"The first event is decided folks!" Itomimizu cried out. "Cavalry Battle!"
"What kind of pirate rides a horse?" Usopp questioned aloud.
Itomimizu apparently heard him, because he swiftly jumped on top of it. "An excellent question! A number of famous pirates throughout history have ridden horses, or other mounts, even some in the modern day! Of course, for the purposes of this game, you won't need any horses at all!"
Itomimizu gestured toward Foxy, who began to explain. "The rules are as straight forward and simple, if you don't include the three dozen or so sub-rules banning certain niche actions and situations anyways. Choose four participants, the first three to form the 'horse' and the fourth to serve as the 'rider'! If either team leaves the arena, or if their rider touches the ground, they lose! The goal is to foil the other team whilst protecting your own! Naturally, no weapons are allowed, fefefe!"
The Whitebeard Pirates needed no deliberation. Four of his commanders stepped forth immediately.
Itomimizu introduced them. "Looks like the Whitebeard Pirates already know who to send out, folks! Have they got this game in the bag already?! Let's welcome division commanders Marco, Jozu, Atmos, and Speed Jiro to the stage!"
Marco was the pineapple head-ed phoenix man, one of Whitebeard's most powerful crewmates and their physician.
Jozu and Atmos were enormous brutes, the former well known for his diamond devil fruit.
Finally, Speed Jiro was a lesser known commander that wielded a jousting lance, not that he would be permitted to use it here. Regardless, one could expect that he is adept at dismounting his opponents, given his choice of weapon.
"Hey, he can fly! That's cheating!" Chopper accused, pointing at Marco who wore a lazy smile.
"Flying is only against the rules for the horses," Foxy was delighted to shoot down the complaint, judging from his smug grin. "And so long as the rider does not leave the lateral bounds of the arena, it is permitted. It's not as much of an advantage as you might think, since it gets easier to accidentally go out of bounds the higher you go."
It was hard to argue with that logic, since the Foxy pirates were already painting the grass for the arena, and it really wasn't that big. Not even half as big as the Groggy Ring field had been. That was pretty tight quarters for people at their level. The degree of spatial awareness one would need to stay in bounds whilst flying under these circumstances would be insane.
The Straw Hats huddled up to discuss while Itomimizu did some interviews for the audience.
"Who are we going to send?" Usopp asked. "I'll just say, I don't think I'm any good for this one."
"Obviously," Nami rolled her eyes. "Cherry has to be our rider, no matter what. She can stay in the air easily and Marco won't be a match for her, certainly not up in the air."
"Hmhm, that's well reasoned," Cherry agreed. "But I don't wanna~"
"Oh for fuck's-" Nami started to complain, but Cherry held up a hand to stall her momentum.
"I think Sanji should be our rider," Cherry offered an alternative. "Our opportunities to duke it out with Whitebeard's crew, especially under relatively friendly circumstances, will be few and far between. Not to mention, they're already scheming against us. Marco is bait to get me out of the picture early, since we can't play in multiple games. Don't forget that the old man might join in on the fun."
"Indeed," Robin concurred. "I think that Whitebeard's aim here is Wano, and only Wano. He doesn't mind giving up other territory to us to get it."
That left a fair few of them quiet in thought.
"And we can't let him have Wano, no matter what," Zoro chimed in. "Becuase the Road Poneglyph is there."
Instantly, the stakes of this Davy Back Fight shot straight up into the sky and escaped orbit.
"Oh… we've been played," Reiju giggled. "I didn't take him to be such a schemer."
"But… does Whitebeard even want the One Piece?" Usopp asked. "He probably could have gotten by now if he did, right?"
"No way!" "Totally." Luffy and Cherry looked at each as they answered at the same time, the former glaring a bit.
"Well, I suppose it's true that he doesn't have anyone to read the poneglyphs for him," Cherry admitted. "As far as we know, in any case. Robin was not always the only person in the world who can read them, though. He would have had years between Roger's death and the destruction of Ohara, and Oden's death too. He had ample opportunity and he didn't take it."
"Then why now? Why not then?" Franky was confused.
"Whitebeard was Roger's only true rival. Why in the world would he go through all the trouble to find the One Piece, only to be the second pirate to find it? Second after Roger, of all people," Cherry explained. "Roger beat him to it, even if there wasn't really a race for it back then. He accepts that. Ace is what changed things."
"Ace?" Luffy perked up, then slouched again. "But Ace doesn't want the One Piece, he wants Whitebeard to get it."
"For now," Cherry smiled. "I'm fairly certain Whitebeard wants Ace to succeed him. He isn't going to live forever and he doesn't want his family breaking apart. If Ace claimed the One Piece, the accomplishment would be more than enough for Ace to carry on his legacy. No one could doubt him."
Even Luffy could wrap his head around that. "I'll still find it first."
"Of course," Cherry said in her most patronizing tone, patting him on the head. He seemed pleased regardless.
"Alright, I'll be the rider," Sanji said, bringing the original topic back around. "I think we're oversimplifying this game, though."
"How so?" Usopp inquired.
"Because, we're focusing too much on the riders," Sanji elaborated. "I think that's a trap."
"Ah," Jinbe understood. "If the horses are pushed out of bounds, the team loses just as well."
Sanji nodded and they all realized this game was more complex than it first appeared.
"I shall be one of the horses," Jinbe declared. "I am confident that I can out wrestle Jozu or Atlas."
"Oh, and I could-!" Franky began, only to be interrupted by Nami and Usopp's shout, ""No!""
"When we faced Foxy last time, there was a boat race! We had to build them from scratch!" Usopp informed him. "We can't waste you in this round, not knowing what's coming next."
Franky ceded the point. "But who else, then?"
"It'll have to be me," Zoro said. No one argued (Sanji did scoff, though). His eyes met someone else's. "And Robin."
Everyone turned to look at Robin.
She wasn't weak by any means, but it took a moment for several of them to realize why Zoro would recommend her to wrestle some big, burly men.
People rarely remembered just how devastating her devil fruit could be, when applied creatively. Or she could just turn into a giant version of herself and squash the competition.
Robin smiled brightly. "Sounds like a lot of fun."