AN: I was actually a little shaky on this one, it's a little far-fetched, I will admit.
Chapters 29: Blood On My Hands
"Run for it!" Sanji shouted, us all turning tail as a tsunami of snow plummeted towards us.
"When we survive this, I'm gonna skin every one of those bastards!" I cursed, slogging through the snow.
"W-what do we do?" Luffy asked, looking around frantically.
"All I know is that Nami comes first! And second! And third and fourth and fifth!" Our cook shouted scanning all the area, "Over there!" Sanji yelled, pointing to a rocky outcropping, all three of us turning towards it and running as though our asses were on fire. The avalanche was getting closer and closer as we were to the cliff.
"Hurry, Luffy!" I yelled behind as our captain trudged through the snow, the extra weight bearing down on him as Sanji kept trucking ahead. "Shit! He'll never make it!" Turning towards him, I extended my hand. "LUFFY! STRETCH!" Doing so with a confused look, he complied and flung a rubbery arm towards me. Grabbing it, I twisted my body and shouted to Sanji, who now looked behind him. "SANJI! CATCH!" Throwing all my weight into the pitch, lobbed the rubberman and his charge towards the cropping, Sanji obeying and leaping into the air to cushion their landing, the moment I flung them, I charged my legs.
"Blitzkrieg!" I dashed as hard as I could, and leapt into the air to land on the rock with my comrades…until what felt like a bullet train slam into my chest mid-air, the snow sweeping me away from an outstretched hand to help me.
"KHURT!" They both shouted, instantly drowned out by the snow rushing to envelop me…it was like swimming in a whirlpool, I couldn't breathe, I couldn't keep my head above the surface, but I fought against the current, struggling to stay ahead…until a rushing object collided with my gut, and with the combined force of the avalanche, with another log smashing into my head…I gave way to the blackness and sank.
I don't know how long I slept…but I knew one thing…it was cold…and it was dark all around me. My mind was fuzzy…and now…I was tired…I was…so tired…my body was aching…I could not move…
"Am…I dying?" The cold began numbing me all over…the dreariness of sleep began casting its blanket over me once again…until I remembered one little phrase...and a pair of brown eyes that I had said it to.
"I…promised…" I thought, the blackness drifting away as my mind fought it back. "I…promised…!" My mind became sharper as I focused on those two little words, I could feel my Gem throbbing against my chest, power soon filling me. "I…WILL…" All over my body, the lightning arced into my muscles and invigorated them, I began feeling droplets of water fall onto my face, "NOT…" My powers began arcing out, my eyes barely opening to the vision of snow. I flexed my muscles and focused upon them. "I WILL NOT…!"
"I WILL NOT…!" I yelled, the lightning creating an aegis of electricity around me, the snow succumbing to its heat and melting before it. "BREAK MY PROMISE!" The shield soon expanded all around me, the light soon becoming too bright to see through, but I could tell its effects, the snow was near vaporized, steam and water gushing forth from the crater I had created.
I could only lay upon the melted ground, catching my breath as my vision slowly adjusted to the brightness of daylight. I lay there for only a few minutes before I could lift myself up, and saw a familiar face looking down upon me.
"Khurt!" Luffy now called down to me, extending his hand. Reeling me up like a fish, he hoisted me effortlessly upon the snow next to him, an unconscious Sanji under his other arm.
Finally getting my breathing back to normal, I looked at him and then at the cook hanging in his arm. "Out?" Was all I could say, a stern nod being my answer. "Nami?"
"She's okay…for now." He replied.
"Well…let's go…we don't have long until nightfall." I said, walking in line with him.
After helping him re-tie Nami to his back, I hefted Sanji and we continued. It wasn't until we came upon a small Lapahn digging furiously around in the snow that we came to a stop. It was putting all its might into scraping away the snow from a furred arm, mostly submerged save for its paw. It squeaked and yowled away as it kept on digging, stopping only to breathe warm air upon its red paws before returning. As we came closer, it noticed our presence and turned to us, snarling and yipping, soon cowering as we reached for it…only to move our hands around the larger paw, effortlessly excavating a scarred Lapahn from its icy tomb. We remained silent as we continued, the little rabbit creature hugging and crying for its saved parent…the one we rescued merely watching us take our leave, even to when we started to fade from view.
"We're almost there…hang on, Nami…." Luffy said to the unconscious navigator as we came within sight of the base of the mountain.
"Luffy, something's coming." I said, turning around to hear a constant galloping sound upon the snow behind us.
"STRAW HAT!" A familiar annoying voice sounded through the rushing wind, and soon its owner came into sight. Wapol and his two lieutenants, the jester man who was standing upon the ocean, and a guy covered in afros, all riding a wooly hippo with horse-like legs. "You've humiliated me one too many times, Straw Hat! I'm going to make you pay!" He galloped right past us and putting on the brakes, his hippo swerving right in front of our path.
"Move." We both said threateningly.
"Well, you hippos…" He said, leaning down. "Why the hell should I?" His eyes began darting back and forth between me and Luffy before he spoke up again, "That girl on your back and the blonde guy both look like they're dead."
Not even bothering to acknowledge him any further, the two of us merely walked around him and his hippo mount, creating a full circle of tracks in the snow as we met up and renewed our trek.
"Chess! I just thought of a new law!" Wapol cried out, "Anyone who ignores the king shall be executed!" It was then he began jumping up and down and fuming, "AT THAT VERY INSTANT! Kill the sick and injured ones first!"
"Yes, Wapol-sama!" They both cried in unison, leaping onto the ground and charging us.
"Damnit!" I cursed as the afro-man charged at me, the jester bounding after Luffy.
"Surprise Marimo!" The afro on his hand erupted with iron spikes as he tried to punch me, I leapt to the right and dodged it.
"Luffy! Get away! We can't fight them!" I yelled at him as he let go of Nami with one arm and formed a fist, quickly rethinking it and hanging even tighter onto her. We both began dashing away, only when stopping when a row of teeth formed in the snow in front and tried to gnash us did we avert our course. Luffy leapt into the air above the biting attack, me jumping to the side, and again from the snow, they attacked. The afro man had me at his mercy as he descended from above, no chance to dodge mid-air, Luffy in similar straits with the bow-slinging jester.
"CHECKMATE!" The jester and afro both yelled…until two white flashes darted upon the snow and smacked them both silly. Two Lapahn landed and looked back at us, raising their arms in the air and flexing, one of them bearing a familiar scar, but also a small rabbit mimicking their pose upon its back.
"Thank you…" I said, bowing my head slightly before meeting up with Luffy and continuing our ascent.
The sun was beginning to dip in the horizon when we finally made it to the base of the mountain, small ridges like scales were rung all over its surface, allowing one to grab onto them.
"Luffy…with our gloves on, we won't have the grip to climb up these." I said, grabbing onto a lower one and instantly sliding off.
"We'll just take them off then." He replied as he began to slide one off.
"No." I interrupted his unclothing, before turning to him. "You need those on…Luffy…can you take Sanji for a second?" A nod in confirmation and I handed Sanji off to him, tucked back under Luffy's arm as I approached the mountain, running my hand along it, I focused my power into my arm muscle and punched it, a small fist-sized, half-foot-deep cave crackling into existence. "Good." I said, crackling my knuckles, turning back to him. "I'll go on ahead of you, and keep making these holes for you to step and grab…but you'll have to take Sanji on your climb up."
He merely looked at me for a second before responding. "You're not rubber…doesn't that hurt?"
"No…I'm not…and it does…but only slightly." I remarked, making another fist. "If you can bear their burden, I can bear the pain."
We began making headway up the mountain, me punching holes…every few feet I climbed I made a line of indents, Luffy not far behind with Sanji hanging by his teeth. After about twenty minutes of climbing, the biting cold soon got to me, and ignoring the shivers that plagued my body, continued to provide a safe route for my nakama up this demon mountain.
It wasn't until I could feel blood pool inside my gloves that I started to worry, the numbness in my fists fighting against the bitter pain following every hole that made. It only got worse as we climbed, Luffy struggling with his three combined weights that he had to pull as the injuries I had acquired from the avalanche began to resurface…clenching my teeth and cursing whatever god had it out for me, we pressed on. Luffy had placed his jacket on Nami before the climb to prevent her getting any colder than she was, and it now decided to blow off into the wind. My head began turning fuzzy as I struggled further and further to the top.
"Come on…come on!" I screeched in my head, as my mind began getting hazy. "My gloves are more blood than hand…its…dripping down my arm…NO!" Shaking my head I continued at an even faster pace, my mind turning to dark places.
"What if I had just stayed in Bighorn? Then Luffy would be bloody and not me...he would be in pain and I could sit comfortably…he would be…alone…in this…and I…" At this point, I opted to look down at my cohort, and his nostrils flared as he gripped one hole after another, his skin turning blue as he huffed upward, he was faring a lot better than me.
"WHAT THE HELL AM I THINKING?" If I wasn't near blacking out I would've punched myself in the head. "I COULD have prevented this! I COULD have warned Nami about the disease, if I weren't so damned forgetful! I COULD have spared everyone…this pain…this pain of feeling they could lose one of their own…IT'S MY DAMN FAULT THEY'RE IN THIS!"
I picked up my pace, Luffy matching my new speed. "I refuse to let someone down again!"
We had passed the cloud line…and after what seemed like days, came into view. My eyes were fluttering now, forced to stay open as the cold seared my face and my body was bathed in my blood.
Punching another hole, I ignored the crushing pain that followed. "I…"
*PUNCH*
"WILL…"
*PUNCH*
"NOT…"
*PUNCH*
"HAVE ANYMORE…"
*PUNCH*
"BLOOD…"
*PUNCH*
"ON MY HANDS!" I surged forward at the last moment, collapsing onto the mountaintop, Luffy right in tow. I fell upon the fresh snow, staining them red.
"Made…it…" I mentally chuckled as I felt darkness coming over me once again.
End of Chapter
