Chapter 10

After wondering around the castle for a while, SB went back to Nami's room.

"Where have you been?" Fencer asked, yawning.

"Just wandering around. How're you guys?"

"I'm awesome as ever," she replied. "Hey, Nami, how 'bout you?" Before the navigator could answer, she added quickly, "Mentally, not physically."

Nami took a moment to reply. "I…don't know."

Sanji, ever the gentleman, made an effort to support her. "Don't let something like this keep you down, my love. You just need to get used to it is all. I could help you walk on your new feet if you want."

"That actually sounds like a great idea," said SB. "Wanna practice now?"

Nami looked uncertain for a second but gave her answer by swinging her legs over the edge of the bed. Kureha monitored them to make sure nothing too strenuous happened as SB and Sanji each took one of Nami's arms over their shoulders and helped her practice walking. In just a few minutes, she was able to take small steps on her own.

"See? It's just like walking on your tiptoes," SB encouraged her.

"I knew you could do it, Nami-swan."

Nami cracked a small smile.

Then Fencer ruined it. "Hey, I think your tail got a little longer."

Just like that, Nami's smile faded.

SB glared at Fencer. "You'renot helping."

Fencer flinched. "Sorry for bringing that up, dude," she said to Nami.

"It's fine. It's…fine."

"DOCTORINE!" Chopper burst into the room. "It's Wapol! He's back!"

"What?!" Sanji and Fencer yelled.

"Well, I guess we should go face him," SB sighed. Knowing Luffy was already on his way to confront Wapol, SB grabbed his captain's coat, paused so Fencer could hop back onto his shoulder, and headed out to join him.

He was met with a fair amount of shock from Wapol and his men.

"What the—? The Straw Hats have two skeletons?" Kuromarimo wondered aloud.

SB sighed. "I'm a clone." He looked behind him. "Hey, where's Sanji?"

"Your blonde friend stayed behind," said Kureha as she and Chopper came through the castle doors. "He said something about 'protecting the lady' in case Wapol made it inside. A nice sentiment, but he won't get that far."

Luffy came skidding to a halt next to everyone else. His eyes never left Wapol. "You!"

SB took the opportunity to hand him his coat.

Wapol grinned maliciously. "Before we get started, would you like to know how your friends died?"

Luffy just laughed. "What? Our friends are way too strong to lose against thugs like you!"

"That would be true if your crew had been all together," said Chess. "However, we captured the bizarre duo you left on your ship, and their little duck too!" That got the crew's attention.

Wapol's grin widened. "Not long after we got to Bighorn, an avalanche came and buried us all, and we left them there to die!"

The three broke into peals of evil laughter before a stream of fire hit Chess in the chest, causing him to stumble backwards off the mountain.

Everyone stared slack-jawed at the scene of the sudden attack, at the empty air where Chess used to be, and slowly turned their attention to Fencer as the flames around her mouth fizzled out.

"Awesome!" Luffy exclaimed.

Wapol lashed out, "How dare you kill one of my best men! I'll make you pay for that!" He opened his mouth and before the crew's eyes, his tongue transformed into a cannon and fired.

As everyone scattered, Wapol charged and Kuromarimo followed suit. The king punched at Skeleton Buddy, who blocked the strike. Fencer leaped forward, intending to slash at the tyrant with her tail.

CLANG!

To everyone's shock, the fatso's hand turned into a sword, which he used to stop Fencer's attack dead in its tracks.

"Impressed?" Kuromarimo taunted them. "King Wapol's Munch-Munch Fruit allows him to take anything he's eaten recently and make it part of his body."

"Whoa, that's so cool!" Luffy exclaimed.

SB rolled his eyes. "Not now, Luffy!"

"Heavy Point!" Chopper tried his luck throwing a punch at Wapol. The fat tyrant dodged and slashed at Chopper, who evaded the strike by shrinking down to his Brain Point.

Distracted by his exchange with Chopper, the king didn't notice SB coming at him from the side. The skeleton hit him with a powerful punch, hurting him but not taking him out. Wapol recovered quickly and slashed at SB, forcing him to retreat.

On the other side of the battlefield, Luffy was faring a lot better. Kuromarimo's punches weren't having much effect on his rubbery body. But that looked like it was about to change as the henchman's boxing gloves grew long, threatening spikes.

"I'm gonna fill you full of holes, Straw Hat! And the old lady doctor's next!" That was all he could say before said old lady doctor kicked him clear into the horizon.

"Uh, thanks…young lady," Luffy got out.

Kureha chuckled. "Don't mention it."

The two of them turned when they heard several loud booms not far behind them. Wapol had turned his tongue into a cannon again, forcing his friends to go back on the defensive. Fencer darted to the king's right and reared her head back, spewing flames from her mouth. In response, Wapol quickly shoveled snow into his mouth with his free hand and spat it out, watering down her attack.

SB and Chopper were having trouble too. It was difficult just getting near the corrupt king because of his cannon, and when they did get close, they had to contend with his sword hand.

"Can you stall him for a minute?" Chopper asked. "I need to do something."

"Rumble Ball?" SB asked him.

"How did you know about my—" The reindeer quickly remembered the skeleton's inside knowledge. "Right. Yes!"

Luffy charged past the group to attack the tyrant, throwing a wobbly punch and crying, "Gum-Gum Shotgun!"

The wiggling of his attack caught Wapol off guard and connected right in his gut. Skeleton Buddy and Fencer took advantage of his weakness and followed the attack with a barrage of their own. The big bad ruler raised his sword hand and blocked the ferret's flaming tail, but Fencer grinned and twisted just a bit so that her tail's verteblades would break his sword. As Wapol's weapon shattered, SB rushed in with a rapid-fire stream of punches, sending his enemy skidding back to the edge of the mountain.

With the king subdued for the moment, the crew fell back to plan their next move. Luffy noticed Chopper standing back with his hooves in 'scope' position.

"Hey!" he called out. "How come you're just standing there?"

"I was scanning him for weaknesses," said the reindeer as he approached, "but seeing how well you guys did, I'm starting to think I don't need to."

The recovering Wapol went on an angry rant, stomping his feet and throwing his hands in the air. Figuring he was still relatively harmless, the crew ignored his temper tantrum and huddled together.

"Why are we huddling?" SB asked.

Luffy seemed to think this was a dumb question. "Because we need to plan how we'll finish him off. Duh."

"Okay, but why do we need to huddle for that?" said SB. "Also, since when do you make plans?"

Fencer rolled her eyes. "Who cares? Now, listen up. I'll use my fire to create a distraction while the rest of you dudes sneak in and attack."

"Yeah, we could charge him like we did a minute ago, then hit him with our best moves!" Luffy chimed in.

Chopper nodded. "Sounds good. Now, let's get to it. Who knows what he'll…he'll…" He stopped when he turned to glance at Wapol. The others followed his gaze, and they were in for a surprise; the fat king wasn't so fat anymore.

"Hahaha! What do you think?"

"Wh-what did you do?" cried Chopper.

"I munched myself to slim down while you fools were huddling like a bunch of little schoolgirls," the king cackled. "Now I'm lean and mean!"

SB thought of a comeback right away. "Yeah? Well, looking slightly less stupid isn't going to help you beat us."

The former fatso charged as Fencer spewed out burning hot fire pellets. As the others rushed forward, SB landed the first punch, making the king stumble back. Quickly recovering, Wapol changed his tongue into a cannon again and fired. SB quickly sidestepped, letting an Arm Point Chopper attack. The humanoid reindeer brought his hooves together, crushing the cannon between them.

Roaring in pain, Wapol Spartan Kicked Chopper away. Suddenly, the tyrant felt something crawl up his leg and discovered Fencer grasping onto his thigh. The fire ferret started scurrying all over his body, scratching him nonstop with her red-hot claws.

Before the oppressive ruler could try to consume the ferret, Luffy shouted, "Fencer, get off him, quick!"

Fencer leaped off the cruel king just in time for Luffy to launch his assault.

"Gum-Gum Gatling!" The captain's barrage hit his target dead on.

Putting all his strength into a single punch, SB sent the king sailing to the edge of the mountain once again, calling out, "Take it away, Chopper!"

The young doctor advanced and unleashed his hoof-thrust into his chest. "Cloven Cross!" That blow was the final push needed to send their enemy flying off into the horizon until he was nothing more than a twinkle in the sky.

With the battle over, everyone took a second to catch their breath. Then Fencer started chuckling.

"Look what I've gooooot!" she sang.

SB looked over to see her spinning a key ring on her paw. His jaw dropped. "That's—"

"That's right! I stole the key to his ship!"

The skeleton paused. "Wait, what?"

Luffy started laughing. "Ha! I can see it now. He'll get back to his ship and be like, 'Hey, where's my key? How am I gonna start my ship?!'"

Fencer began laughing too. "Exactly!"

"Ships need keys to sail?" Chopper wondered out loud as the others laughed.

Skeleton Buddy laughed too, at their ridiculous logic. "Uh, guys? You know that's not really…You know what? Never mind."

I'd been looking forward to this part. Now that Dalton was out of the snow, we'd boarded the gondola and were on our way up the mountain. The crew was still suspicious of Mantax, and the islanders were a little freaked out, but I was glad we had him on our side.

Once we reached the top, Zoro exited with Usopp crouching behind him.

I chose this moment to try and preempt a minor issue. I faced the villagers in the cable car and said, "Everybody, just so you know, there's gonna be a little monster up there. We'll see him when we exit the gondola."

Dalton, Vivi, and the others all raised their eyebrows. "Could you elaborate?" Dalton asked.

I nodded and raised my hand to what I thought was Chopper's height. "He's a few feet tall with brown fur. He'll also be wearing a hat."

Everyone was taken aback by that last detail, so I just beckoned them. "Come and see for yourself."

As we all exited the gondola, Luffy greeted Zoro and Usopp before Usopp noticed Chopper. "AHHH, it's a monster!"

This caused the villagers to take notice of the little reindeer; some of them even raised their guns. Fortunately, our potential new recruit raised his voice.

"Wait, you fools!" Once everyone had paused, he continued. "There's no need to fire. That's no monster."

"What are you talking about?" Usopp asked. "That's totally a monst—"

Mantax cut him off. "Of course it's not a monster!" He pointed his pincer at Chopper. "That… is a teddy bear."

"WHAT?!" Chopper shouted.

The rest of our reactions were mixed: Usopp's jaw dropped, Vivi and the crowd stared blankly, and Zoro, Fencer, SB, and I chorused, "Are you serious?"

"He's small, brown, and adorable, so yes," the oversized brute said stoically.

Luffy just seemed confused. "Wait, so he's not a reindeer?"

Some of the villagers started lowering their guns. "Well, okay..." one of them said. "If he's just a teddy bear, then I guess there's no need for alarm."

I figured I shouldn't think too hard about the fact that some of them were actually buying that, since it seemed to be working. I made SB vanish, absorbing his memories.

'Wait. He's a clone that I can make disappear and reappear, and when he disappears, I get his memories. Holy shit—SB's basically a shadow clone! How did I not see that parallel sooner?'

"Skeleton, Declan, whoever you are," Mantax's voice jostled me from my thoughts. "My patience is starting to wane. You haven't yet convinced me to join your crew, so let's finish the conversation we started."

"Okay, I have six good reasons!" I said as I pulled off my right middle finger and added it to my left hand, causing Mantax to look a little skeptical. As I counted my six-fingered hand, he continued to listen. "Okay, one, we have a great chef. Two, we'll make a lot of money in the future. Three, we can just hit each other for acting stupid."

"You people do that regularly?" he questioned.

I nodded. "More than you'd think. Anyway, four, we're gonna get quite a bit of notoriety as time goes on. Five, we're gonna get in some pretty good fights, and last but not least, six, this has to be better than working with Pridak."

That last one really got his attention. He was quiet for a moment, then grumbled, "Alright, I'm in."

Excited, I looked around. "Alright then, where's Luffy?"

The black Barraki tilted his head. "Who?"

"The guy with a straw hat," I explained.

"Him? Well, first the teddy bear got flustered by the crowd and ran off, then Straw Hat ran after him. Why do you ask?"

"He's the captain of this crew, so it's ultimately up to him if you can join."

Mantax seemed annoyed at that bit of information. In an attempt to distract from the awkward moment, I turned my attention to the rest of the crew. "Hey, wanna see how Nami's doing?"

"Yes, please. That's a great idea," Vivi answered.

Fencer climbed back up onto my shoulder. "Well, you're in for a shock because she's a dinosaur now."

"What?!" Vivi and Usopp exclaimed at the same time Mantax asked "Who's Nami?"

I gestured for everyone to follow and led them inside. As we approached Nami's room, I faced everybody. "Alright, this may be a little shocking for you guys, so please don't freak out. Usopp, I'm looking at you."

"Hey!"

I opened the door, letting them in. Even I had to admit that their surprise was justified. Nami had gone through another growth spurt. Her snout was now fully formed, and her tail seemed to be several feet longer.

However shocked the crew seemed at the state of Nami's appearance, Nami and Sanji were equally surprised to see Mantax enter.

"What the hell is that thing doing here?!" exclaimed Sanji.

"I-is that really you, Nami?" Usopp stuttered in shock.

Our navigator nodded her head. "Yes."

Vivi came up to her bedside. "Is your fever down? Are you still in pain?"

"I'm fine, Vivi," Nami answered. "I can get used to this."

"Well, that was a quick adjustment," remarked Fencer.

Sanji swooned. "You shouldn't be surprised. Nami-swan is a strong woman who can adapt to adversity."

"That's all well and good," Kureha said as she entered the room. "However, as much as I'd love to give you a clean bill of health and let you all waltz out of here, there's still the issue of your payment."

Fortunately, I knew what to say. "Any chance you could waive that little fee of yours?"

"Heh, not on your life."

I plucked the key from around Fencer's neck. "Not even for this?"

The doctor's eyes narrowed. "And just how did you get that?"

"I didn't. My little buddy did," I said, scratching Fencer's ear.

"Uh, dude?" Fencer asked me in a low voice. "Why would she want the key to Wapol's ship?"

I kept scratching her ear. "Because it's not the key to his ship, it's the key to the armory here, and she needs it for something awesome."

"You've sure got some balls trying to force a bargain with me, sonny," Kureha hissed, then looked me up and down. "Figuratively, at least."

I just stood there. "…Rub that in, why don't you? Anyway, do we have a deal?"

Kureha proceeded to take the key, waive our bill, and advise us not to leave for a couple days to be sure Nami's condition was finished changing. Once she took her leave, Sanji broke the silence. "Okay, now that that's all settled, can someone please explain what he's doing here?" He pointed at Mantax.

"I was wondering about that too," Fencer added.

The black Barraki responded nonchalantly, "Just think of me as a potential new recruit."

"What?!" Unaware of our arrangement, the crew members were all in shock.

"What the hell is Luffy thinking?" Sanji asked.

"Actually, it was my idea." I shrugged.

"I'll handle this," Fencer said. She grabbed my skull in her paws. "What the fuck, dude?! He tried to rob us!"

"I know, I know. I just really wanted him on the crew!" I explained.

Usopp was dumbfounded. "That's your excuse? What are you, a second Luffy?"

To my surprise, Mantax defended me. "Who cares how trivial his reasoning was? Be grateful that I now want to work with you and not against you."

"Well, this has been a nice chat, but I'm going outside," I said, excusing myself. "There's this thing that's gonna happen pretty soon and I don't wanna miss it."

As I made my way outside, Fencer asked, "So what's this thing you want to see? Or was it just an excuse so you didn't have to answer their questions?"

I could only shrug. "Two birds, one stone. As for what it is, you're about to find out."

Once we came outside, I saw we were just in time to watch Luffy convince Chopper to join our crew. I saw my chance. "Hey, Luffy, can Mantax join the crew too?"

Luffy tilted his head. "Who's Mantax?"

Think of a description, think of a description… "Uh, the alien ninja."

"Him? Sure! Now I have two aliens on my crew!"

"What?!" Zoro shouted. "Just like that? But—" He paused, then sighed. "You know what? Never mind."

"Smart way of thinking, Zoro," I said. Hearing snow crunching behind me, I turned around to see the rest of the crew exiting the castle. I put a finger to where my lips would have been if I'd had them and pointed a thumb at Luffy and Chopper.

And so the tear-jerking conversation played out the way it did in canon. Everyone smiled as Luffy won Chopper over. When the reindeer went to tell Kureha he was leaving with us, I addressed the crew. "How long do you guys think it'll be before he comes bursting out with the mad doctor behind him?"

"Minute and a half," Sanji suggested.

"Thirty seconds," said Luffy.

I nodded. "Well, I guess we'll see."

Luffy's guess turned out to be correct; in a matter of seconds, Chopper burst out through the castle doors towing a sled.

"Everybody into the sled, now!" the little guy shouted as Kureha threw weapons at him.

We all quickly piled into the sled—except Mantax, who was too big to fit.

"Just go!" He waved us off.

We were all surprised by that. "You're gonna fight that crazy lady?" Luffy asked.

Our new crewmate shook his head as much as his build allowed. "No, I'll be right behind you. Now move!"

Chopper took his advice and started towing us down the cable.

"Whoa!" Fencer said, looking behind us. We followed her gaze; Mantax was right on our tail, running along the cable like a professional tightrope walker. He ran like a ninja, with his left forearm held in front of him and his right arm stuck out behind him.

"Wow, he really is a ninja!" Luffy beamed.

Once we'd made it down the cable, passed through the town, and traveled through a few miles of forest, we stopped at the sound of cannon fire, a sign of yet another part of the One Piece universe I'd been looking forward to seeing. That pink snow was really something.

Once we reached our ship, we set sail almost immediately. All the guys on the crew were partying and encouraging Chopper to join them. The girls and Carue didn't join them, and neither did Mantax, Fencer, and I.

That didn't stop the other guys from trying to rope us in.

"Hey, big guy, aren't you gonna join the party?" a half-drunk Zoro asked Mantax.

"No."

"Well, at least have a drink," Sanji said, offering a cup.

The black Barraki said nothing for a moment, but eventually he took the cup. "Fine."

He raised the cup to where his mouth probably was, which was funny to watch since his left arm could barely reach. But instead of splashing off his armored face, the booze simply disappeared when it hit his mouth.

Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper's jaws dropped, and everyone else raised an eyebrow—except me, of course.

Overcoming his surprise, Usopp asked me something. "Hey, Declan, this is a party! How about you sing something?"

"I barely managed to suck it up last time, Usopp," I answered in a low voice. "I'm usually too shy for that."

To my relief, Luffy suddenly asked, "Hey, what kind of dinosaur is Nami?"

That question got all our eyes on our navigator.

"I was kinda wondering about that too," Fencer added before gasping. "Wait, Declan should know!"

"Really? How would he know?" Usopp inquired.

Fencer tapped my skull. "He's a total dinosaur geek. I'm sure he can figure this out."

With the spotlight now on me, I walked over to examine Nami. "Mind if I?" I asked. She said nothing, so I started looking her over, though, to be safe, I refrained from touching her.

'Okay, her head is the wrong shape to be a spinosaurid or any raptor I can think of. No crests either, so she's probably not a Ceratosaurus…'

"Well?" Luffy asked.

I wasn't sure what to say. I didn't know what other distinguishing characteristics to look for. Except maybe…

"This might sound weird, but could you show me your teeth?" I asked Nami.

She hesitated for a second, but opened her mouth, showing me just what I was looking for: serrated teeth.

"Aha!" I faced everyone. "I think she's a Carcharodontosaurus."

Everyone looked confused. Luffy asked what they were all thinking, "A Car-what?"

"I believe he said 'Carcharodontosaurus,'" Mantax repeated for me.

Why did I even bother trying to figure out what she is if no one understands?

Sanji changed the subject. "Well, now that's clear as mud. Anyway, I'd like to ask our new crewmate some questions before we get back to partying."

"Really? What kind of questions?" Chopper wondered.

"Actually, I meant the other new crewmate—the one who's tall, dark, and not-so-handsome?" Sanji clarified.

I gasped. "Oh, oh, oh, I know what to ask him!"

I must have sounded a bit too excited because now everyone was looking at me funny.

I addressed our new crewmate, "Okay, Mantax, tell us your likes, dislikes, hobbies, and plans for the future. You know, basic information."

Mantax proceeded to explain himself. "To any of you who don't know, my name is Mantax. I have one or two likes, many dislikes, my hobbies are none of your concern, and my plan for the future is to get back to my own dimension."

Not the answer I was hoping for, I thought. Judging by the looks on the rest of my friends' faces, they were thinking the same thing. Since we had another new recruit, I asked Chopper, "Would you like to go next?"

Our new doctor nodded. "Sure! My full name is Tony Tony Chopper. I like sweets"—his face turned sour—"and I dislike jerks like Wapol. My hobby is studying medicine and my dream for the future is to become a doctor who can cure any disease."

While the crew nodded in approval, Fencer tapped my shoulder. "Where do you come up with ideas like this?"

I chuckled. "I'm quick with a reference."

After the party had finished and everyone had gone to bed—everyone but me, that is—I was going to watch everyone sleep again, but someone had to keep watch, and I figured it would be a little cruel to leave Skeleton Buddy up in the crow's nest with nothing to do. So instead, I generously let him do the creeping tonight.

I sat around for ten, maybe fifteen minutes before someone called out to me.

"I believe this is yours."

I looked over the edge of the crow's nest to see Mantax holding Skeleton Buddy under his arm. My jaw nearly dropped when I realized the black Barraki was standing vertically on the side of the mast. "Uh, you sure you're not a ninja?"

My new crewmate tossed my clone up to me like he was a piece of driftwood. "I caught your little friend wandering from room to room just staring at everyone, including me."

Making my clone disappear, I replied, "Well, sorry, but I needed something to do. I mean, it's not like anything happens at three in the morning."

Just then, we heard the ringing of an alarm clock, followed by Luffy shouting, "Oh boy, three a.m.!" followed again by the sound of munching.

"…Besides that."

Mantax began walking back down the mast. "If you want to spy on your friends like some creep, I don't care. Just leave me out of it."

Thankfully, my boredom was short lived because the next day came before I knew it, and another amusing scene from the show was about to commence. It didn't last very long; Luffy got snatched up by a giant bird, Chopper comically panicked, then Luffy freed himself by knocking the bird out.

"Hey, Sanji, I got us some meat!" Luffy announced.

Zoro looked eager. "Does this mean we can have some decent meals now?"

"Finally, some meat. I'm starving," Mantax said as he walked up to the bird. Without warning, he sank his mandibles into its neck and tore out a chunk of flesh. I'd probably never understand how he swallowed stuff, but once he did, he finally noticed all of us staring at him.

"What?"

"Nothing," we chorused. "Nothing at all."