With sparkling eyes, Luffy gawked up at the fort. "You built this?!"

The fortress towered over him with twenty rooms that were connected to each other from the bottom of a tree all the way to the top. It even had a makeshift crows nest at the peak of it.

Viske stood proud with his chest blown out. "I sure did!"

"It's huge!" Luffy leaned back with a hand to his forehead. "How long did it take you to build it?!"

Viske counted his fingers. "About two years," he answered. "Do you wanna look inside?"

Luffy didn't have to be asked twice. Without waiting for Viske to take the lead, he rushed to the fort and swung it's doddery door wide open.

"W-Wait!"

Viske reached out to stop him, but it was too late. The second Luffy opened the door, a net was dropped on top of him. When the net touched him, he abruptly became weak and collapsed to the floor.

"What the-"

"Aaah!" Viske was quick on his feet and scurried to Luffy's side. Kneeling down next to him, he unwrapped the net and tossed it as far away from them as he could.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" He repeated. "I forgot to tell you about the traps!"

"Sea prism stone?"

Even though Luffy asked the question, he already knew the answer. He'd come in contact with sea prism stone enough times to know how it worked and what it felt like when it touched him.

"Yup! I borrowed the nets from my uncle," Viske explained. Standing up, he stretched his hand out and offered to help Luffy.

Taking his hand, Luffy stood up and looked around the room. "Who's your uncle?"

"My uncle?" Viske scratched at his head thoughtfully. He knew who is uncle was, but he wasn't sure how to describe him. He was almost indescribable. "He's a marine. His name is-"

Suddenly, before he could say another word, a snowball flew through the window and smacked him on the back of the head.

"Hey!"

Holding his head with a scowl, he looked out the front door. When he saw Mae standing in the distance with another snowball in hand, his eyes grew wide and he turned back to Luffy.

"We have a problem!"

"Was that a snowball?!" Luffy exclaimed, looking over Viske's shoulder and out the window. "Was it snowing earlier? I don't remember seeing any snow!"

Slamming the door shut, Viske locked it. "There's not time for questions!"

Grabbing a washed out sheet that was stretched over a large object, he yanked it aside and revealed man-made catapult.

Luffy stared at the instrument with a twinkle in his eye. "Is that a catapult?! That's so cool!"

Reaching into a barrel that was next to the contraption, Viske pulled out a rotten apple and tossed it to Luffy. "Do you think you can handle it?"

Catching the apple, Luffy grinned wide. "Yeah!"

Grabbing a slingshot and a rotten tomato from inside another crate, Viske knelt down next to the catapult and prepared to attack. "Good! It will be nice to have help in this war against the marines!"

"Wait," Luffy exclaimed, " the marines?!"

"Well," Viske positioned his arms outside of the window and aimed his slingshot, "just my sister."

"I know you're in there!" Mae's shouted from outside. "Don't try to hide from me, pirate!"

"You'll never get me!" Viske shouted, shooting the tomato at her. He missed by a mile.

Placing the apple on the catapult and then launching it, Luffy watched with an eager eye as it flew high and out of sight. "Woah! This is so cool!"

Laughing, he looked around the room for more ammunition. Spotting a crate with old fruits and vegetables piled inside of it, he stretched his arm across the fort and grabbed another rotten apple.

While he was preparing to launch an attack, he noticed that Viske was staring at him in awe. With a grin, he stretched his cheek out. "I ate the Gum Gum Fruit! I'm made of rubber!"

Viske slapped a hand against his forehead. "Stupid me! That's why the net worked on you!"

"Is that all you got?!" Mae shouted. "I'm disappointed in you!"

Abruptly after her words, snowballs came piling into the fort and stacked up all around them.

Viske popped his head out of the snow and laughed. "She's really going at it!"

Climbing out of the snow, Luffy rubbed his hands over his arms and tried to conduct heat. "Where's all this snow coming from?!

Viske narrowed his eyes and pointed towards his sister. "From her..." Yelping, he ducked down as another snowball came flying through the window.

"Hey!" Luffy cried out, holding his nose. "That hurt!"

Turning around, Viske laughed when he saw that Luffy had been hit. But after a minute of laughing, he straightened up and became serious.

"A crew member has been hurt! We need to stand down and surrender!"

Luffy wiped a wrist over his bloody nose and shook his head. "Pirates never give up!" Coming up with an idea, he knelt down and started to grab handfuls of snow.

Viske watched him as he shaped hundreds of snowballs in seconds. "What're you doing?!"

"Fighting snow with snow!"

"Have you given up already?!" Mae shouted, throwing another snowball through the window.

Viske ducked down and dodged the snowball. "Whatever you have planned, you better hurry!"

"All right," Luffy grinned, "watch out!"

Positioning himself in front of the window, Luffy gathered some of the snowballs that he made into his arms and leaned back. Then all at once, with lightening speed, he slung them at Mae.

"Gum Gum Rubber Snowball Catapult!"

"What the- Ow!" Mae could barely form a sentence as she was pummeled by hundreds of snowballs.

Crawling across the floor, Viske cracked the door open and peered out. He couldn't help but laugh as he watched his sister get slaughtered by another round of snowballs.

"Alright," Mae said, building a solid wall of snow in front of herself, "that's enough!"

Jumping back, Viske slammed the door closed and leaned against it. "It's time to retreat!" He insisted, pointing

Viske jumped back and closed the door. Leaning against it, he pointed to the ladder in the room. "It's time to retreat to the top!"

Launching his last set of snowballs, Luffy stood up. "Lead the way!"

"Right!" Climbing the ladder, he led Luffy to the very top of the fortress and into the crows nest.

In awe, Luffy walked to the edge of the nest. "You can see everything from up here!"

"It's awesome, right?!"

"It sure is!" Leaning over the edge, Luffy stretched his arm out and pointed towards the ocean. "You can even see The Thousand Sunny from up here!"

"The what?" Moving to his side, Viske looked to where he was pointing.

"My ship," Luffy beamed.

Viske's mouth dropped when he saw the ship. He couldn't believe his eyes. He'd never seen a real-life pirate ship before. It was exciting. "That's yours?!"

Luffy crossed his arms with pride. "Yup! Franky built it especially for me and my crew!"

Resting his arms on the nest's railing, Viske propped his chin in the palm of hand and sighed longingly. "What's it like?"

"Huh? What's what like?"

Viske let out another sigh and looked towards the setting sun. "Being a pirate, what's it like?"

Luffy didn't get a chance to answer him. From behind them, Mae appeared with two snowballs in her hands. "This war isn't over yet, pirate."

"Crap!" Turning on a quick foot, Viske faced his sister. He almost forgot about her.

"Crap is right! And now it's time-" Mae faltered when she saw that they weren't the only ones in the crows nest. "Viske, who's this?"

"Oh," Viske took a step to the side and grinned, "this is Luffy! He's my new friend!"