"We don't have time for this! We need to get to the doctor quickly!" Sanji shouted and kicked away one of the Lapins. "Move it, you damn bunnies!"

"They're coming!" Ichi shouted. He jumped out of the way as one of the giant rabbits lunged at him. Luffy was about to attack one of the rabbits, but Sanji stopped him.

"Listen, Luffy. I don't want you fighting these guys." Sanji spoke.

"Why not!?" Luffy shouted.

"Nami will be able to feel every move you make. She's too sick to be able to handle it, it would be too much! She could die!" Sanji explained then he turned to Ichi. "And the same goes for you. If you move around too much, then L's injury will get worse."

"Okay, I won't fight!" Luffy shouted. Then a Lapin swiped its sharp claws at Luffy. Luffy quickly ducked, holding on to Nami. "Then what should I do!?"

"Just dodge! Dodge and run! But don't run too fast!" Sanji shouted, trying to fend off the large creatures.

"That's way too hard!" Luffy cried out.

The three started to run and the Lapins began to chase them. The snow was making it harder as it was getting deeper with each step the three took.

"Flanchet shoot!" Sanji yelled out and kicked away a rabbit, knocking it back a few feet.

"Sanji!" Luffy shouted.

"Damn it. It's hard to get a good kick with my feet buried in the snow." Sanji hissed. Then the Lapins all charged at the group.

"They're coming all at once!" Ichi cried out.

"Head for the forest! I'll cover both of you!" Sanji told them. The three ran as the rabbits tried to pounce on them again. Sanji was keeping them back. "Keep going! We'll head for the mountain. We need to get rid of them somehow!"

A Lapin tried to attack Luffy and Luffy tried to kick it away. Sanji quickly grabbed Luffy's foot, stopping him and quickly pulled him out of the way. "Stop!" Sanji shouted. "I told you to leave it to me! This is a matter of life and death!"

"Sorry!" Luffy said. "Hey, Sanji! Ichi! We can climb up from here!" And he pointed up to a ledge of a cliff.

"Alright, go on ahead!" Sanji told them. Luffy quickly jumped grabbing onto the ledge and pulled himself up. Then Ichi jumped up with ease and Sanji followed behind him when a Lapin jumped at him from behind. Sanji kicked the rabbit, giving himself a boost and landed on the ledge with Luffy and Ichi. They saw the Lapins trying to jump up to them, but they fell back down. Luffy grinned and began to make faces, sticking his tongue at them. Just as the group was about to leave, they gasped in shock as they saw the rabbits were able to make the ledge and were now chasing them.

"They're still after us!" Ichi shouted.

"Just keep running all the way to the top!" Sanji shouted. "Why did you have to taunt them!?"


Back at the village, Usopp, Aya and Vivi were still waiting outside. They noticed the wind was starting to pick up, blowing harder and more snow began to fall down.

"The snow's starting to get bad." Usopp spoke.

"Tell me something. Who are you guys?" Dalton asked.

"Why do you want to know?" Aya asked, hoping that he wouldn't ask again. They didn't need more attention and enemies on them.

"A group with only nine people traveling the Grand Line in a ship without a doctor seems incredibly reckless." Dalton frowned, suspiciously.

"In case you forgot, we're pirates. That's the reason you guys were pointing all those guns at us, remember? We may be a small group but with a brave warrior of the sea on board there's nothing to fear from anyone or anything. Even though we are very brave, we are looking for someone to be our ship's doctor. We we're hoping to find one here on this island. Of course, I wasn't expecting was that the doctor here was a witch living in a castle." Usopp spoke.

"She's all we've got. You certainly seem much different from the pirates that we're used to." Dalton said.

"Hello, Dalton! I was looking for you!" A woman ran up to the group an walked over to Dalton. Usopp quickly bowed his head.

"Bow to the bear!"

"It's not a bear." Aya said.

"What can I do for you?" Dalton asked the woman.

"I've heard you newcomers we're looking for Dr. Kureha." She told Usopp, Aya and Vivi.

"Yes. The sick woman's friends have already taken off to the mountain." Dalton told her.

"That's too bad because I've heard the doctor's in Coco Weed right now!" The woman said. Usopp, Aya, and Vivi's eyes widened in shock and so did Dalton's.

"She left her castle!?" Aya exclaimed.

"She's where!?" Vivi and Usopp shouted as well.

"Then we need to go there now!" Dalton shouted. "Forgive me. I made a mistake! I got word that the doctor had come down from the mountain yesterday. So I didn't think that she'd come again so soon! But I was wrong!"

"Hey, it's okay! It's not your fault!" Vivi spoke. "Those three took off in such a hurry. It's not going to be easy to catch up with them! If the doctor's here in Cocoweed, we'll just have to ask her to return to the castle!"

"Let's hope she'll do it!" Usopp smiled.

"I'm sorry." Dalton apologized again.

"Huh? What are you apologizing for?" Aya asked him, wondering.

"If this country had more doctors..."

"There's no need to apologize, Dalton!" Vivi assured him. Dalton nodded and quickly got a sled ready. The group drove it to Cocoweed Village and headed to the bar that she visited and treated a little boy, only to find out that the doctor had already left.

"Huh!? She's already left town!?" Vivi exclaimed in disbelief.

"No way! We just missed her!" Usopp shouted.

"She made me better a little while ago." A little boy told them.

"Are you looking for the doctor, Dalton?" the storekeeper asked him.

"It's an emergency! Do you know which way she went?" Dalton asked. One of the customers spoke.

"I heard from someone that she was heading for Gyasta."

"Where's that?" Aya asked.

"It's a lakeside town just north of here. They like to ice skate there."

"Let's go! We've come this far! There's no time to waste!" Vivi insisted. Suddenly, one of Dalton's men busted through the door and ran inside, panting.

"Dalton! Is Dalton here!?"

"What's wrong? You're supposed to be on guard..."

"All the other guards are dead! A submersible ship suddenly appeared out of the sea and it's crew killed everybody! Dalton, please save us! We need your strength!" He shouted. Dalton's eyes widen in shock and he frowned, trying to calm the man down.

"Calm down. Who killed them?"

"Wapol! He's back!" the man shouted, crying a little.

"Wapol!?" One of the villagers cried out in fear.

"Where is he now!?" Dalton asked.

"The village! Bighorn's in danger!"

Dalton quickly rode off, taking a horse, leaving Vivi, Usopp and Aya behind before they could stop him.

"Hey! Dalton! What about!?-" Usopp cried out. But Dalton was already gone. "He left us!"


Luffy, Sanji and Ichi continued to run as several Lapins were still chasing after them. Then they noticed that the rabbits had stopped following them and were jumping around continuously.

"What are they doing?" Luffy asked.

"I thought they'd given up. But what are they up to?" Sanji wondered.

"They're jumping up and down making a lot of noise." Ichi pointed out. The rabbits were making a lot of noise on a mountain covered entirely of snow...Then Sanji's eyes widened, in realization, his cigarette fell out of his mouth.

"N-No. Wait a minute! They can't be!


"Let's get the sled and take to Gyasta since Dalton's abandoned us." Aya spoke. The three quickly climbed into the sled and Usopp drove it while Vivi and Aya tried to read the map.

"Vivi, are you sure this is the way to Gyasta? Where this witch supposed to be!?" Usopp asked.

"I'm not exactly sure." Vivi frowned, trying to look at the map again. The snow and the wind was making it harder to read.

"That's not very reassuring!" Usopp shouted. "Listen if Nami makes it to the castle and the witch isn't there, what are they gonna do!? You're a princess, aren't you? Do something!"

"How about you look at the map, then, Ussop!" Aya shouted.

"Are you crazy!? This whole island is covered in snow!" Usopp argued.

"Weren't you listening? Somewhere along the way there's supposed to be a sign that says "Gyasta" on it. We can't miss it!" Vivi pointed out.

"Okay! Leave to me!" Usopp shouted. But while the group were talking to themselves, they drove straight past the sign, leading to Gyasta, in the opposite direction. As they drove higher up the mountain, sled got stuck in the deep snow and wouldn't budge.

"The snow's so thick the sleigh won't move!" Usopp shouted.

"We must be very high up!" Vivi said.

"Wait, do you guys hear that? What's that rumbling?" Aya asked them. The two listened, hearing the low rumbling as well. They looked up and their eyes widened in horror and in shock to see a wave of snow coming down towards them. An avalanche!

The three screamed and braced themselves as the snow came down on top of them.


The avalanche was coming down, fast, at Sanji, Ichi and Luffy.

"They've gone and done it, those darn rabbits!" Sanji growled underneath his breath.

"Sanji, what's wrong?" Luffy asked, not realizing what had happened.

"We're getting out of here, you two!" Sanji shouted. Ichi quickly followed behind him and Luffy as well.

"Where?" Ichi asked him.

"Anywhere! Anywhere but here!" Sanji shouted. "Those rabbits are going to pay for this!"

"What do we do, Sanji!? What do we do!?" Luffy shouted.

"HOW SHOULD I KNOW!? BUT NAMI COMES FIRST! THAT'S THE MAIN THING! PROTECT HER WITH YOUR LIFE! YOU GOT THAT!?" Sanji shouted.

"Got it! But how!?"

Then Sanji saw a ledge in the distance. It might be high enough to avoid the avalanche! He pointed out towards it. "There! That ledge! Get to that ledge! Climb to the highest point you can reach!" He shouted. Luffy nodded and so did Ichi. They quickly headed towards the ledge, trying to catch their breaths. They saw the avalanche heading towards them.

"HERE IT COMES!" Sanji shouted. "GOOD WE MADE IT-IT'S NO GOOD WE'RE NOT HIGH ENOUGH!" The three were knocked off from the ledge and were about to be taken away by the avalanche! "We'll be buried alive!"

"Now what? I know." Luffy grinned as an idea came to his mind. "Sanji! Ichi! Grab on!" He stretched his arms out to Sanji and Ichi and they grabbed Luffy's hands. He pulled them onto a nearby tree that was torn down by the snow. "WE'RE NOT GOING TO GET BURIED BY THE SNOW! BUT WE'RE HEADING BACK DOWN THE MOUNTAIN REALLY FAST!"

The three screamed as they rode down the mountain.

"This is ridiculous! We were almost there to Chimney Mountain! A little further and we'd have reached the doctor! We've go to find some way to stop! Darn those blasted hippity hops! Next time I see them, they're stew!" Sanji shouted, angrily. Suddenly, they saw the Lapins sledding down right beside them. Luffy, Sanji and Ichi's eyes widen in shock and in disbelief.

"WHAT!?" Luffy shouted.

"NO WAY!" Sanji cried out.

"THAT NOT FAIR!" Ichi shouted. The rabbits tried to attack them again. They tried to dodge their claws, while staying on the tree, which was difficult as they didn't have much room to move around.

"What're they so mad about!?" Luffy shouted. "Yikes!"

"Luffy, watch out! Up ahead!" Sanji warned and pointed out to rock in front of them.

"AHH! A ROCK!? WE'RE GONNA CRASH!" Luffy screamed.

"You can't crash! Nami's on your back!" Sanji shouted. "And you got L!" Then he grabbed Luffy and Ichi and the two looked at him confused.

"Mr. Cook what are you?-" Ichi spoke.

"Huh?"

Sanji quickly threw the two of them off from the tree and Luffy and Ichi landed safely on a ledge nearby. Their eyes widen in horror as they saw the tree that Sanji was on collide into the rock, breaking it. Sanji was knocked off and a sharp piece of the tree scrapped his side.

"SANJI!" Luffy cried out.

"Ugh! It worked..." Sanji fell into the snow about to be taken away by the avalanche.

"YOU IDIOT! DON'T TRY TO HOG THE GLORY!" Luffy shouted and threw his arm, digging around the snow. "Sanji!" He screamed only to see that he had grabbed Sanji's mittens instead. Luffy gently set Nami down and handed her his hat, placing it on Nami's head.

"Nami, are you cold? Just hang in there a little longer. Hold this for me and rest here for a minute! Ichi, stay with her and L."

"Luffy, wait! What are you-!?" Ichi cried out to stop him, but Luffy had already jumped into the snow. "Captain!"

A few minutes had gone by and Ichi watched looking around worriedly as he didn't see Luffy or Sanji had come out yet.

"Luffy! Sanji! Where are you!?" He cried out.

The avalanche began to slow down and stopped. Ichi wildly looked around, waiting. But still no signs of anyone. Nami was going to die and so was L. He couldn't lose his brother. Ichi couldn't lose Nami either. She was always so nice to him!

"Captain Luffy!" He cried out again, burying his face in the snow. "I can't do this by myself!"

In the distance a baby Lapin was crying as it tried to pull its parent out as they were buried underneath the snow. A hand shot out from the snow and Luffy crawled and stumbled out, pulling Sanji out with him. He walked over to the baby rabbit and it stood in front of it's parent, trying to protect them. It closed it's eyes as it saw Luffy reached out and Luffy grabbed onto the adult Lapin's paw and pulled them out of the snow. The baby hugged their parent while Luffy walked back to Sanji and picked him up, carrying him.

"I'll get you there, I promise! Don't die, either of you!" Luffy spoke.

Ichi's eyes widen and he smiled as he saw Luffy was alright and that he found Sanji, who was unconscious on Luffy's back. He noticed that the two looked worn out and their clothes were slight ripped. Luffy picked up Nami, tying her onto his back.

"Are you alright?" He asked worried.

"I'm fine. Let's get up to that mountain!" Luffy told him. Ichi nodded and the two headed out.

However, they weren't alone. Wapol and his crew had been caught in the avalanche as well, but were saved by Wapol's devil fruit powers as he swallowed them and buried themselves in the ground. He spat them out. One of Wapol's men spotted Luffy and Ichi through his telescope and handed it over to Wapol.

"Look there they are, King Wapol!" He pointed out. Wapol growled, grinding his teeth angrily.

"I'll beat them do death!"