"Is this another winter island?" You ask. "Or is it just winter for this island?"

"It's both a winter island that is currently in the midst of winter." Robin explains, reading over some notes.

"Chopper, Zoro, Brook and Sanji are going to accompany Luffy this time." Nami says. "The cold's too big a risk for the rest of the crew. There's a port town nearby that's friendly, so Jinbei and Robin will get supplies. Franky can you help them?"

"Suuuuuuper glad to do so, Nami!" Franky answers. He seems to be shivering a little, but he still doesn't have any pants on.

"Then, I-."

"You're coming with us." Zoro says as Luffy's arms stretch past his coat and yank you over to the away group.

"M-me? Why? I - I mean, this is your crew's big quest right? I shouldn't interfere." You reply, untangling yourself from Luffy's arms. Avoiding Zoro was hard enough to do on the ship, and you knew there was still more he wanted to talk about, but if you went with the adventure team you wouldn't be able to get away.

Well, but he wouldn't force you to talk with everyone else around either. So it wouldn't be that uncomfortable, and you really did want to see more than just a couple towns' worth of an island.

"Aside from Chopper you're the best suited to this island. If something goes wrong, you can get us back to the Sunny." Sanji says. "Not that we expect anything we can't handle to happen, but the weather can be more dangerous than the creatures here."

"Mr. Brook is -."

"-not strong enough to haul us back by himself." Zoro says flatly.

"Besides, I want you to come along!" Luffy adds cheerfully. "You shouldn't go back home until you've gone on an adventure with me!"

It wasn't a strange thing to say, and the statement had you torn between feeling accepted by the crew and sad at the reminder that you'd be leaving them behind. Regardless of the swirl of emotions, you found it was exceptionally difficult to deny Luffy's honest request. You felt like people couldn't bring themselves to say no to him as often as they'd like.

"Alright, then I would be delighted, captain."

It was quite the sight as the five of you set off in the snow. Chopper made himself large - a form you remember him using to carry you when you were hurt - and let Luffy sit on his shoulders as he plowed through the snow and made a path for most of the rest of you. Brook walked atop the snow, keeping an eye out a full waist-height above the rest of you. It hadn't been surprising to see him do it, after all you had seen him run across the water, so you knew he was light footed.

Sanji and Zoro got along surprisingly well. There was some bickering between them at the beginning of things, but once the ship was out of sight the two of them seemed to focus on the surroundings more than whatever rivalry was between them.

Even with Chopper plowing the way at the front, it was always slow going in such deep snow. You missed your winter magic at a time like this because you could've used it to make a path.

When the sun started to set it was clear you weren't going to find a cave or a thicket for shelter. You had all brought supplies, but this island's weather was severe, and now was probably the worst time to be on this island without shelter.

"I know you lot are amazingly strong, so I'm going to make a suggestion I wouldn't bother bringing up with anyone else," you start explaining. "But there's two things that are good to know in weather like this. Controlled packed snow is a good insulator, and if you can get to the dirt, even just a few feet down, it'll be tens of degrees warmer than the night air. If we can get into a dirt depression and roof it with snow, you'll all be warm for the night."

There was a flurry of activity from Luffy, Zoro and Sanji, and once the ground stopped shaking you saw that they had done exactly as you had hoped. There was a four-foot deep, round depression in the ground, the displaced earth pushed up around it. This allowed you and Chopper to make a dome from the snow, using Brook's capacity to freeze things to help stabilize it all.

In twenty minutes you had a snow-capped mud hut with a vent hole and a fire going. A testament to their time together and trust in one another is that they hadn't coordinated a single thing after you had explained what needed to be done. Working so well with one another with hardly a word was impressive.

"This is nice (Y/N)!" Luffy says, taking his coat off as the space has quickly warmed up. "We would've been all snuggled into Chopper in one of the tents without you."

"I'm certainly grateful I'm not trying to make stew at a fire out in that cold. But, if you're all cursed to not be affected by the cold, how do you know things like this?" Sanji asks as he's making something to eat.

"We learn winter survival techniques because squires aren't cursed, and sometimes we escort outsiders to the duchy. So, you need to know how to keep them safe." You explain, setting up tent tarps with Chopper's help.

"Three master knights can do what you three did, though it takes them a little longer, but it allows us to keep our charges safe. Frostbite is difficult to treat, so it's best to simply avoid getting it."

You sit down and have bone-warming stew with everyone else. You might not be bothered by the cold, but the soup still makes you feel good. The group is surprisingly quiet compared to how they are normally, but most of the night passes with the others explaining to you why they're traveling to the islands to search for clues about this One Piece.

The simple version is that the other islands have clues within them about how to detect it. The location has been known for centuries, that's why the Grandline Metropolis has developed where - and how - it has. The problem was what Jinbei had pointed out to you, that it was akin to detecting a single drop of water in a 600 square kilometer city.

The clues - often carved into indestructible blocks, set in immovable locations - used to be guarded. But once the Emperors descended on the metro forty years ago, everything changed. Most people who were after the One Piece didn't even travel the world to collect the clues anymore, they just threw themselves against the city.

But the clues were open to interpretation, since the original speakers of the language were long gone, only linguists and archaeologists had a chance of deciphering the stones. Any nuance of the language, either in word choice or idioms was lost to time. Sure, you could know that a word means "bird" but does it mean sparrow, eagle, or penguin? Does it refer to a type of travel? Was it slang for a person or place?

Native speakers wouldn't bother clarifying because the intent was second nature to them. Add to that the drift in language over the centuries, and you simply had a whole lot of variables.

Researching the clues and the language was strictly against the law, on top of it all. So the very act of having interest in the One Piece was enough to be denounced as a pirate.

Given his usual demeanor, you were surprised how seriously Luffy spoke about it. He let the others fill in some of the details on things, but his focus and knowledge about it were impressive. He might look and act like a carefree farm boy most of the time, but when he spoke about his dream there was almost terrifying focus coming from him.

You doubted the end of the world would stop him.

It took two more days to find what you were looking for. You understood why most people wouldn't try to do this during this island's winter season, and you were glad that you were able to help keep everyone safe as they trekked through the wilds of this island.

"That cave?" You say, pointing again. There's a nod from Sanji and you look back up.

It's not a cave, it's a hole slapped in the sheer side of a cliff face, with nothing but a sharp jagged peak above it, so you can't even rappel down from above. If you had ice hooks and spiked boots you could, maybe, dangerously, claw your way up there.

You were getting ready to ask how anyone except for Sanji was expected to get up there when Zoro suddenly hugged you close to his chest. A second later you noticed Luffy's arm stretching past you and pulled everyone together. Curiosity was winning out against embarrassment, but you didn't get to ask what was going on before the stretchy arms tightened around everyone.

Terrible realization dawned just before the inevitable happened. "Oh, no waaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!"

The sudden rush of air left your stomach somewhere on the ground as the rest of your body was hurled through the air. You grabbed onto Zoro and braced for the impact, but you were surprised to find it didn't hit as hard as you expected.

Luffy managed to absorb most of the shock from the rough landing, and Zoro took the rest. You weren't sure how to feel about being protected, but you had been nearly forced to come along, so you could understand why you'd get the special treatment.

You got a good look around as Zoro set you down. You weren't in a cave made of ice, which you had expected due to the prolonged winter the area saw, added to the elevation of the cave – it simply wouldn't ever get warm enough to melt up here. What you saw instead was far more surreal.

"There's... pieces of rock, frozen together. Like the mountain fractured and nearly blew apart, but froze in place before it could get very far." You murmur, running your fingers over the glass-smooth ice.

"It's possible. The World Government tried to destroy the clues, and when that failed, they tried to bury the means of reaching them." Brook says. "All attempts failed. After a decade of trying, they simply gave up. Outlawing searching for the clues was their last attempt at stopping people."

"But then the clues themselves became a kind of common knowledge, and stopping people from going to the clues' locations became pointless." Sanji adds, lighting a new cigarette. "That's why we haven't run into many marines – except in towns and cities."

Luffy led the way, and soon you were walking by the dim light of Brook's soul while Zoro carried his body. The deeper you went, the colder it got, and while the cold wasn't going to bother you, what bothered you was that you could feel it.

"You all okay?" You ask.

"Eh?" Zoro grunts.

"I can feel the cold, so it has to be painfully cold in here."

"It's stinging my eyes." Sanji admits.

"My nose is numb."

"I'm okay." Chopper answers, but he's transformed into his speed form already. The both of you are ready to drag everyone back out at top speed if it gets too cold.

After a couple more minutes the small passage opens wide. The huge cavern is warmer than the tunnel that led to it, but not by much. Light from the sky trickles in through the crystal clear ice, dancing around the shards of rock entombed in the icy ceiling.

Your jaw's practically on the floor as everyone fans out and takes in the room. Brook returns to his bones and you let everyone get to work as you're taking the phenomenal sight in. You can't imagine was combination of haki and devil fruit did this to create this cave, or what hand of Fate or God bade it so, but it was unlike anything you had seen before.

And you thought you had seen all Winter had to offer.

"This is breath-taking." You murmur softly, minding the others as you walk around. After a moment you pull your gaze from the chandelier worthy ceiling and take in the rest of the room. Glancing down at the floor you heart stop, and your body freezes in place. You almost didn't want to look down, but you take a step back and look at the floor.

It's a map.

Perfectly formed, completely clear, the shattered lines of broken ice beneath a completely smooth floor, form a map. Brook is beside you, you can barely feel his presence, but he's right there, his calm voice reaching into your ears.

"No one's been able to discover the island this map corresponds to. Some say it's the true location of the One Piece, but others think it's another piece of the puzzle, and not so directly related." He explains and you can feel your heart beating in your ears.

"No one will ever find this island." You say, and your shaky voice pulls the attention of everyone in the room. "It's not an island. It's the Duchy of Winternight."

A/N - and just like that I made more lore for all my located-in-the-Metro stories. Completely unplanned, and yet flexible and viable. So yay XD