【One Piece】Dawn in the Darkness

Chapter 265 David’s Battle for Hegemony

"Yeah, Luffy, just let us take you with us." Qi smiled and patted Luffy's back, asking him to spit out the sea water he had just drunk.

After a while, Luffy stood up again with full energy, and looked at Lucci who was sitting on the side, eager to try, "Since Qi can do it, then Lucci, you can do it too, right!"

Lucci did not answer Luffy's question, but chuckled and said, "I don't want to experience the feeling of being wrapped in sea water for the time being."

"Okay, Usopp, let's continue fishing!" Luffy quickly forgot about this little episode and continued to ask to go fishing together.

Lucci found a comfortable spot on the lookout and enjoyed the morning tranquility and caught up on his sleep. It turned out that sleeping on the deck was not a good idea. Not long after Sanji left last night, he was awakened by Luffy's footsteps again. He witnessed the whole process of Luffy going to the kitchen to steal food, including the whole process of him being caught by the chef.

Qi accompanied Luffy and the others to go fishing. Nami ended the driving of Viba and asked Chopper to help her pull it up.

While waiting for breakfast, Luffy's hook caught a big fish, which allowed them to successfully replenish some of their food.

"Breakfast is ready!" Sanji came out of the restaurant and called everyone to eat.

"Oh!!" Luffy and Usopp immediately put down their fishing rods and rushed towards the restaurant when they heard the sound, with Chopper following closely behind.

"Thank you, Sanji!" Nami and Robin walked into the kitchen with a smile.

"Sanji." Qi handed the fish in his hand to Sanji.

"Not bad, we caught something good." Sanji took the fish from Qi's hand and said with a smile. This slightly eased the food shortage if they could reach the next island today.

"Where's Lucci?" Luffy forked the sandwich on the plate into his mouth and asked Qi who came in.

"Maybe he's still sleeping." Qi responded as he walked into the restaurant.

Zoro walked in with his mouth wide open and yawning, and sat down at a random spot. "He's at the lookout."

"Then I'll leave one for him." Sanji said as he took a puff of the cigarette in his hand. At this moment, Lucci's voice came from outside the cabin.

"Everyone! There's a ship ahead!"

Qi and Sanji looked at each other and then walked outside, while Luffy stuffed the remaining food into his mouth and followed him outside.

It was a very strange ship, and the people on board were listless. It seemed to be a pirate ship because they tried to rob Merry when they found them, but they had no captain or navigator on board, and they had lost the 'most important pirate flag' as pirates.

Although they were strange and pitiful, their food was still good. Qi grinned as he looked at the food piled on the deck. Luffy was the happiest one, after all, he hadn't eaten much meat since he came out of the naval base.

"The temperature and humidity in this area are very stable. We should enter the climate zone of the next big island." Nami said, feeling the humidity in the air.

"There is indeed an island ahead." Robin added, "but the fog ahead is very thick."

"Fog? That's indeed dangerous. Chopper, check the direction ahead!" Nami ordered.

"Oh! We see the island!!" Luffy and Usopp shouted excitedly, "Dock! Dock!"

Qi noticed that Lucci had been looking at the direction where the strange pirate ship had just left, and was a little confused, "Lucci, what's wrong?"

Hearing the voice, everyone turned to look at Lucci, somewhat confused.

"I was thinking about the competition those pirates just mentioned." Lucci looked at the ship that had already gone far away and said, "According to what they said, their captain, navigator, and even the pirate flag were taken away by a group of people in a competition. This sounds very similar to the legendary "DAVY BACK FIGHT!"

"What is that?" Luffy asked curiously as he jumped onto the railing next to Lucci.

Others gathered around.

"It's also called David's Battle." Lucci explained, "It's a pirate game."

"It is said that this game originated from a certain pirate paradise called 'Pirate Island' on the ocean in the past." Robin added, "It is a game in which pirates compete with each other for pirate crew members in order to get better crew members."

"Pirates fighting against pirates?" Nami asked in surprise.

"Yes." Robin nodded.

"This is a game with companions and dignity at stake. The winning party can choose any crew member on the losing party's ship, including the captain." Lucci explained.

"The selected crew member must immediately swear to the deep-sea pirate "Davy Jones" that he will always be loyal to the captain who selected him. If the desired crew member is not available, he can even directly take away the most important pirate flag.

"We've seen the shore, get ready to drop anchor!" Luffy noticed that the island was getting closer and closer, and shouted excitedly, not paying attention to what Lucci and the others were discussing. "This is a great place, an endless grassland!"

"Oh!" Hearing the captain's shout, Zoro, who was standing by the railing, sank the anchor beside him into the seabed.

Sanji lowered his head and took a puff of cigarette, slowly blowing out smoke rings, and concluded with disgust, "A dirty and cruel game..."

"In other words, the strange ship we just encountered became like that because it lost?" Nami suddenly realized, and then asked, "If that's the case, then it should be fine as long as we don't agree to participate when they initiate it!"

"If you don't want to participate in that pirate game, you have to stop Luffy first." Lucci saw Luffy stretching his arms and throwing his body to the beach. Zoro on the side was also taken down by Luffy's stretched arms. He chuckled and said, "After all, the David Contest does not require the opinions of the crew. It only needs the captain's consent to start."

"It looks like something interesting will happen on our next island," Qi said with a smile.

"Hey, this isn't funny!" Usopp retorted, not noticing that Luffy had left, and raised his shaking hands to look at where Luffy was "Luffy, I... eh? Where's Luffy!?" Usopp shouted in shock, looking at the empty railing.

"Captain has just landed on the island with Swordsman." Robin chuckled.

"I really can't stand them. They always rush into strange places recklessly..." Nami looked at the backs of Luffy and Zoro who rushed to the island as soon as they landed, sighed, and said helplessly, "Who knows what kind of dangers will appear up there."

Hearing Nami's words, Usopp instantly changed his strategy, turned his head to look at the others on the deck, covered his chest and trembled, "Everyone, I feel like I..."

"Chopper! Usopp has a disease that prevents him from going to the island!" Sanji shouted helplessly at Chopper, leaning against the railing. He knew what this guy was going to say before Usopp finished speaking.

"Well... that can't be cured," Chopper responded thoughtfully.

"Let's go, we're also going to get ready to go to the island." Qi said with a smile.

"Let's go find Luffy first." Nami prayed, "I hope Luffy doesn't agree to a duel with a stranger before we stop him."

"I wonder if there are people living on the island..." Robin asked curiously as he looked at the endless grassland.