Avalanche:

-x-

"This doesn't look very good," Usopp commented. He and Vivi were still in the sleigh looking for Dr. Kureha, but now, not only were they lost, but the sleigh wasn't moving. The snow was so deep that the rams pulling the sleigh couldn't go any further. "We won't be able to any further in this deep snow!"

"It seems like we've gone partially up the mountain," Vivi observed.

RRRMMMMBBB! RRRMMMMMBBB! A loud rumbling broke out startling the two as well as the two rams.

"What's this? Why is the ground shaking?" Vivi wondered. She suddenly stared up at the shaking Drum Rockies in alarm, "AAAHH! OH NO, USOPP! IS THIS WHAT I THINK IT IS?"

"A-a-a-avalanche!" Usopp stammered in terror.

-x-

RMMMBBB! RMMMB! The assembled people down in Big Horn heard the loud rumbling coming from up the mountain. "LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!" someone shouted.

"THERE'S NO STOPPING IT!" someone else screamed. "IT'LL BURY US ALIVE!" Snow was coming crashing down from the mountain, it was going to bury and crush everything. "AVALANCHE!"

-x-

"Damn those rabbits!" Sanji grumbled as he, Luffy, and Y/N sprinted down the mountain away from the rushing snow. "The next time I see them I'll grill them!"

"What do we do?" Luffy asked.

"How should I know?" Sanji replied, "All I know is, Miss. Nami and Miss. Valentine come first! We have to protect them with our lives!"

"But how do we protect them?" Luffy inquired.

"We avoid getting buried in the snow," Y/N suggested as they continued running.

"There, that ledge!" Sanji pointed out. A tall rocky ledge was off to the side, if they got up to the top maybe the snow wouldn't reach the top and would just rush passed it.

"Got it," Y/N agreed, he changed direction and sprinted towards the ledge with Luffy and Sanji chasing after him. Now they were practically running towards the snow. They made it to the ledge and climbed all the way up to the top.

"We made it!" Luffy exclaimed.

HRROOOOOM! The avalanche kept coming, it ran over everything in its path. KRAK! KRAK! Large trees were uprooted and we dragged along with the rushing snow. The wave of snow reached the ledge, but it wasn't high enough and the snow raced all the way up it towards the Straw Hats. FWWOOOOSH!

"Damn it," Y/N cursed, "We're not high enough!"

FWOOOOOM! The snow reached the top of the ledge and sent all three of the Straw Hats flying up into the air.

"AAAAAAAHHHHH!" Luffy screamed out loud as they flew over the rushing snow. "WE'LL BE BURIED ALIVE!"

"WAAAAHHHH!" Sanji shrieked as he fell into the wave of white and started getting buried as he was pulled along with it.

"Luffy, that tree!" Y/N pointed out, as he motioned to an uprooted tree that was sliding on its side on top of the snow. "Land on that three!"

"SANJI GRAB A HOLD!" Luffy yelled as he shot his rubber arm out at the cook, SHOOOM! Whap! Sanji grabbed Luffy's hand and then Luffy yanked his arm back pulling Sanji along with it, VREEEEN! Whup! Sanji landed safely on the tree that Luffy and Y/N were riding on.

"Thanks for that Luffy," Sanji thanked the Captain.

"Yeah, sure," Luffy replied.

"At least on this we can avoid getting buried in the snow," Y/N commented.

"But what now?" Luffy asked. "Even if we don't sink in the snow, we're just gonna keep flying down this mountain unless we do something about it!"

"No way!" Sanji snapped. "I'M NEVER GONNA LET THAT HAPPEN! We've come all this way and we were almost at the base of the mountain! A little further and we would've reached the doctor! We've gotta come up with a way to stop all this right now!"

"And how exactly are we supposed to stop a huge avalanche?" Y/N inquired.

"It's all because of those damn bunnies!" Sanji raged. "Next time I see them I'm gonna turn them into a big bowl of stew!"

"Ooh, rabbit stew?" Luffy repeated. "That sounds good!"

"Here's your chance," Y/N remarked, "We've got company!"

DOOM! DOOM! A group of lapins came racing down the mountain after them. They were all riding big tree trunks like they were snowboards. Due to their larger size and greater weight, they had gained more momentum and speed and had managed to catch up with the pirates.

"NO WAY!" Luffy exclaimed when he saw the gorilla-rabbits.

"GRRRRRAAHHHH!" one of the lapins growled as it lunged at the pirates on the tree.

"Lean right!" Y/N called out, SWISH! Luffy, Y/N, and Sanji all leaned to the right, causing the tree they were on to veer to the side, enabling them to avoid the swiping claws of the lapin.

"GRRAAAHH!" But another came after the first one and swiped at the Straw Hats.

"Lean left!" Y/N ordered. SWISH! The pirates leaned the other way and now the tree veered to the left so they could avoid the lapin. The Straw Hats continued going down the mountain in a zigzag as they desperately attempted to avoid the swiping claws of the killer rabbits.

"WHAT DO WE DO?" Luffy shouted.

"Dodge!" Y/N snapped.

They continued to race down the mountain on the tree, but the lapins kept after them. "WHAT IS THEIR PROBLEM?" Sanji wondered. "Seriously!" SWISH! The cook, who was behind Y/N and Luffy on the tree, had to duck his head to avoid the claws of another lapin.

"Oh no..." Y/N muttered, he was in front on the tree and despite his lack of depth perception was the first to notice something up in front of them.

"Luffy, Sanji, LOOK OUT!" He shouted.

Luffy and Sanji looked where Y/N was looking and saw another rocky ledge poking out of the snow that was rushing passed it. But this one had broken trees growing out of it, if they kept up their current course they'd slam right into it.

"AAAAHHH! A ROCK!" Luffy screamed. "WE'RE GONNA CRASH!"

"Damn it, we can't turn to avoid it!" Y/N realized as he glanced at the giant rabbits that were all around them, "There's too many rabbits!"

"We can't crash into that thing!" Sanji resolved. "You two have Miss. Nami and Miss. Valentine on your backs! You two have to keep them safe!"

"Then what do we do?" Y/N asked as they got closer and closer to the dangerous rock.

SHOO! SHOO! Two lapins leapt off of their tree trunks and flew at the Straw Hats.

"AAAAAAHHHH!" Luffy shouted, "WE'RE GONNA CRASH!

Sanji thought fast and grabbed Luffy from behind, and then threw him off the tree, WISH! "Land on your stomach!" Sanji advised as he grabbed Y/N and threw him off the tree after Luffy, WHOOSH! Sanji stood on the tree and stared at the Captain and First Mate, "A lady requires a gentle touch."

"SAAANJIIIII!" Luffy yelled as the cook kept going and crashed into the rock, KRAASH!

"Arrgghhh!" Sanji grunted in pain as he slammed back-first into one of the broken trees and went flying up into the air. WHAM! Sanji slammed into two of the lapins and all three of them went crashing down onto the rushing sea of snow and immediately started getting buried.

SHOOM! Luffy stretched his arm out and grabbed onto one of the broken trees, he hung down from the ledge as the snow continued to rush passed it. Luffy looked up and saw Y/N float gracefully downward until he landed lightly on the top of the ledge where the snow hadn't come up to. TMP!

"Thanks," he said to the blonde on his back. She'd used her powers to lower their weight and slow their decent.

"Umhm," Ms. Valentine mumbled.

"It worked..." Sanji thought to himself when he saw that Nami and Ms. Valentine were both safe.

"SANJI, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?" Luffy hollered at him as Y/N pulled him up onto the top of the ledge. "NEXT TIME YOU TRY SOMETHING LIKE THAT... WARN ME!" WOING! Luffy stretched his arm out and he grabbed onto Sanji's hand, Whap! VREEEEEN! Luffy retracted his hand, but let out a scream when all that came back was Sanji's blue glove, "GAAAAAHHH! SANJI!"

The middle of an avalanche is no place to be chivalrous," Y/N muttered.

"SAAAAAANJIIIIIIII!" Luffy screamed out at the sea of white snow, the cook had disappeared underneath it.

-x-

"Twenty five thousand six hundred thirty-one," a shirtless and shoeless Zoro counted as he attempted to warm himself up by doing pushups on one arm. "Twenty-five thousands six hundred thirty-two! Twenty-five thousand six hundred thirty-three!"

RMMMB!RMMMBB!

"Eh? What's that?" Zoro wondered, he stop counting to glance around him. "It's so damn noisy!" It was at that moment that Zoro saw what was making all the noise. THE AVALANCHE WAS COMING RIGHT FOR HIM!

RMMMMB!RMMMMBB!

"TWENTY FIVE THOUSAND SIX HUNDRED THIRTY-FOUR!" Zoro screamed right before he was buried in the rushing snow.

-x-

THWOOOOM! The snow kept going down the mountain and was seen and heard by everyone on that side of the island. In Big Horn the people were panicking. "TI'S COMING! IT'S NOT STOPPING!" someone screamed, the avalanche had been a really big one and had nearly reached the bottom of the mountainous island, it was almost at the village. "THE WHOLE VILLAGE WILL BE SWALLOWED UP! GET OUT OF HERE!"

Wapol hoisted himself onto the back of his furry hippo and shouted out at Chess and Kuromarimo, "WE'RE GOING! Chess, Kuromarimo, GET ON!" Wapol's two officers got onto the hippo behind the King.

"ROBSON! SERIOUS MODE!" Wapol ordered his steed.

SNORT! Robson rose up into the air and revealed the true size of his legs. Normally, a White Walky Hippo walks in an almost crouch and is close to the ground. But in serious mode, the legs are fully extended keeping it up high out of deep snow.

"GO!" Wapol commanded Robson.

"King Wapol!" one of the twenty MD's called out, as the twenty pink-clad doctors gathered around the hippo, "Please! You have to let us ride too!"

"GET AWAY FROM THERE!" Wapol shouted at the men that had recently saved his life. "YOU CAN ALL FIND YOUR OWN WAY OUT!"

THOOOOOM! Big Horn shook at the avalanche finally reached it, everyone ran away from the rushed wall of snow, but Wapol's long-legged hippo managed to break away from the crowd of villagers, soldiers, and doctors to get the selfish King and his two henchmen away from the snow.

"ROBSON HURRY!" Wapol yelled. "IT'S CLOSING IN ON US!"

-x-

HUFF! HUFF! HUFF! Usopp panted as he and Vivi ran after the two rams that had been pulling their sled. The avalanche was closing in behind them. "We'll be alright, we'll be alright, we'll be alright..." Usopp chanted out loud, it sounded like he was trying to convince himself. "Don't worry Vivi, even if we get buried by this, I'll dig you out and save you!"

"Luffy and the others headed up in that direction right?" Vivi asked out loud as she glanced over her shoulder at the mountain the avalanche had come from. "Do you think that the avalanche could have already gotten to them?"

-x-

"AAAAAAHHHH! WE'VE GOTTA GO FASTER!" Kuromarimo screamed as Robson raced out of Big Horn with the avalanche on his tail.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Wapol, Chess, Kuromarimo, and even Robson screamed as the wave of snow caught up with them and sent the hippo flying up into the air. The snow came crashing down on top of them and buried them completely, FWWOOOOOSH!

-x-

The avalanche finally settled and the island was quiet once again. A new blanket of deep white snow covered everything. Luffy and Y/N sat together on top of the ledge and stared out at the sea of snow.

They'd taken Nami and Ms. Valentine off of their backs and Y/N now that the two of them bundled up together inside of his coat and was keeping them warm using their combined body heat.

"Look after them," Luffy instructed as he slipped out of his red winter coat and then removed his straw hat. "I'll go find Sanji." Luffy handed his precious hat to his brother, "I'll be right back." Luffy stood up and walked to the edge of the ledge, then dove off into the sea of snow.

Y/N put Luffy's hat on top of his cowboy hat then reached out and grabbed the abandoned coat. Y/N wrapped Nami and Ms. Valentine in Luffy's coat then closed his own coat around them again. Nami burrowed back into Y/N's chest, seeking warmth while Ms. Valentine opened her blue eyes and stared around her in confusion at the situation she found herself in.

"Hang in there," Y/N whispered to her. "We'll get you up the mountain."

Ms. Valentine stared up at him, after everything that had happened on Little Garden, she was surprised at everything the pirates she'd attempt to kill were going through to get her medical attention. Granted, she knew that one of their own was in the same situation as her, but if their situations were reversed she would've never gone this far out of her way to help an enemy. She would've left them on Little Garden to die... and most likely wouldn't have made it passed the giant goldfish. But now, here she was, in search of a doctor on a strange island, bundled up in an enemy's coat. Ms. Valentine had never expected enemy pirates to act like this, pirates were supposed to be savages, not noble warriors that risked life and limb to save other people. She was glad she had met them.

"Thank you," Ms. Valentine murmured before she closed her eyes and rested her head against Y/N's chest beside Nami.

Y/N glanced at the mountain that he knew the witch's castle was on top if. It was still a long way away. As he waited for Luffy to return with Sanji, it started to snow again.

-x-

PLOOOSH! Outside of Big Horn a big circle of snow was sucked into the ground and a pair of swelled up metal lips popped out. Wapol pulled himself out of the hole he was in and spat out whatever was in his mouth, PTOOI! Chess, Kuromarimo, and Robson came flying out of Wapol's mouth and landed in a heap in the snow. THUD!

"Oh, it was you guys in there," Wapol remarked. "No wonder it had such a disgusting taste. I WON'T LET 'EM GET AWAY WITH THIS!"

"Who are you talking about?" Kuromarimo asked.

"Them! I'm talking about them of course!" Wapol replied. "You told me earlier that some of the Straw Hats headed up the mountain toward my castle, isn't that right? THEN THIS HAPPENED! They have a grudge against us, they're still mad about what happened. So they climbed up there and started an avalanche!"

"So... they were the ones who caused it?" Chess wondered.

"That's right," Wapol answered. "Let's go boys! We'll see if those stupid sea-loving sailors know anything about fighting in the snow!"

-x-

SHWWOOO! Further up the mountain, a cold wind blew by as a small lapin tugged at the paw of a much large lapin that was buried in the snow. The big lapin was completely buried and no matter how hard the little lapin tugged, it couldn't pull out the bigger rabbit. The little lapin dug at the snow, trying to uncover more of the bigger buried lapin, but all it got for its troubles was sore paws.

"Greeehh!" the little lapin cried out in desperation. There was nothing it could do to save the bigger lapin. The little lapin continued its futile attempts at digging up the bigger lapin, but stopped when it heard someone approaching.

Krunch! Krunch! Luffy and Y/N walked side-by-side through the snow. Luffy had Sanji, who was injured and unconscious on his back while Y/N was carrying the two smaller women together on his back. Nami was bundled up in Y/N's coat while Ms. Valentine was wrapped in Luffy's, leaving the Captain and First Mate of the Straw Hat pirates in a vest and a t-shirt respectively.

"Grrr..." the lapin growled as it stared at the two pirates and stood in front of the paw of the bigger lapin protectively. The two pirates kept walking until they were standing right in front of the little lapin that was trying to block a paw that was bigger than it was.

"Help the little thing, would ya?" Y/N requested.

"EEEH!" the little lapin yelped as Luffy reached out towards it. It covered its head and waited for the worst to come. KROOOOOSH! The little lapin looked up in surprise when a clump of snow landed on its head. It turned and saw that pirate with the straw hat had yanked the bigger lapin up out of the snow.

"Waaah!" the little lapin cried in surprise. The human had done what it could not, and had saved the bigger lapin's life. The little lapin hugged the bigger lapin while Luffy and Y/N trudged off up the mountain.

"We'll get you there, don't worry," Luffy assured Nami, Ms. Valentine, and Sanji too as he stared up at the mountain that loomed in front of them. "Just stay alive... all of you."

"Sanji should be fine," Y/N reassured him. "He's tough. I doubt slamming into a rock and getting buried in an avalanche is gonna kill him. And if Nami and Ms. Valentine can hold on this long, they can hold on another couple hours until we get to the top."

KLOMP! KLOMP! KLOMP! The two pirates were oblivious to the long-legged hippo that was racing up the mountain behind them with Wapol, Chess, and Kuromarimo on its back.

"Look there!" Kuromarimo called out.

"Those brats are up ahead, Wapol sir!" Chess reported.

"FOUND YOU!" Wapol shouted, getting Luffy and Y/N's attention.

"Friends of yours?" Y/N asked as he and Luffy glanced behind them at the furry hippo.

"Not quite," Luffy answered. "That's the guy who tried to eat our ship... I think..."

"NOW I'LL MAKE YOU PAY, YOU DAMN STRAW HAT!" Wapol bellowed.

"This is not what we needed right now," Y/N complained.

-x-

The Summit:

-x-

Robson the White Walky raced around Luffy and Y/N and blocked their path. Luffy and Y/N stared silently up at the trio on the hippo.

"I've had enough of you Straw Hats!" Wapol complained. "I'm getting rid of you for good this time!"

"Look, this isn't a good time for us," Y/N stated. "Could you come back later and try to get rid of us then?"

"I don't care if it's a good time for you!" Wapol snapped, "I'M THE KING! I'm gonna chew you up into little pieces and spit you out!"

"Move it," Luffy growled.

"Move?" Wapol repeated. "Why would I wanna do that? I have no intention of making it easy for you and those half-dead friends of yours to get away from here, Straw Hat!"

Knowing that they didn't have time to deal with this, Luffy and Y/N lowered their heads and went around the big hippo that was blocking their path.

"HEY!" Wapol exclaimed in indignation. That was probably the first time someone ignored him, HE WAS THE KING!

"STOP RIGHT THERE!" Chess shouted after them.

"Ha, got it!" Wapol announced. "Hey Chess, I've thought up a new law to celebrate my return! Write this down: Anyone who ignores the King will be executed! THOSE FIVE ARE GUILTY! Chess, Kuromarimo, I want them punished immediately! Deal with the three unconscious ones first, cause they're ignoring me the most!"

"Yes Sire!" Chess and Kuromarimo replied as they leapt off of the hippo, SKISH! The two of them charged after Luffy and Y/N.

"Hey look... a hiking bear!" Y/N called out as he turned and pointed at something behind Wapol. "Everyone bow, it's proper manners."

Chess and Kuromarimo quickly spun around while Wapol turned around and shouted, "THE KING BOWS TO NO ONE!"

"Not you, you idiot," Y/N grumbled as he grabbed a bowing Luffy and ran off.

"HEY! THERE'S NO HIKING BEAR!" Wapol realized. "THAT ONE DIES FOR TRYING TO FOOL THE KING!"

SKISH! Chess and Kuromarimo leapt up into the air, "I'll get the two on his back!" Kuromarimo decided as he held up the two fuzzy black boxing gloves that were on his hands.

"And I'll take the liar!" Chess resolved, as he fitted an arrow into his bow.

"EAT THIS!" Kuromarimo shouted, "MARIMO SURPRISE!" CHANK! CHANK! Spikes popped out of the black gloves on his fists and he swung them at Nami and Ms. Valentine like maces.

TWANG! At the same time, Chess fired an arrow at Y/N. VWOOOM! Y/N jumped to the side and managed to avoid both attacks.

"Luffy, we can't afford to fight them," Y/N called out.

"Then what do we do?" Luffy asked.

"Give me Sanji, and you fight them," Y/N suggested.

"I'll kick their asses!" Luffy vowed, he tossed Sanji to Y/N who quickly caught him and tucked the cook under his arm, then took off running. Luffy turned around and prepared to face Wapol's men.

"RUNNING AWAY WON'T SAVE YOU! COWARD!" Chess shouted as he loaded a bunch of arrows in his bow. TWANG! Chess fired the arrows after Y/N.

WHACK! Luffy swung his rubber arm around and knocked the arrows off course.

"Leave them alone!" Luffy exclaimed, "Your fight's with me!"

"It's time you learned what a battle in the snow is like," Wapol decided. "SNOW BLANKET!"

"GUM... GUM..." Luffy started to say, but he cut himself off when he realized that Wapol, Chess, Kuromarimo, and even the furry hippo had all disappeared. "RICKY, THEY DISAPPEARED! KEEP RUNNING!" Luffy shouted after the First Mate, he turned and ran after Y/N.

"This is bad..." Y/N grumbled as he ran through the snow carrying Nami and Ms. Valentine on his back and Sanji under his arm.

CHOMP! A large mouth suddenly appeared in the snow in front of him and snapped at him, SKISH! Y/N leapt backwards and up into the air to get away from it, "Luffy! I could use some help here!"

SWOOSH! SWOOSH! Kuromarimo and Chess suddenly appeared in midair, "THIS IS WHAT BATTLE IN SNOW COUNTRY IS LIKE!" Kuromarimo announced as he readied his mace like gloves for an attack on Y/N, "SNOW POWDER MAKE UP, THE WHITE DISGUISE!"

"Those three are so incredibly weak that just one shot should be enough," Chess said as he loaded his bow with three arrows, one for each of the people Y/N was carrying.

"CHECKMATE!" Kuromarimo and Chess called out together.

"DOOON'T!" Luffy shouted as he raced over, he wasn't going to get there in time.

"Hey look! Lapins!" Y/N called out as he pointed at something behind Wapol's men.

"We're not going to fall for that again!" Kuromarimo growled.

SKISH! SKISH! A pair of lapins leapt through the snow and then up into the air, they slashed their claws at Chess and Kuromarimo and sent the two of them crashing down to the ground. KA-BAM! Y/N landed safely while Chess and Kuromarimo landed in a heap.

"Polar bears!" Luffy cheered as he closed the distance between him and Y/N.

"LAPINS?" shouted Wapol shouted in outrage and surprise.

"Did those things just protect them?" Kuromarimo wonders as he and Chess pushed themselves up off of the ground.

"Impossible!" Chess replied, "Lapins never form bonds with humans. They're nothing more than wild beasts!"

Luffy and Y/N stared in surprise, but then they noticed the little lapin holding onto the back of one of the bigger ones. It was the same lapin that Luffy had pulled out of the snow earlier.

"Grump!" the big lapin that Luffy had saved pumped his arms and grunted at him.

"Thanks a bunch! You guys saved us!" Luffy called out with a smile, he and Y/N took off running for the base of the Drum Rockies, they were getting close now.

"DON'T LET 'EM GET AWAY!" Wapol yelled as he sat on Robson behind Chess and Kuromarimo.

"Right!" Chess and Kuromarimo agreed, they darted after Luffy and Y/N but the two lapins jumped forward and blocked their path. Chess and Kuromarimo stopped and stared in surprise as more lapins appeared. Suddenly they weren't just dealing with a pair of giant rabbits, now they had an entire herd in front of them!

"What the hell are those stupid bunnies doing standing there?" Wapol demanded.

-x-

SHHWWWOOOOO! The wind picked up as Luffy and Y/N continued up the mountain. Neither of the pirates was wearing long sleeves so they shivered as the freezing wind passed over them.

"D-docter... doctor..." Luffy muttered as they trudged through the knee-deep snow, he had taken Sanji back while Y/N had kept Nami and Ms. Valentine on his back.

SHHWWWOOOOO! The wind blew again and the dusty cloud of snow that was in front of them cleared to reveal the base of Drum Rock right in front of them.

"We made it to the base of the mountain," Y/N pointed out as they walked up to the mountain and stared up it.

"I can't even see the top," Luffy observed. "I guess we'll have to climb it."

"You're the better climber," Y/N commented, "and with your powers you'll be able to get us up their faster. However... I'm more equipped for this situation."

"So what do we do?" Luffy asked.

"That mountain goes straight up," Y/N stated, "climbing up it in a pair of sandals will be next to impossible." Y/N reached down and pulled one of his bare feet out of his boots. "Let's switch shoes, the steel toes of my boots will help you climb, I'll ride on your back and hold onto the other three."

"Right," Luffy agreed. They switched shoes so Luffy was wearing Y/N's steel toed/soled boots while Y/N was left in Luffy's sandals. Luffy handed Sanji over to Y/N, who the First Mate tucked under his arm before he hoisted himself onto Luffy's back.

With Y/N, Nami, Sanji, and Ms. Valentine secured, Luffy prepared for the long climb. "Wait," Y/N suddenly called out, he drew Akaikyuuketsuki and offered it to Luffy. "Take my sword and use it to get a better handhold. If you try climbing up there with your bare hands, you fingers will be bleeding before we're a quarter of the way up.

Luffy took his brother's trusted sword and then stretched his arms up above his head and up the side of the mountain. SHUNK! Luffy embedded the red blade of the sword into the side of the mountain about fifteen feet above them. "GUM... GUM... ROCKET!" VREEEN! Luffy's rubber arms retracted and brought all five of them flying up the side of the mountain. Once Luffy's arms were fully retracted he moved his legs and drove the steel toes of Y/N's boots into the mountain for a foothold, CHUNK! CHUNK!

This continued for almost an hour, with Luffy stretching his way up the side of the mountain thanks to Y/N's sword and boots.

SHHWWWOOOOOO! A freezing cold gust of wind came down from the top of the mountain causing Luffy and Y/N to shiver. Their faces were turning pink from the lon g exposure to the freezing wind. Their exposed arms had turned purple from frost bite.

"This c-can't be g-good for them," Y/N stammered. "They might just freeze to death at this rate."

"Then wh-what d-do we d-do?" Luffy asked. "W-we've g-gotta climb the m-mountain to g-get to the d-doctor."

Y/N frowned and thought about their situation as Luffy continued stretching up the side of the mountain. They were only about a quarter of the way up. While Luffy's stretching was getting them up their a lot faster than they would normally, it was taking too long.

"I've got an idea," Y/N eventually announced.

-x-

Down at the bottom of the mountain, Vivi woke up and found herself half buried in snow. "What happened?" she wondered as she pulled her legs out from the snow and sat up. "The avalanche... it must have buried us..." She looked around and realized that Usopp was nowhere in sight. "USOPP!"

She spotted his nose sticking out of the nose nearby, she rushed over dug the snow off of his purple frost-bitten face. "There you are Usopp!" Vivi exclaimed. "Come on now, wake up! You've got to wake up!"

"Ughhh..." Usopp groaned.

"YOU'RE ALIVE!" Vivi cheered. "I'm going to get you out of there!" She quickly dug up the snow and uncovered more and more of the barely conscious sniper. Then she grabbed onto his nose and yanked him the rest of the way out of the snow. SKOOOSH!

Vivi dropped down to her knees beside Usopp and shook him, "Come on Usopp, just wake up!" she urged him as she lightly patted his face. "Snap out of it!"

"Just gimme a few more minutes here Vivi," Usopp whispered. "I was in the middle of such a lovely dream. We were in a world far away from here, sitting in a field of flowers with a beautiful river flowing next to it..."

"YOU'RE CROSSING OVER INTO THE AFTERLIFE!" Vivi shrieked as she began patting his face more urgently. "YOU NEED TO GET OUT OF THAT DREAM! NOW WAKE UP!"

"GAAAHHHHHH!" Usopp suddenly let out a scream, but then closed his eyes again. "Aaahhh, look at the Usopp Pirates all seventy-four thousand of them... they're such good brave warriors..."

"GET UP NOW! YOU HAVE TO WAKE UP!" Vivi yelled as she shook Usopp by his collar. "DO YOU HEAR ME? GRRRR!"

WHAP! "USOPP!" Vivi shouted as she slapped the sniper's face. WHAP! "USOPP!" WHAP! "USOPP!" Over and over again Vivi slapped Usopp's face in an attempt to wake him from his dreams of the afterlife.

A good ten minutes later, Usopp was finally awake. "Oh wow!" Usopp exclaimed. "You saved my life Vivi! I was almost a goner there for a second! I'm lucky to be alive! That was a close one, really, so close! Except that... my face feels kinda swollen..."

Vivi smiled sheepishly as she walked in front of Usopp, the sniper's face was swelled up to five times its normal size from all the times she'd slapped him. He was also sporting a black eye and a bloody nose.

"Oh, it's the cold," Vivi assured him while attempting to look innocent, "that happens. It's an unfortunate side-effect of a snowy area."

"Hmm..." Usopp murmured to himself, but Vivi quickly cut him off before he could think about it too much.

"What matters now is figuring out where we are and what to do next," Vivi resolved. She stepped on a small hill of snow, but then fell backwards when it started rising up. KROOOSH!

"AAAAAAAAAHHH! MONSTER!" Usopp screamed as a snow-covered figure pushed itself out of the snow. The snow fell off of the figure to reveal... Zoro?

"Whoa, that was a close one," the swordsman remarked, he was still only wearing a pair of pants. "Why do I feel like I dreamed about a field of flowers?"

Usopp and Vivi stared at Zoro in shock as he continued to grumble to himself. "Hit by an avalanche in the middle of a training session... not my idea of an ideal workout. But I guess it is kind of like swimming in snow..."

"Zoro?" Usopp called out to the swordsman.

"Oh, hey Vivi," Zoro replied when he noticed the Princess still on the ground where she'd fallen. "What's up?" He stared at the figure standing behind Vivi for a moment, it had curly black hair, a huge head, a black eye, and a long nose. Long nose... "Oh! It's you, Usopp! What are you guys doing all the way out here in the snow?"

"THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT WE WERE GONNA ASK YOU!" Usopp and Vivi snapped at the same time.

-x-

THOOM! The body of a large bruise-covered lapin hit the ground and laid unconscious at the feet of Wapol, Chess, and Kuromarimo. "MAA HAHAHAHAHA!" Wapol laughed. "TAKE THAT YOU STUPID BUNNIES! YOU PATHETIC CREATURES GOT EXACTLY WHAT YOU DESERVED FOR GOING UP AGAINST THE KING!" The unconscious bodies of the herd of lapins were all around the trio. "Still... it annoys me that I had to expend so much of my power against a pack of over-grown rabbits!"

"There was no helping it sir," Chess pointed out. "They are the fiercest animals in Drum Kingdom."

"AND YOU'RE NEXT!" Wapol shouted up at the top of the Drum Rockies, "STRAAW HAAAT!"

-x-

"Wh-what's your idea?" Luffy asked as he hung on the side of Drum Rock, only about a third of the way up.

"If I t-take off m-my eye patch I c-could f-fly us all up there," Y/N explained. "I c-could keep us away from the f-freezing w-wind and we'd be able to go at a st-steadier p-pace. I c-could p-probably get us up there in h-half the time it would take y-you."

"D-do you think you can c-control it?" Luffy inquired.

"I'll have to," Y/N resolved as he glanced down at Sanji and looked over his shoulder at Nami and Ms. Valentine, "It's for their s-sake. I'll also h-have to knock y-you out so it doesn't start urging me to k-kill you out of b-boredom."

"You're st-stronger than the eye," Luffy stated. "I know you c-can handle it. Go f-for it."

With his legs still wrapped around Luffy's waist, Y/N reached up with his arm that wasn't holding Sanji and placed it on the back of Luffy's head. WHAM! Y/N drove Luffy face-first into the side of the mountain and knocked his brother out, then quickly reached up and grabbed hold of the handle of his sword.

Luffy's hand slipped off of the sword and his rubber upperbody hung limply. Y/N pulled all five of them up with his one arm and then used his mouth to grab hold of the handle of his sword. "Here goes nothing," Y/N thought to himself as he reached up and raised his sunglasses and his eye patch. The Eye of the Devil glowed when it was uncovered.

Y/N used the telekinesis to float away from the side of the mountain. SHUNK! His sword and Luffy's feet were pulled out from the side of the mountain as he floated there in midair holding the other four.

SHWWWOOOO! Y/N shivered as the wind blew down the mountain and rushed passed him. He pulled his sword out of his mouth cut his arm, which had turned purple from the cold, and sheathed it. With that taken care of, Y/N floated backwards and levitated outside of the range of the wind.

Y/N snapped his free arm downward and he went flying upward towards the top of the mountain. WOOOSH! Now that he had not only two eyes, but also the red eye's enhanced vision, he could make out the top of the mountain up above him. Y/N flew upward at a fast pace and in five minutes time he was halfway up the mountain.

"Interesting situation you have yourself in, brat," the spirit of the Devil's Eye commented in Y/N's mind. "But your time's up."

"Shut up," Y/N replied as he continued flying upward.

"You're pretty high up," the demonic spirit observed. "I wonder which of your four friends here would survive the fall from this height."

"You're not gonna find out," Y/N answered.

"My money's on Straw Hat," the Eye continued as if Y/N hadn't thought. "He is rather durable. But I doubt he'll be in any shape to stop me from killing him when I get down there."

"You're not killing anyone," Y/N insisted.

"And just who's going to stop me? You? You're weak. You can't fight me."

"I'll fight you as long as it takes me to get to the top," Y/N stated.

"You think you can stop me from gaining control?"

"The first time you caught me off guard. I wasn't ready. Now, I'm prepared to fight you off until I reach the top."

"It makes no difference whether you're prepared to face me or not! YOUR FRIENDS ARE ALL GOING TO DIE!"

"No they won't. I'll keep you from getting control."

"YOU CAN'T STOP ME, YOU PATHETIC MEAT-SACK!"

"YES I CAN, YOU PARASITIC BALL OF DEMON CRAP!"

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?"

"I called you a parasitic ball of demon crap. You may think you're all powerful, but all that power means nothing if you don't have a host. Without me, you're nothing but a red ball of demon shit! And without me, you'd still be stuck in the chest in that cave. I may be just a human... BUT YOU'RE NOTHING WITHOUT ME! AND YOU WON'T STOP ME FROM REACHING THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN!"

"..." The eye was rendered speechless as Y/N picked up speed and continued flying up the side of the mountain. Their argument had distracted the eye enough that he was already two thirds of the way up to the top.

-x-

Ten minutes later Y/N was almost at the top and was still in control. The Eye was still seemingly in shock from earlier and hadn't said a word.

"Almost there," Y/N thought to himself as he spied the peak of the mountain, he was about seven eighths of the way up. Compared to the long journey it had taken to get to this point, that was nothing. "Just a little further. I can do this."

-x-

SKUSH! Y/N flew up over the peak of the mountain and slammed down into the snow on the top. Y/N let go of Luffy and pulled down his eye patch. He was smiling, he'd won a major battle against the eye and he'd made it up the mountain.

Y/N stood up and with Luffy tucked under one arm, Sanji tucked under the other, and Nami and Ms. Valentine still on his back he trudged towards the castle. The magnificent white castle showcased Wapol's selfishness. It had countless towers and windows meaning it could have hundreds of rooms for the King's personal use while all the citizens were stuck in tiny one room huts down at the bottom of the mountain.

Y/N walked up to the front door, which he was surprised to see was opened, and saw a large monster looming in front of the castle. Y/N shrugged and walked up to the monster and looked it up and down, it was about eight feet tall, and had the physique of a muscular human but it was covered in brown fur and had a blue nose. It wore maroon shorts and a pink top hat with a white 'x' on the front.

"Hey buddy," Y/N greeted the monster. "I've got a bunch of sick people here. Do you think you point me in the direction of the doctor?"

The monster stared at Y/N in surprise. This human was wearing a pair of sandals and a t-shirt, his arms and feet were turning purple and his face was pink from the harsh cold. But even stranger than the human's appearance was the fact that he wasn't scared by the monster's appearance. Everyone on this island was afraid of the monster. But this odd human just walked right up to it and asked for directions!

Not knowing what else to do, the monster took a deep breath, and let out a loud roar, hoping to scare the human like all the others. "RAAAAAAHHHRR!" But the human just stood there with the same facial expression from before. The sunglasses hid the human's eyes so the monster wasn't even certain if he had blinked.

"Wow, that was really scary," the human remarked. "But on my way up here I ran into a herd of rabbit-gorillas. They were about your size, but there were like twenty of them, and they had claws. They caused a huge avalanche that almost killed me. Sorry buddy, you had a tough act to follow. I'm sure if I met you first I'd be intimidated."

The monster stared at the human in surprise, he was consoling him for not being scary! This human had survived a hoard of vicious man-eating lapins, as well as that huge avalanche from a couple hours ago, and managed to climb up the side of a fifteen thousand foot mountain carrying four other people with him. How else could the human have gotten up here? Humans didn't fly. The human was more of a monster than the monster was!

"Chopper, what's going on here?" came the voice of Dr. Kureha. The monster leapt backwards and ducked behind the much smaller woman in an attempt to escape the monster-human.

"Are you the witch-doctor?" the human inquired. "The two on my back were infected by a bug bite from the last island. They desperately need a doctor. And the blonde guy probably has some broken bones. Do you think you could take a look at them?"

"Did you climb all the way up here?" Dr. Kureha asked the human in surprise. "I'd better take a look at you too."

"Them first, they're my friends," the human requested. Chopper the monster stared at the human in surprise. The monster-human climbed all the way up here and nearly got killed by an avalanche caused by a herd of lapins just to help his friends! Friendship and loyalty were things that were very foreign to the monster.

"Very well," Dr. Kureha agreed.

"Hear that Nami?" the monster-human seemingly addressed one of the unconscious females on his back. "I got you up here like I promised." FWUMP! With that the monster-human fell to the ground unconscious.

"This island's just crawling with weird-o's today," Dr. Kureha muttered. "Chopper, let's get them inside."

-x-

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!!