Doflamingo rested his cheek against a fist, as his other hands twitched occasionally.

"Please give me another chance!" a bloodied Bellamy begged, clutching his ribs as his body refused to obey him.

The Warlord ignored him.

"Tell me about the Straw Hats," Doflamingo demanded from the crowd suddenly, forcing Bellamy to do a dance for them despite his broken bones.

The crowd was petrified, staring at the Warlord with horror on their face as they watched him make a spectacle out of the hyena.

Right now, Donquixote Doflamingo was making it aware that if he so wished it, he'd become their worst nightmares. The cold feeling seeping over them at his casual torture of Bellamy... they didn't want to become like this.

T-They didn't want to suffer from the hands of the sadistic pirate.

It didn't take long for someone to step forward for fear of avoiding Bellamy's current fate.

"We didn't take them serious at first because two of them let themselves get beat up in a bar before we realized what they were made of…" Someone began with a nervous expression.

Doffy raised a brow. Let themselves get beat up? Oh? Seems like they never took anyone in this town serious if they allowed that to happen.

"Which members?"

Another answered. "Straw Hat Luffy and Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro…"

Someone else shuddered. "I didn't realize they were so strong… We didn't know about their bounties at first so we just laughed at them... and that Red Devil of theirs was about to kill us all."

That piqued his interest.

"Oh?" He asked.

Someone shuddered, holding themselves as they remembered those unsettling eyes that gazed at them like they were lesser than insects. "We thought all of them were full of shit… but after seeing what he did to Sarquiss, I realize now… t-that demon could have killed us at any time!"

Another one nodded frantically. "The Red Devil wasn't happy about them getting beat up at all and it looked like he was about to do something about it… W-We didn't even know his identity when he walked into the bar!"

"I guess we should be thanking his captain for still being alive… He told him not to fight us because we weren't worth it... and he was right. They're all monsters!" someone exclaimed in terror.

The Red Devil… Yes, that would do.

"Tell me about the Red Devil," Doflamingo demanded, finally releasing his hold on Bellamy and allowing the man to drop to the floor.

Everyone shook at the request.

"W-What's there to even say besides he really is a Devil?!" Someone exclaimed.

"He… he killed Sarquiss with a look! One second he was fine and the next… he started throwing up fire and blood. We couldn't even tell you what was happening before h-he just died."

Those who had personally saw it were still shuddering in terror at how casual it had been. At how effortless Rosan made killing the man look.

The redhead hadn't expended any energy at all. Hadn't used any movements. No, he just stood right next to Nico Robin with that same expression as he cooked someone from the inside out.

D-Demon...

"S-Sarquiss made a comment about how he'd go after the Devil of Ohara because she's so beautiful... a-and that must have really irritated him because while dying, the Red Devil mentioned turning him into the same piece of meat he saw her as!" a pirate squeaked.

"How could he act like this was just another day for him?! I-I don't believe in rumors but I think he really might be a Devil brought to earth!"

"Oh?" Doflamingo grinned widely at that. "Looks like you aggravated the wrong crew, Bellamy. Two people worth 100 million... What exactly were you hoping to accomplish by tarnishing my name against people who made you look like a fool?"

The bloodied and battered hyena slowly crawled up to his hands and knees to bow. "Give me one more chance. I made a mistake but it won't happen again!" he begged.

Doflamingo threw his head back and laughed at the pathetic display. "You already disgraced my flag to the point of no return! You lost in one hit. Your first mate died without anyone even knowing how… You had a chance to show off your power and you failed and you expect me to give you another chance?"

The Heavenly Demon shook his head in disappointment. "Useless people like you have no business being under my command."

With that, he stomped Bellamy's head into the pavement with no hesitation, ignoring the crack of the floor beneath him.

"I have no need for you. Don't wave my flag again."

Doflamingo barely spared the man a glance and began to walk away as he thought about what he learned.

The Straw Hats… if Mihawk was personally interested in them, that spoke volumes of their potential and he would be lying if he wasn't interested either.

Not to mention, that Red Devil of theirs just kept getting more and more interesting.

A man who had the full support and love of Nico Robin?

He was partially intrigued before, but hearing of what he did to Sarquiss?

Well, consider Doflamingo interested.

----------------------------------------

"Are you alright, Robin? You've been staring at Rosan for quite a while now."

Robin jumped in surprise at that.

Considering Rosan didn't glance over at the observation, it was just her and Mod-chan.

"Have I?" she asked absentmindedly, noticing a stinging in her eyes and finally blinking.

Could you blame her? Currently, her best friend was in the middle of a spar with Luffy. The two were both using their respective Haki (Observation for Luffy, Armament for Rosan) as they heatedly tried to damage the other with a rapid flurry of fists.

Rosan was failing to hit his brother, while Luffy's hits were proving ineffective against the armor like sheen Armament granted him.

They (along with Zoro and Robin) had been training for the better part of the entire morning in the mindscape, refining their blooming Haki by running through various exercises with each other.

Zoro was off by his lonesome now, trying to cut through difficult materials modified by Rosan... and Robin decided to take a small break after exhausting her Observation dodging a constant barrage of energy blasts from a relentless redhead.

Honestly, Rosan was so ruthless. Her limbs were still screaming from the workout.

Luffy and Rosan, still full of energy, decided to spar and while that was fine… the redhead had been training without a shirt on.

No, he was currently sweating up a shirtless storm.

Needless to say, Robin, who just discovered that she had regained feelings for the redhead, was greedily soaking in the sight and that's what brought them to their current predicament of Mod questioning her for being a shameless pervert.

"You haven't blinked so I'm glad you finally did. I was concerned which is why I spoke up… is something the matter with Rosan?" Mod asked in amusement.

Yes, there was. Her best friend had blessed genes and it was really irritating when that fact was slammed into her every day without fail.

"Just a lot on my mind," she replied, taking a sip of water.

"Stand still!" Rosan barked as his flexible brother dodged yet another hit.

"Take damage!" Luffy retorted as Rosan bulldozed through every single hit thrown his way.

"Would you like to talk about it? You've been deep in thought since a bit before Sabo left."

Robin pursed her lips.

Yes, that was right… Sabo did leave about a week ago...

They were all sad that he left but he had his own duties to attend to and they would never prevent him from doing so... no matter how much they missed him.

----------------------------------------

Flashback

"You're leaving?" Luffy asked in slight disappointment.

"But why?" Maro joined, immediately using teary puppy dog eyes.

Rosan grabbed them both by the cheek and floored them with the pinch.

"Because he has a life, dumbasses. Don't try to guilt trip him into staying," the redhead replied, rolling his eyes at the whining duo.

Luffy squawked at the pain from his cheek. "R-Rosan! Why're you using armament! This hurts?!"

"T-This is abuse! Someone help us!" Maro whined.

Why was he so abusive all of a sudden?! S-She didn't deserve this!

Sabo rubbed his hair sheepishly and let out a short laugh. "I've been gone a bit too long from the Revolutionaries. If I say here any longer, who knows when I'll go back? I've been getting real comfy," he chuckled, opening his arms up.

The blonde effortlessly caught Angel, far too used to all of them now and returned the tight hug with a fond smile.

"Please try and visit us when you can?" She requested pleadingly, big puppy dog eyes shattering his nonexistent resistance.

"Of course! You guys are awesome and I'd love to stay longer, but duty calls," he said apologetically, running a hand through her smooth spikes.

"I understand," Angel grumbled in a tone that suggested she definitely did not understand.

Demon smiled sadly. "I wish we could do more for your amnesia but unfortunately, it looks like exposure is the best way to help. It's a slow going process."

The revolutionary dragged him into the group hug. "You did plenty. I appreciate all the help from you and Chopper."

The reindeer lit up at the praise and began dancing.

"D-Don't just praise me you damn bastard!" He cheered, leaping into the group hug.

Before Sabo could release the twins and reindeer, he was brought to the floor by two extra presences tackling him.

"Don't leave us with those two monster brothers!" Nami sobbed.

"They're gonna kill us for sure! They aren't as considerate as you are!" Usopp wailed.

Sabo provided a balance between Rosan and Luffy that was going to be very much missed. Luffy was stupidly insane, Rosan was intelligently insane, Sabo was rationally insane and that wasn't perfect but it was better than the psychotic oldest and youngest brother!

He was easily the most rational of the 4 brothers they had run into and didn't have the fake rationality that their scout had too!

If he left, Rosan and Luffy would be left to run amuck again, all while laughing at their misery!

The Chief of Staff sweatdropped. "You guys will be fine. Rosan and Luffy are super reliable despite all their issues."

"D-Don't undersell their issues! They aren't small issues!" They cried.

Rosan snorted. "You should join training. Then you wouldn't be whining so much. Little babies can't take care of themselves so of course they'd want someone who's willing to spoon feed them to stay," he mocked.

"Go back to being emotionless, you dick!" Nami snarled, glaring at him with fury.

The redhead tilted his head. "Go back? But then I wouldn't feel so good about doing this."

Nami blinked in confusion. "Good about doing what—"

The navigator let loose a girly shriek, as something scaly snaked around her exposed skin and lifted her off the revolutionary.

Then, it dragged her over to the amused gaze of Rosan and the redhead began to muss her hair.

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY HAIR! GET YOUR TAIL OFF MY SKIN!" Nami squealed in horror.

"Maybe I should stop upgrading Clima for you. Such a shame, I was just about to give him lightning too to compliment the wind Usopp gave you," he shrugged.

"S-Stop messing around!" Nami struggled, resisting the urge to shriek once more as that gross tail continued to send chills down her spine.

Rosan snorted and dropped her on her butt ("Fuck you!") before turning towards Sabo and approaching the blonde.

Sabo jumped a little as the redhead engulfed him in a hug before he easily returned it.

"Warm. He's a good hugger," the revolutionary thought absentmindedly, taking in his oldest brother with a contemplative expression.

Having an older brother was nice. He wished he spent more time with Ace too.

"Take care of yourself, Sabo… and remember my offer is always on the table," Rosan muttered.

Sabo recalled the power of the Goro Goro no mi and nodded. "I might take you up on that offer sooner then later. I just remembered my fight with Ace..."

He had actually been thinking about it rather hard over the past few days. He had weighed the pros and cons and realized the only real con, was getting overconfident (something that wouldn't happen with the revolutionary who had seen so much of the world) and being unable to swim.

Sabo found that the idea of a Devil Fruit more and more tempting but he wouldn't jump for the bits just yet.

He was most likely going to eat it in the future... A Devil Fruit sounded way too fun to explore and his brothers all enjoyed their own, making them look as fun as he was thinking they were.

For now though, he'd consult Dragon, Koala and Hack about it and see what they thought.

The redhead's eyes glittered in excitement at that. "Perfect, that gives me an excuse to give you this. I've been working on it earnestly and I think I got a good prototype going."

Rosan reached into his shirt and pulled out a little cube. He tapped it once and it expanded, before he tapped it again and it reduced once more.

"What's this?" Sabo asked, taking the offered cube with a fascinated gaze. He saw a button and tapped it, watching as the blue and yellow cube expanded and flattened in his palm.

It flashed brightly and the revolutionaries eyes lit up in confusion, as his name appeared on the screen.

"I been working on this for a while now… I was hoping I could give one to Ace but I wasn't able to finish it before. My electricity was the missing piece," Rosan explained, pulling out another cube, this one pure red.

Tapping his own cube, Rosan hummed as he pressed something.

Sabo jumped in surprise, as his cube began vibrating repeatedly with a chibi image of his redheaded brother on it.

"I got inspiration from Den Den's… but unless you have a black one, which are extremely rare, the Marines can listen in to your conversations and they're really inconvenient to walk around with too. I decided to make my own communication device because of that, decked out with a tracker that is automatically linked to Modification."

It had been a little personal project he had been working on over the 10 years with his family, but he didn't have the means to consistently connect them all together over a long range, so he shelved it.

But now that he unlocked his own electricity, he finally figured it all out! It was perfect and gave him a way to avoid conversations getting leaked over Den Den by some overly curious Marines.

Everyone listened to the redhead in disbelief.

...What the fuck did he just say?

The blonde couldn't stop his mouth from opening, at the info reaching him right now.

"Are you some type of freak genius?" Sabo couldn't help but ask.

"I'm better," Rosan replied without missing a beat. "If you ever wanna chat with any of us, you can use that. I wanna add a messaging feature in the future when being quiet is required but I'm still working on it and it might take some time."

The redhead pulled out even more cubes. "I made more and I plan on making even more too but for now…"

He handed a blue and white one over to Maro, a purple and black one to Demon, a red and white one to Angel and a pure purple one Robin.

"Now you guys can call me whenever you want," Rosan finished, explaining how they could use it.

Angel was practically salivating at the advanced display of technology. The tech savvy redhead immediately began tapping away at her own cube with excited hums.

"Oh! It even has our names saved!" She gasped, scrolling through the feed. Maro, Demon, Sabo, Ace, Rosan, Robin… wow it even had names of people who hadn't received one yet (they were faded out for now)!

What incredible foresight! Each of their cubes even had a cute little design when flattened out!

Angel's cube had a chibi Maro holding a blue daisy design on the back, similar to the one in Angel's hair and the redhead squealed with a rosy blush.

That was so fucking adorable.

"I have no name for it yet…" He admitted, eyes furrowed. "But I'll try and make one for all my allies… actually, give these to Aiko and Akemi."

He tossed two cubes, one silver, the other dark gray, to Maro who caught it.

"On it!" Maro chimed, inspecting her blue and white cube with a chibi Angel on the back, triumphantly holding up Daisy with a cocky grin. "Angel, how do you work this thing?!"

"You've been queen for how long and you still can't work technology?" Angel muttered in amusement, sidling over to explain it to her and squealing again at seeing the image of chibi her, holding Maro's club.

"That's why I have my super hot, tech savvy wife!" Maro beamed.

Demon hummed as he navigated his own cube with a curious eyes. His had a chibi Demon on the back, decked out in a doctor's outfit with a stethoscope.

"This is incredible, Master. Do you know how many people would kill to have this?" He couldn't help but ask.

Sabo was the one to answer.

"Everyone," he said in awe, eyes wide in fascination. "Rosan, this is… do you understand what you just did?"

"Create an entirely new communication network that completely undermines the primary source of speaking across the world? All for the sake of speaking to my family? Yeah, I want to speak to you all without only using link and the range of link isn't unlimited," Rosan replied with a small smile, eyes glowing in mirth.

All for the sake of speaking to his family.

Rosan had just created something that would secure his entire lineage for as long as they lived potentially… and he didn't even care to exploit that.

No, he just wanted to make it for his family.

Sabo threw his head back and laughed, pocketing his blue and yellow phone with design of a chibi version of him and Ace fighting with pipes on it. "You really are an interesting guy! I'll call you guys when I can. It'll be fun to talk to someone while I'm out on a mission."

"We can even have group calls," Rosan informed them.

They cheered at that.

"I'm gonna call you guys everyday!" Maro beamed, orange eyes glinting mischievously. "Now when I'm bored I can have someone entertain me over this call!"

"Can I tinker with it, Master? Pleaseeee? I promise I won't break it," Angel pleaded, eyes glittering as she gazed at her super awesome and just as hot as her brother.

"Feel free, it's pretty durable. Just don't submerge it. Made with Modification and all that jazz," Rosan replied, easily catching her as she happily leapt on him.

"All these gifts you've given me... You're the best~," the redhead sighed with a grin.

"I know... but it makes it way more believable when someone else is complimenting me instead of myself," he grinned smugly.

"How does it work? What causes it to be able to call from anywhere?" Robin asked as she inspected her own purple cube with a design of Chibi Rosan on it, with his palm face up hovering the Hana Hana no Mi over it with a smug smirk (it was so adorable and she loved it).

It sounded much like his link technique... she wondered if he got inspiration from it.

Rosan hummed at the question, smile widening at her and making the woman feel pleased. "Good eye. It sounds like my link technique doesn't it?"

The redhead's eyes glowed and they watched as a hologram of Rosan formed. There were lines running through it and they looked at it in fascination, as it coursed through his body in different colors.

Red, violet, fiery orange, blue, gray... colors of all variations were there and they awed at it in a bit of confusion at the faded out gold one.

"When I link to a person, a bond is formed between them and I. It makes future links easier and more seamless. These lines and colors signify a person. The violet one is Robin for example, which is why it's the largest and the blue one, is Maro, the third biggest because we used to be partners," he began.

They gazed at him in fascination. Modification was such a complicated fruit when Rosan went into little details about how he explained it and they found themselves impressed that he was able to make it look so easy.

Robin was quite pleased that her line was the most prominent. It practically coursed through his entire body.

"What about the gold one? It's practically the same size as Robin's," Chopper asked curiously. He wondered if Rosan could make holograms of everyone... it would be so useful for the reindeer!

Rosan's smile vanished as his eyes dimmed. "The gold one is Meiko's... we hardly ever unlinked. It was practically a permanent connection," he answered softly.

They winced at that.

"S-Sorry," Chopper whispered in guilt.

The redhead waved him off with an unsure expression, glow returning as Robin hugged him reassuringly. "It's fine. It's not a crime to be curious... I was expecting it somewhat," he told the reindeer.

"Nevermind that... Let's continue," Rosan nodded to himself.

"The bond that forms between a person and I never goes away, unless I forcefully remove it, which I rarely do. It's stored and saved by Modification sooo, I extracted that bond to make a more distant form of communication."

The redhead grabbed his own red cube with a design of Chibi Robin, relaxing on a sunchair with a book, while the Mod Mod no Mi hovered over her like the sun, in the back (Robin thought it was equally as adorable as her own cube and idly grabbed it out of his hand to inspect it). "Using my own body as a nexus point, your cubes, which are made with a piece of the bond I extracted, utilize the bonds still inside me and allows it to connect to another person's bond. These cubes are linked to you all and exclusive to you…"

Everyone listened to his explanation with wide eyes, trying to process it.

"But they aren't very easy to make. The bonds are difficult to identify and even harder to tamper with despite how they look on the hologram," Rosan muttered, brows furrowed. "The longer I've been bonded to you, the easier it is. Angel and Demon's cubes were the easiest to make."

The two perked up at that in interest. "Really?"

He nodded. "With you two, I didn't even have to think. You guys are made from me after all… Without you, it would have taken me a lot longer to figure out the details. To be honest, I don't even need this cube to communicate with you both from a distance."

The twins blinked at his admittance, before both blushing red at his praise and staring a hole into the floors.

"We're glad we could help..." they mumbled.

"So you use yourself as a transmission that allows us to communicate," Robin muttered in fascination.

He nodded. "With the way my electricity works, I can properly power it now. So as long as I'm well, the cubes should work… I really need to think of a name for them…"

He turned towards his crew. "Don't be too disappointed, I'll make you guys some too… it's just we haven't been bonded very long so its difficult to get a proper grasp. Nami's is the closest to being finished, then Zoro..."

Nami and Zoro perked up at that.

"Me?" Nami asked in confusion.

"Yeah, when we linked back in East Blue," Rosan replied.

The navigator o'd in realization, before nodding vigorously.

"Just another way for me to get my bodyguard to protect me!" She beamed.

"We never linked before Skypiea... how am I next?" Zoro raised a brow.

"...I prioritized yours," Rosan said bluntly.

The swordsman did not like the way that sounded.

"Why... did you prioritize mine?" He asked slowly.

"...The built in tracker on it so we never lose you in case you get irrevocably lost," he admitted with a shrug.

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" Zoro roared, as everyone snickered quietly.

"Why doesn't Luffy have one?" Sanji asked curiously.

Rosan didn't even blink as he pulled out a red and black cube with a chibi Luffy spinning his Straw Hat on it, while eating a piece of meat. "Luffy does have one... but it's Luffy. I don't think I have to explain any further."

They sweatdropped.

"WOAHHH GIMME!" Luffy demanded, snatching the cube out of Rosan's hand and inspecting it with wide eyes.

"Break it and you won't be eating meat until I fix it," Rosan promised, satisfied to see his youngest brother nod fearfully.

The redhead smirked, before turning towards his blonde brother. "Anything else you want before you head out?"

Sabo hummed in contemplation. "Actually, there's one thing I want… You think you can transform the appearance of one of your wavers into a raft? I kinda want my own personal one after seeing Ace's."

Rosan thought about it before nodding. "Yeah I should be able to do that."

Maro jumped up. "Oh, let us give you some supplies! If I ever get information from the World Government, I'd be willing to help out the Revolutionaries in secret and give them information," she beamed.

Sabo's grin widened at that. "Really? That's incredible! Information from the Queen of Celadon would be vital for us so call me whenever."

He learned long ago that Maro was very favored by the World Government due to her accolades and presence in the North Blue. The queen had helped quite a bit with keeping the peace of the most dangerous of the four directional seas and her resources were incredibly valuable.

If only they were aware the Dokkaebi absolutely despised them.

The Queen shot him a thumbs up at that, more than willing to help the Revolutionaries since Sabo was apart of them.

It didn't take them long at all to get everything sorted for the Chief of Staff and soon, his new waver was packed with what he needed and modified to completion.

"It should be easier to control in that form since it's just a raft," Rosan hummed, glancing at the modified waver with searching eyes.

It was a sleek design, looking as advanced as the White Rose but far smaller. It was blue in design with streaks of yellow and was made rather comfortable to boot.

Sabo quite liked it! He was gonna make this his own personal raft and take it everywhere.

"Happy birthday," Rosan commented with a short wave.

The revolutionary blinked as he boarded his new ship. "When is my birthday?"

"March 20th… 8 days after mine," he supplied helpfully. "Keep in touch or else we'll randomly call you."

Sabo grinned at his family (it was getting far easier to say that) and began waving. "Of course! I'll let you guys know if I make any progress with my memories."

Everyone followed suit.

"SEE YA SABO!" Luffy shouted, waving both hands as his brother began sailing away.

"VISIT WHEN YOU CAN!" Maro yelled.

"KEEP IT WRAPPED UP!" Angel screamed, only to yelp as Demon chopped her head.

Sabo grinned at them all. "See ya! Oh, and if you're ever in the area, the Revolutionaries would love to accommodate you, Robin!" He added mischievously.

He was not surprised to see Rosan possessively grab Robin with both hands (to which she yelped at) and say, "Fuck off! She's mine and you can't have her. No exceptions."

The Revolutionary laughed. "I knew you'd say that but the offer still stands!"

Robin glanced at Rosan's arms for a moment before snapping out of her daze and smiling at Sabo.

"I'll have to think about it… and if I do decide to, I somehow have to explain to my guard dog that I'm going," she offered.

"BETTER YOU THAN ME!" Sabo shouted in the distance. With another wave, the blonde disappeared from their sight.

They all watched him go with smiles.

"I miss him," Angel said bluntly.

"Let's call him?" Maro beamed.

"Yeah!" Luffy cheered and they all clambered around Angel's cube to do just that.

Demon sweatdropped at the idiots and shook his head.

"That guys thinks he's so funny. He's lucky he's my brother or I woulda chased him down," Rosan grumbled, keeping his possessive grip on Robin the whole time as if someone was actually going to take her away.

The Devil Child couldn't take her eyes off his arms and she struggled to think of something.

"Rosan… why are our cubes the only one with a single color?" She asked eventually.

The redhead glanced down at her. "I couldn't be greedy and steal both red and purple, so I gave you purple and kept red for myself."

She nodded. "And the miniature version of me on your cube?"

Rosan grinned and presented it. "Cute eh? I was gonna put my Devil Fruit on mine and your Devil Fruit on yours… but looking at a version of you instead, makes me happier so I compromised by doing both. Do you want me to take off the miniature version of me off yours?"

Robin's mouth opened at his shameless admittance.

This was really bad. Everything that Rosan normally said, was being seen oh so differently now and it was flooring her because Robin had never felt this way before.

"Robin?" Rosan called out. "You alright? You've been pretty dazed lately."

"He can't know yet," she thought to herself. "I'm… fine. Just thinking of how arrogant you are to put a picture of yourself on my cube without consulting me… but I like it. It's cute."

The redhead nodded, before pausing as he realized something. "Wait a second… don't you call the ugliest things on the planet cute? Your sense of taste is questionable as hell."

Robin narrowed her eyes at that and felt the need to defend herself, after such an absurd comment. "You should be glad I consider at least something cute about you! Don't you dare judge my taste!"

He really shouldn't judge her tastes, considering she currently had a crush on him.

Rosan's brow raised high at that. "Wait... you calling me ugly? Your hot as hell best friend? Ugly?" He asked incredulously.

Not even a little... but Robin had chose this hill so she would die on it. "And if I am?" she retorted.

Maro's eyes glittered in manic glee, as she saw a perfect opportunity to cause a little mischief.

Glancing at Angel to make sure it was fine, the Queen was pleased to see her wife shooting her a thumbs up with an equally unhinged smile.

Go time!

"REALLY?!" Maro's eyes bugged as she shot up like a rocket and leapt onto Rosan's back. "Y-You think Master's UGLY?! This hunk right here?! I've been shamelessly gawking him since the first time we met!"

The redhead in question, raised a brow and snorted, as Maro began shamelessly groping him in front of them all.

"Why is she so shameless?" Usopp muttered in disbelief.

"Why is it to him?" Sanji asked despondently.

The Dokkaebi let out a delighted noise and Rosan had to wonder when his student became so depraved.

"You've gotta be joking right, Robin?! I mean look at him! This man was blessed with something!" Maro beamed.

"My sister, aka your wife, is right there watching you grope me by the way," Rosan said, amusement dancing in his eyes.

To his slight shock, his little sister in question walked up to the duo and joined in with groping his muscles with a contemplative expression.

"She has a point though," Angel joined, nodding in approval as she pulled one of his sleeves back and presented his arm like a prize. "I mean, I'm not this hot because you're ugly, Master. I got these looks from someone and they're standing right here."

Rosan paused in disbelief, not really sure how to react to this.

Normally, when Maro did this, he quickly got Angel to jump in and reprimand the queen to a 100% success rate.

What was he supposed to do now that they were both harassing him?

The answer was nothing. He didn't know what to do...

Well shit. What was the percentage now? Maro had done this countless times so it had to have been a relatively tiny drop... Maybe 99.8%?

The two wives froze, as an ominous aura washed over them and they hesitantly glanced back to see Robin smiling serenely at them.

The Devil Child looked much the same (when she wasn't in the process of getting riled up by Rosan) but there was something exceptionally dangerous this time around.

She didn't say anything but they heard her loud and clear.

"Release him."

The two hastily did so and backed away from the redhead.

"S-Sorry!" They apologized hastily, sweating a bit in worry.

Rosan smiled at Robin and approached her. "My hero," he crooned mockingly. "Don't like seeing your best friend getting groped by the most unhinged members of his family? According to Mod-chan, you're free to grope your ugly best friend whenever you want and you already did it without hesitation to my female form so feel free."

"That's true. You're free to do whatever to Rosan and I won't feel the need to assault you," Mod replied amusingly.

Robin nearly opened her mouth and agreed to it, before catching herself and opting for a glare instead.

Rosan let loose a low laugh that sent a shiver through her spine and he grabbed her into a hug. "Kidding kidding. Thanks for saving me from those perverted monsters… They can be ridiculous... I don't get it, Angel is my sister and Maro is my student but they still feel the need to assault and harass me... have you been using my shampoo?" He asked suddenly, leaning in close and taking a slight whiff out of her hair.

"Don't just sniff my hair! That's weird," Robin reprimanded in slight mortification.

Did she accidentally use Rosan's shampoo? His was flowery themed much like her own and both smelled good enough that she was never picky.

"The one time we don't bathe together and you're using my stuff," Rosan snorted. "It's fine though… I like when you use my stuff. It makes people feel less likely to approach you so I can avoid murdering people."

Robin froze at that statement and opened her mouth, only to close it once more.

There wasn't even anything inherently wrong with the statement…

Did… Did she have it bad? Surely she didn't have it bad for this insufferable redhead who smiled at her in a way that no one else did… or looked at her like she was the only person in the world… or held her like he did when they slept or just lounged around or just—

Robin let out a miserable sigh as she buried herself in Rosan to try and hide her embarrassment.

Rosan's eyes furrowed in concern at the actions. "Seriously, are you good, Robin?"

Of course he was concerned about her… she was his number 1 priority—

Robin resisted the urge to let out a strangled gasp and eventually said, "I'm fine, Rosan. Just a lot on my mind."

The redhead hummed, not releasing her from his grip. "You know we can always talk about it when you want. I'll listen to all your concerns," he assured.

She chanced a glance up and saw that he was glancing down at her with a small, rather charming, smile on his face.

"Right…" she muttered, flashing a reassuring smile back at him.

Oh no… she really did have it bad.

Sanji's face slowly shifted into horror as he watched the interaction.

----------------------------------------

Flashback End

"Robin, you zoned out again."

The woman blinked at that and frowned. "I'll talk to you about it later… but Rosan... or Ram can't be there."

Mod smiled at that and said, "That can be arranged. I'm all ears and will help in anyway I know how."

Robin smiled at her mother and said, "Thank you, Mod-chan. I know I can rely on you."

"Of course, Robin!"

With that, they shut off the connection and Robin watched the two brothers mutually reach the end of their spar.

Seeing as they were only using their respective Hakis, neither had taken a lasting hit against the other to count them out. Luffy dodged everything and Rosan withstood every blow so they both just handshook that it was never going to end and stopped it themselves.

"Still no signs of Armament?" Rosan asked, stretching to work out the kinks in his body.

"I feel something... but not much. How about you?" Luffy replied, falling on his back and rubbing his stomach.

"Nothing at all," Rosan grunted in displeasure. "Well, whatever, we just have to hone the ones we do have for now."

His captain nodded cheerfully and said, "Yeah! Now let's eat!"

The scout hummed. "I want to bathe so I'll send you and Zoro back. You better make sure you bathe too."

His little brother saluted and looked in a random direction, before launching out a rubbery hand.

The strangled yell in the distance, told Rosan all he needed to know.

"C'mon Zoro!" Luffy shouted, yanking the swordsman to his position with ease.

Zoro, who had a rubbery arm wrapped around his neck, glared at Luffy in disbelief. "Let me go you dumbass! Can't you just call me like a normal person?!"

Luffy simply laughed and ignored his plight. "I'm hungry! Let's go!"

"I hate you," the swordsman announced tiredly.

Rosan snorted and put a hand on his straw hat-less brother, making the both of them vanish back to the ship.

"Robin, let's go bathe," he called to the slightly distracted woman. He reached her quickly and hoisted her up.

The Devil Child froze as those words washed over her and she snapped her gaze up at the shirtless redhead who she was far too close to.

"Bathe…?" She trailed off.

"Yep," Rosan popped the P.

Without any hesitation, he lifted her up and began walking to the bathhouse located in the castle.

"I'm sweaty and so are you so now we bathe," he explained easily.

"Put me down then! I don't need you rubbing your sweat on me!" Robin struggled.

That was the wrong thing to say. Of course it was the wrong thing to say when dealing with a bully like Rosan.

The redhead's eyes glinted maliciously and he immediately hugged her close to his bare chest, making sure all his sweat reached her with no remorse.

He had done something like this so much to her, that this hardly bothered her. She often got sweat on him as well so really, it was barely worth noticing.

But now it was completely unbearable because his exposed torso was hugging her.

Was she really too far gone…? Because this was unbearable in the way that she was trying her hardest to not soak in the sensation of the redhead's build.

The sheer mortification that ran through her, at the realization that she was enjoying this, made Robin realize that this was almost certainly someones form of torture…

The Devil Child actually let out a groan of misery and buried her head in Rosan's chest to hide her horror.

Curse her for even enjoying this action.

Rosan raised a brow at the out of character antics.

Robin wasn't acting anything like Robin... it was rather surreal but she was probably just exhausted.

What if she noticed him acting out of character himself...? He thought he had been doing a good job but maybe he was a bad actor...

No. If she noticed she would have said something.

It had to have been during training. He was rather unrelenting when he was forcing her Observation to evolve.

"Don't worry, I'll clean you up since you're tired," he said with a roll of his eyes.

Robin's groan of misery got louder.

----------------------------------------

"I'm sure you know I had a crush on Rosan when I was younger… Well, I think that crush is back and I'm not so sure it's a crush anymore."

Mod's mouth opened in disbelief, at how blunt Robin was with her. She just stared at the taller woman with wide eyes as they conversed over a cup of tea.

She was expecting to poke and prod the woman, trying to get her to reveal it on her own with subtle tips… The Devil Fruit was not expecting her daughter to be so up front about it.

Well, at least it was good to know Robin wasn't denying her feelings?

"You're saying you're in love with Rosan?" Mod asked quietly.

Rosan was currently meditating outside in the pounding rain of their mindscape, so as to better get control of his wild mind and he forced Ram to join him because it looked as if her mood had been swinging rather wildly ever since Rosan had gained his own emotions back.

This was of course, on Mod's orders as she wanted to speak to Robin alone so here they were.

"I'm not sure," Robin admitted. "I certainly love him. I've loved him for 20 years and I'm sure he loves me as well... I just don't know if the love we have for each other is anything more than platonic."

Mod nodded at her words. She was sure Robin loved him more than just friends but that could wait.

"Well, we can sort that out later… why haven't you told Rosan yet?"

"That's not an option right now," Robin said calmly. Before Mod could open her mouth, the Devil Child held up a hand.

"Neither of us are suited to be in a relationship currently, Mod-chan. At the very least, I won't feel right confessing my feelings to Rosan while the castle still exists."

Knowing him, he'd say yes to anything she said. If she confessed, he'd almost certainly agree to date, but she didn't want to take advantage of him. Only if he had all his emotions to make a true decision, would she feel comfortable doing so.

Mod closed her mouth and eventually nodded at her words.

They were incredibly mature and typical of Robin so she couldn't say she was surprised truthfully.

Mod… also quite appreciated that answer.

"What... What if Rosan loves you just the same? What if he has romantic feelings for you?" She asked curiously.

Robin tilted her head, pondering the question. "I would still rather wait for the castle to vanish... and then I'd gladly pursue these feelings. But I don't think he quite is... I believe I could tell if my best friend was in love with me."

"Y-You don't even realize you're practically dating," Mod thought with a sweatdrop, deigning not to point it out.

"Besides, we both talked about it privately and agreed that now isn't quite the best time for dating," Robin whispered. "We were just happy to be with each other and didn't want to complicate things further."

The mother of the two smiled softly. She just wanted the best for them.

A mischievous smile made its way to her face instead. "You must really enjoy bathing with Rosan then, don't you?"

A plethora of arms spawning on her body, dangerously close to her vulnerable belly, stopped the woman dead in her tracks and the Devil Fruits eyes widened in horror.

"We will not be joking of such things, Mod-chan," Robin said firmly, blues eyes piercing the woman as she smiled slightly.

Mod went slightly pale and nodded rapidly. The purple haired woman let out a sigh of relief, as those arms vanished and spared her from the deathly tickles.

"You're scary sometimes," the Devil Fruit muttered, as she took another sip of her honey dipped white tea.

"Only when someone deserves it," the Devil Child replied peacefully.

The purple haired woman shook her head. "I don't think I deserved it at all! I was just asking because you couldn't take your eyes off of his body!"

Robin's eyes shot open at that and she glared at the women who didn't notice.

"I mean, I don't blame you at all… There's a reason I'm so protective of him, Rosan is blessed as a man and a woman so he gets too much unwanted attention… Oh! But that doesn't apply to you at all! You have my blessing whenever you choose to pursue this. At least this way, only one person can touch my son's body… honestly, why is he so genetically gifted— A-AH!"

Mod let out a startled shriek as Robin herself tackled the woman to the floor and began mercilessly tickling her.

"W-Wait! Please! I didn't mean anything by it!" Mod pleaded as Robin's fingers dug into her with no remorse.

"I already warned you," Robin said lowly, continuing her onslaught.

Mod squealed as her bully of a daughter continued unimpeded and tried to struggle.

"Hm?" A deep, amused voice, called out and Robin temporarily paused to glance up at Rosan and Ram both smiling at the duo with equally raised brows.

"Robin? Tickling Mod-chan? What did she do?" The redhead asked.

"I-I did nothing! Now save me, please!" Mod begged, face flushed a deep red. The woman let out another squeal as Robin continued her assault with a determined glare.

Rosan snorted and reluctantly lifted Robin off of Mod. "As much as I love watching someone else torment Mod-chan, we've got to pay a visit, Robin," he said, slinging the woman over his shoulder.

"Put me down! I'm not finished with her!" Robin struggled in his grip.

The redhead rolled his eyes and absentmindedly pat her butt to calm her down. "Relax. She kinda can't go anywhere. Trapped inside my body, y'know?"

Robin froze in shock as the redhead pat her bottom and her struggles renewed.

"Put me down, Rosan! Who said you could slap my butt? This is the second time you've touched it!"

"I barely made contact... You don't have anything to be ashamed of. You have a nice ass, Robin. Maro would rate it highly."

"That's not the problem and you know it! Stop being so purposely ignorant!"

Rosan cackled before his expression turned thoughtful.

"Oh that reminds me, after this visit we need to practice Extract Files."

"...You mean the one where you place your palm on my breast?" Robin asked slowly.

"It's actually over your heart… but yes. What other one would I be talking about?" He asked in confusion.

"The one that doesn't involve you placing a palm on my breast," she replied evenly.

Rosan paused incredulously. "...Now you have a problem with me grabbing your boobs? Maybe not when I was trying to tell you that I didn't wanna experiment on you?"

"I thought as a genius of your craft, you'd have it figured out in one go," she mumbled.

"Well that's too damn bad because I didn't. You're the one who made me do this, so now you have to put up with it," he said without any hesitation.

Robin opened and closed her mouth at his words.

"You're so demanding…" she muttered, pleased for some horror filling reason.

"Shouldn't have spoiled me so much growing up," he replied easily.

Mod huffed as she watched them vanish, trying to catch her breath as Ram steadied her.

"I got Robin to admit... she had feelings for Rosan," she huffed out.

Ram blinked before grinning widely.

"Is that why you got me soaked in that cold rain?!" The ring asked excitedly.

"Yes... now go bathe," Mod retorted, finally gaining a semblance of air.

The woman squealed as the soaked Ram lifted her up without any hesitation.

"Kay! Off we go!" She beamed.

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

"I... Didn't say with me!"

"Well... too bad! I like bathing with you so we bathe!"

"...Are you a pervert? Is that what this is?"

"Nope, I don't swing that way. But, you do have a nice ass, Auntie."

"Kami, I don't know where I went wrong with half my children."

----------------------------------------

Robin and Rosan both raised a brow, as they sidestepped the wave of sand trying to crush them.

The redhead then paused as a figure dashed at him and slammed their limbs into him as if they were trying to cut him.

He hummed as he channeled Armament through his body and tanked the attack, smiling in satisfaction at being completely unscathed.

Daz Bones only had a moment to widen his eyes in disbelief, before a fist smashed into his steel face with concussive force and embedded him in the ground.

Rosan playfully blew onto his fist and gazed at the scowling Crocodile.

"That 110 million bounty has gotten you cocky. You think just because you outstrip me by 10 million, you're suddenly capable of revolting?" Rosan remarked, eyes glinting in amusement as he gazed at the former Warlord. "What should your punishment be for attacking me, since you can make so many bold decisions on your own?"

"You won't be alive to decide that," Crocodile sneered.

The redhead was different, that much was obvious but right now he didn't care even a little about that.

Maybe he should have been a bit more wary.

The Warlord sent a tidal wave of sand towards the duo, ignoring that they were on a ship and tried to consume them both in an instant win.

If they survived but couldn't move, all the better.

Rosan rolled his eyes and grabbed Robin, before sprouting his draconic wings and flying up into the air.

Crocodile finally realized that they were on a ship, in the middle of the ocean, as Rosan mockingly extended a single hand that began suspiciously glowing.

"You'd die here and now if I let this go, y'know?" he asked, tilting his head to the side.

"I know you're considering it, but let's not. It'd be a waste," Robin muttered aloud.

The Logia bit his cigar harshly, sand seeping off of him as he fired off a Desert Spada directly through the air that Rosan deftly dodged.

The redhead sighed in annoyance.

"I don't have time to play with you right now," he grunted, eyes glowing.

"Boost x2."

The sandman didn't even have time to blink, before a sneaker smashed into his gut with enough force to completely bend his body, while a cracking noise rang out.

Crocodile felt his body turn inside out as he was rocketed back until he smashed into a wall. The man coughed up blood and he lost the ability to breathe, as he clutched his chest in disbelief.

"Haki?!" He thought to himself in shock. "But how? He didn't have it before? It hasn't even been that long since we last encountered each other?!"

Crocodile had begun training in earnest after his defeat in Alabasta... but he hadn't yet reawoken his own Haki. To know that the redhead now had it... that only motivated him more.

Footsteps approached the man, until a red sneaker smashed his head to the deck with bruising force.

"Attacking me as soon as I show up is rude, Croc," Rosan muttered lowly, eyes glowing menacingly as he glanced around.

The redhead tilted his head. "No other allies yet? You should look into at least finding a doctor. I broke a rib," he mocked.

Crocodile snarled in hatred at the shoe forcing him to eat his deck and opted to stay silent.

Rosan chuckled darkly and removed his foot from Crocodile's head.

"Get up. I gave you enough time to catch your breath," he commanded, raising a brow as Crocodile gazed at him in pure hatred. "What? You're the one who attacked me when I just came to check up on you. Expect me to be cordial about it? Get up or I'm breaking another bone."

"I'm going to strangle you to death slowly with my sand and I'm going to enjoy every second of it," Crocodile promised, pushing himself up after throwing up a bit more blood.

"I'm so scared," Rosan replied with a smug smirk.

Robin sighed in exasperation.

She took one look at the near comatose Daz Bones and said, "Did you think he was sufficient backup? Surely you should have known better."

Crocodile scoffed. "I was expecting him to stall you but you've both clearly changed."

Mr. 1 was a perfect choice into Nico Robin and that's one of the reasons Crocodile had gotten both him and Miss Doublefinger. It was no coincidence that both their fruits countered the woman's. It was to prepare and if they failed, he'd handle her of course.

Rosan sneered. "Even if we didn't, he wouldn't be able to hurt me or her. Make sure you save your curiosity too, I don't explain myself to minions."

The former Warlord snarled, sand seeping from his body once more as his gaze turned murderous.

The redhead's eyes narrowed dangerously, as he noted the challenging look and he bared his sharp teeth challengingly.

Now that most of his emotions were back, the memory of Robin being impaled, made him all the angrier and he always had a hard time getting his anger under control.

"Attack me again and I'm taking your other hand," Rosan warned lowly, pressure beginning to saturate the air.

A litter of veins formed on Crocodile's head at that statement. The former warlord's expression turned thunderous, staring at the redhead in a moment of genuine rage.

"Oh? Did I hit a sore spot?" The redhead asked, a mocking smile making its way to his face. "Did the poor little Croccy lose his hand in a fight that he doesn't wanna talk about?"

The redhead's expression quickly turned into something much darker. "Is that why you lost to a rookie crew? Did that fight turn you this pathetic?"

"He's fucking dead," Crocodile snarled hellishly, preparing to summon a sandstorm in the middle of the ocean, bad idea be damned.

Robin sighed as Rosan egged Crocodile on and on, just to give himself the satisfaction of crushing the former warlord at his peak anger and stepped in before the whole ship got destroyed.

It would be a waste if the redhead's effort to subjugate the Logia, went down the drain.

"That's enough, Rosan. This isn't why we came here," Robin eventually said right as Crocodile was about to make the decision to throw caution to the wind.

"Crocodile, we have some questions for you."

"Bite me," he snarled.

Rosan's eyes turned into slits and his maw turned serrated. "That can be arranged. Just know you'll lose an entire limb if you talk to her like that again. Maybe I'll give you a missing leg too."

A pleased tingle went through her body but she dutifully ignored it. "Remember the terms of our agreement, Crocodile. It would do you no good to throw your life away after just reminding the world of who you are. 110 million is only the beginning, isn't it?"

Crocodile almost looked like he wanted to refute the claim of throwing his life away but his body protesting, made him aware that he was still not strong enough.

The redhead had moved at speeds similar to that damn Straw Hat… Not to mention he was almost certain he had Haki…

Just what happened in the short amount of time he had disappeared?

Rosan nearly looked like he was about to end the Logia regardless, but Robin put a hand on him that slowly but surely, calmed him down.

"Control yourself. He is still useful to us," Robin whispered soothingly through their connection.

"Tch… there goes my anger issues again," he grunted, taking a deep breath and cooling himself down.

"Tell me what you've been up to and what you have planned," Rosan grunted.

Robin withheld a sigh. "Will hugging me later make you feel better?"

"...Yes."

She smiled at that and rolled her eyes.

Crocodile wiped the blood from his mouth and scoffed. "I'm simply amassing my funds, power and supplies at the moment. I plan on establishing an information network in the future… After I find half useful followers, I'm going to the New World."

Rosan hummed at that. His gaze idly shifted over to the former agent regaining his consciousness.

"That guy won't be enough... be on the lookout for anyone useful and bring them to your side... or kill them. The less enemies for us, the better," he said bluntly.

The Logia grunted in affirmation.

"I'll give you some funds to speed up the process. Don't waste it."

Crocodile raised a brow at that and grunted in shock as Rosan waved his hand and a briefcase materialized.

"What is his Devil Fruit?" He thought to himself. Some draconic fruit? It had to have been a Mythical Zoan…

That curiosity vanished as the redhead opened the case and presented it to him.

He couldn't stop the shock, at seeing just how much beri was in the case and regarded the Red Devil with a surprised gaze.

"You're just giving me this?" Crocodile asked incredulously, watching the redhead close the case once more and place it on the floor.

"Naturally. You're my subordinate after all. It's not like you can take the money and run. There is no escaping me," Rosan shrugged. "Use it wisely. If you feel like subjugating an entire island once more, fine by me... but make sure it offers something useful."

"Just who is this person?" He couldn't help but think. The redhead wasn't nearly as benevolent as Straw Hat and clearly operated on his own agenda…

Crocodile grunted and accepted the case. He wouldn't turn down such a large supply of money, not even if he hated (and respected) this redhead with every fiber of his being.

"Anything else before you get the fuck out of my sight?" The Warlord sneered.

"Perhaps I should have you remember what it feels like to drown," Rosan retorted.

Robin was quick to shut it down this time.

"What can you tell us about Donquixote Doflamingo?" Robin asked curiously.

Crocodile paused at that question, before his sneer deepened.

"That annoying bastard… What do you want to know about him?" He grunted in compliance.

Rosan spoke up this time and said, "I've seen a random crew walking around with his symbol. I wanted to know how influential he is, considering its typically Emperors who do such things."

"He knows his stuff…" Crocodile admitted reluctantly.

"Even I don't know too much about Doflamingo," he grunted. "He resides in the New World mostly and is the ruler of the kingdom of Dressrosa. I hate to admit it, but we're more similar then I'd like to give that demented bastard credit for."

"A pirate ruling over an official kingdom?" Robin thought in confusion.

"How are you two similar?" Rosan asked.

The former Warlord scowled. "I'm not talking personality. He's nothing like me in that regards."

"I doubt it."

Robin almost snorted.

"Doflamingo is cunning. He has a blanket pulled over the World Governments eyes. He's the Warlord that somehow manages to get away with the most things," Crocodile explained.

"You don't think the World Government doesn't notice out of incompetence, do you?" Rosan observed accurately.

The former Warlord nodded, finding himself begrudgingly impressed with the redhead.

"He has dirt on them. I don't know what it is and I don't really care but it allows him to get away with plenty of things. One of the few things I know about him, is that he's an underground broker," Crocodile said, polishing his hook idly on his cloak.

Rosan paused at that, mind grinding to a halt. "Underground broker you say? Do you know his identity?"

"No."

Not a lie. But honestly, it didn't matter if Crocodile knew or not because Rosan knew.

He was willing to bet his red hair that Doflamingo and Joker had a connection. He was sure of it.

"You think Donquixote Doflamingo is the Joker you stole that Devil Fruit from?" Robin asked.

"I think so… let's see."

"I've heard some other things about him. Is he rather carefree? Tends to not take situations serious?"

Crocodile raised a brow. Was this redhead trying to go after Doflamingo? How did he know so much information on the man?

...If that happened, he'd die to the Warlord.

In that case, Crocodile wouldn't warn him about the Heavenly Demon and let him go on his suicide mission.

"That sounds right. Annoying bastard is always laughing, exaggerates, sits in the dumbest ways and walks even dumber."

Yes, that man was Joker. Rosan was sure of it.

Perfect.

"I see," Rosan nodded, mind running once more with ideas upon ideas.

"Looks like we got far more then we expected… to think Doflamingo is the Joker who you infuriated all those years ago."

So Maro's Devil Fruit was for the Warlord… It was a good thing Rosan never revealed it.

"I have a baseline now. I always intended on terrorizing Joker when the time came but I never knew just how strong he was. If I can get a gauge on this Doflamingo's strength… Eventually I will beat him," Rosan said confidently.

"Alright, I'm done here," Rosan grunted. "You gave me useful information. I'll forgive you for trying to kill me this time. Think wisely about doing it next time though."

"I won't be satisfied in life until I personally kill you, Red Devil," Crocodile informed him, turning away from the redhead and heading back to his quarters.

He needed to tend to his wounds. That kick broke a bone.

"Join the line and don't fucking call me that. I hate that goddamn title," Rosan scoffed. He grabbed Robin and the two subsequently vanished.

"I want that hug."

"Yes, yes. Anything for you, your highness."

"Stop mentioning my royal blood."

"No. It's funny."

Daz Bones groaned as he nursed his head.

"He managed to punch me through my steel body?!"

----------------------------------------

"Mod-chan, can we talk?"

Mod popped a tired eye open and regarded the redhead she was sleeping on, with a bleary gaze.

The redhead was wide awake, and she saw his glowing gaze looking at her with a conflicted expression.

That shot her wide awake and the Devil Fruit pushed herself up with a look of worry.

"Of course we can, Rosan... what's the matter? Did... Did I do something?" She asked in concern.

Robin and Ram were both sleeping. Ram was sleeping on the redhead's right and Robin was directly atop him, leaving him completely trapped, not that he minded.

"No it's not you... can we just go somewhere, the two of us? I need to discuss something with you," he said quietly, sounding a bit unsure of himself.

The Devil Fruit nodded and diligently removed herself from bed.

Rosan glanced at the two still sleeping and sighed to himself, before gently removing himself from Robin and Ram's hold.

He went as slow as possible, making sure to never remove contact the entire time and right when he was about to fully extract himself, he had the two make contact instead.

They blissfully slept away, not even moving from his actions, except for Ram hugging Robin's unconscious frame.

"I wonder how often he practiced that... he did it so masterfully," Mod thought idly, tugging her bunched up nightgown and following after the redhead after he beckoned with his head.

She followed after her son, until they both stepped outside into the freezing rain and Rosan sighed.

"Rosan? What's the matter?" She asked worriedly, stepping up to her son and summoning an umbrella for them both.

"..." The redhead pursed his lips and gazed at her, glowing eyes shifting in intensity sporadically as the moonlight shone down on them.

Mod had teared up more than once just staring into his eyes and seeing that familiar glow. She would never be able to truly put it into words, how grateful she was to have her son back.

She actually did almost tear up, as she realized Rosan was once more confiding in things with her one on one. It had been so long... she missed being his partner.

She'd be a good one from now on.

"Rosan, speak to me. What's wrong?" Mod asked quietly. "You can talk to me —"

"I think I'm in love with Robin."

...

Mod went silent, mind blanking.

Rosan was nervously raking a hand through his hair, looking incredibly uncertain with a flushed expression that spoke testaments to how much emotion he had currently.

"It's... really bad," he mentioned. "It's almost exactly like what happened with Meiko."

"What do you mean?" She said slowly, trying to piece things together.

So they were both in love with each other... Robin had been easy to spot, but Mod only had an inkling that Rosan was the same.

"I think my lack of emotions were suppressing it... now it's impossible and it's kind of overwhelming," he admitted with a hint of frustration. "I've been trying to act as normal as possible because I don't want to mess anything up, but my body is burning up and I can't control any of my emotions the way I want to."

Ah, so he had been trying to act normal... That made sense.

Mod pursed her lips. "Overwhelming how? Are you alright?"

"Not really. I couldn't even look at her while we were bathing!" Rosan scowled. "My body is heating up at the simplest of things and it's ridiculous. Even just now, while she was sleeping on top of me... I'm a mess. I don't wanna make her uncomfortable," he sighed, anger vanishing quickly in favor of sadness.

Mod bit her lip, noticing how swiftly his emotional state was changing.

Rosan... couldn't control his emotions right now, could he?

That was disastrous. Her son being so in control of himself these past years, was the reason they didn't have such a massive target on their back.

But they could focus on that later... right now, he needed help with his feelings.

"Don't feel too bad, Rosan," she muttered, engulfing her son. "If I were to guess, it might be your suppressed hormones finally coming into play. Considering you almost completely skipped that phase of your life and had no time at all to adjust to it," she rationalized.

He sunk into her hug and nodded. "That's what I think too... it's been really bad," Rosan sighed.

"It's okay, we're here for you," she murmured. "One step at a time. You haven't had emotions for 12 years. It was never going to be easy."

He nodded reluctantly, marveling at the warm sensation of his mother.

"So what will you do about your feelings for Robin? Will you confess?" Mod asked suddenly, making him choke on air.

The purple haired woman was trying to hide the glow in her eyes, as she looked up at Rosan with a mirthful expression.

She was immensely pleased, to see the red cheeks of the redhead and he let out a sigh.

"Not yet... I want to get these problems situated. My emotions are all haywire and I can't tell what's genuine or not because of how much they overflow. I know I love Robin, but I need to know if it's my hormones making me feel this way or not... I wouldn't feel right pursuing at least until I lost this last chain and figured myself out," he muttered.

Mod noticed something and blinked slowly.

"What if Robin loves you back?" She asked in amusement.

Rosan's answer nearly made her laugh aloud.

"We both talked about it in private and agreed that we weren't ready for dating... I know if I asked her, she'd definitely agree to date but I don't wanna take advantage of her. Also I think I'd be able to tell if Robin loved me like that. She's my best friend," he replied with a fond smile.

His answer was the exact same as Robin's own. Those two were so in sync that it was seeping into them even when the other wasn't around.

The duo of Devils were so blissfully unaware, that it was genuinely amazing.

This was ridiculously adorable but Mod wouldn't push the issue any further than she needed to.

Mod did giggle. "You sure have a lovesick smile on your face," she pointed out.

The redhead blinked, before his expression went flush again and he glared at her.

He hauled her up and began walking towards their room again. "The only reason I'm not tormenting you, is because I woke you up to talk to you. Be grateful," Rosan grunted.

She beamed and snuggled into him. "You should spoil me more often. It's a nice feeling."

"Every waking moment I'm not tormenting you, I'm spoiling you. What exactly do you mean more often?"

"I mean stop bullying me. I raised you, have more respect."

"...No."

"I hate you."

----------------------------------------

With the sudden influx of gold that the Straw Hats received, the group had wanted many things but they universally decided on one thing.

They needed to repair the Going Merry.

Rosan frowned at that. He didn't know how extensive her damage was but perhaps a professional shipwright would be able to repair her to enough levels where she could survive long enough for him to find her a solution.

"The Merry is quite beat up," he offered his two cents. "Perhaps we should consider another ship as an option in case. I quite like this ship so I wouldn't want it to sink randomly before we were ready."

He forgot how naive his crew was.

"We'll get the best Shipwright and have them fix her up good as new!" Usopp grinned, shooting them a thumbs up.

"Yeah!" Luffy beamed, nodding rapidly. "Merry won't sink!"

Hm. That was as far as he was willing to prod at the moment.

"What's wrong? You wouldn't normally suggest something like that," Robin pointed out.

Ah right, he never mentioned it to anyone.

"That night I went to go repair the ship, I spoke to Merry," Rosan told them.

Robin and Mod's eyes both widened in shock.

He… what?

"It's hard to believe but yes… I spoke to the spirit of the Going Merry and she told me that she doesn't have long until she sinks."

"That's…" Mod trailed off.

"Why don't you tell them now?" Robin asked curiously.

"Merry told me to tell them when the time is right. Now is not the right time. All me telling them will do at the moment, is build tensions."

He was still very pessimistic and with his optimistic crew, naturally they'd throw doubt on him. It would do no good if he used only his "intuition" to tell them the ship was done for.

Perhaps the Shipwright would be able to advise them to get a new one.

"We can focus on ship repairs when the time comes! We've got other things to worry about," Nami interjected.

They all nodded in unison and the ship continued to sail peacefully through the sea.

"Hm?" Rosan perked up, eyes narrowed slightly as they began to glow.

"What's wrong?" Usopp asked, glancing at the curious redhead.

Their scout was looking in ahead of them with a tilted head. "We're approaching a peculiar ship… It has no flag, no sail and there are a few members that look lost."

Everyone paused in confusion at that.

What was a ship like that doing around here?

True to the redhead's words, they soon approached a rather odd ship that had no business being out on the sea. It was only a matter of time before they sunk to the bottom of the ocean.

The inhabitants looked purposeless and lifeless, just lounging around as they waited for something to happen.

That something, seemed like it was the Straw Hats today and someone jumped up in excitement.

"Hey look! A ship!" One of the men on the ship called out.

All of them perked up at that and began clambering to their feet.

"LET'S RAID THEM!"

"WHAT?! DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!"

"YEAH THE CAPTAIN HAS TO DECIDE!"

"IDIOT, WE DON'T HAVE A CAPTAIN ANYMORE!"

Rosan raised a brow at that. "I'll deal with them. You can continue sailing."

They nodded at his command and watched as Rosan and Robin floated over to the crew with clear interest.

"AGH! HE'S FLYING?! WHAT DO WE DO?!" One of the pirates shouted in horror, going pale at those draconic wings.

"I DUNNO! I'M NOT THE CAPTAIN RIGHT?!"

"NOW'S NOT THE TIME TO BE SARCASTIC!"

Rosan and Robin landed on the odd ship and appraised the people on it.

They raised their brow at the shoddy weapons being aimed at them and Rosan audibly scoffed.

"I've got some questions for you guys. Then, you're free to do what you want afterwards, whether that be killing yourself trying to raid our ship, or killing yourself trying to sail with no sails," Rosan greeted, inclining his head.

They looked back and forth at each other before coming to a similar conclusion.

Greedy grins made its way to their faces and they glanced at the two invaders.

"We want some resources in exchange for those question—"

The pirate that was speaking couldn't finish his sentence, as his head completely vanished, courtesy of the redhead staring at his corpse neutrally with his gloved hand outstretched.

The headless body thumped to the floor, no sign of blood.

"I've got some questions for you guys," Rosan repeated calmly, hand smoking from the attack. "You'll be courteous and answer them. Right?"

The rest of the pirates looked shakily down at the corpse, before glancing at the demon with wide eyes.

They nodded rapidly.

Rosan smiled. "Good. Now what happened to your crew? You mentioned not having a captain anymore."

They flinched at that.

"We… lost our crew in a Davy Back Fight," one explained.

"A Davy Back fight is a duel between pirates… the winner gets to pick out a crewmate and take them. We got destroyed and most of our crew was stolen from the Foxy Pirates."

"The Foxy Pirates?" Rosan muttered, storing the information away.

"They're a bunch of cheaters!" Another one snarled. "If it even looks like we have a chance to win, they use all sort of scummy tactics to pull one over us."

Interesting… a Davy Back Fight… He'd heard of that before. It was a pirate game where they could steal each others crew.

"Right. Thanks for the info," Rosan nodded.

Without any hesitation, the redhead placed a palm flat on the deck and blew a hole all the way through the bottom.

Then, he grabbed Robin and began floating away.

"W-WAIT! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" One of them screeched in horror, looking at the massive hole with a look of terror.

Rosan shrugged.

"Your use has run out and you did plan on attacking our ship. I'm just speeding up your deaths."

The redhead ignored their howling and glided back over to his crew, who were looking at him with shock in their eyes.

"You are a scary person, Rosan," Nami said in awe as she backed away a little.

"S-Super scary," Chopper stammered, hiding behind Luffy.

"Honestly, the scariest person I met," Usopp shuddered.

The crew watched as the ship began sinking with slack jaws.

"They wouldn't stop looking at Robin," he told them with a shrug. "How is it that I'm the one asking the questions and they keep looking at her? I have no intention of letting such people live."

Robin felt yet another pleasant tingle course through her body at that sentence and said, "Thank you for protecting me from… eyes, Rosan."

"Anytime," he said easily, either not detecting her sarcasm or ignoring it on purpose.

She had an inkling it was the second one.

"Davy Back Fights… Sounds fun," Zoro grunted.

"W-What?!" Nami balked. "Why would we ever agree to do something like that?!" The navigator asked.

"It's considered shameful to deny one," Sanji shrugged.

"B-But they're cheaters!" Usopp stammered.

Robin smiled at that. "You guys have never seen Rosan cheat, have you?"

Everyone shook their head no but as they did so, they realized just what fruit their scout had.

The redhead tilted his head with a glint. "I don't typically cheat y'know? Modification makes it almost too easy but I have no problem cheating against cheaters."

The crew grinned at that.

----------------------------------------

It didn't take the crew very long to find an island and unfortunately for them, it didn't seem like there would be a shipwright on this one...

Or anyone for that matter. It was rather barren of human life.

"The trees are long," Zoro observed.

"Everything's long," Sanji said.

It was true… the island they landed on was rather strange. It was an expansive plain with not much on it, barring some incredibly long trees with what looked to be equally as long fruits.

Luffy, Usopp and Chopper had already run off and according to Rosan's bird, they had met an old man who was just as strange as the island and its inhabitants.

Everything on this island was long. From the trees, to the animals, to the fruits…

What a stupid island. Rosan was unimpressed.

"Not a fan?" Robin asked curiously.

"There's nothing impressive here," he said blandly. "Wanna scout out the island with me? I'm feeling restless."

The Devil Child nodded after a moment and her best friend promptly scooped her up Bridal style.

"Surely there's a better way for you to hold me," Robin said as the redhead held her close.

"You've been complaining about me holding you so much lately. Actually, you've been acting really strange," Rosan observed accurately, staring at her suspiciously.

The Devil Child went still at that. She should have known that Rosan would have called her out on her behavior soon but she hadn't quite thought of what she could say to him, without being called out for lying.

"Are you mad at me?" Rosan asked quietly, taking flight so they could speak in private. "Is it because of the Enel thing, where I took an attack for you? Is it because I slapped your ass when I carried you? Have I... been acting weird?"

"No, no… and no?" Robin eventually said, tilting her head in confusion at the final one.

Rosan had been acting far from weird... she was the one acting strange.

"I'm not mad at you, Rosan… I'm just very conflicted at the moment."

The redhead stopped moving instantly and gazed at her. "What's wrong?" He asked genuinely. "You know you can talk to me about anything."

"How can I possibly talk about this with you…" She thought to herself.

Clearly, she had been around Rosan for far too long because the redhead angled himself downward and they landed gently on the floor.

Rosan gazed at her with an intensity in his gaze as he engulfed her in a hug.

"You're not mad at me, right?" He asked her as she melted in his grasp.

"Never," she muttered. She loved his flowery scent. It reminded her that no matter what, she'd be safe with him. "If I were mad at you, I'd tell you in a heartbeat."

"I know... that's why I don't mind if you keep some things to yourself," Rosan assured, squeezing her reassuringly.

Robin sighed at the pleasant feeling and buried herself in his chest. "Even if it involves both of us?" She asked quietly, unsure of what his response would be.

A hand gripped her cheeks and forced her to look up at that intense heterochromatic gaze.

She found that she quite liked how the colors clashed… she even preferred it over both eyes being purple.

That glowing gaze pierced into her soul and demanded all her attention.

"Even if it involves the both of us, I know you'd never endanger me on purpose. I trust you with my life, Robin. Take all the time you need and tell me whenever you feel like it," Rosan murmured.

"I'm in love with my best friend."

The thought came to Robin almost as soon as Rosan finished speaking. In hindsight, it was rather obvious but she had been in a bit of denial.

But here he was, gazing at her with nothing but love and respect, holding her cheek in his soft hands tenderly and speaking to her with a caring voice that sent chills through her.

Nobody on the planet treated her like her best friend did...

She didn't just have feelings for Rosan... this wasn't just a silly crush like when she were 10... she was in love and that terrified her.

She couldn't afford to be in love with Rosan right now. They were both messed up in so many ways. A relationship was the last thing either of them needed while they were both such messes.

"What do I do? I've never felt this way but… but shouldn't I face my fears head on?" She thought to herself.

Robin would be a hypocrite if she encouraged Rosan to do this but refused to do it herself.

Yes, the best thing to do was just lay it all out and they could decide what to do later.

She steeled herself and gazed back at those glowing eyes—

Only for twin gunshots to ring through the air.

Robin cursed her luck, as Rosan's gaze snapped towards the noise.

"Remember, you can tell me whenever you want," he assured, placing her on his back this time and securing her.

"He still thinks I have a problem with the way he's carrying me… so now he's adjusting… why is he so adorable?" she lamented, burying her face in the crook of his neck.

Well, there was always time to tell him about her discoveries. For now, since she was no longer in denial, she could enjoy being held by him and deal with the gunshot.

She felt like a pervert…

Poor oblivious Rosan just glanced back at her and smiled slightly, continuing his course until they landed a ways away from the commotion.

Banishing his wings, the redhead was about to place her down but seemed to sense her displeasure and kept her there.

She hummed in approval as they walked towards the commotion.

The duo looked curiously at the new arrival with neutral expressions.

"Who the hell is this ugly weirdo?" Rosan asked rudely, gazing at the pirate holding the gun with a raised brow.

Said pirate, immediately fell to his knees at the insult. "He called me an ugly weirdo…"

"Don't worry Boss Foxy! You're not an ugly weirdo!" A woman assured him.

Rosan perked a brow at that. "No he's definitely ugly and according to my judgement, he's a weirdo too. Look at his stupid ass hair. It looks like he has a split-head."

"I said the same thing!" a near comatose Luffy agreed, picking his head off the floor.

The man, who had regained his confidence, subsequently collapsed once more. "You really are a Devil…" Foxy muttered sadly.

The redhead snorted as he heard Robin's quiet giggles. "So judging by the fact that Luffy is comatose on the floor because of Nami, I'm guessing he accepted that Davy Back Fight challenge?"

Nami growled in irritation. "He didn't even give us a chance to react! He got goaded so easily!"

Rosan pat her head. "Don't stress it, you look like Usopp when you're so panicked."

He caught the fist aimed at his face and gazed at his navigator with a small smirk.

"I really hate you," Nami grit out.

"Get in line. At least think of something more fun to say," he snorted.

A sudden figure appeared in front of him, that caused him to gaze down to an eyeful of cleavage.

Robin's smile vanished.

"The bounty posters don't do you justice. Nice to meet you, Red Devil. I'm Porche," the girl announced, batting her eyes as she smiled up at him and held out her hand.

"Not interested," Rosan dismissed immediately. "Save your hospitality for someone who cares."

With that, the redhead turned away from the slightly stupefied woman, Robin still on his back.

"How rude…" Porche said as her confidence took a heavy blow.

"You deserve a reward," Robin muttered in his ear. She was smiling at the redhead.

He tilted his head in confusion. "Why? Did I do something special?"

"I just feel like it. You're incredibly charming when you're being you," she replied.

The redhead chuckled slightly, and gazed back at her. "You're finally being honest with yourself eh? Finally realizing the greatness of yours truly?"

Robin simply laughed slightly and rested her head on his shoulder. "You know… I think I have."

----------------------------------------

"They sure know how to make it a spectacle."

The Foxy Pirates were setting up the Davy Back fights like it were as easy as breathing. Stands, seats, the actual event… it was all done seamlessly by what may as well have been experts.

It was the most impressive thing Rosan had seen so far from this lackluster crew. He wasn't even sure he wanted to subjugate any of them.

"Impressive isn't it?" Porche crooned to the duo of Robin and Rosan. She sidled up to the redhead's right, considering Robin was on the left and smiled up at him.

Rosan side eyed her with a neutral expression. "I never did get why so many strangers speak to me like we're friends. They call me Red Devil for a reason and everyone has found out in time. You think you'll be any different?"

"Maybe~" She beamed easily.

"I warned you," the redhead said boredly.

"Are you alright? You're aggravated," Rosan reached out to Robin.

Robin couldn't even say she was surprised Rosan sensed her irritation. "Her presence annoys me."

"Is it her personality? I don't really like the bubbly attitude either. She gives me attention whore vibes."

Robin almost snorted. Rosan calling someone an attention whore, while being the star of the show was very Rosan like of him.

He really was a hypocrite in the funniest of ways.

"Something like that," she eventually replied.

"Why are you talking to me so much?" Rosan asked calmly, glowing gaze piercing into her without a hint of amusement.

Porche simply smiled. "Because you're cute of course!"

"I'm going to kill her."

"Not yet. You sound like me right now."

Rosan stared at the Foxy Pirate in disinterest. "Thanks for the compliments. Since you're saying what you think, I'll say what I think. That mask on your face looks really stupid. Don't even entertain flirting with me, as long as your fashion sense is that terrible."

Porche reeled back at that and touched her mask in shock, gazing at the redhead with wide eyes.

"Now, the event is about to start and I imagine your rather important for that," Rosan pointed out accurately.

"Oh! Right!" Porche gasped, darting off to the stage. "We'll talk more later, Rosan~!"

The duo watched her go with varying expressions.

"What made her think I wanted to keep talking?" He muttered in confusion.

"I don't know but if she keeps trying, I won't be able to resist breaking her bones," Robin replied with a narrowed gaze.

An abrupt snort from Rosan, made her gaze finally leave the departing woman and she gazed at the redhead.

Amusement was shining clear in his eyes, as he said, "I knew you were as possessive as me."

She opened her mouth to protest… and abruptly shut it as horror washed over her.

"Kahaha! You realized!" Rosan cackled, pulling her in a side hug. "Don't worry about it. Since I know your just as possessive as me, I'll take necessary steps to not illicit homicidal tendencies from you."

"I'm… not…" Robin tried to say but her words died in her throat.

Was she… Oh no… Didn't she tell everyone else she was already?!

"I'm not as bad as you," she decided eventually.

"For now," he chimed.

She let out a tired sigh and just allowed the redhead to hold her, as they watched the Davy Back Fight begin.

After a declaration from both Luffy and Foxy, the games began immediately.

"Who do you think the Foxy Pirates want the most? Who do we want the most?" Mod asked gently.

"They want Chopper the most," Rosan grunted. "Me, Chopper, Robin. That's who they want based on their eyes. As for us… we don't really want any of them. Perhaps I can pull some strings to subjugate them."

A crew this large, while useless, could be good fodder… Maybe. He wasn't impressed by any of them.

"You, Chopper and I… That doesn't bode well," Robin mused.

"That's why we'll win. Clean sweep."

She smiled and prepared for the games to begin.

The Straw Hats were given a sheet of paper to decide who was going to participate in which event. Due to their lack of numbers, they were given some leeway and were allowed to submit multiple members for a round, but it seemed like he was free to interfere unless given the instruction otherwise.

Sounded simple enough.

It was time to show these idiots just how outclassed they were.

The teams were set up like such for the Straw Hats.

Round 1: Donut Race

Participants: Nami, Usopp, Chopper

Round 2: Run Roller Round

Participants: Sanji, Luffy, Rosan

Round 3: Groggy Ring

Participants: Rosan, Robin, Zoro

With that settled, the contest was quickly brought underway with Round 1.

"So we have to use three barrels to make one boat?" Rosan mused, tilting his head to the side. "Seems simple enough. Bring me the barrels."

"SIMPLE?! YOU'RE UP AGAINST THE FOXY PIRATES SHIPWRIGHTS WITH NONE OF YOUR OWN!" Foxy bragged confidently.

The redhead rolled his eyes. "A little raft is easy. I know a thing or two."

The Donut Race was simple. Using the given equipment, the participants had to make a boat using just what they had and lap around the island once.

It was almost dreadful how easy they were making this for Rosan.

For a crew without a shipwright, this should be completely painful for them.

Luckily for the Straw Hats, their scout had been maintaining a ship for years.

"Hey, make sure you're watching so you don't accuse us of breaking the rules," Rosan called out to them, once they brought the required barrels.

The Straw Hats grinned eagerly at their scout.

"But of course! We're keeping a close eye on you all!" The announcer, Itomimizu informed them.

"Good."

Rosan hummed as his eyes began glowing brighter and he extended a hand.

All the Foxy Pirates watched with slack jaws, as the redhead broke and began rearranging every barrel, rotating the mass of splintered wood in a fascinating display, until it began combining like a puzzle.

Once he finished, he dropped his creation gently on the ground and smirked.

Everyone stared at the finished product with bugged eyes.

"U-Uh..."

The advanced, sleek raft gleamed in the sun and Rosan grabbed the two paddles, gently placing them on the ship (not like they needed it) with a smug aura.

"Done," he said calmly. "We're ready."

The Straw Hats felt a well of satisfaction, at seeing the open mouthed disbelief of the Foxy Pirates and glanced at their scout in appreciation.

Sure he may have tormented them... but Rosan would always make himself, and by extension them, look good in the eyes of other people.

What a showoff.

"Just wait until the round starts. We're deleting all their morale from the jump," Rosan said, smirking confidently.

"W-Well! It appears that both teams are ready! Let's not waste anymore time!" The announcer called.

It took them a few more minutes to get the boats situated and once they did, the event began.

The announcer grabbed his mic, all signs of nervousness gone as he introduced the two groups.

"WELCOME TO THE FOXYYYY GAMES! LET'S NOT WASTE ANY TIME AND GET RIGHT INTO OUR EVENT, THE DONUT RACE!" Itomimizu announced atop his flying bird.

The crowd roared loudly at that.

"FOXY! FOXY! FOXY! FOXY!"

"What a convenient crowd," Sanji scoffed at the pirates.

"Representing the Foxy Pirates and led by our idol, we have Team Porche riding on the Cutie Wagon! She is accompanied by the Fishman Capote and our Tiger Shark, Monda!"

Porche waved at the screaming crowd and winked at Rosan, sending out kisses in every direction (but mostly his) and grinning as they roared louder.

Rosan's eyes sparked maliciously, as he made a realization.

"And representing the Straw Hat Pirates, we have Team Nami, riding the Mini Black Rose! She is accompanied by Usopp and the adorable Chopper!"

"Their shark is controlling the ship," Nami muttered in annoyance.

"Isn't that cheating?" Chopper whispered.

"Can't complain about cheating," Usopp lamented. "I'm sure Rosan helped our ship out so let's win this!"

"Don't worry. I'll carry us to victory!" Nami assured, eyes glinting madly as she pieced together Clima.

"Win? We've never once lost the Donut Race and you think you can win?!" Porche laughed. "Say goodbye to one of your crew members!"

"We'll see about that," Nami snorted, glaring heatedly at the arrogant girl.

"Ready, set, GO!"

The two ships rocketed off but that wasn't all...

Almost as soon as the race started, a plethora of pirates apart of Foxy's crew began firing at the Straw Hat's ship.

"Right off the gates, the Foxy Pirates begin their bombardment!"

Rosan snorted. "Expected," he said, turning towards the members holding the cannons, pistols and other various firearms.

His crafted raft, was neck and neck with the swimming shark but there wouldn't be much they could do to dodge the incoming fire.

"H-HEY!" Usopp squealed as a cannon came dangerously close to hitting them.

"So this is how they cheat," Nami growled, grabbing Clima. "Two can play at that game!"

Activating the Iron Dial (she really did love Rosan) Nami began blocking all the projectiles coming her way with the solid cloud and grinned as they battered her impressive defenses.

Without any hesitation, the navigator grinned maliciously and removed a piece of Clima, before placing it in her other hand.

The lone piece began sparking red and she aimed at the waters near their opponents and let loose a moderate amount of electricity.

"Careful, the waters ahead are sharp," Nami said cheekily.

"Lightning Bolt!"

Porche watched in shock, as Monda was immediately fried to the point of unconsciousness and their ship abruptly stopped.

"M-Monda!" She called in surprise, glaring at the grinning navigator.

"If you don't mind, we'll be taking our lead now," Nami waved as she pointed the same piece of Clima behind her.

"Thank you, Rosan~! You're the best!" She grinned, generating a strong force of wind that propelled their ship even further ahead.

"Nothing for me?" Clima sounded offended.

"Nope!"

"How cruel..."

"When did Nami become so scary?" Usopp whispered in awe, watching her manhandle everything with ease.

He had been about to begin firing his pellets in retaliation, but for now, he'd uh... keep his cards close and let Nami handle it.

"She's always been scary," Chopper shivered.

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" Nami barked at the two, successfully cowing them.

"I-Incredible! That witch with a foul personality is handling everything on her own!" The announcer balked nervously.

"I CAN REACH YOU UP THERE!" Nami roared to the man on top of the bird.

"She talks rough too!"

She snarled but shook her head, glancing over at the pirates who had stopped shooting at her.

The reason was made clear, as Sanji continuously kicked one of the unconscious bodies with shark teeth, saying "How dare you shoot at Nami-san like that!" all the while.

Rosan, who looked as if he was about to interfere, simply sat back down and shot a proud smile at Nami.

She did not flush in happiness. She hated Rosan. No way was she happy that he was proud of her showing!

"ALRIGHT! LET'S WIN!" She shouted, pumping her fist.

"Why are you suddenly so excited?" Usopp sweatdropped.

The sound of another ship approaching made them look back and they saw that the fishman, Capote, was pushing Porche's raft while she desperately tried to wake up Monda, to some success.

The Shark let out a whine as it awoke, snapping fully awake as Porche plopped a fish in its mouth.

"I should have put more power into it but I didn't wanna kill the fish," Nami grumbled.

Porche growled at them. "You… how dare you attack us as soon as the race starts!"

"Ironic coming from you!" Nami snarled.

"BOSS! DO SOMETHING!" She shouted.

Foxy was already on it. The Pirate Captain shouted, "Smoke bomb!" and threw it at them.

"Fefefefe! Go Porche! Overtake them—"

Foxy, who was on top of Hamburg, blinked as he was tipped over by a foot and launched into the ocean.

"Take a swim, split-head," Rosan said calmly.

Foxy curled into himself in depression. "H-He called me a split-head."

The captain splashed into the water.

"O-OH NO! BOSS!" Porche screeched. "SOMEONE SAVE HIM!"

Hamburg launched himself into the water in a panic, vanishing beneath the waves as Rosan snorted to himself.

"Idiots," he said, amusement in his gaze as he put his sneaker back down.

Nami growled in irritation as the smoke blurred her vision and she coughed as she inhaled it.

"Clima, give me some wind to clear out the smoke."

"Right."

The staff began generating strong gusts of winds and soon, the giant smoke dissipated just in time for them to see their next obstacle.

A giant coral reef stared back at them and Nami glanced at the waves in slight confusion.

There was something wrong with these waves…

"Chopper, Usopp. Wait," the navigator held out a hand, gazing at them in contemplation.

"W-Wait? But why?! They're gonna catch up to us!" Usopp shouted in confusion with Chopper nodding right next to him.

True to the sniper's words, Porche and her team finally caught up with victorious grins on their faces but the navigator paid them no mind.

"We'll be taking the lead now!" She shouted, running headfirst into the coral reef.

"Look! Nami what are you doing?!" Usopp asked in panic.

What was the point of staying here like this?! Did Nami inherit Rosan's arrogance and want to win even after they took a lead?

Those Foxy guys were gonna win the race now! They needed to go quick!

Nami ignored them as her mind began running and a light bulb finally went off, as Porche's ship appeared right where it started.

"Chopper, Usopp. Row to the left!" She ordered.

The two were just as confused as Porche's team but they listened to Nami's orders and began paddling to the left, as their ship sailed forward.

Their jaw dropped at not being pushed out like the previous ship and they looked at their navigator in awe.

"Why are we sailing through?" Chopper asked in shock.

"This is a current maze. There's a whirlpool on the other side creating smaller whirlpools inside of it. If we take the right path, it'll take us right out but if we don't we'll get pushed back like those idiots," she explained.

"That's our navigator!" Usopp praised, laughing at her genius mind.

Chopper began laughing too until he made a realization. "Wait… did you just say there's a whirlpool on the other side?"

Usopp stopped laughing immediately and went pale. "AHHHH WE'RE GONNA DIE! ROSAN HELP!" He screamed.

A fist to the skull shut him up. "Idiot! We don't need Rosan for this… I've got this," Nami said confidently.

"We got this right, Clima?"

"Yes. We do. Just do what you plan on doing. I'll make it smoother."

Perfect. They didn't need to have their scout reveal even more of his cards. He had done plenty already.

"Woah! Navigator Nami and her team have made it through the reef maze! But their joy will be short lived because a Long Ring Whirlpool has shown up!"

Nami took a deep breath as they burst out of the reef and immediately set her plan into motion.

Billowing iron clouds began pouring out of one end of Clima, forming a ramp as a gust of wind burst out the other end, speeding up their ship more and more.

The ship began ascending the ramp that was hanging over the deadly whirlpool, boosted by the great bursts of wind she was currently using and sending them flying through the air.

"W-WOAH!" Chopper squealed excitedly as the ship began soaring through the air from the momentum.

This was amazing!

"YOU'RE AWESOME, NAMI!" Usopp praised in excitement as they soared further and further.

Nami puffed up at that and grinned wildly.

The new additions to Clima were proving to be more useful then she could ever imagine and she couldn't wait until she practiced more with it.

The Iron Cloud served as an incredible wall for her lacking defense, and the addition of Rosan's lightning and the wind of the Jet Dial, had bolstered up her offense too!

She wasn't anywhere near the levels of the true monsters of her crew, but in terms of offensive ability she was getting damn close!

They landed on the water, just in time to see Hamburg and a soaked Foxy.

The split-head was panting in exhaustion, but still had the energy to smirk victoriously at them.

"Captain Foxy is back in action after that dreadful dive!"

"Behold! My next trick!" Foxy announced, pointing a hand at them. "Now you lose for sure—"

A foot rested itself slowly on his back and the captain froze in horror.

Mechanically, the pirate slowly turned his head back to find that demonic redhead smirking at him once more, having somehow made it to his location at ridiculous speeds.

"I don't think you got enough. Take another swim," Rosan suggested, smiling charmingly at the man.

With that, he kicked the pirate once more.

"OH NO! BOSS FOXY!"

"YOU DAMNED HANDSOME REDHEAD!" Foxy shouted as he plunged once more in the water.

Rosan's eyes simply glinted maliciously, as Hamburg dove once more in the ocean to save the Captain.

"Alright, finish up the race. I've decided who we're taking," the redhead informed the beaming three.

"Right!" They shouted in curiosity.

Who exactly did he want?

Well, they were about to figure out in a bit, because even with Capote and Monda combining in some weird duo move, they weren't able to surpass the enhanced ship that Rosan molded and without anyone else interfering, it was a free win!

"I can't believe it! The Foxy Pirates… Have lost?!" Itomimizu gasped.

"Alright! No sweat!" Nami beamed, giving a high-five to Chopper, Usopp and Rosan.

The redhead nodded in approval. "Good job you three. I barely had to do a thing. And they call you the weakling trio."

The three fell a bit at that.

Weakling... trio? People were calling them that?

"W-Who calls us that?" Usopp asked.

"...Me," the redhead admitted.

They fell again.

"You're such an ass," Nami muttered.

"Where's everyone else?" Chopper asked in curiosity.

They watched Rosan close his eyes in annoyance and he pointed in a direction.

They soon understood why.

Luffy was having a gourmet meal, eating everything he could get his hands on as the Foxy Pirates, who had been previously cheering him in hopes of distracting him, looked on in horror at the results of the match.

Zoro was enjoying booze with a group of the enemy pirates, who had been drinking too... up until they lost the round.

Sanji was surrounded by a group of cute girls, who all had looks of disbelief at the loss.

Robin was reading a book. She was the only one looking at them and when she saw their incredulous look, she said, "What? Rosan had it handled so I thought I'd just read a book in the meantime… I've been trying to finish this one for ages."

The cowardly trio fell even further.

"A group of girls must have thought I was similar to Sanji and they tried to distract me... but I just ignored them," Rosan added in annoyance, much to their sympathy.

What weird timeline were they in… where they sympathized with Rosan of all people?!

----------------------------------------

"We… lost?" Foxy balked.

This… this was not according to plan at all. They didn't expect that damn navigator to be so skilled!

Oh no…

"Woohoo! We won!" A bruised and battered Luffy cheered.

"Excellent job, Nami-san!" A bruised and battered Sanji praised.

"…" A bruised and battered Zoro said nothing.

"You're lucky I love you, Robin… and that Rosan is your bodyguard," Nami said, shaking her fist.

Robin, who was resting on Rosan's back (not as a safety measure… certainly not), simply smiled at their navigator.

"I'll get her later," Rosan assured, getting a grin from Nami.

Robin's smile vanished and she glared at the back of Rosan's head.

The Foxy Pirates had an aura of dread around them, that contrasted the Straw Hats good mood drastically.

"So who do we want?" Luffy asked curiously, scratching his head.

None of these dudes looked really interesting at all...

Nami perked up at that. "Rosan, you said you want someone, right?"

The redhead nodded. "I'm picking. Any problems?"

No one had any so he stepped up to regard the massive crew.

Despite gauging all their reactions, Rosan had already decided on which one he wanted from the moment the first game started.

The redhead walked up to his target and gazed down at them with a neutral expression.

His target looked up in disbelief, glancing back and forth wildly before realizing his gaze had never left their person.

"Why are you so confused? I've chosen you, so come on now Porche," he said with a cocky grin.

The distraught blue haired girl blinked in confusion, jaw dropping at his decision.

"M-Me?!" She balked, not believing that she was actually chosen.

"GREAT DECISION ROSAN!" Sanji swooned, shooting the redhead a thumbs up.

Robin was not even remotely as pleased as the chef was. She blinked in confusion and asked, "Rosan… what do you think you're doing?"

Was he actually entertaining this woman's blatant flirting despite what he said earlier? Was he serious right now? What the hell was he thinkin—

"Look at their crew," Rosan responded.

She stamped down her anger and reluctantly listened to his demand.

"NOOO PORCHE! YOU BASTARD!" Someone sobbed.

"NOT OUR IDOL!"

"PORCHE COME BACK!"

"MEN! ENOUGH!"

That was Foxy and all the despairing pirates, glanced over at the Fox like man whose eyes were shadowed.

"You know the rules of the Davy Back Fight. Porche is no longer apart of the crew so quit crying for her," he said gravely.

The split-head looked serious for a moment as he gazed at the cool expression of the Red Devil.

"So that's your game, eh? Two can play at that," Foxy thought, concurring up a plan.

He would soon come to realize how foolish he was to do that.

Robin understood immediately and she cursed herself for getting… jealous of all things. "You did this to destroy their morale."

"When I want to win, I make sure its absolute. Please bare with it for a moment."

The Devil Child couldn't keep the smile off her face and she nodded. "I understand. Sorry for overreacting."

"Don't sweat it. You already made it clear you didn't like this girl so it was perfectly normal."

The scout glanced down at their new crewmate with a bored expression.

"Take that stupid mask off your face. You aren't a Foxy Pirate anymore," Rosan said loudly, making sure the dejected losers could hear him.

Porche hesitated but rules were rules and so, she removed the fox mask from her face.

"Good, now let's start the next game," Rosan muttered, turning away from them and walking off.

Porche glanced back at her crew before quickly following after the redhead.

"You're crafty, Rosan," Nami praised, gauging his intentions immediately.

She just hoped Robin didn't get too annoyed, considering Porche had been blatantly interested in the redhead.

"Hm. I wish they offered things besides crew members. All of them are useless," Rosan grunted.

"T-They aren't bad!" Porche spoke up, defending her crew.

The redhead didn't even spare her a glance. "Whatever you say. I doubt they're gonna win you back so get comfortable."

She bit her lip at his unwavering confidence. On one hand, she thought it was super hot how sure of himself he was but on the other… this was her former crew!

"Tell us about the next event," Rosan demanded, finally deigning to look at her.

She flinched at his order but this was her crew now so she'd tell him what it entailed.

Porche sighed…

At least this was a pretty cool crew. 400 million as a collective bounty was no joke...

Maybe they made a mistake dueling them.

----------------------------------------

The second event was the Run Roller Round.

Both teams were assigned a Point Getter and the Point Getter's goal was to skate around the field as much times as possible, within the 5 minutes they were designated as the Point Getter.

After the first 20 seconds of skating, the other Point Getter's could skate as well to either help out the designated Point Getter, or sabotage the enemy team.

Whoever got the most points, won and after the 5 minutes, another person would become the designated Point Getter.

It was a best of 3 basically. Whoever got two wins would win the entire event.

Rosan hummed as Robin adjusted his yellow jersey. It was short, looking akin to a crop top and it had the number 4 on his.

"What an ugly jersey," he grunted. It was ruining his entire outfit.

"It's fine. Only 15 minutes and you can take it off," Robin assured. "You picked Porche for more then just destroying their morale, right?"

Rosan smirked at her. "Yeah. If we somehow lose… then they'll want their idol back so this is a bit of a freebie round for us."

This would give him a good idea of what they could do. It wouldn't be the end of the world if they lost, but he'd rather they didn't.

She nodded at his thinking, impressed by the foresight.

"WILL BOTH TEAMS PLEASE MAKE THEIR WAY TO THE FIELDS!"

Rosan, Luffy and Sanji stepped onto the field at the same time as the Foxy Pirates and he gazed at them.

A cheetah, Foxy himself and some slow looking mini giant.

"ALRIGHT! THE COACH AND THE MANAGER CAN NOW BEGIN PLANNING!"

Nami, their coach, and Robin, the manager, gazed at the three runners with a contemplative expression on their face.

Porche watched curiously as the Straw Hats discussed. She chanced a glance over at the Foxy Pirates and wondered what they had planned.

It was rare for her to not be in this event but luck was on their side because they actually didn't include her.

No, her contribution would have been to help them cheat on the sidelines...

"What's the plan?" Usopp muttered a little nervously.

Rosan smiled slightly. "Porche, who will they select in each round?" He asked quietly.

She blanched at the question as everyone looked at her with unsavory gleams in their eyes.

"T-They're so underhanded!" She thought in disbelief.

"N-Normally they select me to run first round but since that's out of the question… I think to boost morale they'll start with Chiqicheetah," she answered truthfully.

Porche already swore loyalty to them. It would be shameful if she lied...

And something told her bad things would happen if she did.

"Hm…" Robin cupped her chin. "Rosan, do you think you can beat him? He's a cheetah so he is likely quick but if we beat him, this event could be over from the start."

Nami nodded at her words. "It would be a real blow if their heaviest hitter lost."

"Then I'll win," Rosan said matter of factly. "Put me at round 1."

They grinned at his confidence and looked back over at the former Foxy Pirate.

"Who next. What's up with that big guy? He doesn't look very fast," Rosan said, crossing his arms as he stared her down.

"He's really going to make me expose everything!" Porche thought in disbelief. "Well… he's not very fast at all," she admitted.

"We like to use Mashikaku as our wall and when its his time to race, I use my hypnotic abilities to put everyone in a trance for the 5 minutes… once the time is up, they run no laps and he runs enough to win the round."

Rosan's malicious smirk appeared. "I suppose it's a good thing we took you. You're quite pivotal to their cheating."

She said nothing, glancing away from the handsome man who was looking down on her.

"He'll probably run last… so Boss— I mean Foxy, will run second," she informed them.

"Luffy third should be fine," Robin instructed after some thinking. "Sanji should race second then."

Nami nodded at that and quickly jotted them down before handing them off to the Super Sparrow, Chuchun. "What will you do about the cheetah?"

Rosan let loose a low laughter that made them shudder.

"If it was normally a foot race, I'd just beat him but we're on skates so I'll have a bit of fun."

With that, the redhead made his way to the starting line at the same time as the cheetah.

"You know them well, Porche-chan!" Sanji praised Porche as they saw her first prediction come to fruition.

"Of course I do! I'm one of the beginning members of the Foxy Pirate," she replied.

"BOTH RACERS ARE SET! REPRESENTING THE STRAW HATS, WE HAVE THE 100 MILLION STARTING BOUNTY HIMSELF, THE RED DEVIL, ROSAN!"

"I fucking hate that title," Rosan said to himself, testing his skates with a calm expression.

"I doubt the Marines are going to accommodate your request to change it," Mod said, amusement seeping into her tone.

"Maybe if I reveal I'm Reaper, they'll change it back to Angel of Death…" He muttered.

He glanced over at the cheetah next to him and raised a brow as he saw the half animal… licking his fur.

Weirdo. This was why he thought Zoans were weirdos... what the hell was this? Why was he so deep in his own immersion, that he was licking his own fur?

"Round 1 of the Run Roller Round! BEGIN!"

Rosan rocketed off on his skates at a leisure pace and his eyes narrowed, as he saw the cheetah blur forward.

"Hoh?" He thought, tensing his legs as red sparks began dancing around his skin.

Everyone's eyes bugged, as the redhead dented the floor with a new surge of speed and quickly caught up with the cheetah.

"You're pretty fast," Rosan complimented, as he raced neck and neck with the hybrid cheetah. "But you just rely on your Devil Fruit. If you actually trained, you could be way faster."

If not for the skates, Rosan would have left this cheetah in the dust. He was already faster then a cheetah.

The lightning was rather overkill, but well... he had been a little power drunk ever since unlocking it and he wanted to train more with an ability that was natural to Modification.

Well, that applied to wind as well. He was seriously having a lot of fun with his new elements.

The cheetah growled, as the confident redhead suddenly took the lead and pushed himself to go faster.

That growl turned into a snarl, as Rosan began skating backwards to smirk at him in a demeaning manner.

"He's such a prick," Nami sighed, shaking her head at the showboating redhead who was keeping a comfortable lead.

"I didn't even know he could skate so well," Robin mentioned. "He was very clumsy as a child and we tried skating together once. He cried because he fell on his butt too many times while I didn't fall once."

"...That is the cutest thing I've heard today," Nami said calmly.

"It was so cute! After I saw him crying, I let him hold onto me for the rest of the time and he refused to let me go... so I skated for the both of us," she smiled fondly.

"Kami, what an endearing little child he must have been and you sounded so adorable too," the navigator sighed.

Seriously, they needed to watch the memories of little Rosan, he sounded way too cute.

"U-Um guys?" Usopp said shakily, white in disbelief. "I think we have a bit of a problem."

The Straw Hats took their gaze off of their scout, to look at where Usopp was pointing at and they went pale in horror.

"By the way Rosan... Does Luffy know how to skate?" Mod asked curiously.

Rosan's mind grounded to a halt at that question.

Did he… Wait, did Rosan actually skip over such a minute detail?

Wait… Did Luffy know how to skate?

The redhead turned the correct way again, considering he was about to finish his lap and what he saw, made him curse aloud.

"You've gotta be goddamn kidding me," he groaned.

Sanji, who looked on in disbelief, was trying to steady his little brother… who was struggling to just stand.

"I'm guessing he doesn't…" Mod said sheepishly.

"He said he wanted to do this one! How was I supposed to know he couldn't skate?!" Rosan growled in shock.

"Because you've been raising him like a son for 10 years. If you haven't taught him, it's likely he doesn't know," Mod said, struggling to not laugh.

As he finished a lap, the redhead stopped in front of the two and said, "Luffy you dumbass, why did you say you wanted to skate if you don't know how to skate?!"

He ignored the cheetah racing past him in favor of glaring at his youngest brother.

"I thought it would be easy!" Luffy complained. The rubber boy tried to push himself up and fell flat on his ass again.

Rosan's eyes narrowed. "Sanji, focus on winning your race while I teach this moron how to skate. Can you handle that?"

The tired chef nodded his head. "You need to focus on winning your race to. The Cheetah made good distance."

Rosan sneered as he watched the distance put between him and the cheetah who had transformed into his full zoan. "I've already won."

"THE 20 SECONDS HAVE PASSED! SUPPORT IS ABLE TO HELP NOW!"

Foxy grinned to himself. As soon as the redhead started moving, he'd use his ability to slow him down!

Sanji raised a brow. "You did?"

Rosan's body began sparking dangerously.

"Yeah I did. Don't move ahead of me."

Rosan held out a single hand, aiming at the cheetah's back with a sinister gleam.

"EMP: Thunder."

Foxy blinked dumbly. "Huh?"

Chiqicheetah ran on all fours as he snickered to himself.

Stupid cocky redhead. Stopping against him? The Speedster? He'd make him regret that—

BOOM.

The Foxy Pirate had absolutely no time to react, as a giant beam of sparking red electricity, ran him over with speeds none could react to.

He seized up and shuddered, before his eyes rolled to the back of his head.

"Gust."

A strong gale lifted the unconscious cheetah up, before tossing him over the rink without any remorse, immediately ringing him out.

...

"W-WHAT?! CHIQICHEETAH HAS BEEN BLOWN OFF COURSE DUE TO A FREAK WIND! AS A RESULT, THE WINNER OF THE FIRST ROUND IS THE RED DEVIL, ROSAN!"

"You are terrifying," Sanji muttered, as the sparks died down from Rosan's glowing body.

Everyone was gazing at the redhead, who had let out that massive beam of electricity, in blatant terror.

All they saw, was the Red Devil hold a single hand up before being blinded and deafened by the clap of thunder.

"D-Demon..." they thought.

Foxy blinked rapidly in shock as the race ended almost as soon as it started, glancing back and forth rapidly at where Chiqicheetah and Rosan were.

What... just happened?

"Let's end this next round. I'll make sure the other dudes don't interfere so just skate," Rosan muttered, hoisting Luffy up with a glare.

"Only this dumbass would make me have an oversight on something... C'mere. By the time I'm done with you, you'll be half decent at skating or you'll be a vegetarian," he promised.

Luffy turned pale in horror and began nodding rapidly at the threat of no meat.

Sanji stepped up next to Foxy with a sigh as he focused on winning his round.

If he won, there would be no need for a third race so he'd just win.

"ROUND 2 BEGINS WITH OUR GLORIOUS CAPTAIN FOXY AND THE PERVERTED CHEF SANJI!"

"TRY TO SOUND AT LEAST A LITTLE UNBIASED!" Sanji roared at the announcer.

"ALL THE STRAW HATS HAVE SUCH ROUGH PERSONALITIES!"

Sanji shook his head in annoyance and focused ahead.

"ROUND 2. BEGIN!"

The two shot off at the sound of the buzzer.

"Fefefefe! Behold, the dashing racer, Foxy!" The captain preened, despite Sanji taking an early lead.

"Shut up. No one cares what you have to say!" Sanji barked, focusing on maintaining his lead.

"N-No one cares?" Foxy asked himself, faltering as a depressive streak hit him once more.

The chef just shook his head and increased the lead, using his strong legs to make amazing progress.

"WE ALL CARE BOSS FOXY!" The crowd shouted in hopes of making him feel better.

Foxy perked up at that. "RIGHT! NOW IT'S TIME FOR ME TO WIN THIS!"

The pirate held out a hand at Sanji and grinned. "Noro Noro—,"

"The 20 seconds are up! Other racers may now interfere in the battle!"

Foxy never got to finish his sentence because right as he was about to fire off his attack, a stone wall arose in front of him and he crashed right into it.

"BOSS FOXY!" Everyone shouted in disbelief as the man fell back.

Sanji glanced back at the commotion and saw the stone wall, causing him to look over at where Rosan and Luffy were.

The redhead hadn't even glanced up, as he continuously instructed Luffy about everything he needed to know about skating. It was clear he had summoned the wall to knock Foxy unconscious, but their scout didn't look none the wiser.

"Seriously, he has such a cheating fruit," Sanji snorted, skating past the entire ring.

As he skated past Rosan and Luffy, he heard the redhead say, "You're made of rubber, how the hell can't you bend properly?" and couldn't hold back another snort.

Well, with Foxy unconscious, this race was as good as over. He just needed to finish a couple more laps to cement it—

"HELP! A GIRL IS DROWNING IN THE WATER OVER THERE AND A SHARKS ABOUT TO GET HER!" Someone shouted in a panic.

"HELP ME! PLEASE, I CAN'T SWIM!" A woman screamed in fear.

"That's oddly convenient," Nami muttered with a roll of her eyes, utterly unfazed by the ruse.

Who was that supposed to work on? Rosan didn't even think to look up at that scream, still instructing Luffy on what to do to quite a bit of success. The rubber boy was at least able to stand it looked like.

Seriously, these dudes and their cheap trick—

Wait a second.

"SANJI! WAIT!" Nami shouted but it was too late.

Rosan's eyes snapped up as he heard Nami's yell of desperation and he turned wild eyes towards Sanji.

Before he could summon a wall to knock the idiot unconscious too, it was already over.

The chef froze at the scream for help and without even thinking about it, he made a beeline for the ocean, leaping clean over the railing.

He dove in the water the moment he saw the girl flailing helplessly with a fin circling her and fished her out of the water.

"My hero!" She crooned, wrapping her arms around his neck and nuzzling him.

The chef's eyes turned to hearts and he said, "Of course! How could I ever let a poor lady like yourself drow—"

A weak bolt of red lightning hit the soaked chef and the woman he was holding, making them both seize up with shrieks that knocked the girl he just saved, unconscious.

Despite being incredibly weak, they were still wet and the chef glared up at Rosan, expression fading at the thunderous expression on both his and Nami's face.

"You absolute dumbass," they snarled, red sparks flying off the redhead and Clima once more.

"How could you fall for such a low effort trick?!" Nami barked.

"Do you only think with your dick, you stupid chef?" Rosan growled.

"Anyone coulda told you that. Wiggle any half decent looking chick and the dumbass cook is duped," Zoro snorted, shaking his head.

"W-What are you guys talking about?!" Sanji asked in confusion, recovering from being shocked by… Was it Nami or Rosan?

Maybe it was Nami... she was at least nice enough to limit the power behind the attack... Sanji was sure Rosan would have fried him and the weak woman with no remorse.

"Look at the "shark" that had you so worried," Nami growled.

Sanji turned around and saw that the shark in question… was the same shark that the crew had raced against in the first round.

...Huh?

"AS A RESULT OF GOING OUT OF BOUNDS, SANJI HAS BEEN DISQUALIFIED! THE WINNER OF THE MATCH, IS BOSS FOXY!"

"YEAHHHH GET EM FOXY!" The crowd roared.

Sanji glanced down at the girl who had been shocked unconscious and saw that she was wearing the Foxy Pirate getup.

"...Shit," the chef cursed sheepishly.

"I'm actually racing with two dumbasses," Rosan said, holding his head.

This was unreal. Luffy he expected this from. Usopp too. Hell, Chopper was innocent and naive so he expected this out of him too… but Sanji?

Actually, why was he shocked that the perverted chef who would bend over backwards to get a smile from a girl... was getting tricked by a girl?

Goddamnit.

"I shoulda picked Robin. Why didn't I pick Robin?" He asked himself, turning away from the sheepish chef. "Why didn't I pick my genius best friend who wouldn't fall for such a stupid fucking trick? We already make a fantastic duo. She skates better than me. What what I thinking?"

Oh he wasn't thinking... because his goddamn adorable little brother wanted to skate and Luffy was spoiled rotten and Sanji was one of the fastest in the crew.

"Your competitiveness is showing right now."

"Bite me, mother."

Rosan took a deep breath and turned towards his younger brother. "Okay, Luffy. I just need you to skate for 20 seconds. Can you do that for me?" He asked calmly.

"Yeah!" Luffy beamed.

"Good. After 20 seconds, I'll win you the race," Rosan assured.

"ROUND 3! THE CAPTAIN OF THE STRAW HATS HIMSELF, THE MAN WORTH 140 MILLION! STRAW HAT LUFFY! HE'LL BE GOING AGAINST OUR VERY OWN MASHIKAKU!"

Robin put a hand on the redhead's shoulder. "It's fine. You at least taught him enough to last 20 seconds. The moment you can help, just push that giant man off stage."

"That's the plan," Rosan grunted, analyzing the field.

The cheetah was fully incapacitated. Foxy was unconscious. This was perfectly fine.

"Wait. I didn't teach him how to turn," the redhead cursed.

"20 seconds, Rosan," Robin assured, pushing the scout towards the field.

The redhead nodded and watched as the final two competitors got ready to go.

"ROUND 3! BEGIN!"

Luffy, after a bit of struggle, shot off in a straight line, managing to keep himself upright the entire time.

Mashikaku… began trudging very slowly, not even moving at walking speeds.

"Just keep him on track and make him finish 2 laps. Then we win," Rosan muttered, eyes already glowing in preparation as the 20 seconds nearly reached the end.

"NORO NORO BEAM!"

"Noro Noro what?" he thought in confusion, glancing back just in time to see the supposedly unconscious Foxy, aiming a pinkish beam at him.

The redhead was so focused on making sure his brother didn't crash, that he didn't even register the Foxy Pirates captain and so, the attack struck true.

"FINALLY! BEHOLD MY NORO NORO ABILITIES! EVERYTHING THIS BEAM TOUCHES, SLOWS DOWN FOR 30 SECONDS!" Foxy, who was sporting a bloody nose, laughed. "I'VE BEEN TRYING TO USE IT THIS WHOLE TIME BUT FINALLY YOU'RE NOT HERE TO STOP ME!"

Rosan couldn't even react, considering he was caught by the ability.

"Oh no," Nami said in horror, watching as their scout remained completely stationary.

"We've been out cheated," Robin muttered. That was not good at all. Looks like they lost this round...

"FEFEFEFE! NOW…" Foxy looked over at Luffy and grinned at seeing the rubber boy crash through a wall due to not being able to turn.

"W-Woah!" Luffy yelped, shooting out his hand to grab the gate to try and save himself.

It was not to be however because Foxy himself, cheekily loosened the captain's grip and made him fall out of bounds.

"GENIUS THINKING FROM BOSS FOXY HIMSELF! DUE TO STRAW HAT NO LONGER BEING ON THE COURSE, HE HAS LOST! THE WINNER OF THE RUN ROLLER ROUND, IS THE FOXY PIRATES!"

"YEAHHHHHHHHH!" The roar of the pirate crew was deafening.

Rosan let out a sigh as the effects of Foxy's Devil Fruit wore off and he closed his eyes.

"He got me," the redhead conceded. It was sloppy of him to not account the man's Devil Fruit but he was confident that no matter what it was, he'd be able to win regardless.

Seems like his arrogant nature came to bite him.

Wouldn't be the first time.

"Damn it," Nami cursed with a frown. "Guess no clean sweep huh?"

"Guess not," Rosan shrugged. "It's unfortunate but these things happen."

Robin placed a hand on his shoulder. "You did good… and honestly, I expected you to be even angrier. You hate losing after all."

"...Don't remind me," Rosan grunted. "But it's fine. This round doesn't hold that much value… they'll just take Porche back and we don't lose anything important."

"I'm right here," Porche deadpanned at his rather cruel statement. She was over the moon that the Foxy Pirates won. They were her true pirate crew after all and even if she swore loyalty to the Straw Hats, her loyalty still lie with them—

"FOR WINNING THE SECOND ROUND, I FOXY PICK THIS PERSON TO JOIN OUR CREW. COME, NICO ROBIN!" Foxy shouted in victory.

Porche blanched.

"Huh?"

----------------------------------------

…

Robin stopped in disbelief, stunned by what she just heard.

Did she… Did she hear that correctly?

She was picked?

"W-What?!" Nami balked in horror.

"AHHHHHHHH! NOT ROBIN!" Chopper squealed in horror.

"AHHHHHH DON'T GO ROBIN!" Usopp sobbed.

"…" Zoro said nothing, frown on his face.

"I… really messed up," Sanji said in disbelief.

"This didn't go according to plan now did it?" she mused through the connection.

…

Robin looked up in confusion.

"Rosan?"

The Devil Child suddenly gained a nervous expression.

"FEFEFEFE! TWO CAN PLAY AT THAT GAME, RED DEVIL! YOU TOOK PORCHE BECAUSE SHE WAS IMPORTANT TO US SO WE RETURNED THE FAVOR TO YOU!" Foxy laughed hysterically.

He then turned towards his former crewmate with a confident grin.

"Don't worry Porche, not only did me choosing Nico Robin reduce their morale, they are now missing one member for the next game! We'll get you back for sure!"

Porche didn't respond. Her face was white in terror and she slowly began to back away from whatever she was looking at.

"Porche?" Foxy called in confusion.

Everyone froze as an intense pressure washed over them and some even fell to their knees as they began to hyperventilate.

"You think you're funny?" A quiet voice asked.

"E-Eh?" Foxy stammered, backing away a bit.

"I said, do you think you're funny?"

Portgas D. Rosan radiated an absolutely murderous aura, as his expression iced over and his eyes went cold. The glow was completely gone from his eyes, as the depths of the abyss stared back at them.

"Because I don't think you're very funny," he said gravely, visage utterly unsettling.

His entire crew looked at him with worry on their features but didn't dare say anything.

"R-Rosan, please calm down!" Mod stammered. Despite how cool and collected he currently look, on the inside was an entirely different story.

Rosan was boiling with rage at the moment. It was almost overwhelming, how much his anger was flowing through and Mod bit her lip nervously.

Let it be known, that when Rosan said he was bad at getting a taste of his own medicine, he meant it.

"R-Rules are rules! Nico Robin is now our ally and now you have to complete the next game with just Roronoa Zoro!" Foxy said, pointing a finger at the redhead.

"Now, come join the Foxy Pirates, Nico Robin!"

"I-IN A STUNNING TURN OF EVENTS, BOSS FOXY HAS PICKED NICO ROBIN OVER PORCHE! WITH THAT, THE GROGGY RING WILL ONLY HAVE TWO COMPETITORS ON THE STRAW HATS SIDE!"

Robin chanced a concerned glance at Rosan but slowly made her way over.

"Robin."

She paused and turned around to face her best friend.

"Don't get too comfortable. You're coming back to me."

The woman shuddered at his tone and held his icy gaze. "I'll be waiting."

"Not for long," he replied stonily, looking so much like he did without his emotions.

With that, the two turned away from each other and the pressure finally abated.

"Welcome to the crew, Nico Robin!" Foxy said, recovering a bit from what just transpired.

Robin smiled thinly, stamping down the frustration, as the connection between her and Rosan abruptly cut. "For your sake, I hope this crew still exists at the end of the day."