The following morning, the crew woke up shivering to the sudden coldness in the air. Most of the guys, except Luffy, waste no time in bundling themselves up to get warm. Vivi allowed Rose to borrow a dark green winter jacket, and a pair of dark grey gloves to stay warm, while the two of them stayed in the girls' room to keep Nami company.
Rose places a new damp rag on Nami's head while she's sleeping and sadly looks down at the sick pirate. *Man, aren't we in the Drum Island arc yet?*
Vivi sighs in frustration of how no matter what they're trying, Nami's not getting better. "It looks like her fever is only rising…"
Rose nods at the assumption before she gives the princess a reassuring grin. "Yea, but the next island's doctors will cure her in no time."
"What makes you so sure?"
"You can call it a feeling. I just wish we were there already…" Rose mutters the last part to herself, but Vivi clearly heard her.
Vivi smiles at the wind girl's worries before she pats her shoulder. "Nami's pretty strong, I'm sure she'll pull through until we reach the island. If it makes you feel better, you helped her out a lot last night."
She tilts her head at the news. "I did?"
"Absolutely, when you were telling the boys that Hercules story Nami was able to quickly relax and fall asleep."
Rose blinks in surprise at the comment, because she didn't know she overheard them, before she sheepishly smiles. "I see, I'm happy to hear that. Hey if you don't mind my asking, what's Alabasta like?"
Vivi is taken aback by the change in conversation, but is happy to answer as she grins at the thought of her homeland. "It's a beautiful island with a rich history. My father, King Cobra, always tries his best to care for his people. It's a desert island so it's warm during the day, but really cold at night."
The astronomer nods to the explanation, as if she doesn't know it already, and eagerly looks for more information. "So is it true that Alabasta's night sky's great for astronomy?"
The Alabastian nods to the question. "Yes, it's true. Alabasta rarely has cloudy weather, so it's perfect for astronomy. My father even has a royal astronomer working in the palace. When everything becomes peaceful again, I can introduce you to him if you want."
Rose widens her purple eyes at the offer before she shows off a large smile. "Really?! That would be amazing, thank you!" *This is perfect, I can find out how the Timore comet's viewed in this world!*
The princess softly grins at the future immigrant's enthusiasm. "My pleasure, since you're planning on staying on the island I hope you can come visit me as well."
"Of course."
Both girls turn to the sound of the door opening to see Carue walking in, while Sanji follows with a tray that's carrying three mugs. "Here you go ladies. This should help keep you warm."
He hands Rose and Vivi a mug of tea before he places the tray on the nightstand.
"Thanks Sanji." Rose says before she starts drinking.
Sanji grins at the gratitude before he turns his attention to the sleeping navigator. "Has Nami's fever gone down yet?"
Vivi shakes her head. "Sorry, it hasn't gotten any better. Is there any sign of an island yet?"
He quietly sighs in disappointment. "Not-!" He cuts himself off when the ship starts shaking.
Vivi widens her eyes at the sudden tremor, as she puts the mug down, and holds onto the bed for support. "What's going on?!"
Sanji grabs onto the other bed for support before he calls up to the deck. "Hey guys, get control of the helm! If anything happens to Nami, I'll kick your asses!"
Rose struggles to keeps her balance in her seat, while she starts thinking of what this could mean. *Did Wapol arrive?!*
She puts the mug down on the nightstand before she gets up, and runs to the door!
"Where are you going?!" Vivi asks.
"If we're getting into a fight, then I'm joining in!" Rose runs out of the room before they could ask anything else.
Sanji widens his eyes at the fleeing brunette before he turns to Vivi. "I'll leave Nami to you Vivi."
He follows Rose out until they reach the deck, then they both freeze when they see a large pirate ship in front of them. They look around to see a small army of soldiers, wearing winter jackets, on the deck with their rifles pointed at them.
Sanji sighs at the annoying intruders before he lights his cigarette. "What exactly is going on?"
Luffy turns to them nonchalantly while he ignores the guns that are pointed at him. "We were ambushed."
He groans at the obvious news as he starts smoking. "Great, this is the last thing we need right now."
Rose looks around to see the soldiers also having Zoro and Usopp surrounded at gunpoint. With no doubt in her mind, she knows that these are Drum Island Soldiers, and is more than eager to kick their asses with the others. All that's needed is to see where the leader is.
"Hmm, looks like there's five in total. There's no way that this is the entire crew. Oh well, guess it doesn't matter."
Speak of the devil, everyone turns to see a short, fat, man, with dark blue hair, and a cylinder shaped chin made of tin standing by the railing. He barely cares about the attention as he eats a piece of meat off a dagger. Once he finished the meat, he chomps down on the knife as if it's part of the meal.
Rose looks at the metal eating man in disgust. *Ew, Wapol really does eat anything he can get his hands on...*
Luffy widens his eyes in shock of the view of the weapon eater. "What the hell?! He just ate the whole knife!"
Zoro was speechless at the display while Usopp sticks his tongue out in disdain. "Ugh, it hurts just looking at it!"
Wapol ignores the complaints, and finishes eating the dagger, before he smirks at the crew. "We wish to go to Drum Island. Do you have an eternal pose or even a log pose on you?"
Sanji crosses his arms over his chest while he gives him a scowl. "No we don't, and we've never heard of the place."
Luffy nods while he glares at Wapol. "If you're done asking questions, then hurry up and go away."
Wapol waves his hand dismissively. "Hey now, there's no need to rush through life like that. If you don't have it, then I might as well take everything else instead."
Everyone in the crew widens their eyes at his announcement. "What?!"
"But before that, I'm feeling a bit famished." Wapol puts his mouth around the end of the railing to get ready to bite.
Usopp looks at the item eater in utter shock. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!"
Before Wapol could bite down on the railing, he was picked up by a gust of wind, suddenly flipped and pile driven onto the deck!
Rose glares at him as he rubs his head and gets up. *Wapol's devil fruit gives Kirby's powers a bad name. I could send him flying now, but this guy deserves to get his ass kicked by Luffy.*
Wapol groans at his aching head then looks around in confusion. "What the hell just happened?!"
The guards look around in confusion while Wapol looks at the anchor rope on the deck. He quickly shrugs off what happened, and starts eating the rope as if it's spaghetti. "Oh well, guess it was a fluke."
Luffy grows angry at the intruder's rudeness, and starts yelling. "HEY, QUIT TRYING TO EAT THE SHIP!"
One of the soldiers closest to Luffy holds the gun up to his head. "Don't bother his highness in the middle of his meal!"
"Shut up!" The captain punches the guard in the face which raises the surrounding guards alert up.
"He's resisting, get him!"
The battle between Luffy and the soldiers starts off, so Usopp quickly hides behind the mast to dodge the gunfire.
Zoro, Sanji and Rose however, smirk at the challenge as they join the fray.
Sanji throws his cigarette to the water as he jumps above the crowd. "So we can kick their asses now?! Don't worry Rose-chan, I'll protect you!" Once he lands in the crowd, he starts kicking them left and right before they could fire at him.
Rose twitches an eyebrow at the chivalry as the soldiers start bull rushing her, but she dodges them one by one before she uses her wind to send them flying into each other. "The last thing I need is protection in a fight!"
Some of the soldiers try to shoot her but she jumps to the side to dodge. When a soldier tries to bull rush her from behind, she back kicks him in the face, then blasts wind out her foot to send him flying into his comrades. When more soldiers charged at her, she continued punching them left and right while creating wind blasts to send them flying.
Zoro unsheathes his blades and begins slashing through the crowd. "We should've done this from the beginning!"
One of the soldiers in the back, widens his eyes at the fight, before he turns to his boss. "Sir, these pirates are-!"
He cuts himself off when he sees Wapol about to take a bite on the railing again.
Luffy glares at him as he keeps fighting through the crowd to get to him. "QUIT TRYING TO EAT THE SHIP!"
Before Wapol could bite the railing, Rose uses her wind to flip and pile drive him onto the deck again.
"WHY DID IT HAPPEN AGAIN?!"
The soldiers surrounding Rose widen their eyes at what she did. "So you're the one that pile drove our king!"
Rose chuckles as she keeps her stance up. "Like I'd let the ass muncher do what he wants."
The guards glare at her as they continue their fight, while Luffy punches out the last guard keeping him from Wapol. "Get off my ship before I throw you out!"
The guards that Luffy had just beaten up look at him in shock.
"That idiot thinks he can fight his majesty?!"
"He's gonna be eaten alive by his majesty's munch munch powers!"
Wapol turns to Luffy with his mouth completely wide open and stuffs Luffy's entire body in his mouth, except for his arms that have stretched back far off the ship.
Usopp looks at the man that's trying to eat his captain in utter shock. "What the hell's wrong with you?!"
After all the soldiers were defeated, Zoro, Sanji and Rose watched Luffy's arms pulling back when Vivi ran out to the deck.
Sanji casually turns to the princess while he smokes a new cigarette. "Oh hey Vivi. How's Nami?"
Vivi slowly looks around to find the defeated soldiers everywhere. "She's… What's going on here?!"
Rose points to Wapol nonchalantly as if the scene is normal. "Luffy's about to kick a fake king's ass."
Wapol keeps trying to chew Luffy, but he's having a hard time due to his rubber body. "Ugh, this guy's tough to chew…"
Luffy groans in frustration as he pushed his arms forward. "Why you…"
He used his arms to punch him in the gut to make Wapol spit the rubber man out, and send him flying off the ship! "GET OFF MY SHIP!"
Vivi, and the sodiers, widen their eyes in shock when she sees Wapol sent flying far enough for him to no longer be seen!
"YOUR MAJESTY!" The soldiers immediately get on their ship and sail away to the direction of where their boss flew in hopes of saving him from drowning.
Sanji groans at the stupid event as he puffs out a smoke from his cigarette. "What a bunch of idiots."
Luffy gets up and wipes the drool off of him. "Ew, that guy was gross!"
Usopp nods in agreement. "I can't believe he tried to eat you along with the railing. Thanks for pile driving him before he can damage the ship Rose."
Rose grins at the gratitude. "My pleasure, how's Nami doing Vivi?"
"I'm gonna go back to check on her right now." She heads back inside while the others continue to sail South.
Rose heads back inside to check on Nami, and sees Carue and Vivi tending to her while she's sleeping. *Ok, since we're officially in the arc now, we should be at the island either today or tomorrow.*
Luffy and Sanji walk into the room and go up to the red head's bedside.
"Good thing those assholes didn't wake her. We gotta do something about that fever though." Sanji says as he grabs the mugs from the nightstand.
Luffy looks at the feverish girl in thought, before he comes up with an idea. "What if we pour a bucket of cold water on her to bring it down?"
"Don't be stupid!" Vivi and Sanji hit him in the gut to send him flying, but before he hits the wall, Rose catches him with her wind.
"Let's let them take care of her Luffy." Rose walks out while she uses her wind to take Luffy with her.
With no one else to distract the, Sanji and Vivi work on making sure Nami's comfortable.
The chef sighs in frustration as he looks outside to see that it's getting dark. "It looks like the sun's going down."
Vivi looks out the window to see that's getting darker by the minute. "It's too dangerous for us to travel at night without Nami's navigation skills. We should drop anchor for the night."
"Good idea." Sanji heads outside and sees that it's snowing before he goes off to drop the anchor.
When Rose placed Luffy down onto the deck, he looked at the falling snow in excitement. "Awesome, it's snowing!"
Rose grins at the weather change, before she sees Luffy gathering up the snow that's sticking to the deck. "What are you doing?"
"Making a snowman." He creates a shabby looking snowman with some sticks, and whatever else was lying around. "What do you think?"
Before Rose can say anything, Usopp starts snickering. "If you wanted a real snowman, you should have come to me. Take a look at this beauty."
Rose and Luffy turn to Usopp to see that he made a snowman, that looks exactly like one of the Drum Island soldiers.
Rose widens her eyes at the snowman before she applauds him. "Wow, that's really good. How did you make it so quick?"
Usopp smirks at the compliment while he gives them a thumbs up. "Something like this is easy for me. Sure beats that snowman over there."
Luffy furrows his eyebrows at the insult before he goes behind his own snowman. "Oh yea, well my snowman can do this!"
He pushes one of the sticks off his snowman from behind to send it flying, and break off the upper half of Usopp's snowman.
The sniper widens his eyes at his dead snowman before he makes a snowball. "WHY YOU JERK! TAKE THIS!" He throws his snowball at the snowman, which knocks his head clean off.
"HEY, THIS MEANS WAR!" Luffy yells as he and Usopp begin chucking snowballs at each other like there's no tomorrow while Rose watches from the railing.
She giggles at the display before she starts heading to the back of the ship to get some devil fruit training done.
She reaches the steps, but stops when a snowball hits the back of her head from one of Luffy's stray shots. She wipes the snow off her brown hair, before she twitches an eyebrow, and gathers up a group of snowballs while she mutters under her breath. "Time for some target practice…"
She lifts the snowballs into the air with her wind then starts throwing them at the boys!
Both guys freeze and widen their eyes at the flying snowballs heading towards them before they run away, but the snowballs manage to pelt them from behind.
Rose smirks in satisfaction until both guys glare at her with an arsenal of snowballs ready. *Shit, now I've done it…*
She rushes to get a snowball ready when Usopp and Luffy start throwing their snowballs at her. She jumps to the side to dodge when the wind starts picking her up a few feet into the air. "Oh, come on! Again?!"
Luffy laughs at her sudden flight when Usopp looks at her in confusion "I thought you got your powers under control now."
"I got making others flying under control for the most part, but that doesn't mean I've mastered my devil fruit yet. I still gotta practice more." Rose says as she flails her limbs around to try to get down, but it's not doing a thing.
Luffy nods as he pulls his arm back. "Just hang tight for a sec and I'll get you down."
Rose stops at the offer before she raises her hands up. "No wait, let's continue the snowball fight like this! I can practice moving around when flying!"
Usopp quirks an eyebrow at the idea. "Are you sure about that? You can't make snowballs up there you know?"
She nods with a smirk on her face. "Don't you worry about that. I got a really fun idea on how to fight back." *At least fun for me.*
Usopp gulps at the smirk while Luffy picks up a snowball. "Alright, let's see what you got!"
He immediately throws the snowball at her, but she couldn't move out of the way so she took the hit.
Usopp sweat drops at the failed attempt, and starts to think that she's bluffing, so he makes a snowball. "Alright, prepare to face captain Usopp's snowball of death!"
He throws the snowball at her, but she manages to shift to the right to dodge. Before the snowball lands, she uses her wind to catch the snowball and ricochet it back to Usopp. "Prepare to face my counter blow!"
Usopp jumps back to avoid the hit, then glares up at her. "HEY, USING SOMEONE ELSE'S SNOWBALL IS CHEATING!"
She smirks at the accusations before she playfully bows to him. "All's fair in love and war my long nosed friend. If you don't like it, then come at me with all you got!"
The sniper blinks at the challenge before he nods with a smirk. "If that's how you're gonna play, then I'm not holding back! Same goes to you Luffy!" He throws a snowball at Luffy, who didn't see it coming, before he throws one back at him.
Zoro sees the snowball fight going on from the back of the ship, before he ignores them, and gets back to his weights.
After Sanji lowered the anchor, he glares at the guys. "If any of you hurt Rose-chan, I'm kicking your asses!"
He went to the kitchen to finish up dinner while the three of them ignored Sanji's warning, and continued throwing snowballs at each other like there's no tomorrow.
Hours after dinner was finished, Sanji went up to the crow's nest for night watch while everyone else was getting ready for bed.
After brushing her teeth, Rose goes into the girls' room then is taken aback by the sight of Zoro and Carue sleeping on the floor. She looks around for the princess, and finds her sitting next to Nami's bed as she rests her head on the bed.
She quietly puts her jacket on Vivi's bed, then goes to her futon, when Luffy and Usopp walk inside with their blankets. She quirks an eyebrow at the intrusion before she starts whispering to them. "What are you guys doing?"
"We're gonna keep Nami company." Luffy says before Usopp covers his mouth.
"Not so loud!" Usopp loudly whispers before he turns to Rose. "Since her fever didn't go down today, we thought it'd be better to keep her company."
Rose blinks at their concern for their friend before she softly grins and gets up. "That's sweet, you guys can use the futon if you want."
Usopp quickly shakes his head. "You don't need to do that. We can rough it."
She nods as she bundles up on the futon while Luffy and Usopp fall asleep on the floor.
Rose looks around at the sleeping crew, while she keeps up her soft smile, and gets lost in thought. *This crew really is something else. I don't remember having this much fun in years. Would be great if I could stay-!*
She widens her eyes at the thought before she shakes her head to get rid of it and remember her place.
She sadly stares at the crew as she reminds herself of what she's supposed to be doing. *I can't let myself get too comfortable. After all, I'm not supposed to be here. After I help Vivi and find out how the comet's viewed in this world I'm staying behind. Still, with the World Government being who they are, I wouldn't put it past them to make it a taboo. If that's the case, how should I deal with-?*
She snaps out of it when she sees Nami stirring, then quickly lays down with her back to everyone to pretend to be asleep.
Nami sits up in the bed then looks around the room to see everyone sleeping in the room to keep her company.
*These guys…* She softly smiles at everyone before she pulls the blankets over herself in order to fall back asleep.
Rose looks over her shoulder to see the redhead sleeping again and quietly sighs in relief. *No point in worrying about it now. I should get some sleep too.*
She pulls the blanket over her head and drifts off to sleep.
In the middle of the night, in an empty classroom at New York University, Joe was doing research on his computer after his night class ended when his wife and nine year old daughter walked into the room.
"You ready to go home hon?" Teresa asks while Joe grins at them.
"Yea, I think I got as much as I can get for one night." He turns off his laptop, and rubs his eyes from under his small rectangular glasses to get rid of the fatigue. No matter how tired he is though, he can't help but be satisfied with the progress that he and his wife have made towards their research. "We're so close now that I can almost taste it."
Rose grins in excitement as she walks up to her dad. "That's awesome, I can't wait to get out of this world."
Joe chuckles at his child's enthusiasm as he puts his laptop in his case, then picks Rose up to set her on his lap. "I know you can't. We only need to find out how to use the comet's energy, and then wait for it to come to this world to test our theory."
Teresa nods at the plan as she walks up to them. "Before we go any further though, we should set some ground rules for when we do leave."
Rose tilts her head at the suggestion. "Like what?"
"Like what to do when we first arrive."
Joe quickly agrees as he looks down at his daughter. "It's only a few things. First, we can't tell anyone where we came from."
Rose widens her purple eyes at the rule. "What?! Why not?!"
"Depending on the type of world we're in, the locals will either call us crazy like this one does or they might even call us monsters."
Rose could only stare at her parents, with fear of the possibility, when Teresa spoke up. "That also means we need to watch what we say as well. When we make it to a new world, we need to find out how the comet is viewed. Depending on how it's seen, we might be able to tell others that we're from here, but if it's seen as something bad then we need to be careful."
Rose slowly nods before her dad ruffles her brown hair to calm her down. "Don't be upset, we might not have to keep it a secret forever. Who knows, maybe when the time's right, we can tell people who we are. In any case, wherever we go will be-!"
"Are you people done yet? I can't go home until I lock up."
Everyone freezes and turns to the tall, muscular, man, wearing a security guard uniform, holding a scowl on his tan face .
Rose gets off of Joe's lap, while he picks up his laptop case, then turns to the guard. "Sorry Rick, you know how it is. We'll head out now."
Rose's future foster father clicks his tongue as he moves back to give them an opening. "Just take your kid and get going. I have my own daughters to get home to, you know?"
Teresa takes Rose's hand and walks out of the classroom with her husband before she turns to him. "Sorry about that, you should bring your kids here sometime. I'm sure they'd like to see the place."
"We'll see."
The family starts walking away when Rick mutters under his breath. "We'll see when you two get fired. No way I'm letting Marie and Laura get brainwashed with this other world shit like that kid. I feel sorry for the brat already."
Rose widens her eyes at what she heard, and tightens her grip on her mom's hand to hold herself back from confronting him. She keeps her head down to hide her irritation as they leave the building and head off campus.
"Like I told you Rose, the words only hurt if you let them."
Rose looks up at her mother, who slightly tightened her grip around her daughter's hand, and calms down. "You're right."
She loosens her hold on her mom's hand then looks up at her father. "Hey dad, what did you mean when you said 'when the time's right'? When would be a good time to tell people who we are?"
Joe chuckles at the question as he hails a taxi to bring them home. "Where's the fun in giving you the answer? You have to figure it out on your own."
Rose widens her eyes at the dodged answer, then pouts when a taxi arrives. "Oh, come on! That's not fair!"
Joe and Teresa laugh at their daughter's pouting as they all get in the cab, with Rose trying to get the answer from her father for the rest of the ride home.
Rose slowly wakes up, from the pleasant dream, and sits up to see Vivi, Luffy, and Zoro keeping Nami company. She rubs the sleep off her purple eyes, then gets up, and walks up to the bed. "Morning guys."
Luffy turns to Rose and waves with a toothy grin. "Morning Rose."
Vivi places a damps rag on Nami's head before she turns to her. "Good morning, did you sleep well?"
"Yea, I had a good dream." She gets her jacket on while smiling from the happy memory she had of her family. She knows that it's best to follow the guideline that her family taught her especially with the world she wound up in, so she plans to keep a low profile. When she finds out how the Timore comet's viewed, she'll play it by ear to make sure she survives.
For now though, she's going to enjoy her day by heading outside. "I'm gonna see if we reached an island yet."
The others nod as she heads outside to see Usopp and Carue shoveling the snow, while Sanji is in the crow's nest in search of an island.
Rose grabs a snow shovel, that's leaning on the wall, then helps out with the snow, which causes Usopp and Carue to notice her.
"Oh hey Rose, when did you get up?" Usopp asks.
"Just now, what about you guys?"
"About ten minutes ago. Luckily, that weird pirate ship didn't come back."
"Agreed, I'll go shovel the back of the ship." She heads to the back while Usopp gets back to shoveling his side along with Carue, who's helping by holding the shovel with his beak.
Usopp thinks back on the pirate attack yesterday, and looks up to the crow's nest curiously. "You know Sanji, there was something that didn't add up yesterday."
Sanji quirks an eyebrow at the comment, and looks down at him. "What do you mean?"
"About the pirates that came by yesterday. I definitely never heard of a pirate named Wapol, but he had a ship that no nameless pirate could get."
Sanji clicks his tongue at the reminder of yesterday's fight before he lights up his cigarette. "Don't pay him any mind. Those guys were just a bunch of morons. More importantly, don't you think it's been pretty cold for a while now?"
Usopp tosses a shovel full of snow into the ocean before he nods. "You're right, I guess it's another phenomenon on the Grand Line."
"No, this is proof that we're reaching an island." The guys turn to Vivi's voice to see her walking out onto the deck and heading to the railing. "Sanji, watch out for land on the horizon."
"You got it Vivi-chan." Sanji uses his binoculars to look out for an island while Vivi looks at the light snowfall.
"With how cold it's been, we must be heading to a winter island."
Usopp looks at her in confusion before he dumps more snow into the water. "Winter island?"
The princess turns to him and gives him a waves her hand toward the snowfall. "Yes, in terms of climate on the Grand Line there are four types of islands: winter island, spring island, summer island and an autumn island. These islands also have their own types of four seasons. In order to survive on the Grand Line, you have to be able to endure all sixteen types of seasons, from the summers on a summer island to the winters on a winter island."
Usopp widens his eyes at this. "So the Grand Line's climate is unpredictable is because it's trapped between all these islands that have their own climate?"
"Exactly, and when the climate starts becoming stable that means an island is nearby."
Sanji keeps looking around then stops when he sees something in the horizon. "You're right, I see an island up ahead."
Rose finishes shoveling the deck, and looks out to see an island covered in snowy mountains coming into view. *So this is Drum Island! Finally!*
She runs up to the front, then stops when a flash of red and blue rushes past her to get to the ship's figurehead.
She blinks in surprise before she sees Luffy sitting down on the figurehead and grinning in excitement. "ALRIGHT, IT'S AN ISLAND!"
Sanji tiredly sighs as he finishes climbing down from the crow's nest. "Don't get too excited Luffy. We can't afford to stay too long. Once Nami gets better, we're leaving."
Luffy ignores his warning as he keeps staring at the snow, so Sanji sweat drops at his antics. "No good, he's off in his own world…"
Usopp looks at Luffy's vest, shorts, and sandals before he starts shivering. "How the hell are you not cold in that?! I'm freezing just looking at you?!"
Luffy looks at him in confusion for a moment, until he starts shivering and rubbing his arms. "It's cold!"
"NO SHIT!"
Rose giggles at the sight of Luffy running inside to get a jacket, then sees the ship approaching the coastline. "Whoa, this forest is huge."
Vivi nods when she sees Luffy and Zoro walk out in winter jackets. "We should be able to dock the ship around here. Going too deep into the forest could be dangerous."
Zoro nods before he turns to the others. "So, who's going to look for a doctor?"
Luffy quickly raises his hand up. "I'll go!"
Sanji nods in agreement. "Me too!"
Rose steps up. "If you don't mind, I'll go too."
Usopp nods while he crosses his arms over his chest. "That's perfect, go forth my comrades!"
"STOP RIGHT THERE PIRATES!"
Everyone widens their eyes at the yelling, and looks around the coastline to see that a small army of men have the ship surrounded.
Zoro keeps his stare at the sudden crowd. "Looks like there are people here after all."
A pale, bulky, dark haired man with a black goatee steps forward. "Turn around and leave this island immediately pirates."
Rose stays silent at the demand. *So this is Dalton. He really is protective of the place.*
Luffy widens his eyes at Dalton's demand. "Wait a minute; we only came here for a doctor!"
Vivi nods as she heads to the railing. "Please, we have a sick person on board! We need help!"
The natives start glaring at them before they yell out to the intruders.
"THOSE LIES WON'T WORK ON US PIRATE SCUM!"
"WE WON'T LET YOU PIRATES RAID OUR COUNTRY!"
"GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE BEFORE WE SHOOT!"
Sanji puffs a smoke from his cigarette, before he stares at the crowd with an un-amused look on his face. "Talk about a bad first impression."
"DON'T TALK BACK AT US!" One of the men tried to take a shot at Sanji. but he managed to dodge before the bullet could reach him.
Zoro has his hands on the hilts of his swords while Usopp looks at them in shock. "They're shooting at us?!"
Sanji's eyes were hidden behind his bangs for a brief moment. before he lifts his head to glare at the guy who tried to shoot him. "Now you've done it…"
The shooter nervously aims his gun at him again, so Sanji gets ready to confront him, but Vivi runs in front of him.
She grabs onto the chef to try to stop him from doing anything stupid. "Stop it Sanji! We shouldn't fight him!"
Rose widens her eyes at the scene when she remembers reading that the natives accidentally shoot Vivi. She focuses her wind to send the two of them flying closer to her, just before the shooter fires his gun and misses both of them. Everyone widens their eyes at the stunt while Rose sets Vivi and Sanji down.
"You two ok?"
Both of them nod while Luffy glares at the guy who took at shot at them. "HOW DARE YOU TRY TO SHOOT MY FRIENDS?!"
He began charging at them while the small army got ready to shoot when Vivi ran in front of Luffy to stop him.
"Wait Luffy, this isn't a problem we can solve by fighting! None of us got shot, so don't be angry!"
She turns to the natives before she bows to them on her hands and knees. "Please, I beg of you! We promise not to set foot on your country, but please call for a doctor! Our friend is really sick!"
Everyone widens their eyes at her behavior while Luffy looks at her softly. "Vivi…"
Vivi keeps her head down while she speaks up. "You're failing in your duty as a captain Luffy. You can't recklessly fight everyone to solve everything. Think about Nami. If you start a fight now, then what would become of her?"
Luffy stares at her for a moment before he turns to everyone. "Sorry, I was wrong..." He gets down on his hands and knees before he bows his head. "We really need a doctor. Please help our friend."
Both the pirates and civilians were speechless at their pleas when Dalton nods. "Very well, we'll lead you to our town."
Sanji calms down at the willingness to help, and rushes inside to get Nami.
Vivi smiles in relief as she gets up. "See Luffy? They understood us."
Luffy nods as he follows suit. "Yea, thanks Vivi."
Rose grins at the scene, and grows to admire Vivi's leadership. She feels that she made the right choice choosing to live in her country, and is motivated to do her part, as she gets off the ship.
Once Sanji walked onto the deck, with Nami sleeping on his back, everyone but Zoro and Carue join Rose on the coast and follows the natives through the snowy forest.
Dalton turns to the crew while he's walking with them. "I must warn you, this country only has one doctor, and she's a witch."
Usopp widens his eyes at this. "You can't be serious, witches don't exist!"
Rose chuckles at his doubt. "We just left an island filled with dinosaurs. I think the only thing that doesn't exist is the phrase 'doesn't exist'."
Vivi nods in agreement. "It doesn't matter as long as Nami can get better. Where are we anyway?"
Dalton looks ahead with a blank expression. "About that, as of yet this country doesn't have a name."
The princess looks at him in shock. "A nameless country? How is that possible?"
Before anyone can answer, Usopp screams in fright "AAH! A BEAR! EVERYONE PLAY DEAD!"
He falls onto the snow to play dead, while Dalton looks to see a giant, white, bear walking towards them on his hind legs with a walking stick. "It's just a hiking bear. He doesn't pose any danger, but you must mind your manners and remember to bow."
The crowd politely bows to the bear, who bows back to them, as they walk past each other while Usopp slowly gets up and brushes the snow off him.
After travelling for several minutes, the group reaches a small town filled with various people and animals.
"This is our town Big Horn." Dalton says as he shows leads them into the village.
Luffy, Rose and Usopp look around at the new surroundings in excitement.
The captain grins when he sees the various winter animals walking through the town. "Whoa, look at all the animals!"
Usopp nods as he admires the village. "So this is what a snow country's like!"
Rose looks around with a grin while she stays silent. However her smile clearly shows her enthusiasm for them to meet the crew's future doctor.
Sanji makes sure that Nami is secured on his back while he smiles at her. "We're finally at a town Nami; we'll get you better soon."
Nami stays silent while Dalton turns to his men. "Good work everyone, those of you that aren't on guard duty can now return to their normal jobs now."
One of the men widens his eyes at this. "Are you sure you can handle them alone Dalton? They're pirates after all."
He nods with a reassuring grin. "It's alright, they mean no harm. At least that's what my gut instinct tells me."
The others reluctantly agree before they head back to their daily jobs.
Vivi knits her eyebrows at the town's defenders getting to work before she turns to Dalton. "This country doesn't have any professional soldiers?"
He shakes his head as he leads them further into town. "No, they're civilians. For now please follow me. We can discuss everything at my house."
Everyone nods as they follow him to his home until they reach a small hut.
Dalton takes his jacket off, then gestures towards his bed. "You can place her here. I'll start a fire for us."
Sanji gently places Nami on the bed while Vivi tucks her in.
After Dalton starts the fire, he turns to everyone. "I apologize for the delayed introduction. My name's Dalton and my duty is to protect this island. I hope you can forgive the hostile welcome." He removes his jacket before he turns to Vivi. "If you don't mind, I'd like to ask you something miss."
She blinks in confusion as he continues. "I get the feeling I've seen you somewhere before. Would you happen to know where?"
She widens her eyes before quickly she shakes her head. "Y-you must be imagining things! I'm sure we never met, but more importantly what were you talking about when you said the only doctor is a witch?"
"Take a look from the window. You should be able to see the mountains."
Sanji walks up to the window to see the giant mountains that look like drums. "You mean the giant mountains we passed?"
"Yes, those mountains are called the snow rockies. If you look at the tallest one in the middle, there's a castle at the top."
Usopp, Luffy and Rose crowd the window with Sanji to see the castle at the top of the mountain.
"I see it!" Luffy says.
Usopp blinks at the sight before he turns to Dalton. "So why are you pointing us to the castle?"
"Dr. Kureha, our only doctor on the island who everyone calls a witch, lives in that castle."
"What?!" Everyone but Rose looks at him in shock.
The wind girl continues to stare at the castle with a small frown. *She HAD to live on the tallest mountain...*
Sanji groans in frustration. "Of course she had to live there. Well, we'd better call her right away then."
Dalton shakes his head. "As much as I'd like to, there is no way to contact her."
The chef turns to him in shock. "You can't be serious! What kind of a doctor is she?!"
"Her skills are undeniably excellent, but she's a little off and she's almost 140 years old."
Rose blinks at the information as if that's news to her. "Wow, she must be pretty tough to hang in there this long."
"What do the people of this country do when they're sick or injured?!" Vivi asks.
Dalton soft sighs before he runs a hand through his hair. "Well, she comes down the mountain whenever she feels like it. When she comes down, she finds patients to treat then afterwards she takes whatever she wants as payment."
"That's one mean hag..." Usopp says.
Luffy nods in agreement. "She's like a pirate."
"How does this old woman even make it off the mountain Dalton?" Vivi asks.
"According to witnesses, she supposedly rides down on a sleigh on moonlit nights. That's why she's called a witch. Others have said they've seen a bizarre creature travelling with her as well. In any case, I'm afraid you have to wait until she comes down again in order to heal your friend."
The others were speechless at the news when Luffy walks over Nami's bed, and lightly slaps her on the face to wake her up. "Hey Nami! Can you hear me?"
Usopp, Sanji and Vivi just stare at the insensitive captain in shock. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!"
Nami starts groaning as she slowly opens her eyes to make Luffy stop.
It does the trick, because the rubber man stops. "Great, you're awake! Listen, we can't get to a doctor unless we climb a mountain so we're hiking up."
Everyone, but Rose, widens their eyes at this.
Sanji is the first to recover as he glares at his captain. "Are you nuts?! Nami can't make it up there!"
Luffy turns to them as if he said nothing wrong. "It's fine, I'll carry her up there."
Vivi shakes her head. "Even if you did that, you could make her condition worse!"
He barely sees the problem though as he furrows his eyebrows at them. "What's the big deal? We just have to get her to the witch as fast as we can right?"
Vivi groans in frustration of his stubbornness before she points outside. "Yes, but it's impossible in this situation! Just look at how tall that mountain is!"
"I can climb it."
Usopp shakes his head. "Maybe YOU can, but it would be too much for Nami! What if you drop her?!"
"Then I'll catch her." The group turns to Rose in shock while she's casually grinning at them. "I think I have a good enough control of making others fly. If Luffy drops her, then I can catch her and give her back to him."
Luffy blinks in surprise of the support for his plan, before he gives her a large smile. "Great, let's work together then!"
She nods while Usopp widens his eyes at the pair. "Great, now we have to talk TWO crazy people out of doing something dangerous!"
Vivi snaps out of it, but keeps a shocked look on her face. "You can't be serious Rose! Even if you help out, it's too dangerous for someone in Nami's condition."
Rose frowns at the argument as she crosses her arms over her chest. "What do you suggest we do then? If we leave Nami like this it'll be dangerous too." *Even if I tell them that Kureha's treating a kid now, we could still miss her and just waste time. It's best if I try not to make them stray from the storyline too much.*
Before anyone can say anything further, Nami weakly raises her hand up. "Luffy."
The others turn to the red head while she smiles at her captain. "I'll leave it to you guys. Let's go to the doctor."
Luffy grins as he high fives her. "Great, leave it to us!"
Nami softly grins as she relaxes. "Yea."
Usopp looks at the sleepy navigator in utter shock. "Oh my god! Luffy's craziness is contagious!"
Rose chuckles at the accusation. "Maybe so, but this is the fastest way to treat Nami's sickness."
Sanji blinks at her confidence in the plan before he sighs in defeat. "Alright, if that's the case, I'll come too."
Vivi widens her eyes at this before she gives up. "I guess we have no choice. Just try to be careful out there."
Rose nods in agreement. "Right, as long as we keep her safe, it should be alright."
Usopp becomes slack jawed at Vivi's sudden change in attitude before he face palms. "Dammit, we really don't have a choice…" He turns to Luffy while he points at Nami. "Listen Luffy, letting Nami hit the ground once could mean the end of her got it?!"
Luffy widens his eyes at this. "What?! Even once?! Ok, I'll make sure I won't drop her then!" He picks Nami up onto his back before everyone moves outside.
"Hold on Luffy." Vivi goes up to him and ties a rope around his and Nami's waist. "There, this should help you make sure that you won't drop her. I'm going to stay behind here. If I went with you, I'd only slow you down."
Usopp steps back from the group, because he knows he'd slow them down as well. "I should stay behind too."
Luffy nods as he turns to Nami. "Alright, just hang tight till we get to the witch Nami."
Nami weakly nods as she keeps her arms around Luffy. "Ok…"
Dalton keeps quiet about his doubts on the plan, and points to the mountain. "If you're that serious then I won't stop you, but you should be very careful. The route from here is full of lapins, who are extremely carnivorous rabbits. If you come across a pack of them, then you won't live to tell the tale."
Luffy nods as he runs ahead. "ALRIGHT, LET'S GO BEFORE NAMI DIES!"
Sanji runs after him while he glares at his captain. "DON'T SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT YOU IDIOT!"
Rose grins as she catches up with the guys, then looks back at the group that's staying behind. "Don't worry, we'll make sure Nami's safe during the journey!"
Vivi, Usopp and Dalton can only stay quiet as they watch them run off.
"I wonder if they'll really be ok..." Dalton says.
Usopp quietly sighs at how their situation turned out. "I wouldn't worry about the guys, and I think Rose can manage, but…"
"The problem is going to be whether or not Nami can make the journey. I just hope that they can make it to the top safe and sound." Vivi finishes for him.
"I see." Dalton starts heading to his house when he sees that Vivi and Usopp aren't following him. "What's wrong? You should come inside."
Vivi gives him a reassuring smile while she doesn't move from her spot. "It's fine, I want to stay outside for a little while."
Usopp nods with a determined look on his face. "Me too!"
Dalton softly smiles at them before he sits by them. "I see, mind if I join you then?"
Vivi and Usopp blink in surprise before they smile at him.
"Thank you Dalton." Vivi says as they continue to stay outside and watch their friends run off to face the snowy wilderness in order to reach Dr. Kureha's castle.
TO BE CONTINUED