Disclaimer I do not own any One Piece characters or Mario Characters
Chapter 10: Reaching the Peak and Wapol's Return
We cut back to Mario and the others as they continue up the slope heading towards to peaks of Drum Kingdom where the doctor who could help Nami is suppose to be. During their run they are attacked by a small rabbit creature, they just dodge its attacks while Sanji and Luffy exchange stories about what snow village people are like. Sanji then turned to Mario.
"So what do you think Mario?" he asked. Mario turned to him in confusion.
"Sorry Sanji, I wasn't paying attention. What are you asking about?"
"If women in snow countries have softer skin because they are constantly rubbing themselves to keep warm." Sanji responded in annoyance. Mario pondered a bit before answering.
"Well, there is some truth to that. I remember back when me and my brother had an adventure in a snow village deep in the mountains of Bean Kingdom. The people there had some of the softest skin I've ever felt, but they were snow people." Mario replied. Sanji just nodded in agreement and continued running until.
"Wait! So you've actually felt the skin of snow ladies!" Sanji yelled causing Luffy to also turn in curiosity of Mario's answer.
"I shook their hands Sanji! We did save them from a giant snow monster after all!" Mario said in his defense, trying to calm Sanji down.
"Well, you could've done more than just shake their hands Mario." Starlow stated while flying out of Mario's hat.
"Starlow, not now. Especially with the present company." Mario said causing Sanji and Luffy to give him weird stares.
"Come on Mario, the way those snow ladies were eyeing you and your brother. I'm pretty sure they would have given you more than just a hand shake." Starlow stated with a sly smile.
"They were just grateful."
"Really? And what about the Jellyfish Sisters and their special "Massages"?" Starlow said causing Sanji to give a death glare to Mario.
"They were just helping me and Luigi learn new ways to use our Pyrokinetic and Electrokinetic powers!"
"Don't you still receive letters from them for special "massages" Mario? And let's not forget all the other female companions you've charmed such as Lady Bowz, Ms Mouze, Flurrete, Goombella, and Vivian just to name a few. But least of all, your most recent triumphs with the Squid Sisters and Off The Hook." Starlow finished explaining causing Mario to blush from embarrassment and Sanji to go red with anger.
"What does she mean by that?" Sanji asked Mario. "Who are the Squid Sisters and Off The Hook?" Before Mario could explain Starlow darted into his shirt and pulled out a picture of him and Luigi with the two groups. "Wow! They are so beautiful!" Sanji stated with hearts in his eyes before turning to Mario in anger. "And you actually got to meet them! You lucky bastard!"
"Me and my brother got tickets to their show as a reward for one of our jobs! Nothing happened honest!"
"Look at the photo Mario! They got their hands all over you and your brother!"
"Me and my bro are famous around there for our many adventures. It was just a photo shoot Sanji!" Mario tried to explain.
"Damnit Mario, if you weren't carrying Nami I would kick your ass." Sanji stated before kicking away the bunny creature attacking them. "And what the hell is up with this weird rabbit?"
"It's probably one of those lapin animals the villagers warned me about." Luffy stated causing Mario and Sanji to turn towards him.
"What do you mean by that Luffy?" Sanji asked.
"Oh, while me and Usopp were making a snowman I overheard some of the villagers talking about some strange animals on the island. When I asked them about it they told me they were these vicious rabbit animals called lapins."
"And you didn't think to tell us about that earlier?" Sanji asked with a hint of annoyance and anger.
"Sorry, I kind of forgot about it." Luffy replied while rubbing the back of his head.
"Forget about it Luffy. If that's how big a lapin is then we have nothing to worry about." Sanji stated. Suddenly the snow in front of them began to move and the small lapin that Sanji had kicked away returned, along with a lot of much larger lapins. Mario, Luffy and Sanji stopped in there tracks as they gazed upon the small army of lapins in front of them.
"Whoa... it's a bunch of bears." Luffy said in awe.
"Are you blind! They're obviously large rabbits!" Sanji yelled in anger.
"They're rabears." Mario calmly stated. "Well, whatever they are they're blocking our path to the castle."
"Yeah, hey Mario." Sanji called out. "Don't fight. Since you're carrying Nami you can accidently hurt her if you try to fight these things. So let me and Luffy handle them." Mario nodded and backed up as Luffy and Sanji prepared to engage the small army of lapins.
Suddenly one of the lapins lunged at Luffy. Luffy jumped out of the way and launched a kick at the lapin knocking it down. Then, some of the lapins proceeded to attack Sanji, but he swiftly evaded their attacks and counter attacked with a flurry of kicks. While Sanji and Luffy were busy fighting some of the lapins proceeded to try and attack Mario. Mario jumped over an attacking lapin and proceeded to jump on it's head. "Thanks for the lift." Mario said as he continued to jump on other lapins heads until he reached the upper cliff.
"Great idea!" Sanji said as he and Luffy mimicked Mario's actions. When they all reached the upper cliff Luffy turned back to the lapins and began to mock them, only to be shocked as the lapins all leaped onto the cliff and continued to chase them.
"You know, if I could fight back I would be able to end this quickly." Mario stated.
"Not while you're holding Nami!" Sanji explained.
"You're-a right, here Luffy. Hold onto Nami so I can end this already." Mario said as he tried to hand Nami off to Luffy.
"No way! I wanna kick their asses!" Luffy stubbornly declared as he turned around to face the horde of lapins, much to Mario's and Sanji's chagrin. "ALRIGHT BRING IT ON!" he yelled.
"Luffy! Don't yell like that!" Mario exclaimed.
"Why?" Luffy asked while tilting his head.
CRACK! Rumble...
Was the sound everyone heard as they turned their heads towards the source of the sound. "AVALANCHE!" Mario yelled as a wall of snow came barreling towards everyone. They all tried to outrun it, but were soon swallowed by the sea of snow. After a few minutes Luffy burst through the snow carrying and injured Sanji. Luffy started to look for Mario and Nami when he felt a sudden wave of heat from up ahead. As he walk towards it, he saw Mario protecting Nami and himself from the snow with his fire.
"Glad to see you and Nami are okay Mario." Luffy said with relief.
"You too Luffy, but Sanji doesn't look too good." Mario replied examining Sanji.
"I think he got hurt during the avalanche."
"Well let's hurry up the mountain then. While their local doctor helps Nami I can treat Sanji." Mario stated, receiving an affirmative nod from Luffy.
They continued walking towards the peaks when they come across the small lapin trying to dig out it's larger brethren who were buried beneath the snow. As Mario and Luffy approached the small lapin started growling in an attempt to scare Mario and Luffy away. Mario then shot out a fire ball at the mound of snow the small lapin closed it's eyes in fear, but after feeling nothing it turned to see that Mario had melted away the snow covering the large lapin. Mario then proceeded to shoot fire balls at all the other mounds of snow freeing the lapins. The lapins just stared in appreciation as Mario and Luffy continued towards the peaks. After a few Minutes they reached the wall of the peaks, Luffy was about to start climbing when Mario grabbed his shoulder.
"Hold on Luffy, I got this!" Mario said as he pulled the cuff of his glove and in a poof he dawned a fluffy cloud outfit. Luffy just stared at him in confusion until Mario began to make cloud platforms up the mountain side. "Follow the fluffy cloud road Luffy!" Mario said as he continued up the mountain.
"Woah... Good job Mario!" Luffy exclaimed as he followed Mario's cloud path.
Somewhere in the middle of the forest
Zoro was walking around the middle of nowhere, lost and without a shirt.
"Damnit, this is embarrassing. How the hell did I end up so far away from the Merry?"
Flashback to the Merry, Zoro and Karoo were still on the boat when Zoro jumped down to the island shirtless confusing Karoo.
"I'm going to do some cold weather training." Zoro explained. Karoo understood and turned to watch some snowbirds, when he turned back Zoro had vanished. Thinking that Zoro had fallen into the ice cold river and was drowning Karoo dove in to save him. Unfortunately Zoro had instead gotten lost and was far away from the Merry.
Back to the present, Zoro was walking around freezing when he saw someone in the distance. A tall slender old woman wearing sunglasses, a purple jacket and purple pants in sled being pulled by a reindeer in a pink top hat. Unbeknownst to Zoro this was doctor Kureha, the person they were looking for to cure Nami.
"Hey!" Zoro yelled as he waved them down. The sled pulled to a stop in front of him, "Hey, old lady, sorry to bother you, but do you think you could drop me off at a village nearby?" Zoro asked as he approached the sled. Kureha beckoned him to come closer, confused Zoro just walked closer to her. "Man I've seen some strange old ladies in my days, but you really stand out you know."
"Be careful how you talk to me young boy." Kureha stated as she began to get up, before she delivered a hard kick to Zoro, sending him into a nearby tree. "What a rude boy, I'm still in my youthful one twenties I'll have you know."
"Doctor, look." the reindeer spoke, drawing Kureha's attention towards the peaks. What she saw baffled her, a cloud tower leading to the top of the mountains.
"It seems like someone is invading our home Chopper. Back to the castle, double time." Kureha ordered.
"Right." the reindeer replied, taking off at it's fastest speed towards the peaks.
At the top of the peaks of Drum Kingdom
Mario and Luffy had reached the summit, in front of them a large castle where the doctor is suppose to live.
"So this is where their doctor stays." Mario murmured to himself. Luffy then marched out in front.
"HEY! IS THERE ANYBODY HOME! WE NEED HELP!" Luffy yelled. After a few moments of no reply Mario walked up to him.
"We should look inside to see if anyone's home. It looks like the place has been abandoned." Mario rationalized after examining the thick icicles covering the building and the front door.
As they went inside it looked like Mario was right. The whole interior was covered in snow and looked like no one been here for ages. Luffy was getting anxious, until Mario pointed out a trail on the ground. They followed the trail into one of the upper rooms, when they looked inside they saw a clean and warm room.
"Well, it looks like someone lives here. I wonder if we just missed her." Mario stated as he laid Nami down on the only bed nearby. Mario then began to investigate the rest of the room when he discovered a door that led to a room that looked like a mix between an operation room and a torture room with two stone slab tables. "Luffy set Sanji down on one of these slabs." Mario requested. After Luffy laid Sanji on one of the slabs Mario pulled at the cuff of his glove four times. In a sudden poof Mario's cloud outfit was gone and instead of one there was now five Mario's.
"What the..." Luffy said in astonishment.
"Double cherry power up. Let's me multiply myself." Mario explained before he turned to his clones. "Okay, you two, go and treat any injuries Sanji may have. And you two come with me." Mario ordered his clones, two of them went to examine and treat Sanji and the other two helped Mario read through all the books in the room.
"What are you doing?" Luffy asked.
"Seeing if this doctor left behind some notes on the five day disease, maybe a medical journal." Mario explained as he and his clones continued to read through the books. "Bingo" Mario said as he focused on a journal he began to read. Suddenly he and his clones went through one of the cabinets and pulled out a vile. After comparing the vile to the notes in the book he was reading, he pulled out Stuffwell and grabbed his medical tools from him. His clones took surgical tools and bandages to Sanji's room and Mario pulled out a syringe and began to extract some of the contents of the vile he was holding. He then injected it into Nami and began to take her temperature. After a few moments Mario let out a sigh of relief as it looked like the antidote was working since Nami's temperature began to return to normal.
"It worked?" Luffy asked with concern.
"Yes Luffy, it seems to have worked. And according to this doctor's notes after two days rest she should be completely back to normal." Mario explained. After hearing this Luffy smiled in relief and began to laugh. Then two Mario's clones came back and explained Sanji's injuries and that they have completely treated them. Mario then gave them one of his healing pills to help with Sanji's recovery.
"Aren't you going to give one of those pills to Nami?" Luffy asked.
"Not yet Luffy. Don't want to cause an accidental reaction with the medicine already inside of her and make things worse." Mario explained as he took a seat at a table nearby.
"Well, well, well... making yourselves at home boys?" an elderly feminine voice asked. As Mario and Luffy turned to the source of the voice, they saw the old lady that Zoro had encountered earlier, as well as a small reindeer creature that seemed to be trying to hide behind the wall.
"Are you doctor Kureha?" Mario asked.
"I am, is there a reason you were searching for me?"
"Well, our lady friend in the bed here caught the five day disease and we heard you were the only one with a cure." Mario explained.
"The five day disease. How the hell did she catch that? Was she walking around some tropical prehistoric island with her belly exposed." Kureha asked as she took the other chair and sat opposite of Mario.
"Not of her own choice, but yes she was." Mario explained causing Kureha to snicker a bit. She then glanced towards the operating room and saw a bandaged Sanji on the table.
"And is that boy a friend of yours too?" she asked.
"Yes, he suffered some injuries in a avalanche we encountered on the way up here."
"Well let me examine your work, Chopper come and assist me." Kureha ordered. The small reindeer creature then walked up to Kureha while trying to avoid eye contact with Mario and Luffy. After her and Chopper's examinations, Kureha sat back down. "Well I'll be damned, that's some fine work you did there. Almost can say it's as good as mine." Kureha stated as she opened up a bottle and took a drink of it. "Almost anyways." Kureha said with a snicker, Mario just smiled and nodded while Luffy kept on staring at the operating room.
"If you're looking for my clones Luffy, they already poofed out of existence." Mario stated causing Kureha to give him a quizzical look.
"Clones?" she asked.
"Yes, I have the ability to clone myself. But, since they were no longer needed I dispelled them." Mario explained causing Kureha to chuckle and Luffy to slump down in disappointment.
"Would've loved to see that, but now time to discuss important matters. Such as payment." Kureha stated, grabbing Mario's and Luffy's attention. "So Red Cap Mario and Straw Hat Luffy, why shouldn't I turn you two in and take your bounties as payment?" she asked. Mario then began to speak and he held up one finger.
"One, you can't beat me."
"Oh really? Underestimating me boy?"
"No, but unless you can strike with a force of sixty one million tons you don't really stand a chance." Mario bluntly stated, before Kureha could speak again Mario held up a second finger. "And because I am willing to pay you for helping myself to your stuff."
"Oh really? Well then, eighty million belli!" Kureha demanded. Mario just pulled out Stuffwell and pulled out a large bag of money and set it on the table. "My, my... You did that without hesitation."
"Of course, no price is too high for my friends." Mario stated causing Chopper to gasp at his statement.
As Chopper walked away to get more gauss for Sanji's wounds, he began to ponder Mario's words. "Friends... I wonder if I will ever have some."
Kureha began to question Mario about his abilities and how he climbed up the mountain. Meanwhile...
Back the Shores of Drum Kingdom
A group of Dalton's men were standing watch when one of them saw the silhouette of a large ship approaching the island. After getting a closer look of the ship with his binoculars he began to stutter in fear. "I-I-It's Wapol's ship!" The lookout shouted causing everyone to turn and face the incoming ship. As it landed all of Dalton's men surrounded it while one of them ran to get Dalton.
"A welcome home party? Should've known you would be helpless without your king." Wapol boasted with a grin.
"No way! We're much better off without you Wapol!" One of the villagers shouted angering Wapol.
"Please sir, let us handle it." Chess said while he and Kuramarimo walked out to confront the villagers. "You sure you want to do this? Defying his majesty is a criminal offense punishable by death." Chess declared, trying to intimidate the villagers. While they were frightened, they stood their ground and charged forwards. Unfortunately Chess and Kuramarimo were still trained soldiers and made quick work of the villagers.
"What a bunch of morons." Chess stated.
"Yeah, you think they would have put up more of a fight than that." Kuramarimo said in agreement while holding an unconscious villager in his hand.
"This is all Dalton's fault! When I get my hands on him." Wapol said in anger. "Let's go men!" Wapol ordered as he got on his woolly hippo.
Back in Cocorei
Dalton was speaking with Vivi and Usopp when one of his men who was watching the Shore came running up to him.
"Dalton!"
"Yes, what is it?"
"It's Wapol sir, he's back!" the villager explained. Dalton and everyone else their stood in shock at this revelation.
"Wait, did he say Wapol?" Usopp asked in terror. "Does he mean that weird munch-munch guy who attacked us earlier!"
"No, not now, I won't let it happen!" Dalton yelled as he charged forward to where the villager ran from. Vivi and Usopp followed him to the outskirts of the village. At the edge of the village the villagers were standing in fear as Wapol and his men arrived.
"What is this?" Wapol asked giving angry glares to the frightened townsfolk. "You all should be on your hands and knees praising my return."
"Don't worry sir, we'll whip them into shape." Chess reassured Wapol as he and Kuramarimo began to walk forward.
"Not necessary Chess, I'll remind them myself why they should worship me!" Wapol declared as he began to approach the villagers. Suddenly, Dalton appeared and slashed Wapol across the chest. Wapol landed on the ground and began to flail about while wailing about dying.
"What the, Dalton? How dare you attack your king Dalton." Chess demanded. "You could've killed him."
"That's perfectly fine, since it was my aim to kill him." Dalton responded.
"Why you, heh. It doesn't matter, go the nineteen MD's!" Kuramarimo shouted as a group of doctors suddenly surrounded Wapol and treated his injury.
"Whoa, I really thought I was going to die there." Wapol stated as he got up.
"Of course, you get the best possible medical treatment available while your citizens have to suffer without a doctor. It's wrong." Dalton stated with disgust.
"Wrong!? Show some respect Dalton, I am still your king! It's obvious I should receive the best medical treatment and if the citizens want treatment also they should grovel at my feet. That's how governing works!"
"That's not a real Government and you're not a real king!" Dalton shouted in defiance.
"Well you certainly spoke your mind Dalton, are you happy now? Men! Shoot him! I want you to shoot your former captain!" Wapol ordered as his soldiers took aim at Dalton. Dalton activated his devil fruit power, a zoan buffalo type, that gives him the appearance and strength of a buffalo. He charged forward and took out the first group of men aiming for him.
"Oh just give it up Dalton. Do you really intend to fight us all by yourself." Chess said in a condescending tone.
"Dalton!" Shouted a group of villagers rushing to aid him in his fight against Wapol. "We're here to help!"
"No! Stay back!" Dalton shouted. Chess began to snicker as he took aim at the incoming villagers. He let loose a volley of arrows, but Dalton rushed in between them and the villagers and used his body to defend them.
"Hah! Same old Dalton, just as much of a bleeding heart as always." Kuramarimo said in a mocking tone. He then shot balls of hair at Dalton that stuck onto him. Dalton tried his best to shake them off, but as he was doing so Chess fired flaming arrows towards him and set them on fire. Dalton was set ablaze, Wapol then transformed his arm into a canon and fired upon the hill overlooking the battlefield. Suddenly a wave of snow came down and buried Dalton.
"Alright men! Make sure Dalton's dead, if any villagers try to dig him out deal with them!" Wapol ordered.
"Yes sir!" the soldiers obediently replied.
"Chess! Kuramarimo! Let's go!" Wapol ordered as he saddled his wooly hippo along with Chess and Kuramarimo. The doctors tried to get on with him, but he shoved them out of the way as he rushed up the mountain. While they rushed pass the villagers Chess saw that Usopp and Vivi were with them.
"Hey, wasn't that long nose guy part of the pirate crew we encountered earlier?" Chess asked.
"What!? Does that mean those group of pirates are here, along with that mustache man that hurt me!" Wapol asked in surprise.
"I believe so sir. I distinctly remember that long nose man with them and that blue haired girl looked familiar also." Chess answered.
"Excellent. It's time for some well deserved pay back mustache man! Just you wait." Wapol said with a sadistic grin on his face.