A/N: Here's the thing, I was going to stop it at 4,000 words but something in me was like 'you know what? you are going to keep going until this part of the arc is done no matter how many words long it is and how much of the fighting you cut out to have character growth and shit'. So somehow this ended up being just slightly over 6,000 words and I'm pretty proud of it.

Also, a huge thanks to everyone who is commenting and continuing to support me and this story. You have no idea how much it's appreciated!

Of course this would happen. Murphy's Law was really playing the part of the devil in this whole situation. Sanji and Luffy had already left for the doctor in the castle, the doctor in the castle had left for a small village and by the time we made it to the small village of Cocoa Weed (and I thought Australia had some strangely named places, they do, but this was something entirely other) she had already been and gone, onto the next village.

"We just missed her!" Usopp couldn't believe their luck, neither could I to be honest.

The little boy who she had just treated sat up from his bed and nodded, "Yeah, she treated me not too long ago."

"Do you know where she has gone now?"

I knelt down beside the little boy and he shook his head.

"I don't remember if she said where she was going, sorry miss."

Vivi smiled, "No problems, you just rest okay?"

"What are the chances of this happening? Like really? How is this our luck?"

Usopp clapped a hand onto my shoulder, "This seems to be the luck that Luffy has."

I laughed, a little too sharp to be proper humour. "More like the luck of a 'D.'"

"What has 'D.' got to do with it?" Vivi asked, confused.

"You know what? I don't know, but I've heard rumours that a storm will follow a 'D.' no matter where they are."

Usopp paused before answering, "You know what? I can believe that, I really can."

The barkeep called out to Dalton, "Are you looking for the doctor?"

"Yes, it's an emergency! Do you know where she went?"

A patron spoke before the barkeep could reply, "I heard someone say that she left for Gyasta."

"Gyasta?"

"Where's that exactly?"

"It's a village by the lake shore, much further north than here." Dalton paused before adding, "Ice skating is quite popular there, I've heard."

"We haven't got time to loiter around, we should leave immediately."

"I agree with Vivi."

The door to the bar slammed open, cold air rushing through the building and a man ran through, huffing as though he had run a significant distance.

"DALTON!"

"Aren't you supposed to be on guard duty today?"

"ALL THE OTHER GUARDS HAVE BEEN DONE IN! A SHIP JUST SURFACED AND ATTACKED EVERYONE!"

Now, didn't that sound familiar.

"Calm down, speak slowly. Who was it that attacked the guards?"

Sweat continued to poor down the mans face, terrified of saying the words he spluttered out.

"WAPOL! HE'S COME BACK!"

"Ebony! You're sure that this is the right way to Gyasta?"

"I'd ask Vivi that question, Usopp. She's the one reading the map, I'm just driving."

And I was, somehow, successfully managing the goats attached to the sleigh. Vivi was sitting next to me, pointing out directions, whilst Usopp looked on beside her.

"I think so, Usopp, but I'm not entirely sure!"

"You're not sure? That's not going to cut it, Princess."

"We'll get to the damn witch doctor, Usopp, don't go taking it out on the Princess."

Usopp sighs, apologetic. "I know, I know. Just imagine, though, what'll happen when Luffy and Sanji get to the mountaintop and realise that the doctor's missing. Who knows what they'll do then?"

Usopp took a deep breath and turned to Vivi, "Come on, you're a princess! Figure something out!"

"What does me being a princess have to do with anything?" Vivi rounded on Usopp, "Why don't you take a look at the map and figure something out?"

"There's nothing but snow out here! I wouldn't be able to tell North apart from South even with the map!"

"Children! Please!"

The two turned on me, "Why don't you do something, Ebony?"

"Well, we just passed a sign that said Gyasta, so I think we're headed in the right direction."

The two of them looked sheepish at arguing like battling siblings who turned to the older sibling to get the correct answer, when it had been obvious all along.

That made me miss my own family.

I had to stop myself then and there, if my thoughts headed into that direction I wouldn't be able to focus on the present and everything could be screwed up.

"Oh, okay." Usopp scratched at his head.

"Manners?"

Oh, now I sounded like my mother. Nope, not going there. Not now, later. Later, Ebony.

Usopp gave me a stare, but I glared at him. Manners didn't cost anything and apologising for certain behaviours could go a long way in getting people to view you differently.

"Sorry Vivi."

"I understand, Usopp. We're all worried."

Vivi's bottom lip trembled, she was struggling to hold back tears.

"We can't do anything now, alright? We just have to see if we can get to the doctor and back to her castle as quickly as possible, okay?" I locked my jaw, It's the only thing that we can do at the moment.

The only thing.

The sled, however, had come to a decision that the snow was too tough to continue moving through the quickly thickening snow.

"Guys, we're going to have to stop, the snow's too thick."

The deer didn't want to go any further, either. They were getting quite tired and I honestly couldn't blame them.

"And we're headed up the mountain, Ebony."

Suddenly there was a rumbling underneath us, the trees around us shaking and the snow was moving as if it had a life all of its own.

"What's that trembling?"

"Um, guys…"

"Usopp, Ebony, isn't that?"

"I think so." "Yeah, sure looks like it."

I did tell them not to anger the lapins.

"I'M GOING TO CHAR GRILL THOSE DAMN RABBITS THAT NEXT TIME I SEE THEM! WITH MY FISTS!"

"SANJI! WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?"

It was a genuine concern and surprise that Nami hadn't awoken from her almost coma-like state with all the movement and shouting that had been going on.

"How should I know?" Sanji's stamina was taking a bit of a hit in this cold weather, "All I know is that we have to protect Nami first!"

"How can we protect her if we can't protect ourselves?"

Luffy had made a good point, but Sanji was loathe to point that out to him.

Spotting a cliff, Luffy pointed and shouted. "You see that? We get there and stay there, we should be okay!"

"Ok!"

They took off running, going harder and faster than they had before to make it to the top the cliff, hoping against the odds that it would be enough to stay out of the path of the avalanche.

"We're safe!"

No sooner had they stopped and caught their breath, did the snow barrelling towards them seem to launch itself directly at them.

Luffy and Sanji were speechless, unknowingly thinking the same thought.

Didn't we get high enough?

"Honestly, how the hell did we manage to avoid that avalanche?"

I couldn't understand it, how did we? I could only think that something in the world wanted us alive, which wouldn't surprise me, being a member of a crew of D. There was just something about the world that wanted to make it difficult, but also to survive and thrive in difficult and outright impossible scenarios.

I'd carried Usopp over one shoulder, instead of Nami having to drag him like she had suggested she would. He'd taken a nasty hit to the head, thankfully not drawing any blood, but one couldn't be sure with head injuries and concussion.

"I see a beautiful garden!" Usopp sighed, dreamily. "It's not of this world."

I froze a little. I know that he exaggerated, lied, but could he have actually seen something? No, he couldn't have.

Vivi panicked, " That means you're going to heaven! Wake up Usopp! Wake up!"

"He's fine, he's just dreaming. Possibly concussed."

I wasn't paid any attention as Usopp shouted and almost kneed me in the back.

"Usopp's Pirates! Here I come!"

They're not dead.

"No! You can't die here! Wake up!" Vivi slapped Usopp a couple of times, whilst I held him still.

He soon came around and was able to walk on his own, but had (seemingly) no memory of the whole thing. Probably a good thing, because the slaps that Vivi had given him had left giant welts on his face and it had swelled up.

"Why have I got these bumps on my face?"

Both Vivi and I ignored him.

"We're glad that you're still alive, Usopp, although you may have concussion. We'll just have to be careful, okay?"

"Exactly, it must be difficult to live here."

"Maybe while we're here, Captain will somehow snag us a Doctor?" I muttered, not expecting anyone to actually hear me.

"Wouldn't surprise me." A chattering voice replied. A very familiar chattering voice replied.

I rolled my eyes. "Honestly Zoro, how on earth did you end up here? Where the hell is your coat?"

"I was swimming and there was an avalanche… I'm just unlucky." He shrugged, or tried to, shivering as much as he was. "I'll consider this as part of my training."

Luckily I'd worn an extra jumper, under the many many layers that I had. I'd forgo the extra warmth it it meant that Zoro wouldn't freeze to death.

"Zoro."

"Huh? Vivi?" He was only just realising how far away from the ship he was. "Usopp? What are you doing here?"

"THAT'S OUR QUESTION!"

"And Ebony! Why aren't you questioning it?"

"Why should I? He got lost, that's all there is to it." I turned to Zoro and handed him the woollen jumper. "Take this so you don't completely freeze, yeah?"

He took it, mumbling his thanks and with shivering limbs slowly dragged it over his head, sighing at the warmth that it had given him.

"Why were you swimming in winter?"

"Why not? I used to do it all the time?" This time I was the one receiving the strange looks, and Zoro nodding alongside me in agreement.

"For me, there were fish in the river and I thought that if I followed them, they'd lead me to the village. Then I got lost and decided to go for a walk in the forest."

"You're so stupid." Usopp couldn't help but shake his head in disbelief.

"Do you have shoes?" I'd given him a jumper, but I didn't have any spare shoes at all. He was going to have to get them elsewhere.

"Not at all," Zoro turned to Usopp with a slight grin on his face, causing the other male to become wary. "Can I borrow one of yours?"

Usopp put his hands up in front of him, as if that would stop Zoro from going after his footwear. "Sorry, after all you did this to yourself. You can't blame anyone else."

"Look!" Vivi's sudden shout distracted Zoro from launching himself at Usopp, who looked as if he were considering running away.

"Those houses look familiar!"

"I think that we're back to where we started, Vivi."

"I think so, too. This must be Big Horn Village."

The cold was something that Sanji was used to.

Not so much anymore, but it had been an almost source of comfort at one point in his life. A favourite punishment of his fathers you could say that he had turned into a positive, or at least a training tool.

Being locked in that cell, cold and damp as it was, was not able to prepare him for the utter icy chill that the avalanche had caused to him, his captain and friends.

He couldn't feel his hands, or feet and hoped that it was only due to the cold.

"Captain?" His voice was quiet, shot to hell.

He was lucky that Luffy had heard him.

"It's going to be okay, Sanji. I'm not going to let anything happen to you or Nami, okay?"

He need to know what happened. The last thing he remembered was attempting to kick a lapin out of their way and then cold. So he asked.

"The ship eating dickhead came back and the lapins saved us from him and his crew."

What?

"I saved one of the lapins in the avalanche, after I'd gotten you out of the snow, so that's why the helped us."

He didn't think that he'd asked out loud, but something must of shown on his face. His Captain was incredibly intuitive at times, especially in serious conditions and circumstances. It made it difficult to be mad at him, really.

That's when Sanji noticed where they were.

Currently, they were hanging off of the side of a cliff, somehow Luffy was carrying Nami on his back and Sanji in one arm whilst holding onto the cliff's side with his other.

This wasn't a great situation to be in, at all.

Sanji blacked out once again.

Chopper didn't know what to think of the three humans that he had brought back to the castle.

They definitely needed help and a doctor, but what had possessed the crazy humans to climb the damn mountain with lapins chasing after them, not to even begin to mention the avalanche that he was assuming was caused by said lapins.

There was one human made of rubber, odd but he couldn't talk considering that he wasn't exactly normal himself; the palms of his hands were bloody and torn, frost beginning to show on his feet and finger tips, serious frostbite; into the hot water he went. The blonde man was cold, too cold and making sure he got warmer fast was a top priority, as well as having several broken ribs and a partially broken spine. The red-haired girl was the sickest, her temperature almost beating impossible feats, her illness being caused by something ancient. Antibiotics were the only solution, her disease not being from the island.

The rubber boy was somehow still awake, "They're my… friends…"

He was clearly struggling to stay conscious.

"Don't worry kid, I'll help the blonde and the redhead as soon as possible." Dr Kureha was both amused and somewhat pleased, more patients meant more payment. But there was something about this kid and his strangely familiar straw hat.

"I cannot believe that they managed to climb more than five thousand metres!"

"Yes, yes. Would you be able to get some antibiotics for the girl?"

Just as he had thought.

"Infection, Dr?"

"Yes."

"Th..than..thank..thank you.." The rubber man struggled out, before succumbing to unconsciousness.

"I'll help them out now." Dr Kureha turned to Chopper, "Let's prepare."

That had been before, and after they had been treated, he had taken to watching them all at intervals to make sure that nothing flared up or got worse.

Unfortunately, it did get worse. Not for the patients, but for him.

The two male humans had decided that he was apparently food and not, as he was rightly trained, a doctor.

"STOP! I HATE YOU HUMANS!"

"DON'T RUN AWAY SWEET MEAT!"

"LUFFY! I TOLD YOU THAT YOU CAN'T EAT HIM YET!"

Chopper had had enough, shifting forms and slamming his hands downwards towards their heads.

"I AM NOT YOUR FOOD!"

Honestly, I do wonder why I had signed myself up to this absolute circus of a crew at times and this was definitely one of them. Zoro needed a pair of boots and a jacket, the woollen jumper not doing a whole lot to keep him warm despite my best intentions to help him not froze to death.

Zoro had taken out a group of armed men just so that he could have a warm coat and some solid boots. (The coat was even in Zoro's colour scheme of all things, green and cream. It was like it was just waiting to happen, destiny if you wish.)

"Really?"

Zoro had turned to look at me, "Why not? They don't need it anymore."

I sighed, knowing that whilst it was true, the man that Zoro had taken the items from would probably have frostbite.

Eventually.

Our current situation was this; arguing with a group of cowardly doctors after having dragged a frostbitten Dalton out from underneath the snow.

"We will take care of him, his body is oren but he is still alive."

"I thought that there were no doctors in this place."

Zoro looked towards Usopp for confirmation.

"Didn't you lot clear out with Wapol?"

I couldn't help but point out, arms crossed almost defensively in front of my chest.

"How can we trust you?" "You lot served Wapol!" "What are you trying to do to him?"

One of the villagers made to make their way in front of Wapol, but another held them back.

The doctor who had previously spoken removed his glasses, a cross look on his face. "Yes, we served Wapol. We were afraid of him, but we are still doctors. We will always do the work to help out those in this country."

Another spoke up, "A doctor should never give up so easily, we have learned from this. We will not lose anymore to that crazy man."

"Look, I get it. You were scared for your lives, perhaps even for your families," I ran a hand through my hair, loose as it was. "But the people of Drum trusted you, these people put their lives in your hands time and time again and you betrayed that trust. It's going to take a lot more than saying that you shouldn't have followed the man."

"What more do you want from us?!" One of the burlier doctors seemed to have lost his temper, stalking forwards to meet me.

Zoro placed a singular hand on the hilt of his katana, whilst Usopp and Vivi placed themselves behind me in defence. I didn't move. I wasn't going to be intimidated by someone who ran away from the duty that they had wanted to complete.

"I want you to do your damn job and do it well. I want you to be able to regain the trust of these people and I want you to stop using your size as an intimidating factor in how you treat people."

His posture shrank as my voice grew louder, prodding at his chest with my finger. Hard. He would definitely end up with a bruise at the rate I was going.

"Get to it!"

He backed away, slowly and then turned sharply towards the other doctors who were standing around Dalton. I turned my glare towards them and they all started getting to work saving Dalton's life.

"Heh," Zoro turned to me with a sharkish grin, patting my shoulder. "Not bad. Not bad at all."

I shrugged in return.

"We've got to get to the top of the Mountain, Mr Bushido."

Had Vivi called Zoro that before? I mean, I know in the manga and anime she did, but here in this life now I couldn't remember her ever calling him that.

True enough, I could see him mouthing the words, confused. I couldn't help but smile, despite the situation that we were in.

"I can't stay here after the avalanche," Vivi had continued, "Besides Wapol and his people are following the others. We haven't got a clue wether or not Dr Kureha is back at the castle or not."

"You're worried about Dalton and Alabasta, too." Usopp pointed out.

"Is it that obvious?"

"Yes. Yes it is."

"A bit."

Zoro and I calmly stated, but were ignored in favour for Usopp.

"Calm down, Vivi. You worry too much." Usopp dusted some snow off of his arm, "Luffy and Sanji will take good care of Nami. They shouldn't have any problems. Trust in them."

"Usopp, you're just scared about climbing the mountain, aren't you?" Zoro poked Usopp on the forehead with his pointer finger.

"Of course I am! There are snow monsters and the lapins on top of that mountain!"

"Just tell the truth next time." "It's scary up there!"

There was a sudden shout, several of the doctors behind us trying to calm an almost enraged Dalton, who had woken up.

"If we don't fight them now, this country will never rise again!"

He was arguing with both the villagers and the doctors now.

"You're injured!" "And we're too weak to fight them!"

"I will fight them, even if i have to risk my life! Even if I have to cheat, I will fight them with everything that I have!"

Complete silence went through the crowd at Dalton's passionate statement.

Turning to the others, I made to say something but stopped as Usopp stalked forward with a determined look on his face. He stopped before Dalton, who was leaning heavily on a large staff.

"Usopp?" Vivi looked confused, almost silently speaking.

"Get on, I will carry you to the castle."

Fuck, that was something badarse there.

Chopper was incredibly confused.

These had to be the strangest pirates that he ever met. Heck, the strangest humans that he had ever met.

He was laying injured on the ground from a blast from the vicious former king, staring up at the strange rubber boy in the straw hat.

The blonde man tilted his head, "What is he doing?"

Despite the rustling of the branches from the trees still living, the howling of the wind and the almost constant downpour of snow the voice of the Straw Hat wearer was clear.

"You're all a bunch of frauds! You became pirates without preparing to risk your lives! You will never understand the meaning, the real meaning of this flag!"

There was something else behind the boys voice, it may have been barely there, but Chopper was an animal (one who ate the Hito-Hito no mi, but an animal no less), he could hear the roar of the king of beasts. Almost silent, begging to be let out. It seemed to whisper, soon, soon.

"What the hell is so important about that stupid flag anyway? It's just a stupid decoration for pirates."

Wapol didn't seem to understand anything that he wasn't personally interested in, anything that he couldn't use to his own advantage.

"That's why you're a worthless piece of crap!" Came the answer from above.

"What did you just say?"

"This flag," and here the man gripped the flag pole tighter. "Is not something that you can just play with for fun."

Wapol seemed to swell with indignation, "You fool! Why do I, the King of this Empire, have to play with that stupid flag? And who said that you could put that flag up again?!"

He fired off several cannons, all the while shouting.

"Didn't I tell you that this Empire belongs to me?! If you still insist on putting out that flag, I'll destroy it for you!"

"Damnit! He's using the cannon again!"

Chopper couldn't take it any longer, shouting, "Get out of the way!"

The Straw-Hatted man didn't move, staring defiantly downwards. "This pirate flag is a symbol of faith!"

Chopper was shocked. He knew that it meant a lot, so much to himself, but for another to show that same regard for what amounted to be a piece of fabric? Astounding.

"Luffy!"

BOOM!

"Maaahahahahahahaha!" The despicable man was laughing. "Just die you idiot!"

The smoke cleared and a battered, soot covered man still stood tall.

"See? This flag will never be broken!"

"Is he out of his mind?"

Wapol stayed silent, furious.

"I haven't a clue whose flag this belongs to, but this flag is a promise! It's not just something that anyone can play with! A person like you doesn't have a right to destroy this flag and laugh about it!"

The roar behind his voice was louder now, still fighting its way to the front.

This is a real pirate, Chopper thought. He's brilliant.

"Hey reindeer!" Chopper looked up, "I'm going to beat them up real soon. So what are you going to do?"

Chopper was silent for a moment, "Me?"

Wapol and his retinue weren't having it. "You lot are idiots! If you really want to protect that student flag, I'll destroy the both of you alongside it!"

"That's enough!" The blonde made his way to help out in the fight, but was stopped by Dr Kureha and a swift kick to his back. "Stop it, Doctor!"

"Maaahahahahahahaha! What are you doing? Stupid! I'll destroy all of you!"

"Your Majesty! Look out!"

Whilst he was distracted by the byplay of the doctor and her wayward patient, Chopper had planned a sneak attack that was blocked swiftly by the former kings' aides.

"That's right! Beat them up, Reindeer!"

All throughout the Reindeer's battle with Wapol's men, Sanji could see the stars in his captain's eyes and knew that they would not only be leaving this place with a healthy Nami but also a new crew member. When he had set the three-minute time limit, Sanji kept a close on his captain and the reindeer and knew straight away that he would fit right into the misfit little family that Luffy seemed to be building around him.

He, himself was still finding his footing amongst the others and he could tell that Ebony was as well.

The newest permanent member of their crew was interesting, to say the least. Sanji found her to be a unique sort of beauty, more straight lines than curves, long braids and almost continuously bruised knuckles. What intrigued him, however, was the fact that she held secrets. He knew all the signs, because he hid his own secrets.

"Good job, reindeer!"

Sanji had a quick look around, with absolutely no Wapol in sight.

"Luffy! Where is he? Where's Wapol?"

His Captain's head quickly shot down to the ground, swiftly looking around.

"He's disappeared!"

That wasn't good, it wasn't good at all.

"There's no way he can get down there, he has to be somewhere around here." Dr Kureha sounded worried, even if she didn't look it.

Luffy was beside himself with anger. "How didn't I notice that he'd left?"

"Because you were paying attention to the reindeer and his transformation, Luffy!" Sanji shouted from his place on the ground, where Dr Kureha was sitting on him to keep him from fighting.

He could hear Luffy muttering under his breath; "That damn jerk! I swear I'm going to find him and beat him up!"

"Luffy! Is it possible that he went into the castle?" Sanji stopped still, thoughts racing. "Damn it! If he did something to Nami-swan I will cut him into hundreds of pieces!"

"Isn't that Zoro's job?"

"Shut up Captain!"

With a pure force of will, Sanji started to drag himself away, out from underneath the seated doctor.

"Where are you going?" Dr Kureha made no move to stop him, "Why does he want to hurt himself that much?"

The last comment was meant to be quiet, Sanji suspected, but he heard it all the same. The experiments that had plagued his early childhood and those before his birth had transformed his brothers and sister into something other than human and whilst it had failed on him, he did have slightly better resilience than normal humans. Better hearing, too. To be perfectly honest, he was quite used to getting hurt.

Better to be hurt in the pursuit of helping his friends, than to stand by and not help at all.

Trying to get Dalton into the chairlift was a struggle, but between Zoro, Usopp and a few of the villagers, we managed to get him upright inside.

He was lost in thought for most of the trip, with everyone else on board being mostly silent. I turned to Zoro, who was staring out at the blanket of white below us.

"As long as the Captain, Sanji and Nami didn't run into any lapins, they should be fine." I knew that they had, hence the avalanche, but I wasn't sure what else to say at that moment.

"The giant killer bunnies, right?"

"Yep, giant killer bunnies."

"Are they any fun to fight?"

I looked at Zoro, wondering if he were actually joking, but it was clear on his face that he wasn't.

"I wouldn't know, I haven't tried." He looked vaguely disappointed. "But they hunt in packs, so if you want to try your hand at fighting like twenty at once, go ahead."

Probably shouldn't have said that, but it was too late to take back now, a killer grin breaking out across the swordsman's face.

"Not yet, Zoro. Not now. Maybe another day."

He pouted.

And it was a legitimate pout.

"Stop that." He didn't. "You'll break your face if you keep that up."

He stopped pouting, but there was a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"You're not so bad, but you're still hiding something."

"Thanks." I started to fiddle with the ring on my ring finger, one of the only pieces of jewellery that I had been wearing when coming into the world. A gift from my parents for my fourteenth birthday. "I'll tell you all, but it's going to become a terrible burden."

His gaze became sharp. "In what way?"

"Whatever bounty hunters or marines that find out about me are going to be coming for my head, regardless of their feelings towards the crew I travel with. My people aren't all that well liked for some reason."

He placed a hand on my shoulder, "They'll have to go through the rest of us first. You're one of us."

It was as if a great weight had been lifted from my shoulders when Zoro had said that. I hadn't realised that I had been waiting for his approval to the crew until then. I grinned at him, my relief obvious.

When we were almost halfway there, Dalton tried to stand up and ready himself to leave the carriage, coughing blood as he went causing several of us to lunge forward to catch him as he collapsed.

"I will end this painful tragedy." He muttered, clearly lost in his own mind. "What is wrong with giving your heart to your country?"

This clearly affected Vivi, who slammed her hands against her mouth stopping her from gasping aloud. I quickly wrapped an arm around her shoulders in comfort, her leaning in as far as she could without being incredibly obvious.

"Listen up everyone, when we get to the castle I would like everyone to stand back," Dalton stated, sliding a hand beneath his coat and pulling out several tubes of dynamite all tied together in a row.

"That's a fair amount of dynamite, but I don't think you'll need it." Dalton turned to look at me, perplexed anger written clear on his face. "Why not? If it rids this country of Wapol, I'll do anything."

"Look out the window, I think someone is about to beat you to it."

Sure enough, two giant rubber hands had stretched from the peak of the mountain.

"She's right! Someone is at the top of the castle!"

Usopp gave out a laugh, "I'd recognise those hands anywhere."

The snarky retort came out of my mouth before I could even stop to think. "Seen them a lot, have you."

"Ebony!" Vivi tried to sound disapproving, but couldn't hide the grin breaking out across her face as Zoro gave a short bark of laughter and Usopp gaped, mouth wide open.

"Sorry, Usopp."

The rest of the trip was made in silence, seemingly longer than the first half as the villagers almost trembled in anticipation to find out whether or not the Captain had sent the tyrant king flying.

"Would you please stop pushing me?"

"I'm supporting you, Ebony. Supporting you."

"This is because of the comment I made earlier isn't it?"

"And why would you think that?"

"You're scared, aren't you?"

"Nope, not at all. Not scared."

Zoro interjected, "If you're scared just wait here with them." Gesturing to the villagers waiting inside the chairlift. Usopp just turned his nose up at Zoro for that.

As we left the chairlift, our boots crunching the snow beneath us a loud noise was heard from above. Thankfully I had decided to stand beside Vivi, as our Captain ploughed into Zoro and Usopp who happened to be standing underneath his landing space.

"What the hell are you doing?" Zoro shouted at Luffy's face.

"Shishishishishi! I thought you're one of them because you're wearing their clothes!" Luffy gestured to the coat Zoro was wearing. "Did you guys climb up after us?"

"Sorry Captain, but we caught the chairlift." I pointed behind me at said chair lift.

"Really?"

"Really, Captain."

"That would have been useful to know beforehand."

"That's for sure."

"Luffy, how are Nami-san and Sanji-san doing?"

"They're fine!" There was something in his voice that led me to believe that this wasn't entirely the case.

"That's great to hear."

Usopp was still talking in the background, telling a tall tale about our adventure to get to the mountain. "When that giant vulture tried to attack, I was in a little shook but as you know, I took care of it! It flew directly to hit my heart, but as you well know, I can dodge attacks without being hurt!"

Well at least that was a true statement, or it would be a true statement.

Zoro sighed at the sniper's antics, "What are you doing at the top of the castle beside that?"

"I just chased the stupid king away."

"I think you sent him flying with your fists, Captain."

"How'd you know?" He tilted his head to the side, giving off a lost puppy look.

"We could see your fists."

He nodded, acknowledging the fact.

"So that thing that flew past us really was Wapol!" Dalton exclaimed.

"Yep!" Luffy looked far too cheerful.

"What about the other two?"

"The reindeer took care of them!" Luffy turned to Usopp, "Hey! We've got a new crew member!"

"What?"

"The reindeer? Took care of them?" Dalton stuttered out, spotting Chopper attempting to hide himself behind a tree. He wasn't successful.

"Bluenose?" As if a memory had hit him, he lowered himself carefully onto the floor and bowed. "Thank you very much! I'm sure that from now on, Drum will become a better country!"

The curious villagers now saw Chopper and clumsily removed their weapons out from underneath their coats.

"Don't do anything to him!" Dalton shouted towards them.

I stepped forward, restraining the men in my path.

"Is it any wonder that they hide themselves away from you people if this is the way you treat them?"

The one on my left tried to free himself from my grip but was unsuccessful.

"They're a monster!"

"Not any more than I am, not any more than my Captain. The true monsters were the ones that they just defeated."

"But!"

Usopp had caught onto the 'monster' comment and shouted out the word, causing Luffy to hit him on the head.

"You idiot! He's our new crew member!"

"What did you say?"

"Look! You made him run away!"

And so he was, with Luffy hot on his tail.

Chopper had hidden away, properly this time, but somehow one of the strange humans that was with the one called Luffy had found him.

"The Captain sure is something else, isn't he?" The blonde haired female came closer to him, leaning against a tree near by.

"I'm pretty sure that I'm the only one on the crew that actually asked if I could join the Straw Hats."

There was a momentary silence before Chopper felt comfortable enough to ask the girl a question.

"Why did you ask to join?"

"Because there are only some places that'll accept someone like me without calling them a monster and having that be a bad thing."

"But you're human! How can you be a monster?" Chopper was aghast.

"People don't like things that are different, other. The unknown scares most people and people don't like what they don't understand. I just happen to be enough other that it offends people to the point that they want me dead."

Chopper didn't have time to answer the human, still shocked at the statement the girl made.

"Oi! Ebony found him!"

Straw Hat Luffy had arrived.

"You want to become a pirate with me, right?"

"That's impossible!"

"Why?"

"I really want to, thank you." Luffy grinned, happy at his victory but Chopper continued. "But I am a reindeer, I have a blue nose and hooves and antlers. I'm not human! I'm a monster! I can't be friends with humans! That's why I'm up here!"

Chopper took a deep breath in to calm himself, he didn't want to completely explode at the only humans that had been (mostly) kind to him so far in his short life.

"Thank you for asking me, but I will stay here. If you get bored, please come and visit me sometimes."

"Just shut up and come with us!"

Tears started falling from Choppers eyes, blurry as they were he could see the blonde women face palming at the actions of her Captain. His Captain. Their Captain?

"Ok!"

A/N: Yesterday I handed in everything for my final assessments for my final year and now I'm just waiting on results (which probably won't be for a while now); fingers crossed everything goes well! So this chapter ended up a lot longer than what I thought it would be, but I really hope that you enjoy it!