The Sabaody Archipelago was a chaotic, beautiful mess of massive mangrove trees, floating soap bubbles, and thousands of outlaws trying to make a name for themselves. Usually, the arrival of a pirate crew worth over three billion berries would trigger a massive panic, a swarm of bounty hunters, and an immediate Marine blockade.
But today, the Thousand Sunny arrived as a ghost.
The massive, Adam-wood battleship glided silently through the waterways, bypassing the heavily guarded tourist ports and naval checkpoints completely unseen. It navigated the labyrinth of giant roots until it reached the secluded, quiet waters of Grove 13.
Standing on the wooden dock, waiting patiently, was an older man with a silver beard, round glasses, and a long white cloak. Silvers Rayleigh took a sip from his silver flask, a calm, knowing smile on his face. Beside him stood a massive, muscular merman with light green skin, wearing a mechanic's apron and carrying a heavy toolbox.
"I don't see them, Rayleigh-san," the merman said, squinting out at the empty, bubbling water of the inlet. "Are you sure this is the right Grove? You told them Grove 13, right?"
"They are already here, Den," Rayleigh chuckled, capping his flask. He didn't need his eyes. His Observation Haki clearly painted the shape of the colossal vessel hovering just a few feet away from the dock. "You can drop the curtain, Magician."
On the deck of the invisible ship, Ben tapped the central console. "Sunny, drop the camouflage."
"Aye aye, Papa. De-cloaking now."
VZZZT.
The air rippled, and the Thousand Sunny materialized out of thin air.
Den, the merman shipwright, stumbled backward, dropping a massive wrench onto his foot. He didn't even register the pain. His eyes bulged out of his head as he stared at the sheer scale, the flawless Adam-wood hull, and the intricate, glowing blue thrusters of the battleship that had just popped into reality.
"By the sea gods..." Den gasped, his jaw hitting the wooden planks of the dock. "That wood... that's the Treasure Tree Adam! And the plating... what kind of metal is that?! I've never seen craftsmanship like this in my entire life!"
"Shishishi! Cool, right?!" Luffy shouted, leaning over the railing and waving. "Hi, old man! We made it!"
The crew lowered the gangplank, walking down to the dock to greet the legends.
"Welcome back to Sabaody," Rayleigh smiled warmly, looking over the crew. He noted the maturity, the heavy, disciplined auras of Haki radiating from them, and the sheer number of absolute monsters casually stepping off the ship. "You've been busy these last two years. The newspapers haven't stopped printing your faces."
"We had a few disagreements with the World Government," Ben said smoothly, offering his hand. "Good to see you again, Rayleigh-san."
"Likewise, Magician," Rayleigh shook it firmly. He gestured to the merman beside him. "This is Den. He's a master shipwright and a coating specialist here on the archipelago. More importantly, he is the younger brother of Tom. The man who built the Oro Jackson."
Franky, who had been admiring the local mangrove roots, froze. His eyes snapped onto the merman.
"Tom-san's brother?" Franky walked forward, his massive frame towering over Den. He took off his sunglasses, his eyes suddenly shining with unshed tears. "You're... Tom-san's brother?"
Den looked up at the blue-haired cyborg. He recognized the speedo, the Hawaiian shirt, and the massive, star-tattooed forearms from the recent bounty posters. "Cutty Flam?"
"It's Franky now," Franky sniffled, striking a quick pose before wiping his nose with his metal forearm. "Tom-san was my master. He taught me everything I know about building ships with a DON!"
Den's eyes softened. He smiled warmly, holding out his hand. "I know. Kokoro called me on the Den Den Mushi after you left Water 7. She told me about the Dream Ship. It is an honor to meet the man who carries my brother's will."
Franky grabbed Den's hand, weeping openly. "It's an honor to meet you, bro! Come on board! You have to see the engine room! We integrated an infinite power source with the Adam wood! It's SUUUUPER!"
"I would love to," Den laughed, happily being dragged up the gangplank by the weeping cyborg.
The rest of the crew stayed on the dock, letting the two shipwrights have their moment.
"Well," Rayleigh crossed his arms, looking at the massive vessel. "Den and I can get it done in five days."
"Five days?" Luffy tilted his head. He looked past the trees, hearing the distant, faint sounds of music, rollercoasters, and cheering from the tourist districts of the archipelago.
Luffy's eyes instantly turned into massive, sparkling stars.
Luffy roared, throwing his arms into the air. "FIVE DAYS OF FREE TIME?! LET'S GO EXPLORE THE ISLAND! I WANNA RIDE THE FERRIS WHEEL!"
Luffy took exactly one step toward the exit of the grove.
WHACK!
A fist coated in pure, unadulterated, pitch-black Armament Haki slammed down onto the top of Luffy's skull, driving him face-first into the wooden dock with the force of a piledriver.
"OWWWWW!" Luffy wailed, a steaming, double-decker bump rising instantly on his head. "What was that for, Nami?!"
Nami stood over him, her Clima-Tact gripped tightly in her hand. A terrifying, demonic aura flared around her, literal blue lightning sparking in the air behind her as she glared down at the rubber captain.
"No," Nami said, her voice dropping to a terrifyingly calm, absolute whisper. "Nobody is going anywhere."
Luffy flinched, holding his bruised head. "But Nami... the park..."
"I SAID NO!" Nami shrieked, her shark-teeth bared. She spun around, pointing her baton at the entire crew. "Listen to me, you absolute lunatics! Do you know what kind of people live on this island?!"
"Bounty hunters?" Zoro guessed, picking his ear.
"CELESTIAL DRAGONS!" Nami roared. "The World Nobles! The people who can summon an Admiral just by crying!"
Nami marched up to Zoro, poking him aggressively in the chest. "Need I remind you what happened the last time we came here?! You literally stomped on Celestial Dragon face which lead to the search of a silver haired weirdo across the whole island who now has a 1.5 billion bounty!"
Zoro scoffed, looking away. "He was standing in my way. And he shot at me."
"AND YOU WERE GOING TO SLICE HIM TO RIBBONS!" Nami yelled, pulling her hair. She turned back to the rest of the group. "Look at us! Look at our bounties! If any of you step foot in that park and a Celestial Dragon looks at you funny, one of you will definitely, absolutely, 100 percent punch them in the face!"
"She's not wrong," Sanji muttered, lighting a cigarette. "I'd kick one if they looked at Nami-swan."
"Exactly!" Nami threw her hands up. "So the rule is simple! For the next five days, while the ship is being coated, nobody—and I mean NOBODY—steps off this deck! We are on total lockdown! Do you understand me?!"
The lightning flared violently around Nami's body. The sheer intensity of the navigator's financial and survival-based rage was more intimidating than Akainu's magma.
"YES, MA'AM!" Chopper, Usopp, Oimo, and Kashii screamed in unison, saluting frantically.
"Understood, Navigator," Dory and Brogy sweated, sitting down quickly on the grass.
Luffy sat up, crossing his arms and pouting. "But five days on the ship is boring. We're gonna run out of things to do."
Luffy looked over at Ben, who was quietly sipping a cup of coffee near the railing.
"Ben!" Luffy whined, grabbing the Magician's coat. "I'm bored! Nami won't let us go to the park! We need a game! Give us a game to play so we don't die of boredom!"
Ben scratched the back of his head, looking down at the pouting captain. He looked at the rest of the crew, who were all staring at him with desperate, expectant eyes. Five days on a ship with this group of hyperactive monsters was indeed a recipe for cabin fever.
"Alright, fine," Ben sighed, finishing his coffee. "Franky is staying outside to help Rayleigh and Den with the coating anyway. The rest of you, follow me to the training sector."
"YAY! GAME TIME!" Luffy cheered, instantly forgetting his bump.
Ben led the remaining crew members down the grand staircase to the lower decks.
He opened the heavy steel doors to the Virtual Reality Training Room.
The room was vast, filled with perfectly aligned rows of sleek, egg-shaped pods. Each pod featured a comfortable, reclined leather seat and a heavy glass dome tinted a deep, technological blue.
"Wow," Usopp adjusted his goggles. "I thought we only used these for studying and experimenting."
"The system is highly adaptable," Ben explained. He tapped his wrist communicator. "Sunny. Boot up the Leisure Protocol. Load the kart racing module."
"Aye aye, Papa!" Sunny chimed, running over to a master terminal. "Loading 'Super Grand Line Kart' now! Local servers are online! Ping is currently 1ms!"
The glass domes on the pods hissed and slid open simultaneously, revealing the glowing interior interfaces.
"Get in and take a seat," Ben instructed. "Once the dome closes, your consciousness will be projected into a virtual avatar inside the game world. Because this is a game. There is no Haki in this game. There are no Devil Fruit powers. You are bound entirely by the physics of the game engine."
"No stretching?" Luffy asked, climbing into a pod. "Aww."
"It keeps it fair," Ben said, getting into his own pod. "In this game, you drive a small vehicle called a kart. You steer, you accelerate, and you drift to get speed boosts around corners. Scattered around the track are glowing item boxes. Drive through them to get weapons—shells to shoot at people, bananas to drop as traps, and mushrooms for a speed boost."
"Weapons?" Usopp grinned, settling into his seat. "Say no more. God Usopp is a master of ballistics. I'm going to 360-no-scope all of you."
"One more thing," Ben added as the domes began to lower. "We are racing in pairs. Two people to a kart. One person drives, the other handles the items. You can swap seats during the race."
"I call Robin-chwan!" Sanji yelled instantly, lunging toward Robin's pod.
"Denied," Ben said smoothly, tapping his console. "I've already organized the teams to ensure maximum chaos. Domes closing."
Hiss.
The blue glass domes sealed shut. A soft, numbing wave of energy washed over them, and the real world faded to black.
The Virtual World - The Starting Line
Luffy opened his eyes.
He wasn't on the ship anymore. He was sitting in the driver's seat of a small, wooden kart shaped like a pirate ship, complete with a tiny sail and a steering wheel made of a ship's helm.
"Whoa! It's so bright!" Luffy cheered, looking around.
He looked to his right. He was sitting on a massive, glowing, multi-colored track suspended entirely in outer space. Stars twinkled in the background, and there were absolutely no guardrails. It was a terrifying, psychedelic ribbon of light.
"Luffy!" Usopp's voice came from right behind him. Usopp was sitting in the back seat of the kart, holding a basket for items. "This is amazing! It feels so real! But why is the road made of rainbows?! I have vertigo already!"
Across the starting grid, the other karts materialized.
Ben and Robin were sitting in a sleek, aerodynamic, dark red sports kart. Ben was at the wheel, leaning back comfortably. Robin sat behind him, examining the digital interface with an amused smile.
Nami and Bonney were squeezed into a glamorous, hot-pink convertible kart. Nami was gripping the wheel with absolute, terrifying focus, cracking her knuckles. Bonney sat in the back, looking around for virtual food, but settling for cracking her own knuckles. "If there's a prize pool, I'm buying pizza!" Bonney yelled.
Vivi and Caroo were in a sleek, elegant chariot-style kart. Vivi held the reins, while Caroo sat in the back, wearing a tiny racing helmet and quacking nervously at the sheer drop into the abyss.
Brook and Sanji were in a kart that looked like a fancy dining table on wheels. Sanji was smoking a virtual cigarette, looking deeply depressed that he was paired with the skeleton instead of a lady. Brook was happily humming, adjusting his top hat. "Yohohoho! I feel the need for speed in my bones!"
Oimo and Kashii, had a bulky, tank-like kart. Next to them, Dory and Brogy were crammed into a viking-longship-themed kart, laughing boisterously as they tested the steering wheel.
And finally, Zoro and Chopper were in a rugged, off-road dune buggy.
"Why am I driving?" Chopper panicked, his tiny hooves barely reaching the pedals.
"Because I want to throw things at the curly brow ," Zoro grunted from the back seat, his arms crossed. "Just follow the road. How hard can it be? The map is right there on the screen."
High above the starting line, floating on a hovering cloud platform equipped with a massive broadcast desk, a digital soundboard, and two microphones, were Mini Merry and Sunny.
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WELCOME TO SUPER GRAND LINE KART!" Sunny's voice boomed over the virtual stadium speakers, echoing perfectly like a professional esports caster. "I am your host, Sunny, and joining me in the booth is the undisputed queen of the drift, the toxic gamer herself, Merry!"
"Yo, what's good, chat!" Merry leaned into her mic, pushing her virtual aviator sunglasses down her nose. "The vibes are immaculate, the track is perilous, and the salt levels are about to reach critical mass! We got an eight-kart lobby on Rainbow Road, 150cc! Items are ON, folks! Friendship is officially disabled! Expect broken controllers by Lap 3!"
"Let's look at the grid, Merry!" Sunny hyped up the virtual crowd of cheering Toads and Koopas in the grandstands. "We have Captain Luffy and Gof Usopp in the Pirate Kart! The Papa and Robin in the Sports Kart! And look at Nami! She's got her gamer face on! The sweat is palpable!"
"Nami's got that tryhard energy, Sunny," Merry analyzed critically. "She read the patch notes. She knows coins equal top speed. She's playing for keeps. Meanwhile, Zoro is in the back seat of the buggy giving directions. I give it ten seconds before they drive straight off the map and blame lag."
A massive holographic traffic light appeared above the track.
Lakitu floated down on a cloud, holding the starting signal.
BEEP. (Red)
Engines revved. Luffy mashed the gas pedal to the floor, leaning forward aggressively.
BEEP. (Red)
Sanji flicked his cigarette away, gripping the wheel.
"Hold the gas right... now," Ben murmured, pressing the pedal precisely to get the hidden start-boost.
BEEEEEEP! (GREEN)
"AND THEY'RE OFF!" Sunny screamed.
Ben's kart shot off the starting line with a massive burst of blue fire from the exhaust, taking an immediate lead. Nami and Bonney, who had also timed the boost perfectly, rocketed right behind him.
Luffy, having held the gas too early, completely flooded his engine. The kart spun out instantly, blowing thick black smoke in Usopp's face and stalling on the starting line.
"YOU FLOODED THE ENGINE, YOU IDIOT!" Usopp coughed, waving the digital smoke away. "LET GO OF THE GAS! WE'RE ALREADY IN LAST PLACE!"
"IT'S NOT MOVING! THIS GAME IS BROKEN!" Luffy yelled, slamming his hands on the wheel. "THE CONTROLS ARE STICKY!"
"Let's go, Chopper!" Zoro yelled from the back of the dune buggy. "Straight ahead! Take a sharp left!"
"There is no left, Zoro!" Chopper slammed his hooves on the gas. The dune buggy lurched forward. Chopper panicked at the sudden speed and listened to Zoro's direction, cranking the steering wheel hard to the left.
"Chopper, no! That's the edge!" Zoro yelled.
The dune buggy veered sharply off the colorful track, plummeting directly off the edge of Rainbow Road and into the infinite, starry abyss of space.
"GYAAAAAAAAH!" Chopper screamed as they fell. "I HATE YOU, ZORO!"
"WE'RE TEN SECONDS IN!" Merry screamed into the mic, absolutely losing her mind laughing. "THE DOCTOR AND THE SWORDSMAN HAVE ALREADY YEETED THEMSELVES INTO THE VOID! ABSOLUTE NOOB GAMEPLAY! THEY LITERALLY JUST DROVE OFF THE MAP! CHAT, CLIP THAT!"
A small cloud with a fishing pole swooped down, hooking Chopper and Zoro's kart and dropping them back onto the track with a heavy penalty delay.
Up at the front of the pack, the race was intense.
Ben drifted seamlessly around a hairpin turn, blue sparks flying from his tires. "Tighten your seatbelt, Robin," Ben smiled, expertly maintaining his racing line.
"This is surprisingly exhilarating," Robin chuckled, holding onto the side of the kart. They passed through a row of glowing, floating item boxes. "I have acquired an item. It appears to be a red turtle shell."
"Fire it backward," Ben instructed without looking away from the road. "Protect our rear."
Robin tossed the Red Shell behind them. It hovered for a second, locked onto the nearest target, and shot backward like a heat-seeking missile.
"Incoming!" Bonney yelled from Nami's passenger seat, holding a half-eaten virtual pizza slice. "Red shell at six o'clock!"
"I see it!" Nami gritted her teeth. She drifted hard, grabbing a coin on the track. "Bonney! Defend!"
"Eat this!" Bonney, who was holding a banana peel they had just picked up from an item box, threw it directly behind their kart.
The Red Shell slammed into the banana peel with a loud POP, neutralizing the threat.
"Perfect block by the Glutton!" Sunny commentated. "The defensive meta is strong today, folks!"
Further back in the middle of the pack, Dory and Brogy were driving side-by-side with Oimo and Kashii, taking up the entire width of the road.
"Gebababa! This chariot is fast!" Brogy laughed, turning his wheel aggressively. His massive kart slammed into Dory's kart.
"Watch your lane, brother!" Dory roared, slamming his kart back into Brogy's.
The two giants began aggressively playing bumper cars, completely ignoring the race and just trying to push each other off the rainbow track.
"Move!" Sanji yelled, trying to navigate his restaurant-kart between the warring giants. "You're blocking the road! I need to catch up to Nami-swan!"
"Yohohoho! Mr. Sanji, I have acquired a mushroom!" Brook cheered from the back. "Shall I use it to boost past them?"
"Yes! Hit it, bones!" Sanji commanded.
Brook activated the mushroom. The kart surged forward with blinding speed. Sanji steered perfectly between the two giant karts, slipping through the gap.
"Beautiful driving, Mr. Sanji!" Brook praised.
"I have to catch up to Nami-swan and Robin-chwan!" Sanji declared, his eyes turning into hearts as he accelerated toward a sharp, guardrail-less turn. "I am coming!"
"Sanji-san! The turn!" Brook warned, pointing his bony finger at the impending abyss.
Sanji, completely distracted by the distant vision of the female karts, missed the brake button completely. The restaurant-kart flew off the edge of the rainbow road, sailing majestically into the void.
"I REGRET NOTHIIIIIIING!" Sanji's voice faded into the starry abyss.
"My tea is spilling! Yohohoho!" Brook laughed as they plummeted.
"The Cook is down!" Merry hyped the crowd, slamming her hands on the soundboard to play a sad trombone noise. "He let the simp-energy take the wheel! You hate to see it! A tragic throw by the Black Leg! He didn't even try to drift!"
Meanwhile, Luffy and Usopp had finally gotten their engine working and were tearing down the track in last place.
"We gotta catch up!" Luffy yelled, bouncing in his seat. "Usopp! Shoot them! Use the guns!"
"I got three Green Shells!" Usopp grinned, his sniper instincts kicking in. "Time to show them my worth! Target locked!"
Usopp stood up in his seat. He didn't just throw the shells randomly; he calculated the exact geometry of the track. He threw a Green Shell hard against the invisible wall bordering a sharp turn. The shell ricocheted at a sharp 45-degree angle, bouncing off another wall, and shot straight down the track.
SMACK!
The shell hit Oimo and Kashii's kart perfectly in the side, sending the two gatekeepers spinning out in a dizzying circle.
"WHAT A SNIPE!" Sunny screamed into the mic. "GOD USOPP WITH THE GEOMETRY CALCULATIONS! SIMPLE ANGLES, MAXIMUM DEVASTATION! THE MATH AIN'T MATHING, BUT THE SHELL IS HITTING!"
"That's my sniper!" Luffy cheered, drifting past the spinning giants.
As they crossed the line for Lap 2, the gloves came off entirely. The voice chat—enabled across all karts—devolved into pure, unadulterated gaming toxicity.
"Who threw that Bob-omb?!" Vivi's voice cried out over the comms as her elegant chariot was blown sky-high, sending Caroo tumbling into space. "That was so mean! I was in 4th place!"
"Get out of the fast lane, Princess!" Nami's voice taunted ruthlessly. "Eat my dust!"
"The game is lagging!" Zoro roared, driving straight into a Thwomp. "My controller is broken! I pressed turn and it didn't turn! Chopper, fix the wheel!"
"You didn't press turn! You pressed the brake!" Chopper shrieked, crying anime tears. "Stop backseat driving!"
"REPORT THE GIANTS FOR GRIEIFING!" Usopp screamed as Brogy deliberately parked his massive kart in the middle of a narrow bridge, creating an impassable roadblock.
"Gebababa! None shall pass the gates of Elbaf!" Brogy laughed over the mic, casually throwing bananas everywhere.
At the front, the duel between Ben and Nami was reaching sweaty, esports levels of intensity.
Ben was taking every optimal racing line, his drifts cutting inches away from the edge of the void. Robin was managing their item inventory with lethal efficiency, holding a Super Horn to block incoming projectiles.
Nami, however, was drafting right behind him, building up a slipstream boost. Bonney had just pulled three Red Shells.
"Fire one, Bonney!" Nami ordered.
Bonney threw a shell. Robin calmly deployed a banana peel, blocking it.
"Fire two!" Robin deployed a second banana.
"Fire three!" Nami screamed, drifting wide to try and pass.
Robin didn't have another banana. The Red Shell hit Ben's kart, sending them into a brief spin.
"Gotcha!" Nami cheered, rocketing past them into first place. "See ya, Magician! The prize money is mine!"
"There is no prize money," Ben pointed out calmly, easily recovering from the spin and accelerating back into second place.
"There's pride!" Nami yelled back.
The race entered its final lap. The tension was palpable. Friendships were hanging by a thread. Sanji had threatened to poison Brook's milk after the skeleton accidentally dropped a banana peel in front of their own kart. Zoro had fully given up driving and was just trying to hit Luffy with green shells out of spite.
"We are entering the final straightaway!" Merry announced, standing up on her cloud platform. "The Navigator has held the lead for the entire last lap! Can Nami and the Glutton clutch the victory?!"
Nami gritted her teeth. She swerved through an item box.
The item roulette spun on Bonney's dashboard. It slowed down and stopped on a single, glowing item.
"Nami..." Bonney gasped. "It's a mushroom."
"Perfect," Nami's eyes narrowed into slits of pure, competitive malice. "We boost on the final turn. Nobody catches us."
Way in the back, sitting in 8th place after getting hit by the giants, falling off the track, and being sniped by Zoro, Luffy had just driven through an item box.
The roulette spun.
It stopped.
A blue, winged shell with spikes materialized in Usopp's hand.
"Ooh!" Luffy cheered. "A blue shell with spikes! What does this do?"
Usopp stared at the Spiny Shell. He knew exactly what it did. He looked at the minimap. Nami was in first place. Ben was right behind her.
"Luffy..." Usopp panicked, sweating profusely. "Don't use it. The race is basically over. If we hit Nami right at the finish line... she will actually murder us in real life. She will kill us to death."
"But it looks so cool!" Luffy argued, his thumb hovering over the item button. "I wanna see it fly!"
"NO, LUFFY, DON'T DO IT!" Usopp grabbed Luffy's arm. "HAVE MERCY! FEAR THE WRATH OF THE NAVIGATOR!"
"USE IT!" Luffy mashed the button.
The Blue Shell shot out of their kart. It flew high into the air, soaring across the entire track at supersonic speeds, seeking out the person in first place.
It flew over Zoro, who was arguing with Chopper. It flew over the Giants. It flew over the final turn.
Nami saw the finish line. She was grinning.
"Victory!" Nami shouted. "Bonney! Boost!"
Bonney hit the mushroom. The pink convertible surged forward.
And then, a shadow fell over them.
Nami looked up.
Hovering directly above her head, spinning with malicious intent, was the Blue Shell.
"Uh oh," Nami whispered, her eyes turning blank.
KRA-KOOOOOOOM!
A massive, blue explosion completely engulfed the pink convertible inches from the finish line. Nami and Bonney were launched high into the digital sky, screaming in pure frustration as their winning kart was blown to smithereens.
Ben, who had been drafting right behind them, calmly swerved to the left, avoiding the blast radius, and drove smoothly across the finish line in 1st Place.
"THE BLUE SHELL STRIKES AFTER THE BELL!" Merry screamed into the mic, falling out of her commentator chair laughing. "ABSOLUTE GRIEFING BY THE CAPTAIN! TOXIC GAMEPLAY! NAMI GETS MARIO-KARTED AT THE FINISH LINE!"
The screen faded to black, showing the final scoreboard.
1st: Ben & Robin
2nd: Nami & Bonney (Recovered from blast)
3rd: Vivi & Caroo
...
8th: Luffy & Usopp
The blue domes of the VR pods hissed open in the real world.
Luffy climbed out, laughing uproariously. "That was so fun! The blue shell makes a huge boom! Let's do it again!"
Nami climbed out of her pod. Her hair was a mess. Her eyes were twitching violently. She slowly reached over to the wall and picked up her Clima-Tact.
"Luffy," Nami said, her voice terrifyingly quiet. "Why did you Blue Shell me after I won?"
Luffy stopped laughing. He saw the murder in the navigator's eyes.
"Uh... because it looked cool?" Luffy offered weakly.
"GET HIM!" Nami roared, lightning sparking from her baton.
"GYAAAAAAH!" Luffy screamed, sprinting out of the VR room and up the stairs with Nami hot on his heels.
Ben stepped out of his pod, stretching his arms. Robin stepped out beside him, smiling warmly.
"Well," Ben said, listening to Luffy's distant screams of pain echoing down the hallway. "Four days and twenty-three hours left of lockdown. Who wants to play Smash Bros next?"
"I call dibs on the swordsman character!" Zoro yelled, immediately sprinting toward a pod. "I bet there's no input lag on that one!"
The lockdown on Sabaody was going to be a very, very loud five days.