The Ball Game

"We won, we won! An easy victory." Li Ziming looked thoroughly satisfied. Apparently, he had gotten plenty of amusement out of Porche and the others.

"You really have a twisted sense of fun." Nami looked at Li Ziming as though he were a demon. He could have simply charged past them, but instead, he had run over to Porche and the others, turned their boat around, then used Explosion on its stern. A tremendous amount of force had built up, and once thirty seconds passed, their boat had shot off as though it were flying.

"It was quite entertaining, though." Robin seemed unbothered-or perhaps she found it just as amusing as Li Ziming did.

"How? How could this happen? How could I lose?" Foxy muttered in disbelief. "This must be an illusion. This must be an illusion."

"Nice work!" Luffy laughed. "But what should we take?" He looked curiously over everything the Foxy Pirates had. Every member who caught his eye instinctively shrank back.

"Um, can't we choose their contestants, too? Wouldn't that let us win the next rounds without a fight?" Nami thought it was a fine plan, but nobody agreed with her.

"No." Luffy was the first to shake his head. "I don't want that Split-head!"

"Split-head..." Foxy collapsed, unable to recover.

"And I don't want the guys in the second round, either," Zoro said irritably. "They might make decent snacks to go with a drink, though."

"Snacks?" Sanji considered that. "Fish-Men are intelligent beings, aren't they? Can you even eat something like that? Now, if it were Miss Porche, that would be wonderful!"

"I don't want them, either!" Chopper objected as well. "One monster on our ship is enough!"

"Nami, it's not that I have anything against Fish-Men, but we really don't need those guys on our ship." Li Ziming had no interest whatsoever in anyone from the Foxy Pirates.

"I agree with them." Robin didn't want to choose anyone from the Foxy Pirates, either.

"We might as well take some treasure or something." Li Ziming shrugged.

"Great!" Nami's eyes instantly turned into Beli symbols. "But are we allowed to do that?"

"Of course. Once both crews enter the contest, everything they own becomes part of the stakes. You can choose anything, even their pirate flag." Li Ziming looked at the Foxy Pirates. "Though now I'm seriously wondering whether they keep winning because they have absolutely nothing anyone wants."

"I've decided! We'll take those stalls!" Luffy said excitedly.

"I've decided! We'll take all the treasure on their ship!" Nami spoke almost simultaneously with Luffy.

"The stalls!" Luffy refused to back down.

"The treasure!" Nami was equally unyielding.

"Enough. We just need to win one more round." Zoro was already itching to fight them.

"Exactly. Luffy, let Miss Nami have this one. You can choose the stalls after we win this round," Sanji urged him as well. "It'll be over in no time anyway."

"That's right!" Chopper was brimming with confidence, too. "We'll definitely win!"

"How naive," Foxy said scornfully. "You have no idea how powerful our contestants in the next round are!"

Three men appeared-or rather, three giants. Three enormous Fish-Men.

"These three really are monsters." Sanji looked at the three Fish-Men before him and adjusted the ball on his head slightly. "Moss-head, keeping a beautiful lady waiting is no way for a gentleman to behave."

"Tch. Tell yourself that." Zoro shook out his arms.

"A swordsman without swords is useless. Don't hold us back, Moss-head." Sanji immediately started taunting him.

"You worry about yourself, pervy cook. Watch out, or someone will stuff that ball you call a head straight into the goal," Zoro shot back mercilessly. "Besides, losing his swords doesn't mean a swordsman loses all his fighting strength."

"Stop arguing! They're coming!" Chopper hastily warned them.

"Die!" Pickles charged straight at them. His enormous body carried tremendous momentum, but that momentum came at the cost of agility.

Sanji easily leaped over him. "You're not my target. There's only one guy I'm after!" He charged toward Big Pan, who was also carrying a ball, but the moment Sanji landed on his arm, his feet began to slip.

"Sanji, be careful! Big Pan is a loach-man, so his skin is extremely slippery." Li Ziming's warning came a little too late.

"A loach?" Sanji immediately recalled the characteristics of loaches and began considering how to cook one.

"Quick attack!" Seeing that Sanji couldn't control his movements in midair, Big Pan immediately prepared to punch him away.

"You've still got me! Arm Point!" Chopper swallowed a Rumble Ball, then grew as large as a giant and blocked Big Pan's attack.

"Nice work, Chopper." Sanji adjusted his position against Chopper's body. "Chopper, transform!" Chopper returned to his original form, neatly avoiding Pickles's charge. Unable to stop, Pickles crashed straight into Big Pan. Fortunately, Big Pan's slippery skin made him slide aside; otherwise, that collision might have sent the ball straight into the goal.

"Pickles, what are you doing?!" Hamburg had been ready to attack, but now he had no choice but to return to his own half, regroup with his two teammates, and get equipped before launching another attack. Zoro, however, had no intention of letting him off so easily.

"Hey, I never said you could just get away." Zoro's eyes looked like those of a demonic beast. He formed both hands into knife-hands and slashed swiftly at him.

"What a joke. You think you can cut through my defenses with your bare hands? How naive," Hamburg scoffed.

"Nigori-Zake!" Zoro's arms suddenly swelled visibly, and a faint blue glow appeared over them. In an instant, he slashed open Hamburg's chest.

"What was that?" Robin looked curiously at Li Ziming.

"Rankyaku. Zoro asked me about some applications of the Six Powers, so I taught him. I didn't expect him to apply Rankyaku to his arms, though. I have to say, he's very gifted," Li Ziming explained.

"I see. Our swordsman certainly works hard," Robin said appreciatively.

"That guy... I'm not letting you hog the spotlight in front of the beautiful ladies!" Sanji suddenly fired up. "Chopper, stop that big lug charging around! Diable Jambe!" Flames blazed around his right leg.

"No problem! Brain Point!" Chopper quickly analyzed Pickles's weaknesses. "Found it!" Meanwhile, Pickles charged toward him. There was no time now to put on weapons or armor.

"Kokutei Cross!" Chopper switched to Arm Point, then brought his hooves together. A cross-shaped wound appeared on Pickles's body. Those hooves, powerful enough to pulverize rock, inflicted tremendous damage in an instant and knocked him unconscious.

At the same time, the intense heat of Sanji's Diable Jambe dried out the mucus coating Big Pan's skin. Without that protective mucus, Big Pan stood no chance against Sanji. One kick brought him down, and the ball was kicked into the goal as well. Zoro, Sanji, and Chopper won the second round.