"Get a load of this, Merry," Cabernet huffed. "First it's a game about horses, now it's a game about hills. Where are the games about boats? Aren't we supposed to be pirates?"
"Most certainly, my fellow animated ship. It is most vexing," Merry nodded her head in agreement. "I dare say that by the end of these games, most everyone here may very well have forgotten they are pirates altogether! There is still one game undecided, however, so there is still hope that it will involve the water, at least. Perchance."
"Perchance? What does that word mean?" Cabernet sipped from a large cup of orange juice through a straw.
"I haven't the slightest clue, but it sounds eloquent, doesn't it? Ohhhhohohoho~!" Merry laughed with one hoof covering her mouth.
"A HUNDRED?!?!?!" A shout from Nami caught both of their attention. "We don't even have a sixth that many in total, and we can't play with the four of them from the first game!"
Whitebeard shrugged, making a fake as hell helpless expression. "What do you want me to do about it?"
"Change your suggestion, for a start!" Nami shot back, seemingly oblivious of just who she was mouthing off at.
"He can't," Foxy interrupted. "Whitebeard has already stated his suggestion for the number of participants. If you do not agree to the number he has provided, then we'll proceed to the coin toss to decide."
"And what if he wins the coin toss? It counts as our forfeit if we don't field a hundred players?" Usopp was much braver in confronting the referee than he was the purported 'strongest man in the world'.
"Of course not, don't be silly," Foxy scoffed. "You can simply field fewer crew members than him. The number only applies to the upper bound. There's no point quibbling over one crew taking a disadvantage."
The blatant unfairness of it had Cabernet and Merry's hackles rising. Neither of them had planned to participate in the games, thinking that not everyone would get a chance to begin with, but if Whitebeard won the coin toss, then that went straight out the window!
"Now, how many do you suggest we field, Straw Hat?" Foxy smirked as he casually flipped a coin in his hand.
"One hundred!" Luffy declared confidently.
"""EHHHHHHH?!?!?!?!!??!!?!?!?!?!""" Half the crew was dumbfounded. Foxy and his crew were just as shocked and reacted the same.
"T-this is incredible, folks! Straw Hat has just agreed with Whitebeard's suggestion of a hundred participants, despite not having nearly that many crew in total! In all my years of commentating Davy Back Fights, I've never seen something so brazen! So manly!" Itomimizu momentarily forgot he was supposed to be biased in his excitement over the development.
"Gurarararara! That's who a man should be, Straw Hat!" Whitebeard laughed it up.
"Damn it, Luffy! What are we going to do?!" Usopp shook his captain.
"It's not like he has that many commanders. We'll be fine," Luffy was unconcerned.
"I don't know, Luffy. This is still Whitebeard's crew, you know? They're nothing to sneeze at," Brook reasoned. "Not that I have a nose to sneeze with, yohoho…"
"No, no, this is perfect~" Cherry purred. It was right about then that Cabernet realized that they'd already won. Cherry was too excited for this not to end in a devastating victory. "Everyone except Luffy and I are playing this one."
Or maybe not… What did Cherry have planned if she wasn't even joining in?
Luffy nodded his understanding. "You heard her. Who are you sending, old man?"
Whitebeard didn't hold back. All of his division commanders stepped up, minus Ace, as well as no small number of hardened pirates adorned with rippling muscle and scarred skin. Not a single one of them had less than a decade of experience in the New World.
Cabernet and Merry stepped over to stand opposite of them with their crewmates… and Tia?
"Are you playing too?" Cabernet asked the witch, somewhat confused.
"An ex boyfriend of mine liked to play games like these. I'm curious," Tia claimed, though there was something that Cabernet couldn't recognize in her eyes as she said so.
Nobody else questioned her, just glad to have an extra pair of hands.
Then Takako surged forth from the black abyss that is Cherry's heart. Her immensity towered over all, making Whitebeard's legendary flagship, large even among other Man O' Wars, look like a model ship in a bottle in comparison.
"H-hey! No sea kings!" Foxy tried to deny firmly, but his shaking legs were on the verge of giving out.
"Krakens aren't sea kings," Reiju denied his denial. "They might be called as such colloquially, given their high aggression, but they aren't any more closely related to sea kings than Island Whales are. They're just really big octopods."
"B-but that's-!" Foxy tried to refute it, but his eye caught the den den mushi camera zooming in on him. "W-well… I suppose there is no problem, so long as Whitebeard doesn't have any complaints."
No doubt he was hoping that Whitebeard would have complaints. All the rules and rulings in that little book had to come from somewhere, so there was no reason a new rule couldn't be made here today.
"None," Whitebeard chuckled, stroking his mustache. "That Kraken is a fair bit bigger than the ones I've seen in my day. What do you feed her?"
"Human blood," Cherry answered without hesitation or deceit.
Several of Whitebeard's participants flinched back, clearly having second thoughts.
Of course, Cabernet knew that Takako mostly subsisted off of Cherry's blood, aside from the occasional hunting trip she lets Takako out for, to stretch her tentacles. Cabernet snickered, knowing that those poor fools were imagining the worst.
"V-very well," Foxy was looking a little pale. Maybe he was hiding his blood, for fear he'd be eaten? "The game will c-commence when I blow my w-whistle! Exactly thirty minutes afterwards, I will blow my whistle again to end the game! Whichever crew has the most participants occupying the island's highest point at that time will win the game!"
"Ah," Luffy scratched the back of his head. "I forgot about that…"
"What do you mean you forgot?! I told you less than five minutes ago!" Usopp was pulling his hair so tight that it might come out if he pulled a little harder.
Whitebeard was laughing again, as were a bunch of his crew, though the latter was a little more subdued. Clearly most of them weren't so confident now that a beast of myth was on the playing field.
"Do you best?" Luffy smiled at Usopp. "I believe in you!"
"I don't believe in myself!" Usopp retorted.
"Then believe in the me that believes in you?" Luffy said. It sounded like a quote, but also like Luffy wasn't sure who he was quoting.
Usopp released him and held his face in his hands.
*Pweeeeeeeet!*
Of course, Foxy took that moment where they were all distracted by Luffy's idiocy to start the game immediately. Whitebeard's crew instantly scattered to seek out the island's highest point, leaving the Straw Hats in their metaphorical dust.
"Heh," Franky rubbed his metal nose. "Let's get this thing started then, shall we?"