Chapter 21: Frigid Assault! The Mutant of a Frozen Heart!
Almost 13 years ago from present day, on a winter colder than any before it, a mutant was born on Drum Island. A runt of the litter, a newly-born Lapahn was aberrant from the first moments of its life, that only got more apparent the longer they lived.
The first weeks proceeded peacefully, being kept safe by their mother and fed just like any other of their siblings. The only irregularity was the color of their eyes. Sapphire blue instead of the ruby red the species usually possessed. The first months, they started to show that something was off, but not exactly what. Before the first year was done, it became apparent just what was wrong with the smallest of the litter.
They weren't growing properly. No matter how much they ate, their body didn't gain as much mass as their sibling. As they grew, they didn't develop the protective layer of fat that would protect them from harm and the cold. Their fur didn't grow to be as thick either. Later, their arms, legs, and ears started growing unusually longer. They could not handle the climate as their siblings could.
This Lapahn was born a mutant, an aberration. And for that strangeness, they slowly grew estranged from their pack. Too vulnerable to the cold to be out for great lengths of time. Seen as too weak to hunt with the rest. A burden to the pack. And eventually, the mutant grew to understand what was happening to them.
The Lapahn were incredibly intelligent creatures. Not at the level of humans, but incredibly close to that fabled threshold. And while the mutant's body was deficient, its mind was sharper for their two years of living than was usual. And so the mutant, aware of their situation, made a decision.
They insisted to hunt, to prove themselves useful. They practically pleaded with their father for just a chance, a single chance, to show what they could do. That they were not a burden. And while hesitant to do so, the mutant's mother agreed to the sentiment, offering to keep an eye on her child while out on the hunt.
The mutant was surprised, but not completely. While every other member of the pack were distant to them, their mother would always be there for them. Because something like being different didn't change that the mutant was their dear child.
The next day, the mutant got their wish. An opportunity to finally be given a chance, to not be seen as weak and helpless.
While feeling the cold more than their kin, the mutant persevered out of sheer willpower, pushing the discomfort out of their mind. And while hunting a particularly fast reindeer, one thing became apparent. While lacking in protective bulk and fat, the mutant was faster than any of the pack. So while others could not match the reindeer's speed, the mutant broke off from the hunting party to give chase.
So determined to catch this reindeer, so determined to prove their place in the pack, the mutant grew blind to the world, only able to focus on their prey. In their single-minded haze, the mutant made a perilous mistake. When finally within pouncing distance, the mutant pushed with their particularly powerful legs and shot off at the reindeer like a cannonball.
What they did not notice, was that the reindeer had run into a frozen-over lake, masked by a thin layer of snow. So when the mutant crashed into the reindeer, the ice beneath them shattered, sending both into the icy waters below. The reindeer, while in panic, managed to find purchase for their hooves and climb out and run away. The mutant was not so fortunate.
Already weaker to cold than their kin, the frozen grasp of the icy waters almost paralyzed them completely. In shock at the wetness and cold, all they could do was flail about fruitlessly. They were still too small to do anything, even if they could force their body to respond properly.
All they could do, in a blind, pained panic was to call for their mother, as their body started to grow numb, and the water started to enter their lungs mid-scream. But then they felt something grab them and harshly toss them out of the water. Hitting the snowy bank harshly, still reeling from the indescribable cold they were experiencing, what sobered them up was what they heard, and then saw.
Cracking of ice, and an audible splash of something large falling under. As the mutant turned their head, they saw a large paw reaching out of the water, trying to push themselves to the surface and grab the side of the ice, which just broke off due to the weight being too much. And due to their thick fur, the water they'd soon absorb would make them too heavy to allow them to float at all.
The mutant's hearts stopped in terror as what it was witnessing sank in. They cried out and made a weak attempt to rise and go help, only to freeze and stumble into the snow due to the Lapahn in the cold water rising to the surface once, ordering them to stay away.
So, too shocked and weak to even move, the mutant could only watch in horror as their mother sank below the surface. And then didn't come back up, no matter how much they yelled, cried, and pleaded. The mutant wasn't unused to the idea of death, but not like this… Never like this…
It was soon after that they lost consciousness due to a combination of stress and the cold overtaxing their system, losing themselves to dreamlessness.
The next time they woke up, they were back at their home den, feeling warmer, but alone. All at once, the horrible memories came flooding back. Or was it a dream? The mutant could not tell. Their mind didn't want to.
Despite their body protesting minutely, they rushed out of the den, out into the open air, where the rest of the pack had gathered. Almost immediately, they all focused on the mutant, who ignored them all and focused on the only one that mattered at the moment. But when they didn't see them, they sought the next best thing. Their father.
The mutant asked where Mother was, why they couldn't find her. Their father gazed down at the young mutant and very bluntly told them the truth. That their mother was dead, and that it was due to their own recklessness.
While smart for their age, the mutant was still a mere child, and unable to quite comprehend all the confusing feelings swirling within them like a maelstrom. So they did the only thing that seemed to make sense at the moment. Deny. Deny reality. Accuse their father of lying to them, because they were weak, different. All their confused feeling came out as aimless anger.
Their father just looked at them, expression as stern as always, patiently letting the confused child vent their frustrations. But the child misunderstood, and thought of the silence and the stare as condescension, as proof of their claims and accusations. So in their rage, they did something neither of them truly expected.
With a strong kick of their unusually developed legs and a swipe of their claws, the child struck the father faster than the older Lapahn could properly respond, cutting the left side of their face, near the eye.
And while patient with a scared and confused child, the older Lapahn still responded to the attack as they usually would. By swatting the smaller mutant away with their powerful arms, sending the child rolling in the frigid snow. The strike was soft, not meant to injure or even harm, only to deter the irrational violent behavior.
But again, the child misunderstood.
They saw the response, the strike against them as a sign. A sign compounded by the sight of the bleeding wound on their father's face, the guilt it caused, but also by the response from the rest of the pack. How they snarled and looked outraged at this act.
The mutant saw it as a clear sign of rejection. So in the confusing maelstrom of their feelings, they did the only thing that seemed to make sense to them.
They ran. They ran away from the pack, away from the home they were born into, away from all the confusing, painful feelings. Straight into the cold wilderness. And due to their natural speed, none that may have followed them could hope to catch them. And so the mutant ran, as far and as long as their legs could carry them.
Eventually, the mutant had to stop out of sheer exhaustion, practically dropping underneath a pine tree and just laying there. And finally having time to think, to run through what just happened, it all sunk in. Their mother was dead, it was their fault, they'd attacked and wounded their father, the leader of the pack, and now their family had abandoned them, cast them away. They could never return home, and it was getting so cold…
The sun was lowering, as the wind started picking up, a blizzard incoming very soon. And the mutant, deficient as they were, would not last out here, in the cold. Alone. But they were so exhausted, their extremities refusing to budge. So all they could do was hunker down underneath the pine tree, waiting as the blizzard came.
As the blizzard grew in intensity and the day turned to night, it grew even colder than before. The mutant shivered, starting to grow drowsy. At the moment, they also realized how hungry they were as their stomach reminded them, audibly. The mutant felt cold, tired, hungry, and miserable.
A particularly strong gust of wind rushed past the mutant, making even the pine tree above them shake from the force. And after it passed, the child felt something land on their head. Drowsily, they looked at the object that had assailed them, only to see a pinecone. A strange-looking, white pinecone with strange spirally grooves in it, but a pinecone nonetheless.
Their stomach growled again, the mutant eyed the pinecone hungrily. It wasn't proper food, but it was better than the nothing available right then and there. So, with the last of their strength, the mutant grabbed the strange pinecone and started to eat it. The taste was absolutely nauseating, but the mutant was too starved to care.
Strangely, after swallowing the last of the pinecone, the cold didn't seem so bad anymore. With their hunger sated, even if just a tiny bit, and the cold somehow not being so bothersome, the mutant allowed themselves to fall asleep, alone underneath a pine tree, feeling unwanted in the world and not expecting to awaken again.
The next morning, the mutant did wake up. They didn't feel cold. They didn't feel warm, but they were not cold despite being completely buried in snow. But they were hungry… and they could hunt. So the mutant left with nothing did the only thing they could think to do.
Survive. No matter what.
-o~O-O~o-
The spark of the battle starting was instantaneous. The abnormal Lapahn charged at Arlong with a single powerful kick from one of its legs, moving fast like a bullet. Arlong almost had no time to react, but still tried to slam his fist at the creature, hoping to use its speed against it. Instead, the mutant's clawed paws grabbed hold of his arm.
"WHA-GHK!" Arlong's jaw was slammed shut by a powerful kick to the chin so powerful that he felt all the teeth in his mouth shatter as his neck was bent backward at a painful angle. The grip on his arm released, sending his body flying back with a limp somersault.
'T-this thing is way too fast!' Arlong's mind screamed as he rolled in the snow-covered ground. His teeth were inconsequential, he could grow those back in a matter of seconds. But the power in that Lapahn's legs was something else.
Meanwhile, the Lapahn jumped back quite a distance as Atalanta's paw tried to swipe at it. It was simply too fast, and her Bear Form was not exactly nimble. The huntress stood on her rear legs and took a ready stance.
"We wish for no trouble!" Atalanta shouted to the Lapahn, confident that it could understand her. The way its sapphire eyes glared at them was far too intelligent and calculating. "Please, we don't have to fight!"
In response the Lapahn snarled in fury, letting out an exhale of frosty breath, as they charged, claws poised to swipe at the bear. And Atalanta could sense it, the absolute malice and hate radiating from this creature. Talking would not work on this creature.
Atalanta's eyes narrowed. "So be it."
Her form shifted, growing even taller than even their already large Polar Bear Form, but slimmer overall, transitioning to their Hybrid Form. Her limbs grew longer and more human-like, her bear claws growing to resemble sharp-tipped fingers. Her Hybrid Form was approximately 13 feet in height. With her more human-like face, she gave the charging mutant a snarling glare as her bestial instincts pushed through.
Atalanta's new form looked like an abominable monster of winter.
"Ursus Wrestling: Ursa Major…LARIAT!"
Shocked at the radical change in what they assumed to be a normal polar bear, Frigid could not stop their leap, as the now monstrous Atalanta fur-covered right bicep flew to meet them mid-leap. The impact would surely have been extremely powerful… but at the last second, the Lapahn's eyes narrowed, as they opened their jaws wide, and Atalanta's eyes widened in alarm.
In a flash, it was like the Lapahn's teeth were coated in a layer of ice as it bit into Atalanta's bicep. The frozen fangs sank through her fur and thick hide, but what got her more was the bone-chilling cold that spread from the wound. And then, Frigid went slack and allowed their body to spin with their momentum, aiming to rend the Bear-Human Hybrid's arm.
Atalanta realized this intent and instinctively grabbed hold of the mutant Lapahn's legs to stop this from happening. And while able to halt the spinning motion, the mutant's icy bite was strong and unrelenting, refusing to let go. It bit down harder, as Atalanta's wound started to grow even colder. Alarmingly, her eyes could spot that the fur around the area of the bite started to frost over and release a faint mist from the sheer burning cold radiating into the air.
Still, this was good enough.
"Friend Arlong!" Atalanta yelled out through teeth gritted from the pain in her bicep. And her call was answered, by the fishman charging from behind her. The mutant Lapahn's eyes widened as Atalanta moved them to give Arlong a better shot, leaving the mutant wide open for Arlong's fist to drive itself into their middle. But even then, the Lapahn refused to release their jaws.
Atalanta grit her teeth as a chuck of her right bicep was torn off, causing her to lose her grip on the Lapahn, sending the mutant flying from Arlong's punch. The mutant quickly recovered in the air, landing on all fours, spitting the torn flesh into the ground, where it curiously shattered into pieces, as if it was made of fragile glass.
Arlong snarled, his teeth already regrown. He eyed Atalanta's wound, which was not bleeding. The wound looked frostbitten, the blood itself seeming to freeze the wound shut. "Just great," he growled. "That thing, it has to have some sort of Devil Fruit power."
"Agreed," Atalanta hisses, grasping at her wound with her good arm. "Their bite is freezing. And they're good at capitalizing on openings."
The Lapahn shifted to stand, though their movement jerked slightly as they straightened their posture, their expression twitching minutely. Arlong grinned viciously.
"It's not as hardy as those other rabbits," he noted. "That means we just need to get a good shot in."
The mutant growled at the two, baring their now ice-coated fangs at them. With the flex of their arms, the ice started to grow and cover their claws, giving them about an additional foot in length. Arlong and Atalanta braced for a charge.
Instead, the mutant took a deep breath, their chest expanding to its limits. And them they strongly blew the air out of their lungs in a sustained stream.
It hit them like a train, just how unbelievably cold the mutant Lapahn's breath was. Arlong had to cover his eyes from the biting gust, only to feel his clothing starting to grow stiff and rigid, same with Atalanta's fur and tunic. Arlong's blue-tinted skin was starting to frost over. Even the snow around their feet seemed to freeze over from the extremely low temperatures at play.
If this continued, the Lapahn's breath alone threatened to freeze them solid.
Atalanta took initiative, scooping up a clump of snow that she quickly crushed and formed into a ball. It promptly froze over thanks to the Lapahn's breath. She had to force her eyes open to aim, but she threw the frozen snowball at the Lapahn like a baseball.
The gust of frosty air ceased as the Lapahn was forced to jump out of the way, causing the frozen snowball to shatter on the ground. This gave Arlong and Atalanta enough time to recover, as they both charged at the mutant, taking the offensive. Undaunted, the Lapahn leaped to meet them, their ice-coated claws poised to strike.
Atalanta went ahead, ready to take the creature on, swiping at them with her longer reach. The Lapahn leapt over the swipe, landing on the outstretched limb, and twisting their body, before launching themselves spinning up Atalanta's arm, their frozen claws raking into the Zoan user's flesh, leaving dark red streaks of ice behind the length of the arm, before kicking off her head to leap at Arlong.
While Atalanta was knocked on the ground from a double kick to the side of the head, Arlong jumped back to avoid the icy claws aimed at his chest just barely. He still felt the cold radiate off of the almost glancing blow. He was regretting leaving Kiribachi at the ship right now.
And the thing was ridiculously fast. Arlong could only barely escape getting slashed, and he didn't have any openings to attack as the thing bounced and leaped around him as if it was some spring-heeled freak of nature.
Then the Lapahn suddenly changed tactics. It crouched mid-hop and grabbed an armful of snow, throwing it in the air at Arlong. Not only the snow obfuscate their form, but as Arlong went to guard his face, what hit him were chunks of snow that were frozen solid and felt like he was pelted by small rocks. It was more annoying than anything, even if a few sharp edges caused a few small scrapes. But most annoyingly it worked as a diversion.
The mutant Lapahn was out of Arlong's line of sight.
Before he could even curse a pair of legs clamped around his middle like a vice as his arms were trapped in a crude full nelson. He snarled and turned his head to glare into the creature's hate-filled sapphire eyes. He tried to overpower the Lapahn, but to his shock found his limbs very numb and unresponsive.
The Lapahn was radiating an intense cold, right into Arlong, sapping all warmth from his body. His nerves started to dull as his skin and clothes started to frost over rapidly. He could barely force his arms to move, much less wrestle the lanky monster rabbit off his back.
"Wh-w-why you…" Arlong growled, noticing a tree behind him. If he could propel himself, he could slam the frosty nuisance on his back into it. His upper body was rapidly losing feeling, but his legs were still in working condition.
Meanwhile, the mutant Lapahn, ice-covered fangs bared, hissed cold hoarfrost down Arlong's neck. "Wryyyy…"
"Gotcha!" Before Arlong goes about implementing his maneuver, the Lapahn's eyes widened as a large furred fist slammed Arlong right in the gut, knocking the air out his lungs, but on a more positive note, also jettisoning him right through the pine tree behind him. Which meant that the freaky rabbit cushioned the impact, and its back took the full brunt of the impact, forcing it to release their hold as both Arlong and the Lapahn rolled in the snow.
Idly, Arlong realized his jacket had literally shattered in the exchange due to being frozen solid by the Lapahn's Devil Fruit power. Wonderful…
"HAH!" Atalanta cheered, pumping her beastly fist victoriously. "I got you, you fiend of frost!"
"Urgh," Arlong groaned, the pain in his abdomen finally registering. Good god, that damned half-bear woman hit like being rammed by a marine ship. "Not… quite."
"Huh?" The Bear-Human perked up, tilting her head quizzically. "Arlong? Is that you?"
"Of course I am!" The fishman snarled, sitting upright, his abs protesting. "Why the hell did you hit me?!"
"THAT WAS YOU?!" Atalanta recoiled. "I'm so, so sorry! I just heard that creature hiss, and just aimed there!"
"Use your eyes, damnit!" Arlong snapped, hopping to his feet.
"Uhh…"
"…"
"Well, you see," Atalanta rubbed the back of her head, which looked comical in her fearsome Hybrid Form, her eyes conspicuously closed shut, "my eyes are… kinda frozen over."
"…" Arlong's eyes were the widest they had ever been in his whole life. "…WHAT?!"
"I'm sorry! It was a necessary sacrifice!" Atalanta cried, fidgeting in nervous embarrassment like a child caught doing something bad. "I needed to see to stop them from freezing us with their breath, so I forced my eyes to stay open to aim my snowball!"
Arlong couldn't stop the palm from slapping into his face, narrowly remembering not to impale his hand on his nose. Every single member of the Straw Hats was insane, and so was anyone willing to join them. Maybe he was lucky just being an associate… actually, what exactly was he in this dynamic he'd found himself in?
"Haaa…haaa~…"
Alright, thoughts for later! Arlong pivoted in place, admonishing himself for momentarily forgetting that they were in the middle of a fight. Atalanta also took a wide battle stance, though being blinded seemed to make their movements more cautious and uncertain.
The lean Lapahn pushed themselves off the ground with shaky slowness, indicating that the hit they'd taken was effective. But unfortunately, it seemed, not as effective as it should have, as the ice cracked and flaked off of the Lapahn's back and middle. The mutant had coated their fur in ice to cushion the blow at the last second, though it had not protected them fully.
The Lapahn growled, snarling in cold fury while they stood upright.
Arlong snarled right back. Seemed this fight wasn't quite over yet…
-o~O-O~o-
Meanwhile, a certain trio was met with an unfortunate fate…
Well, specifically Vivi and Usopp, who had been caught in the avalanche during their escape of it, their sled completely totaled. In those moments before the disaster, one of them decided to just avoid the situation entirely in a way only they could.
"Welp, see ya guys later!"
"Get back here, you witch!"
"Kyahahahaa!"
Needless to say, Mikita had not stuck around to be swallowed by the encroaching cloud of powdery death and was currently surveying the area from up-high. She had to moderate her weight so that she was light enough to float but heavy enough to not be carried away by the harsh winds.
She could bail(a small part of her wished to), but Mikita wanted to believe she had some standards. She'd put her lot in with these people, so abandoning two of them to die out in the middle of nowhere was too cold, even for her. It helped that she was dead certain Gem would have come for her if she were in a similar situation, even disobeying the Boss' orders if he had to…
She shook her head. "No! Focus on the present, Miki!" Dwelling on the past wasn't productive right now. Professional face, on!
Finding the sled was easy enough. They had escaped the worst of the avalanche, so nothing was totally buried, thank god. And she could even spot a certain blue-haired princess amongst the snow… slapping the daylights out of the long-nose for some reason.
"So weird," Mikita mumbled to herself, starting her descent towards ground-level. "Yahoo!" she hollered over.
Vivi's head shot up at the descending woman in yellow, and immediately her eyes promised murder. "YOU! How dare you leave us to die!"
"Well excuse me, princess!" Mikita snarked back as her feet touched the ground. "It's not my fault I can only change my weight, not the weight of others."
"You sure you're just not trying hard enough?" the princess asked, not even trying to hide how she felt about the other woman. It was safe to say that despite their 'defection' Vivi didn't trust Mikita or Marianne as far as she could throw them.
"Look, I get that not all of us can be our dream weight all the time," Mikita said, acting cordially catty on purpose, "but projecting is not a nice look on anyone, girlfriend."
The reaction was about what Mikita expected. Vivi's teeth were bared in a snarl and she stepped forward, hands clenched in barely contained agitation. Though, that wasn't the only thing that drew Mikita's attention as her eyes followed downward.
"Now listen here-"
"You should step off," Mikita recommended.
"Excuse me! I should step off?" Vivi hissed. "I don't know what your game is, but if you think you can just insult me and expect me to-"
"What?" Mikita blinked and looked back up at the princess. "No, I mean you should literally step off. I think you're, like, killing him."
"Huh?" The wind blown out of her sails, Vivi blinked as she slowly followed Mikita's line of sight down. What she saw was the heel of her boot pressed firmly on a blue-faced Usopp's windpipe. The princess immediately recoiled and leaped back as if burned. "AAAH! USOPP, I'M SO SORRY!"
Mikita facepalmed. "Man, how it took us this long to find out you infiltrated Baroque works if you are this much of a klutz is beyond me."
Instead of paying mind to the former Baroque Works agent, Vivi was busy carelessly throttling Usopp's limp body in a badly implemented attempt to help him. "NO, USOPP, DON'T GO INTO THE LIGHT!"
"Okay, enough of that," Mikita said, stepping in to control the chaos. She grabbed Vivi by the shoulder to stop her from actually killing the long-nose by accident, earning a frigid glare in the process. "Listen, you can think whatever nasty things you want about me. I get it, really I do. But you need to chill right now." She then gave a winning smile. "Besides-"
Her hand flew in a fist and slammed right beside Usopp's head with an audible heavy impact.
"GAAAH!" Almost reflexively, Usopp recoiled and rolled onto his butt in panic. "IT'S AN EARTHQUAKE- wait a minute…"
"-that," Mikita proclaimed with appropriate smugness, "is how you wake up a stooge."
Vivi gave the former agent an unimpressed look. Instead of responding, she just brushed Mikita's hand off her shoulder and focused on the now fully conscious sniper. "Usopp, are you alright?"
"Huh? Oh, I guess so." He idly rubbed his neck. "My throat hurts for some reason though."
"Oh, I'm, uh, sure that's nothing!" Vivi rambled out quickly. Much to Mikita's disbelief, Usopp seemed to not catch the obvious tell.
"Yeah, I suppose so," Usopp said, getting on his feet. "Whew, almost thought we were goners there. Lucky us, huh?"
"Oh, yeah. Luck has all to do with it," Vivi remarked, sending Mikita a dry look. She responded with a sickeningly friendly smile. Vivi let out a sigh. "Still, the sled is busted. Seems like we'll need to walk."
"Yeah. As long as nothing else tries to kill us. Again."
Vivi ignored Mikita's unhelpful comment, while Usopp looked a lot more nervous real fast. "Uh, I mean, what are the chances there'll be another avalanche? Hehe…"
"It doesn't matter," Vivi stated resolutely. "Moving forward is our only course. So let's get to it."
"Besides," Mikita added with a tone of pride, resting her closed umbrella on her shoulder "you have a powerful Devil Fruit user in case things get hairy."
"Oh… Yeah, I guess you're right." Usopp responded, seeming to be considerably reassured.
Vivi had her issues with the woman formerly known as Miss Valentine, more or less a sworn enemy to her… but what Mikita said was correct. She needed to be calm for this. Their issues could wait until things weren't so dire. But Vivi resolved to have a talk with the woman later.
Without much fanfare, the trio ventured towards their initial destination. It wouldn't be too difficult, even if it would take longer on foot. With Mikita able to take a look from a bird's eye view getting lost was the least of their worries.
"You know, I wonder what set off that avalanche," Usopp wondered.
"With your luck, it was probably something your buddies did," Mikita posited.
"Sad thing is, I can believe that." As much as Vivi could respect the Straw Hats as a whole, they did seem to tend to get into trouble.
Then, as if to prove her right, someone very familiar rose out of the snow in front of them.
"Ugh, man. What a weird dream," muttered a very disgruntled- and much to the trio's bafflement very shirtless- green-haired swordsman. "Brr, damn it's cold… damn avalanche… ruining my workout…"
"Zoro!" Usopp exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"
"And where the hell is your shirt?!" Vivi asked incredulously.
"Not that I mind~," Mikita crooned, making full use of the opportunity as her eyes trailed all over Zoro's topless, muscular body.
"Oh, hey," Zoro greeted them, standing up and shaking the snow off of himself, revealing that not only was he shirtless, but his feet were also bare as well. He had to hug himself for warmth and looked quite miserable. "What are you guys doing here in the snow?"
"THAT'S OUR QUESTION!" Vivi and Usopp shrieked as one.
Mikita only chuckled lewdly, using a hand to mask a dumb grin on her face while ignoring the commotion to indulge in her selfish, perfectly reasonable womanly desires. It had been far too long…
'I could grate cheese on those…'
-o~O-O~o-
Surviving the harsh landscape of Drum proved to be a simple endeavor. Without the fearsome bite of cold, the mutant could move about without fear of freezing to death. Their former weakness was gone. They did not know for certain what had happened to make the cold so insignificant, but even their developing young mind could draw a connection to the strange pinecone they had eaten.
Still, their smarts and natural agility helped the young Lapahn hunt enough to make it by. They still avoided their former territory like the plague, no matter how lonely they felt some nights. And the longer they stayed on their own, the more they realized something.
Not only did they not feel the cold, but they could not feel warmth either. No matter what they tried, not even the slightest feeling of warmth came to them. They yearned for that feeling, but not having it was better than dying from the cold, so they persisted.
Years went by, and the mutant grew up. Smarter and stronger. Their solitude forced them to be sharp, to develop themselves to be the best they could. And in the process, they figured out more of their new abilities. While not fully understanding them, the basics were simple enough.
They could make things cold. Incredibly cold. That was why they did not mind the low temperatures, or why they didn't feel warmth. Their very body was like ice, sapping all warmth from whatever they touched.
It was in their 5th year of living that the mutant had their first run-in with humans.
They had traversed far and wide, never sticking to one place for too long, and during one outing they had veered close to a human settlement. They had heard of these creatures briefly, in their youth. Their instincts told them to steer clear and avoid trouble.
What won, in the end, was their curiosity. So they found a place near the human town, used the snow to hide, and just watched them from a distance.
It was fascinating. These strange creatures lived in strange dens made of stone and wood in small groups. Some adults were accompanied by young ones, and it was those that gave the mutant the most to watch. The Lapahn came back day after day, just look at the young ones play around amongst themselves. Their most impressive feat was a sculpture made from snow.
The mutant watched the little humans play, and felt a pang in their cold heart. Loneliness, they realized. It had been so long since they'd last interacted with anything. Since… being cast away, to be alone. But they were also cautious and hesitant.
But when dark came and the humans returned inside their dens, the mutant dared to move out of hiding to do a single thing.
Early in the morning, the young humans returned to their snow sculpture, only to be surprised that it had been coated in a layer of ice that gleamed in the sunlight. Next to it was a smaller, crudely made snow-bunny, also frozen over.
The mutant watched from their hiding place at the children marveling at their contribution. And, for a moment, they imagined they were there with them, just having fun. It was a nice thought.
These covert visits would continue, for a time.
As time passed, the mutant started to parse together what the humans were saying. It was not easy, but they were growing weary of just looking at them. They wanted to understand, to hear what they had to say. And so they got closer and closer to the human village by each passing day, as close as they dared.
Then, one night when they were about to depart, one of the adult humans spotted them by sheer luck. They fired at the mutant Lapahn with the object in their hands, and the mutant felt pain unlike any before it. It was like momentary burning in their shoulder. They quickly fled the area and stayed away for a while.
That day the mutant learned of human weapons, and just how dangerous they could be. They used their claws to later dig out an object from their flesh and froze the wound shut. They had gotten too lax, too careless. These humans were dangerous, the Lapahn reminded themselves after that day.
Afterward, they noticed an increased human presence near the village borders and surrounding areas, even during the day. Likely due to them being seen. It only reinforced that the mutant should stay away.
But eventually, their loneliness and desire to watch the children play won out. It would be fine, they thought. They just needed to be more careful this time.
And so, early in the morning before the sun rose, they got into a good enough position and buried themselves in snow. Then they waited. And they didn't need to wait for too long.
They observed as a group of adult humans walked out of the village, armed with their dangerous weapons. By straining their ears, the mutant could hear them talk. And thanks to their attempts, they could understand some of what they said.
"Do we need to get up so early?" One of the younger adults said with a heavy yawn.
"Kid, the hunt waits for no one," an older adult with heavy hair on their face spoke gruffly. "We're running low on meat, so we all need to do our part."
"Best to start early," another human said, this one with a peculiar sound to their words. They spoke differently than the rest, for some reason. They stood out, dressed entirely in white winter garb with some kind of thing covering their entire head, save for a small slit to see out of. Slung on their shoulder was one of the human weapons. "Animals are still sleepy. Not as alert early in the morning."
"You heard Simo, so get your asses in gear," the gruff human called out to the rest. "We're wasting daylight."
"Wait for me!"
The old human growled something undecipherable, as one of the young ones- a female -ran up to them with a human weapon clearly too large and heavy for them.
"I'm coming too!"
"No, you are not," the gruff human stated clear as crystal. "Go back home and return that where you found it."
"But I'm ready! I've trained with dad's old rifle and everything!"
"Listen to your gramps, Karita," one of the humans, which the mutant now realized were hunters, said. "You're way too young to go out there with us adults."
"Yes, I am! I'll be ten next week!" The young girl shouted back, trying to heft her weapon up only to almost fall over from the weight.
The old hunter let out a disgruntled sigh. "… Next week, huh?" He then walked over to the child and knelt to look them in the eye. "Is this about making your parents proud?"
The girl looked down for a moment. "I just wanna help…"
"Then wait till next week." The girl blinked, looking up at the grave old man. "If you're really that intent on it, then I'll take you with us after your birthday."
The girl perked up in joy. "Really?!"
One of the hunters made to object, "Hey, are you serious? I'm not sure if-" He was cut by the hunter in all white, who just raised a hand and shook his head. The other hunter backed down immediately.
"Only if you go home and return your dad's gun where it belongs." The old hunter's tone held no room for argument.
"Fine," the girl relented reluctantly. The old hunter ruffled her hair, much to the girl's chagrin. "Graaamps!"
"Get home before I kick your ass, kid." With that the old hunter grunted, turning to the rest of the hunters. "Alright people, stop wasting heat!"
The hunters all followed suit, but the hunter in white halted for a moment, their eyes scanning the area, before following after the group.
The mutant had understood some of the exchanged words, enough to conclude that the young human who ran back to the human village after waving the older hunters goodbye was a young hunter-in-training. It reminded them of themselves, so ready to prove themselves so young… too young. And look how that turned out.
The mutant stayed put, waiting for the children to come out and play with the patience of a statue. But when the time they usually showed up came, only one showed up. The girl from before.
"Huh. No one's here yet." The girl looked a bit glum for a moment, before shaking her head and starting to build a construct out of snow to entertain herself. In passing the child petted the frozen snow-bunny. It caused an unknown feeling in the mutant that made their heart skip a beat, to see that it was still there after all this time.
The Lapahn was content to just watch as the girl built her snow sculpture, which consisted of a series of round snowballs that were made larger by rolling them on the ground. They had seen these made before, but usually not by a single human child.
So perhaps it shouldn't have been a surprise that when the young girl made to lift a large snow boulder on top of another, it proved too heavy. Still, the girl was stubborn and tried to force herself to lift it regardless. And while they did manage to lift it, she was unable to balance while holding the large thing for long. With a yelp, the girl fell over, the large, heavy ball of snow fell on top of them.
The mutant was alarmed. The heavy snow was pushing on the human child's chest, stopping them from breathing or crying for help. They were too weak to lift the snowball off of themselves, and no other human was around to help. All they could do was flail about helplessly.
Just like when the mutant had been in that lake…
With only momentary hesitation the mutant Lapahn sprang out of their hiding place, snow falling off their fur as they ran for the trapped child. They laid their paws on the ball of snow, and froze it solid in a matter of seconds, to the point it became extremely brittle and broke into fine shards with a strong squeeze.
The girl drew a desperate breath as the fine ice shards fell on top of her harmlessly, only for it to catch again as she saw the tall, intimidating creature looming over her with its clawed paw reaching for her.
While the mutant was going to help the human child up, the look on their face made them halt. While not adept at reading human expressions, even they recognized fear when they saw it.
Then a gunshot rang out, and the mutant's back felt intense burning pain.
Looked upon in fear. The hurt. The gunshot. The burning pain in their side. A sense of danger. The shock of all these events in quick succession caused the mutant's mind to go haywire, and their world turned into a red haze.
As it turned out, while their hiding place near the human village was impeccable, the mutant had not covered their initial tracks well enough, which allowed the hunters from earlier to spot that something big was heading for the town. More specifically, the old hunter from before, who was charging at the lean Lapahn with a furious look on his face, holding their two-barrel rifle like a two-handed club.
Screeching in pain and primal rage, the mutant Lapahn's survival instincts kicked in and all their reason left them. They charged their attacker with intent to kill. When the old hunter made to strike them with their weapon, the mutant strongly kicked upwards to knock the weapon off their hands, into the air. On battle reflex, their claws were quickly coated and enhanced in sharp icicles and plunged into the human's chest.
The mutant pushed the old hunter into the ground as frost started to spread from the wounds as they sucked out all the heat from their body. The old human gasped for air as their lungs burned with cold and started to freeze inside their chest. All the while the mutant stared down at them with a feral snarl, blinded by bestial instincts.
That is when a second gunshot rang out, and for the second time, the pain in their back made the Lapahn get a hold of their senses. The pain itself made them wrest their claws off of the unmoving old hunter, blinking in a combination of puzzlement and pain. Their power already sapped the heat from the bullet and froze the wound shut temporarily. They turned their body to look around despite the pain it caused them, legs frozen in place.
The girl who they'd helped, whose life they had wanted to save, was pointing the smoking human weapon with shaking, terrified hands clasped tight on it for a sense of fragile security. The look in the girl's face was of absolute terror and fear.
For a moment the mutant could only stare, uncomprehending what they should be feeling. But one emotion bubbled forth more strongly than any other. Their fur bristles as their form tensed and shook as an incomparable rage overtook them, and it had one sole source. Another feeling almost as potent.
The painful feeling of betrayal.
Their face twisting in a furious snarl, the Lapahn took a slow, aggressive step towards the young human, who futilely pulled the trigger of the weapon in their hands to no effect. Yet, a gunshot still rang out as the snow by the mutant's feet was disturbed, causing them to jump back on instinct. Another shot grazed their leg, making them leap further away from the direction of the attack, away from the human girl.
When they looked out, they could not see a source, until a mound of snow rose, revealing the hunter in white, quickly reloading their weapon and aiming at the mutant, having used the exact same camouflage tactic as the Lapahn had. On a pure hunch, the hunter in white had lacked behind their group, headed back and hid in the vicinity of the area.
The mutant snarled at the human, who just stared impassively at the Lapahn, not moving a muscle but keeping their weapon trained on the perceived dangerous beast.
The brief standstill came to an end when rushed sounds neared the scene. And when the mutant turned to see what it was, it was already too late to react properly at a hail of sound and fire. The guns of the hunters who had raced back after their old leader rang clearly in the mutant's ears as their body was pierced in multiple locations by burning hot lead.
The only thing keeping them in good enough condition to move was a thin flash-frost hardening their fur, keeping the bullets from piercing too deeply. And move they did, leaping a great distance in several rapid pounces, using the snow to vanish as the mutant fled, not looking back or stopping until they were dead certain not a single human could be in pursuit.
Perhaps by sheer coincidence, they finally collapsed at the foot of the very same pine tree they had taken refuge under the day they ran away from their pack. And it was only then that they could think clearly, in peace. Ironically, peace was the furthest thing from what they felt churning within them. And looking at the tree just brought all of it, and then some, to the surface.
And so they thought of and remembered all the horrible things ever to happen to them, as they painfully dug and plucked the dangerous lead balls out of their flesh.
The mutant had been born different, insufficient, weak. They were the reason for the death of their mother, cast out from their pack, rejected by their sire, left to fend for themselves in the harsh land of cold. They could no longer feel even the slightest bit of warmth, their very core so cold that the frigid climate of the island meant nothing to them. And now, they had been grievously injured, very nearly killed if not for their powers, by the humans.
And after the last foreign object dropped to the now red-tinted snow, the mutant's fury boiled over. Their legs shook to carry them as they forced themselves up, freezing close their wounds, and started slamming the tree with their arms.
They had looked on at the humans for so long, observing the young ones play, yearning to have fun like they always seemed to have. And when one was in danger, they leaped to help, despite the risk to them. And for what?!
Betrayal!
Their claws were coated in frost and their next swipe cut the battered tree's trunk from three points, causing it to topple to the ground, sending a cloud of snow into the breeze. And still, the mutant kept furiously swiping at the felled tree.
They just didn't want the human child to die. Not so weak and helpless, like they almost had in their youth. They expected the hunters to attack them, that was what hunters did. But they had expected the child to understand, to leave things alone. They didn't expect thanks, even if they'd wished for it.
Instead, their efforts were repaid with betrayal and pain! Utter and total rejection! AGAIN!
THEY JUST WANTED TO HELP!
The tree was just a bunch of splinters when they were done, and even so, their fury was still there, still growing. Instead of a burning fire, their insides were colder than ever before, so much so that falling snow around them fell to the ground as ice.
It was that day that the mutant's cold heart turned into biting frost, holding onto their fury and hate to feed them. From that day onward, they would never let go of those dark feelings, and never would their rage be quelled. They would no longer care for fitting in, of being accepted. If the world was so intent for them to be a freak, a monster, then that was what the world would receive!
It was that day when the mutant Lapahn began their reign of terror. It was on that day that people started getting attacked by a monster that could spread cold and sap warmth from your bones.
This was the birth of Frigid of the Frost, a mutant whose anger and hate would never fade, with a frozen heart that would never thaw.
…
Until, perhaps, a meeting with a certain person, that could only come to pass because of some unseen hand of fate.
-o~O-O~o-
Atalanta snarled as another solid ball of frozen snow slammed into her arms that were blocking her face. They might be small, but they hurt a lot. "Hey, stop aiming for the face! I already can't see, can't you just live with that?"
The Lapahn did not care for the bear-human hybrid's pleas, merely scooping up more snowballs, freezing them solid, and then kicking them at the large Zoan user like small icy meteors. Unable to see them coming, all Atalanta could do was block her face, even as one of the projectiles slammed into her lower abdomen.
"Guh! Oh, come on!"
Meanwhile, Arlong was not having much better luck, as he tried to land a punch, only for the rabbit creature to leap away. He'd tried to attack the Lapahn, but it was simply too fast to catch. He'd tried to lead it closer to Atalanta, but it was smart enough to realize what he was up to. He'd tried to make it stop those projectile attacks to give Atalanta time to act, but it was agile enough to avoid him while continuing its assault.
It was safe to say Arlong was starting to get very angry at his own ineffectiveness. With Atalanta's sight-impaired, he was the most effective fighter of the two. But it just wasn't good enough! At times like this Arlong really regretted not studying Fishman Karate when he had a chance. It would have helped massively right now.
His muscles started to grow numb from a combination of exertion and the cold. But what kept him going was his fury and refusal to give in, to admit defeat to a deformed rabbit! And as if to enrage him further, it was barely focusing on him, as if he, Arlong the Saw, ex-subordinate of Fisher Tiger himself, were the lesser threat!
"Stand still, you coward!" Arlong bellowed, forcing himself to not blow his top. Brute force was not working. He needed to be smart about this. A change of tactics was in order.
Instead of chasing after the mutant Lapahn, Arlong jumped back near a tree that had been torn from the earth in the avalanche. Grasping it with both arms, it was no problem plucking it from the snow with his fishman strength. "Bear Girl!" After shouting at full volume, Arlong put his entire body into flinging the entire pine tree at the Lapahn. He hoped the girl was sharp enough to get his vague signal.
The lean Lapahn saw the tree coming and simply leaped high to not hit by at as it landed where it once stood with a crash. It snarled mockingly at the fishman. And Arlong grinned right back. It had done exactly as he'd expected by jumping straight into the air, just to mock him.
"HUUUARH!" Atalanta roared out as she blindly charged at the direction of the sound. The Lapahn's sapphire eyes widened as it was just now reaching the peak of its leap, as the half-bear's clawed hand swung wide, right at them. It had no opportunity to dodge, so instead, it spun in the air so that its legs would connect with the limb first, prepared to bounce away from harm.
But the very moment contact was made, the other hand shot into action and ensnared the Lapahn's lean body into a tight grip.
"Gotcha, you sneaky rascal!" Atalanta cried out victoriously, even as the Lapahn started to suck the heat right out of her paw-hand as it struggled to escape. But Atalanta held firm. "Friend Arlong?"
"Right here!" Arlong called out, having pulled out another tree, preparing to swing it over his shoulder like a large baseball bat. "Throw it over!"
"One order of Winter Lagomorph, coming right," she reacher her arm back, "UP!" And then she tossed the Lapahn with all the strength she could at the rough approximation of Arlong's location, sending the mutant flying like a missile. It was close enough.
Arlong didn't restrain his vicious grin as he swung to intercept the creature rocketing towards him. Even it could not avoid this, even as it curled into a ball mind-toss. "Land Shark Batter Up!" The trunk of the tree impacted with the flying rabbit solidly, and Arlong put his back into the swing to send it right back. "Right side, wide!"
Atalanta seemed to get the message, as she swung linked both arms and swung in a wide arch, hitting the airborne rabbit projectile into the snow with a heavy impact.
"Shahahaha!" Arlong laughed. "How do you like that, stupid rabbit?"
His glee was short-lasting.
"Uhh, Friend Arlong," Atalanta mumbled nervously. "I don't think my arms are supposed to sting so much from striking a soft target."
Breaking out of his cheer, Arlong looked for their adversary. What he saw made him stiffen up.
The Lapahn was still there, rolled into a ball. And covered in a thick layer of cracked ice. Their combination attack had done almost no significant damage.
Then the icy shell cracked some more, as if under extreme pressure, and Arlong's eyes shot wide. "Watch out!"
The warning came too late, as the protective barrier around the Lapahn erupted into sharp ice shrapnel, many of which struck the large Zoan user. Many were stopped by her thick fur and hide, but some were not, and cut into her flesh. But most of the damage was done to their relatively unprotected face, with only their closed eyelids guarding their eyes against direct harm.
"AUGH!" Atalanta recoiled, taking a step back while covering her bleeding face. In the same moment, the Lapahn, now free, leaped at the large bear-woman with ice claws forming, as they started to spin and moved across Atalanta's body like a saw, their icy claws ripping and tearing into her flesh. (In another universe where Titans roamed, this maneuver would be called "The Levi Special".)
Atalanta screamed out in pain as the Lapahn stopped, claws hooked in Atalanta's back, as its powerful legs slammed a double kick straight into the Zoan users spine, violently tearing its claws free and sending Atalanta barreling forward.
The impact was so sharp and powerful than not only did Atalanta lose the breath in her lungs, she was knocked right back into her base human form mid-fall, sending her bloody and battered body rolling in the snow. She did not get up after.
Arlong grit his teeth, only able to get a move on when the events described above had come to pass due to how sudden it all had been and how quickly it was over. He tossed the tree he had used as a bat not long ago at the Lapahn, rushing after it the moment it left his hands.
The mutant Lapahn ducked under the tree, only to be faced with an angry fishman coming not too far behind it. It leaned on its right foot as it tensed, ready to leap out of the way of the incoming haymaker, as it had done every other time.
Then a gunshot rang out of the blue, and the Lapahn's right ankle experienced a burning pain it had not felt in years. And while it stumbled from the wound, it no longer had what was required to avoid the fishman's strike. It had no time to coat itself in ice to soften the blow.
It could do nothing as Arlong landed a full-bodied haymaker right into the side of the mutant Lapahn's head, angled down to crash it into the snow. The Lapahn sunk quite a bit, and, for once, did not instantly stir to continue the fight.
Arlong stopped to take a deep breath of the brisk winter air, as he looked down at the pesky thing that had run circles around him and given him the hardest fight he'd had in years. Its right ankle was bleeding from a clear bullet wound. He knocked it out of the fight, but he'd had help. And that made him paranoid.
Arlong let himself calm down, the fatigue starting to show itself, while he shot glances at the surroundings. He saw snow, snow, snow, some busted trees, and shockingly, more snow. No sign of the one who had fired that shot.
Then, just as a gust of wind picked up some snow, a figure just appeared out of the whiteness. As in, one second there was a person-shaped mass of white there, like emerging from behind a mirage. It was a person dressed in all white thick winter clothing that covered them from head to toe. Only a small slit revealed their eyes so they could see. In their arms, they held a rifle that had seen a lot of use over the years.
Arlong was on guard immediately, tensing his body to act if he needed to. While this person had helped him take that damn rabbit down, it was too early to let his guard down.
"It is fine," the figure in white, a man, spoke up. His speech was slightly broken and coated in a heavy foreign accent that made him enunciate his words almost phonetically. "Not a threat. Only here to help."
The fishman wasn't quite assured, not letting his guard drop. But the man in white did not attempt to seem threatening, keeping their rifle low and pointed at the ground, while keeping their finger on the trigger. When within a few paces from Arlong, he stopped, looking up at him. The man was on the short side, barely even five feet tall.
"Made a lot of noise. Lucky I found you," the man said, voice slightly muffled by his head coverings. His gaze shifted to the unconscious Lapahn by Arlong's feet. "Hunted this one for a long time. Gave me the shot I needed. Thank you… uhh… kalamies?"
The foreign word at the end sounded awkward and uncertain but Arlong just grunted in reply, moving away from the Lapahn, not letting the man out of his sights.
"Keep alert. Smart," the man remarked, giving Arlong an approving nod. The man then coughed and moved past Arlong, cocking his gun and ejecting a spent bullet casing. The rifle seemed similar to Abel's old one before Arlong had… well, destroyed it. The man moved his gun at the Lapahn on the ground, taking aim for the head.
"W-wait…"
Oh, crap! Arlong swore mentally at forgetting that there was someone who'd been ravaged quite severely in the fight. It didn't take much effort for both Arlong and the man in white to spot the woman hobbling towards them, barely capable of supporting her own weight. And it was a ghastly sight.
Atalanta's body was covered in bloody cuts that seemed frosted over, somehow making the lack of active bleeding due to the frost all the more disturbing. Her face was no different, and her eyes were still shut tight, seemingly partially frozen shut. Her white tunic was stained red and in absolute tatters, just barely covering her modesty, and even that seemed like it could change if one more shred of cloth snapped out of place. Strangely, their hide arm and leg guards were merely stained, but otherwise totally undamaged.
In summary: the huntress was an absolute, bloody, frost-covered mess.
"Don't… don't kill them," Atalanta pleaded, each step their way becoming more and more of a struggle. She seemed to only move out of sheer determination to do so.
The man in white cocked their head quizzically, looking between the Lapahn and the mess of a woman. "I am sorry. I do not understand." He pointed at the mutant. "This one is dangerous. Killed many people over the years."
Atalanta shook her head with an exhausted sigh. She was starting to shiver. "You… y-you are a hunter?" The man gave the woman a measuring look but nodded. "Then w-we are… of the same kind. We hunters also k-kill. But as hunters, w-we do so only… when we must. To feed ourselves… or o-others. No more… no less."
"What are you on about, woman?" Arlong asked harshly, but the absolutely molten sightless glare(mostly from her eyebrows alone) Atalanta shot his way made him decide to not follow up on his doubts of her mental faculties.
"… You are right," the man admits. "But this is different." He nudged his gun at the Lapahn. "This is no mere animal. Too smart for that. With powers. Very dangerous." He gave Atalanta a measuring look. "Too dangerous to be left alone."
"You don't know that!" Atalanta shouted, even as doing so seemed to sap enough out of her to force her to kneel in the snow. Still, she grits her teeth, and continued, "When they… when they attacked me I… I felt their anger and hate. So much hate… but also much hurt, deep… d-deep inside them. They are not s-some monster!" The huntress' face scrunched up in sympathy. "They are just… h-hurt…"
Atalanta settled on her knees on the snowy ground and bowed her head low. "P-please… let me try help them!"
"And if you can not?" The man asked, seeming unmoved.
"… I have t-to try," Atalanta spoke, firm in her stance. "Or else… I won't know if I succeed. I'll t-take full responsibility. S-so please…"
Arlong could not believe such a bleeding heart could possibly exist. She was trying to save the life of the thing that had tried to kill her not long ago, and nearly succeeding with a potential for it to stick later. Just what sort of madness was this woman afflicted with?!
The man in white looked at the prostrating, ragged woman with a steady gaze, before letting out a sigh and shaking his head. With deliberate movements, he shouldered his rifle and rummaged through a bag on his shoulders, pulling out a white spare coat that he laid on Atalanta's shoulders.
"Eh?" Atalanta raised her head. While his expression was hidden by his headgear- not that Atalanta could see it anyway -the man's eyes looked at her approvingly.
"Won't last long out here like that," he said, before pointing in the distance, near the Drum Rockies. "You are hurt. Go to Doctor Kureha. She lives in the castle on the top of the mountain. There is pathway up the mountain over there. Find a big metal cable, and just run up it. Watch your step and mind the wind, and you will get there fine."
Atalanta's expression blossomed into a bright smile as she shot up. "REALL-ugh!" She immediately stumbled, almost falling over if Arlong hadn't more or less held her up by the shoulder. "H-heh, s-sorry," she apologized weakly in a coy manner.
Arlong scoffed, "You're not moving even a full step in your condition, fool." He then sighed and easily picked up the comparatively small woman up and seated her on the crook of his other arm. "You better appreciate you are too light to be a hindrance."
The huntress turned her head to the fishman in surprise but then grinned widely, forcing her arms to enclose Arlong's neck in an affectionate hug. "D'aaaw, t-thanks, friend Arlong!"
Arlong for his part did an impressive job at looking like he ignored Atalanta's very existence, stoic-faced and gruff-looking as usual. Even as she was rubbing her bloody self on his everything. Save ending up topless after his jacket shattered, his only real injury was the bruise on his middle from when Atalanta had accidentally punched him. It came to him just how little he had suffered in the battle compared to Atalanta, who was seemingly targeted as the bigger threat.
He didn't know how to feel about that.
The man in white chuckled at the somewhat comical sight. "When you get there, tell Kureha that Simo sent you. She owes me a favor."
Arlong simply grunted in response and turned to walk where the man had indicated.
"…Arlong…"
The fishman halted mid-step, closing his eyes and bemoaning that he wasn't allowed to willfully ignore something he was against. Vehemently. When he opened his eyes to give the bothersome woman on his arm a look absolute disapproval, he was expecting a glare of some kind, maybe even just an intense, close-lidded stare.
What he wasn't expecting for Atalanta to be looking at him with puffed up cheeks, a disapproving pout that might have been cute and downright endearing, if not for the fact that her forcefully opened eyeballs were still covered in an unsightly layer of frost(and now lightly smeared with blood), not to mention the numerous bloody scratches marring her face. Kinda ruined the effect. It was more pitiable than anything. A bit disturbing too.
Maybe that's why after a few seconds of looking at what a mess Atalanta was, Arlong caved and walked back with a scoff. Thanks to his fishman strength it was effortless to lift the limp body of the mutant Lapahn like a sack of potatoes that he lazily slung over his free shoulder.
He would indulge Atalanta's insane request. Didn't mean he'd be nice or delicate about it.
"Thanks," the huntress said wearing a genuine smile. Again, the effect was ruined because her eyes did not look well. It made Arlong uncomfortable.
"Please close your eyes," Arlong grunted, letting some of that discomfort carry over. Atalanta flinched as she realized what exactly she was doing with her very-much-not-okay eyes, and shut them with a bashful chuckle.
Arlong just let out a deep sigh. "Let's go."
The hunter in white looked on as the fishman ran off, carrying his ally and the defeated monster of Drum, Frigid of the Frost. Underneath his facial coverings, he smiled the best his misshapen jaw could. He wanted to think of himself a pretty good judge of character. A good hunter had to be perceptive, after all.
The woman had a good, pure heart that could connect with even the most damaged or frozen of hearts. If there was someone capable of taming the hatred for humans that Frigid possessed, it just might be her. He certainly hoped so. He might be a hunter and former soldier, but he didn't wish to take up the role an executioner if he could help it.
The fishman had a hard shell and was deeply rooted in his ways of thinking and doing things. But he was not an impenetrable fortress. He made an attempt to reach out to others, in his own way, and provide assistance the only way he really knew.
As for Frigid… he had spent enough time chasing them that he knew the woman was right. Everyone else knew the vicious monster that attacked any human they came across, but he had a good hunch it wasn't that simple. The events he'd observed from years ago reinforced his belief that, maybe, there was just a sliver of a chance for things to end up for the better.
The man wished all of them luck and went on his way. The man known once as the White Death vanished into the heavy snowfall like a ghost.
-o~O-O~o-
Meeting my tragic backstory quota this arc, nice and neat. Just add a dead parent and you're halfway done already! :D
… I am terrible. I swear I don't do this to just animals.
But-Oh my god, this fight was a nightmare to write! I don't even know why! … *sigh* Anyway, Frigid, as they are called, has eaten the Frost-Frost Fruit, a Paramecia that is the polar(badum-tish) opposite of Don Accino's Hot-Hot Fruit. Their body temperature can decrease drastically, even to extreme negative degrees. They can also suck heat out of anything they touch and cover parts of their body with ice. As a consequence, they cannot generate warmth or heat of their own. This makes Frigid an Absolute Zero Lapahn.
The other Outsider on Drum Island makes their appearance. I like to think they are a less known historical figure. I don't quite know why I included them in my initial plans for this trash fire of an epic. Their role isn't even that big. Guess my nationality is showing.
On less positive news, this is the last of my backlog from this particular creative burst, and I can feel my motivation levels decreasing from their momentary spike. The next chapter will, therefore, come out whenever it is damned well and ready. I will try my hardest so that it won't be another half a year until you hear more of this story. Again.
No promises, though.
Next Chapter: The Thawing Cold! Healing of Wounded Hearts!
-I Feel… Cold, C-Hablerie