– Byron –
Their time on Mecha Island had been both profoundly profitable on one hand and utterly useless on the other.
Their hold was filled to the brim with the golden remains of giant turtle eggs, which had been smelted down into a small mountain of gleaming ingots. Suffice to say, his ship held more riches than Byron had ever laid his eyes upon and for the first time in a very long time, the captain of the Harmony pirates was privy to what financial freedom felt like. That the ancient turtle would no longer lay any more eggs for centuries to come only highlighted the good fortune which had brought them to the right place at the right time.
Not to mention all the little gadgets and blueprints they'd managed to borrow from Dr. Ratchet's laboratory, albeit without the good doctor's explicit permission. Then again, the young man hadn't voiced any objections while Shura had ransacked the ruins of his fortress and they'd taken his silence as his tacit agreement. While useless to Byron himself, Shura had been rather busy, either going through his new library or tinkering in his workshop.
But arguably, the greatest gain had been Byron's inexperienced crew mates getting some much needed combat experience. That they had won their individual fights on their own merits had only made things better. Not only had it taken away much of the fear of combat inherent in former civilians like the youngsters were, but it had also reinvigorated them by proving to them that their training hadn't been in vain.
Marie's subsequent growth in particular had been astonishing, with the girl rapidly ironing out some of the habitual mistakes caused by her inexperience. It still left dozens of larger issues in addition to hundreds of smaller ones, but Byron would give her good odds of thriving in the New World when the time came.
Her fiancé, Judy, would probably need a little more help, but then again the young man's temperament wasn't suited to being a frontline fighter. Of course, he would learn to pull his own weight, Byron and Shura would make sure of it. But one could already argue that he was well on his way to achieving this already. While it was no secret that Byron's own abilities had been Judy's inspiration when he came up with his special cocktails, that he'd managed something similar at all, within only a couple of months no less, spoke volumes about his talent.
So yes, the little goose chase the Honey Queen's request had sent them on, had been a worthwhile venture. Which made it all the more tragic that their original objective remained out of reach for the time being.
They had lost the Bear King's trail.
Requesting more information from Disco had yielded precious little in the way of actionable intelligence, because Helena's brother seemed to have up and vanished into thin air. Thus, it was all the more surprising when the Byron's crew stumbled across a fresh clue as to the Bear King's whereabouts in the form of the Foxy Pirates.
Honestly, they hadn't even been probing for information at the time, content to enjoy a week off on a luxury spa resort for some rest and recovery. Helena (a.k.a the Honey Queen) had been the one to propose the idea, but Shura had been the one to convince Byron. To be honest, he hadn't needed much convincing either, as some intense pampering was sure to do his green recruits a lot of good after receiving their first real dose of combat.
Naturally, despite all the benefits and amenities a luxury resort provided, it also came with a couple of downsides. One of which was the abundance of individuals who had a far more generous opinion of themselves and their charm than they had any objective right to have. And as such men were wont to do, they congregated around Helena, who merely by being her glamorous self attracted all manner of self-important riffraff like bees to honey.
As fate would have it, one such contender for the blonde beauty's attention happened to be the Silver Fox, Captain Foxy of the Foxy Pirates. Byron hadn't been around at the time to see Foxy turn on his charm and miserably fail, but he'd found them in time to witness the final moments of the fiasco Foxy's seduction attempt had turned into. In essence, Foxy had decided that blustering and boasting about himself was the best way to impress the woman, to which Helena had arrogantly responded by revealing her own status as the (former) second in command of the Trump Pirates.
What she couldn't have known was that the mere mention of the Bear King's name would have been enough to send Foxy into a spiral of depression. Which it did before rapidly transforming into an angry rant about the allegedly cowardly, dishonorable, pathetic, reprehensible actions of Helena's brother. This, in turn, had prompted Helena to defend her older brother with equal fervor, leading to both of them engaging in a childish argument.
From what Byron had been able to decipher from the caterwauling, the Bear King had been in a rather sorry state when the Foxy pirates had come across them, as their failed assault on Mecha Island had further depleted the already weakened crew. Determined to rebuild his crew but simultaneous acknowledging that his chances of defeating the Foxy Pirates in a straight up battle were slim, Helena's brother had challenged Foxy to a Davy Back Fight.
To give the Bear King some credit, it had been a reasonable decision on his part. A victory would have allowed him to replenish his own ranks with the veterans he'd be poaching from Foxy's crew as his spoils of war. Unfortunately for the East Blue pirate, what he hadn't factored into his calculations was that the Silver Fox happened to be an expert in using the time-honored pirate tradition that was the Davy Back Fight, to forcefully take members of other crews and add them to his own.
Much to his own detriment, the Bear King had discovered that Foxy's record of 920 straight victories to only a single defeat, shouldn't have been taken as lightly as he'd obviously done. Shortly after the traditional pistol shots were fired, to signify the irretractable acceptance of the challenge, Helena's brother had found himself with three crew members less than he'd woken up with that morning. Subsequent attempts to get them back had been unsuccessful and the Trump Pirates, including the Bear King himself, had all been reunited as the newest members of Foxy's crew, honor bound to swear loyalty to their new captain.
At least, they should have.
Mere weeks after joining the crew, the Bear King had staged a mutiny by gathering the more unscrupulous members of his former crew as well as recruiting those who had been disillusioned when Straw Hat Luffy had shattered their captain's illusion of invincibility. The plot had been well executed by all accounts, with Foxy and his officers having been caught completely unawares by the Bear King and his fellow conspirators.
Yet, for all his childishness, Foxy was a pirate who had survived the Grand Line for years, and he'd quickly rallied his loyalists around himself and fought back. The whole affair had concluded with the mutineers fleeing into the night, though not before stealing a ship and a significant portion of Foxy's booty. Including the bottled directions to a luxury resort island they'd fished out of the sea.
Understandably, the Silver Fox had been rather upset with the whole affair and was nursing a very large grudge. As a result, tempers had flared when he'd found himself face to face with the traitor's sister, especially once she began making excuses for the villainous cheater. Which was how Byron had gotten dragged into this mess, as his own honor demanded he defend Helena, whose status as his guest acted as a warranty of his protection.
Thus, with one side demanding that the Honey Queen be handed over and the other side staunchly refusing, there had only been one civilized way to solve this dispute. At least, only one which did not involve having the situation devolve into an outright war between the two crews.
A Davy Back Fight.
Once this had been decided, the Foxy Pirates had been quick to set up a festival ground, complete with dozens of stalls providing entertainment, food and fortune telling. Judy had even set up his own, selling his cocktails for a tidy profit. Byron had allowed himself to be swept up in the festive atmosphere too, confident that his crew would be able to handle their opponents. Not to brag, but despite the numerical disadvantage, the Harmony Pirates were a talented bunch and Byron knew the rules of the game. Most of them, at least.
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He just hadn't counted on Judy.
He should have.
The first event had been the Donut Race, a staple in Davy Back Fights. In it, teams of three from each crew were given construction materials, consisting of three barrels and a set of oars, with which they had to build their own boat. Then, they would use said boats to race one lap around the island they were on. Unlike their tamer civilian counterparts however, the competitors of the Donut Race were allowed - and in some cases even encouraged - to do everything in their power to hinder their opponents from winning. And by everything, Byron meant everything. This included the use of weaponry, sabotage and conniving trickery, though outright murder was heavily frowned upon. Of course, this didn't stop tragic accidents from regularly occurring at these races, but this unspoken rule ensured that the Davy Back Fight didn't end in a bloodbath every time.
The disadvantage of not having a shipwright quickly made itself apparent, as Byron's crew mates struggled to come up with a proper design that wasn't a raft. But after much toil they successfully cobbled the barrels together into something faintly resembling a canoe. It was a sad, shabby looking thing, especially when compared to the shark-powered racing boat the Foxy had assembled under Porche's leadership.
Nevertheless, Shura was a competent first mate and for all that she had a flighty personality, Helena was an experienced sailor. And both of them were capable of giving Judy proper directions. As such, despite the rudimentary nature of their craft, the race itself started off relatively well for the Harmony Pirates. Shura used his strings to link Porche's Cutie Wagon and the Canoe together, allowing the Harmony Pirates to be pulled along without having to lift a finger themselves.
Porche's team inevitably did notice what Shura had done, in no small part due to the Monda the Shark straining more than he usually would, and quickly cut the wires.
"Shura?"
"Yes, Judy?"
"Shouldn't we start rowing?"
"Kid, why in the world would I ever do that?"
"Uhm…to keep moving forwards?"
"Let me rephrase that question. Why do we want to keep moving forward?" Shura asked, speaking to his younger crew mate as if he were a particularly dim child.
"To win, of course." Judy replied, not quite understanding the question, causing the first mate to deeply sigh.
"And can we win by rowing?"
"If we row fast enough, yes we can."
"Can we row fast enough?"
"…no." Judy begrudgingly admitted, causing Shura to grin.
"That's why we're not rowing. And before you ask, I do have an alternate solution." Shura stated, pointing a thumb in Helena's direction, who startled like a deer in the lamplights.
"Why are you looking at me? I don't like it."
"It's time to earn your keep, princess."
Turned out that a logia's ability to indefinitely produce their respective element as long as their stamina sufficed, could be repurposed to work like a jet dial for the sake of providing a boat with forward momentum.
A lot of forward momentum.
It didn't take long before the Harmony Team was back in the race, going neck and neck with Porche's Cutie Wagon. However, when they started pulling ahead, it spurred the remaining Foxy Pirates into action. Unwilling to lose again after their defeat at the hands of the Straw Hat crew, they began adhering to the age old wisdom that if you weren't cheating, you weren't trying.
Mines were laid in the Canoe's path, nets cast at them from the shore and smoke screens set up. All of which were easily dealt with by Shura's strings either cutting through the offending objects or being swung hard enough to make the problem go away. The running commentary was certainly impressed. So was Foxy for that matter, though the respective level of excitement varied, with the other captain seeming more stunned than anything else. That didn't stop Foxy from quickly recovering though and initiating more operations to hinder Byron's crew from winning the race.
With the more direct methods having been proven not to work, Foxy turned to more insidious means.
Operation Lie to Them – setting up false way markers to throw the Harmony Pirates off course…
"Shura, the sign says that we need to turn around."
"Judy, please tell me you're joking."
…failed.
Operation Sick Grandmother – putting on an award worthy theatrical performance about a dying grandmother in need of urgent help, specifically designed to tug at the heartstrings of any person possessing even a shred of humanity to tempt them ashore…
"Boss, err, Granny…." Hamburg sobbed.
"Yeah…I think I'm done for." The Granny (Foxy) groaned, before stretching out a skinny arm in the Canoe's direction. "Oh, you on the boat! Please save me!"
"Shura, we need to help the poor grandmother."
"Oh, dear heavens. You're not joking."
…failed.
Operation Fake Goal…failed.
Operation Hungry Hot Dog Stand…failed.
Operation Definitely A Real Marine Checkpoint…failed.
While Byron silently watched from the sidelines, Foxy's attempts got increasingly sillier with every trick that failed to deliver the desired results. Until at last, only a few hundred meters separated the Canoe from securing the first victory of the Davy Back Fight.
"Slow Slow Bea…"
Eventually, the man decided to drop all pretenses and use his devil fruit, which was when Byron decided to intervene by humming a lullaby. As soon as the first notes reached Foxy's ears, his eyes rolled up into the back of his head and he collapsed forward with a loud snore escaping his lips. Unfortunately for everybody involved, in an effort to be as precise as possible, Foxy had been standing at the very edge of the shoreline at the time of his involuntary nap, meaning that his sudden loss of consciousness sent him tumbling face first into the water below.
"And there you have it, folks! A devilish new move by our very own Captain Foxy! Surely, Operation Pretending to Drown will succeed with such a masterful performance. Now, that's what you call acting." The commentator called out, drawing out a cheer from the assembled pirates. "If I didn't know any better, I would believe that the captain was drowning for real."
"Shura, I think he's drowning!"
"Why, so he is. Moving on."
"No, we need to help him!"
It spoke volumes about their faith in their captain's theatrical ability, that the Foxy Pirates didn't even entertain the thought that his current distress might be genuine. Judy, however, did not have the same amount of confidence and before Shura could stop him, Byron's bartender had leaped into the water to swim to Foxy's rescue. Unfortunately, for all his enthusiasm Judy was not a prolific swimmer capable of keeping both himself and Foxy above water. Especially not with their wet clothing dragging them down. Thus, Shura was forced to abandon the race in favor of pursuing his errant teammate, to fish both him and the drowning captain out of the water.
The good news was that Judy's actions saved the life of another. That Foxy was their best bet to finding out where the Bear King might have fled provided some marginal benefits as well. The bad news was, that in a race as close as the one they'd just participated in, the short amount of time Shura had spent on a rescue operation turned out to be costly.
By the time Shura had dragged the two idiots back onto their boat, Porche and the Cutie Wagon had crossed the finish line.