Chapter 5: Cold Clues
Nami had explained to you how a lot of the islands in this world had their own climates, and often their own seasonal cycles, seemingly independent from one another. They were, amazingly, interconnected, but so fine and variable and complex was the system that connected them that not many people could comprehend it. Nami had a natural talent for it, and was herself amazingly smart, and these things made her a strong navigator.
Which was to say you weren't surprised to have left a calm cool ocean only to find yourself at an island buried under snow.
What you were surprised by, was how quickly the crew had ended up scattered.
You were walking through the snowy village with your coat over your shoulder, Dr. Chopper walking with you. He had taken a form that looked mostly like a reindeer, but considering you were walking around in normal clothes you were more the sight than him.
"You're not cold?"
You shake your head. "Winternight knights are cursed," you turn to him. "Ah, by cursed I mean a specific kind of magic, not something inherently bad. Enchantments effect objects, enhancements are temporary, but curses last forever. All knighted warriors in the duchy are cursed to acclimate us to the cold." You look around and begin to wonder if you shouldn't just suffer under the coat. "Seems the effects have followed me here."
"People will probably just assume you are a Devil fruit user." Chopper assures you. "But uh, you are gonna stick in their minds like this."
You put the coat on and can already feel yourself heating up. "Does this happen often?"
"Huh?"
"We had a plan." You grumble.
Chopper smiles at you. "Oh, yeah, this happens a lot. Let's get what we can and head back to Sunny. It'll work out, it always does."
You take Chopper's advice and focus on the task you were both given - clothes for yourself, and medical supplies for the ship. You were supposed to have Zoro and Sanji with you, but a ruckus in town had separated you and the only one you found after was Chopper.
Jinbei and Brook had left with Luffy to scout around the town and see what they could find, and everyone else had stayed with the ship.
At least with just you and Chopper things were peaceful.
"Do Mast- er, I mean do Zoro and Sanji hate one another?" You had been asked to drop formalities by most of the crew that morning and were working on it. "They seem to be perpetually at odds."
"They don't hate one another," Chopper assures you. "No one can say for sure what goes on between them, but there's respect and rivalry there. Nami says they look up to one another and are too pig-headed to admit it, so they get into arguments."
"Hm." You smile at the revelation. "And yet they are in sync enough to fight well together. There were a few young knights like that back home."
You two continue the rest of your trip in relative silence, working your way through what you needed to buy and keeping one another in line of sight the whole time. You were already on your way back to the ship when things went wrong.
Chopper grabbed you by the arm and pulled both of you into an alleyway. You ducked down and hid as he turned into his smaller form and listened as a small group of marines passed by.
"They say she's been spotted here in town, we have to find her and let boss Smoker know. The bounty is only alive, so stay alert."
You looked over at Chopper with a bit of a scowl until you realized the young reindeer looked scared. You tilt your head questioningly and he just shakes his head for now. You write the first few letters of Smoker's name in the snow and then draw a check mark and an X under it. You point to yourself and your sword and then point to the name and symbols.
Chopper looked between you and the note for a moment before he circled the X with his hoof. You nod in understanding. As far as Chopper is aware, the person in question is better to avoid than face. You tap him and point down the alley, and then point up and put your hand over your eyes and pantomime looking around.
Chopper nods and heads into the alley with you close behind. He's built to be quiet in the snow and you're trained to be quiet in the snow, so it is relatively easy going for both of you. Looking around carefully you find a point where you can climb up and get a look around. Your coat is an off white, so you leave it on as you make your way up onto the building's roof.
Crouching down you do your best to look around without being seen. There are a couple easy to spot groups of marines, all likely looking for you, and your new vantage point gives you a clear view of the area around the town. There are three marine vessels docked at the harbor - the sails are unmistakable even from this distance, and you understand now why the Sunny had been docked so far from the town.
Dropping back down you look at Chopper and shake your head.
"We're going to have to run for it. The net will get too tight if we dawdle and we both would do better in the woods than the marines." You say quietly.
There's a shrill whistle and you both look to see a young marine looking down the alley at you. You grab Chopper and run, any delay at this point would be disastrous for you both.
You hook toward the harbor at first, and then cut toward the forest. The marines had been working their way into the town itself, so it was statistically likely they were thinner nearer the harbor areas. Unfortunately, no matter which route you took to the woods you had to cross the main throughway that came up from the harbor.
The cacophony of whistles when you hit the open roadway set your teeth on edge, but you kept running. You didn't need to look behind you to know there were a lot of marines on your tail. You just had to be faster.
"You can transform," you hold Chopper out in front of you for a moment. "Can you turn into something fast?"
"Eh? Yes! I can!" He assures you changing then and there, running alongside you with obviously slowed steps.
"Then run as fast as you can and find help." You command. "I can't protect you against so many, but I can hold my own and make it to the tree line on my own."
"I can carry-."
"You're faster unburdened - go!" You shout, nearly smacking him on his hindquarters like a common horse.
Chopper opts not to argue any further and takes off. In a couple seconds he's so far ahead of you you're a bit taken aback by how fast that form is. You aren't slow either and the snow is your home, so you weren't being hindered by it like the marines chasing you.
Your only problem now was a matter of numbers. You were a single spot they were trying to box in, and they were many spots worth of people to create the box. Add to that you don't know what or who their leader is, and what magic they may or may not have.
Best case scenario was that you got away on your own and met up with Chopper before he needed to come back with help. Worst case scenario, you were captured, alone and without dragging Chopper or anyone else from the crew into it. Much as you didn't want to be apprehended, you would prefer it happen without damage to the crew that had helped you.
You strip the coat off and leave it to fall to the ground. Hopefully it wasn't terribly expensive, and if it was then you hoped Nami would forgive you. Less weight, less bulk, and less restriction meant that you could go faster. The only weight you weren't willing to dump was your sword.
"I found her coat!"
"Tell boss Smoker! If she freezes to death we'll be in trouble! Call in reinforcements and get the snowmobiles!"
"What in the hells is a snowmobile?" You grumble to yourself as you jump into the side of a building and vault yourself in a sharp angle away from it.
You have a sudden vision of someone striking you and twist your body out of the way, rolling off the side as fist cuts through the air where you used to be. Smoke coalesces around a gloved fist and a severe looking man with white hair, a scar on his face, and cigars – actual plural number of cigars - in his mouth forms in front of you.
Boss Smoker. Well, at least it was a safe assumption. He wore a marine uniform, but it didn't look to be strictly regulation. You were crouched, unsure if you were going to be forced to fight or not.
"Aren't you cold?" He asks in a gruff voice. He looks relaxed, but you're not that naive.
"That's quite the question when you're dressed like that yourself." You say. You at least were cursed, why the man before you had his jacket opened when he was shirtless under it in this weather was beyond you.
"Oh, you can talk." He muses. "Reports said you opened your mouth and sound rang out in the minds of those who were around, but no one actually saw you speak."
You glare at him, open your mouth as if to speak, and then turn suddenly and bolt. It wasn't that you weren't sure you could fight him, it was that if you let him keep stalling you, you were going to end up surrounded.
You were fast, but this man and his form didn't have to worry about the snow, and you didn't get far before you were surrounded by smoke. You focused haki into your shoulder and barreled into the smoke. Your reward was hearing a pained grunt from the aptly named marine as you managed to clear to the other side of him. He reformed and you caught a glimpse of surprise on his face before you continued to run.
It might've been better for this world not to know you could use haki, but even better than that was you not getting caught on your third day. You reached out with your observation haki again, searching for Chopper and anyone else from the crew while also trying to watch your back. It was tricky business, paying attention to several things while running through a foreign town, but your options weren't kind currently.
You saw the next attack coming, but there was no avoiding the disconnected onslaught. You ducked the strange, pronged weapon that came at you and hopped over the hand that went for your foot, but the best you could do about the boot to your chest was guard against it. The force of the blow was the first understanding you had of how strong and solid Smoker was, but even if he hadn't connected solidly, there was little else you could do in midair like that.
The attack pushed your back into a building, and rattled your lungs a little more than you anticipated. You cough, land on your feet, and draw your sword. You can't easily coat it in haki yet, but you need something to keep that strange metal weapon at bay.
Smoker forms in front of you again and you wonder idly if you can honestly take this man down enough to get away. You're not practiced in dealing with Devil fruit users, and you're not comfortable with haki enough to be combat ready. You have your sword skills, and you have faith in them, but this world contains other factors.
"Just come along quietly." He says, his body in that false relaxed position again. "I'm a lot more amicable than most bounty hunters are gonna be, kid."
You bristled. "I am a knight." You draw yourself up, no longer considering your escape routes. "I am no child." You were a little slight for your age, but you were in your 20s. People in your world were adults by 16.
Smoker's relaxed posture evaporates and he takes up a position opposite you. "My apologies, Miss."
"My name is (Y/N), knight of the winterlands, vassal to the Archduke of Winternight. Show me what this world has to offer," you demand, letting haki flow through your body as you would your winter magic.
You charged at the taller man as his jitte came arcing down toward you. Your blade came up flat and you shoved the attack aside as you slipped inside his guard. You weren't surprised when your sword cut through nothing but smoke, and so you followed the wide swing with a haki-coated fist and felt yourself connect solidly with the smoke.
Connecting with something that should be intangible was still an odd sensation and your follow through was lacking. You found your feet quickly, but your opponent was as much a seasoned warrior as you were, and his experience was better suited to this fight than yours.
Knights of the duchy fought monsters more than anything else.
A tug of smoke around your foot caught you off guard and slammed you into the - thankfully soft - snow. You let out a grunt of surprise and turned onto your back in time to block his weapon with your sword before it connected. You nearly swear under the weight of the blow, shifting to the side and skittering the strange blunt weapon down the length of your sword as you rolled away. You vaulted yourself backward, finding that you seemed stronger than you expected and almost shoved yourself into the air too forcefully.
You didn't see any other marines around yet and decided discretion was the better part of valor, but mostly because you could feel people closing in. You tensed the muscles in your legs and leapt with all the force you could manage and were delighted to find yourself up on the roof of the squat building you had been fighting nearby. Running across the roof you vaulted over to the next roof, continuing the movements until you had to land back on the ground to exit the town.
Once you reached the tree line you risked a glance over your shoulder and saw Smoker barking orders to nearby marines. They needed to follow you, but the forest posed more logistical issues than the town. You ran deeper into the woods, keeping your haki focused forward so you could locate Chopper or anyone else, and stop them before they went into the marine infested town.
It took a few minutes, but you found Chopper and you weren't surprised to see Zoro and Sanji with him. You called out and waved as you slowed down enough to sheath your sword.
"(Y/N)!" Chopper bounded over to you followed by the others. "You're hurt!"
"Huh, no I'm fine." You say, looking over your body and realizing you were injured. You had a fairly decent gash on your right upper arm. "Oh. Huh. I didn't even notice, sorry Chopper, it's not so bad. I must've slammed into something when Smoker shoved me into a wall."
"You ran into Smoker?" Zoro questions.
You nod. "And not far enough back to be safe yet, we should get back to the ship. The town's crawling with Marines, and they might start checking the bays and inlets." You explain as Chopper bandages your arm hastily.
"He's a tough one to shake off, that's impressive." Sanji admits as the four of you head toward the ship.
"I have to say, the most unsettling thing was how badly they want me alive," you admit, as your legs shudder under you. "Erm." You stop jogging and feel exhaustion sink into your limbs. "I don't know why I'm so exhausted all of the sudden."
"Stop using your haki." Zoro says, and you let it go.
"It's-."
"It's like a muscle," Sanji offers. "You gotta build it up."
"Ah. Sorry, mana back home was more like a pool - you had what you had and... oof." You had ceased using your haki, but you weren't prepared for how draining it had been.
Zoro lifts you up and puts you over his shoulder. "Be less troublesome next time."
"Don't go wandering off and leaving Chopper and I alone like that." You grumble in return, you wouldn't be in this situation if you hadn't been separated earlier.
"Tch. Where's your coat?"
"Somewhere in town, I'm fine. Even exhausted like this I'm not gonna get cold."
"She's cursed." Chopper says with a smile. "Keeps her warm."
"Cursed?" Sanji questions with a concerned tone. "Oi, Marimo, don't haul a lady around like a sack of potatoes like that!"
"It's a kind of magic, not a negative-."
"She's fine, cook."
You sigh and just let yourself slump against Zoro's shoulder as the two seem ready to bicker all the way back to the ship. There's a strange sound in the air under the sound of them arguing and you smack Zoro's back to get his attention.
"Hey, what's a snowmobile?"
All three pirates stop running and a strange buzzing sound can be heard in the distance. Sanji makes an aggravated sound and all three of them jump up into the trees.
"You've seen Frank's General, right?" Sanji says in a quiet voice. You nod, the machine was certainly a wonder. "A snowmobile is a machine like that, but it travels quickly over snow."
"Faster than me," Chopper admits.
"We can't outpace them, and we don't want to lead them to the Sunny." Zoro explains.
"So, we're going to fight." You sigh as Zoro sets you against the tree trunk, on a sturdy branch. You were tired, but the pursued rarely had the luxury of rest.
"We're going to fight." He says pointing to himself, Sanji And Chopper. "You're going to stay quiet, and as out of sight as possible."
Your pride wanted you to argue, but you wouldn't be much help until you had a chance to rest. You nod, leaning back against the trunk. You'd rather be helpful than a hinderance, but in that vein you needed to stay put.
The three of them drop back down into the snow, and stand quite openly in the forest. You feel something start to flow off Zoro and it was almost like he was screaming out at the world around him with his haki. It didn't feel uncomfortable, but it felt like a beacon, and seemed to work like one as well.
Strange metal rectangles with two or three people sitting on them slid into view and surrounded the three of them. Before you had barely sorted out how the snowmobiles worked, you were all surrounded. No one down below had looked up into the trees to see you, but you were still doing your best to stay still.
Smoker arrived as well, and a young, black-haired lady with glasses was with him. You wondered what kind of person brought their secretary with them, because despite the sword at her hip she looked more like an assistant, and less like a fighter.
"Roronoa!" She exclaims, pointing at him. Your eyes go wide, and you see Zoro flinch ever so slightly.
Ex-girlfriend maybe?
You tried to picture the demon-swordsman in a relationship with someone and nearly start laughing. Especially with someone who looks like an administrative assistant. That man has the entire crew on his shoulders with how protective he is – you know that, and you haven't even exchanged a hundred words with him.
It didn't take long after the fighting started that you realized there was a small problem. The dark-haired girl was a good swordsman, but Sanji wouldn't strike anyone who was a lady, and Zoro pointedly didn't want to fight her. Which left Chopper, but he wasn't quite strong enough, or at the very least her demeanor was shaking him up too much and he couldn't keep up.
She was, for whatever reason, legitimately pissed at Zoro.
A couple minutes into the battle Smoker had commanded all his men to stay back. It was the obvious call, none of them were doing anything except racking up personal wounds. They were entirely out of their league going up against Zoro, Sanji and even Chopper.
As far as you could tell, this battle was won. Smoker and Tashigi had a situational upper hand, but they didn't have the combined strength of Sanji and Zoro, with Chopper helping the situational upper hand was all but gone. You could see it in Smoker's body language that he was aware of this as well. After all, he had come into the forest to find you on your own, not part of the Straw Hat crew.
And yet he was still going to fight, you could tell that from his stance. It was admirable, in a way, doing what he believed was right despite knowing he wasn't going to win. As a knight you could appreciate that. A good knight followed their master's orders even if they didn't always agree.
A great knight served a master they believed in. One they didn't have to question.
Captain's already decided.
You caught yourself smiling before you cover your mouth. You kept one eye on the fight below you and one eye on the world around you. Knights had a sense of their space without the use of magic, so you could sense the creatures and forest around you without having to use Haki. It wasn't as accurate, but it kept you sharply aware of your surroundings.
Something tickled the edges of that ability and caused you to jolt in your hiding spot.
It was winter magic. You were sure of it.
Your limbs were moving before you even realized what you were doing. Equal parts of hope and fear spurred you on – was it a way home, or did someone else from the duchy get pulled into this world?
You could hear a ruckus from below you as you sprang from one tree to the next, moving on frenzied instinct, but you had no idea if you were the cause of the ruckus or not. When the trees thinned too much for you to stay in them you let yourself fall to the ground. Haki cushioned your landing, and your sword was in your hand as you ran.
Your legs ache, your lungs are on fire, and you can feel your body straining dangerously. You had worn yourself out burning through your haki earlier and you weren't recovered, but you needed to reach this feeling. You might break your body to reach it, but you will reach it.
The buzz of the snowmobiles tickled at your ears, and you kept track of the sound secondary to the tug you felt in your core. The ruckus was because of you, there was no denying it, and you were being chased. A beat of observation haki, however, left you with a comforting knowledge.
Marines were on your tail, but none of them were Smoker, and Chopper was coming up behind them quickly. No matter what, you weren't going to be completely on your own.
Just a little closer, you could feel it.
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