Are you mad?! He’s the strawhats Vice-captain!” interjected one of the card players.

“Not anymore. I’m your new crewmate!” exclaimed Rick with as much joviality as he could.

“““What?!”””

“It’s true. Ben, gave me a call on the den den to tell me we won him for our crew.” the smoker confirmed.

“I meant to come here immediately to know the ship, my duties and where I’ll be sleeping but I haven't seen my wife in so long...”

“Yeah, yeah we get it. Mighty wife you snatched for yourself, you lucky bastard.” the smoker said in jest.

“More like she snatched me but I agree on the lucky part.”

The smoker nodded and signaled to follow him. He gave Rick a tour of the ship from top to bottom. The ex-marine had to admit the Red Force was quite the ship. Spacious and elegant, one would think it was designed for a noble and got some pirate additions done to it, like slash and burn marks here and there. Alcohol and food stains that couldn’t be washed away. When the tour got to the loo, Ricke excused himself and used them quickly. He nearly missed the toilet when he felt the tremor of Luffy's and Shanks’ fight, shaking the ship violently.

“Shit, the captain is really going all out.” the smoker said.

“The one winning would probably become the pirate king so of course he is.” Rick replied, finishing his business and exiting the loo.

“Not much support for your former captain, I see.”

“Nothing like that. If Luffy loses, then he loses. He would have done his very best and would be satisfied with that. Though in his empty head he probably doesn't see himself lose. Either way he’d be happy so support or not it’s the same to me.”

The smoker gave him a look then after a couple of seconds, dragged him to the kitchen.

“Since you’re the newbie you’re on peeling duty. Take a whole crate of potatoes, you’re doing it on the deck where you can keep an eye on you.”

“Not much trust. I understand.”

He did as ordered and found himself sitting on a stool, peeling leisurely potatoes after potatoes all the while getting a feel of the fight going on. The tremors only got more numerous and violent. After a particular fierce and brutal clash everything stopped.

“Seems like the fight ended.” the smoker said, looking in the direction of the duel. A few minutes of silence afterward was broken by the ringing of a den den mushi. Picking it up the man didn’t talk but listened and then closed the call.

“So? What did the captain choose?” one of the card players asked.

“Nothing.”

“What?!”

“He chose nothing, because he lost!”

“““Impossible!”””

The pirates began to argue and Rick used the opportunity for his real self to come out from the inside of the ship and dispel the clone peeling potatoes he had made when he was in the loo without any of them noticing. Clearing his throat he got their attention.

“What happened then?”

“You got taken back. Get off the ship.” replied the smoker with murder in his eyes.

“What about the potatoes?”

“GET OFF!”

Not needing any further prompt, Rick jumped off the Red Force and flew towards his friends and family. When he arrived at the location, he saw a tired and bruised Luffy, sitting and laughing by the side of a smiling but wet Shanks.

“Welcome back!” Chopper said with enthusiasm, having seen Rick first.

“Good to be back. How was it?”

“It was Suuuper!” shouted Franky, making a pose.

“Luffy went gear 5 and still didn’t get the upper hand. After the last clash, he just grabbed Shanks' side of the island before he could recover properly from it and pulled the ground up making him fall into the water which is instant loss.” Usopp explained.

“Count on Luffy to do something out of the blue and win. Yohohoho.”

“The question is what now?” Sanji inquired, shooting down the mood.

The crew had gotten Robin back and was complete but they were still missing the fourth rio poneglyph as far as they knew.

“I guess we’re still in a stalemate.” Shanks stated with a chuckle.

“Not really.”

Contradicting the Emperor, Rick pulled from the inside of his coat, which was in truth his inventory, all the poneglyph writings he found on the Red Force. Shanks’ eyes widen comically at the sight.

“How did you...”

“A common mistake pirates make during a Davy Back fight. Letting their new member onto their ship. I created a clone when I was in the loo who followed your subordinate. Meanwhile I was free to search the ship for them.”

“... That’s... You...” Shanks tried to insult him but couldn’t find the words.

“I think the word you’re searching for is ‘pirate’.”

The red-haired man looked at him dumbfounded for a moment before laughing his ass off.

“You really find a good crew, Luffy.”

“The best!” the captain replied with a proud grin and happy grin.

“I guess, you’ll be the one to go to Laugh Tale, then.”

“Captain! We can still beat...” tried to protest one of Shanks' subordinates.

“No. We fought for the title of Pirate King and we lost.”

“But...”

“True, it wasn’t stated but it was an understanding between pirates and men. We were outclassed.”

“You can all come with us if you want.” said Luffy out of the blue.

“““““““““WHAT?!”””””””””””””

“What? I won so I’m the one to get to be the Pirate King. I don’t see why they shouldn’t be allowed to come see it. Plus I’d like for my friends to be there.”

“Luffy, they may be your friends but they’re also your adversaries. Shanks is an emperor, he can’t just follow you. People would see it as him becoming your subordinate.” Rick explained.

“Fine by me.” replied the aforementioned man.

“““““““““WHAT?!””””””””””

“““““““““CAPTAIN!?”””””””””

“You’re a good captain Luffy and a good leader. You... remind me of captain Roger so much... That’s why I gave you his hat in the first place. I don’t mind being part of the strawhat fleet.”

“Wait a minute! The straw hat used to be the Pirate King’s?” exclaimed Usopp in disbelief.

“Yeah. Gave it to me when I turned sixteen as a birthday gift.”

“I wonder if it’s fate or the will of the D.” said Rick absentmindedly.

“I found out during my life that it’s a bit of the same thing.” assured the now former emperor.

To the side Beckman received a call and from the way they could hear the other person on the other side of the line they were quite furious. When he cut the call he pointed his rifle at Rick.

“He didn’t just steal the writings, he stole everything. Gold, jewelry, maps, poses, food and medicine. We have nothing left!”

Everyone turned to Rick who had a very wry and embarrassed smile on his face

“Well... This is very awkward.”