Bonekid stood behind his captain as the explanation of this event was given. Simple stuff, it was all elimination matches, but the issue was not that but the foes that the Rums and Runches would be facing. Each one seemed ready to fight, decked out in all their gear, but with the numbers and capacity that his side was working with, Bonekid was confident in their abilities. They could get through this, he knew that, but he wasn't sure how hard this would be. All he knew was that it'd be hard.

But mankind didn't get anywhere without some elbow grease.

Bonekid checked his hands and noticed that they were entirely covered in vines and foliage, and took it as a sign of confidence. He figured his sword was doing this deed somehow, and it made him feel a lot better in preparations for this.

"We've got each other's backs. We can do this."

Despite the statement, Bonekid's sword remained stoic with it's emotionless face.

---

This was.... Not what he expected. A room of cannons, of fights, of...

Was that food?

Caesar, ignoring the opponents, immediately flicked his cigar of ash and stalked forward to stand underneath the balcony. Eh? Hey, that popcorn smells good. Sell me some, eh?!" he yelled at the man holding the tray. "I'll come up if I need to, eh?"

Glancing at everyone else, he shrugged nonchalantly, taking a long toke before he looked at the enemy. "Eh? Yeah, yeah, let's do this. It's almost time for a nap, eh? Hey, what about that popcorn?!"0

---

This was.... Not what he expected. A room of cannons, of fights, of...

Was that food?

Caesar, ignoring the opponents, immediately flicked his cigar of ash and stalked forward to stand underneath the balcony. Eh? Hey, that popcorn smells good. Sell me some, eh?!" he yelled at the man holding the tray. "I'll come up if I need to, eh?"

Glancing at everyone else, he shrugged nonchalantly, taking a long toke before he looked at the enemy. "Eh? Yeah, yeah, let's do this. It's almost time for a nap, eh? Hey, what about that popcorn?!"0

Runch, despite having only known the other captain for a few hours at best, clapped his hand on Boone's shoulder in a show of friendship. He was apparently one to forge bonds quickly, and showed a united front against the Buccaneers. "On behalf of my crew, I agree to your terms as well. This all sounds as fun as the blind taste test I use to get my crew's opinions on new recipes! Omnomnomnom!"

Bullet Bill gave a nod. "Aye! As fer yer question about me cannons, tis really simple. They're insurance agains' cheaters!" All at once the Buccaneers began to boo loudly, but the cries died out when their captain waved his hand. "Yours an' mine. I don' tolerate no cheatin'." With that he clapped his hands together and rubbed them but good. "So le's git this goin', eh? Boomboomboomboom!"

At his urging, the majority of the pirate crew dispersed, taking seats in the stands, including the very officers he had summoned to compete. The crowd purchased snacks and drinks from the concession stand, and a man went around taking bets as to who would win and who would lose their bouts. The whole exchange was rather colorful, to say the least. Once things had died down, and Caesar was able to purchase his popcorn, Bill called out his next decree. "Launcher, you're up!" The red haired woman in the bikini stood from the stands and made her way down the stairs by way of sliding on the rails. Soon as she hit the floor she snapped her fingers, and two lesser pirates came running out to draw a chalk line down the middle of the hall's floor. The woman blew a large, pink bubble from some gum she had been chewing on, looking like a stone cold, cool as Hell bitch... Until it popped and spread all over her face. Despite this, she didn't seem to care or even notice.

"Who's up for a game of dodgeball?"



"One ball, stay on your side of the line, one point each time you hit the opponent, catching the ball does not give points. First to three points wins. Once the game starts, you cannot leave the game floor until a winner is declared or you forfeit."

---

---

Several seconds passed by as Smith (presumably, nobody could really tell) stared blankly at Dirk. A cricket could be heard chirping nearby, and somebody dropped a pin. "Uh... Ok? Glad you... Agree? Well, let's not waste anymore time, let's go!" The ninja held his hands up to show off his palms to Dirk, revealing spiked gloves. He produced another pair from somewhere and handed them to the Red Rum helmsman before beginning to scale the outer wall of the fortress. "Come on!" he urged Dirk, climbing with expertise but not looking back to see how closely Dirk was following behind him. Once Smith had fully ascended the castle wall, he looked back to help pull Dirk over the edge... Only to see the helmsman was still at the bottom.

"... I may have overestimated your ability..." With that he dropped a rope down for Dirk to use, holding the other end of it in place himself.

'Yeah chap,' he says, taking the gloves and putting them on his hands. He'd go to the chin, and he'd beat the cyclops, and I brought the crown BACK. But most of all, I'm... I'm... I'M...

A piece of crap who can't do anything right?

You are not worthy Loser! You can't win Imbecile!

Do Not Listen To Them! You Have So Much Potential!

He's saying you're weak right now. And you'll only ever grow weaker.

'Guys, I need to climhazzard,' I replied, jamming the gloves into the wall, going up the wall, not going up the wall because who thinks spikes that get stabbed into the wall is a good idea? Why is that even a thing? Who designed the stupid gloves they aren't even the best there is no way for gloves to have gloving on the glove spikes.

Oh hey a rope. Dirk puts the glove spikes in pocket and grabs the rope, and now there's a need to know how the best rope clim ever does the climbing, it's super good on my Syntich, super good on ythe then how does.

Okay, so he got up to Smithy again, and his arms hurt, and he's really trying guys. He's super trying. 'Your rope is bad quality, and you made it too long,' Dirk murmurs, trying to recover the energy in his arms so he didn't have an angery at the stealth moment. Besides, now he was to the top, which was where the Divine Purpose now says he needs to be. Hooray, good job.

'Okay. Let's find the things,' he says, now that his arms are better, and walks to one direction round the location. I'll find the, for sure.

---

Caesar was impatient, it took ages before he got his popcorn, while Bullet Bill was talking about cheaters.

Seriously, who was pathetic enough to be a cheater?

Caesar shook his head, tossing what little remained of his popcorn towards Slick, what little remained of his cigar sticking out of the top. Stepping forward, he held up his hands. "Aye, I accept. I'll play this game of ball and Dodge. Amusing," he called over, starting to stretch before shrugging. Too much hassle, he was loose enough already.

He set his machete and new sword aside, near the crew for safe keeping, before he entered the arena proper.

"What's the rules? Just throw and Dodge? Heh. Dodge. Hehe," he asked as he broke into a fit of stifled laughter. "And where's the ball? Can't have mine."

---

Caesar was impatient, it took ages before he got his popcorn, while Bullet Bill was talking about cheaters.

Seriously, who was pathetic enough to be a cheater?

Caesar shook his head, tossing what little remained of his popcorn towards Slick, what little remained of his cigar sticking out of the top. Stepping forward, he held up his hands. "Aye, I accept. I'll play this game of ball and Dodge. Amusing," he called over, starting to stretch before shrugging. Too much hassle, he was loose enough already.

He set his machete and new sword aside, near the crew for safe keeping, before he entered the arena proper.

"What's the rules? Just throw and Dodge? Heh. Dodge. Hehe," he asked as he broke into a fit of stifled laughter. "And where's the ball? Can't have mine."

---

Kite groaned as the series of events laid out before him unfolded. He had worked on the ship after the trip through reverse mountain, which included cleaning and additional repairs that he hadn't had time to finish after the battle with Krabbe. On top of that, he hadn't had a proper rest in a long time. His body was still fairly fatigued, malnourished and exhausted. Even so, as the crew was called to attention and challenged he couldn't help but stand in awe of the island. It was battle ready and full of a slew of interesting people. He wanted to learn so much more until he noticed how close one of the cannon balls came.

"HEY!" he shouted angrily. "I just fixed that!"

Kite growled. Although they didn't have many options he was more than willing to agree to the challenge. However, he knew that it was possible he might be something of a liability. Still he would be as useful...

"Hey, Slick and Kite! I left my weights at home. I need to bench press you guys."

Bench him? Oh no no no. The, admittedly attractive, muscle woman was not about to bench him. He glanced at her for a second before lightly nudging Slick forward and turning immediately to watch as Caesar stepped out onto the apparent dodgeball arena. "Hmmm... This oughta be a fun watch." He said as he watched. He didn't know much about the rest of the crew overall. This was a good chance to learn more about them. At least in competitions and stuff like that.

---

Mag grinned what would have been a confident and badass grin.. Had her face not been covered in bubble gum. ”Just throw and dodge, you got it. You can catch the ball too, but that doesn’t give any points. And if you try to catch and the ball fumbles you of your hands, it counts as you getting hit. Are you ready?” The woman held her outstretched hand to the wall, a single hand, and snapped her left fingers. BOOM! The deafening echo of a cannonshot resonated throughout the hall, shaking the room. A cannonball flew straight for the red haired woman, but she wasn’t worried in the least. In fact she caught the cannonball in her bare hand!

The large iron ball had to weigh at least a hundred pounds and it was fired off at nearly 1000 meters per second! And she just caught the thing without even looking at it, without a care in the world! It stopped as soon as it struck her palm, not even pushing her back by a single inch! ”This will be our ball. So… Are you still-” Pop! splattered another bubble of gum all over her face. ”Game?”

Caesar laughed, turning it into a cough, before pointing at the odd lady. ”So, you're just not going to do anything about the gum on your face, really?” He shook his head, sighing, before getting into a ready stance. ”Alright, not the weirdest thing I know. Let's play your little game.”

”What gum?” she asked rather nonchalantly, blowing another bubble. Before Caesar had the chance to respond she once again snapped her fingers. The two pirates that had setup the court reappeared, holding whistles and wearing striped shirts.

“Are both players ready?” the first asked. Launcher nodded, holding the cannonball at the ready for the first throw.

”Yeah, yeah, let's get this over with. Is about time for a nap.”

The referee that didn’t speak blew hard into his whistle, signaling the start of the game. Launcher wasted no time in throwing the cannonball straight for Caesar’s chest. There was hardly any windup, by all means it looked to be a very weak throw. Then the ball left her hand and all appearances went out the window.

The cannonball shot straight and true, with enough force to shatter the floor and walls if Caesar dodged. Like it had been shot from an actual cannon, and it was about to hit the half-mink from point blank range.

”Oof,” Caesar grunted, dropping to the ground in instinct. He could feel his fur rustle from the force, and a spot of concern crossed his mind.

The ball blasted through the wall behind Caesar, leaving a good sized hole. One of the referee pirates blew his whistle. “Lost ball! We need a replacement! Loss is considered a fumble on the part of Caesar, therefore possession is given to Launcher!”

Another cannon fired off, aimed right for the red haired woman who effortlessly caught it just like the first. ”That was my weakest throw. There’s no shame in forfeiting against a superior opponent.”

”Superior my ass!” Caesar growled as he stood back up into a standing position. ”I'll go ahead and get semi serious.”

”Sit, puppy.” Launcher traced her left index finger along the ball, savoring the moment, then spun her arm for a windup. After several rotations she hurled it straight for Caesar’s midsection. The cannonball shot off a good deal faster than the last, faster even than Caesar was expecting. The ball struck him square in the gut, hard enough to knock the wind out of the half mink and burst some blood vessels. Then something inexplicable occurred. The ball immediately shot back to Launcher, who caught it without trouble.

One of the referees blew a whistle. “Point for Launcher! Ball fumble for Caesar, possession back to Launcher!”

”Looks like you’ll need more than semi serious, pup.” The woman held the ball up readying another throw. Through the pain Caesar was able to notice something a bit strange. On the ball, as though etched in, was an arrow. Very peculiar.

Caesar growled, narrowing his eyes. So, that's how it was going to be.

”Well, I've seen plenty of weird shit since I left the island. A splitting guy. A bone kid. The obsessed fire guy spewing oil. A guy making cereal come out him. You throw hard, but I see that arrow. Ya either got dumb ideas about cannons and air, or you're another one of them aliens,” he spat out, straightening up again. ”Crazy magic aliens.”

He snorted, thinking hard. He couldn't take harder ‘throws’, that was definite. As it was he couldn't guarantee catching, but that was the only way to get points. Maybe…. He'd never explored his electro, really. But electricity was involved with magnets, wasn't it? He felt like he had read that somewhere. Maybe. Possibly?

Could he perhaps slow the cannon ball enough to catch it and give it a good whap back?

”Aliens? Pfuauauauaua! Oh puppy, you’re delusional. I ate the beku beku no mi! I’m a vector man! Pfuauauaua! I can manipulate and control vectors of motion, like canceling out the motion of an object no matter how fast it’s moving, or giving an object motion with a touch. Like so. Beku beku 200 km/hour shot!” This time there was no windup, she merely held the cannonball forward and didn’t even throw the deadly weapon. All the same it shot forward with tremendous force.

Caesar narrowed his eyes, trying to force all the electro he could into his hands. He'd never done anything past channeling it in a weapon or a barrier, but….

It was his only option.

Flashing his fangs he moved to catch the ball, consequences be damned.

”Dirty, cheating, magic aliens!” he growled.

It looked like Caesar’s gambit was working. The natural magnetic field made by the electricity slowed the cannonball a good amount as the mink’s hands clamped around the ball. The force pushed him back three meters along the ground, but he managed to catch it. The repulsion effect hadn’t slowed it by a great degree, it still would’ve outright killed most people, but Caesar was mink. He wouldn’t go out so easy.

Just then the cannonball jerked backwards, heading straight back to Launcher, ready to receive it. Caesar had two options: let it go, or go flying with the ball.

Caesar was, as it turned out, incredibly stubborn. He did not release the ball from his grasp, nor did he intend to. As a battle strategy it could have worked out in his favor, letting him get close enough to his opponent to deliver a winning blow. However, in a sports game with rules…

A whistle echoed throughout the hall as Launcher caught the heavy ball, using her powers to instantly stop its motion. “Caesar foul! Crossing the line! Penalty point goes to Launcher, score is now 2-0!”

Caesar leaned in, blowing air out of his nose into Launcher's face. ”Real impressive, using magic alien mumbo jumbo to win a game.” The words were soft, taunting, and barely loud enough for her to hear before he walked backwards to his side of the arena.

Launcher shook her head, then wagged a finger at the mink. ”Just because you can’t account for my devil fruit doesn’t make it cheating. Now you’ll need to step up your game.” The woman lifted up the cannonball, and hurled it once again. ”Beku beku 200 km shot!”

Caesar repeated his earlier technique, deathly quiet. As the cannonball made contact with his palms he spun, keeping it's momentum as much as he could, and released the ball straight for Launcher with as much force as he could manage to add into the throw.

Just like the last couple throws had done, the metal ball attempted a return vector straight back to its point of origin. Caesar was quick to adjust, realizing that she was somehow changing the ball’s movement and direction mid-flight, and worked with that by throwing it back even harder. As such the cannonball shot back at Launcher faster than she had anticipated. Her hands were not ready to catch it, to negate the motion of the metal orb. It struck her in the stomach with incredible force, enough to pulverize a normal human into meat chunks. ”Gah!” she cried out, flying backward and hard into the wall.

“Point for Caesar!” cried one of the referees. “Score is now 2-1 favoring Launcher!”

Launcher stood back up, her knees wobbling and her torso heavily bruised. She coughed up a bit of blood. ”I see. Nobody has ever been able to react fast enough to return a ball to me like that.” She hacked up a loogie dyed in blood, then spat it aside. The bubblegum in her mouth was also spat out. ”Alright then. I guess if you’re getting serious, I should take the training wheels off too. Pfuahahaha!”

Instead of grabbing the cannonball for another lob, Launcher got down on all fours in a rather compromising and lewd position, crawling all around her side of the dodgeball court. Every few seconds she would etch an arrow onto the floor using her index finger, then crawl to another spot and do the same, then another and another. The arrows all pointed in seemingly different and random directions, but after a minute or two she was finished, stood up, and took hold of the iron ball again.

”Now then, let’s make this my final pitch.” She licked the top of her lip and held the ball outward, just beyond an arrow scratched into the floor in front of her. ”Beku beku 500 km shot!” Five hundred?! That was over twice as fast as the last one!

Caesar narrowed his eyes, sliding into a combat stance while his fur stood on end from the electro running to his hands.

”Fine, then I'll go ahead and get 80% serious!” Caesar responded. Time to try something else new…. Damnable magic aliens.

Pushing out he tried to get his electro barrier to extend like it did with a solid weapon… Just without the weapon. If he could slow this down before it even got close…. He could catch it and send it back at her. Just like last time. If it didn't work….

Well, hopefully Liliana could fix him if he lived.

The extended electro was potent, fueled by Caesar’s determination and sheer stubbornness. It extended outward further than he’d ever extended it from just his body alone, and the field clashed with the incoming cannonball! The iron sphere pushed forward, forward, forward still! There was no doubt it had slowed the incoming assault, but had it been slowed enough? By the time it impacted with Caesar’s hands it was moving at about the same speed as her 200 km shot, not something he could take without injury… But Caesar would live.

As the mink slid backward several meters from the force of impact, he could hear a sickening crunch! The adrenaline and his mink tolerance for pain prevented him from so much as noticing his right arm fracturing. There was work to do. Like before he added his own momentum to the cannonball in the return throw, and it shot back toward Launcher even faster than she had thrown it. In less than a fraction of a second it would collide with her smug face…

Except it didn’t. Three inches from the woman’s face the cannonball instantly changed vectors. No slowing, no turning, it was going one direction and then another without warning. It shot to the right of its target, then back, then left, then right, then… Keeping up with this thing was dizzying, but Caesar could notice a pattern. It changed direction every time it passed over one of the arrows etched on the floor, moving to correspond with the direction of said arrow. And now the large iron ball was blitzing around Launcher’s half of the dodgeball court in an overly elaborate, convoluted circle.

Caesar watched the ball warily, trying to formulate a plan of getting around that safety net she'd built around herself… Of course he’d need to actually get the ball first. ”And now,” his opponent began, licking her upper lip. She lifted her left hand, and snapped her fingers. In that instant all the arrows etched on the floor vanished completely, leaving the cannonball on its final trajectory, hurtling toward Caesar from a blind spot as it passed right between Launcher’s legs. He had only the time to brace himself before it slammed into his chest full force.

A whistle resounded throughout the hall. “And that’s game, everyone!”

Caesar slammed into the wall, his defensive push keeping him alive. Sliding down the wall he glared at Launcher before things went black around the edges and the roaring grew in his ears.

"Crazy... Alien... Magic...." he grunted, trying to stand and finding his arms to be useless and pain flaring through his body. "That was a good trick. Maybe you ain't so bad after all hot stuff..."

And with that, Caesar promptly slumped as his senses left him.

Slick had followed along without saying much, mostly marveling at the cannons and guns all over the island as they made their way to their arena. When they finally made it they introduced to their opponents, Slick scanning all of them to see how worthy they were of being art. The one in the gas mask intrigued him the most, Slick wore a gas mask while making his art. Maybe he was an artist too? He would have to be looked into further. Doggy went off to grab some popcorn, Slick didn't bother following. He was going to get whatever Doggy left behind, he would be the first to fight just so he could get it out of the way as soon as possible.

Food Pyramid lady tried to rope him into exercise, but Slick just ignored her this time. The game of dodgeball that was about to happen was much more interesting. Sure enough, a few seconds later Doggy had tossed his popcorn to Slick and was the first up to bat against the dodgeball lady. Slick spread a bit of butter across the popcorn and began chowing down as the match started. Wrench man tried to nudge him towards Feya, but he smoothly sidestepped it without even taking his feet off the ground. On an unrelated note, the ground where he had been was suddenly much more slippery then it had been.

And so the match began, once the orchestra of explosions sounded off Slick suddenly knew that Doggy was about to lose. It didn't help how lazy Doggy was being about it, only beginning to try halfway through the match. If he had gone full force from the beginning he might have had a chance, but the motion of the ocean was just too strong once he had let it get going. As the match continued, if anyone bothered looking at Slick they would have noticed something very concerning. He looked serious. For the first time since he had joined the crew, he looked like a sane person who was taking a situation seriously. As Mag crawled around etching arrows into the ground, he threw the bag of popcorn behind him and sighed. "Lilliana. Caesar is going to need medical attention in a minute. Get ready."

Sure enough, Caesar wasn't able to account for the powers of the beku beku woman and was destroyed by the erratic pattern of the cannonball. As Caesar slumped forwards Slick shook his head quietly and looked at Mag neutrally. "Not bad, but you're a one trick pony." Slick walked towards the hole that had been left when the ball was lost at the beginning of the match, returning after half a minute with a cannonball in hand. The cannonball still had an arrow etched into it. "In a real fight you would have been demolished. You need to be able to leave a mark on the cannonballs you want to affect with your Devil Fruit." If anyone bothered looking at Slick in shock and awe, he would just smirk. "What? I'm not completely insane. Just enough so that I can make my works of art."

Slick walked towards Mag with a grin on his face as he dropped the ball at her feet, looking her in the eye as he cracked his neck. "You're going to be my next work of art. And I'll even paint in your style. Dodgeball."

Bonekid stayed silent as he watched the dodgeball game go down, with the occasional chuckle occurring because he heard a funny insult whether it was aimed at Caesar or Mag. He had to hand it to both sides, they knew how to give a serious insult. Bonekid had assumed eveything was going fine until he heard the same crunch that indicated Caesar's arm snapping, following up with a heavy wince. By the Gods, that sounded like it hurt once the pain set in. Bonekid stood up as that happened, but he didn't walk over onto the field and cause Caesar to immediately lose.

Well, he did walk onto the field when he saw Caesar slump over in the end. He ran over to Caesar's side and patted the man's back softly before placing his hand on the ground. "Kojo-Kojo-Lift." He calmly said as vines lifted up from underneath Caesar, carrying him upwards off the ground and slowly weaving their way towards the stands with him, specifically towards Lilliana. Bonekid walked beside his makeshift stretcher.

"We were bound to lose one match. Let's not this one loss discourage us. Caesar's loss proved that we must keep our guard and expect the unexpected."

"Feya is right. If we let this discourage us, we won't be making it out of here with any losses under our belt. Caesar did his best, and we need to treat him like he did. The odds were stacked against him." With that, Bonekid turned to Captain Boone and unsheathed his blade. "Cedric, we're ready to go in if need be." Bonekid placed his sword on his shoulder as he spoke to his captain, the over sized nature of the blade really standing out against the rest of the kid. Then he noticed Slick. "Err... Slick's got this first, then."

Smith kept an eye out whilst walking alongside Dirk atop the fortress wall. Well, at least he presumably was keeping an eye out. Kind of hard to tell behind that black face mask. Actually, was he keeping an eye out? Honestly he could just be sleep walking. No, no he definitely wasn't sleep walking. Smith pulled out a small snack, an energy bar, and ate it right in front of Dirk... Through the mask... Without taking it off... What the fu

"Down!" Smith harshly ordered, spotting a Buccaneer pirate rounding the corner. The ninja had practically vanished into the shadows cast by the wall. Meanwhile the pirate strolled about nonchalant, whistling while he slung a rifle over his shoulder. He passed by the door to a tower on the corner of the fortress, when... Clunk! Smith emerged from the shadows and clocked the man in the back of the head, knocking him out cold. "Need to be quick and not make any sound," the Krunch first mate commented. "So we don't alert the place that there's more of us not with the group. So are you going to do something about that guy behind you?"

Oh. Oh there was a guy behind Dirk.

---

---

"If I'm not mistaken, that lad was one of your strongest men," Runch commented to captain Cedric. "That ability of hers is quite formidable. It makes her chosen contest blatantly unfair." The cereal man had no sign of his usual jolly nature. He was taking this deadly serious.

"Agreed." Hachirou grunted. "But Caesar injured her. Further performance will suffer."

"Boomboomboomboom! First victory for we, the Buccaneer Pirates! Go ahead and take a break, Launcher! You've earned-"

"You're going to be my next work of art. And I'll even paint in your style. Dodgeball." Bullet Bill turned his head to stare at the Red Rum who had interrupted and stepped onto the game court, even retrieving the lost cannonball. He ruffled his mustache in annoyance. "Ye'll be needin' t'wait until 'er round comes up again. Launcher is deservin' o'a good rest after all tha'."

Launcher was next to speak up. "I'm good for another round," she announced to the whole hall. "The undefeated dodgeball queen doesn't turn down a challenge! If I took a little rest just because of a little internal bleeding, how would that reflect on you, captain?"

Bill grit his teeth and groaned, but ultimately agreed. "Fine. It'd be a pain to setup a new challenge only t'put up the dodgeball court again anyway."

"Taking bets! Place your bets here!"

"Popcorn! Peanuts! Drinks!"

The Buccaneers hollered and cheered for another game, eager to see their beloved navigator take on another of the newcomers so soon after beating her first opponent. Launcher grinned at Slick, then spat out some more blood. "You're pretty astute, but you're not entirely correct." Slowly she lifted her right index finger, before letting it dramatically point to the cannonball in Slick's hands. "I don't need a mark to affect objects with my devil fruit at all! That was simply a 'return' vector! Anything I touch, anything at all, I can imbue with a vector to send it flying in any direction I like! At any speed I like! And anything that I touch I can remove that vector to cancel its speed! So you figured out how I returned the ball back to my hands, so what? You have no hope of dodging my throws and you have no hope of hitting me! Not when I can instantly stop its motion to count it as a catch! You're nowhere near as strong as the little puppy I just sent to the pound, so what hope do you have?" Launcher reached into the bosom of her bikini and drew out a pair of sunglasses, placing them dramatically on her face before taking a pose. "I am Mag Launcher! The Dodgeball Queen of the Buccaneer Pirates! Marines far and wide fear my abilities, crushed to paste beneath my powerful spikes! Those pitiful recruits that come to me for training run away, screaming for their lives! Now! PLAY! DODGEBALL!"

A whistle sounded across the hall, signalling the beginning of the game. One of the refs called out. "Match 2, Launcher vs. Slick! Possession, Slick! Begin!"

Boone watched with anxiety as Caesar struggled with the red head. He grimaced when he heard Caesar say he wasn't even using all his strength. But Cedric couldn't help but yell out as Caesar's arm was broken,"CAESAR!!!!" As he collapsed, Cedric watched Bonekid head over and pick him up. As this occurred, Runch mentioned Caesar being one of his strongest crew. "No doubt. Unfortunately, he is also the laziest."

Turning to Bonekid, Cedric replied, "I can see you are both ready," he replied to Bonekid,"But it looks like our cook has stepped up to the challenge."

---

Watching, her brow knit with worry, Lilliana found her hands drifting each into different pouches. One was in here medical pouch, fidgeting with a syringe(r), while the other began tinkering. B-MO was nowhere visible, but instead was exuding from her hand within the tinkering pouch. She didn't like this. No not at all.

Then Caeser got hurt. She flinched and a brief flash of wrath crossed her features before it was quickly suppressed. Her brows knit further. When he hit the wall she shot out of her chair and rushed over to him as he lost consciousness. Feeling B-MO knit inside her body, reinforcing her, she stabbed a syringe(r) directly into the mink even as she deftly shifted his arm and made small incisions on his chest. Within the space of time that it had taken for Slick to pick up the cannonball and challenge the Launcher, Lilli had managed to put Caeser's bones in the right position, splint his arm, and begin a very minor surgery to held position his ribs correctly, not to mention staunch his internal bleeding.

During this she realized that she'd actually—though invisible to everyone else—placed small amounts of B-MO's metallic biomass into a syringe with a cocktail of other things, which she'd then manipulated within Caeser. The world blacked out around her, no voices or sounds reached her except the sounds of Caeser's body as she worked. Once Launcher had proclaimed that she'd accept Slick's challenge—which she did not hear—she had the mink all fixed up, though still not in working condition.

Her medical tools stowed away, she shot to her feet, lifting Caeser with what appeared considerable effort—downplaying her own strength—before carrying him over to the rest of the crew.

She breathed and the world opened up around her. There was light again. The breathing and scuffing footsteps of a restless crowd. Then voices, and the crunching and sloshing of food being eaten and drinks being passed around. Once she had Caeser situated comfortably on a mat that she'd produced from her medical satchel, she turned her gaze over to the ring.

She hoped Slick would kick her ass, because if he didn't...she'd make sure that she did.

Dirk did his best bit of doing the stealth too, though. Who said Dirk said no can see the world in the state of observance? Who said it, eh? Was it you, Smith eating a snackbar through your snackface? Mask. Obviously, he ate it by putting the fabric in his mouth, and chewing the snackbar until it was small enough to go through the snackmask. Or there was a secret hole. Dirk had a secret hole, but he didn't show it to people. Nobody wanted to see that.

Your hiding spot isn't a secret to anyone. They're just not interested in it.

Quiet, Derek. There's enemies. Not never afoot, either, just enemies around for Dirk to combat. Or hide from, the way the Divine Purpose said to do and let Smith fight for him, so he did. Why did he do that? The same person who killed Hannibal.

Dirk You Have Excelled Yourself! I Am Proud Of You!

'Yaaay,' Dirk whispered, looking at the dead or unconscious body as Smith said words about how they had to go fast, and also there was a man behind Dirk.

...
ohSHI

Dirk abruptly span around on one eggleg, somehow managing to whack the guy in the stomach with one foot I mean Tempest Kick him dramatically, sending him to the that ground without him saying the words. Or yell. Well, there was a yell, but it wasn't "AAAAH". More like "whoof" as air was kicked out of him. And next, the finishing bloe!

'Finger Pistol,' Dirk said thrusting his best arm hand finger straight right into the sternum of the man's body. And then it pained, and was the painiest. Ow. Why though. What the hell, did this man have a sternum made of sternum? But it did make him lose his breathing, lucky for Dirk, and he tried to breath and did not, and remained winded until Dirk just sort of grabbed his head and Tempest Knee-ed him in the knee forehead. And it was the best knockout that ever happened.

'I think I injured my finger,' Dirk says quietly, looking at his very sprained finger with the tilting head. My hand always gets the pain. I'm meant to be a master of Rock Six or whatever it's called. Six Power Styles. Of Rocks. He can't be that if he's just trying to break his finger on rocks and metal and stuff.

You're a weak moron. Your fingers aren't designed to impale things with, and you'll never grow strong enough to use them that way. You should just throw yourself off the ramparts now.

'...we should throw the bodies off the ramparts now,' Dirk suggested, but it was obviously a joke but not obviously. It was probably a joke. Yeah, I'm probably joking, and probably making it obvious. But it would get rid of them well... maybe he was joking. He did kick his guy again though because Divine Purpose said. How dare he have a hard chest.

Slick grinned as he took his side of the field, sticky oil coating his palms already as he looked at directly at Mag, picking up the cannonball with one hand as it stuck to his fingertips. More oil leaked from his feet, this oil being extremely slippery as it spread across the ground. ”I feel I should mention something. You gave out your powers, so I think I’ll let you in on my style of art as well. I’m an oil man, one who ate the oiru oiru fruit. So don’t be sad if you can’t grasp my art.” More and more oil began to leak from Slick’s hands as he began sliding them over the ball, the ball slowly being covered with a sticky and viscous black sludge. Then he pulled out the lighter.

He began to wind up his throw, the ball detaching from his hands but still attached through a string of sticky oil, spinning in a circle as he lit the lighter and let its flame burn bright in his hand. ”Now let’s begin painting!” He flicked the lighter towards the cannonball at the same moment he let go, the ball of iron ignited as it shot towards Mag at quite the impressive speed.

Launcher kept her composure and dodged to the side rather than risk getting struck by the flaming sphere. Even if she could have stopped all its momentum, she had zero reason to grab hold of something that was actively burning. As soon as she moved, the refs blew their whistles and chastised Slick. “Use of forbidden materials! The game is played entirely with your natural abilities! For use of a lighter, one penalty point is awarded to Launcher!”

”WHAT!? HOW DARE YOU CRITICIZE MY ART!” It seems as though Slick completely missed the point that he had lost the round, but just this once he decided it wasn’t worth it to make the black and white men his art. ”Fine. Start the next round so I can continue my masterpiece. I’ve worked with less.”

Launcher shook her head at such a rookie, and frankly ludicrous, mistake her opponent had made. ”Perhaps I overestimated your powers of observation. No matter. Try it again so I can get to crushing you.”

Slick pulled the cannonball back towards him, dragging it through the dirt to put it out with minimal trouble as he picked it up once again. ”You can try. But I’m one slippery son of a bitch.” Once again he began swinging the ball, it’s momentum slowly picking up as it detached from his fingers once again and began swinging in a circle. Suddenly Slick pulled off yet another unexpected move as he swung the ball at Launcher, still attached to his whip of oil yet swinging at her ribs from her left side. He didn’t cross the line and he wasn’t using his lighter so all was well in his mind.

Slick was right in thinking his maneuver was ok, for it didn’t break any of the rules. Launcher reacted to the flail by holding out her hands to catch the ball head on. The very second the oil-soaked ball struck her hands it completely stopped, her devil fruit powers negating its vectors of motion. ”And now!” Launcher lifted the ball upward, drawing a circular arrow on its surface. ”Time to return to sender! Beku beku spin shot!”

The ball rocketed out of the palm of her hand, the sticky oil traveling with the ball, also having been affected by the motion-vector. But this shot was different from the others she had displayed in Caesar’s game. The ball was spinning, curving round and round and round as though orbiting some invisible force, all the while moving back in Slick’s general direction. The added spin had the extra benefit of flinging the oil Slick had stuck to the ball all around in various directions.

Slick narrowed his eyes, creating a hard wall of oil directly in front of him to stop the ball on his side of the court while also making sure he wasn’t directly touched by the ball so it didn’t count as a point. Just in case though, he leaned to the side in case the ball actually managed to drill through his defenses and shoot straight through. His caution was unnecessary as the ball stopped midway through the wall of oil and Slick let it dissolve onto the floor. He picked up the ball once again and began coating the cannonball in another layer of oil, this one being very clear. Aside from the shine that emanated from it, one could hardly even tell there was anything on the ball.

”Oiru oiru gunshot!” Slick cried out as he spun in a circle, the last syllable escaping his lips as he threw the ball directly at Launcher with no oil whip attached this time. This time the ball was slippery, even if she did try to catch it it would just slip right through and hit her anyways.

Launcher positioned both hands to catch the incoming cannonball, taking it directly rather than cupping around it. Just as before it stopped all motion the very second it touched her hands, the momentum magically transferred away. ”You don’t learn, do you?” she chided, lifting the ball up and preparing to toss it once more. ”My beku beku no mi means that I can instantly stop all motion! There’s nothing I can’t catch! Pfuauauauauaua!”

A loud whistle echoed across the hall. “Point for Slick!”

”Do the what now?” she asked flatly. She flexed her fingers to feel the ball in her grasp… But it wasn’t there. Looking down, she saw the cannonball between her feet. It had slipped from her hands the moment she stopped concentrating on nullifying vectors.

“Fumbled catch, ball made contact! Score is now 1-1!”

”Kekekekekekekekek!” Slick was hunched over with hands on his gut as he laughed at the expression on Launcher’s face, it was absolutely hilarious!

Launcher narrowed her eyes behind those sunglasses of hers. ”Fine.” She bent down to pick up the ball once again, first imbusing just the oil with motion to scatter it away. Once back up she licked her lips and held the ball forward. ”Your crew mate was way more fit than you and even he could barely react to the speeds I was throwing this before. So let’s see how you deal with my beku beku 200 km shot!” No tricks this time, no curves or spin. The ball just went rocketing toward Slick at ridiculous speed.

Slick straightened up just in time to hear Launcher’s declaration, his smile growing wider as he whipped out a stream of thick black oil into the air in front of him. He had gotten this idea from Caesar during his match, hopefully it would work as well as it did for him. The ball cut through the thick oil, slowing down a little, just enough for his plan as it became absolutely covered in the stuff as it rushed towards Slick. Then he reached out his hand and grabbed for the ball.

He didn’t try to resist the balls insane momentum, instead he went with it. Catching the ball in his left hand and pivoting on one foot, he began to spin with the ball’s momentum, no, even faster! He was a veritable blur as he spun in place faster and faster, until all of a sudden he let loose right back at Launcher! He had no idea how fast it was going by now, only that it was certainly much faster than a mere 200 kilometers.

”That won’t work! Beku beku air cushion!” Launcher thrust both palms forward as if to catch the cannonball Slick redirected right back at her. Using her devil fruit ability, she created a vector of motion in the very air particles themselves, effectively creating a strong, localized gust of wind! This gust slowed the ball’s velocity, allowing her to react quickly enough to grasp it once more without trouble. ”When will you learn, you slimy little thing? The dodgeball queen cannot be bested! Now take this! Beku beku 500 km shot!”

This was the shot that broke Caesar’s arm, and now it was coming straight for Slick! Still disoriented from spinning around so rapidly, the Red Rum cook never had a chance. The heavy ball of iron collided with his gut, sending him flying back. His ears were ringing. Either that, or it was the ref’s whistle. “Point for Launcher! Score is now 2-1! Possession goes to Slick!”

Slick’s ribs were on fire, and not in the usual way they were. Yet still he got to his feet and shook his head, smacking himself in the face a few times to reorient himself. ”I suppose this is the part where I say it’s time to get serious, but that would be a blatant lie.” He picked up the ball with one hand and rubbed his ribs with the other, covering the ball with a sticky black glaze once more as he thought about his plan of attack. There was no beating her in a straight throw, so he had to outthink her in order to win.

After a moment of thought he smiled and nodded once, a glint of determination in his eyes as he began to wind up the ball. As a sidenote, the oil that had been leaking from Slick’s feet this whole time has covered his entire side of the field by now, beginning to encroach on her side of the field as well. ”Alright, now for my latest technique! Oiru oiru… come up with a name for this later!” Despite the anticlimactic name, Slick threw the ball as hard as he could at Launcher, which admittedly was nowhere near as hard as she could throw it.

”Too slow! Negate beku!” As she had done so many times before, Launcher caught the ball, completely negating all its movement, and thus any force it carried. Launcher smirked, pulling off her sunglasses. ”I’m starting to think you’ve got a learning disability.”

”Funny, I was just thinking the same thing.” Slick said as he rooted his feet in the ground as thoroughly as possible, black oil connecting him to the floor as he pulled back on the cannonball as hard as he could.

As soon as she felt the tug, Launcher redoubled her efforts to stay grounded. ”Negate!” she lurched forward by about half a foot, but continued stopping the motion. No matter how hard Slick tugged, the cannonball simply refused to move any further. That’s when Launcher set her foot back down… Right into the encroaching oil!

”Whoop!” The navigator fell forward right on the line! She threw out her free hand, making damn sure to keep hold of the ball so as not to get a fumble penalty. The woman caught herself on the floor, crushing the sunglasses beneath her own weight… With her thumb barely over the line.

“Launcher has crossed the line! Penalty point awarded to Slick! Score is now tied at 2-2!”

With that, Slick grinned and cracked his knuckles, the loud popping echoing through the room. ”And it looks like we’ve reached opening night at the gallery. Time to unveil my masterpiece!” Slick picked up the ball once again, scanning the arena for the final stroke in his greatest work of art yet. Then he found it. Slowly he began to wind up the throw, making sure Launcher’s eyes were glued to the ball.

”Oiru oiru…” Slick threw the ball up into the air as high as he could before whipping out sticky oil onto Launcher’s side of the field, latching onto the forgotten ball from earlier. The one that had been Caesar’s downfall, would now be his vengeance. ”RETURN SHOT!” Slick pulled back on the ball as hard as he could, trying to hit Launcher from behind when she least expected it.

Launcher had stood up into a half-kneel position, ready to dodge and avoid the ball Slick was ready to throw, but she never expected what was to come next. What is he doing? Why did he shoot a string of oil nowhere near me? She twisted round to see what was going on, only to get a front row seat to her (metaphorical) demise. ”NO! BEKU NEGAT-URK!” Suddenly whipping around a full 180 degrees and attempting to throw her arms out after having so recently taken a fall did not do well and served to agitate her internal injury given to her by Caesar. The woman’s technique was interrupted as she coughed up another mouth full of blood, just in time for the forgotten cannonball to collide into her midsection.

Phweeeeeee! blew the whistle. “Penalty!” cried one of the referees.

“No way!” argued the second ref. “He hit her with a designated dodgeball, fair and square!”

“That ball was from the previous match!”

“So was the ball they started with!”

“You’re an idiot! You wouldn’t know a fair play if it hit you upside the head!”

“How about I hit you upside your head!”

The referees took to engaging in a struggle of their own, tearing at one another’s hair and rolling around on the ground in a big dust ball, beating one another senseless. Ignoring their ludicrous fighting, Launcher stood up, holding her injuries, and approached Slick. ”I’ve never once been bested before in dodgeball, even before I ate the beku beku no mi. Perhaps I’ve come to rely on its powers too much, I don’t know. But today, you have won the game. I gracefully admit defeat, pirate.”

She held her hand out to shake Slick’s, while half the Buccaneers in the stands began to openly weep. “That’s our Mag!” they’d say. “So gracious! So wonderful!”

Slick stared at her hand for a moment before reaching out with his own cautiously. He gripped her hand firmly and shook, looking her in the eye with a small smile. ”This has been my greatest work yet and I couldn’t have done it without inspiration. Thank you for being my muse.” With that Slick let go and returned to the rest of the crew, hands behind head as he whistled a jaunty tune. ”Man, you wouldn’t believe how difficult this last piece was! I had to go with a completely different style of painting, hardly any fire or explosions at all! You better get me a better canvas for next time if you want me to keep cooking for you guys, because I am just itching to paint my next masterpiece! And there’s that uncomfortable glint in his eyes again. The sanity was nice while it lasted I suppose.

Bonekid smirked as he began to clap. "Gotta agree with you there, Slick. Though your art isn't really... my style..." Bonekid commented as he raised a cupped hand in the air. "Though, when art works, it's the most beautiful thing in the world, I think. Anyone agree?" The weaving of vines that covered Bonekid's arm spread out as it began to bloom into a series of purple roses before they reformed back into a sort of skin on his bone.

"Hm?" Though nobody had said anything between the time Bonekid has finished talking until now, he thought he heard somebody say something. "We're going next? Are you sure there buddy?" Bonekid spoke to an unseen entity while turning behind him to see. "... family is family, and we can't have Slick carrying all the weight now, can we?"

Turning to Boone, Bonekid raised his arm to his chest as he gave another smirk. "Hope you all don't mind if we take the next round." Bonekid pulled his sword over his shoulder and held it there. "My bones are aching for a fight."

Meanwhile, Bonekid was quivering internally as he thought about things. "Maybe if I show gusto, it'll keep me from thinking about how much these challenges ride on."

---

Kite had followed each match closely. From the unexpected defeat of Caesar, to the morale boosting victory of Slick. He'd studied each player. The mink, the oil man, the vector woman. He was intent on learning all he could. And why wouldn't he have been?! THEY WERE ALL SO DAMN COOL!! Things he'd never seen, things he'd never dreamed of seeing. He loved it so much. Well, maybe he didn't like the part where his crew mates got hurt. But the rest of it was great! Especially if it didn't end in the destruction of his newfound home among the Red Rum Pirates. He would have hoped to build his own ship for them to sail at some point, but right now, the Rum Runner was theirs.

Still, something of a foreboding thought sneaked its way into the ship sailing the waves of his mind. What if he lost? As it were, his time on the Rum Runner was short. Not long had passed since their battle with Krabbe and his crew. On top of that, he'd already been through quite an ordeal as his prisoner. That didn't include the time spent patching up and fixing the Rum Runner, along with the his lack of sleep, and the minimal time he'd spent relaxing. What if he couldn't win? He swallowed hard. No, that wasn't a good train of thought. If he left things like that, he would surely lose. Besides, a crew wasn't the individual. It was all of them. Even if he couldn't manage, he would just have to believe in the other members of the crew. He nodded, continuing to watch as things played out.

"So, what comes next?" He asked nobody in particular after a brief silence. "Will Bonesword fight next? I mean, we're not the only Pirates on in hot water here." He glanced at Runch and his crew. It wasn't just the Red Rums anymore was it. At least not while they were traveling together. Well shit. Guess they were all in hot water. Or... Hot milk in the case of the Cereal Man and his crew.