The Foxy Pirates

"Are they looking for a fight?" Zoro glared irritably at the enormous ship before them.

"What are they trying to do?" Nami had a bad feeling.

"If you want a fight, get down here." Sanji's gaze turned hostile.

"We've got plenty of gold, but doing a little bounty hunting now and then wouldn't hurt." Li Ziming regarded the Foxy Pirates with interest. As he recalled, their captain was quite an amusing fellow.

"We're the Foxy Pirates! We're not here for a fight, but a duel!"

"A duel?" Nami felt her bad feeling was about to come true.

"So it's that, huh?" Li Ziming sounded intrigued. "Then what do we get if we win?"

"Hey, we haven't agreed to compete yet!" Nami said anxiously. "We can just refuse, can't we?"

"You're right, but that captain of ours isn't going to pass up a competition like this, is he?" Robin said with a smile.

"Don't worry, Nami! We'll win!" Sanji declared confidently, then immediately adopted a lovestruck expression. "I'll dedicate our victory to you, Nami!"

"They're just a bunch of small fry anyway. All we have to do is beat them." Zoro was equally confident.

Bang! A gunshot rang out.

"This is..." Nami was already beginning to despair.

"Finally getting started." Sanji took a drag on his cigarette.

"Just what I wanted." Zoro was already staring at the Foxy Pirates with murderous intent.

"This looks interesting." Robin was quite intrigued too.

"Since they've started over there, it'd be rude not to respond here." Li Ziming rubbed his chin as he eyed the Foxy Pirates before him. "How about I blow these guys away first?"

"Wait! Some of us are contestants! If you do that, we won't be able to compete later!" some of the pirates cried, staring at Li Ziming in horror.

"What does that have to do with me?" Li Ziming smiled indifferently. "I'm bored out of my mind on this island. Come on, give me some entertainment." In an instant, he used Geppo to reach the Foxy Pirates' ship. "Art is an explosion! Wahahaha!"

"What's gotten into him?" Nami asked in confusion. "I thought he didn't like fighting?"

"He's probably been bottling it up," Robin said, sounding rather understanding. "He was completely outmatched on Sky Island, after all. Now that he finally has a chance to bully someone else, he probably wants to vent all his frustration."

"Seriously, what are you guys doing?" Luffy had walked over. "Is that ship an enemy?"

"My ship!" Foxy watched in anguish as explosions kept erupting aboard his vessel. "Who dared attack my ship?!"

"You're the captain?" Li Ziming appeared before Foxy in an instant. "Split chin? Split head?"

"..." Foxy immediately slumped to his hands and knees.

"Captain!" Porche looked at her captain with concern, while Hamburg snickered off to the side.

"Is this guy here to be a joke?!" Nami felt utterly drained. "This is the guy we're going to compete against?"

"Silver Fox Foxy. His bounty isn't very high, only twenty-three million, but he's a Slowpoke who ate the Slow-Slow Fruit. His ability is a little strange, so be careful." Li Ziming briefly shared what he knew.

"He's a Devil Fruit user?" Nami suddenly felt incredibly grateful that Li Ziming was on their crew. "What exactly does the Slow-Slow Fruit do?"

"Slow-slow? Does it slow other people down?" Robin asked curiously. Devil Fruit abilities came in all kinds, so knowing an opponent's ability was a great advantage in battle.

"Right. He can emit something called a Slow-Slow Beam, which slows down other people's time, or their perception?" Li Ziming wasn't sure how to explain it either. "It's like you suddenly start moving slowly in everyone else's eyes."

"So we just have to avoid getting hit by that beam?" Sanji looked curious. "That's a pretty nice ability. A shame, though. I'm only interested in the Clear-Clear Fruit."

"Then he sounds easy enough to handle." Zoro was unimpressed too.

"He looks easy to handle, but his ability can be pretty annoying in certain situations." As he spoke, Li Ziming took out some mirrors and handed them around. "But since it's a beam of light, it can be reflected, so we can use his ability ourselves."

"It looks like you've prepared for everything." Robin watched Li Ziming with amusement. "What is it? Does that pirate crew have something you want?"

"If possible, I'm quite interested in Foxy's Slow-Slow Fruit ability. As for anything else, perhaps their liquor collection might interest me?" Li Ziming sounded a little resigned. "In a sense, the Slow-Slow Fruit's ability already touches on time itself. If someone else were using it, they'd probably have carved out a place for themselves on these seas long ago."

"What a shame that no one can have a second Devil Fruit. Otherwise, you could have two abilities," Robin said, smiling at Li Ziming.

"Is it really impossible to have two Devil Fruits?" Li Ziming's voice was so quiet that no one heard him. Robin merely looked at him in puzzlement, unsure what he was saying.

"Nothing. I just have to hand it to Foxy and his crew. They actually have this many stalls aboard their ship." Li Ziming looked around at the stalls in surprise, then picked up a skewer of grilled squid with a blissful expression. "Grilled squid really is the best."

"Everyone looks so happy." Robin was quite relaxed too.

"Yeah, but it looks like they're about to start." Li Ziming watched Luffy and Foxy step onto the platform in the center, though Luffy was still chewing his way through a plate of noodles.

The two soon settled on the rules of the duel and swore their oaths, instantly whipping the crowd into a frenzy.

"Who's Davy Jones?" Chopper asked Robin in confusion.

"I hear he was a cursed pirate who lived beneath the sea. Any treasure or people that sank to the bottom would be locked in his locker and claimed as his own," Robin explained.

"So that's why it's called a Davy Back Fight," Sanji said.

"He could live underwater?" Chopper asked incredulously.

"There are races that can live underwater, of course. Fish-Men are one of them." Li Ziming pointed at several unusually tall figures among the Foxy Pirates. "Those are Fish-Men."

"What strange guys." Chopper was like an endlessly curious child.

"Hmph, captain, swordsman, cook, sniper, navigator, cook, ship's doctor, archaeologist, and bartender. Who should I pick?" Foxy seemed utterly convinced he couldn't lose. "I've decided! It's him!"