Chapter Text
A short idiot with a big jaw was eating the Merry. "What the hell is going on here! Stop eating the Merry!" I yelled, and three soldiers surrounded me and pointed their guns at me. I turned to see the rest of the crew also in similar positions as me, so I just raised my hands.
"Don't eat my ship!" Luffy yelled and punched the guys around him.
"Should've done that from the start," Zoro smirked, loosening his cloak and slicing the guys around him.
Sanji smirked and started kicking everyone away.
"Guess that's my cue then," I say and duck; in a blink of an eye, I leg-swept the soldiers down, brought out 2 pistols, and started shooting at everyone. I then saw their ship and jumped onto it behind all the soldiers.
"Over here, you guys!" I said, throwing chompers at all the soldiers which got attached to their clothes and released grenades that blasted under their feet, and they fell into the sea. At the same time, I saw the guy eating Merry go flying past me.
"That was a great shot, captain! We won't see him again, hopefully!" I say as the Munchyguy disappeared to the horizon.
The soldiers that fell in the sea were desperately trying to climb back into the ship. "I want to steal this ship, but I don't have time for you lot right now. We have to go, so take this as our parting gift!" I say, pluck out the steering wheel of the ship and give it to the weird guy with a bow that managed to come on board.
"Goodbye!" I called as I jumped back onto the Merry. "Is the ship alright?" I asked Usopp.
"We can fix it" Usopp said doubtfully.
"Damn it, the ship's taking too much damage; at this rate, we will have to get a new one soon..." I said, examining the damage, and Usopp pushed me to the floor. "We are not replacing the Merry!" he yelled angrily.
"Alright, alright! Geez, Usopp, relax. We will do our best patching her up like we always do." I said, getting up slightly annoyed.
"I think I saw him somewhere before," Vivi thought out loud.
"Doesn't matter; he is just a moron," Luffy said, waving her off as we all went back in to check on Nami.
All of us decided to sleep in Nami's room for the night, dropping the anchor because no one can navigate well enough. Usopp woke me up in the middle of the night and asked for my help with repairs. Luffy is also awake, making faces to cheer up Nami, but the faces are getting increasingly creepy. I am glad Nami isn't waking up, or she might just get a heart attack from those faces. Sanji is keeping watch outside. I got out with my tools and started patching up the parts the Jumbo moron ate . I see that Usopp wants to be with Merry forever, but I can see clearly that every single part of Merry looks patched up now. We need a doctor for Nami and a ship doctor for Merry...
"Land close by! It's probably a winter island!" called Vivi.
"Nami! We are near an island! You will be fine!" Luffy said enthusiastically, looking at the island and jumping around in excitement like a kid. "It's so white! White! It must be snow! It's a snow island! I never saw a snow island before, but Shanks told me many stories about it. I am so excited!"
"Huh? Who is Shanks?" I asked him.
"Oh, did I not tell you about Shanks?! He is the coolest guy ever! He is also a pirate, and he is so strong! He gave me this hat! I promised to return it to him when I become the king of the pirates!" Luffy tells me about Shanks, even more excited than before to talk about his hero.
"Oh, but did I tell you about Vander? He is the coolest guy ever! He is cooler than Shanks, I bet! He was called the hound of the underground, you know!" I said proudly.
"Whaa! No! Take that back, Powder! No one is cooler than Shanks!" Luffy yelled angrily.
"Nuh-uh"
"Yuh-uh"
"Nuh-uh"
"Yuh-uh"
"Will you both stop that! We nearly reached land!" Zoro yelled, getting increasingly annoyed by us. And Luffy went back to his own thoughts. "Snow, I love snow. It's so white!" he started again.
"I am scared; wouldn't there be any snow monsters? My can't-go-to-island disease is acting up again!" Usopp whined.
"All this snow! I am so happy!" Luffy nearly teared up with happiness.
"Yeah, I never saw a snow island either; it's really beautiful, but it looks like an empty canvas, so white... I want to color the snow," I said, mesmerized by the snow.
"Alright, we may be able to stop here," Vivi said as we neared land.
"Alright, time to go doctor hunting," I said challengingly.
"That's enough, pirates!" Some people surrounded our ship with guns from higher rocks.
"Wait! We only want a doctor; our crewmate's sick. We are not here to fight!" I requested it amid hearing Jinx asking me to just blow them up.
"We won't fall for that! Filthy pirates! This is our island! We won't let any pirates land here! Raise your anchor and leave!" One of them shouted, and the rest supported him, yelling profanities at us. Jinx's suggestion is getting more and more tempting now...
Then suddenly one of them shot at Sanji's feet. Alright, that's it! Jinx is right! Though I will do this without her! I removed the pins of several grenades with my mouth; then all of a sudden, someone shot Vivi.
"Nah, that was a bad move!" I yelled and jumped, throwing grenades on the rocks they are standing on, causing all of them to fall in the ocean; some of them went deeper and saved the guy in the green coat from drowning. A devil fruit then... "Now we have the high ground; have a taste of your own medicine!" I yelled, bringing out Pow Pow, prepared to put a bullet in everyone's head, but Vivi grabbed my hand and stopped me.
Luffy took that as his chance and punched the guy that shot at Vivi with a Gum-Gum Pistol before Vivi managed to stop him too.
"Wait, both of you! Fighting won't help anything. I'm fine; it only grazed my arm." Vivi said, begging us to stop. Then she turned to the people and kneeled, bowing down, her head touching the floor. "We won't land here, but could we please ask for a doctor! Our friend is suffering from a grave illness. Please help, I beg you!" Since when do they teach princesses how to kneel and bow?
"Vivi?" Luffy is surprised by the princess's humility.
"You're not fit to be a captain, Luffy. Not everything can be fixed by acting recklessly," she murmured, and I had to stop this sudden urge to kick her into the ocean with those people; she's also nakama, she's also nakama, she's also nakama. I reminded myself repeatedly to stay in control.
But… yeah, she is out of line, but she is right...
Luffy also realized that and bent to his knees, begging the people to get a doctor... and soon one after the others followed his lead, kneeling to them, the last being Zoro, of course. while they swam to the shore and got out of the ocean.
"I—I'll show you to the village; follow me," the guy with the devil fruit conceded, still eyeing me with suspicion.
"You are amazing, Vivi!" Luffy complimented Vivi; I am still a little salty over the not fit to be a captain part, though.
We started walking to the village with Sanji carrying Nami on his back, leaving Zoro and, Vivi's rubber duck thing to guard the ship as the green-coat guy who introduced himself as Dalton guided us and the rest of his guys followed behind.
"I must warn you, the only doctor we have here is a witch," he said calmly.
"A witch?! Nothing here makes sense at all; what is this place anyway...?" Sanji asked.
"This place… doesn't have a name…"
"Why don't you name it then... or can I name it!" I asked, confused. He scowls at me angrily; he looks like he is still angry about nearly drowning.
So I just silently walked the rest of the way. Dolly's getting annoyed even if I breathe a little loudly, and the rest of his people are twitching whenever I make sudden movements. We finally made it to the village.
Dolly instructed everyone else to go back to their homes, and I sighed in relief, but they are concerned about leaving Dolly alone with us, and judging from their looks, they are just talking about me. Come on, people, that was a completely valid reaction to shooting my friend! But Dolly reassured them that he will be safe. So they asked to at least tie me up.
"No way!" I yelled, and all of them went for their guns again, and Luffy pulled me behind him. "She is not getting tied up!" Luffy declared. Argh, fine! "I will give you my weapons…" I whispered, surprised with myself.
"What?!" Luffy questioned.
"You can have my weapons; I am not that dangerous without them..." I sighed, dropping my weapons at their feet. Things I do for Nami and Vivi… argh. "But no one is allowed to touch them!" I warned.
Satisfied with this, they take my babies away from me, and I suppress a shiver; whether it's from the cold or from not having my babies with me, I have no clue. Luffy gave me a warm hug, and we took Nami to Dolly's house.
"I somehow feel like I've seen you before..." Dolly says to Vivi thoughtfully, and judging by Vivi's face, I need to get involved.
"Oi, Dolly! Where is this witch then?!" I switched his focus to Vivi as I saw his brow crease in annoyance; my charm's working, puhuhuhu.
"It's Dalton! The witch stays on the huge mountains you saw; they are known as the Drum Rockies. Dr. Kureha lives there in the biggest castle," he pointed out from the window.
"I thought doctors should be more accessible to patients," I pouted.
"Call her right away! We have a critical patient!" Sanji urged Dolly.
"Even if we wanted to, there is no way to contact her..." Dolly sighed.
"Huh?! What kind of doctor is she! She seems crazier than Singed!" I exclaim.
"She's a very skilled doctor, but she is an old hag; she is nearly 140 now," Dolly replied.
"Will she come here?" Vivi questioned,
"She comes here whenever she feels like it," Dolly replied.
"Oh, that's bullshit! Can't one of you learn medicine from her instead of shooting my friends?" I asked angrily.
"I guess we have to go up then," Sanji said, puffing a smoke.
"There is no direct way up..." Dolly replied.
"Then how the hell does the witch get down? She jumps?" I ask in exasperation.
"Well… she—it's actually a mystery; the rumor is that she is seen riding a sleigh through the sky..." Dolly started.
"Snowflakes dance as we fly," I interrupted, and his eyebrows twitched again. "What? I thought you were rhyming... unless you actually meant to say the witch is Santa?"
He glared at me some more before continuing, "She also has a creature that we never saw before; that's why we call her a witch. She is the only doctor here, but she is also a hag; I prefer staying away from her. All we can do is wait for her to come down again." He sighed.
"You can't be serious! Nami needs urgent care!" Vivi exclaimed,"
Luffy suddenly got up and sat beside Nami, and as we all started wondering what his 2 brain cells told him to do, he started slapping Nami.
"What the hell are you doing!" we all screamed at him, and Nami woke up.
"We are going to climb a mountain to see a doctor," Luffy informs her.
"Don't be crazy! I can fly! How high is the mountain anyway?" I asked Dolly.
"The drum rock is 5000 meters tall; can you fly?" Dolly asked, and I fell down with disappointment.
"Yeah, but my jetpack isn't made to fly that high; I can try though." I said slowly, You have to work this time, Firelight 2.0.
"Great! Take Nami with you!" Luffy began
"NO! I can't carry another person with firelight, no less a sick person! I will try to reach up, find the witch, and ask her to get her ass down here." I stopped him. I don't think I can even make it there; I never tested Firelight's limits before. I hope I can make it. Firelight wasn't designed for reaching great heights; it's more for travelling in the air for short distances. Let's see how this goes.
"Oi! Dolly, you have to go bring me back my jetpack; it's with my weapons wherever you guys took it. It looks like a backpack with 2 cylinder thingies on it," I dumbed it down for him.
"I am Dalton! I know what a jetpack is! I will go get it; you all get to the bottom of the mountain, and I will join you there," he said and left his hand twitching to reach his sword.
So we left Vivi to take care of Nami in Dalton's house, and we made it to the peak. It looks so much higher than 5000 meters; I gulped. Oh no, I won't make it, will I? No shot at all.
"Uhh… Luffy... please catch me if I fall," I asked hesitantly.
"Of course I will, don't worry, Powder!" Luffy assured me,"
Dalton came with my jetpack, but he also brought Zapper with him, and I raised my eyebrows questioningly at him.
"Uh... the old hag can get a little crazy; I can't send you there defenseless," he said, turning away.
"Aww Dolly, you are so sweet worrying about me."
"It's Dalton! Dammit!" he yelled.
I held firelight in my hands; you need to work on firelight! Please! I touched it to my forehead and equipped it.
"Are you ready, Powder? I promise I will catch you; you don't need to be scared at all," Luffy read me like a book.
"Do I really look that scared?" I ask, my voice breaking slightly.
"You sound scared too, shishishi. I will be here, Powder; don't be scared at all! You will make it there anyway!" He said with utmost confidence that even I started believing it. I nodded to him and asked everyone to stand back as I powered it up.
And then I was in the air flying, leaving a trail of green flames behind me. I will make it, I will make it, I will make it! I chanted as I zoomed rapidly through the thick clouds. I can feel my body freezing as I travel through the cold sky, and I can see the peak almost 500-1000 meters away from me when I turn my back to see the jetpack freeze up.
"Oh shit!" I yelled as I began dropping.
"Shit, shit, shit!" I muttered, removing the jetpack and trying to repair it midair with no tools. "Shit, Jinx, help!"
~I thought you didn't want to talk to me.~
~We're going to die!~
~So desperation, huh? You know, if we fall from this height, we will just be a splotch of red on the snow, right? I wonder how that would look!~
~Not helping at all!~
~Alright, Powder. We have time; don't worry. We still need to go like 3000 meters down.~
~Help! Or shut up! You will make me drop the jetpack!~
~We just need to remove the iced-up layer, short-circuit it, and the ice will melt.~
~How will that help us fly!~
~Don't short-circuit both engines, dummy! We can emergency land with one.~
~Alright, thanks, Jinx.~
I fried the circuit on the left side using zapper, which burned off the ice, and I am probably like 1000 m in the sky now, so I quickly put on the jetpack and tried to start it; it's not starting.
I looked down, and that did not help at all. As I rapidly descended, I saw a huge ball-like body—it must be Luffy using his Gum Gum Balloon. But if I impact with him at this speed, balloon or not, we both surely will perish.
As I started desperately beating the jetpack, its right side finally started and sent me some height back up before dropping me again, and I fell into Luffy's rubber balloon and trampolined into the ground.
I looked up to see Sanji, Luffy, and Dolly staring at me in concern, then I saw some stars at the corner of my eyes and then nothing as I passed out completely.