"Beep—Red Team player Perona committed a defensive foul in the paint. Blue Team will shoot free throws."
"Beep—Red Team player Perona committed a defensive foul. Blue Team continues with free throws."
"Beep—Red Team player Perona fouled a three-point shooter. Blue Team gets three free throws."
"Beep—end of the third quarter. Both sides, take a five-minute break."
"Beep—fourth quarter begins."
"Beep—Red Team player Perona on a defensive foul. Friendly reminder, that's four fouls."
"Beep—what is Red Team player Nami doing? Using teleportation. Foul, foul."
"Beep—what is Blue Team player Robin doing? Using a Fruit ability to seal the rim. Foul, a very serious foul."
"My, my… Mr. Referee, there's nothing in the rules that forbids Devil Fruit abilities. That should count as a clean block for me."
Unlike Perona and Nami, who were cowed by the referee's authority, Robin, dressed in a gym uniform, chose to protest.
Faced with Robin's rebuttal, Yami blinked.
Then he fought back a grin and cleared his throat. "Ahem… Robin is right. The rulebook doesn't forbid Devil Fruit abilities. In that case I'll use the More-More Fruit to reinforce the court's durability. We're playing superpowered basketball."
"Beep—play continues."
Robin glanced at Perona, whose eyes looked like they were on fire, then at Nami, whose lips had curled up uncontrollably, and then at Karina on her own Blue Team, wearing a helpless smile. She realized it all at once.
She had only tried to challenge the boss's authority and ended up eating her own bitter fruit.
Watching Perona and Nami get outsmarted by her and Karina as the score ballooned to 135–80, Robin could only grit her teeth and get back in.
A moment later, two figures were on their knees at midcourt.
"I'm so useless. I'm truly sorry, world."
"If there's a next life, I'll be a blade of seaweed."
"Hahaha… click. Click. Click."
Seeing this, Yami laughed with schadenfreude, then pulled out an Image Dial from who knew where and captured a very rare bit of black history for Robin and Karina.
The two brains of the team had actually ended up like this.
Let's see if they dare to challenge the referee's authority again.
"Ahhh—Master, delete those photos now."
"Thirty-Loop Flower Bind."
Once Karina and Robin recovered, they ignored the Perona who had been fouled into madness and abandoned the rest of the game, charging straight at Yami to snatch the Image Dial.
Robin crossed her arms over her chest and unleashed the Flower-Flower Fruit to coordinate with Karina.
If you looked closely, the lady's face was scarlet.
She finally understood why Yami had recruited Perona.
In more than twenty years, Robin had never been this embarrassed.
"Beep, beep… What are you doing? Attacking the referee. Ejected, and suspended."
Yami casually scattered Robin's sprouted arms, raised the Image Dial high, and blew the whistle with a stern face.
Karina didn't care about the penalty and only wanted to grab the Image Dial back.
Robin flanked to coordinate with Karina for a pincer attack.
But when they reached Yami, they found his height had shot up from one meter eighty-nine to over three meters, and they could only keep jumping.
The wild scramble nearly backfired as the Image Dial was almost snatched.
Yami returned to normal height and sprinted out of the multi-sport court.
Karina and Robin chased after him, the three of them playing a game of cat-and-mouse.
"Hee-hee… Perona, nice job."
Nami patted Perona, who had finally snapped out of it and looked full of regret.
"Nami, did I do something wrong?" Perona asked nervously.
"No, you did the right thing."
Nami smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry. Karina and Sister Robin aren't small-minded. We mess around like this all the time."
"Mm."
Seeing that Nami didn't seem to be lying, Perona let out a sigh of relief.
She had feared that what she had just done would make Karina and Robin hold a grudge.
She had finally found companions who would talk with her and were willing to look after and help her. She did not want to lose that friendship.
By then, Yami had fled down to the third sublevel of the small maze.
"Karina, go to the exit."
"Got it."
Robin and Karina split up to hunt him down, the former entering from the entrance and the latter going to block the exit.
With her strong memory, Robin sprouted numerous ears with the Flower-Flower Fruit to pinpoint sounds and quickly took a shortcut to find Yami.
Seeing Robin cut him off, Yami flipped the Image Dial in his hand, ready to tease the easily flustered lady again.
But Robin moved only slightly and took him down in an instant.
She lunged, wrapped her arms around his neck, and pressed her rosy lips to his.
Yami was one meter eighty-nine. Robin was one meter eighty-eight.
Robin wouldn't wear heels playing ball, so their heights were almost the same. No need to tiptoe or bow—perfect for a kiss.
The sudden kiss caught Yami completely off guard.
All the more so because Robin had taken the initiative, leaving him stiff where he stood.
A few minutes later, Robin finally ended her attack.
By the time Yami snapped back, the Image Dial had been snatched by the lady.
"Boss, you're so bad."
After deleting every photo in the Image Dial, Robin played the victim.
"Not only do you challenge the referee's authority, you also stole the referee's first kiss. Robin, I must punish you."
Yami, furious, pulled Robin into his arms and launched a fierce counterattack.
Karina, guarding the exit, had no idea what was happening inside the maze. Arms folded, she stood ready.
"So shameless. Sister Robin actually slipped away."
Down on the third sublevel with Perona, Nami wore a face full of exasperation.
Perona, who didn't have top-tier Observation Haki, looked at Nami in confusion.
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