Frosty Journey
Disclaimer: Don't own One Piece.
--
The next morning...December 22nd
"YOU SONOFABITCH! WHY'D YOU HAVE TO GO GET DRUNK AND DO THAT?!"
"SAVE ME A PIECE OF HIM, DEVON!"
Devon nodded as he tightened his strangle hold on Azu, the shipwright's face turning bright red, "Got it, Niri...,"
Azu tried to pull away the angry swordsman's hand, "I...didn't...know! I didn't know!" he gasped, "C'mon, leggo already!"
Chizuru cleared her throat and walked over to the fighting Axe-Heads, "Niri, Devon, calm down,"
"HOW THE HELL CAN WE CALM DOWN!?" Devon screamed at her, "MY LITTLE BROTHER IS SOMEWHERE OUT THERE ALONE-,"
"HE'S NOT ALONE, HE'S GOT PINGU AND SORA WITH HIM!" Niri screamed back.
"I DON'T CARE IF ONE OF THE SHICHIBUKAI IS WITH HIM, HE IS OUT THERE ALONE IN THE GRAND LINE AND WE HAVE NO IDEA WHERE HE IS!" Devon began to throttel Azu, "THIS DRUNK BASTARD HIT THE RELEASE SWITCH ON THE ONE THING HE WAS NEAR THE LAST TIME ANYONE SAW HIM, SO IT'S HIS FAULT!"
Chizuru rubbed the bridge of her nose, "Kirsty, would you mind?"
"At this point, no," Kirsty walked over to her husband and gave him a kiss, "Sorry for this,"
"Sorry for wha-?" Devon didn't get to finish his sentence because he hit the galley floor like a ton of bricks after Kirsty pinched a pressure point.
Axe hopped off the table, meat rack in his hand, "Awright, now that the yelling and screaming is over, let's look at what we know, okay? One, Austin and the animals are somewhere all alone,"
Everyone else nodded.
"Two, even though he's just a kid, we know that Austin can handle himself in a fight if he has his stuff. Did anyone see his Dials missing?"
Herman raised a hand, "I did, as a matter of fact...I saw him carry his pack around after giving him hot cocoa to drink,"
"Okay, so he's armed, that's good. With his Mantra, he can handle himself. Three, Pingu is incredibly strong for a bird his size and species...he can protect Austin,"
Niri gave a sharp nod, "I just hope someone can watch out for Pingu,"
Chizuru patted her on the back, "Don't worry,"
"And Sora's there to sniff things out...if trouble comes, he'll know and do his best. Besides, if they get hungry, he can just sniff out the edible stuff," Axe ripped off a chunk of meat and swallowed it, "The way I see it, we really shouldn't worry about them...they'll be fine until we can find them,"
Dusty raised a hand, "Uh...Captain?"
"Yeah?"
"How are we gonna find them?"
"...uh...,"
"You have no idea, do you?"
"Not a single one, no,"
"Baka,"
"Oi!"
--
When Austin woke up that morning, the first thing he felt was cold.
Really, really cold.
Snapping to a sitting position, he shut his eyes as he rubbed his arms to keep warm, Dammit, no one came and dropped a blanket on me?! Crap...guess they partied too much, they actually forgot me! he opened his eyes and after seeing where he was, they went wider.
Aw crap...
He, Sora and Pingu were still in the lifeboat that Azu had been working on, but they were sitting on a long stretch of shore, which was completely covered in snow, which explained the surprisingly cold weather that he was feeling. Loud yawnings made him look down to see both Sora and Pingu wake up and climbing to their feet, stretching. When they saw where they were, and that they were equally surprised as he was.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE WE?!" Sora reared onto his hind legs and put his front legs on Pingu's shoulders, "WE'RE LOST AT SEA!"
Pingu slapped the fox away, "No, we're not, we're just...not sure of where we are," he looked out at the ocean, "By the looks of it, it's a Winter Island, a place that suits me just fine, so listen to what I gotta say and we'll survive long enough for the others to find us," he scratched his head, "How the hell we got from the ship to this place, beats the hell outta me, but until we get back," he pointed a flipper at Austin, "We gotta watch out for the boy,"
Sora looked at Austin, shivering, "Y-Yeah...guess so,"
"Cold, Blue?"
"I may have fur, but I'm not made for this sort of weather!"
"Wuss,"
Austin shook his head at the animals, unsure of what they were talking about, he was too busy looking at the surrounding area.
I can't stay here...I need to find a place to get out from the cold! I have no winter clothes on me, all I have is my backpack, Dials and my board, and the last time I checked, those won't keep me fed and warm until the others find me...if they find me! again, he shook his head, What the hell am I talking about, if they find me? I know they'll find me, they have to find me! Until then, I gotta keep myself and these two alive... he looked back at the animals and gave a sharp whistle, making them turn to him.
The mute child gathered up his supplies, hopped off the lifeboat and headed towards the inner area of the island, Pingu and Sora close behind him.
--
Hours (or so it seemed) later, the lost cabin boy and the two pets of the Axe-Head crew were trudging through the snow, trying to find shelter, but things were not going very well for them. Despite the lack of warm clothing needed to survive on this kind of island, Austin started to feel hungry and tired. Mix those with a surprise snowstorm that almost made things impossible to see, even three feet in front of them, and what one has is a recipe for a frozen death. Austin rubbed his arms for the hundredth time, but due to the cold and the storm, he couldn't even feel them anymore. Still, he rubbed and rubbed, hoping that they would be okay.
Sora wasn't doing so well either, the poor Sky Fox was coated with snow from head to tail and he was lagging behind, barely able to see the penguin or the human in front of him. After a few moments of trudging, he finally fell over onto his side in the snow, unable to go on anymore. Pingu looked back and saw the condition his nakama was in, so he rushed back and picked the Sky Fox out of the snow and tried to carry the nearly frozen fox on his back.
"Stay with me, Blue, stay with me...," Pingu honked over the wind, hoping to keep Sora conscious by talking to him, "You're gonna be okay, I promise! We're gonna find shelter, we're gonna find heat, gonna find food, and we're gonna go back to our family, you hear me, Blue? Niri's gonna find us!"
Unfortunately, things were looking worse by the second. Weighted down by his supplies, slowed down by both the snow and the freezing winds, Austin couldn't go on any longer. Exhausted, hungry and freezing, Austin took one last step before falling facefirst into the snow. Pingu saw this as well and rushed over to him as fast as he could with Sora on his back.
"Aw shit, not you too, kid!" he hopped onto his head and started bouncing up and down, hoping to wake him, "Get up, get up, get up! C'mon, kid, don't do this to me!"
The Pimp of Penguins tried everything he could to wake up the boy, but he wasn't making any progress. To make things even worse than they were, Sora wasn't awake either, and both he and the boy were going to die soon unless a miracle happened.
Pingu didn't know what to do for his friends. He could pick them both up and carry because of his unusual strength and he could easily pick up very large and heavy things, but even if he did, he wouldn't be able to take them anywhere warm because he was new to this island and he didn't know the layout. Desperate, alone and scared to death, the penguin pirate closed his eyes and held onto his two nakama, tears forming into his eyes.
Please...someone help us!
That's when he heard the bells.
His eyes shot open at the sound of bells jingling behind him. Spinning around, he saw something approach them quickly. Wiping the tears away, Pingu saw a large sled driven by what looked like reindeer speeding towards them. The sled stopped just a few feet away and from the driver's seat, a large form hopped out. Pingu watched as the large form approached the needful trio, and as it got closer, he was able to see more of it.
It was a man, a tall and rather fat man, wearing a thick, red, hooded coat, boots and a pair of thick, warm looking gloves. Under the hood was the face of an older man, complete with somewhat wrinkled skin and a thick, white beard. Pingu couldn't believe what he was seeing! He had asked for help and here comes a stranger that looked an awful lot like...
"Well, what do we have here?" the old man asked the penguin, kneeling down to the unconscious ones of the group, "Oh my, this is serious, very serious! They need warmth right away!" he looked at Pingu, "My little friend, help me with them, they don't have much time!"
--
When Austin came to, he found himself out of the freezing cold weather of the Winter Island and in a very warm and comfortable bed. Wondering what had happened and where he was, the boy sat up and looked around. He was in a rundown room, but a rundown room with a roaring fire going in a nearby fireplace. The room also had blankets and coats all around, and even the bed he was laying in was covered in very thick blankets. The walls were cracked and obviously hadn't seen any renovations in quite some time, but that didn't seem to affect the temperature of the room. Another thing he noticed was that he couldn't find Pingu or Sora anywhere. Curious, but cautious, Austin slid out of bed and made his way to the door, wanting to see where he was exactly.
Pulling on the handle of the wooden door, Austin slowly opened the gateway between the room and the rest of the world. As he opened, he felt a rush of slightly colder, but still warm air, and he also heard many voices and sounds coming from the other side. Slowly, the young pirate walked out and saw that he was in a large building, but he wasn't the only one inside. While he was standing on the second floor of the building, he looked down to see a whole bunch of kids, maybe twenty or even thirty of them either running around, playing, eating or something.
Where the hell am I? the boy wondered as he looked at the children, I know I was about to die out there, but I end up here...how the hell did that happen?
"Glad to see you're awake, young one," an older, yet kind voice said quietly from the side.
Startled, Austin spun and backed away from the railing. Standing a short distance away was an elderly man with a very round belly and a long white beard. He was dressed in a thick red sweater and comfortable looking pants, slippers covering and protecting his feet from the cold floor.
"Don't worry, I won't hurt you, boy," the old man said assuringly, seeing the alarmed look on Austin's face, "Far from it. I'm glad to see that you've pulled through, I was worried that I wasn't able to save you or your little friends in time,"
Friends? Austin's eyes widened, Pingu and Sora!
"By the look on your face, you know what I'm talking about," the old man nodded, "Don't worry, the fox is doing just fine, as is your penguin friend. If I'm not mistaken, they're down playing with the other children right now. I think that penguin of yours was very worried for you, he didn't want to leave yours or the foxes side at all until at least one of you got up. When the fox woke up first, he was so happy, he kept bouncing around and around, honking like crazy," he smiled, "Though he doesn't speak, I think he understands humans just fine. I managed to convince him and the fox to go and get something to eat while waiting, but the children...they haven't seen many other animals around, so they were very excited and...," the old man trailed off, "Well, you can see what happened,"
Austin just stared at him.
"You're probably wondering where you are and who I am, aren't you?"
Austin nodded.
The old man smiled, "I had a feeling that was on your mind. Well, my young friend, where you are is a place of safety for children who have no place to go,"
An orphnage, by the sound of it...
"As for me, my name is Nicholas," the old man tilted his head, "Are you hungry?"
--
Kilnorc: Awright, before anyone goes off saying "OMG ITS SANTA CLAUS ITS SANTA CLAUS HE HAS SANTA CLAUS IN THE STORY!!!"...just let me explain the guy in the next few chapters, okay? Thank you, hehe.