How do I just not post last week. Like, the chapter was done. It's BEEN done. I just didn't post it. Why? I couldn't tell you.
Whatever, Apologies for that! Enjoy!
"AH! I'm gonna die!" Wapol shouted as blood spurted from his wounds. However, nobody seemed concerned.
"Doctors," Kuromarimo said. "Assist him!" Zoro watched, stunned as Doctors in scrubs appeared out of nowhere, seemingly ready to operate. The group surrounded Wapol and began to work, everyone watching in surprise. Before long they separated, and Wapol stood with a laugh.
"Ah, I feel much better now!" He said. "Oh my, Dalton! You used to be one of us! What are you doing here? Have you come to bow at my feet and ask to come back? Too bad! I won't take you back!" Zoro couldn't tell because of how far away he was, but he could tell Dalton looked pissed.
"Never," he hissed. "My allegiances are with your father and this island. I tried, I really did, to support you. But I can't. Not after what you did!"
"What I did?" Wapol demanded. "What did I do?"
"You abandoned this place when Blackbeard was coming after us!" Dalton shouted. "You saved your own sorry hide instead of helping your people! You're not worthy of ruling this island, not like your father was!"
"I disagree!" Wapol said with a smirk. "I am worthy! Want to know why? Because I was born to rule!"
"Just because you are born into a position does not make you worthy of it!" Dalton countered. "You treated the people who live here like scum! You exiled all but twenty Doctors and made them work for you! You made anyone who needed medical help lick your boots if they needed treatment! That's not how a King treats his people!"
"Well it's how I do!" Wapol said with a laugh. "Now, what did you say you were doing?" Dalton lowered his gaze slightly, and Zoro could tell things were about to start. Before they did though, Dalton began to change. He grew fur on his body, and horns grew from his head. As he changed, Zoro noted that he looked like a cow of some sort.
"You heard me the first time!" Dalton said. "I came to kill you!" Soldiers came out in front of Wapol as he said this, making the former king laugh.
"You'll have to carve through my men first!" He said. "So, let's see what you can do, cow!" The man raised their weapons, aiming them at Dalton. The Bull man readied his shovel-like weapon, and the battle commenced.
"Fiddle Banff!"
And it was over.
As the soldiers under Wapol's command fired their weapons, Dalton cried out an attack. The man dispersed into afterimages, his speed greatly increased. Zoro watched as, using this new speed, he sliced through the soldiers that had attacked him. He finished by slamming the final mans head into the ground, ending the barrage of gunfire. Wapol looked stunned, and Zoro had to admit he wasn't expecting this sort of power.
"You always were an annoyance," Chess said, him and Kuromarimo walking forward. Chess readied a bow and arrow, while Kuromarimo readied his...fists? Hair? "But, it's quite obvious what you're weakness is."
"Is it?" Zoro asked aloud, looking at Karoo. The duck just blinked at him, seemingly unsure himself.
"No! Don't!" Zoro whipped his head back around, trying to find what he'd missed talking to the duck. He soon saw it, as arrows were flying towards the crowd on onlookers instead of towards Dalton. The man was rushing forwards, but Zoro couldn't tell if he was going to make it it time.
"Damn it, man." Zoro hissed. Bolting forward, he beat Dalton to the arrows and sliced them in half, causing them to fall uselessly. The crowd looked stunned at his arrival, but he wasn't really concerned about that. He was just glad he'd made it in time.
"You," Dalton said as Zoro stood up straight. "You're one of those pirates, aren't you?"
"The one left guarding the ship yeah," Zoro said as he removed Wado Ichimonji from his mouth. "I saw them come inland and figured I might be needed. Where's my crew?"
"Off looking for their doctor," Dalton replied. "It's easier said then done these days, sadly." Zoro frowned. How hard could it be to get a Doctor? "We have to stop their advance here, do you understand?"
"Yeah, yeah." Zoro replied as he turned his gaze back. "I heard enough of their rambling to know they're not the kindest lot." Dalton nodded, also turning his gaze back to see what Wapol was doing, who just looked confused.
"Who're you?" He demanded to Zoro. "Wait, you were on that brats ship the other day!" Zoro smirked.
"I was. You missed me back on the ship too. Too bad huh?" Wapol gritted his teeth angrily, his two advisers still standing by to fight.
"Chess!" He shouted.
"Yes, sir!" Chess replied. The man nocked an arrow and aimed it at Zoro and Dalton, who both prepared themselves. The arrow flew, but something was wrong. The arrow exploded halfway too them, churning out a massive smokescreen as it did. Zoro coughed as the smoke went for his eyes, squinting as he tried to see through it. All he could hear was Wapol laughing.
"I don't have time to deal with you nimrods! I'll make sure to dispose of you once I've kicked that wretched witch out of my castle! Men, Robson, let's go!" Zoro couldn't see it, but he could hear some massive thing sprinting past him. Once the smoke cleared, Zoro saw that the prior King and his men had disappeared. He could see a path leading up towards the mountains, which was obviously where they'd run off too.
"He ran off?" Zoro demanded. Dalton sighed.
"He's quite good at that," He muttered under his breath. "Come with me, swordsman. We have to make sure he does not make it to the castle!"
"Okay, let's go."
"Uh...It's this way."
"How do you know?"
"Their trail is right here."
"Must've moved it."
"Quack."
"You be quiet!"
"What the hell is this thing?" Luffy asked as the trio finally made it to what Nojiko had seen through the snow. She herself had no idea, but if she had to guess it was some sort of transportation system. The small building led to a rope, which disappeared into the snow towards the castle. That was all, though. There was no actually transport in the building, which led her to believe it was either decommissioned, or broken. Either way it was of no use to them.
"Crap," she hissed. "Now what do we do? There's no way up this frigging mountain!"
"Sure there is," Luffy replied. Nojiko raised an eyebrow at him, but he pointed towards the rope. "The rope leads to the castle, right? He can use it to get there."
"Sure, but..." Nojiko tried. No, Luffy was right. The rope was the only way they were going to be able to get to the castle in time to save Nami and Yosaku.
"There's no way!" Johnny said for her. "How can we carry Nami and Yosaku over such a large distance?! You know how far we walked to get here!" Luffy just made a face at the swordsman.
"I'll carry them," He said flatly.
"Wait, what?" Nojiko demanded. Luffy simply responded by pulling on his own cheek.
"I'm rubber," he said. "I won't be as affected by the two of them weighing me down. I'll just stretch. Besides, if I do stretch I can get there even further by swinging like a monkey!"
He had to be kidding.
"No," Nojiko replied, wanting to wrestle her sister from the mans back. "I can't let you do that. You want me to let you swing yourself there with two deathly ill people?"
"Do we have another option?" Luffy demanded. Nojiko knew he was right, but she didn't want to admit it.
"You're insane," she confirmed, trying to convince herself just as much as Luffy. "There's no way this will work. How can you expect to to carry both of them and yourself over this giant space? It was one thing to have all of us climb up, but for just you to carry them across?"
"I won't drop them," Luffy replied simply.
"Of course you say that!" Nojiko replied. "But how can I just blindly trust you when it's so likely something will-!"
"Nojiko," Luffy interrupted. Nojiko watched as the man regarded her quietly, his owl-like eyes boring into her.
"W-What?" She asked, taken aback by his staring.
"I won't drop Nami," he said.
"W-Wha...?"
"I won't drop her." Nojiko didn't know what it was, but something about the way Luffy was talking, the way he was staring at her, she felt no reason to doubt him. As if she now felt comfortable following him into the depths of hell. Before she even knew what she was doing, she found herself judging the space between them and the top of the mountain.
"...Ugh, fine." She hissed angrily. "Let's see if we can tie Yosaku to you as well." Luffy smiled at this.
"Cool, let's do it!" Nojiko frowned at his excitement.
"I swear if you drop my sister, I'm leaving your ass in this frigid place." She hissed. Luffy only nodded as he laughed.
"Okay! And if I don't, you gotta come with me all the way to the One Piece! Got it?" Ignoring him, Nojiko went to work helping Johnny untie Yosaku from himself, then trying to find a way to latch both onto the Captain.
"Are we sure about this?" Johnny asked, sounding somewhat timid. "I don't know if this a good idea. Maybe we missed something back at the mountain?"
"We're out of time," Nojiko replied under her breath. "If their fevers get any worse they could die. Hell, I'm surprised they're not dead already." Finally, after spending a few minutes trying to figure out what to do, the trio came up with a plan. Using the ropes that they had, Yosaku had been secured onto Luffy's back, and Nami was secured over his shoulders. It was an incredibly awkward system, what with them trying to not hurt Yosaku's head with Nami's weight. But they couldn't very well put someone on Luffy's front, that wouldn't work. They needed to have all the weight on the mans back.
"How does that feel?" Nojiko asked as Luffy adjusted slightly. The Captain frowned and moved a bit, before he smiled.
"Feels good!" He said. "Ready to go!"
"We'll be right behind you," Johnny said as he gave the Captain a thumbs up. "So don't go to far ahead of us!" Nojiko nodded. There was no way they were going to let Luffy do this on his own. He was already doing more than he had to.
"Ready?" Luffy asked as he approached the rope. Both of them nodded, and Nojiko forced herself to watch as Luffy grabbed the rope with one hand, and swung up to grab with the other. Before long the Captain had swung ahead slightly like a monkey, which made Nojiko wondered if he had a real last name he'd ditched in favour of calling himself a monkey.
"Well, let's do this." Johnny said as he ditched his gloves. Nojiko watched as the swordsman reached up to clutch the rope, and did his best to follow Luffy. It looked hard, and she feared for her hands in the cold weather. That being said though, there was no more options. Taking a deep breath, Nojiko ditched her gloves and jumped up, grabbing the rope. The first thought that ran through her head was how cold it was. It only took a few seconds before she lost all feeling in her hands, and that only made it harder to grip onto the rope.
Looking down only made it worse.
Doing so on accident, Nojiko felt woozy as she stared at the abyss below her, threatening to swallow her up if she fell. Her hands seemed to work against her, barely able to keep a hold of the rope to save her.
"Are you okay, Nojiko?" Johnny's voice came. Looking forward, she saw that the swordsman had turned to look at her, seemingly worried.
"Y-Yeah, just cold." She replied weakly. "Thank God I t-trained with Zoro though, otherwise I wouldn't have the upper body strength to do this." Johnny smiled.
"I know, right? I'm glad Big Bro had our backs! Now come on, Big Bro Luffy is leaving us behind!"
Luffy didn't know how long they had been climbing, but he knew something was going on. The rope swinging in the wind was bad enough, but now he could tell something was wrong.
"Hey!" He shouted over his shoulder, stretching his neck to turn to Johnny and Nojiko. "Are you guys okay?"
"S-So far!" Nojiko replied, shielding her face as best she could from the wind. Luffy worriedly noted her hands looked blue. "Was that everything?"
"Yeah, just wanted to make sure." Luffy replied, another gust of wind threatening to knock one of them off. "You guys can turn back if you want, I'll get them to the castle."
"Like hell!" Nojiko replied. "I'm not leaving Nami! Or Yosaku, for that matter! We're in this mess together!"
"What she said!" Johnny said. "We won't leave you, Big Bro Luffy!" This made Luffy smile through the cold, which just made his mouth cold. Continuing on, the crew did their best to get to the castle.
Before something snapped viciously. Turning his head around to find the problem, Luffy looked over his head.
The rope was snapping. He was slightly past it, but Johnny and Nojiko were not. Panicking, he stretched his neck again.
"You guys! The rope is snapping here! Hurry!"
"What?!" Johnny asked, Luffy gestured to it wildly, both of them somehow paling even more.
"What do we do?!" Nojiko asked.
"Hurry over!" Luffy said. "When it breaks we may get swung into the mountain, but it's better than swung back that way! Hurry!" Both tried there best to hurry, but he could tell they were struggling. The poor rope snapped more and more, barely holding on. Johnny managed to pass over the snapping point, Luffy having moved to make room for them. Nojiko managed to cross just as the rope snapped, and before long the pirates were swinging through the air at far from comfortable speeds.
"Now what?!" Johnny shouted over the wind.
"Brace for impact, I guess!" Luffy replied. "I'll try and slow us down with my legs!" Stretching his legs backwards, Luffy reached out and tried to make contact with the side of the mountain. The closer they got, the more worrying the speed became. After all, this was definitely going to hurt.
"Nojiko!" Hearing Johnny cry out, Luffy looked downward to see that Nojiko had lost her grip on the rope, but Johnny had grabbed her before she fell. Great.
"Are you okay?!" Luffy shouted.
"Yeah, just peachy!" Nojiko shouted. "I'm gonna die!"
"No you won't!" Luffy replied, angrily eyeing the wall. "I'll save us!" His legs reached the wall, giving him the sustain he needed. Using his legs the rope slowed, and soon the group reached the wall and hung there quietly.
"...Are we dead?" Johnny asked. "Does it snow it heaven?"
"No, I think we're alive." Nojiko replied, hanging weakly from Johnny's arm. "Can I get some help here?" Luffy reached down and helped her regain her grip, Now all three of them hanging off the side of the mountain, fighting against the elements.
"How close are we?" Johnny asked weakly. Luffy looked up to see that they were just barely halfway to the top, give or take.
"Little over halfway," he replied. "We can do this, we're almost there!" Little by little, fighting the fact that their limbs were freezing, the trio did their best to climb. The wind was trying it's absolute hardest to stop them, and a few times Luffy felt his frozen fingers lose their grip. But he couldn't fall. No, he wouldn't fall. There was no way he would.
"I-I don't know if I can..." Nojiko's voice came weakly from below him. "M-My arms are going to give out..."
"Don't give up, Big Sis Nojiko!" Johnny shouted. "We're almost there!"
"I...I..."
"Nojiko!" Luffy shouted, still climbing. "I'm not telling Nami you fell! So gather yourself and let's get up this frigging mountain!" He couldn't tell what she was thinking, but he didn't hear her complaining anymore. They continued their climb, the end coming closer and closer. Before long, Luffy was able to reach up and grip the edge, pulling himself over and crawling into the snow. Taking a deep breath, Luffy ignored the freezing snow pressed against his chest and turned to reach down, helping Johnny and Nojiko up the side. Both of them sprawled out on the ground as well, panting heavily.
"I-I need more training..." Johnny hissed weakly.
"My arms are on fire..." Nojiko said.
"We made it though!" Luffy said. "Now, let's get this done!" Taking a deep breath, Luffy struggled to his feet and looked at the castle.
"HEY! WE NEED A DOCTOR OUT HERE! SHOW YOURSELF!"
For a moment or two, nothing happened. For a moment, Luffy was terrified there was no one here. Had they really done all of this for nothing? Actually?
As it turned out, they had not. As Luffy pondered their decisions, the front door to the castle slowly opened, and a pair of eyes watched them from inside.
"Who are you guys?" The voice asked.
"I'm telling you, we missed the lake!" Vivi shouted as Usopp stared down at the map they had.
"I know, but where did we take a wrong turn?!" He demanded. Sanji sighed from outside the sleigh, puffing on his cigarette.
"We may as well just go back to Big Horn," He said as he watched the environment around them. "We've wasted who knows how much time. There's no way that old lady is still out here."
"Are you sure?" Vivi asked. "What if she hasn't gotten back yet?"
"We need to worry about ourselves too," Sanji replied. "We've gotten ourselves lost in the middle of nowhere. Who knows what kinda stuff is out here."
"Like those lapins!" Usopp agreed in fright. Vivi didn't know what to do. They had clearly missed their turn, but should they keep looking? Did they need too?
"Okay, let's go back." She said, sitting back down in the sled. "It might get dark soon, so we should go."
"I think we have bigger problems anyways," Sanji said. Making a face, Vivi turned to look at the Cook, who was standing on a nearby ledge looking down. Joining him, both she and Usopp looked down to see a small ship anchored in the bay below them, one with a massive three on the side of it.
"What is that?" She asked. Usopp made a face, taking his rifle off of his back and using it to look down. After a few seconds, he screeched.
"It's the Baroque Works agents we defeated on Little Garden!" He shouted. Not wanting to believe him, Vivi wrestled the gun from him and scoped in, looking for herself. Sure enough, Mr Three was down below, along with Ms. Golden Week, Mr. Five and Ms. Valentine.
"Why are they here?!" Vivi demanded. "Why did they follow us?!"
"Isn't it obvious?" Sanji asked. "We pissed them off on Little Garden. Now it's personal."
"What do we do?!" Usopp cried. "We're all so split up, and we're down two! What now?!"
"I say we don't do anything," Sanji said, earning a raised eyebrow from both Vivi and Usopp. "They don't know we're up here, so let's keep out distance and see what they do. If we can catch them off guard, we can take one or two of them down. You guys down?"
"i-I guess," Usopp said. "As long as we stay far away from them!" Vivi nodded at this, not feeling confident with just the three of them.
So, as the Captain worked to get their sick crew members to a Doctor, the First Mate chased after the former King with Dalton. On top of all of this, Barque Works was back for a third time and trying to stop them. What could possible go wrong now?