A/N
Okay, well, we'll get back to the pairings question later. Just wanted to give you guys a heads up that I was thinking about it. (In case you were wondering, my first choice is Ace, second is Zoro, and third is Luffy)
Disclaimer: I do not own nor am associated with One Piece or any Apple devices that I mention or Golum's 'precious' obsession. If I owned One Piece, then Ace wouldn't die. Duh.
Enjoy!
Anni's POV
Now, with the jester and the afro knight out of the way, the only one left was Wapol, who was currently fighting Luffy. He blasted the ground at Luffy's feet, but Luffy jumped back to avoid the blast. He counterattacked with a flurry of rapid punches, knocking Wapol over.
I jumped in to help and sent a pillar of fire Wapol's way, but he dodged and the attack dissipated in the air. I then shot five smaller fireballs, but only three of them struck him. He aimed a cannon at me and shot, but I dodged and it hit the castle. I leaped at him, driving my fist into the middle of his house shaped stomach. He staggered forward and I landed behind him, sending a punch made of fire into his back to knock him closer to Luffy.
Luffy seemed to understand what I was doing, but he jumped over Wapol and stretched his arm back ten meters, then snapped it back towards Wapol. As Luffy's fist connected with his face, Wapol flew backwards through the doors to the castle, creating a giant snow cloud. Luffy and I ran to the entrance to the castle to continue the fight, but Wapol had disappeared.
"What? Where did he go?" Luffy asked, looking around the giant room. He ran up one of the staircases to the top half of the castle while I searched the lower levels. On the second floor, I decided to try some of the hallways.
"I dunno, why would I?" I replied, melting the snow covering the floors of the hall I was running through. I was too far away to hear his reply, but from ahead from me came a piercing shriek. Surprised, I flattened myself to the wall as Nami came running down the hallway with a skinny Wapol hot on her heels. I watched with an empty mind and a blank expression until they turned the corner.
Wait, what the hell?
Realizing that Nami probably needed help, I sprinted off after them. Bursting through the door to the main hall, I looked around frantically for them. I spotted them across the room and started running towards them. Nami ran down the stairs to the ground level where she rounded the column in the middle and made a beeline towards me shouting, "Anni! Save meee...!"
I jumped down and landed in front of Wapol, slamming my fist into his face. He yelled in surprise, crashing into the locked doors on the big column. He stood up with a confident grin on his face.
"Ha! This was your mistake!" he shouted, and paused for effect.
I rolled my eyes. "D'ya mind telling us what it is?" I muttered.
He gestured at the locked door.
"This is the Door of Fear! Inside it are the kingdoms most deadly weapons. I will eat them all and become the ultimate human weapon! You won't have a hope of defeating me!"
He reached down to his empty belt, eyes popping when he realized that the key was gone.
"Ahh! It's gone! No matter, I have a backup plan!" he screeched, darting up the stairs to the top floor.
My eyes were getting sore from all the eye rolling I was doing, so I skipped straight to the smart remark.
"You're not supposed to tell people about your plans if you're trying to surprise or kill them." I remarked smartly.
"Out of curiosity, when did you learn that?" Nami asked, walking towards me.
I laughed. "Ha! When I was little, I loved to play pranks on people, but if I even told one person about it besides Kate and Laura, word would get around and I would get in trouble. After a few incidents like that, I learned to keep all plans secret. Now, because of that, I'm a really good secret keeper." I told Nami, leaving out the killing part of my previous statement.
"So these Kate and Laura people, they're good friends of yours?" she asked, smiling at my story.
The grin dropped from my face.
"Yeah," I answered simply, turning towards the stairs and following Wapol, who had disappeared into one of the rooms on the top floor.
"I'm sorry if that's a sore subject for you. I won't press it," Nami called after me, "But if you want a weapon, I've got the key to the room right here. I thought that it was the key to the treasure vaults."
I looked back at her without stopping. "No, I'm good with just my dagger," I said, pulling it out of my bag, "But if you want to bring me a bazooka or something like that, I'd appreciate it."
She giggled, unlocking the door. "Sure, although under any peaceful circumstances, I wouldn't trust you with one. But I'm sure you're experienced."
"Nope! Never touched one before! I'm sure they're not that hard to use though. Anyways, it's a destructive weapon of destruction, so it'll do something, I'm sure." I yelled back, climbing the stairs to the third floor.
As I glanced back at Nami, she was frozen, with one hand on the doorknob and the other one holding a destructive weapon of destruction for me.
"Hey, Nami! Throw it to me!" I yelled, stopping for a second and leaning over the balcony.
"Are you insane? You'll end up blowing yourself up, and plus, I can't throw that high!" she snapped.
I shrugged in disappointment, continuing my sprint to the top of the building. As I burst through the door that Wapol had gone through, I was met with a surprising sight. Wapol was standing behind a huge cannon, aiming it at Luffy. They both looked at me in surprise as I stared at the cannon in awe.
"How nice of you to join us, Demon's Daughter. You and Mugiwara can both witness each others end. This is Drum Kingdom's ultimate weapon, besides me, of course." Wapol sneered at me.
I was busy checking out the canon because it looked so cool, so I nearly forgot to reply.
What if... I got a destructive weapon of destruction and destroyed this destructive weapon of destruction? Or... I used this destructive weapon of destruction to destroy all the destructive weapons of destruction in the main hall and they all blew up... What would be the level of destruction?
I was so immersed in my thoughts that I yelped when Luffy tackled me to the ground to avoid the blast.
"Anni, watch out!" he cried.
I gasped as the breath was knocked out of me. "That doesn't help when you're already squishing the life out of me," I huffed.
However, the blast that we were waiting for didn't come. Luffy slowly stood up and examined the inside of the cannon. From inside, there were high-pitched peeps, similar to the ones from the big doors downstairs. I wobbled to my feet, unbalanced from the sudden movements. Peering inside the cannon, I saw a tiny snowbird nest and a couple tiny chicks. A larger bird fluttered down to land on the top. It peeped at Wapol, before flying into the nest.
"How dare you do such a thing to your king?!" Wapol shouted at it, swinging his arms wildly.
Luffy and I circled around him on either side while he was distracted. I pinned Wapol's arms behind his back and slammed him against the wall. Luffy punched his head and held it there with a furious look on his face.
"We don't care if you live in a palace or a hut. Some things mean more than power and titles. You know why?" Luffy asked.
I decided to answer for him.
"Because we're pirates."
And with that, I released Wapol, who was left at Luffy's mercy. Luffy raised his arms with a cry of, "Gomu Gomu no... Gatling!" and rapid-fire punched Wapol's head and body into the wall. Eventually, the wall broke and Wapol was left teetering on the edge of the castle. He stretched his mouth open wide and transformed his tongue into a cannon.
"Feel the power of the Baku Baku Fruit! Tongue Cannon!" he yelled with his back to the steep drop. I could already see things going badly for him if he fired it.
Luffy stepped up to him unflinchingly and poked the cannon. Wapol teetered backwards, cannon smoking and starting to shake. Suddenly, an idea struck me. One of ultimate destruction.
"Wait, Luffy..." I whispered my plan in his ear.
A small smile crawled across his face as I stepped back, grinning.
"Yosh. Sounds good, as long as he can't come back." he whispered back.
She should get here right about...
Right on cue, Nami burst through the door carrying a small pistol and a huge bazooka. She tossed the bazooka to me and loaded the pistol. Looking around the room, she gaped at the hole in the wall and Wapol wobbling to keep himself from falling. She dropped the pistol and it clattered on the stone bricks. I smiled cheerily and waved.
"W-what have you done?!" she asked, stepping backwards, "You did this even without your 'destructive weapon of destruction', didn't you? And you, Luffy," she continued, rounding on him, "Did you do this too? I expected better of you two... actually, no, I didn't. This shouldn't come as a surprise to me." She let her arms fall limply to her sides in defeat.
I walked over to her and picked up her weapon, handing it to her. I grinned in thanks, and then proceeded to go back over to Luffy and continue with out plan. Wapol had finally regained his footing, but he didn't have a chance to back away from our attack. Luffy stretched his arms out backwards while I loaded my bazooka. Finally realizing what we were doing, Wapol put his hands out in front of him and shook them frantically.
"No! I'll do anything! I can make you three nobles! I can give you medals! Money! Anything!" he pleaded desperately.
"Gomu Gomu no..."
Luffy's arms snapped back while I pulled the trigger. Wapol screamed in terror.
"Double Bazooka!"
BOOM!
With a loud explosion, Wapol was sent flying into the air until we couldn't see him any more.
"Whew! Glad that's over!" Luffy exclaimed, looking out the hole in the wall. He squinted at the ground, then backed up to me and Nami.
"There are more of them." he whispered to us. I sighed and Nami flinched at the news.
I stepped up to the side of the castle, but Luffy grabbed my arm to prevent me from being seen.
"I have an idea. We jump down and kick their asses." I whispered to Luffy. He nodded, but Nami shook her head and backed up into the door.
"I-I'll take the stairs, thank you very much," she stammered, looking slightly fed up with our straightforward plans.
I backed up to get a good run-up, when Nami tapped my shoulder.
"You're not really gonna do it, are you? You're gonna break your leg!" she whispered worriedly.
I smirked at her, holding my bazooka. "Naw, remember, you said that I would blow myself up with the bazooka. I didn't, so I won't break my leg this time! Actually, maybe you should just name everything bad that could possibly happen, and then it won't! I'd be fine forever!" I reasoned.
She shook her head in disappointment. "Your reasoning seems to be slightly off. Are you sure that you didn't escape from some mental facility?" she asked, half-joking.
I paused to scare her with a pondering look on my face, then flashed her my scariest insane pyro grin. "Hmm... that's what that place was, was it?"
She yelped, stumbling away from me.
"Hahaha! Just joking! I'm mostly perfectly sane!" I laughed, then jumped off the side off the castle a few seconds after Luffy with a battle cry. As we fell through the air towards the new opponents, I lit my fists on fire in preparation. A few feet away though, I recognized the person I was attacking and twisted slightly to avoid punching their face in.
SPLAT!
My head was spinning as I lay in the snow. I had crashed into the person, but as of this moment, I had no idea of where they went. It seemed that after I twisted, they had magically disappeared. I sat up too fast, making my head spin. My hand flew to my head and I swear, the ground moved underneath me.
Unless...
I looked down to see an unusual sight. I had four feet. And the two that I didn't recognize had fur boots on. What?
Oh... oopsie...
I looked behind me and was met with a frustrated face. By twisting to avoid punching him, I hadn't been in control of my landing, so I had crashed into Zoro and squashed him into the snow. He glared at me sitting on his stomach, then took a deep breath to calm himself down. At least, that's what I assumed.
"What the hell do you think you're doing, Anni?! You just come flying out of one of the towers lit on fire, and crash into me! You better have a good explanation for this!" he yelled from the snow.
I laughed sheepishly. "Yeah, no, not really. Luffy said you were an enemy, so we attacked. Then, just as I was about to hit you, I recognized your face and tried to not hit you. I'm sorry...?" I phrased the last statement as a question because of the withering glare he was giving me.
"I don't believe you." he replied.
I laughed. "That's good, because it's too funny for me to be sorry for."
He scowled at me, bonking me on the head. "You're not supposed to say that! You're supposed to say some thing more like," his voice rose a few octaves higher, "'No, Zoro, I really am sorry for being a flying human torch that crashes into people without warning! Please forgive me!'."
I started laughing hysterically. "Never!"
He shoved me off of his stomach and picked me up, dangling me over the edge of the cliff where I continued to laugh like a maniac.
"Ah, Zoro, you're here too!"
We both looked towards the voice; me from my spot of instant death if I was dropped, and Zoro from his spot of nearly dropping me. Luffy walked over to us grinning and chuckling.
"So, you climbed up too?" he asked.
"No, we used the gondola on the side of the mountain," said a female voice from behind me.
"Vivi!" I tried to jump towards her, but only managed to make Zoro lose his balance and nearly send us tumbling to our deaths. Before we fell though, Luffy grabbed both our coats and pulled us back onto safe ground.
"And that's why you should never try and scare me by dangling me off the side of a cliff! You never know what I'm gonna do," I informed Zoro, punching his arm, "Baka marimo," I added.
He hit my head. "Shut up! It was your fault because you tried to kill me but then decided to squish me by falling on me," he yelled.
"Well it's not like it's my fault either! Luffy was the one who said you guys were enemies, and then you were the one who tried to kill me!" I responded, equally as loudly.
We stopped. We looked at each other. Our heads turned simultaneously to Luffy, who was still laughing at us. But before we could do anything, Vivi jumped in front of him, waving her arms frantically.
"Wait, wait! Let's leave the killing and maiming for later! What were you doing, anyways?" she said hurriedly.
I laughed at her phrasing, and answered, "Kicking the king out!"
"For the second time? I guess he must have learned his lesson by now," Vivi said.
"Huh? Second time? What happened the first time?" I asked.
Vivi looked confused, but quickly recovered. "That's right, you weren't there when Dalton told us about it. Apparently, the reason that the villagers weren't friendly to us is because of a pirate named Blackbeard. He came before us and utterly destroyed the island, driving out Wapol, but also killed many of the villagers," she explained.
"He sounds like a piece of bullshit," I said bluntly.
Vivi nodded. "I agree."
"He is," said a deep voice from the side.
I turned to see Dalton walking over to us. He looked beat up, but I had a feeling that it would just waste time if I asked about it. "How did you beat Wapol? And was he the thing that just flew across the sky?" he asked me.
I pointed over to the doorway of the castle where Chopper was hiding. "Yup, he was! Me and Chopper and Luffy beat him up. Chopper did most of it though," I answered, hoping that Luffy wouldn't mind my little white lie.
Dalton's eyes widened as he caught sight of Chopper. He fell to his knees and bowed to him as he yelled, "Thank you. Thanks to you this kingdom will finally be free of that tyrant."
Everyone looked over to where Dalton was bowing to and made some kind of noise of surprise. I noticed Usopp's in particular, as he was making a kind of squeaking noise that could only be heard by bats if it went any higher. Then came the whispers and the screams of surprise.
"What is that?"
"Is it a reindeer?"
"It's a m-monster!"
Chopper turned around and fled from the super-mean-terrible-horrible people who were being totally unfair. In my opinion anyways. Thankfully, Dalton shouted at them to leave Chopper alone and they stopped shouting, except for Usopp.
Luffy bonked Usopp on the head to shut him up and said, "That's our new nakama! You scared him off!"
I didn't hear Usopp's answer because I ran after Chopper. He ran around the back of the castle and then looped around and ran back.
"Oi, Chopper! Wait up!" I shouted.
Without looking back, he shouted, "Shut up, human!"
"Hey, don't you tell me to shut up, you little marshmallow-loving fluffball!" I yelled back, unwilling to actually insult him, but still angry.
Just as Chopper was about to go around the corner of the castle, Luffy appeared and started chasing him as well. Chopper screamed and ran around in a circle before sprinting back the way he came past me. Luffy ran past me before I could reverse directions. I skidded to a stop in the snow, but before I could continue chasing Chopper, a kick shattered the wall behind me and two strong hands grabbed my shoulders. I struggled, but something slammed into my head and knocked me out.
XxX
When I came to, I was strapped to a bed stomach-down. My arms and legs were held down with belts, and there was one around my waist. I was thinking about yelling for help, but the rest of the room came into focus. The room was slightly dark, with no windows, and there was a face right in front of me.
I blinked.
"Hello, Anni-chan."
Sanji was in a similar situation with the belts, except his bed was slightly tilted. I raised one eyebrow at the restraints, and asked, "What... no, why the hell am I belted to a bed? And you, too."
He smiled wryly. "Dr. Kureha caught us before we could escape. She examined my head, but I wouldn't stay still, so she did... this," he motioned to the belts, "And then moved me in here. I think she did a small surgery on your back before I was moved."
At the mention of a surgery, I twitched. I really hated the idea of someone cutting me up without my consent. Actually, I just hated the idea of little precise knives altogether. Then, without a reason, my eyes noticed something. Sanji was shirtless. Immediately, I checked myself, then breathed a sigh of relief. I was still completely clothed, but Dr. Kureha had changed my shirt to a plain white one with thin green designs. Again, I assumed the worst, so I had to ask.
"Sanji?"
"Yeah?" he replied.
"I was... like this when you came in, right?" I asked nervously.
He rolled his eyes. "What are you, stupid? Of course you were."
I relaxed, but then noticed that Sanji had stiffened.
"What, is something wrong?" I asked.
His mouth moved silently.
"What? Tell me!" I demanded.
"I insulted a lady," he whispered almost silently.
I laughed, and I would have patted his head, but I was still stuck.
"Ya know, Sanji, it really will be easier for you if you don't count me as a 'lady'. I mean, sure, still make me those really good chocolate dessert things, but you can insult me like anyone else. It'll be easier for both of us."
Before he could reply, however, the door burst open and I caught a glimpse of the silhouette of an angry doctor. She marched in to the room and grabbed the ends of our respective beds and dragged them down the hall to another room. I silently mouthed, 'Where are we going?' to Sanji. He replied with a shrug. He looked like he was still processing my last statement. I wasn't quite sure if he could immediately stop treating me like a lady, but I sure hope he could in the future.
Dr. Kureha kicked open the door in front of us, dragging Sanji in first, then coming back for me. Looking around the room from my limited view, I spotted Nami and Dalton both lying in beds looking pretty tired. Vivi was sitting on a chair next to Nami and there was a crowd of the villagers in the corner, whispering nervously.
"You should be well enough to talk to your nakama," Dr. Kureha said, leaving us in the middle of the room.
The rest of the people in the room looked at us in shock as the witch doctor walked briskly over to Dalton with a slight gleam in her eye.
"Dalton, do you know where the key for the weapons room in the main hall is kept?" she demanded.
Dalton turned his head to see her. "I believe Wapol kept it on his belt. Why? What were you going to do?"
"That's none of your business," she responded, taking a sip of her ever-present sake, "But if that is still true, then we have a problem."
Nami sat up and said, "How about letting us go for free, and allowing us to leave immediately?"
"No," came the blunt reply.
"But I don't feel like I'm about to die," she continued.
"That's not a bargaining chip."
"And... I've got that key that you want," she finished, dangling said key in front of her.
Dr. Kureha sat down on her bed and leaned towards Nami. "That takes guts."
She grabbed the key and stood up, starting to walk towards the door. "Your treatment is paid for, but as a doctor, I cannot let you leave."
Just as she was a few feet away from the door, she stopped and said, "Now, your friends bag is in the room two doors to the right, and so are the rest of your jackets. I don't have any guards, and the two in the beds are completely treated. So don't you dare even think of escaping while I'm outside."
As the door slammed shut, Nami looked at Vivi and asked, "Did she just tell me to get Anni's bag, our coats, untie Anni and Sanji, and sneak out?"
"I think so," Vivi answered.
With that, Vivi ran out to get our stuff, while Nami set about trying to untie us from the beds. She got my right arm free first, so I undid the ones on my waist and right leg, while she did the other ones. Once I was free, we both undid the restraints on Sanji. It went much quicker the second time.
Vivi came back in with our coats and my bag. I was very glad that the doctor had told us where is was, because I would hate to lose it. It was a very important present from my friends, and it was made of fireproof material in black and red, but it didn't look bulky or thick. It also held some important items that I nearly forgot about.
There were the items that I had packed specially, like my dagger and the marshmallows, but I had some special items from the Academy where I learned to control my powers. They were small, flat, light purple crystals that held special abilities from other objects. I had gotten them a few years ago, and they held specific abilities from things like my iPhone. There were two with the texting ability, but they didn't need anything to transmit messages, and there was no distance limit. There was one with the camera ability, and it had no storage limit, and there was also one that held songs. I still had four empty ones that had yet to hold abilities. Really, they were just for fun, but still useful.
Rummaging through my bag, I was glad to see that they were all still there. After saying our goodbyes, the four of us ran down the stairs to the ground floor, where we found Luffy outside shouting for Chopper. We ran out to him, Zoro, and Usopp, who was looking very worn out from all the running that he had obviously been doing.
"Chopper! Come out and be our nakama!" Luffy shouted.
I joined in, shouting, "Yeah, Chopper, come with us!"
Chopper snuck out from behind the castle, but hid part of his face when he noticed that we could see him.
"You're doing it wrong again," Nami pointed out.
He came out fully and yelled, "But I'm a reindeer! And I have a blue nose! You should all hate me! I'm a monster, but I just wanted to thank you for your offer."
I walked over to him and picked him up, throwing him over my shoulder. He wriggled around, trying to break free.
"C'mon, Chopper. We like you too much to leave you behind," I said to him.
There was a considerable lack of struggling at that.
"You... do?"
I grinned and laughed. "Of course! You don't really think that I would give you marshmallows and be really friendly if I didn't like you, do you?"
"I guess not..." he mumbled softly.
"So...? You coming?" Nami asked.
Chopper squirmed around in my arms, eyes tearing up.
Luffy took a deep breath and yelled, "Just come with us!"
Chopper sniffled and tears dripped down his nose. I put him down on the snow, satisfied that he wouldn't run away.
"He should go say his goodbyes to Dr. Kureha and Dalton-san," Vivi suggested.
Chopper nodded and we all decided that he should go alone. Luffy went with Usopp to check out the ropeway, while Vivi and Zoro crept up on me.
"Marshmallows?"
"GYAH!" I shrieked and jumped a good foot and a half into the air, "Are you trying to give me a heart attack?!"
Zoro smirked. "Chopper said you had marshmallows."
"And we haven't gotten any yet," Vivi continued, looking absolutely terrifying compared to her normal, sweet self.
"Heh, well..." I tried to get out of giving them any. After all, they were for me and Chopper, and occasionally Luffy.
Zoro grabbed my arms and pinned them behind my back, while Vivi rummaged through my bag looking for the bag of sugary deliciousness. Just as she held them up in triumph, there was a crashing from the hall. Taking advantage of the situation, I wriggled out of Zoro's strong grip and snatched back my candy.
"Hey!" Zoro and Vivi cried indignantly as I flashed them a triumphant grin.
I hugged my candy and said, "My precious... How could they do this to us, precious? We won't let them do it again. Precious belongs to us alone."
"What the hell is-"
Zoro was cut off by Chopper in his running transformation sprinting out from the open doors of the castle. He was dragging a sleigh behind him and as he passed us, he yelled, "Everyone, get in!"
I jumped in one of the back seats with Usopp. Nami and Vivi got in the front, while Zoro and Sanji leaped into the middle seats. Luffy stretched his arms out and grabbed onto the back of the sleigh, but couldn't quite get in. The sleigh was slightly smaller than the number of people that wanted to fit in. Chopper started to run down the top of the ropeway, and the sleigh tipped dangerously to the left. We all leaned to the right, arms waving all over the place.
"Please keep all limbs inside the dangerous sleigh. This is not a ride, but feel free to have fun," I announced jokingly.
Everyone laughed at that, and Usopp and I pulled Luffy back into the sled. When we got onto the ground, we were all screaming and laughing.
"Woohoo! Let's do it again!"
"I'm gonna die... We're on the ground, but I'm gonna die..."
"Nooo! My precious! How dare you steal my precious?!"
"Hey, Vivi, want a marshmallow?"
"Haha! You got them!"
"Are those Anni-chwan's, you marimo?"
"I'll have one too, please."
"Where is your ship? I don't know where I'm going!"
As we entered the forest, Chopper slowed down to a halt, and so did our hysterics. We tried to figure out which way our ship was, but we couldn't even find the mountains because they were obscured by the trees. Eventually, we got to a clear, raised patch of ground. We all looked towards the mountains to get our bearings, when,
BOOM!
A firework shot up from the top of the mountains, the castle specifically. Then, an explosion of pink appeared in the clouds. Soft pink snowflakes started floating down from the sky, and I heard a sniffle from behind me. I looked back to see Chopper with tears dripping down his nose.
"Chopper, it's very beautiful, ne?" I asked gently.
He nodded. "It's what Dr. Hiluluk was researching. He finally succeeded, and I'm so happy."
The pink slowly spread to the other clouds, creating a growing tree shape with the mountains as the trunk. It was amazingly beautiful, and I never would have expected something like it. The others were also voicing their admiration of the brilliant sakura-coloured snow.
Eventually, a few minutes of admiring later, we got our bearings and headed off in the direction of our ship. As we approached the river, our ship was magically not frozen in the river. However...
"Carue! What are you doing frozen in the river?!" exclaimed Vivi.
I ran up to the poor bird and shot flames around him to melt the ice. As soon as he was free, Carue squawked and ran behind Vivi.
She giggled and translated, "Carue is still scared of you, Anni. He says that you seem more like a," Carue chirped at Vivi, "...sadistic dragon than a human. At least, that's the closest translation."
I fell over into the snow.
Sadistic dragon...
Suddenly, I had an urge to taste the sakura snow. Opening my mouth, I stuck out my tongue to catch the snowflakes. Hmm... It didn't taste unusual, but there was a slight sweetness to it. Raising my head slightly, I noticed that most of them had gone back onto the boat, save for Sanji, who was holding out a huge pan to catch the snowflakes.
I got to my feet and jumped onto the boat, then flopped down onto my chair. My back twinged at the sudden contact and I fell off the chair, arching my back in pain. The wound must still have been slightly opened, so I would have to be very careful with it.
My thoughts were cut off when I noticed Luffy and Zoro coming out of the kitchen with a few sake bottles. I bounced down the stairs cheering happily. I grabbed one out of Zoro's hands and sat down in the middle of the deck to drink it. He growled and tried to grab it back, but I danced out of his reach.
My attention then turned to Luffy, who had convinced Chopper to try the nose-chopsticks. Everyone was laughing at the tiny reindeer as he danced around with those long chopsticks sticking out of his nose.
From behind me, a black-sleeved hand offered me a small glass. It had the pink snow in it, but it was a slightly darker colour.
"Thank you. What's in it?" I asked Sanji.
He smiled, placing it down on the deck in front of me. "It has the sakura snow, some sugar, and raspberry syrup. Normally, I would have used more ingredients, but my time was limited."
I took a sip and my eyes widened. "It's amazing! I've never tasted a drink this good!"
Luffy's hand stretched across our little circle to try and take the drink. I yanked it out of his grasp and chugged the contents to avoid them being taken by somebody else.
"Um, Anni-chwan, if you do that, then you'll get-"
"Argh! Brain Freeze!" I shouted, holding my nose and head.
My nakama laughed at my pain, but Zoro suggested, "If you have fire powers, then can't you just heat up your head from the inside?"
I closed my eyes and tried, but the only thing that happened was an outburst of laughter from the rest of them.
"Anni..." Chopper was nearly choking from laughter.
I opened my eyes, and it was slightly brighter than I expected. I looked down, and burst out laughing. Flames were coming out my nose, and combined with my concentrating expression, I probably looked more hilarious than I could imagine. Carue was quaking behind Vivi at my dragon-like appearance, and Chopper kept dancing with his nose-chopsticks.
I tried to take a sip of my sake, but it caught on fire and I jumped back from the flaming bottle. This caused me to laugh harder, and the flames raged even higher. Usopp ran inside to get a bucket, and then threw it on me to put me out.
By this time we were all choking on various things, such as sake, slushie, and the air itself from all the laughter. I collapsed in a heap of laughter on the deck, as did Luffy, Chopper, and Usopp. Nami, Vivi and Carue were laughing/giggling/chirping politely (or as politely as you can be as a pirate) and Zoro and Sanji were all-out laughing.
Ah, it's so great to have nakama.
A/N
Yes! Long chapter for you guys! I feel so proud of myself for this! I mean, it's a good six pages longer than normal! If you were wondering, some things that happen to Anni or any of the characters happen because of my experiences, or just my random whim, like the brain freeze. Earlier today I got a frozen lemonade slushie thing, and my nose hurt so bad, but then I thought, 'What if I was breathing really hard and fire came out my nose?' and, voila, the idea was born! Btw, do you think that Golum talks to his split personality, or the ring itself, and addresses it as 'we'?
Anyways, did I do good? I'd love some feedback from you guys, it really does help and inspire me to do these things. I'll give you... hmm... I'll give you a precious! No, we mustn't! Precious is ours! But they've been so good! No! Never! We have to! We won't! We will! Nooo...
Bonus! Try to guess who said what at the end of the sleigh ride!
See ya!