A.N: Takes place sometime after Thriller Park, no spoilers after it.

Hatch 11: Running on Ice

"I didn't remember being chased around by a bunch of angry townspeople could be this annoying" Zoro muttered as the whole straw hat crew ran away from at least a hundred people.

"Why can't we just kick their asses?" Luffy asked with a frown "We could do it."

"Because they're not our enemies; they're just ordinary people who are mad at us" Nami explained "And for a reason!"

"You just had to eat all the food in that restaurant, didn't you, shitty captain?" Sanji cursed "If Nami-san or Robin-chan gets hurt while running it's your fault!"

"But this whole mess would have been avoided if the witch had just paid for the food!" Zoro yelled "It's not like we're short on money at the moment!"

"I refuse to waste my money on your ridiculous food bills!" Nami shouted.

"Our money!" Usopp corrected "It's not all yours!"

"But I'm the one managing the money and I say it would have been too much!" The navigator yelled, almost stumbling. Running, high heels and snow weren't the best combination.

"You decided it yourself!" Zoro yelled back "It's not like you're the only one in the crew who could do that!"

"Yeah!" Luffy agreed "I could do it too!"

"No you couldn't!" the whole crew, minus giggling Robin, yelled while running in even faster pace.

"Do you even know the word budget?" Sanji questioned.

"Nope" Luffy said "What's that?"

Other than Robin who was laughing softly the crew sighed. Of course he didn't know.

CRACK

"Did anyone else hear that?" Brook asked as a slight sound reached his ears.

"Hear what?" Usopp asked.

CRACK CRACK

"Something's cracking" Sanji realized.

"...that something seems to be below us" Robin stated. Everyone stopped for a few seconds, looking down. They had been running on ice. And it was cracking.

"Shit" Zoro muttered. His visible eye widening, Sanji yelled: "Run!"

They only managed to run a few more meters before the ice gave out, the whole crew falling through it. Usopp, who had been running next to Brook, managed to get a hold of him immediately. The older man might have been a hammer in the water, but thanks to him being nothing but bones Usopp could easily pull him up from the icy water. As he surfaced with Brook Nami, who had gotten up first, reached out her and for him to take. As they got back on ice Franky came up with Chopper, closely followed by Sanji who had Robin. Zoro was the last to surface, dragging Luffy up with him.

"No time to rest; we need to go!" Nami yelled "Split up and meet back at Sunny!"

The crew started running again, going to different directions in four groups. The ice was less likely to break if they divided the weight. Glancing behind her, Nami could tell that they were putting distance between themselves and the villagers. The locals didn't want to cross the ice. This was fine with Nami; they'd all reach Sunny before the villagers got to them.

The first to reach the ship was Franky, still carrying Chopper. Not long after Sanji arrived with Robin, followed by Nami, Usopp and Brook. They saw no sign of Zoro or Luffy tough.

"Bet those idiots got lost" Sanji said "What should we do?"

"You and Usopp go find them" Nami decided "We'll get the ship ready."

"Why me?" Usopp asked, earning a glare from Nami "Because I say so!"

Grumbling, the long nose got off the ship with the blond. They returned with the missing two members just in time to see the angry villagers closing in on them.

"Hurry up, you guys!" Nami yelled "We need to go!"

When the whole crew was on board they made a quick escape, hoping that none of them would catch a cold.

A.N: Next we'll take have a little story about Christmas' history, which is completely fiction and has no real source; I just came up with something.