The Davy Back Fight is a rather significant event in One Piece, unique to pirate crews. First introduced during the Long Ring Long Land Arc, this ritualistic contest allows pirate crews to challenge each other for crew members. The main application of a Davy Back Fight would thus be to enhance one's own crew by gaining talented individuals from rival groups.
The Davy Back Fight is an elusive organization, with little regarding its history known. On the other hand, the influence it exerts upon the One Piece world is immense, since it gives pirates a way of settling their disputes or increasing the size of their crew without actual killing.
A Davy Back Fight usually consists of several rounds, each having a different challenge. In the canon version included in the manga series, the first round consists of a race between two three-man teams in boats. This race would require participants to highlight their sailing and teamwork skills under immense pressure. Other rounds might offer challenges that are both physical and intellectual, building up to a final confrontation between the captains.
One of the most famous Davy Back Fights in the series would be the one that pitches the Straw Hat Pirates, captained by Monkey D. Luffy, against the Foxy Pirates, led by Foxy. The arena for this particular fight is on Long Ring Long Land, an island that takes its unique feature from its flora and fauna, which seem really long and thin. The unique setting adds another level of frustration to the challenges the competing crews have to overcome.
The Foxy Pirates have had success from their talents in Davy Back Fights; if anything, they have been able to defeat many other crews and gain for themselves some notoriety. Their strategy is based on manipulation of the competition rules to their good; usually, by underhanded methods, they can win.
What makes this final result of the Davy Back Fight binding is the fact that any crew member won must belong to the winning crew, whether they like it or not. This can raise the stakes considerably during the contest and change the dynamics of crews drastically.
The Captain's Fight is the Davy Back Fight's final round, pitted between the captains. What this means for the Straw Hat Pirates versus the Foxy Pirates is that in the final round, Monkey D. Luffy finally engages Foxy one-on-one in an all-out fight. The result of this will not only decide the fates of crew members but also the power and the will of both the captains.
While the Davy Back Fight Arc has initially been regarded by fans as the least important compared to the other arcs of One Piece, it actually fulfills a number of key purposes from the point of view of the narrative. It features character development moments, new challenges for the Straw Hats, and an overall light-hearted tone, which is totally opposite to the other serious plot developments in the series.
In the One Piece: Pirate Warriors video game franchise, it features Davy Back Fight as an event playable within the games. Players can realize difficulties of fighting, such as the strategic use of special attacks to gain an upper hand against others. This further fortifies the importance of Davy Back Fight in the One Piece Franchise through the games.