Bepo, Brook & Usopp

"G-G-Great," Usopp said as he shivered from the cold wind. "W-W-What do we d-d-do now?! I'm gonna die out here!"

"I wonder when it will be morning," Brook pondered as he looked around they area. It had started snowing since Pendulum's hologram disappeared. The monkey was showing them the location of the shard, but they couldn't go after it.

"We'll have to dig a snow cave," Bepo said as he started digging in the snow. Brook handed Usopp his jacket before they both helped Bepo dig in the snow. A little while later the three had their snow cave dug out. They climbed inside of it.

"Well, it's still pretty cold, but at least we're out of the wind," Usopp stated. He let out a loud sneeze and shivered. "Have all we need! Sure we do! Why couldn't the jerk give us, or me, some warm clothes to wear?!"

"You can lean against me and use my fur," Bepo said as he sat down by Usopp. The monkey was giving them a little light. It was just enough to make out each others shapes.

"I hope that thing doesn't melt the snow," Brook said as he stared at the monkey and it's holographic map. "Anyone know how to read this map?"

"Just guessing," Bepo said, leaning closer to the map. "I bet those three dots huddling together are us. And this single one, over here, is the shard."

"Well, that figures," Usopp said. "We're close to that stupid thing and yet I'm going to die before we even get there. ACHOO!"

"No point in getting upset about it," Brook replied calmly. "We just have to wait until the storm passes and for morning to break. Then we can see what kind of journey we really have ahead of us. Hey, for all we know the shard is just laying there waiting for us to come pick it up. Then, WHOOSH, we'll be back with our friends in no time."

"Speaking of friends," Usopp's voice trailed off as he looked at Bepo. "Will she be all right when she wakes up? Isn't this the first time, other than Luminous, that she's been separated from you Heart Pirates, right?"

Bepo ducked his head.

"Stay strong, my friend," Brook said kindly. "I truly believe she will be just fine. I bet she's already up and awaiting for our return. We all will be back with our friends shortly."

"That's right! We all saw what she was capable of on Luminous!" Usopp cheered. "She's even stronger now that she's got some training under her belt. She'll be just fine. ACHOO! Me on the other hand…ACHOO! ACHOO! ACHOO!"

"Maybe," Bepo mumbled low.

After that the mixed crew settled down. Occasionally, Bepo or Brook would stick their head out of their little snow home to see if the storm had passed and if it was daylight yet. A couple hours later light began to filter through the small opening in their cave. Brook poked his head out. "Ah, the sun is shining brightly, my friends. Although…I don't see the sun."

"That doesn't make sense," Usopp said as he and Bepo exited the cave. The sniper stared up at the sky. "How can the sun be shining when there is no sun?

"Hey, the shard is this way," Bepo said while pointing behind him.

"Let us be off then," Brook said as the three headed off.

They trekked for two hours before coming upon a large ice mountain. The three looked at the mountain then studied the monkey's map. They looked at the mountain again then looked back at the map. Brook and Usopp twitched and shouted at the same time. "YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!"

Bepo tilted his head as he looked at the ice mountain. "The shard is in the mountain?"

Usopp grabbed the monkey and shook it. "Equipped us all with the necessary equipment! What a load of crap! How does that jerk expect us to drill into ice to get that stupid shard?! We need tools! Drills! Hammers! A blow torch! Dynamite! A rock! Anything is better than nothing!"

"Hey, you two, come check this out," Brook called. Bepo and Usopp looked at their skeleton companion. He was inside an opening in the side of the ice mountain, waving at them. They rushed over to the opening and stepped inside.

"Wow!" Usopp exclaimed when they got inside.

"It looks like someone is already working on carving this mountain out," Brook said as he walked around a large area that looked like a hotel lobby. On each side of the room was a large stair case that lead up to a balcony with several other rooms being carved out.

"What are they doing here? It kinda looks like a hotel," Usopp said as he inspected his surroundings. "And who would want to live in an ice hotel?"

"It looks like the shard is in fact here, but it's several feet behind the wall of ice," Brook said as he looked at their map.

"Papa, look!" The three pirates whipped around when someone shouted. They froze when they saw a small group of bunnies standing on their hind legs, holding several different tools, appearing in the mountain.

"Oh, good. I was worried that the foundation was going to keep on ignoring us," The tallest male bunny said. "But, I have to ask, why are you three out here without the necessary winter gear? It's dangerous to wonder around this area without thick parkas."

"Well, there's a good explanation for that, sir," Brook started. "You see, we were talking with some friends of ours when this strange or-"

"Shut up!" Usopp whacked Brook on the head. He then grabbed the skeleton and Bepo then dragged them away from the bunnies. "Have you lost your mind?! We can't tell them anything or else that Pendulum guy might hurt Neo!"

"Oh, right," Brook nodded. "I forgot."

"What do we do?" Bepo asked.

"We just play along with them. He said they were waiting for someone. We'll just pretend to be those guys and help out here. That way we can get the shard easily," Usopp explained. "They have tools to work with while we have nothing."

"Right," Bepo and Brook nodded.

Usopp stood up and walk back over to the bunnies. "Yes, we are those who you had been waiting for. Just tell us what to do and we'll do it. Although, we are kind of new to this so we might need some pointers on what we are doing."

"That's not a problem," The tall male bunny smiled. He had dark grey fur with black markings under his dark blue parka. "I'm just glad we finally have help. We were never going to get this done on our own. My name is Gnash. Bijou, do you have the spare parkas?"

"Yes, papa," Bijou, the only female, was solid white wearing a silver parka. She pulled out three spare parkas for the pirates. She handed it to them. "I'm Bijou."

"So warm!" Usopp exclaimed as he snuggled into the coat. "Thank you! I'm Usopp. That's Brook and Bepo."

"Welcome," Gnash said as he pointed to the other three bunnies with them. "These are my sons, Kobet and Tippy. And their friend Jigsaw."

"Hi," The boy bunnies greeted. Kobet had the same color as his dad while Tippy was a lighter grey with darker fur at the points of his paws and ears. Jigsaw was a chestnut brown bunny with a white belly.

"Let's get started," Kobet said as he and the other boys handed out the tools.

"What exactly are we doing?" Brook asked.

"We're carving out the ice," Jigsaw gave Brook a puzzled look. "Are you sure you're from the foundation?"

"Of course," Brook laughed. He turned away from the bunny and growled to himself. "This sounds more like a job for Franky!"

"We should get started," Gnash said. "We have less than two hours now."

"Less than two hours?" Bepo asked. "What do you mean?"

"Let me guess," Tippy said as he spun a tool in his paw. "You three are originally from the warm sector?"

"Warm sector?" Bepo questioned.

"Of course we are!" Usopp jumped in front of Bepo. He glared back at the bear. "Idiot! I told you to play along, did I?!"

"I'm sorry," Bepo bowed his head.

"Ah," Tippy growled. "The foundation messed up again."

"What do you mean?" Brook asked.

"The foundation does nothing but place ridiculous demands on its workers," Bijou explained. "They won't supple enough workers to meet their deadlines. They want this ice lodge done in three months. But it can't be done with such few workers. Then they have the nerve to complain when their rich clients are unhappy about it."

"I think I understand," Brook nodded. "But what did you mean by having less than two hours?"

"This place is constantly bombarded with winter storms. It get so cold that we can only work for two hours a day," Tippy replied.

"Only two hours a day?!" Brook and Usopp shouted.

"What's wrong?" Bijou asked.

"Nothing, nothing," Brook and Usopp waved at her with fake smiled. They turned from her and cried dramatically. "Two hours a day? It's going to take us forever to get that stupid shard!"

…

Neo stood out on the balcony. She was still holding onto Law's hat as she stared up at the dome ceiling's artificial nighttime scene. Even though it was identical to the night sky, she hated it. It was fake. She wanted the real thing. And she wanted Law.

"Princess," Elian called as he flew over to her. The sprites were inside preparing the bed for her to sleep in. Or Elian and Velocity were turning down the covers. Celeste was too busy bouncing up and down on the bed to help. "Please, lay down and get some rest. It will do you no good to sit up and worry. You must take care of yourself."

She didn't move.

"He's right," Velocity added. "Things will look better in the morning. And I'm sure your helpmate and friends would want you to rest instead of staying up late worrying."

"You're right," Neo sighed, pulling herself away from the fake sky above. She walked over to the bed to lay down, still in her black dress. She couldn't bring herself to take it off and dress in the clothes they had here. She laid down and held his hat to her nose as Velocity and Elian used their magic to pull the covers up over her. She stared where Law should be. Instead of him, Celeste was laying on the pillow. The little orange sprite had already fallen asleep.

Velocity eventually laid down near Celeste on the pillow as Elian laid down at the foot of the bed. The sprites quickly fell asleep. Neo wasn't as lucky. Hours later she was still awake, staring at the spot where Law should had been. Neo clenched Law's hat. She closed her eyes as she breathed in his scent and tried to get some sleep.

…

Author's Notes: Howdy all! :)

Guest: Yea, Zoro's fun. But the Dark King says Grove 1 too. I'm wondering if it has something to do with english and Japanese words not matching up so well, because it's such an obvious mistake. Then I could be wrong. Sometimes obvious mistakes aren't so easy to notice.

Apple Bloom: That's okay. It's supposed to be confusing. You can just think of it as being in a different world or dimension.