The weight of Luffy's words seemed to slam into Wapol and Chessmarimo like a physical force, and Bear couldn't really blame them. She never could've expected that such a speech could come out of the childish boy she had met.
"I don't think I've ever known anyone like him." She thought, staring up at the pirate in awe. "Or have I?" Was the reason that she had an unbearably strong urge to follow him because he was familiar? Like someone she had known before she lost her memories?
"Oi, Reindeer! Bear!" He called down to the duo below, a devilish grin on his face. "I'm gonna start kicking their asses right now, but what'll you two do?"
Before Bear could answer, Wapol began shouting from behind them. "If you want to protect that flag so much, then so be it!" He raised one of his arm-cannons towards Luffy.
"That's enough outta you, pal!" Sanji rushed forward to intercept the king's attack, and there was a popping sound followed by a grunt of pain from the blonde.
"Sounds like he put out his back." Kureha expertly noted.
"He shouldn't be up like this, to be honest." Bear commented.
The elderly doctor seemed to agree, as she ran after Sanji and kicked him down on his stomach. "Doctor Stop!"
He fell down and slid through the snow with a cry, as both Chopper and and Bear ran towards Wapol. The reindeer launched a punch towards him, but was quickly blocked by a sneering Chessmarimo.
"Out of the way!" Bear cried. Pulling the snow and ice from around her, she formed a whip-like stream of water, which wrapped around one of Chessmarimo's legs. The girl then pulled the whip back like a rope and launched the combination-man over her shoulder and into the air, causing him (or was it them, Bear wondered somewhere in the back of her mind) to crash into the ground.
"Awesome!" Luffy cheered on from up above. "Kick his ass!"
Bear had slid to a stop, eyeing both her opponents. Chessmarimo slowly struggled to get up. Even with their injuries, they got back on their feet. "Muhahaha... Even if you knock us down, we shall stand once again! No matter what happens to this body, we shall not let you lay a finger on His Maje-"
Bear was standing right next to Wapol, poking him with a single finger.
Chessmarimo was horrified.
"Ngh- You!" They pointed a finger at bear. "How dare you continue to disrespect us and His Majesty! Do you get some sort of enjoyment out of this!?"
"A little bit, yes." She was now leaning
"Grk!" Chessmarimo flinched, but then a suspicious look came over their two faces. "Come to think of it, we don't recognize you. Your clothes are strange and you don't look like any other citizen of this country. Tell us, rude peasant girl, where you are from, so that we may tell your ruler of your horrid actions!"
Bear bristled at being called 'rude peasant girl'. "How should I know!? I don't even know where this is!"
A look of surprise came over Chessmarimo then, followed by a look of gleeful contempt. "Ah, we see! Were you simply abandoned here, then? By disappointed parents? Or perhaps you were kidnapped, and then discovered to be of no worth, and simply left here?"
"Shut up!" She couldn't help stop the hurt decorating her voice. He'd hit a weak point. "I don't need a couple of stupid lackeys telling me who I am!"
"Who you are? You're just like that oddity over there!" The two turned their sneers to Chopper. "You're the 'Abominable Snowman' the villagers were making a fuss over years ago, correct? What a pitiable existence for the both of you! Scorned and hated by all..." And Chessmarimo laughed a horrible, stinging laugh. "What possible reason could a friendless monster and a friendless peasant have in wanting to save this kingdom!? It's absolutely ridiculous!"
"Shut up!" Chopper shot back. "I can fight just fine even without anybody on my side! As long as Doc's flag is waving behind my back, I-"
"Friendless? Not as long as I'm around!" Luffy had stuck Hiluluk's Flag back into the spire, and held tight, stretching his body back several feet. Using the pole like a slingshot, he flung himself forward. "I'm their friend! Both of them!"
The pirate landed with a crash that blew both Wapol and Chessmarimo away a few feet. "Shishishishi!"
"S-Straw-Hat, are you alright!?" Chopper screeched.
"Don't worry 'bout me, I'm rubber."
"So you can just do stuff like that without getting hurt!?" Bear astonishedly questioned.
"Yeah!" He grinned and pointed towards Chessmarimo. "Think you guys can handle those two?"
"I can take care of 'em without breaking a sweat!" Chopper confirmed.
"Yeah, just give me a few seconds and they're done!" Bear concurred.
"Then it's decided." Luffy cracked his knuckles. "I'll take on the big-mouthed hippo, then!"
"Oi, oi, wait Luffy!" Sanji attempted to crawl over to the 3 from under Kureha's foot. "What do you think you're doing!?"
"What's it look like? I'm gonna fight the hippo!"
"No, no, I mean making a lady fight! What kind of man let's a lady fi-"
"Excuse me!?" Bear practically radiated with anger. She stomped right over to Sanji and got in his face. "You think just because I'm a woman, I can't fight!?"
Sanji blanched. "N-No, that's not what I-"
"Then what? Why shouldn't I fight? Wasn't I a 'Goddess of War'?"
The blonde merely let out some sort of croaking noise, probably caused by both shock and being crushed by Kureha.
"I'll have you know that I can fight as good as any man or woman out there. In fact, I can fight better than most of them!" She turned back to Chessmarimo and walked back next to Chopper, a certain resolve in her steps. "Watch closely. I'll show you just how strong I can be." Sliding into a stance, she felt adrenaline running through her veins. "And it has nothing to do with my gender."
Kureha slid Sanji around like a bottle, so he was facing the battlefield. "It looks like someone's about to get a life lesson."
Chessmarimo roared with laughter. "You two think you can beat me!? A stupid animal and a useless peasant girl!? Ha!"
"My name is Tony Tony Chopper!" Chopper declared, shrugging off the men's insults. "The world's greatest doctor gave me that name!"
"You don't need to know my name," Bear added on, "Because you'll just remember me as the girl who kicked your ass straight off a mountain!"
"Even if Doc would forgive you brutes, I'll never forgive you for mocking him!"
"The ones begging for forgiveness will be you two! Get ready to die!"
It was then that Chopper took out a small, amber-colored sphere. "My Rumble Ball lasts for 3 minutes! And we'll beat you within that time!"
"Hey Chopper." Bear grinned at the small reindeer. "How about a minute and a half, instead?"
"3 minutes!? Muhahahaha! You won't be able to beat me, much less within only 3 minutes!"
"3 minutes!? I'd love to see that!" Wapol and Luffy both said, each with opposing tones.
"Rumble!" Chopper tossed the sphere into his mouth and bit down with a crunch.
Their foe took out two bows, each with an afro ignited at the tip. "Just what do you two think you can do!?" The arrows each launched towards the duo. "Marimo's Snow Melting Arrows!"
The young reindeer morphed into a normal reindeer form. "Walk Point." He dodged to the right with ease.
Bear inhaled and exhaled deeply. Time seemed to slow down. She could remember this. She had to be just like a leaf, flowing with the air and not against it. Bringing her right foot forward, the teen spun around once on the ball of her foot. As she spun, Bear gathered the air that spun with her and blasted it out in a wave, straight towards Chessmarimo. The blast knocked the men back a few feet, but they still stood.
"Hah!" They panted. "So the monster is a Zoan-User, and the peasant is a Devil's Fruit user as well!"
"Will someone tell me what a Devil's Fruit is!?" Bear was beginning to give up hope on anyone ever answering her questions.
"Hmph!" Chessmarimo scoffed. "Stupid as well as useless! It makes no difference! We already know that your partner is a reindeer-human, and we shall figure out your fruit as well!"
"Heavy Point." Chopper morphed into his sasquatch-like form and charged forward, Bear on his heels. "You're wrong! I'm a human-reindeer!"
"What's the difference!? The important thing here is that I've already memorized the three forms of your Zoan fruit!" The two-in-one man took out 4 hammers, then, one in each hand. "Marimo's Super Surprise Quattro Hammers! You've already shown me all 3 of your forms! You're a power fighter, just like Dalton!"
"Jump Point."
"But you really think you can beat me in terms of raw strength!?" Chessmarimo slammed the hammer down on top of the oncoming reindeer.
But they missed.
"He jumped!?" Sanji observed from outside the battle. "How can he jump so high!?"
"What!?" The hammer-wielding men turned around to see a slim Chopper, upright like a human but with a reindeer's legs, high in the sky above them.
"Don't take your eyes off your opponent." Bear's voice sounded behind them. They turned back in time to get a stone pillar to the stomach, launching them backwards. The girl covered the pillar in water and froze it, creating a ramp that she skated up. Spinning once in mid-air, she brought her leg down, along with a torrent of fire, only to have a hammer slam into, sending her flying off to the side.
"Don't take your eyes off your opponent." Chessmarimo repeated and turned back to the air-borne Chopper. "I though your hybrid form was that small reindeer on two legs! You sly freak of nature!" They readied the hammers to attack the reindeer as he descended from the sky.
"Guard Point."
The hammer met a large, fluffy ball of fur with only a head and four legs. The fluff ball bounced to where Bear had landed.
"You okay, Bear?"
Bear used the air to spin herself back onto her feet. "Didn't feel a thing." She responded, sure that she would feel a large bruise on her side in the morning.
"Another form!?" Chessmarimo seemed to be losing their cool by now. "Impossible!"
"Your attacks won't work." Chopper informed.
"A Zoan-Fruit should only be limited to 3 forms! What the hell are you!?"
"My Rumble Ball is a drug that specifically alters the wavelengths emitted by each form! After 5 years of research, I've discovered 4 additional transformation points!"
"7 transformations!?"
"Se-" Luffy seemed to have not started his fight with Wapol yet, and was instead focused on Chopper and Bear's fight. "Seven freakin' forms!? He's the world's coolest reindeer!"
"A few extra forms just for show isn't enough to scare me! Neither are some crappy parlor tricks from a peasant!"
"Is he gonna quit it with the peasant stuff?" Bear sighed.
"Arm Point." Chopper again stood upright, only this time an impossible amount of muscle seemed to form into his arms.
"We need to take out those hammers, or we can never get close enough to get a good hit."
"Right."
The two dashed forward at high speed. The reindeer's hooves smashed the hammers on the left into splinters, while the human girl burned the ones on the right into kindling.
"Let me warn you right now that my iron hooves can crush even a boulder." Chopper attested to his strength.
"Heh, pretty sure I can do that with my bare hands." Bear grinned.
Chessmarimo was definitely getting worried now. "Conceited little freaks... Know your place!" The weapons they whipped out now were even deadlier than the last. "Marimo's Super Surprise Quattro Axes! Hepatic Blade!" They crossed the axes in front of themselves, creating a blast of slicing wind that caught Chopper on the left shoulder and Bear on her right forearm.
"Bleeding Hog-monkeys- That stings!" She hissed, grasping the wound. Her blood began soaking through the light fabric of the arm bands she wore on both arms.
"H-He just gouged the castle wall with that attack!" Sanji shouted, now being sat on by Kureha.
Bear looked behind her. Indeed, there were two long, gapping holes in the stone of the castle. "Wh-What!? How is that possible!?"
"I'll carve you up!" The axes were now spinning towards Chopper and her at an alarming rate, a furious Chessmarimo attached to them. "All-Directional Snow Splitter!" Both of them had to dance around the unrelenting swings in order not be injured any further. "What happened to all that confidence of yours earlier, you two!? You won't be able to beat us by just running away!"
Bear dodged to the left and rose the snow and ice around her feet into a large slab. "He's right, Chopper! I'm pretty sure we're past the minute and a half mark!" She began to punch the slab at rapid rate. Out of the other side, large shards of ice flew at Chessmarimo, cutting him like glass.
Bear was right, and Chopper knew it. They needed to end this within the next minute. "Brain Point." He morphed into his small hybrid form. "I'm not just running away... I've been searching for your weak point. It's time to finish him off, Bear!"
Having run out of ammo, Bear knocked down the ice slab and dashed over to Chopper. "Alright, let's take them out."
"Scope!" The reindeer stuck the tips of his hooves together, creating a small window between them.
"Th-That pose!" Luffy gulped. "It's gotta be a beam! He's gonna shoot out a beam for sure!"
"You've been searching for my weak point!?" Chessmarimo charged forward. "Ha! I don't even have a single blind spot! If it's anyone's time to finish someone off, then it's me killing some transforming freak and useless girl!"
"At least he went with something besides 'peasant'." Bear jumped to the right as Chopper seemed to figure out the weakness was the chin. Flinging out an arm, she pushed aside a whole strip of icy snow, revealing the the frozen ground below. Rolling over it, she allowed the earth to collect over her injured forearm, creating a solid rock-gauntlet.
Chopper jumped into the air. Bear bent her knees.
Chopper then morphed into his Arm Point and ducked below Chessmarimo, hiding himself from view. Bear used another stone pillar to launch herself towards her enemy.
"Kokutei-" Chopper bent an arm back, preparing to punch. Bear did the same.
"Roseo!" Chopper's iron hoof made contact with Chess' chin below Kuromarimo's head. Chessmarimo was sent tumbling backwards. As they arched backwards, they came to see the upside-down face of Bear.
"I believe I said not to take your eyes off your opponent." She flung her fist forward and hit the spot that had just taken a hit from an iron hoof. The force of her punch and the force of their flight met on impact and created a loud cracking noise. Chessmarimo blasted off in the opposite direction.
"3 minutes." Chopper went back to his hybrid and patted his pink hat.
"A minute and a half for both of us." Bear's stance went back to her more casual one as she crossed her arms.
Luffy shouted in victory. "Alright! You guys did it!"
"Hey," The teen looked around, slightly alarmed. "Where'd Wapol go?"
"He's gone!" Sanji cried, "Wapol disappeared!"
Kureah looked thoughtful. "He came up here on his wooly-hippo, so he can't have gone down the mountain without it."
"Ah-HA!" Luffy pointed an accusing finger at Bear. "I knew it wasn't an arctic-hippo!"
"Come on, they're probably the same thing." She shook off the stone on her arm and began healing it. "Need a tune up, Chopper?"
"Uh, sure..." The small reindeer shyly let the older teen heal the cut on his shoulder.
"What about you, Straw-Ha-"
"Dammit! That stupid Hippo! I'll find him and finish him off!"
"O~kay, you seem fine. What about eyebrow-"
"Wait... Don't tell me he went inside the castle!? If he did, Nami-san's in danger!" Sanji began dragging his body forward with his arms, crawling into the castle. "If he lays even a finger on Nami-san, I'll kill him a hundred times over!"
"Hey, stop right there!" Kureha called out to him, though not really bothering to stop the man.
Bear sighed. "I'll go after him, don't worry about it." After all, he was right about Nami being in danger.